Indo-Aryan Thought and Culture, and Their Bearing, on Present Day Problems in India, an Argument From the Standpoint of a Native of That Country (Classic Reprint) PDF Download

Author: Prabhaker S. Shilotri
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781330656457
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description
Excerpt from Indo-Aryan Thought and Culture, and Their Bearing, on Present Day Problems in India, an Argument From the Standpoint of a Native of That Country The aim of this study is not so much to bring to light new data as to interpret some commonplace facts from the history of Indo-Aryan culture, the full significance of which is not, in my judgment, properly appreciated nor made use of in dealing with the present day problems of India. The cause of some of India's most acute economic and political problems is to be found in the unique Indo-Aryan mental evolution, which has crystalized into an almost "fixed attitude" of the Indian social mind, and which supports some of her deep-rooted institutions. These institutions were formed long before foreigners exploited the country, and to the tyranny of these institutions the population still cheerfully submits, almost unconsciously, I maintain, in spite of the "new spirit" which is doing so much today for the regeneration of the country. What I mean by a "fixed attitude" of the Indian social mind and an unconscious homage to ruinous customs even on the part of the most educated amongst us, I shall try to make clear in the course of this study. The lack of full appreciation of these simple facts has created, on the one hand, an unnecessary prejudice against an intelligent population, in consequence of which the British government has committed some serious administrative blunders. A failure, on the other hand, to reckon with these facts on the part of our own political and social leaders has led them into prisons or to the gallows. I cannot subscribe to the attitude of the haughty English civilian and the Western scholar who, with an incomplete knowledge of ethnology, maintain that the dark skinned races of India are degenerate products of a tropical clime, unfit for prosperous economic institutions and incapable of constitutional self-government. Such an attitude is based upon the innate prejudice which the European has against the dark skinned races and tropical climes. It is based upon superficial knowledge of the stamina of a population acclimatized to hot regions, well qualified to exploit the natural resources of such places, and yet held in check by predominantly psychological factors. Such racial prejudice once extended to all Asiatic races, but Japan having redeemed the Mongolian race from the stigma, the calumny is now directed at India alone. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.