"Three Days" - An episode from the Ramayana @authoramish @bibekdebroy

As the sky turned grey, his companions grew uneasy. It had been three days. He sat there, still, without moving an inch, hands folded in prayer. His dark, lean frame sat erect in padmasana, spine unwavering. Strands of Rama's unkempt beard, & disheveled, long hair, resisted the wind. It had started drizzling. Rivulets of rainwater traced his muscles, dripping down from the edges of his elbows, tracing the curvature of his sinews. His form almost glowed in the dark with a bluish hue

A mature society realizes the limits of government. It is just one of the many institutions through which we address 'some' of our needs. Other community-level institutions have an important role to play. If govt collapses for some reason, a society should be able to survive. Heavily authoritarian systems, like China, tend to eliminate any other social institution which might exist between the individual & the state. The individual also becomes a creation of the state. In such a system, a collapse of the state means collapse of a civilization.

On Six Schools of Indian Philosophy or "षट-दर्शन" -six ways to "behold reality":
-Samkhya -by Mahrsi Kapila
-Yoga -by Mahrisi Patanjali
-Nyaya -by Mahrsi Gautam
-Vaisesika -by Mahrsi Kanada
-Mimansa -by Mahrsi Jaimini
-Vedanta -by Badrayana (later strengthened by Adi Sankara) Each of these systems is an exhaustive way to make sense of reality. The fact that they are translated as "philosophy" is slightly problematic- because philosophy is the "study of", while darshan is "the experience/vision of". "Darshan" in essence, merges epistemology & ontology.

Its amazing that someone like Sage Kanada, who lived in 2nd-3rd century CE, had propounded an entire metaphysics (Vaisesika) based on a fundamental-particle concept - the 'Anu' or atom. It reconciles materiality with a theistic world-view that God's will drives these particles. Vaisesika's treatment of the mind, elements & the particle forms, along with theistic prime-mover, is highly sophisticated. Later Vaisesika thinkers, like Udayanacharya, argued that even if we have a world created by fundamental particles, we still need a primary source, or cause

Friedrich Schlegel (1772-1829), one of the first German intellectuals to engage with Indian culture, was the first one to propose that European civilization was an off-shoot of the Indian one. He speculated of the possibility that Indian civilization had emigrated to Europe. In Europe, Hindu ideas were used both, to defend & critique Christianity. Critics argued that antiquity of Hindu philo, its monotheism, proved that Bible wasn't unique. Supporters argued that antiquity & Hinduism's resemblance to Christianity proved that Bible was indeed, divine.

On Arthashastra
Kautilya, or Acharya Vishnugupta Chanakya, as we know him–starts his magnum opus with a very interesting declaration –that his own work is “a compendium of...almost all the Arthasástras.. composed by ancient teachers”. So we know its part of tradition. This declaration is preceded by obeisance to Sukra & Brahaspati (preceptors of Asuras & Devas, respectively) – in that order. Kautilya’s Arthasastra is divided into 15 books/sub-books or parts. These are –
1. Concerning Discipline
2. The Duties of Government Superintendents

Weaponization of social justice as a tool for identity politics is a disservice to the cause of social justice itself. It transforms desirable empathetic social cohesion into undesirable social competition. It strengthens the very faultlines it promises to eradicate. When the understanding of social justice becomes rooted in the conflict perspective, it becomes just another form of license for violence against a new "other". A narrative of war disguised as a social justice mission only exploits the cause towards it's own selfish ends.

In a post-Covid world, corporate India has a tremendous opportunity for positively influencing society. Given the re-centering of work primarily around online mode/WFH, companies can very well think in terms of decentralized functioning where new recruits are not required.. ..to shift full-time to big cities like Pune, Bangaluru, Gurugram etc.

This will have positive implications for growth of economies of smaller-cities. Tier-II cities might see rise in supprt services like co-working & also receive spending from the salaried class so created.

धर्मार्थ-काम-मोक्षाणाम्, उपदेश-समन्वितम्
पूर्व-वृत्त-कथा-युक्तम् इतिहासं प्रचक्षते
- Brihad Bhagavatamrita

Scriptures which guide us to the attainment of Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha- which include both, actually events & stories- are called इति-ह-आस - "that is how it happened".. We therefore, understand how exactly, is इतिहास, or iti-ha-aas, epistemologically different from the western concept of "history". History is a recording of events, from one perspective or the other. इतिहास, on the other hand, is a didactic tool. Its purpose is to provide..

Had the opportunity of visiting Rani ki Vav, Patan (Pic 1) & Surya Mandir at Modhera (Pic 2), Gujarat. Stepping inside these campuses sends a chill down your spine. The sheer audacity of the skill & vision of those who built these structures 1000 years ago is incomprehensible. Rani ki Vav is built 4 stories below the ground, as an inverted temple. It honors water, & is a water harvesting structure. Built about 1000 yrs ago, it represents the zenith of sustainable dev policy, maru-gurjara architecture, exquisite sculpture, devotion & spirituality.

Shastras state that if proper government is absent in any given territory, "matsya nyaya" or "law of the oceans", prevails. This means that in the absence of a sovereign power, the strong will necessarily exploit the weak, like big fish eating small ones in the ocean. The lens provides an opportunity. One of the best ways to judge the efficacy of any governance system is, therefore, the metric of matsya nyay, which directly indicates the degree of influence the state can exert while mediating between parties with disproportionate social power.

One of the key reasons why Indian civic life is disorderly is because there is only partial congruence between constitutional values & social values among our people. The benevolent state project had imagined that one day in the distant future, people will get over the obsession ..with native culture & embrace constitutionalism completely -something the great Indian upper middle class has aspired to do & internalized successfully. Yet, majority of Indians across religions/ identities have refused to let constitutional values seep in their daily lives..

Yoga offers the most brilliant opportunity for creating a new basis for knowledge, science & technology. This is because Yoga presents a synthesis of consciousness & its physical effects through an ontology other than that based on causal logic. It means that the universe... can be understood through means other than the scalpel of cause & effect. It deals with the most basic questions of life,death, suffering,experience & action in a way which allows immense space for contradictions to flourish n complement each other.

Beautiful picture.
But think about this as well-
how often do we see photographs of people in jeans, t-shirts or three piece suits, declaring "traditional European man/woman wearing traditional clothing"?
This is how the "exotic" must surrender to the examination of the "normal".

https://twitter.com/archeohistories/status/1441140970846781446

Exoticisation proceeds through the anthropological gaze - where the lives of others are presented as artifacts of amusement or examination. This normalizes the relationship between the observer & the observed as not that of mutual respect, but that of powerful & powerless.

Colonialism proceeds with the destruction of sacred geography because that is where the cultural & real worlds merge to form a bond. When any culturally significant city or region is plundered & renamed, there is a chink in the armour of the colonized. Their truths are negated. There is a reason that even in democratic, independent countries, political parties want to "mark territory" by naming maximum number of lanes, routes, parks n places after their own leaders n events. That is a way of creating a new sacred geography.

Indigenous knowledge, repackaged as an exotic anthropological offerring, gains the "value addition" which all other raw materials of the south receive in the factories of the north. The global intellectual & material supply chains are identical in this regard & mimick each other. This means that "veganism", "mindfulness", "coherent breathing" are "finished products", because the "intellectual raw material" has now been processed for the global palate. This product can now be taken off the shelf & readily consumed without risk of cultural contamination.

Kinship structures (familial relationships) in indigenous societies are not anthropocentric. They involve non-humans & so called non-living entities as well. This is the world view of "man as nature" & not "man against nature" 1/5 When we as Indians treat our rivers as mothers (Ma Ganga, Ma Yamuna, Maa Rewa), or feed our ancestors through crows, or show reverence towards the peepal tree, we refresh these kinship structures with nature, reinforcing that we ARE nature & not apart from it 2/5

European modernity was always exported to the colonized world as a form of oppression. It uprooted native ways of life, broke natural relationships & replaced them with new ones. It annihilated native views of reality & rationality. "Itihaas" for example, became "mythology" 1/5 It doesnt mean that its ideas arent worthwhile. But its ontological position is that of a colonizer. Any analysis, or politics, which espouses european progressivism needs to be self aware about the hierarchical nature of its vocabulary & vision. For eg. "individual rights" 2/5