Compare and contrast Malinowski and Brown’s theoretical argument and their understanding of social anthropology
Bronislaw Malinowski and Radcliffe Brown put forward their own respective theories of functionalism. In this essay, I will first mention the arguments put forward by both of them and then I will attempt to find out similarities and differences in those two theories. According to Malinowski, functionalism is the study of the natural aspects of the cultural phenomenon. Malinowski’s notion of functionalism also includes the concept that “human institutions, as well as partial activities within these, are related to primary, that is, biological, or derived, that is, cultural needs.” ( Malinowski 1960, p.159). Thus, his main argument was that culture exists just so that it can satisfy our biological needs. So, we can say that for Malinowski, the culture was a concrete reality and it was the main focus in his theory. Culture cannot exist without institutions as all institutions have functions for the society. For example, the family is an institution and its function in society is to produce children. We can also say that functions are a heuristic device. In the previous example, we took the institution of the family. What if a couple is a homosexual? Then they will not be able to produce any children. In the same way, the function of the law is to give justice but sometimes that does not happen, for example-the Shah Bano case. Each institution has structures and even though the structures may remain the same, the rituals and the techniques may differ. Malinowski also informed us about the importance of artifacts, which are material objects, which are used by humans to communicate with each other, either by speech or by symbolism. For example, a Hindu woman wears a ‘bindi’ on her forehead and ‘ sindoor’ to show that they are married. In this instance, the ‘bindi’ or the ‘sindoor’ acts as an artifact that shows their commitment to their husbands. He also mentions the importance of language as when an infant is born into a family, the function of the kinship is “to provide the infant with a sociological control of its environment through articulate speech.” ( Malinowski 1960, p. 156) According to Radcliffe Brown, Social Anthropology deals with the study of human society and the investigation of social relations amongst human beings. Brown’s theory of functionalism was in complete contrast to that of Malinowski as he thought that social structures were more important than culture. Brown considered Social Anthropology to be a branch of natural sciences. Brown also attempted to explain it through the methods of natural science. We get to know this when he explains as different branches of science deal with certain kind of structures, such as atomic physics deals with the structure of atoms, there will be a branch of natural sciences “which will have for its task the discovery of the general characteristics of those social structures of which the component units are human beings.” ( Brown 1940, p.2) Brown also used the term ‘Social structures’ to denote the complex network of social relations. Social structures include all interpersonal relationships, and also the division of individuals and groups based on their social role. He also compares humans to animals when referring to associations or relations as he gives the example of a beehive and understands the relation between the queen bee, the workers and the drones. He also mentions some social phenomena such as morals, laws, education etc. and that they play a very important role in the existence of social structures. He also uses the example of Latin as a language to explain how the indirect or direct relationship between a social phenomenon and social structures and the way in which they affect the relations between groups of people. He regards social structures as a concrete reality and refers to culture as only a vague abstraction. He also uses the body as an analogy to describe the continuity of social structure – “Throughout the life of an organism its structure is being constantly renewed; and similarly, the social life constantly renews the social structures” ( Brown 1940, p. 4). He's referring to social structures as being constantly renewed gives us the idea that Brown considers social structures to be stable and never-ending. This idea becomes clearer when Brown gives us the term ‘social evolution’, in which evolution means the emergence of new forms of structures while explaining with the example of how an African culture came in contact with an European or Western culture and then produced Western African culture. I will now give an example which I think will make the distinction between these two theories clear. Whenever I am hungry I will want to eat food. According to Malinowski, I will only want to have seafood as I am from Goa because I am used to eating seafood as it is part of my Goan culture. If we take the same situation and compare it with Brown’s argument, he will say that if I am hungry then I will have anything to satisfy my hunger and not only try to find seafood. This is because according to Malinowski, the main aim of culture is to satisfy the physical and the biological needs of the individual but on the other hand, Brown does not think culture has an important part to play in any individuals life. We will first look at the similarities in the theories put forward by Brown and Malinowski. Both Malinowski and Brown and trying to develop a universal understanding of functionalism in which they are trying to attain a method which will be applicable and useful when comparing different phenomena throughout the world. This is especially true for Malinowski as he talks about his theory being used for the comparative analysis of phenomena in various cultures. Another similarity is that they are using language as a foundation to explain their theories, as we have already seen earlier in the essay. There are also many differences in their theories. The most visible is their view on the theory of culture. For Malinowski, the function of culture was to satisfy the biological needs of the individual and on the other hand, Brown considered culture to be abstract and claimed culture only played a role in maintaining the society and not to satisfy individual needs. Brown also only considered society as a whole and thus considered individuals as irrelevant or replaceable, in contrast to Malinowski, who emphasizes the importance of individuals. Even though there were many similarities and differences in their theories, both Malinowski and Brown had the greatest influence on the development of functionalism. BIBLIOGRAPHY:- Malinowski, Bronislaw. 1960. A Scientific Theory of Culture and Other Essays. New York: Oxford University Press Brown, A.R. Radcliffe. 1940. “ On Social Structure”. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 70(1): pp.1-12
Kartik Mathur
Cross-cultural perception of the changing nature of parenthood and designer babies in urban India
The concept of parenthood and the idea of a family have always been private and personal. But with the onset of globalization over the past few decades, we have let technology interfere into our personal matters. In this essay, we will look at the cross-cultural perception on parenthood with reference to designer babies and changing family structures in urban India. With the help of in-depth interviews and micro-analysis, this study will also examine the relationship between intimacy and technology. Background The family structure has drastically changed over the past few decades. During the mid 20th century the idea of a joint family was very popular. Thus we could see many families living together in one large house. This idea was more popular amongst Asian countries in comparison to western countries, as in Asian societies, culture, traditions, and family are given more importance whereas, in western countries, people are taught to mostly live an individualistic lifestyle in a very competitive society. But due to globalization and the exchange of ideas, the point family stricture started to disintegrate and was replaced with the nuclear family, comprising of a father, a mother and their unmarried children. With this, the ideas of parenting also changed as now the parent's primary concern was the well being of their children and not of the whole joint family, which mostly included aging grandparents. With new movements and revolutions such as the feminist movement in the 1960s, parents became a lot more liberal in their views and the children also got a lot more independent. Thus we can say that marriage and family patterns have changed worldwide in the 21st century. The above statement is backed up by Therborn, a professor of sociology at Cambridge University, who states that “ the combination of increasing rates of divorce, high remarriage rates and more people living alone seems to disprove the thesis of a convergence of family structures, even in the west.” ( Giddens 2009, p.337) nowadays we can see new family patterns emerging such as live-in relationships, same-sex marriages, and single parents. With society nowadays is more and more dependent on technology, we have let it interfere with our most intimate parts of our lives, such as our children. For example, parents are giving their young ones access to play on their smartphone, for the purpose of keeping them quiet or busy. Technology has also now play a very important part in the reproductive process, with many couples opting for methods such as in-vitro fertilization ( IVF )or surrogacy rather than the traditional method of coitus. The latest technological development that has taken place in this area is designer babies. A designer baby is a baby that is genetically engineered for the purpose of having some specific traits that are chosen by their parents, such as the gender of the bay, or the color of the eyes and the height of the baby. In this essay, we will if designer babies would be a proper fit for the current society. Literature review There has been a lot of studies that have been done on designer babies, with many perceiving designer babies for the better and the well being of the society and the family while on the other hand, there are a few articles who have noted the cons of designer babies by focusing on the moral and the ethical aspects which would involve not only the parents and the people involved in the process but also the baby itself. As no particular stand is being taken here, this study incorporates the views of both the sides of the debate. Also, as this study deals with changing views on parenthood and family pattern along with technology and its effect on the process of reproduction, this study will analyze the articles written by authors who have a background in sociology as well as authors who have a background in bioethics and stem cell research. As we have seen earlier in this essay, we have taken a small section on families and intimate relationships in Anthony Giddens book, Sociology 6th edition, to analyze the changing relationship patterns and the family structure. This study will also be challenging Durkheim's theory of functionalism, as he values the importance of a stable family, as it could be seen as a necessary building block for the proper functioning of the society. But with the introduction of designer babies, the relationship between the parents and the designer baby, and the relationship between the parents and a normal baby might be different. This could threaten Durkheim's idea of a ‘stable’ family and thus could harm the society in the future. This essay will also be analyzing the texts of various authors such as Julian Savulescu, who is a bioethicist and is in favor of the introduction of designer babies, including a culmination of texts from various journal such as ‘ The Scientific American’. Also, as this is a cross-cultural study, and opinions on career-inclined women having children were also included in the questionnaire, information on maternity leave in China and Italy has also been taken. In addition to these articles, this study will also include a critical analysis of two Hollywood movies- Gattaca ( 1997) and Hannah ( 2011). The inclusion of these two movies is due to their plot, which sets in a futuristic society where designer babies are being used and are being preferred over normal babies. The proper relation between these movies and the theme of this paper will be mentioned in the findings. Even though a lot of studies have been done on designer babies, very few have focused on the socialization of the designer babies. As this study is focused on the latter part, it is different from the rest of the studies that have been conducted. Methodology The current study adopts a qualitative approach in order to understand the cross-cultural perception of parenthood with reference to designer babies. As the study was qualitative, the respondents were chosen by non-probability sampling methods such as the snowball sampling method. Some of the respondents were mutual friends of the author. A total of 6 people were interviewed- 3 men and 3 women. An even number of respondents of each gender was taken in order to avoid gender bias. Of the three women who were interviewed- two of them belonged to BA 2nd year and the other one belonged to MA 1ST year. In the case of men- one was from BA 2ND year and two were from MA 2ND year. The reason for this differentiation was to understand if age played a factor in perceiving and understanding the questions in the current context. The interviews were conducted over the space of two days and each of the interviews was done in an empty classroom in order to avoid any bias or influence. As this is a cross-cultural study, two of the women were from foreign countries- one was from Thailand and the other was from Italy. Another reason for choosing a respondent from Italy was that designer baby is a western concept and the designer baby was developed and the advancement in that field is happening primarily in western countries. The rest of the respondents were from all over the country. The other female respondent was from Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu). The other three male respondents were from Chennai ( Tamil Nadu), Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), and Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) respectively. Thus this study has incorporated many different cultures. Information was taken from the respondents through an in-depth interview. The interview was a semi-structured interview with both open-ended and close-ended questions. The major themes of the questionnaire are as follows: Part 1- ( Socio-demographic facts)- focuses on the demographic information of the respondents Part 2- ( Parenting)- focuses on the change in parenting styles over the past few decades Part 3- ( Technology, morality and designer babies)- focuses on the technological aspect and also the moral and ethical values involved in the process of designing babies Part 4 - ( society and designer babies)- focuses on the impact that designer babies will have on the society It should be noted that a consent form was signed prior to the start of the interview by each of the respondents and one copy of the form was given to them. The respondents were also given a chocolate at the end of the interview as a reward for participating in the study. After all the interviews were taken, the deductive method was used to analyze the major findings in this study. Key findings Change in parenting styles There have been many studies that show that the overall parenting structure has changed worldwide over the past few decades. ( Giddens 2009, p. 337) As we will be using the above statement as a theory to use the deductive method, the respondents were asked if they could notice a shift in parenting styles by comparing their generation with the older generation. Following are me of the quotes by some of the respondents- Yeah, I think it has changed like now parents start having babies later. If I take the example of my mom, she already had me when she was my age, but now a lot of people they plan to have kids in their thirties. ( female respondent 1, aged 24, the location of her home- Italy) Do I think that the perception of parenting has changed? For me, no. In my family, no, I don’t think so. Even in my society, nothing has changed ( female respondent 2, aged 30, the location of her home – Thailand) I mean obviously, it has changed, in the sense that, how as and when we get exposed to more opportunities which we didn’t have previously. I think that the perceptions of the way the parents wanted their children to grow have also changed as they are more liberal and open-minded. ( male respondent 1, aged 19, the location of their his home- Chennai) Yes, it has changed. It might have changed in terms of how family itself is constituted because it is a general notion that there were previously joint families. if there was any work that individual of the family had then it would be related to the family. But now as the opportunities have become so vast that your child might just want to go somewhere else because that work could be more rewarding. So I think this is why nuclear families have come about. ( male respondent 2, aged 24, the location of his home- Andhra Pradesh) As we can see from the first two quotations, there are differences that need special attention. From the perspective of the first respondent, she has clearly stated that the perceptions of parenthood have changed, while for the second respondent, nothing has changed. A lot can be understood from their social context. Societies in Italy are a lot different from societies in Thailand, as societies in the west are more developed as compared to those in the east. Development should not be understood only in terms of technology, but also in terms of having more liberal ideas about society. Thus we can see the effect of liberal movements such as the feminist movement in Italy, where more and more women are working, as compared to Thailand, where a more oppressive society still exists. One must also realize that most societies in the west are more predominant towards the idea of individualism while most societies in the east are more inclined towards family, culture, and traditions. This could be another reason why there is pressure on people to start a family in eastern societies while in the west, people are more liberal and thus are willing to start a family later on in their lives. Even though our society is more close-minded than those of the west, that does not mean progress has not been made. This has been made clear by the second male respondent as has pointed out that the general trend of a joint family system has changed and has paved the way for nuclear families. This change in family pattern can also bring with itself changes in ideas. This goes with what the first male respondent was saying as parents are becoming more liberal in their views. With this, we can say that with more and more having liberal views, these views will pass on to their children. Thus we can say by analyzing the responses that the parental style has changed in many of the societies. The reason why this is categorized as the first finding was to connect it with the overall theme of the paper, as designer babies can be considered as a radical change, and so we wanted to understand how these liberal or non- liberal views would affect in perceiving and then later on accepting or rejecting the idea of designer babies being incorporated into the society. The sibling relationship between a designer baby and a natural baby There have been a few studies which show that sometimes parents design babies in order to take their bone marrow or blood to treat their terminally ill child ( Sheldon and Wilkinson 2004) In these cases, the designer baby is also known as the savior sibling. In order to understand how this would affect the relationship between the two siblings, the respondents were asked their opinion. The following are their responses on the subject matter- I think the brother will feel a big responsibility because he will feel that I am here to save my elder brother’s life, especially when they are children and don’t exactly understand what is going on. It might get a little complicated but it is not a negative thing. ( female respondent 1, aged 24, single child) I think there will be a lot of pressure on the elder sibling to take care of his sibling, because he has gotten something out of his younger brother, without his consent also. I don’t know, I think there will be a lot of guilt. If it was me I would definitely feel a lot of guilt because of the realization that my brother was created just so that we could get a part out of him to save myself ( female respondent 3, aged 20, 2 younger siblings) I think it will bring them closer if not anything in a way because family is also seen in a way where they help you in your thick and thin times and there are some difficulties in life where if there are one group of people whom you can count on, it’s your family ( male respondent 1, aged 19, has 2 elder siblings including a twin brother) I don’t really know if the parents would be able to love this designer baby as much as their own child because they got their designer baby in the first place to sort of cure their own child. Just the fact that you have a new member in your family because of a particular purpose, or you got that baby for an end, is problematic for the entire family. When we talk about the relationship between the siblings, I really really hope that this happens at a young age so that they don’t know that one was designed and one is not. Even if the designer baby gets to know that they designed him in the first place to cure their child, so how will he look at his parents. He may start feeling self-hatred ( male respondent 3, aged 24, single child) We can see from the responses above that there are mixed reviews on the sibling relationship. Thus we can see that for some the elder sibling should feel guilty and should feel responsible for their younger sibling, while on the other hand, some feel that the younger sibling should feel responsible for saving the life of his elder sibling. Here there is a conflict of moral issues. Both male respondent 1 and male respondent 3 talk about family and the views of the parents respectively. Even if we look at this case through the perspective of the designer child, there will conflicting report. On the one hand, parents designing a baby to save their child’s life could be interpreted as “ the parents are willing to conceive another child to protect the first suggests that they are highly committed to the well-being of their children and that they will value the second child for its own sake as well.” ( Sheldon and Wilkinson 2004, p.536) On the other hand, the child may suffer from psychological harm, considering the fact that she was brought into this world, not for himself/ herself, but to be used as a means to save someone else. As previously mentioned in the literature review, the movie Gattaca ( 1997) has been watched and a critical analysis has been done. The movie has a futuristic setting, where designer babies have more or less become a common thing. The protagonist, Vincent, is a naturally born child, or as they are referred to in the movie- an ‘invalid’. He then gets a younger brother, Anton, who is a designer baby. He is much smarter and taller than Vincent and is more loved by their parents. Due to this, Vincent has always been envious of his younger brother and is always in competition with him. Also, due to a lack of support, while chasing his dreams, Vincent chose to abandon his home, as he was an invalid and was told not dream high. There is also a class divide between those who have been specifically designed and those who are invalid ( naturally born). Thus even in a Hollywood movie, designer babies have been portrayed as leading to a dystopian world where designer babies are being preferred and are given more priority by the society, which includes parents. Even though the debate against designer babies and savior siblings is more or less similar, there is still a stark difference between them. The cause for a savior sibling is for it to save an existing child’s life. But the exact same cannot be said for a designer baby as they are only chosen for superficial reasons, such as determining the gender of the baby, the height or even the color of the eyes. Also, there have been a few studies regarding the welfare of the child ( Sheldon and Wilkinson 2004) There are moral aspects involved around the future of the savior sibling, as there could be cases where after the tissue is taken from the savior sibling that is needed for saving the existing child, it is discarded as there is no more use for it. The effect of designer babies on career inclined women. With society becoming more and more liberal by breaking social stereotypes and gender roles, more and more women are entering the workplace. So we can see that a lot of women are putting their careers ahead of starting a family. With designer babies being a lot more cooperative and requiring a lot less attention, the respondents were asked whether career inclined women would prefer designer babies over normal babies. The following are their responses- If you think that you need to focus on your job, then why have a baby at all. That is because life has to follow this process and the beauty of life is that you are born and you need to grow up. There won’t be a point in raising the baby, because the baby is already raised ( female respondent 1, aged 24, home – Italy ) When you say women don’t have time for baby and giving birth and stuff, then maybe we can change the law that for pregnant women they can have left for a long time because, in China, it is maybe like 1 month or 2 months. The side effect of this is that then the employer does not want to give work to women. ( female respondent 2, aged 30, home- Thailand) Yeah, I think, designer babies on a large scale can change the way society works. For example, there are sociologists that say that the family structure is what revolves and what makes them the society, and if these babies can change the way the family works in a more efficient way, then the society would a be more efficient and a more productive one ( male respondent 1, aged 19, home- Chennai) One very important aspect that is related to working woman and childbirth is maternity leave. There is no one standard maternity leave and the duration of the leave ranges from country to country. After analyzing the maternity leave in both China and Italy ( Saurel-Cubizolles, Romito, Escribà-Agüir, LeLong, Pons, Ancel 1999) ( Deng, He, Horrigan, Miao, Ning, Pang, Tevini, Wang, Warren 2012), we have found out that the social context plays a very important role in determining the maternity leave. As female respondent 2 mentioned, the maternity leave given to women is a lot less than what is given in western countries. This shows the existence of patriarchy in countries like China, where maternity leave is not given much consideration due to the fact that not many women are allowed to work. On the other hand, in countries like Italy, the maternity leave is around 22 weeks, where a woman can use those 22 weeks before the child is born and also after the child is born. This shows how eastern countries like China and Thailand lack in encouraging women to enter the workplace, as compared to their western counterparts. In the case of male respondent 1, the fact that he has a positive attitude towards women having designer babies in order to focus on their work also stems from his background. This is because he is from Chennai ( Tamil Nadu), which is more of a matriarchal society instead of a patriarchal society. Therefore in that region, more women entering the workforce would be seen as women empowerment, and not be looked down at. Another point raised by female respondent 1 was that “ There won’t be a point in raising he baby, because the baby is already raised.” This response is very important because this challenges the idea of parenthood itself, as the term implies that as a parent, you have to raise the child and that you need to be responsible for the child. Another quote from male respondent 3 was that - “I would not go for designer babies because then the entire charm of it being your baby goes away. I mean, are you looking forward to having a new member in your family or are you looking forward to having a new product in your family? Do you want to be a parent or a product manager? (male respondent 3, aged 24, home- Madhya Pradesh) Thus we can see that the whole idea of being a parent is being substituted by them being referred to as a production manager and the designer baby as just a product. So, from the above quotation, we can understand that the entire process of becoming a parent has shifted from a baby being born and bought up naturally to a baby being designed by picking the traits wanted by the parents, and the baby being ‘made to order’ like any other product. ( Walker 2008, p.351) We started this study by giving a brief background on how the family pattern has changed over the last few decades from being a joint family system to a nuclear family, and then to recent trends such as live-in relationships and same-sex marriages. We also understood how the advancement of technology, our personal lives have become a lot less private and more dependent on technology. Our literature review consisted of a few academic articles to a couple of movies from Hollywood that fitted into the general theme of the study. The methodology used for this essay was a semi-structured interview and the number of people interviewed was 6, of different ethnic backgrounds. The interview contained various themes ranging from the respondent's socio-demographic information to the effect of designer babies on the society. After performing a micro-analysis on how designer babies would affect intimate relations such as that of parents and siblings, the study shows that the majority of the respondents would agree that designer babies will violate the privacy of the family and would also breach and question some moral and ethical values. This paper hopes to have contributed to the existing intellectual scholarship of sociology. BIBLIOGRAPHY- Deng, Ying and Jing He, Brenda Horrigan, Qingqing Miao, Susan Ning, Wesley Pang, Anna Tevini, Chang Wang, Adria Warren. 2012. “China”. The International Lawyer. 46: 517-535 Giddens. Anthony. 2009. Sociology 6th edition. New Delhi: Wiley India Pvt. Ltd Saurel-Cubizolles, Marie-Josèphe, and Patrizia Romito, Vicenta Escribà-Agüir, Nathalie Lelong, Rosa Mas Pons, Pierre-Yves Ancel. 1999. “Returning to Work after Childbirth in France, Italy, and Spain”. European Sociological Review. 15: 179-194 Sheldon, S and S. Wilkinson. 2004. “Should Selecting Saviour Siblings Be Banned?”. Journal of Medical Ethics. 30: 533-537 Walker. Mark. 2008. “ "Designer Babies" and Harm to Supernumerary Embryos”. American Philosophical Quarterly. 45: 349-364
Analysing the streotypes used in Chetan Bhagat’s One Night@ the Call Center
Chetan Bhagat is one of the best-known authors of India in English. His books have gained a lot of popularity over the years, but that is mostly in India. He cannot find much fame abroad. One of the reasons for this is because of the very common and general stereotypes he uses in his novels. The text we are going to analyze today has many of the aforementioned stereotypes. These stereotypes do not only limit themselves to India, but to America as well. In this paper, many of these stereotypes will be analyzed within the context of the plot, and then within the context of the contemporary world. Firstly, the name of the novel is in itself a stereotype. There is a worldwide generalization about Indians on how all of us, at one point or another, work in a call center. Although that may be true to some extent, the quotidian frustrations of the night shifts, along with the stingy self-caring boss, makes this novel quite stereotypical. One of the stereotypes that have been predominant in this book is those of the relationship between a mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. In India, due to pop culture, and TV serials, it is shown numerous time of a joint family, with traditional backgrounds and mentality, living together in a big house, the same is shown over here, as Radhika, one of the female charecters in the story, is forced to live with her husband’s over critical parents. Some of the other similar stereotypes that have been mentioned are that the daughter-in-law should always obey her husband’s parents. The same can be identified here as well- ‘Not at all. In fact, I like the cozy family feeling. They are only a little bit old-fashioned.’ Radhika said and smiled. I did not think the smile was genuine, but it was none of my business. ( Bhagat 2010, p. 58) Here we can identify some of the afore-mentioned streotypes. The suspicion behind the ‘genuine’ smile is one such instance. This could be a way of denoting the suppression that Radhika must have felt, as she is not allowed to say anything negative against her new parents. The same can be said for the ‘little old fashioned’. If we look at the semantic meaning behind it, we can feel her trying to surge out and tell her friends how she truly feels about her new mother. But she is not able to, due to the unwritten rules of the society. So instead she tries to drop hints about her parents. Thus we can say that the term ‘little’ was used by her in a sarcastic way, but she was not able to express it in the same way. Another instance of where Radhika was stereotyped was when we got to know that she was not allowed to wear the clothes she wanted to ear as her new parents would not allow her to do that- ‘ They don’t make me do anything, Esha. I am willing to follow their culture. All married women in their house do it’ Radhika said. (Bhagat 2010, p. 58) This conversation took place when Esha, who is another female character, found out that Radhika was supposed to dress in a particular way. As it is not visible in the above quote, but the word ‘make’ has been italicized while the rest of them have not. Thus in this way, we can get the feel of how Radhika is desperately trying to defend herself against the truth, implying that she makes her own wish and not her family. She then says that she is willing to follow their culture. Over here, the term ‘culture’ should not be understood in a way which means culture on the basis of region or country, but in fact, it should mean in terms of generation. As previously mentioned, her new parents are both old fashioned, and thus their mentality is often referred to by the public of having the’ old mentality ‘or ‘old culture’. We can also notice a subtly of forced conformity, in the way she is narrating her situation. When she says ‘all’ women, she is implying that all the women in the household dress a certain way. And as they do it, even she is compiled to do it. This once again puts our current society into question, where many people, especially families are forced to go against their own ways or beliefs as they need to conform with the society or they will get ostracized from the community. Thus we can say that Radhika’s household is allegorical to the Indian society. Another general stereotype that has been done by Bhagat is against models in general- ‘ Check it out. She is totally anorexic. I can bet on it’. Priyanka said, pointing to a pale-complexioned model on the dance floor. She wore a top without any sleeves or neck or collar ( Bhagat 2010, p. 97) The term ‘anorexic’ being used signifies this stereotype. Models are thought to be very beautiful, and according to the modern beauty standards, beauty can only come with a thin figure. Thus, many young girls and women tend not to eat much, so that they do not gain weight. Even if they do eat, many times they vomit it out. This is known as anorexia nervosa, which is an eating disorder. Thus Bhagat has quite practically labeled them as anorexic as he thinks that all models are the same. He also uses the term ‘pale-complexioned’. Here the word ‘pale’ can signify a lot. Many such models wear lots of make-up and are thus overpowered by them. This makes their skin quite pale when looking at it. Hence the term ‘pale-complexioned’ is used quite cleverly here. A major stereotype that is seen all over India is their obsession with arranged marriages. Indian parents tend to think that they know what is best for their children, including the person they choose to spend the rest of their lives with. This obsession is also best exemplified in the story through the lens of Priyanka, whose mother is hell bound on finding her a settled husband. Other stereotypes play in here when the man, who is chosen to be the groom, is said to be an NRI or a non-resident Indian. The stereotypes that most Indian girls who are looking to get married prefer an NRI man over a resident one is also quite common. There are also actual reports from Indian marriage sites such as from Shadi.com or Jeevansathi.com, who claim that a lot of their female members are looking for an NRI man. Although ChetanBhagat has used a lot of streotypes, he also made some positive moves such as applying a sort of feminist view towards the female charecters. Radhika, for example, found out that her husband was cheating on her. Instead of staying with him, which would be the result in most Indian cases, she decided to divorce him. The concept of divorce in India can be considered as a taboo. Thus a woman implementing a divorce can only be seen as encouraging and also as empowering. Similar things can be said for Priyanka as well. As previously mentioned, her mother wanted an NRI man for her and she was successful. But after finding out that the groom to be was lying to her, Priyanka turned down the marriage offer. She then got together with Shyam, her co-worker, an ex-boyfriend, who is a lot less successful than Ganesh, the NRI groom. Here we can see a certain determination from Priyanka where he doesn’t get influenced by her mother, which in itself is a big thing, as daughters are usually told to be extra careful and to always listen to their parents. Her insistence on not marrying Ganesh also shows us how she is not after material wealth, and that she is in charge of her own decisions. This is also an excellent example of the empowerment of women. Such representation of women in genre fiction can be considered a good thing, due to the targeted audience being belonging to the Indian middle-class Another very unique stereotype that has been taken by Bhagat is Indians over-reliance. Indians are known for being the country of many religions and thus they have many gods. Due to certain backwardness in our society, many people prefer the word of god over actual scientific proof. Thus the common struggle between science and God is also present here. Many times when a negative event or a disaster happens within a family as such, many people turn to god and insist that God will find a solution for them, instead of trying to have a rational mind. This same stereotype has been exaggerated here. The plot of the book can be said to follow a Deux ex machine, where a particular impossible or unsolvable problem is solved due to unforeseen circumstances. This plot is common amongst genre fiction books and thus it could be considered fitting if both the stereotype and the main structure of the plot were combined. In the novel, all 6 main characters of the novel are stuck in a qualis while it is hanging right above a ditch. When all hope seems lost, Shyam receives a phone call (when no connectivity is available) from god himself. Not only does god help them get out of the tricky situation that they are currently in, but he also gives them valuable life advice which would help them make life-changing decisions that would, in turn, benefit them later in their lives. Thus this insistence of including god in a Deux ex machine plot, instead of any other thing, symbolizes the Indian nature. There are also many stereotypes that have been made against Americans in the novel. One such was – ‘ Americans are sick’. Vroom said as he pointed to a US politician who had spoken out in support of the war. ‘Look at him. He would nuke the whole world if he could have his way’ ( Bhagat 2010, p. 199) This is one of many quotes where Bhagat has taken a jibe at America in relation to their military policy. This ‘support’ of war is used to denote how the constant involvement of America in wars. They are also referring to the war as ‘the’ war, implying that even when America is at war with someone, only proving the previous statement. This is also in many ways a stereotype, with a strong element of truth. The involvement of the US in wars such as the Iraqi war, and the Cold war, in many ways proves that they always support the war. In one of his dialogues, Bhagat also uses the word ‘obsessed’ when talking about America and war. Another stereotype that has been a motif in this book towards Americans is the association of all Americans with being’ dumb’ or dim-witted. This is once again a very real generalization as even though it may not be true for all, America has been called out on many occasions for their lack of standards when concerning the school system and the syllabus that they use. As a concluding remark, we can say that Chetan Bhagat uses very real stereotypes in order to portray the harsh realities of modern society. These stereotypes, along with his colloquial language style, make it a very fun and relatable novel for a lot of the middle-class section of India. Although he has been called out numerous times for his conversational language style and his sometimes discriminatory plots, his inclusion of some strong, encouraged and empowered female characters certainly deserves him some praise, as they themselves are breaking the stereotypes and norms. Although that may be fine for an Indian audience, his representation of America as a whole is degrading. Thus we can say that the main aim of ChetanBhagat’s novels can be considered to be a commercial success and not to be considered into the discourse of literary fiction. BIBLIOGRAPHY- Bhagat, Chetan. 2010. One Night@ the Call Center. New Delhi: Rupa Publications
Discuss the challenges faced by the early Mughal rulers in the establishment of the Mughal empire in India.
Babur’s invasion of India marked the start of a dynasty which would rule India for centuries to come. Ibrahim Lodi’s defeat to Babur in the battle of Panipat in1526 ended the rule of the Delhi Sultanate and started the rule of the Mughal empire. The early Mughal rulers faced many challenges while they were attempting to consolidate their position in India. In this essay, we will see what kind of challenges were faced my Babur and his successor Humayun. One of the first challenges faced by Babur came from his own men. His men thought that as the conquest was over, they had no reason to stay in India and wanted to go back. This above statement is supported by Satish Chandra who informs us that, “Many of his begs and armymen thought that their struggles had been amply rewarded and it was time to return home! As it was, they found little in India to attract them”( Chandra 2007. p. 31). There was also a lot of discontent between the local population and Babur’s men. Babur’s begs found India as a foreign country in every way as they were not used to the hot climate and “ Neither ( baked) bread, nor the hamams ( public baths), or social intercourse of the type they were accustomed to were available in India” ( Chandra 2007, p.32). Babur dealt with this challenge by calling a council meeting and informing his men that he would refuse to leave India. However, he told his nobles that if they wanted to go back they could. Fortunately for him, only one of his nobles went away. He also faced challenges from his own brothers and the Timurid princes as they had wanted to follow the Timurid tradition of partioning the empire. Babur also faced external challenges during his time in India, from Rana Sangha and from the Afghans that had occupied the eastern part of India. It is important to know that it was Rana Sangha who had initially invited Babur to invade India as he thought that Babur would come to India, defeat the Afghans, loot their cities and go back home, just like his predecessors had done. Rana’s strategy took a major blow went he found out that Babur had decided to stay in India and establish an empire. He saw this as a bigger threat than the Afghan and thus , “ After the battle of Panipat, Sangha began to make efforts to gather around a grand coalition which would either compel Babur to leave India, or confine him to Punjab” ( Chandra 2007, p. 33) Even though Rana Sangha formed a Rajput-Afghan alliance, he suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of Babur in the battle of Khanua on 16 March 1527. He dies in 1528 when he was poisoned by his own sardars as Rana Sangha wanted to restart his conflict with Babur and they thought that this plan was suicidal. Babur also defeated the Afghans who were led by Biban and Shaikh Bayazid in the battle of Ghagra on 5 May 1529, and thus gave a complete victory to the Mughals. After Babur’s death, his son Humayun faced an uphill task in trying to continue his fathers' legacy. One of the major concerns was the administration of the empire. Babur’s system of administration “ implied leaving the task of day to day administration largely in the hands of his begs who were given large tracts in the assignment ( wajh).” ( Chandra 2007, p. 47). Humayun wanted to centralize the administration. Humayun was very conquest-oriented and thus paid most of his attention towards expanding his empire and paid little focus towards the administration. Like Babur, even Humayun had internal conflicts during his reign. After his brother Kamran captured Punjab, it amounted to a de facto partition of the empire. This showed weakness in Humayun and because of that many expected his two older brothers, Askari and Hindal, to also stake their claims. During his reign, Babur had also harbored some Timurids who had fled from the Uzbeks. After Babur’s death, even these Timurids wanted to take advantage of Humayun and pressed to have a dominion of their own. There was more as “ Along with these internal difficulties the most serious external problem Humayun faced was that of the Afghans of the east U.P and Bihar, and that of Bahadur Shah of Gujrat”( Chandra 2007, p. 50) Bahadur Shah was a serious threat to Humayun’s reign. He was the ruler of Gujrat and he carefully monitored Humayun. There were also a lot of Afghan and Timurid refugees who had taken shelter under him and they also taught him the Ottoman's offensive and defensive strategy that had been so successful for Babur. Humayun dealt with this situation fairly well and when both their armies met at Mandsor, he cut off all the food supplies to Bahadur Shah’s camp which led to a severe food shortage and eventually led to him abandoning his camp. Thus, Bahadur Shah’s strategy was turned against himself. Bahadur Shah was on the run from then on and was eventually killed in a fracas with the Portuguese. The Gujrat campaign had a lot of positives as “ This campaign not only showed Humayun as a vigorous leader and intrepid commander, but destroyed the threat to the Mughals from the side of Bahadur Shah” ( Chandra 2007, p. 61). The same cannot be said for the Bengal campaign. Humayun was against a Sher Khan, who was a better general and a more skillful tactician than the former. For all of Sher Khan’s achievements, Humayun grossly underestimated him and did not see him as a real threat. He could not be more wrong as he was promptly defeated by Sher Khan at the battle of Chausa (26 June 1539) which severely weakened him and demoralized his army. The battle of Kannauj ( 17 May 1940) proved to be the decisive blow for Humayun as his forces were routed and thus Sher Khan was in the pole position of expelling the Mughals from India. After an unsuccessful attempt to find allies in India, Humayun fled to Iran where he was sheltered by Shah Tahmasp. He did eventually return to capture Delhi in 1555 but died in 1556. It was also harder for Humayun as administering the empire is much harder than just occupying it. Thus, both Babur and Humayun found it extremely hard to establish an empire in India. BIBLIOGRAPHY:- Chandra, Satish. 2007. Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals Part Two ( 1526-1748). New Delhi: Har Anand Publications
Comparing and contrasting the theory of liberation in the Sankhya school of philosophy and the Yoga school of philosophy.
Both the Sankhya school of philosophy and the Yoga school of philosophy have been credited with having similar views on their metaphysics, their theory of knowledge, their theory of liberation etc. Thus these two schools have often been addressed together as the Sankhya-Yogas. Even though both these schools have similar views on the theory of liberation, there are still a few differences that separate these two schools in that area. In this essay, I will attempt to compare and contrast the views of these two schools on liberation in order to find out and properly frame the similarities and the differences that exist. I would also be taking into account the views put forth by Satishchandra Chatterjee and Dhereendramohan Datta, Andrew Nicholson, and Christopher Bartley and their relevant texts. For both the Sankhya and the Yoga school of philosophy, liberation can only be achieved by the cessation of all pain and suffering. Liberation can be compared to detachment, which is said to be “self-mastery on the part of one who no longer thirsts for perceptible objects or any of the transitory goals promised by the Scriptures.” (Bartley 2011, p. 88) According to the Sankhya philosophy, we are victims to three kind of pain- adhyatmika, adhibhautika, and adhidaivika. Adhyatmika is due to intra-organic causes such as bodily disorders and mental affections. Adhibhautika is the pain that is caused by nature such as men, animals etc. Adhidaivika is the pain that is caused by extra-organic supernatural causes such as ghosts and demons. On the other hand, for the Yoga philosophy, “ So long as the mind or the intellect of a man is impure and unsettled, he cannot properly understand anything of philosophy and religion. ( Datta and Chatterjee 1948, p. 337). Thus for the Sankhya, the cause of the pain can arise from both the body and mind while for the Yogas, pain can only arise from the mind. Both the Sankhyas and the Yogas agree that for attaining moksha or liberation the separation of the self from the body is needed and a clear distinction is needed to be made between self and the body, intellect and the mind. This argument is supported by Datta and Chatterjee, who informs us that “ It holds, like the Sankhya and some other Indian systems, that liberation is to be attained through the direct knowledge of the self’s distinction from the physical world including our body, mind and the ego ( vivekajnana). ( Datta and Chatterjee 1948, p.337) According to the Sankhyas, the reason that we have to suffer pain is that we do not have the right knowledge of reality and that every reality has a plurality of selves. The self is an “ intelligent principle which does not pose any quality or activity but is a pure consciousness free form the limitations of space, time and causality.” ( Datta and Chatterjee 1948, p. 324) Even the Yoga’s share a similar view of the self as even they think that it is above the physical reality with its spatio-temporal and its cause-effect order. A claim that is put forth by Andrew Nicholson is that the followers of the Sankhya philosophy will have to endure the long duration of jivanmukti, while Yoga philosophers, on the other hand, will not have to endure it and can just bypass it. He has claimed that “The path of knowledge ( jñāna ), offered by the Sāmkhya and Vedānta systems, can lead to meditation with objects and can be efficacious for enlightenment. But the follower of Sāmkhya or Vedānta will have to endure the state of jīvanmukti, as suggested by BS 4.1.15 and Ch. Up. 6.14.2. However, Vis ˙. Pu. 6.7.35 suggests that Yoga can cause immediate release, destroying prārabdha acts and bypassing jīvanmukti altogether. Yoga, according to Vijñānabhiks ˙ u, is the fast track to complete liberation. Although Sāmkhya, Vedānta, and Yoga can all lead to liberation, Yoga is the best of the three solely in terms of its efficiency.” ( Nicholson 2010, p. 116) While Nicholson claims that Yoga is the most efficient way to attaining liberation, Datta and Chatterjee have an opposing view as they claim that “ It requires a long and arduous endeavor to maintain oneself in the state of samadhi and destroy the effects of the different kinds of karma, past, and present. For this, it is necessary to practice yoga with care and devotion for a sufficiently long time” ( Datta and Chatterjee 1948, p. 347). Thus for them, it will take years to attain liberation. Thus we can see that the theory of liberation itself has contradicting views in Indian philosophy. Thus, as a conclusion, we can say that the Sankhya lays greater stress on discriminative knowledge as the means of attaining liberation while on the other hand, the Yoga lays greater stress on practical methods for self-purification and concentration in order to attain moksa. REFERENCES- Chatterjee, Satishchandra and Dheerendramohan Datta. 1948. An Introduction to Indian Philosophy. University of Calcutta: Calcutta Bartley, Christopher. 2011. An Introduction to Indian Philosophy. Continuum International Publishing Group: London Nicholson, J. Andrew. 2010. Unifying Hinduism. Colombia University Press: New York.
Finding contradictions to the Sankhya theory of causation.
The theory of causation states that a cause is the invariable and the unconditional antecedent of an effect. Conversely, an effect is the invariable and unconditional consequent of a cause. A popular notion among various philosophical schools such as the Bauddhas and the Nyaya- Vaisesikas is that an effect cannot exist in its cause prior to its production, which is also known as Asatkarya-vada. According to Satishchandra and Chatterjee, “ The Sankhya Metaphysics, especially its doctrine of Prakriti, rests mainly on its theory of causation which is known as Sakarya- vada.”( Datta and Chatterjee 1948, p. 293). Sakarya- vada is exactly opposite to asatkarya- vada as it states that “future products pre-exist in a potential state in their underlying, substrate causes (upādāna-kāran .a) prior to their actualization or manifestation (abhivyakti) as entities identifiable by their specific names and forms.”( Bartley 2011, p. 85) In this essay, I will attempt to find contradictions to the theory of Sakarya-vada by using examples and also by putting forth some arguments made by the Nyaya-Vaisesika school. If we take the example of the mould of clay which could be turned into a pot, then according to the theory of Sakarya-vada the pot would already pre-exist in the mould of clay. A contradiction to this would be that even though the pot would be produced from the clay, it would not have the same functions as the pot. The functions of a pot, i.e, to either store water or grain, would not be applicable to the mould of clay in its existing form as it will neither be able to store either water or grain unless it is transformed into a pot by the potter. It should be clarified that even though the potter himself could be regarded as the cause for the production of the pot, he will be a different cause than that of the mould of clay. The potter would be regarded as the efficient cause as compared to the mould of clay, which would be the material cause, because “ the activity of efficient causes, like the potter and his tools, is necessary to manifest the effect, pot, which exists implicitly in the clay” (Datta and Chatterjee 1948, p.294) It is a fact that clothes are made of threads. So, the cloth would be the effect, the threads would be the material cause and the weaver would be the efficient cause. According to the Sankhya philosophers, the cloth itself would pre-exist in the threads. But it is unclear on how a cloth, which is a single material thing, would pre-exist in hundreds or even thousands of threads. Does the cloth exist equally in each and every one of these threads or is the equality uneven? If one thread is removed from the cloth after its production, will the cloth still be considered as a cloth even if a part of its material cause is removed? Thus the second contradiction is that of the difference in the quantity of the effect and of the material cause. Another addition to this point could be that “The whole entity cannot exist without the parts, but the parts can exist without the whole” ( Bartley 2011, p. 85) Another contradiction that could arise out of the theory of Satkarya-vada is that if the effect exists in the cause, then it will not be possible for us to identify them as two separate actions and that would result in it being that the effect is indistinguishable from the cause. Even if we consider the cause and the effect to be the same, we would also then have to agree that the functions of these two will also be the same, which from the first argument we can see is not possible. Also, if the effect already exists in the cause, then it would be illogical for us to accept that it was caused or produced in any way in the first place. In a summary of the two arguments, we can say that for the Sankhya school, the theory of causation is that the effect pre-exists in the cause and for the other schools such as the Nyaya-Vaisesikas, the effect cannot pre-exist in the cause. As we have seen through the entire essay, the theory of causation of the Nyaya-Vaisesika school is more applicable to Indian philosophy. REFERENCES Chatterjee, Satishchandra and Dheerendramohan Datta. 1948. An Introduction to Indian Philosophy. University of Calcutta: Calcutta Bartley, Christopher.2011. An Introduction to Indian Philosophy. Continuum International Publishing Group: London.
An attempt the refute the theory of Satkarya-vada put forth by the Sankhya school of philosophy
The theory of causation is regarded as one of the metaphysical problems in Indian philosophy. The theory of causation states a universal relationship between a cause and an effect. A cause can be defined as “as the invariable and unconditional antecedent of an effect. Conversely, an effect is the invariable and the unconditional consequent of the cause.”( Datta and Chaterjee 1948, p. 218). Although the theory of causation may share some resemblance to the theory of karma, in this essay we will be mainly focusing on physical occurrences and not moral occurrences. Like any major theory in Indian philosophy, even the theory of causation has been the object of discussion amongst the various schools of Indian philosophy. For some schools such as the Nyaya- Vaisesikas and the Bauddhas, the effect cannot pre-exist in the cause prior to its production, with this theory also being commonly being referred to as the theory of asatkarya-vada. On the other hand, some schools such as the Sankhya school believe that “ future products pre-exists in a potential state in their underlying, substrate causes ( upandana- karan) prior to their actualization or manifestation ( abhivyakti) as entities identifiable by their specific names and forms”( Bartley 2011, p.85 ). This theory is also known as Sakarya-vada. In this essay, we will formulate an argument by refuting the theory of satkarya-vada put forth by the Sankhya school of philosophy in an attempt to show why it should not be applicable to Indian philosophy as a whole. The essay will start with a brief introduction of the theory of satkarya-vada in order to get a foundation and then we will proceed to form some arguments in contradiction to the theory of satkarya-vada. As previously mentioned satkarya-vada states that the effect pre-exists within the cause itself. The Sankhya school provides many arguments in far of his theory. One of them is that if the effect was indeed non-existent in the cause, then no amount of force on the part of an agent would make it come into existence. Another argument provided by them is “if the effect is really non-existent in the cause, then we have to say that when it is produced, the non-existent comes into existence, i.e, something comes out of nothing, which is absurd.” ( Datta and Chaterjee 1948, p. 295). The theory of satkarya-vada also has two conceptions, parinama-vada, and vivarta-vada. According to parinama-vada, after an effect is produced, a real transformation takes place from the cause into the effect, such as pot from clay. According to vivarta-vada, the changing of the effect from the cause is merely apparent and not permanent, for example, the snake and the rope. The theory of satkarya- vada, while being an important doctrine for the Sankhya school, has many loopholes that can be used against them by their opponents. If we take the example of a mold of clay being the material cause and the pot is the effect, then according to the satkarya-vada theory, the pot should pre-exist in the mould itself. However, if the pot really exists in the mould of clay prior to its production, then it should serve the same purpose as a pot does. The functions of a pot, i.e, to either store water or grain, would not be applicable to the mould of clay in its existing form as it will neither be able to store water or grain unless it is transformed. It is important to note here that even though the potter could be regarded as the cause for the production of the pot, he will be a cause that is different as compared to a mould of clay. The potter would be regarded as the efficient cause as compared to the mould of clay, which would be the material cause, because “the activity of the efficient causes, like the potter and his tools, is necessary to manifest the effect, pot, which exists implicitly in the clay” ( Datta and Chatterjee 1948, p. 294) Also the function of the cause is different from the function of the effect. If we take the example of a cloth being created from threads, the function of the thread is different from that of the cloth. The function of the thread is it being turned into a cloth, while the function of the cloth is for covering things. These functions cannot be reversed and thus this proves that both the cause and the effect cannot exist in the same substance. It is well known that any piece of cloth comprises of threads. Thus over here the effect is the cloth and the material cause are the threads. Even though the cloth and the threads have an inherent relationship, it is unclear on how a cloth, which is a single material thing, would pre-exist in hundreds or even thousands of threads. Christopher Bartley states that “ the whole entity cannot exist without the parts, but the parts can exist without the whole” ( Bartely 2011, p.85) Thus with the above statement some new questions arise such as if a few threads are removed from the cloth after its production, will the cloth still be considered as a ‘ whole’ cloth even after a part of its material cause is removed from itself? Thus over here the notion of quantity is concerned here. The Sankhya philosophers claim that “thread and cloth are not two different entities differing from each other in essence also because there is no ‘conjunction’ and ‘separation’ between them” ( Bhartiya 1973, p.40) here the claim is being made that both the thread and the cloth cannot be separated as they are the same entity existing in the same cause. If this is to be true, then won't the production of one entity result in the destruction of the other? For example, if a cloth is being torn and thus being reduced to just threads, then that would result in the creation of a new entity ( threads) and at the same time the destruction of another entity ( cloth) as we can see from the example above, separation is indeed possible as the process of causation will have self-contradictory actions, which is the destruction of the cloths and the production of the threads, or even destruction of the threads and the production of the cloth. It is established that “according to Sankhya philosophers, an effect is already existent in its material cause and when it is supposed to be produced, it is only manifested” ( Bhartiya 1973, p.43) This statement also raises some questions as when they say that the effect is only manifested, did this entire manifestation of the effect exist before the operation of the cause, or did it not exist? As previously mentioned at the start of the essay, the Sankhya school do not accept the theory of asatkarya-vada because, as they understood it, the theory talks about something non-existent coming into existence, which for them would be absurd. Now keeping the above question in mind, if the Sankhya philosophers accept the latter part of the question, that is if the effect did not exist before its manifestation, then they literally disprove their own theory as it would mean something being created out of nothing. On the other hand, if they accept the former part of the question, that the effect did exist prior to its manifestation, then what is the use of the causal operation taking place, as there is no necessity of the entire process taking place if the effect already exists. Also, if the effect really exists in the cause, then it will not be possible for us to identify them as two separate entities and that would result in it being that the effect is indistinguishable from the cause. Even if we consider the cause and the effect to be within the same substance, the functions of these two would still be different, as discussed earlier in the essay. If we were to accept the theory of satkarya-vada, then it could not be known to come under the theory of causation itself. That is because the theory of causation states that it is a relation between a cause and an effect. As the cause is different from the effect, the theory of causation is stating that causation is a relationship between two different entities, which according to satkarya-vada, they are not. Thus the terms cause and effect will have no meaning as it would then be illogical for us to accept that it was caused or produced in any way in the first place. One of the questions that have been posed by one of the philosophers is “if even before the operation of the cause the cloth is existent in the threads, why is it that it is not seen even though all the conditions required for its perception ( i.e, the organs of vision and light etc. ) are present and there is a desire to see it.” ( Bhartiya 1973, p.243). The counter-argument for this made by the Sankhya philosopher could be that it is due to the non-manifestation of the effect. That as the effect is not yet manifested in its physical form, it cannot yet be perceived. But, if they mean that it is non-manifested and that it does not yet have a physical form, then that would mean that they are talking about the existence of a non-perceptible object that is capable of performing an action. If they are agreeing to this then they are also accepting the theory of asatkarya-vada and at the same time refuting their theory of satkarya-vada as they are then claiming that the object was non-existing in the beginning but later started to exist, which means the creation of something out of nothing, which according to the Sankhya philosophers, cannot happen. To prove the theory of satkarya-vada, the Sankhya philosophers have also claimed that “ there is an invariable relation between a material cause and an effect. A material cause can only produce that effect with which it is causally related. It cannot produce an effect which is in no way related to it. But it cannot be related to what does not exist. hence the effect must exist in the material cause before it is actually produced.” ( Datta and Chatterjee 1948, p. 294) This statement can be refuted as according to the Sankhya philosophy, everything around us, including physical objects, is everywhere. The above statement is supported by Jayanta, who claims that “ the rule of taking a particular material for a particular effect ( upadana-niyama) will not be tenable because, according to Sankhya, everything is everywhere.” ( Bhartiya 1973, p.253) Thus if we apply the above statement into reality, the entire world will go into chaos. For example, we will be able to get blood, not only from bodies but from rocks as well, because everything is available everywhere. Also, precious metals such as silver or gold will have its value reduced, as it will now be available everywhere. The last contradiction we will look at is the structure of the effect prior to its manifestation and the structure of the cause. If we take the example of a seed, which has the potential to turn into a huge tree, then how can you explain the existence of an approximate hundred foot tree pre-existing inside of a seed that could easily hold in your hand. What also matters here is the weight of both these entities. One cannot expect to believe that a tree weighing hundreds of kilos pre-existed in a seed weighing only a few grams. Thus the problem of form and weight arises here. At the start of the essay, our objective was to refute the theory of satkarya-vada that was put forth by the Sankhya school of philosophy. By taking some arguments put forth by the Nyaya school of philosophy against the satkarya-vada theory and analyzing them in a different way, and forming some new objections, we have refuted the theory of satkarya-vada. Thus, the theory of satkarya-vada that was put forth by the Sankhy philosophers, should not be applicable to Indian philosophy. BIBLIOGRAPHY- Chatterjee, Satishchandra and Dheerendramohan Datta. 1948. An Introduction to Indian Philosophy. Calcutta: University of Calcutta Bartely, Christopher. 2011. An Introduction to Indian Philosophy. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group Bhartiya, Mahesh Chandra. 1973. Causation in Indian Philosophy. Ghaziabad (U.P): Vimal Prakashan
Analyzing the nature of the military labor market during the Mughal empire and its significance with special reference to the mercenary composition in the labor market.
The Mughal empire was one of the greatest and one of the most influential empires that ever existed. The Mughal empire lasted for more than 300 years and covered much of the Indian subcontinent. Acquiring and maintaining such an empire for so long is often credited towards the administration prevalent during the Mughal period. In this essay, however, I will bring into focus the active military labor market that was present during the Mughal period and how that played an important role for not only the Mughals themselves but also their enemies in acquiring territories. The role of mercenaries in the military labor market and their ethnic composition will also be discussed in this paper. In this essay, we will see what kind of military labor market existed during the Delhi Sultanate, the changes that occurred in it with the oncoming of the Mughals, and its significance in determining the relationship between the nobles and the peasants. The Mughals being referred to in this essay are only the first six of the Mughal rulers from Babur to Aurangzeb. The main objective of this essay is to analyze the ethnic composition of the military labor market. There is no original data collected for this essay and I will be analyzing the texts of different historians. Before the emergence of the Mughal empire in the 16th century, the Delhi Sultanate was the dominant empire in the Indian subcontinent. They had their own military labor market. We know this as Kaushik Roy informs us that, “Until the fourteenth century, the dominant mode of military recruitment in India was the Mamluk system.” ( page 1, from mamluks etc) The soldiers comprising the mamluk system were mainly slave soldiers that were brought from the Muslim countries in the Middle-east such as Turkestan, Persia, and Transoxiana. Due to the political fluctuations caused by Mongol invasions, the Delhi Sultanate had to resort to hiring free-flowing mercenaries from Hindustan itself. Also, “One way to maintain and expand the size of the army was to hire indigenous mercenaries as well as to utilize the forces of the defeated chiefs. The free-floating mercenaries had their own horses, armor, and equipment. They were paid in cash and they also had a right to the loot taken from the defeated enemies.”( page 89, Mamluks) Thus we can see how the military labor market shifted from accquiring slave soldiers from the Middle East to hiring mercenaries from the Indian subcontinent itself. Due to the invasion from Timur during the 14th and the 15th century, the Delhi Sultanate weakened, which provided the perfect opportunity for other Central Asian rulers such as Babur to invade India. Babur is credited to be the founder of the Mughal Empire. We can see some similarities and some differences in the military labor that was adopted by Babur when compared to the Delhi Sultanate. Unlike the Delhi Sultanate, Babur preferred to have a household standing army, which comprised of soldiers that joined Babur’s army due to family and clan connections. Unlike the mercenaries, these soldiers did not break on the battlefield and were used by Babur to perform daredevil manoeuvrers of the battlefield. But just like the Delhi Sultanate, even Babur had decided to include mercenaries into his army. According to Kaushik Roy, many mercenaries that joined Babur were from Mongol descent, as he says “Babur mentions that the Mongol settlers in Central Asia were organized in various tribes. Many Mongol tribes who had no blood relation to Babur joined him. Each Mongol tribe at that time comprised 3,000-4,000 families.” ( page 90, Mamluks) It is important to know that Babur himself is from Mongol descent. Thus from this, we can see that the Mongol mercenaries joining Babur could be categorized as an ethnic mercenary sort of military employment in which mercenaries join a ruler because they have the same ethnic background. Babur’s ancestors were Timur and Chengiz Khan, who were famous rulers of the Timurid and the Mongol dynasties, which occupied much of Central Asia. When Babur came to India, he decided to adopt the military tactics used in Central Asia and he used them to defeat the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate. At the battle of Panipat, “ He protected his right by resting it on the city of Panipat, and on the left, dug a ditch with branches of felled trees so that the cavalry could not cross it. In front, he put together 700 carts, some from his baggage train, and some procured locally. These carts were joined together by ropes of rawhide, and between every two carts, short breastworks were put up behind which matchlockmen could stand and fire. Babur called this method of stringing carts the Ottoman ( Rumi) devise because along with cannons it had been used by the Ottoman Sultan in the famous battle with Shah Ismail of Iran at Chaldiran in 1514. But Babur added a new feature. At a bow shot apart, gaps were left, wide enough for fifty or hundred horses to charge abreast” ( page 29, Satish Chandra) Babur is also credited with introducing guns and gunpowder to India. Thus he had also incorporated two Ottoman mercenaries, Ustad Ali and Mustafa, who were master gunners. Babur also claimed that these two mercenaries were invaluable on the battlefield and also went as far as appointing Ustad Ali as the master of the ordinance. Thus we can see that Babur kept hiring mercenaries from mostly Central Asia as he was using the tactics that were being used in that area and thus the mercenaries would already be accustomed to such military tactics and thus would prove most effective. The Mughals were not the only ones who were hiring mercenaries. The military labor market was open to all those who could afford mercenaries, which included the rivals of the Mughals. In fact, “Babur’s opponent at the First Battle of Panipat, Sultan Ibrahim Lodi (r. 1517-1526) depended on the indigenous mercenaries. Ibrahim Lodi, being an Afghan, preferred Afghan soldiers.” ( page 91, Mamluk) Many times the defeated chieftains were forced to join the rival army if they were defeated in battle. The previous claim is supported by the following quote which is- “After being victorious at First Panipat, many Afghan chieftains in India (who were either semi-autonomous or in Lodi service) joined Babur as tributaries with their retainers (some of the bands numbering up to 3,000- 4,000 men each).54 In many cases, they were forced to join Babur after being defeated in battle.” ( page 91 Mamluk) Even after Humayun came into power, mercenaries were still being used to oppose the Mughal rule. For example, Bahadur Shah of Gujrat hired African mercenaries commonly known as Abbysinians and also hired tribal mercenaries. In fact, “ Bahadur Shah provided 20 crores of Gujarati coins to one of his nobles, Tatar Khan, who with this money hired 40,000 Afghan mercenary cavalries. Some Muslims of Gujarat also joined his artillery branch as mercenaries.” ( page 92). After Humayun defeated Bahadur Shah and some other Afghan chieftains, they were forced to join Humayun’s army with their retainers. However, similar to the mercenaries, they proved disloyal towards Humayun and deserted him and instead joined his enemy Sher Shah, who was an afghan. Another example of mercenary disloyalty and desertion is the case of Rumi Khan, who was initially under the employment of Bahadur Shah of Gujrat. Rumi, Khan, “, the commandant of the Gujarat Sultanate’s artillery department, deserted Sultan Bahadur Shah and joined Humayun in 1533. Rumi Khan was a military engineer and was considered an expert in siege warfare. In 1537, he advised Humayun in conducting the siege of Chunar Fort held by Sher Shah.” ( page 99, mollusks) From this, we can conclude that there were some stark similarities between mercenaries and the chieftains and their retainers who were defeated in battle. Even though the former was voluntary and the latter was involuntary, desertion was common and they also did not have any loyalty towards their employees or captives and thus abandoned them if any political fluctuations occurred in that demographic area. Many mercenaries from Central Asia became attracted by the wealth that India had to offer and the prospect of looting it made them join Humayun’s cause on a mostly seasonal contract. Mercenaries hired on a seasonal contract were less likely to desert as compared to those who were hired for a longer contract. There were also cases where the children of mercenaries would follow in their parent's footsteps and serve the ruler of the same dynasty. such was the case with the son of Ustad Ali Quli Khan’s son, M.K Rumi, who fought beside Humayun and was in charge Mogul guns and carriages at the battle of Kanauj. Just like Babur, Sher Shah also utilized the military labor market and incorporated soldiers from his ethnic background. We know this as “ Sher recruited Afghans from Bihar, and many Rajput chieftains with their clansmen also joined his banner. While the Rajputs in his army were mercenaries, the Afghans were mobilized through tribal/clan networks. Sher called the Afghan qaum (community) to mobilize against the alien Moguls.” ( page 92-93) Thus we can say that it was an instance of ethnic conscription for the Afghans in Sher Shah’s army. Things took a drastic turn when Akbar came into power. After his victory in the second battle of Panipat, he established a stronghold in Northern India. Thus the base for Mughal operations was no longer Afghanistan, as it was with Babur and Humayun, but instead, it was now northern India. This was a setback in terms of military recruitment. This is because now Akbar would not be able to tap up the Turkish and the other central Asian tribes and include them in his army as he was now established in India. Due to this, he had to come up with a new military recruitment system. The system which he introduced was the mansabdari system, which changed the military labor market for the Mughals for the coming decades. The mansabdari system comprised of nobles who held ranks called mansabs and they were called mansabdars and each of them held jagirs. The way in which it transformed the military labor market was that “The mansabdari system was also partly a case of the tributary form of military employment. After being defeated, the chieftains belonging to different principalities were encouraged and at times coerced to serve in the Mogul army and in return were rewarded with jagirs. When Akbar established himself at Agra, a large number of principalities were under the control of autonomous and semi-autonomous hereditary chieftains. The latter was known as rajas, ranas, rawats, or rais. They were also known as Rajputs, and the Mogul chroniclers called them zamindars.” ( page 96) They were different from traditional mercenaries as mansabars were usually given lifelong employment, unlike the mercenaries who were usually given a season-long contract. Also, the commitment of the mansabdars to the emperor was absolute and thus they were not given much freedom in leaving the service. As previously mentioned, foreign mercenaries played a very important role in determining battles. One of the main reasons for this was their knowledge of guns and gunpowder. As the use of cannons and the muskets were widespread throughout the West, European mercenaries always had a special place in the military labor market and their services were used by both the Mughals and their rivals alike. In fact, European mercenaries were so in demand that “from the second half of the seventeenth century, the Mogul artillery was manned by Portuguese, British, Dutch, German, and French mercenaries. These foreigners were deserters from European ships and entered Mogul dominion through Goa for higher pay” ( page 100). Even mercenaries from Africa found employment in India. One of the most common of these were the Abbysinians. We are informed that “. In the Ahmadnagar Sultanate in western Deccan, Abyssinian military slaves and Abyssinian mercenaries played an important role. The Abyssinians (also known as Habshis in India) were African Muslims from Ethiopia who either came to India as free-born adventurers or were imported as slaves.” ( page 101). As we have seen, the military labor market in Mughal India comprised of a vast number of soldiers from different ethnic backgrounds. While they may have their advantages, there are a few historians who claim that the dependency of the rulers on the military labor market had led them to not maintain a proper standing army. We get to know that “since supply exceeded demand, there was no point in maintaining a big standing army year after year. Rather, during emergencies, infantry and cavalry were raised at short notice and sent to the trouble spots.” ( page 103) . Thus the Mughals lacked a disciplined and properly drilled standing army that could be used to win battles decisively. Instead “treachery, diplomacy, bribery, and a show of force resulted in the absorption and assimilation of enemies” ( page 84). This claim can be used to justify the disintegration of the Mughal empire, as, after Aurangzeb, the entire administration and the military structure had begun to fall apart. This was due to mainly both internal and external conflicts, which with the use of a proper standing army, could have been controlled. As we have seen throughout this essay, the military labor market throughout the Mughal empire always comprised of soldiers-cum- mercenaries of different ethnic backgrounds. As the Mughals mostly depended on them for military recruitment, we can sense that there was some heterogeneity in the army in terms of religion, culture, and nationality. This is one of the ways in which we get to know about the liberal nature of the Mughals when concerned with the army. It is important to know that all of the emperors from Babur to Aurangzeb deemed it necessary to employ foreign mercenaries into their armies, especially European mercenaries. The reason behind this could be due to the advancement of cannons and muskets in Europe during the 16th and the 17th century and thus hiring mercenaries with the knowledge of these advancements would certainly be beneficial to the Mughals. Thus we say that their expansion in the Indian subcontinent was due to the ethnic diversities of the soldiers that comprised the Mughal armies and the different skills and the ability that they brought with them. During the 18th century, the power of the Mughal empire lowly diminished, mainly due to the emergence of the East India company. The British established their rule in India after the battle of Plassey in 1757. This led to the extinction of the existent mansabdari system. Since then, the entire military labor market was operated by the British Raj. The main breeding grounds of military recruitment for the British were Bengal, Madras, and Bombay. The ethnic composition of the British army mainly comprised of Indian soldiers called as ‘sepoys’ and only a minority were white British soldiers. In his book The Garrison State: Military, Government and Society in Colonial Punjab, 1849-1947, Tan Tai Yong analyzes the dynamics of the military labour market in Punjab from the revolt of 1857 to 1947 and talks about how after the revolt of 1857, Punjab became a militarized bureaucracy and became a supply ground of men and weapons for the British. Thus we can see through this paper on how with the emergence of a new political power in India, it led to the extinction of a pre-existent military labor market. To put this into context, the Mamluk system during the time of the Delhi Sultanate became extinct with the emergence of the Mughals. Similarly, the mansabdari system vanished after the establishment of the imperial raj. Through all this, we can safely conclude that the military labor market in India was never rigid or constrained, but was instead not bound by anything and extremely free-flowing. BIBLIOGRAPHY- Roy. Kaushik. 2013. “From the mamluks to the mansabdars:A social history of military service in South Asia, c. 1500 to c. 1650”. Fighting for a Living Book Subtitle: A Comparative Study of Military Labour 1500-2000. 81-114 Chandra. Satish. 2005. Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals Part 2. New Delhi. Publications Pvt. Ltd.
Discuss the social and political context of the Bhakti movement with special reference to Kabir.
The Bhakti movement was a religious movement that started a theistic devotional trend that emerged in the 8th century in the southern part of India. It was started by the Alvars and the Nayanars, who were the followers of Vishnu and Shiva respectively, so it developed around Vaishnavism and Shaivism. This movement can be considered as an influential reformation against orthodox Hinduism as it worked with the recontextualisation of ancient Vedic traditions. Thus, it gave the people an alternative path to devotion which was not caste specific and did not require any sort of rituals and it preferred doing praying through songs and poems. It is because of this that it was an invocation of the public and it was this movement that brought mass identities into the frame. Also, this movement should not be considered to be a monolithic or a homogeneous movement. The Bhakti movement had an important part to play in the social context at the time. According to Rekha Pande, “ The Bhakti movement of the medival period was an idealistic manifestation of the socio-economic realities of the time.” ( The social context of the Bhakti movement- A study in Kabir, Rekha Pande 1985. p. 230) The social front at the time was characterized by brahminical oppression. With orthodox Hinduism being prevalent at the time, it was the caste system that affected the poor people. According to the Brahmins, those who did not fit into their rigid caste system, should be excluded from the society. Thus, those who did not fit into the traditional Varna system, were termed as chandals and outcastes. As previously mentioned, the Bhakti movement was against orthodox Hinduism and the rituals that were done by the Brahmans and thus “ in doing away with rituals it was fighting the brahminical domination and the injustices of the caste system”.( The social context of the Bhakti movement- A study in Kabir, Rekha Pande 1985. p. 232). This way it was trying to establish a direct relation between the devotee and God. The majority of the bhakti saints were from the lowest strata of the society, who were despised and downgraded by the upper castes. As these saints had done away with rituals, the common people found another way of praying as “the bhakti movement was a sublimation of terrible worldly suffering, pain and misery that found natural outlet in spontaneous, sweet-sad and poignant devotional songs.”( Gohain 1987, p.1970) Many followers of this movement also decided to abandon Sanskrit altogether, as it was considered to be the language of the Vedas and thus had a sense of purity about it, and instead preffered to sing in the local language that was spoken by the common people. More and more people from the lower castes and professions such as village artisans were also accommodated within the Bhakti movement. Due to this, the artisans found their place in the existing social structure and began to cater a wider clientele. Money transactions also replaced the existing barter system. The increase in productivity and the flow of commodities also led to the expansion and the creation of new cities and towns. The Bhakti movement also had a major impact in the political sphere at that time. The movement was widespread during the rule of the Mughal empire and thus was in many ways influenced by Islam. The heterodox bhaktas “owed a lot to Muslim sufis, who mixed with the down-trodden, illiterate masses without pretence and presumption, and practised the fellow-feeling for the creatures of god that they preached” ( Gohain 1987, p.1971). Even the Mughal rulers were influenced by the Bhakti movement. As previously mentioned, there were significant changes that had taken place in the economic section due to the Bhakti movement which had led to an increase in circulation of commodities. According to some reports made by Abdul Fazl, “Akbar the Great took special care to fix the prices of essential commodities throughout his realm on the basis of periodic studies of the market, and taxes on the people including the artisans had also been similarly fixed” ( Gohain 1987, p. 1971). Thus we can say that Akbar’s concern showed a relatively progressive role of the state in his time. The emergence of Sufism, which had also influenced the bhakti movement, also influenced Akbar to abandon Muslim orthodoxy through its new spiritual and intellectual currents. Akbar’s great grandson, Aurangzeb, on the other hand, had the opposite view. Due to the huge demands of the state on their earnings, the working class people were barely left with anything to live upon. Also, “ The alienation of the court and the feudal ruling orders from the people from his time onwards is thus suggested by such trend” ( Gohain 1987, p.1971-72) He also persecuted some of the new sects and the sufi saints. Aurangzeb’s views also influenced others as Hindu princes at the time also persecuted such new liberal trends in favour of the more rigid caste system. The Bhakti movement has also been compared to the Protestant movement of the west as even in that movement, the common people were against orthodox Christianity. One of the most famous Bhakti saints was Kabir. Even though he grew up in a family of Muslim weavers, he renounced both orthodox brahminism and orthodox Islam. According to him, aestheticism, fasting and giving alms to the poor were useless unless they were accompanied by worship. He was also unbiased towards both Hindus and Muslims and imparted his beliefs to both of them. Also, “ By criticizing the practices and rituals of both the hindus and the muslims, he showed that their differences were only at a very superficial level.” ( The social context of the Bhakti movement- A study in Kabir, Rekha Pande 1985. pp. 233-234) he also refused to acknowledge the caste system and also refused to recognize the six major schools of philosophy. Thus he was going against the domination of the Brahmins and thus we can say that for him, it was a revolt lower caste against another upper caste. Through this he rallied the masses that were the most oppressed under the brahminical dominion. In conclusion, the Bhakti movement included both Hindus and Muslims especially from the lower strata of the society and with the help of Sufism, influenced people to express their devotion to God through songs and poem and not through rituals. REFERENCES 1. Gohain, Hiren. 1987. The Labyrinth of Bhakti: On Some Questions of Medieval Indian History. ‘Economic and Political Weekly’. 22: pp. 1970-1972 2. Pande, Rekha. 1985. The Social Context of the Bhakti Movement : a study of Kabir. University of Hyderabad: pp. 230-235.
Analyzing the themes of precarity and purity in the Dystopian novel ‘ Leila’
‘Leila’ is a dystopian novel that was written by Prayaag Akbar. It was published in 2017. Dystopian literature can be defined as the way the world is supposedly going in order to provide urgent propaganda for a change in direction. ‘Leila’ is set in a futuristic and a dystopian world where the society is divided into different sectors, with each caste community having its own sector. Although a variety of tropes belonging to the dystopian genre were expressed in this novel, the themes of precarity and purity will be analyzed in this essay. The idea of ‘Indianness’ will also be explained through the quotes that have been cited from the novel. The theme of precarity can be identified through three factors- mainly social, political and ecological. The setting of the novel is set in futuristic Delhi/Mumbai. This connection can be made as throughout the novel, the term ‘sectors’ are used to describe different sections of society. This is a similar case in Delhi, where there are many locations that use the term ‘sector’ as a suffix. The novel can also be categorized as an ecological-dystopian novel. Global warming has finally taken its toll as it can be identified throughout the novel that the futuristic society has changed irrevocably due to climate change. The beginning of the climatic shift can be seen as- Every year the temperatures rose and the water problem worsened. Our fifth summer in the East End- Leila closing on three- the air was so dry you could hardly sweat. The newspapers led with panicked articles about the record-breaking heatwave. ( Akbar2017, p. 86) Through this quote, we can identify certain terms that reveal the declination of the environment. The rising of the temperature is a common characteristic of global warming. The ‘water problem’ is also a recurring issue in most of the metropolitan cities in India, especially some parts of Delhi in recent years. Also, the terms ‘panicked’ and ‘record-breaking’ are used to describe the heatwaves that are affecting society. This shows a rapid but consistent degradation of the environment. The theme of precarity, in relation to political and social factors, can be noticed through some of the terms that are used to describe buildings or a certain group of people- such as ‘The council’, ‘The Repeaters’, ‘The Walls’ etc. All of these terms work as an allegory to the current political and social structure of India. ‘The Walls’, which in the novel are used to separate the ‘pure’ sections from the ‘impure’ sections, are allegorical to some of the gated communities that exist in Gurgaon and Delhi that are used to separate the elite class from the lower strata of the society. ‘The Council’, who represent the most respected members of the society, ‘Purity One’, are the ones who implement the laws and certain rules that everyone needs to follow. ‘The Council’ works an allegory for the radical political parties in India who base their foundation in orthodox beliefs. ‘The Repeaters’ are the group of people, who act more like a violent mob, who make sure that the rules implemented by ‘The Council’ are compiled by everyone. Thus, ‘The Repeaters’ are directly allegorical to the followers of these radical political parties. The capturing of Shalini and the killing of Riz by ‘ The Repeaters’, because she was a Hindu and he was Muslim and they got married, is a representation of the communal violence that still exists between Hindus and Muslims in India. ‘The Council’ in this sense, might represent a radical political party such as the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ), who propagate the idea of inter-religious marriages. Thus these terms and their functions in the novel reflect an exaggerated version of the already dystopian reality we live in. The second trope of dystopian fiction that was predominant in ‘Leila’, was that of purity. The futuristic city itself was named ‘Purity One’. As previously mentioned, the entire society was divided into separate communities called ‘sectors’, which were divided by walls. Also- Each sector had its own caste insignia, distinctive edges, signatures, backgrounds. The tricky part must’ve been the watermark: the pyramid and, underneath that, ‘ Purity for All’.( Akbar 2017, p. 61) Through the above quote, we can grasp at the semblance of the caste system that exists in India. The dominance of the caste system can be felt as each sector was divided on the basis of caste, and each person’s position in the society was held by his/her caste. There are mentions of different sectors belonging to different castes, such as- sectors belong to ‘ Guptas’, ‘ Kanpuri Brahmins’, ‘ Salsette Catholics’, ‘ Patels’ etc. As each of these cases had their own ‘caste insignias’ and ‘signatures’, a person’s ID would also include their caste. At the same time, there was also the ‘scavenger caste’, who live outside the walls as they were ‘impure’. The thought of ostracizing a group of people on the basis of their birth is in itself dystopian. Thus the phrase ‘Purity for all’ is a perfect example of situational irony. These fictional castes in the novel can also be interpreted as being categories or even sub-categories of the four Varnas ( Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra). The elites classes, such as the ‘Kanpuri Brahmins’ belong to the upper strata of the society as they are of the Brahmin caste, while the ‘ scavenger caste’ belongs to the lower strata of the society and have to live outside the ‘Skydome’ as they belong to the Shudra caste. This is also a reflection on the current caste issues in India. The Indian fixation with purity is not only from birth but also from morality. This can be seen in the novel in the way a woman's body is always connected with this sense of ‘purity, and how it must be protected. ‘When woman gives in to carnality’, Mr. Vijay continues, a choke in his voice once again, ‘ imagine if all women gave in. You know what will come? Utter confusion. Bedlam. We are a society that needs rules. Boundaries. The ancient lines are there for a reason. ( Akbar 2017, p.172) Here the words ‘give in’ is used when expressing women’s sexuality. This portrays women as having an innate desire for sexual intercourse, and that it is a desire that one must not give in too. The terms ‘utter confusion’ and ‘Bedlam’, that are used to describe the effect of all women giving in to carnality, are also terms that could be used to describe the dystopian concurrent events. Thus the interpretation can be made that the entire dystopian society revolves around the purity of the female body. This also has the idea of ‘Indianness’ as in India, parents are overly protective of their daughters so that they remain ‘pure’. Thus, we can see identify how the tropes of precarity and purity are expressed in the dystopian novel ‘Leila’. One can also examine how some terms and instances in the novel are allegorical to the unpredictable and the unstable foundation on which India’s politics and society are embedded in. Another observation that can be made is how ‘purity’ is expressed in the novel through the caste system and through a female body. In conclusion, although the novel ‘Leila’ has its foundation in dystopian fiction, it can also be considered as speculative fiction. REFERENCES- Akbar, Prayaag. 2017. Leila. Simon & Schuster India: New Delhi
Creation Myths
Creation myths are by very nature, cosmogonical. That is to say, they deal directly withany given culture’s understanding of how the universe came to be. These myths influence the collective worldview of that culture, and shape the manner in which it relates to the natural world, and the universe at large. In this paper, I look at selected Hindu creation myths and attempt to ascribe their significance within the religio-cultural history of South Asia. Unlike many other religious cultures, cosmogonical myths in the Hindu tradition are not universal, but take shape in different textures of narrative, “each myth celebrating the belief that the universe is boundlessly various, that everything occurs simultaneously, that all possibilities may exist without excluding each other.”(Doniger, Wendy. 1975) Yet, if there is a basic pattern to these narratives, beginning with the Ŗg Veda, it is the carving out of distinguishable elements from the indistinct state of primeval cosmic flux; the idea of forming order out of chaos. Another pattern that persists through much of Hindu cosmogony is the idea of primeval incest. The Ŗg Veda speaks of an unnamed father who sheds his seed in his daughter, the spillage of which creates the world. There is very little detail offered in terms of names and context.In the Brāhmaņas, a collection of commentaries on the Vedas, this myth is expanded upon. In the AitareyaBrāhmaņa, among the older of these, the father is identified as Prajāpati, the lord of creatures. In this narrative, a certain sense of moral normativity acquires shape in the form of a fuller exploration of the consequences of incest. Here, Prajāpati takes the form of a stag and approaches his daughter-some say she was the sky, some say she was the dawn- who has taken the form of a doe. The gods, who are enraged by this, assemble a fearful deity called Rudra. Rudraasks for, as a boon, the overlordship of cattle. He then goes on to pierce Prajāpati, spilling his seed, and forming a lake. The lake is surrounded by several deities, who transform it into black and tawny cattle, the buffalo, the ox, the antelope, the ass, and the camel. From a contextual reading of this narrative, it appears that the influence of cosmogonic myths on inhabited reality goes the other way round too, and there exists a complex interplay between the two. The period in which these texts were written was a period during which humans organized themselves in largely pastoral societies. Before money could emerge as a separate institution, cattle were the most important units of wealth. (Davies, Glyn. 2002) The inclusion of cattle and other domesticated animal forms in the creation myths of that period appears to validate their sanctity and value. It is not very unusual therefore, that Rudra asks for the overlordship of cattle, when he could have asked for anything in the universe. Therefore, by seeking to understand the evolution of these myths in the context of the provenance of the divergent narratives in which they take shape, we may also understand how they shape, and are shaped by, society. ReferencesDoniger, Wendy. 1975. Hindu Myths. London: PenguinDavies, Glyn. 2002. A History Of Money. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, p.42
On which of the two paths described in text are you currently travelling? Can you think of any reasons for switching paths?
I am a teenager just stepping out into the world. The Upanishads, in the words of Death, say, “There is the path of joy, and there is the path of pleasure. Both attract the soul” (Page 7. Dialogue with Death). The almost limitless lure of ‘moh – maya’ in the form of material possessions tempt me and lead me to the path of pleasure. I do want to experience all that life has to offer because it is one way to know the world. By doing so, I will also be better educated and experienced to be able to distinguish between right and wrong. I am also aware that finally I should keep in control my giving into worldly attractions as I know these are fleeting and frivolous. The Upanishads tell us, “There is the path of wisdom and the path of ignorance. They are far apart and lead to different ends” (Page 7. Dialogue with Death). I think I am wise enough to know that in the end, it is not the worldly material pleasures which will sustain me through the tribulations of life. Rather, it is the joy of give and take, helping others, building meaningful relationships and passing on my education and experiences to others which will give me inner peace and satisfaction, and that is the real joy of life.