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Indian and Western Political Thought: Coalescence or Clash?*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Norman D. Palmer
Norman D. Palmer
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
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Extract

American political scientists are still teaching courses labeled “Comparative Government” with little or no attention to the government and politics of the largest states of the world today, and they are still teaching something called “Political Theory” or “History of Political Thought” with no more than casual reference to the ideas underlying non-Western civilizations. The neglect of Indian polity is particularly striking and particularly serious, for apart from Western political thought it comprises probably the most extensive and most important body of political philosophy. Moreover, it is an integral part of the Hindu civilization of the past and the present. That civilization, as Radha-krishnan and Toynbee, among others, have pointed out, is alien to Western civilization, although there are many similarities; and the present encounter between the two civilizations comes at a time when both are in a period of crisis and transition. Such considerations are basic to an understanding of the stresses and strains in the relations of India with the Western world. Behind the tensions that arise between the United States and India, for example, lie differences in views of life and modes of thought and conduct, complicated by uncertainty, inner struggle, sensitivity, misunderstanding, and inexperience in playing new and difficult roles.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , September 1955 , pp. 747 - 761
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1955

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References

1 An examination of any basic text in political theory will provide ample proof of this neglect. The same conclusion will be reached from a review of past programs of the American Political Science Association.

2 Toynbee, Arnold, “Civilization on Trial”, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 179, pp. 34–38 (June, 1947)Google Scholar.

3 Toynbee, Arnold, The World and the West (New York, 1953)Google Scholar, Ch. 3, “India and the West.”

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11 Ray, Samaren, “Indian Political Thought from Manu to Gandhi”, The Radical Humanist, Vol. 18, pp. 332, 336 (July 11, 1954)Google Scholar. Ray points out that even the greatest of Hindu classics, the Mahābhārata, “represents the Brahmanic side of the great controversy in ancient India between the Brahmins who wanted to maintain their supremacy on the authority of the Vedas and those who challenged the absolute authority of the Vedas and tried to build up a rational outlook and society on human values and realism.” Professor D. Mackenzie Brown has reminded me that Ray's interpretation reflects a Positivist point of view, and that many students of Indian philosophy would disagree with this interpretation.

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19 See Singh, Iqbal, The Ardent Pilgrim: An Introduction to the Life and Work of Mohammad Iqbal (London, 1951)Google Scholar. The author questions the validity of the close identification of Iqbal with the idea of Pakistan: “Though it is now customary and conventional to refer to Iqbal as the Philosopher and Poet of Pakistan, the Pakistan idea in its materialisation represents the absolute refutation of the very basis of Iqbal's political philosophy” (p. 162). Yet he admits: “Cumulatively, Iqbal by his poetry, by his political and philosophical writings, succeeded in creating an ambient and infectious mood of irrational, revivalistic fervor in which the Pakistan idea could grow and come to its fruition” (p. 156).

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34 See Kautilya's Arthaśāstra, trans, by Dr.Shamasastry, R., 4th ed. (Mysore, 1951)Google Scholar, Book 1, ch. 19, “The Duties of a King”; also Altekar, , State and Government in Ancient India, p. 17Google Scholar, and Nalin, Indira, “The Head of the State in Ancient India”, unpublished paper prepared for the South Asia Seminar at the University of Pennsylvania, 1953Google Scholar. For the Western divine right theory of kingship, see Figgis, J. N., The Theory of the Divine Right of Kings, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, Eng., 1914)Google Scholar.

35 Bandyopadhaya, , Development of Hindu Polity and Political Theories, p. viiGoogle Scholar.

36 S. P. Singh has suggested the insertion of the following statement after this sentence: “But nirvana or moksa cannot be attained without duty. Duty becomes a part of the political and social life of the modern age.” Letter to the author, dated Sept. 23, 1954.

37 See Ghoshal, A History of Hindu Political Theories.

38 Mukerji, , The State, p. 352Google Scholar.

39 N. G. D. Joardar, “The Study of Indian Polity,” unpublished paper prepared in connection with the program at which this paper was first presented.

40 Mukerji, , The State, p. 363Google Scholar.

41 Ibid., pp. 340–41.

42 Ibid., p. 192.

43 Kogekar, S. V., “Present Status of Political Science Studies in India”, in Kogekar, S. V. and Appadorai, A., Political Science in India (Delhi, 1953), p. 6Google Scholar. This is a reprint of an article which originally appeared in the International Social Science Bulletin, Vol. 4, pp. 124–29 (Spring, 1952)Google Scholar.

44 Appadorai, A., “Progress of Political Science in India”, in Kogekar, and Appadorai, , Political Science in India, p. 15Google Scholar. This is a reprint of a paper which was originally published in Contemporary Political Science (UNESCO, 1950)Google Scholar.

45 Schweitzer, Albert, Indian Thought and Its Development (New York, 1936), p. 228Google Scholar.

46 Mangudkar, M. P., “Gandhi's Contribution to Modern Political Thought”, The Radical Humanist, Vol. 17, pp. 545, 548, 575–76 (Nov. 15 and 29, 1953)Google Scholar.

47 The concept of the relation between ends and means is deep-rooted in the Hindu political and religious tradition. Gandhi did his best to elevate it to a practical principle of statecraft, while at the same time he emphasized its deeper meaning. Madame Pandit has given a striking illustration of the Mahatma's faith in this concept. Her last interview with Gandhi occurred about a month before his assassination, while she was preparing to return to Moscow for the last two months of her service as Indian Ambassador to the Soviet Union and shortly before she was scheduled to go to the United States as Indian Ambassador. Since she visited Gandhi on a Monday, which was his day of silence, the Mahatma communicated his thoughts to her in writing. The message which he asked her to convey to the governments and peoples of Russia and America was as follows: “What India is trying to say to the world is a constant challenge to our power of interpretation and can be repeated to both Moscow and Washington. It is the essence of our creed and fundamental to an understanding of our way of life as well as our political stand. You know what I think—the end in itself is not important—unless the means we follow to achieve it are right. The countries of the Western world would do well to try to understand this. It is what you must explain to the people of America. Until the implications of this are clear to them, there will be no appreciation either now or in the days ahead of the stand our country will take on important issues.” Pandit, Madame Vijaya Lakshmi, “India to America: The Position of India in World Politics”, in “Perspective of India,” Supplement to the Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 192, pp. 107–09 (Oct., 1953)Google Scholar.

48 N. G. D. Joardar has offered the following trenchant observations regarding the doctrines of ahimsā and satyāgraha: “The eagerness to stand for truth in all aspects of life, which is the essence of satya-graha, and to carry out the program without any kind of violence in thought and speech, far less in action, which forms the kernel of ahimsa are excellent principles, worthy of admiration. But they are essentially the privilege of the spiritual elite. The man in the street has neither the insight nor the courage to follow the doctrines. They charm him, however, and he blindly follows the lead of somebody who sets himself up as the apostle of the twin principles. I believe that satya-graha and ahimsa are as aristocratic as the position of the Brahmins in the caste system. In bringing the mountain-tops of the spiritual world to the sordid affairs of politics, Mahatma purified it to some extent but I do believe that its practice does not coincide with the voting role of the majority rule which is the basis of democracy.” These views would undoubtedly be challenged by many interpreters of Indian ways of thought and action; but certainly Gandhi's views on ahimsā and satyāgraha were of an exalted nature which few lesser persons could even comprehend in their full dimensions, much less accept and implement. One may also suggest that in Gandhi's mind the two concepts were refined and clarified, and given a scope and an application which were without parallel in Indian history. Possibly, also, Gandhi's interpretations differed rather fundamentally from the traditional approach. Albert Schweitzer has expressed this opinion: “In Gandhi's ethical life Ahimsā becomes a different thing from what it was in the thought of ancient India …. The ancient Indian Ahimsā is an expression of world and life negation …. But Gandhi places Ahimsā at the service of world and life affirmation directed to activity in the world.” Indian Thought and Its Development, pp. 227, 231.

49 In January, 1953 about a dozen of the world's leading thinkers came to New Delhi, at the invitation of the Government of India, to participate in a “Seminar on the Contributions of the Gandhian Outlook and Techniques to the Solution of Tensions between and within Nations.” It was a well-deserved tribute to the greatest of modern Indians, whose thoughts and message extended far beyond the borders of his own country.

50 Northrop, , The Meeting of East and West, p. 405Google Scholar.

51 Radhakrishnan, , Eastern Religions and Western Thought, p. 115Google Scholar.

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