Fil Yu. S. The Hindu Westernized Elites of Northern India (1858–1921)

Fil Yu. S. The Hindu Westernized Elites of Northern India (1858–1921). Kiev: A. Krymsky Institute of Oriental Studies of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, 2018. 220 p. (in Ukrainian)

SUMMARY

The book is devoted to the Hindu elites in North India during the period of 1858–1921 from the time of Government of India Act 1858 till Indian National Congress session in Ahmedabad when satyagraha tactic turned from private initiative of Gandhi to officially accepted national politics. From that time a new period of westernization which has many anti-Western displays was started.

The monograph reveals the main particularities of forming westernized elites among Hindus in the region and their ideology. Using such methodological instruments as “traditionalist – modernist” gradation of the response on Western culture proposed by Indian historian B. Parekh, the instrument of division westernization on 4 phases (imitative, assimilative, asseverative, creative), the civilization approach by Arnold J. Toynbee and by S. Hantington (three options for a developing nation: rejectionism, reformism, kemalism), author analyse the political, economical, ideological background of the Hindus elites and their responses to Western challenges.

The analysis of the formation of westernized Hindu elites includes institutional and personal levels. The first one is dealing with modern political and socio-religious institutions in colonial North India, the second one demonstrates the attitude of the leading politicians of Punjab and North-Western Provinces towards the different questions concerning India’s encounter with Western culture.

The research argues that the range of economical, political and demographical factors defined the particularities of the process of formation and westernization of Hindu elites in North India. Among them are the dominant status of Hindu culture in North-Western provinces and it’s minor status in Punjab; the loosing of Hindu political power in 13th century in Punjab, the fact of strong Mughal culture in North India and discriminative policy toward Hindus of Shia Mughal rulers in the Oudh state. Western education as the main precondition of forming the new for that time political elites had some particularities. The Oriental line of education (Persian, Urdu, Sanskrit languages and literature) in Allahabad and Punjab Universities were much more popular than in presidential universities. Students had much more interest to Western science then literature.

Political development of Punjab and North-Western Provinces gradually tended to the separate political representation of Hindus in the local government. The first Hindu political party – Hindu Mahasabha – emerged here.

The Western religious challenge received particular response from politicians in North India: Christianity was rejected and the Bengali “creative” model of response in the form of Brahmo samaj was inappropriate in the region. Instead the organization of defence type – Arya samaj and Radhasoami faith – was influential.

The analysis of biographies and memoirs of five of the most influential politicians of Northern India – Motilal Nehru, Madan Mohan Malavia, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Bishan Narain Dar and Lala Lajpat Rai shows that all of them were deeply rooted in traditional culture through their traditional families, primary education and teachers. Being westernized, they were not suspended between two cultures and always found the strategies to lead to agreement inconsistent elements of Western and Hindu culture. They were also the integral part of their own society mostly through political activism.

There are two nationalist ideologies among politicians in North India – Hindu and Indian. Both of them represent political nationalism according to which secular state was the main base for Indian nation. The westernization in the religious sphere on personal level showed that the majority of the five representatives of educated Indians were critical modernists in socio-religious issues – the caste system should not be rejected fully but should be reformed.

During all the period from 1858 till 1921 the assimilative phase of westernization dominated in the region. The government was treated as the main instrument of change in this phase. Imitative phase was absent in the region.

Round Table “Vaishnava Culture in Modern World” in the Framework of VI Congress of the Youth Researchers of Religions “Religion in the Contemporary Culture” (18.10.2019)

Fil, Yu. Round Table “Vaishnava Culture in Modern World” in the Framework of VI Congress of the Youth Researchers of Religions “Religion in the Contemporary Culture” // Shìdnij svìt. 2019. № 4. P. 185-188.

Published: Філь Ю.С. Круглий стіл “Вайшнавська культура в сучасному світі” в рамках VI Конгресу молодих дослідників релігії “Релігія в сучасній культурі” (Київ, 18 жовтня 2019 року) // Східний світ. 2019. № 3. С. 185-188.

On the 18th of October 2019 in the framework of VI Congress of the youth researchers of religions “Religion in the contemporary culture” (Kyiv, October 17–18, 2019) round table “Vaishnava culture in modern world” was held. Scholars who investigate Vaishnava tradition as well as representatives of the tradition by itself come together in one auditorium to discuss different aspects of gaudiya-vaishnavism.

It was the third round table dedicated to Bengali Vaishnavism in the framework of Congress. This year the discussion was unique because the representatives of two gaudiya organizations (maṭha) took part in the event – of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.

Participants talked over different sharp and contradictory questions such as the place of modern technologies in Vaishnava culture nowadays, the possibility to investigate the religion from the position of outsider, the so called mishra (miśra) (additions to pure bhakti), the interconnection between Vashnava and Ukrainian identities in Ukrainian ISKCON community and finally the universality of Vedic culture and it’s efficiency in civil life. It seems to be the main achievement of the round table that the representatives of two maths come to agreement during the event. This fact shows that religious studies can successfully fulfill the function of the mediator between different religious communities.

Dmitry (Dmytro) Danilov. The term dhyana in the system of yoga: deconstruction

H. S. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of NAS of Ukraine (Kyiv)

Dhyana (dhyāna), a category of yoga and a practical element of the teaching, is one of the basic elements of yoga philosophy (yogadarśana). Modern texts translate it as meditation. This term has ancient roots that go back to Ṛg Veda (ca. 1200 BC), a sacred text of Ancient India. Later dhyāna becomes a part of yoga in the Upaniṣads, and a cornerstone in the framework of Patañjali’s yoga. It is a fundamental term that other descriptions of yoga practices rest on.

The purpose of the report is to uncover meanings attributed to this term at the time of Ṛg Veda, early Upaniṣads and Patañjali’s Yogasūtras, to illustrate the relation between them and to determine transforma- tion of dhyāna meaning. Despite the fact that dhyāna has been studied very precisely in Yogasūtras of Patañjali by many honorable scholars (S. Dasgupta, S. Vivekananda, S. Radhakrishnan), little attention has been paid to understand the roots of this term in previous texts. Some studies have been done to shed some light on the Sanskrit root dhī in Ṛg Veda (T. Elizarenkova, J. Gonda, L. Renu) [Elizarenkova 1995, p. 7]. However, there is a gap in understanding of the change of dhyā- na’s conception in the three diferent textual periods from the hymns of the earliest texts over to Upaniṣads and down to the Sūtras of Patañjali. This speech is entitled to show diferent meanings of dhyāna in each of the mentioned textual periods. Its goal is to compare them and show the process it has undergone to become a major concept of philosophy of yo- ga. This understanding will clear a common confusion of using generic translation of the term dhyāna.

The materials studied include translated fragments of the aforemen- tioned texts that deine the term dhyāna (T. Elizarenkova, A. Syrkin, R. Griit).

Ṛg Veda (rV). The term dhyāna is not used in RV; however, this source does contain words of the same root, such as dhīḥ and its derivative dhītiḥ.

Text analysis of RV shows the root dhī to be imbued with mythological images. Any speciic descriptions of practices and pragmatic aspects are not given there. Man’s activity related to dhī is directed from the inside into the outside. It is addressed to superior, more sophisticated phenomena. This root is used for words that foster extension of vision, comprehension, and cognition of the universe.

The Upaniṣads. Later on, during the period of early Upaniṣads (800-300 BC), the use of the term acquires a diferent meaning. The Upaniṣads are the irst source to introduce the term dhyāna. Here the irst techniques are being modeled and metaphors describing the process are given. On the one hand, one needs to master their mind for the purpose of cognition (dhyāna), and on the other hand, cognition is the primary assistant in taking mind under control. The authors of the Upaniṣads single out consciousness structures and arrange them hierarchically. Dhyāna is bigger than chitta or manas, yet smaller than vijñāna. It is in the Upaniṣads that cognitive power of dhyāna becomes introspective [Whicher 1998, p. 13], making ātman’s (self, selbst) tattva (suchness) an object of dhyāna’s cognitive function.

Patañjali’s Yogasūtras. In Yogasūtras of Patañjali, the philosophy of yoga attains its elegance, consistency and philosophic exactitude. Patañjali not just makes a harmonious compilation of knowledge taken from early heterogeneous texts, but it also provides a consistent introduction and explanation of every term.

The analysis of the term dhyāna in Yogasūtra was made on the basis of sūtras 2.11 and 3.2. Here dhyāna stands for the process of cognition that conduces subject’s ability to obtain any qualities of an object by means of embracing it with one’s mind, that is, by meditative immersion into this quality [Smirnov 1983, p. 208].

Patañjali gives an exact deinition of the dhyāna category leaving no room for implied knowledge – inherent to the whole corpus of previously discussed texts.

Conclusion. The meaning of the term dhyāna is non-homogeneous. Analysis of deinitions history has shown that the term meaning was continuously changing, going from less speciied and poetic in its irst mentioning in RV to clear and unambiguous deinition given in Patañjali’s Yogasūtras. At every stage, it implied diferent meanings. When using this term in modern science, it is essential that one speciies the exact meaning of the used term; otherwise it shall result in inaccuracies and misunderstandings.

Bibliography:

1) Elizarenkova, Tatyana J. (1995), Language and Style of the Vedic Rsis, Albany: State University of New York Press.
2) Smirnov B. L. (1983), Samkhya and Yoga // Mahabharata: [Philosophical texts]: in 8 vol. / TSSR Acad. of Science; Translation and foreword by B. L. Smirnov. – Ashgabad. – Vol. 6.
3) Whicher, Ian (1998), The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana: A Reconsideration of Classical Yoga, SUNY Press.

Source: Danilov D. The term dhyana in the system of yoga: deconstruction // Слово  і  невисловлюване.  Тези  дванадцятої  міжнародної  наукової  конференції  «Філософія. Нове покоління» (Київ, НаУКМА, 23–24 березня  2017 року)  /  упоряд. В. Корчевний. – К.: «Університетське видавництво Пульсари», 2017. – С. 28-30.