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A review by shrutibhati
The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity by Amartya Sen
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
“the identity of an individual is essentially a function of her choices, rather than the discovery of an immutable attribute”
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“The Vedas may be full of hymns and religious invocations, but they also tell stories, speculate about the world and – true to the argumentative propensity already in view – ask difficult questions. A basic doubt concerns the very creation of the world: did someone make it, was it a spontaneous emergence, and is there a God who knows what really happened?”
.
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I’ve listened to some speeches and talks by Amartya Sen but this was my very first book. The book is published in the form of 16 independent essays. The first few chapters seem a little repetitive and Sen seems to talk more about what and why of the essay rather than the actual topic. Push through the elaborate long-winded sentences and you walk away with some serious food for thought. Looking back, I really regret not taking enough notes while reading this book. Let me try and summarize some of the topics that stood out to me. .
Sen underlines the importance of viewing India as a melting pot of different religions and cultures. And more importantly it is the prevalence of healthy debates, conversations and arguments which has enabled the people to thrive around these cultures. He gives examples from Akbar and Ashoka’s rule. Be warned - you might see quite of bit an anti-BJP/anti-Hindutva vibe to the essays. I picked this up at an odd time too - smack in the middle of the 2019 Kashmir crisis which was followed by the very controversial NRC/CAB bills put forth by the Indian Government.
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Sen goes onto to talk about the importance of bringing Indian culture to the foreign lands. He claims that a lot of the modern ideas of democracy and tolerance(despite what the media/current events will have you believe) originated in the Indian subcontinent and were adopted largely by other countries. His discussions on societal divisions on the basis of caste, gender, class are really hard hitting and enlightening. A lot of these topics seem rather bland and boring but the urgency and optimism with which Sen talks about makes you interested. He is extremely honest in his views and opinions. The book is filled with a lot of footnotes - this is a scholarly work and should be approached with that mindset. The next time I pick this up for a re-read, I’m definitely going to keep a notebook by my side :)
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One of my favorite parts of the book was his essay on Tagore and Gandhi - how the two sometimes vastly differed in their approaches/opinions to India’s freedom but staunchly supported each other too. I followed this book up by reading Tagore’s essays on Nationalism(a separate post to follow for that).
.
.
“The Vedas may be full of hymns and religious invocations, but they also tell stories, speculate about the world and – true to the argumentative propensity already in view – ask difficult questions. A basic doubt concerns the very creation of the world: did someone make it, was it a spontaneous emergence, and is there a God who knows what really happened?”
.
.
I’ve listened to some speeches and talks by Amartya Sen but this was my very first book. The book is published in the form of 16 independent essays. The first few chapters seem a little repetitive and Sen seems to talk more about what and why of the essay rather than the actual topic. Push through the elaborate long-winded sentences and you walk away with some serious food for thought. Looking back, I really regret not taking enough notes while reading this book. Let me try and summarize some of the topics that stood out to me. .
Sen underlines the importance of viewing India as a melting pot of different religions and cultures. And more importantly it is the prevalence of healthy debates, conversations and arguments which has enabled the people to thrive around these cultures. He gives examples from Akbar and Ashoka’s rule. Be warned - you might see quite of bit an anti-BJP/anti-Hindutva vibe to the essays. I picked this up at an odd time too - smack in the middle of the 2019 Kashmir crisis which was followed by the very controversial NRC/CAB bills put forth by the Indian Government.
.
Sen goes onto to talk about the importance of bringing Indian culture to the foreign lands. He claims that a lot of the modern ideas of democracy and tolerance(despite what the media/current events will have you believe) originated in the Indian subcontinent and were adopted largely by other countries. His discussions on societal divisions on the basis of caste, gender, class are really hard hitting and enlightening. A lot of these topics seem rather bland and boring but the urgency and optimism with which Sen talks about makes you interested. He is extremely honest in his views and opinions. The book is filled with a lot of footnotes - this is a scholarly work and should be approached with that mindset. The next time I pick this up for a re-read, I’m definitely going to keep a notebook by my side :)
.
One of my favorite parts of the book was his essay on Tagore and Gandhi - how the two sometimes vastly differed in their approaches/opinions to India’s freedom but staunchly supported each other too. I followed this book up by reading Tagore’s essays on Nationalism(a separate post to follow for that).