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kira28's review against another edition
The book is a couple of decades old so a lot of the information in it is old. This is a book that would've benefitted me maybr a decade or more ago when i had half formed ideas about a lot of the things and might have needed books like this to get a better understanding but now it just feels like an echo chamber where i'm just going "yes", "exactly" while reading. I do not think i am learning anything new or different from what i already know or believe. I atleast want my non fiction reads to awaken a desire in me to read more books to get more knowledge. This is not a criticism of the book. This is an important book and it is a book that should be read by people eho might actually benefit from these ideas that they might not have come across before. And who knows, I might pick it up again when i am in a better mood.
viveknshah's review against another edition
3.0
This is not for light reading! My first mistake hence took me a while to get into the right mode to digest this verbose curation of Sen's thoughts on things Indian. Some resonate in today's Indian debate on secularism, tolerance, nationalism ... topics he touches in his journey. This is for those who have a heavy academic interest into the notion of India and want different perspectives as they go through their research. Sen puts down a lot of points in a very logical viewpoint with supporting facts before he colors his opinion on it, some I may agree, some I remain indifferent, some I disagree.
My plus was the breadth he tried reaching via this book to define India across the non mainstream metrics we usually get bombarded with.
My plus was the breadth he tried reaching via this book to define India across the non mainstream metrics we usually get bombarded with.
ashnar's review against another edition
5.0
This is a thought-provoking perspective on Indian history that refutes both Western Orientalist and Hindu Nationalist readings of the Subcontinent. The essays are especially relevant now amid the ascendancy of Hindu Nationalist ideology in India and give Indians a historical and cultural platform from which to defend secularism and diversity.
rohinipk's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
krayfish1's review against another edition
3.0
The book is a very long argument against Hindutva, the BJP, and other people who say that India should prioritize the Hindu religion in its laws. Many of the arguments for India being Hindu are based in cherry-picked historical events, and so the author dives into a historical look at the multi-religious, multicultural history of India.
Repeatedly made points:
Akbar (a muslim emperor of India from ~1500) held several meetings of people of different religions to promote religious harmony in the empire.
Alberuni (Iranian astronomer & mathematician from ~1000) translated Indian scientific and mathematical works and brought them to the Arabic speaking world
Ashoka (emperor, 3rd century BCE) developed rules for public discussion between people with very different views, and was Buddhist
The great Indian epics have large sections talking about atheism
"Asian values" (meaning Confucian hierarchy & tradition) are being touted by authoritarian governments, and are very narrow in scope; actual Asian values are much more varied.
Chapters:
1. Indians have always been prone to long public debates, everybody gets to debate, including women, atheists, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Parsees, Sikhs, Baha'is, etc.
3. Hindutva & the BJP suck
5. Rabindranath Tagore is the coolest.
7. The West talks about India in really biased ways and it affects the way India sees itself, so lets take a look at that. (Exoticism emphasizes what's different, curiosity emphasizes whats different, preparing British people to go rule there is super dismissive) (dismissiveness and exoticism combine to say that India is not very rational or scientific even though that's not true).
8. China and India had lots of trade and relations with each other. It wasn't just information about Buddhism that was traveling back and forth, there was public health, mathematics, linguistics, technology, etc. traveling between them as well.
10. When attempting to fix inequality, sometimes policies have unintended consequences, i.e. government buys up food to have a stock of emergency food and also tries to keep food prices high to help farmers, but there are a lot of people who can't afford food and are undernourished. Or: teachers were being oppressed and so teacher protections were increased, but now poor parents can't do anything when teacher just decide not to show up for work.
11. India has to do better about gender inequality. Efforts to increase agency of women, like literacy seem to be effective. The author did a lot of research on how many women are "missing" due to sex-selective abortions or inadequate health care (compared to men).
12. It was really stupid of the BJP to do nuclear testing in 1998.
15. The Hindu calendar isn't the oldest calendar in India, the Buddhist one is probably older, also one of the other Hindu calendars was based off of work done by a Muslim emperor, we have always had exchanges of ideas going on, why are y'all being separatist, isolationist, my-culture-is-better-than-your-culture jerks??
Repeatedly made points:
Akbar (a muslim emperor of India from ~1500) held several meetings of people of different religions to promote religious harmony in the empire.
Alberuni (Iranian astronomer & mathematician from ~1000) translated Indian scientific and mathematical works and brought them to the Arabic speaking world
Ashoka (emperor, 3rd century BCE) developed rules for public discussion between people with very different views, and was Buddhist
The great Indian epics have large sections talking about atheism
"Asian values" (meaning Confucian hierarchy & tradition) are being touted by authoritarian governments, and are very narrow in scope; actual Asian values are much more varied.
Chapters:
1. Indians have always been prone to long public debates, everybody gets to debate, including women, atheists, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Parsees, Sikhs, Baha'is, etc.
3. Hindutva & the BJP suck
5. Rabindranath Tagore is the coolest.
7. The West talks about India in really biased ways and it affects the way India sees itself, so lets take a look at that. (Exoticism emphasizes what's different, curiosity emphasizes whats different, preparing British people to go rule there is super dismissive) (dismissiveness and exoticism combine to say that India is not very rational or scientific even though that's not true).
8. China and India had lots of trade and relations with each other. It wasn't just information about Buddhism that was traveling back and forth, there was public health, mathematics, linguistics, technology, etc. traveling between them as well.
10. When attempting to fix inequality, sometimes policies have unintended consequences, i.e. government buys up food to have a stock of emergency food and also tries to keep food prices high to help farmers, but there are a lot of people who can't afford food and are undernourished. Or: teachers were being oppressed and so teacher protections were increased, but now poor parents can't do anything when teacher just decide not to show up for work.
11. India has to do better about gender inequality. Efforts to increase agency of women, like literacy seem to be effective. The author did a lot of research on how many women are "missing" due to sex-selective abortions or inadequate health care (compared to men).
12. It was really stupid of the BJP to do nuclear testing in 1998.
15. The Hindu calendar isn't the oldest calendar in India, the Buddhist one is probably older, also one of the other Hindu calendars was based off of work done by a Muslim emperor, we have always had exchanges of ideas going on, why are y'all being separatist, isolationist, my-culture-is-better-than-your-culture jerks??
tanvika's review against another edition
4.0
Amartya sen is a noted economist.but he is not only a specialist.his influences are varied and unorthodox.schooled at shantinektan, his interaction with art and history, makes his work very rich in diversity and heterodoxy.it does throw new light to old subjects.
The most refreshing argument is made in India itself. The idea of an old,traditional, mystic India is incomplete.india has always harbored the eccentric ones like Buddha,mahavira.even materialism was a major school of philosophy: carvaka.
Nextly,i was impressed by his view of the Hindu religion. it is an inclusive, accommodative religion which has been able to intermix with different cultures. it also attacks the narrow,ultranationalism hindutva version.
Then, there is also an fresh take on the issue of ' identity'. sen states that identities isn't a static monolithic since birth.an individual has multiple identities which take precedence according to the situation.he clearly is an advocate for multiculturalism and harmonious coexistence
The essay on gender talks about the missing girl child in India.a national dataset is quite simplistic.regional data is used to show the skewed sex ratio in prosperous states. interestingly Bangladesh does perform better than India in social indicators. the gender inequality solution suggested by sen lays emphasis not only on economic empowerment but also pschyological growth of women.
There is also some in-depth and warm chapters on Tagore and satyajit raj.
It's a sober,sensitive, well written work relevant in the present era marked by phobias and fanatism.
The most refreshing argument is made in India itself. The idea of an old,traditional, mystic India is incomplete.india has always harbored the eccentric ones like Buddha,mahavira.even materialism was a major school of philosophy: carvaka.
Nextly,i was impressed by his view of the Hindu religion. it is an inclusive, accommodative religion which has been able to intermix with different cultures. it also attacks the narrow,ultranationalism hindutva version.
Then, there is also an fresh take on the issue of ' identity'. sen states that identities isn't a static monolithic since birth.an individual has multiple identities which take precedence according to the situation.he clearly is an advocate for multiculturalism and harmonious coexistence
The essay on gender talks about the missing girl child in India.a national dataset is quite simplistic.regional data is used to show the skewed sex ratio in prosperous states. interestingly Bangladesh does perform better than India in social indicators. the gender inequality solution suggested by sen lays emphasis not only on economic empowerment but also pschyological growth of women.
There is also some in-depth and warm chapters on Tagore and satyajit raj.
It's a sober,sensitive, well written work relevant in the present era marked by phobias and fanatism.
adamjcalhoun's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not sure what to say about this book; it got a bit boring and repetitive so I stopped reading halfway through. There are a lot of Indians that like to argue, apparently, and they've done so for a while. It goes into different intellectual traditions, etc, etc, but you really only need to read the first three or so essays to get the gist of the whole book.