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Colonial Indology and identity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Dilip K. Chakrabarti
Dilip K. Chakrabarti*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, England
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Extract

This paper argues that Indian identity, as built within the colonial Indological framework of race, language and culture and its Aryan–non-Aryan dichotomy, is unacceptable to modern India and Indians. It is unacceptable because of its emphasis on the notion of Aryan invasion and the subjugation of, and interaction with, the native population. This notion, the key element of ancient Indian history, culture and archaeology, keeps a vast segment of Indian population away from a sense of positive participation in the country's past. Further, the key ingredient of this notion is the Indian Vedic literature, which thus makes it primarily a textual notion, and as long as it persists, the Indian upper castes, who ipso facto are given a place in the Aryan ruling order, have no particular reason to seek a primarily archaeologybased past for themselves. However, before we examine these twin formulations in some detail, it might be useful to look at how the question of identity is emerging as a major phenomenon in India in current years.

Keywords

IndiaAsiaidentityIndologyAryancolonialism
Type
Special section
Information
Antiquity , Volume 74 , Issue 285 , September 2000 , pp. 667 - 671
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2000

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