LITERATURE-LIGHT AND DELIGHT 65. INDIAN WRITERS

LITERATURE-LIGHT AND DELIGHT

65. INDIAN WRITERS

Friends have asked me why I always  refer to books by foreign authors, and do not mention any by Indian writers. The simple answer it that, there are not many (any?) Indian writers on subjects that interest me.

First, we are in pursuit of knowledge and wisdom, and seek it from all corners. As the Veda says: Let there be no barrier to the flow of thoughts from everywhere!

There is an enormous amount of ancient lore in the Indian languages, especially Sanskrit. But how many of us can honestly claim that we can read  and understand them in the original? We need translation, comments, explanations in English. Do we have them? By competent Indian writers, in readable, idiomatic English? I have been buying books for 50 years. Apart from Sri Aurobindo and Dr.S.Radhakrishnan, very few have written  a scholarly, or even readable account of even our religious matters. N.Raghunathan, Chaturvedi Badrinath, Prema Nandakumar readily come to mind. There are some good books in the regional languages- I mean well-written, but usually badly published, with no professional editing, and lacking in the graces associated with decent publishing. Even the paper quality is usually not good.We buy them any way , simply because we have no choice. I can give many examples, but it would hurt people.

There have been exceptions in English. The books by Sri Aurobindo Ashram are superbly produced. But apart from the writings of Sri Aurobindo, what else is there? Every other book is only drawn from the writings of Sri Aurobindo. We can better read Sri Aurobindo himself! Amal Kiran (K.D.Sethna) is an exception.

There are any number of books from the stable of Sri Ramakrishna Math. But only two are original, and essential: The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, and Sri Saradananda's detailed biography. While the former was rendered into excellent English in 1942 by Swami Nikhilananda ( but with great collaboration from Joseph Campbell, and Margaret Woodrow Wilson), we have had a readable translation of the latter book only recently, by Swami Chetanananda. I feel all other books are unnecessary, though some like the ones on the disciples by Christopher Isherwood are good. There too you will find that every other book is heavily drawn from the two original ones. The volumes of the collected works of Swami Vivekananda are a separate category- informative in a way, but not essential for real religion. (I am sorry if it offends some). If we are shipwrecked on an uninhabited island, The Gospel alone is enough company, and will save us! Their series on 'The Cultural Heritage of India' is good,and is now available in delightful new edition. But parts of it require urgent revision. They are still talking of the Aryan invasion. How silly!

The Ramanasramam has some nice publications: The Collected works of Ramana Maharshi - in the original Tamil and in translation by Arthur Osborne. Don't fear at the word 'collected' works: it is a slim volume, and if you can read Tamil, you do not absolutely need anything else. It can keep company with The Gospel. For those not knowing Tamil, and those needing clarification, the works of Osborne- all his writings, I mean- are essential. We need not look further.

There are so many translations , commentaries and editions of the Gita. If you ask me, only three are good: 1. By Swami Swarupananda, from Advaita Ashrama (RKMath). This is a hundred year old gem. 2. Translation and commentary by Sri Jayadayal Goyandka, of the Gita Press. It is good in any language. And Tamilians are lucky that we have an excellent rendering in Tamil by that savant, Swaminatha Atreya. 3. Commentary   by Swami Ram Sukh Das, also from the Gita Press. 

All the writings of Dr. Radhakrishnan are good. But all Indian editions and reprints are just bad- even those by reputed foreign publishers. I think they are just taking us for granted, or simply taking us for a ride!

What about other subjects? We had excellent books by authors of a previous generation on history, like S.R. Sharma, Radha Kumud Mukherjee. Those are not available now. The multi-volume history of India edited by R.C Majumdar (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan) is indispensable reading. But the publication standards are poor, and parts of the volumes require revision.)The present writings are by the leftist fringe, and these are assiduously promoted by international names. I would not touch them.We had read books- had to- during college days, but they are not good. 

We have never had any good books by Indians on politics  ( political science) or economics. We had a one volume wonder : Substance of Politics by Dr.A.Appadorai- but it is not available or relevant now.

The point is that the modern developments in political science and economics, and numerous other branches like sociology, anthropology, psychology etc are entirely due to foreign scholars and researchers. Indians, even the ones like M.N.Srinivas, learned everything second hand or third hand. The same is the position in the hard or pure sciences. Indian writers are therefore competent neither in the subject nor language. If I sound harsh or uncharitable, so be it! When we have the whole world before us, why should we look to only half-baked Indian writers?

It does not mean that I agree with whatever the foreign writers write- no, not at all. I have already pointed out in earlier blogs how bad this is-especially in their interpretation of our history, religion, society, etc. But Indians sitting in India are unable to counter it effectively. The only effective refutation has come from Rajiv Malhotra, who can look the American in the eye, talk to them in their own idiom, and better! I really salute him.

When we come to our own literature, the situation is pathetic. Where are good translations and publications of Kalidasa, Valmiki, Vyasa? The exceptional ones are by Chaturvedi Badrinath, Chandra Rajan. But Chandra Rajan's translations of Kalidasa published by the Sahitya Academy are perennially out of print! I wonder if there is some conspiracy behind it. If the Academy cannot keep it in print, why cannot they franchise out the publication? Such works must be nationalised, so that those interested may publish them. See how the works of Tagore are easily available in reasonably good editions after they were nationalised! The same thing has happened to the works of Kalki , and Bharati in Tamil.

When our people cannot write on our own literature , how can they write about English or any other foreign literature? We had scholarly Indian writers a generation ago. Today, we have only imitators- mere pen (key) pushers, word merchants.

A generation ago, we had Indian economists writing about Indian economy with Indian interests and perspectives in mind- eg Dr.B.R.Shenoy, Dr.Brahmananda. Before that we had Gandhian economists like Kumarappas. Romesh Chandra Dutt's two volumes on Indian Economic History are fundamental reading.There are some others like those of Kanagasabapathy, Prof.R.Vaidhyanathan.
But most Indian writers write from the American or leftist perspective; that is, they are all promoting foreign agendas! India has lost its individuality as a nation. We are all colonies of America, via WTO, IMF, World Bank, the educational system. Our IITs, IIMs, and other institutions of 'higher' learning are producing cheap technicians to labour for America, or promote its interests and we are making India a paradise for foreign business and local bureaucrats and politicians. Be happy, we are all getting globalised.

What will we make in India, ever? Or, what will we make of India?

The real question is not whether the writer is Indian and foreign, but whether the perspective is Indian or foreign, the spirit is native or alien. We had a Will Durant defending India and the Orient in the very first volume of his monumental series on world civilisations. He wrote on greatness of Sanskrit, India's contribution to science and maths; on the brutality of the Muslim invasion. He wrote a separate volume on the necessity of Indian Independence. What  are our Ramachandra Guhas and Amartya Sens doing? Denigrating India and downplaying its greatness at every turn, with an eye on a chair in some foreign university! We know where their heart is!

Today, a lot of foreign economists, philosophers, thinkers and writers are critical about various aspects of western attitude to life. Take Michael Sandel of Harvard. Who talks more openly today about the lack of ethics in American public life than him? Can our Sens and Guhas hold a candle to him? Who writes more deeply about the philosophical crises of the West than Jacob Needleman? There are more American writers  critical of the American economy than foreigners. There are  more American academics critical of American education system and its consequences , than all the others in the rest of the world put together. They are really scholars without borders.There are surely bogus scholars like Wendy Doniger ( of whom our Sens and Guhas are chelas and admirers) but there are also great genuine scholars. There are more devotees of Hare Krishna in America than India. We have more pretenders than devotees.

Every great English poet or writer has a genuine take on life. Where they are inspired, they are universal in spirit. No really civilised person thinks in terms of 'you and me' or 'you v. me'. They think of we, us! A badly thinking Indian thinks he can have all the development, and somehow shift 'global warming' to other shores! But the truly international citizen is worried that the Ganga may  dry up by 2050 if global warming does not stop! Who is the friend of India, really? It seems Indians can only calculate; they cannot think!

See the hypocrisy we practise- or plain thoughtlessness. We worship the cow, but let it roam the streets, while merrily drinking buffalo milk. We worship the Ganga, but it is the Hindus who pollute it mainly. We eat by the roadside, just beside an open drain, while footwear is sold in Air-conditioned showrooms! We talk of secularism, while 400000 Hindus have been driven out of their ancestral home in Kashmir, and for 25 years they have been refugees in their own land, while no politician, or govt  has the courage to talk about them openly! A Muslim marrying three women is secular, while a Hindu begetting 4 children is not! Our secular govt will not touch the huge properties of churches and Mosques, but ask Hindu temples to declare their gold assets! Churches and mosques are free, while Hindu temples are under control of a 'secular' govt. If you talk of Hindu nationalism, it is not secular, while the whole Muslim population turning west, ignoring India, is secular! 

Our entire academic system is borrowed, and we think imitation is scholarship! Every nation and people studies, and interprets its own history. But for us a Max Muller, who did not understand spoken Sanskrit, or a Vincent Smith, who did not know our chronology are the authorities, decades later! In no branch of science is original research done in India. If you want to research the freedom movement, you have to go to the British library, like Dharam Pal did. If you want to research our economy in the 18th century, you have to go to some  library in a European country, as Claude Alvares did, or rely on the book of Angus Maddison, who proved that India contributed more than 30% of the world GDP for 18 centuries, up to mid-18th century, before the British plunder and loot made us poor. Yet our economic pundits will repeat that India has been poor for centuries, that it has been 'other worldly'. They will not read original Indian sources in the original Indian languages to understand original Indian thought, but depend on some colonial translation, and call that scholarship! The daughter of a colleague of mine, doing her PhD in some American varsity wanted to research some amendments to Indian Constitution, but she was not permitted access to our parliamentary library on security grounds! It is a different matter that she got all material in America!

 Which main line Indian economist  in service,has had the courage to appreciate the economic wisdom of Gandhi, like E.F.Schumacher did? Which Indian economist has, while in service, written a text book on 'humanistic' economics, based on Gandhian and other insights , like foreigners have done? Gandhi has more genuine admirers and followers abroad than  in India! 

What happened to those who followed Gandhian methods in India  by 'gandhi' govts here?- a Sunderlal Bahuguna, Medha Patkar, Anna Hazare?

There have been detractors of India among foreigners, as among Indians themselves! But there have been great defenders of India abroad , while Indian intellectuals are defensive while talking about India. How many will say:My country, right or wrong?

An Indian writer is not necessarily right about India, either because he is Indian, or because it is about India. And a foreign writer need not be wrong, because he is a foreigner! An Emerson or Thoreau was more Indian in spirit than are most educated Indians in India today! Indian spirit touched American souls, while it is only the American dollar that can touch Indian pockets, and stop there, because the soul is absent in such places! A true scholar seeks to be a citizen of the world, while most Indian 'scholars' seek to go to America which is their world! Or they would make an America of India!