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BOOKS
Romancing
the East
When the wisdom of eternal India sways a French scholar
By Mark Tully
Romain Rolland's message to Gandhi, "May
the genius of India marry the genius of the West", is the theme of
this book. Like many foreigners who have come to know this country, Guy
Sorman believes that India's ancient wisdom is sorely needed to counteract
what he describes as the "neo-Machiavellian culture" identified
with the West.
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THE GENIUS OF INDIA
By Guy Sorman Macmillan
Price: 325
Pages: 232
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As so often happens with advocates of the Indian
way, myself included I am sure, the picture Sorman paints of India's past
and present is not always realistic. For instance, he ventures on that
dangerous enterprise of explaining caste, suggesting that there is merit
in the stand that caste is natural, "that castes inhere in human
nature". He cites the old arguments about class and trade guilds
in other societies. I too believe that India must shed its guilty conscience
about the caste system, as though it was something uniquely and wholly
evil, while of course, in no way denying the suffering inflicted by its
excesses, but I would not be as kind to Brahminism as Sorman has been.
I also doubt whether the caste system has been "a bulwark against
foreign incursions". It could well be argued that the divisive nature
of the system has contributed to the success of invaders.
Discussing modern India, Sorman is "inclined
to think" there is no communal tension between Hindus and Muslims.
Whilst that tension can easily be exaggerated I don't think it can be
dismissed. Nor can Ram be dismissed as "one of the relatively minor
and later Gods" of the Hindu pantheon, and his present eminence be
attributed to the fact that he only "does good" and "is
not moody".
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OPTIMISM OVER REALISM: Sorman
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Perhaps because he is so enthusiastic about India's
past and present, Sorman's proposals for the future, both global and Indian,
are to say the least, still far from realisation. He may be right in saying
that Gandhi's principle of non-violence is spreading widely but has that
taken us any nearer a non-violent world? The few examples Sorman quotes
suggest we are not much nearer.
It is the modern western philosopher Richard
Tarnas who has written that the western mind has been "from start
to finish an overwhelmingly masculine phenomenon". Few would quarrel
with Sorman when he describes the Gandhian and the traditional Indian
world view as feminine. But what practical alternative have advocates
of the eastern way offered to the aggressive masculine market capitalism
that is so widely accepted as the only way ahead? Globalisation at the
top and the assertion of ethnic identities at the grassroots may be undermining
the nation state, but Sorman's suggestion that the new communication technology
will herald the era of village communities-real or virtual-as Gandhi advocated,
is still nothing more than a prophecy.
Sorman, with his impressive academic credentials,
is a powerful recruit to the ranks of those who wish that the world, and
that of course includes India itself, would listen to the wisdom of the
East. But all of us who belong to that school, from time to time fall
into the trap of so praising the East that we denigrate the West of presenting
an unrealistic picture of the East and an all too realistic picture of
the West. Perhaps that's why our voices are not heard.
At the end of his book Sorman seems to acknowledge
that readers may well think he has fallen into that trap. He writes, "I
am not denying our civilisation, nor am I idealising India real or imaginary."
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 Man
and Medicine
By Farokh Erach Udwadia
(Oxford, Rs 995)
The evolution of modern medicine.
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 The
Bhaghavad Gita
Tr by Stephen Mitchell
(Rupa, Rs 195)
Latest offering from the translator of Tao Te Ching.
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 Betrayal
of the
Defence Forces
By Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat
(Manas, Rs 595)
Bhagwat's experiences with the "powers that be".
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 Rites
of Passage
By Sanjoy Hazarika
(Penguin, Rs 295)
Migration into the North-east and Bangladesh.
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 Facing
Up
By Bear Grylls
(Macmillan, £14.99)
Youngest person to scale Mount Everest tells his tale.
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