What Represents Hindu Religion

Indian knowledge traditions are not the exclusive hold of any single country, faith, or community. The main point is that India had a huge corpus of literature covering all aspects of life by reflecting its own experiences and using its own metaphysics. The knowledge tradition had very exacting standards which led them to postulate the laws of motion and create perfect astronomical tables on the one hand; while on the other, for example, devise plastic surgery techniques for amputated noses. A metaphysics rooted in the Vedas formed the sound basis of our knowledge traditions.

The methodology was perfect, the encapsulation as short sūtras for easy remembrance was also advanced. Maybe, they did not reach the last stage of developing equational formulae because of Islamic invasions and colonialism. Following the Islamic invasions, the output, especially in mathematics, moved southward. European colonialism resulted in a change from production to protection of the generated knowledge. That became the sole concern of the intellectuals. However, over a period, the constant colonial onslaught, helped majorly by missionary narratives, put a stop to the knowledge output. Not only did the Brahmins become the villains of Indian society - the varna group which painstakingly fought to preserve the knowledge tradition - but wholesale, the Indian population grew ashamed of themselves for being so “primitive and superstitious”.

Independence should have been a break; but unfortunately, a heavy colonial consciousness colored our intellectuals, academics, and educated Indians who parroted yet the same understanding as the colonizers. Very few turned to question the colonial narratives. The truth of their narratives seems obvious because the proof appears to be their “scientific and technological might”. When “reason” became supreme as a lens to study non-western cultures and their knowledge traditions, the latter appeared hazy, ambiguous, confused, and only seemed to have that odd achievement by pure chance.

Knowledge comes through three levels of mind: instinct, intellect, and intuition. Śrī Aurobindo says that the highest knowledge state of the civilization in the past was that of intuition where the Rṣis played a primary role. The age of Reason (or intellect) was in fact a degeneration of the state of civilization. This is the state of modern science, where metaphysics addresses at the level of intuition to produce knowledge.

Brahmins as Villains

Indian Knowledge Systems belongs to anybody identifying as a human being; and more so, as an Indian. The knowledge base of Indian scriptures and texts is accessible to everyone. Knowledge always is the supreme divine in Indian traditions and the story of villainous Brahmins withholding this knowledge is simply a colonial narrative which we internalized. The learning of Vedas and preservation of Vaidika ritual was more a matter of duties rather than any “hereditary-based-rights”. Twisted narratives of liberalism and individualism raised such questions.

Anti-Brahminism has a relentless story since the 17th century European reports of missionaries and travelers. No evidence seems to change this core narrative, even as the auxiliary hypotheses and explanations undergo modifications, as pointed out elegantly by Jakob De Roover. As he writes, every research program consists of three elements: …a “hard core” of basic theses and assumptions; a “protective belt” of auxiliary hypotheses that surrounds this core; and a “heuristic” or problem-solving machinery consisting of sophisticated techniques.

Scientists regularly encounter observations that conflict with a theory’s predictions and other types of problems. However, there is no discarding of a research program simply because it faces some set of anomalies; instead, its protective belt allows the scientists to cope with these problems by immunizing its hard core against falsification - by generating new auxiliary hypotheses.

The basic assumptions about the religion of the Brahmin and its hold over society and education are part of this program’s hard core, whereas other claims concerning Aryan invasion, racial superiority, and the varna ideology are part of its protective belt. The latter ideas form a more flexible set of auxiliary hypotheses, which scholars can modify and revise in the face of anomalies, to protect the research program from refutation. Indeed, this has happened regularly, not only during the past decades, but also in the centuries before. Between the 17th and the 21st centuries, in the face of empirical and conceptual problems, the auxiliary hypotheses moved, as an example, from an Aryan invasion and conquest to peaceful migration and contact. But the hard core of assumptions concerning stories of a tyrannical priesthood and closing off the knowledge to other people in society remained immune against falsification.

Śrī Aurobindo significantly says -

When it is spoken of as a Brahminical civilisation, the phrase cannot truly imply any domination of sacerdotalism, though in some lower aspects of the culture the sacerdotal mind has been only too prominent; for the priest as such has had no hand in shaping the great lines of the culture. But it is true that its main motives have been shaped by philosophic thinkers and religious minds, not by any means all of them of Brahmin birth. The fact that a class has been developed whose business was to preserve the spiritual traditions, knowledge, and sacred law of the race, – for this and not a mere priest trade was the proper occupation of the Brahmin – and that this class could for thousands of years maintain in the greatest part, but not monopolise, the keeping of the national mind and conscience, and the direction of social principles, forms, and manners, is only a characteristic indication.

In conclusion, the rich and profound traditions of Indian knowledge, shaped by centuries of intellectual rigor and philosophical inquiry, belong to all humanity and are not confined by any single community or historical narrative. The colonial and post-colonial misinterpretations and biases should be critically examined and corrected to appreciate the true essence of these traditions. Indian knowledge systems, with their roots in metaphysics and intuition, offer a unique and holistic perspective that complements modern scientific approaches, highlighting the need for a more inclusive and accurate understanding of this intellectual heritage.

Authored by Dr. Pingali Gopal. Published by Brhat Culture Creative LLP.