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org

Re-looking Indian Philosophy for the 21st Century

Dr. S. Panneerselvam
Department of Philosophy, University of Madras, Chennai
sps@md4.vsnl.net.in

Philosophy consists of reflection on mans

experience in relation to himself. But a reflection on
ones experience is based on what type of philosophy
one is subscribing to. By type of philosophy, we mean
whether one is rooted in ones own tradition or rooted
in borrowed tradition of the west. If a person
develops his reflection on a borrowed tradition, then
one must also see how far this will help. K.
Satchidananda Murty in his book, Philosophy in
India, 1 argues that there were three different
conceptions of philosophy prevailed in India at different
periods. (i) Philosophy as the rational, critical and
illuminating review of the contents of theology,
economics and political science and also as the right
instrument and foundation of all action and duty, which
helps one to achieve intellectual balance, (dnvikiki),
(ii) Philosophy as a system of ideas comprising
epistemology, metaphysics and ethics, (darsana) and
(iii) Philosophy as the intuitive network of views
regarding man, his nature and destiny, nature and the
Ultimate Reality or God (popular philosophy). Of these,
the second conception is found in Sanskrit, Pali and
Prakrit sources and the third is expressed in other
Indian languages. Philosophers in India are concerned
with all the three conceptions of philosophy though
philosophers choose their conceptions based on their
interest. But a total understanding of Indian philosophy
becomes complete only through the understanding of
all three conceptions of philosophy taken together.
When Indian philosophy was dwindling under
the yoke of British rule, and English missionaries with
a view to exposing weakness of Indian thought and
culture and establishing superiority of their own, writing
books and translating a number of religious and
philosophic works in Sanskrit, a new wave of
consciousness was created in India. The coming of
the Europeans and the establishment of a vast British

Empire on Indian soil in the 19th century, no doubt,

opened a new chapter in the cultural and political history
of India. The Orientalists have made an attempt to revive
Indian philosophy. The western knowledge based Indian
intellectuals had their visions coloured by the western
world. They began to judge Indian concepts in western
terms. The dynamic civilization of the west began to
break the age-old Indian traditions and ideals. At one
stage, it was even felt that the ancient Indian civilization
would just be replaced by the western. Rammohun Roy,
the father of Modern India emerged during this period,
followed by Swami Vivekananda, Swami Rama Tirtha
and others. These western educated Indians were
appalled at the plight of their countrymen who were
reluctant to leave their ancestral heritage and embrace
the alien cultural patterns and values imposed on them.
The translation of many ancient Sanskrit texts into English
by the Orientalists and their publication by the Clarendon
Press, Oxford, under the general title Sacred Books
of the East helped the Indians to know the significance
of their rich spiritual heritage. They felt the need to defend
it. But they also understood the necessity of
accommodating and absorbing certain trends of western
civilization, into the fabric of Indian culture, without
affecting the essential root bases of the ancient past. In
order to suit modern conditions, they sought to revise
their ancient pattern of thoughts. They interpreted for
example, the Vedanta texts in the light of the ideas
stemmed from the west by means of their intuitive
experiences and offered the necessary ethos best suited
to the Indian mind in the modern context. The west is a
symbol of the new age as well as new knowledge to
Roy and Vivekananda. Roy who had his spiritual roots
firmly in the Vedanta also had profound knowledge of
the great philosophical thoughts of the west. Different
western movements were familiar to him. It was he who
had put India on the march towards progress and
freedom. In the works of Roy, Aurobindo,

National Seminar on Indian Philosophy: Its Relevance in the 21st Century - 18 th & 19 th January, 2008

Joshi - Bedekar College, Thane / website : www.vpmthane.org

8
Radhakrishnan and others we find a conscious attempt
to reverse the direction in which the western-oriented
intellectuals had previously studied Indian thought.
Instead of assessing Indian ideas in western terms, they
assessed western ideas in Indian terms.
Contemporary Indian philosophy took an
important dimension in 1917 and scholars classify the
development of contemporary Indian philosophy into
two periods: (1) The period from 1917 to 1947 and
(2) from 1947 onwards. During 1917-1920, two
important events took place in Indian history. Gandhi
became the leader of the national liberation movement
in 1917 and Aurobindos philosophy became
prominence. Aurobindo was dissatisfied with the
traditional as well as the western Indologists way of
understanding the Vedas. He made a significant
contribution in shaping the contemporary Indian
philosophy. For this reason, some consider him as the
father of contemporary Indian philosophy. Similarly,
Radhakrishnan as an interpreter of Indian thought gave
a new direction to Indian philosophy. His commentaries
on the texts were always refreshingly original. He firmly
believed that his role as a commentator was to disclose
the relevance and the topicality of the central truths of
the scriptures to our nuclear age.
During the post-independence period, three
important works on contemporary Indian philosophy
were published by the modern scholars teaching in
different Universities. They are as follows: 1. Current
Trends in Indian Philosophy, (1972) (eds.) K.
Satchidananda Murty and K. Ramakrishna Rao, 2.
Contemporary Indian Philosophy (second series)
(1974) (ed.) Margaret Chatterjee and 3. Indian
Philosophy To-day, (1975) (ed.) N.K. Devaraja. It
has been generally viewed that the above works
published during 1970-80, mainly examine western
philosophical thinking. The articles published in these
books deal with western philosophical issues and
discussions on Indian philosophy is comparatively less.
Hence there has been a criticism that Indian Philosophy
has lost its direction and if at all it has to survive, there
must be some direction. Why did this problem occur?
The problems that are faced by Indian philosophers
are partly due to lack of Sanskrit knowledge and also
partly due to the influence of the anti-metaphysical trend
in Anglo-American analytical philosophy has produced

a rift, a sort of crisis of communication among traditional

scholars.
We can classify philosophers in India into three
major groups: (1) Group of philosophers who are well
trained in classical Indian tradition but lack both the
knowledge of any foreign language and the tools of
philosophizing. (2) Group of philosophers who are
basically trained in western philosophy, especially in
existentialism, phenomenology and analytical
philosophies. These philosophers altogether reject
Indian philosophy and they believe that Indian
philosophy has nothing to contribute and (3) The group
of philosophers who are good both in western and Indian
philosophy; these philosophers try to apply the western
models or tools to Indian philosophical problems. It is
the third group of philosophers who could bring a real
change in Indian philosophy. How far we are
productive? How are our indigenous methods or
techniques acceptable? Are we prepared to accept
something from other culture to suit us? What does
translation of western ideas into our own native idea
mean? All these questions can be addressed to the third
group of philosophers, as they alone are capable of
answering and solving the problems of philosophy. The
Sanskrit pundits, belonging to the first group are not in
a position to translate their ideas into any of the foreign
of languages and hence the outsider finds it difficult to
understand them. The western philosophers living in
India, i.e., the second group of philosophers write
mainly for the Indian scholars in India. Suresh Chandra
points out that Indian scholars writing on western
literature is not taken seriously by the west.2 Thus the
future of Indian philosophy depends on the synthetic
and assimilative approach of Indian philosophers
towards contemporary western philosophy. The Indian
philosopher of to day must, widen his perspective and
sharpen his philosophic tools through a thorough and
careful study of a balanced assimilation of the
movements of contemporary western philosophy. In
other words, we must become philosophically alive
and active.3
1
. K. Satchidandana Murty, Philosophy in India, Indian
Council of Philosophical Research, New Delhi and Motilal
Banarsidass, New Delhi, 1991, p.vii.
2
. Suresh Chandras Report, in Philosophy in India , Ibid.,
p. 151.
3
. Ibid., p. 152.

National Seminar on Indian Philosophy: Its Relevance in the 21st Century - 18 th & 19 th January, 2008

Joshi - Bedekar College, Thane / website : www.vpmthane.org

Many contemporary Indian philosophers have

shown the need and the method to evolve a truly
modern way of doing philosophy. There are
philosophers who talk about establishing a creative
philosophical tradition in India which self-consciously
takes up that core-tradition, and perceives itself as
continuing the discussion of the themes, issues and
problems formulated in, and arising out of, that tradition,
no matter in what language and irrespective of the
geographical and socio-political loyalty of the author.

9
Sibajiban Bhattacharyyas usage of mathematical logic
to represent Navya-Nyaya, B. K. Matilals application
of analytical philosophy to understand Ny ya realism,
J.N. Mohantys application of Husserlian concept of
phenomenology to Indian philosophical problems,
Ganeswar Mishras linguistic and analytic trends to
interpret Advaita, and R. Balasubramanians
phenomenological model for understanding Advaita are
all creative methods which show a direction for the future
of Indian Philosophy.

National Seminar on Indian Philosophy: Its Relevance in the 21st Century - 18 th & 19 th January, 2008