[Reader-list] newsletter eurozine octobre 06: On the Indian view of things

[Patrice Riemens]

(excerpt from:)
Newsletter
10/2006

    * Article of the month: On the Indian view of things

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>
Article of the month: On the Indian view of things

With India as guest of honour at the Franfurt Book Fair, Wespennest
publishes a conversation between Austrian writer on religion Adolf Holl
and Indian psychoanalyst and author Sudhir Kakar, whose book The
Indians. Portrait of a Society was published this year. Beginning with
a contrast between the Western and Indian ego ("In the West, the ego is
a fortress [...] The exchange between environment and ego is emphasized
much more strongly in India"), the discussion of "The Indian view of
things" moves onto religion and the female principle:

"For me, the most important religious moment [...] is the gaze into the
mother's countenance, in which the child also sees itself," Kakar tells
Holl. "That is religious awe, entrancement, magic. Human beings want to
rediscover this magic in religion. [...] This awe, this magic, is
actually sought in all possible kinds of religion and, as long as the
religion is not some dead ritual, can also be found."

Moving through India's penetration of the West in the form of Ayurveda,
esotericism, and the wellness trend -- "I welcome all these things that
have come to the West through globalization [...] I'm not one of those
who say that everything always has to be authentic" -- the conversation
ends on Kakar's analysis of the connections between globalization,
class, and religion in India today:

"Globalization is actually not rejected by Hindu nationalists, and
that's the biggest difference to Christian and Muslim fundamentalists.
The only thing that is strictly rejected by all is liberated Western
sexuality. All fundamentalists are scared of the sexual aspect of the
modern. The Hindus define themselves as the winners of globalization in
the areas of technology, finance, and communication, while the Muslims
consider themselves more as losers."

Adolf Holl, Sudhir Kakar
On the Indian view of things

This article is available in German and English.

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> Eurozine Newsletter: 2006-10-03 | 10/2006