Questioning the Western idea of reason through Hindu philosophy: An analysis of The Circle of Reason by Amitav Ghosh
The Western idea of reason and science has always been one of the most important tools used by Europeans in the colonial project to define the differentiation between native and European and the hierarchy between these two groups. In the context of Indian civilization, Europeans built their own ster...
| Published in: | International journal of Dharma Studies |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
SpringerOpen
[2016]
|
| In: |
International journal of Dharma Studies
Year: 2016, Volume: 4 |
| Further subjects: | B
The Circle of Reason
B Amitav Ghosh B Gu?as B Reason |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
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| 520 | |a The Western idea of reason and science has always been one of the most important tools used by Europeans in the colonial project to define the differentiation between native and European and the hierarchy between these two groups. In the context of Indian civilization, Europeans built their own stereotype through the emphasis on the supposed superiority of analytical reason and of Western science, while they also built the image of Indians as passive, religious, and illogical beings. One of the characteristics of postcolonialism, however, is the questioning of these "prerogatives" by reconfiguring or instrumentalizing the features that were once subjugated by European colonialism. Thus, the post-colonial fiction becomes a vital instrument for working with these stereotypes without the constraints imposed by the technicality of scientific text, which still suffers from the prejudices of Western binary division between science and religion or spirituality. The Indian writer Amitav Ghosh is a master at questioning the European colonial principles through critical reinterpretation of Indian popular and philosophical/religious knowledge. Through the literary analysis of Ghosh's first novel The Circle of Reason (1986), I intend to demonstrate how he subdues the glorification of reason and Western science exemplified by phrenology, sanitation, sewing machines, etc. To accomplish this, I will focus on his strategy of naming the three parts of the novel after the three guṇas (sattva, rajas and tamas) as well as the use of other references to Hindu philosophy such as Nachiketa, the main character of the Kaṭha Upaniṣad and the concept of māyā in the depiction of characters. Although some critics have paid relatively little attention to Ghosh's use of Hindu philosophy, with some of them even suggesting its irrelevance to understand the novel, I argue that these elements appropriated from Hindu philosophy are fundamental to the understanding of the main dimension of the novel. Hindu philosophy then becomes not just Ghosh's critical tool to question the Western monolithic view that establishes only one form of rationality as the legitimate one, but also the main theoretical tool for the present literary analysis. | ||
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