Radical Histories and Question of Enlightenment Rationalism: Some Recent Critiques of

"Subaltern Studies"
Author(s): Dipesh Chakrabarty
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 30, No. 14 (Apr. 8, 1995), pp. 751-759
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4402598
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 SPECIAL ARTICLES

Radical Histories and Question of

EnlightenmentRationalism
Some Recent Critiquesof SubalternStudies
Dipesh Chakraharty

Maintaining a critical position with respect to the legacies oJ the European Enlightenmtentdoes not entail a wholesale
rejection of the tradition of ralional argumtientation.The author seeks to demtlonstrate,in the Jirst part of this note, how
a certain form of hyper-rationalismncharacteristic of colonial modernity has imipaired Indian marxists' capacitv to engage
with 'religion' (something without which India caannotbe imtagined).77Tesecond part of the note arglues how colonial histories
are particularly helpful in making visible what is sometimtes called 'the unreasonable origins of reason'. And the final
section endeavoursto show - without attemptinga general defence of post-structuralismi - why post-structuralistand
deconstructionistphilosophiesare useful in developingapproachessuited to studvingsubalternhistories underconditions
of colonial modernities.

Yes, I know all that. I should be modern.
Marryagain. See strippersat the Tease.
Touch Africa. Go to the movies.
Impalea six-inch spider
undera lens. Join the Test-
ban, or become The Outsider.
Or pay to shake my fist
(orwhatever-you-call-it) ata psychoanalyst.
And when I burn
I should smile, dry-eyed,
and nursemartinislike the MarginalMan
But, sorry, I cannotunlearn
conventionsof despair.
They have their pride.
I must seek and will find
my parlicularhell only in my hindumind:
must translateand turn
till I blister and roast...
-A K Ramanujan,'Conventionsof
Despair' in Selected Poems, Delhi, 1976.
SUBALTERN STUDIES, the Gramsci-
inspiredserieson Indianhistorythatbecame
influential in the 1980s, has recently come
inforasubstantialamountofhostilecriticism,
particularlyin India, on the ground that it
hasgonereactionary.'Why?Because,comes
theanswer,the marxistcritiqueofcapitalism
that informed the earlier volumes in 'the
sVrieshas now been replaced - under the
baleful influence of deconstructive, post-
structuralistandpostmodernistphilosophy,
it is said - by a critique of the rationalism
that marked the European Enlightenment.
Since marxism-isinconceivable except as a
legatee of this rationalisttradition,a critique
of this naturemust be, at least implicitly, a
critiqueof marxism as well. And is not that
dangerous,it is asked, in a situation in India
wheretherise of a 'religious' andaggressive
Hinduright demands, if anything, an ever-
more vigilant attentionto the secular goals
of class-struggle,democracyandsocialism?
In a recent essay on the 'fascist' nature
of the Hindu right, the eminent Indianleft-
wing historian,SumitSarkar,spells out why
a critique of Enlightenmentrationalism is
dangerous in India today. His propositions
could be arrangedas follows: (1) 'Fascist
ideology in Europe ...owed something to a
generalturn-of-the-century move awayfrom
what were felt to be the sterile rigidities of
Enlighteiiment rationalism'; (2) '[N]ot
dissimilar ideas have become current
intellectualcoin in thewest, andby extension
they have started to influence Indian
academic life'. (3) That these 'current
academic fashions' (Sarkar mentions
'postmodernism')'canreducetheresistance
of intellectuals to the ideas of Hindutva
[Hindu-ness] has alreadybecome evident'.
Examples: 'The "'critique of colonial
discourse" ...has stimulated forms of
indigenism not easy to distinguish from the
standard Sangh parivar argument.. that
Hindutvais superiorto Islam and Christia-
nity (and by extension to the creations of
the modernwest like science, democracyor
marxism) because of its allegedly unique
roots'. Sarkarwarnsthat'[an uncriticalcult
of the 'popular'or 'subaltern',particularly
when combined with the rejection of
Enlightenmentrationalism...can lead even
radicalhistoriansdown strangepaths' that.
for Sarkar,bear 'ominous' resemblance to
Mussolini's condemnation of the
'teleological' ideaof progressandtofHitler's
exaltation of the German volk over "hair
splittingintelligence"[Sarkar1993:164-65].
Gautam Bhadra and myself, identified by
Sarkaras two 'members of the Subaltern
Studievseditorialteam',areSarkar'sexamples
of historianswho havebeenleddown 'strange
paths' by their 'uncritical' adulationof the
subaltern and by their 'rejection of
Enlightenment rationalism' [Sarkar
1992:167]. Sarkarstops short of calling us
'tascist' -we still qualify for the label
'radical' - but one can see that things may
change.'
Tom Brass, in a review article on Gyan
Prakash (Prakash has since joined the
SubalternStudies collective) work, and the
respectedcivil libertiesactivistKBalagopal,
in anessay on the dangersof neo-Hinduism,
express similar misgivings. The charge
appearsin a summaryformin Brass's piece:
'Thereal importanceof postmodernismlies
in its theoreticalimpacton politicalpractice:
it forbids socialism, encourages bourgeois
democracy and allows fascism' [Brass
1993:1165]. Misquoting Gramsci (and
thereby Romain Rolland), Brass accuses
postmodernism (and his other phobias) of
having distorted Gramsci:
postmodernism, popular culture and
resistancetheoryhaveallcombinedtoinvert/
subvertthe famousdictumof Gramsci[here
Brass managesto get the quote wrong in
spite of referringto the rightpages in the
PrisontNotebooks] about the nature of
politicalaction:insteadof pessimismof the
spiritand optimismof the will, they now
licenseoptimismof thespiritandpessimism
of the will'. [Brass 1993: 1165].
K B alagopal's blames 'postmodernists'
and 'subalternists' alleged rejection of the
possibility of 'objective' analysis for the
inadequaciesof Leftresistanceto thefascistic
Hindutva push:
1favingnotedin morethansufficientdetail
[hewritesithe-sinscommittedby secularists,
it is timenow to look at mattersobjectively,
however,dubiousthattaskmayseemto the
subalterntheoristsand the postmodernists
whose currentpreponderanceamong the
progressiveintelligentsiais onereason...for
the latter'shopelesslyinadequateresponse
to the bulldozingof Hindutva.[Balagopal
1993:790].
The agenda, according to him, is that of

and Political Weekly

EcL-.onomic April 8, 1995 751
fightingfor 'equalityandjustice atall levels' histories under conditions of colonial this category - who strove, not unlikemany
and 'to create a real unity of all oppressed modernities. intellectualsin EuIropean history,to develop
people'. This is what he sees thwarted by dialogues betweeni the 'scientific-rational'
both 'seemingly down-to-earth and andthe 'religious-spiritual'. But we areyet
untheoretical Gandhians' as well as the Hyper-Rationalism of Colonial to work out how these heritages lhave
'incomprehensiblepost-modernists'whose Modern influenced the natureof moderniacademic
resultingattitudeof 'theoreticalandpolitical knowledge-formationisin India. In its self-
flippancyis doingalotofdamage' [Balagopal My argument here is simple and I will image, modern Indian secular scholarship,
1993:7931. basically use some material from Bengali particularly the strands that flowed into
The accusations are not unique to the history and hiistoriography- traditions I marxist social history-writing, not only
Indiansituation. Readersmay be reminded sharewith Sarkar- to make my points. My partakesof the social sciences' view of the
of ChristopherNorris' The Truth of Post- contention is that scientific rationalism or world as. 'disenchanted', it even displays
modernisn, which argues that postmoder- the spipitofscientiticenquiry,was introduced antipathy to anytlhingthat smacks of the
nist critiques of 'universalism' and into colonial Indiafrom the very beginning .religious'. A certain kind of intellectual
'Enlightenmentrationalism'preachin-effect as anantidoteto(Indian)religion.particularly bankruptcy,a paralysis of imagination,and
a form culturalrelativism which is at least Hinduism, which was seen. both by a certain spell of reductionism have often
politically irresponsible when it is not missionaries as well as by administrators- attendedattemptsby Indianmarxistscholars
downwrightdangerous [Norris 1993]. Our and in spite of the Orientalists- as a bundle to understandreligious practices.The blight
critics are seldom as well-read in post- of 'superstition' and 'magic' Hinduism. that this has produced in the intellectual
structuralistphilosophy as Norris. but the wrote the Scottish missionary Alexancler landscape of a country whose people have
-sentimentthey express is the same. For a Duff in 1839, is 'a stupendous system of never shown any sense of embarrassment
historian. the advantage in discussing the enTor'. [Laird 1972:2071.Indeed.theparadox aboutbeingabletoimaginethe 'supematural'
Indianor South Asianist critics is that their of earlyEuropean-founded schools inBengal in a variety of forms, is only matched by
accusation is levelled againisthistorians, being more 'liberal' and 'secular' in their the marginalisationof the marxistleft in the
thus allowinigme an opportunity to discuss curriculathantheircounterpartsin England struggles that constitute everyday lives in
why maintaining a critical relationship to is resolved by the fact thatthe missionaries India.
Enlightenment rationalism may be of didnotperceivemuchcontradictionbetween To be sure, these developments in India
value in developing a thirdworld histor-io- 'rationalismn' anid the precepts of Christianity shared something of the spirit of the 18th
graphy. So in the rest of this essay, I will andcassumed that an awakening to reason, centuryEnlighternment in Europeto theextent
engage these critics and their criticisms, ratherthanthcmoreprovocative strategyof that the Enlightenment. for all its internal
focusing in particular on Sarkar. not only direct conversion, would itself lead to the diversity,'meantrepudiationof theirrational
because his is the most elaborate of the underminingof the superstitionsthatmaide andthe superstitious'[Behrens1985:26].Or
three statements at hand but also because up Hinduism. As Michael laird writes of as a historianof the Enlightenmenthas put
his criticisms repudiate his own earlier the period: it:
involvement with the project of Subaltern Apart from a genuine desire to advance Insofaras it was concernedwith social and
Studies. Sarkar,in other words, belongs to learningfor its own sake, the missionaries political qluestions, the 18th century
the same tradition of historiography also believed that westernscience would Enlightenment...produceda great variety
from which SubalternStudies has evolved, underminebelief in the Hindu scriptures; of mutuallyincompatibleideas. ...For all
the tradition of marxist history-writing in thenewgeography,torexample.couldhardly this,nevertheless,therewerepointsonwhich
the subcontinent. This conversation, in be reconciledwith the Piranas. ...[They] people with any claim to being enligtened
many ways, is with that tradition. But it thus acted as instigatorsof an intellectual wereagreedin every country.Particularly,
also concerns a larger criticism now being awakening,or even revolution...[andtheir] Enlightenmentmeantthe repudiationof the
made of post-structuralism generally. schools were obvious agents of such a irrational and the superstitious. ... To be
As this essay itself will, I hope, make Christian Enlightenment. There is superstitious was to believe in the
clear, maintaining a critical position with incidentally an instructive contrast with supernatural[Behrens 1985:26].
respect to the legacies of the European contenmporary England, where the wide Thus, while it is true that historians today
Enlightenment,does not entail a wholesale curriculumthatwas beginningto appearin are more sensitised to the diversity within
rejection of the tradition of rational Bengalwas still veryunusualin elementary the Enlightenment, what propagateditself
argumentation.My procedure here will be schools [Laird1992:86-87]. among modern Indian intellectuals was
groundedin thattraditionwhile beingcritical Even the very act of mastering English, something like - to take PreservedSmith's
of it. My argumentwill be presentedin three wrote Alexander Duff. must make 'the expression somewhat out of context - 'the
parts. In the first segment, I will seek to student...ten-foldless thechildof Panthei.sm, propagandaof Reason' which equated, as
demonstrate how a certain form hyper- idolatryandsuperstitionthanbefore' [Laird indeed did Smith in his own book on the
rationalism characteristic of colonial 1992:207-08]. Enlightenment, 'modernity' with the
modernity has impaired Indian marxists' It is this simultaneouscoding of (western) possession of 'scientific outlook' add
capacity to engage with 'religion' 'knowledge' itself asrationalandHinduism 'ignorance' with 'superstition' [Smith
(something without which India cannot be as something that was both a 'religion' as 1966:117]. The resulting predicament for
imagined). The second section will argue well as a bundle of superstitions, that the Hindu modern was two-fold: (a) the
how colonial histories are particularly launched the career of a certain kind of intellectual possessing a self-defined
useful in making visible what is sometimes colonial hyper-rationalismamong Indian 'scientific rationality' never made a dis-
called 'the unreasonableorigins of reason'. intellectuals who -self-consciously came to tinction - unlike, say, practicing Indian
And the final section will endeavour to regard themselves as 'modern'. Of course, scientists who have often, without any
show - without in any way attempting a therehavebeenimportantlndianintellectuals apparent difficulty, separated their own
generaldefence of post-structuralism- why both before the British rule and after - the beliefs from the philosophical assumptions
post-structuralist and deconstructionist 19thcenturyrefonnerslike RammohanRoy of theirprofessionalknowledge-systems,so
philo.sophie.s are u.seful in developing and Swami DayanandSaraswatioreven the that it is possible for even a theoretical
approache.ssuitedl to studying subaltern nationalist scientist J C Bose would fall in physici.stto seek out as guru some 'miracle-

752 Economic and Political Weekly April 8, 1995

making' holy man - between 'science as literaturealout minorgods and goddesses, without feelinig the deepest emnotion for the
outlook' and 'science as a collection of so in Vaisshnavastoriesandsongs aboutRadlha boundless affectioni which promipted it
many efficacious tecliniques'. while (b) at anidKriishna.in the puranic legends about (emiphasisadded)4.
the sametime it proved impossible. in spite DuurgaancdKali. in lhe mystical songs ot' This strong. opposition between the
Of some notable attempts. to align Hindu 'bauls' and 'fakis" ! Whlt inakesit possible
rationalandthe affective. or betweenreason
practices,the mainstreampatntlheoni of gods for me (and many others).stillto he movedand emotion. characteristicof our colonial
and goddesses. with ChristianiEnlighten- bynationalistsongsof Mukundadas.Tagore. hyper-rationalism. has generally afflicted
ment.' It, therefore. always remained D l Roy, Atulpraksad Sen. NazirulIslam that
Indian marxist historians" attempt to
possible,given thenatureof theHindudeities directlydrawon 'dhanna'/kinishiip to provide
understand the place of the 'religious' in
to see them as so many manifestations of a sense of the nation/communiity? It is Indian public and political life. Since my
belief in the magical. obviously because the pirocessof becominig polemic at this point is especially directed
Why thiscame to be so is a long. involved.
'modern in the Bengali context never left to Sarkar's critique of Subaltern Studies, I
andon the wlholean unresearchedstory.B ut thesethingsout so thatmydesires.emnotions, will begin withi him. with hiisown study
thatanalyticalframeworks-derivedfiromthe aesthetics and eveIl my sense of what it ol the Swadeshi [Swadeshi = one's own
legacies of the Europeanmodernity create means to be a personiwverenievertrainied land] movement that broke out in Bengal
a peculiar split in our self-recognition orsimply in the light of world-view tlhatwas aroundlthe year 1905 when the British. in
self-representation, can be easily showin. just liberal or 'secular` (in thle sense of an imperious andl high-hlandledmannier.
Take, for instance, the modlel ol the 'godlessness' in which this word is used in decided to split Bengal into two halves and
autonomous, individual subject without Inidia). thus en(langerthe modern(Hindu)Benigali
which the idea of individual rights cannot The problemis inottheso-calledalienation i(lentity. Sarkar's book, The Swadeshi
be thought. The idea and the laniguageof of the secular intellectual in India from its MovementinBengal,astudyof thenationalist
'rights' have been of undoubted utility in 'religious' elements. The Hindurightof-ten resistance against this piece of British
a multitudeof struggles in India - so much makes this criticism of the people on the left impe:rialism,is undoubtedlyone of themost
so that it would be silly to regard them asaiid Sarkar is quite riglht to reject it [Sarkar important monographs of modern Incdian
in any sense foreign. Yet, wlhat is their 19931.The problemis ratherthatwe do not history. Erudite anic enormously well-
relationship to the ideals of the extenidedhave analytical categories in academic documented as it is. this 'marxist' piece of
family or kin.ship whichi also mould us as discoursethatdo justiceto thereal.everyvda;y lndiaii hiistor-yscrupulously steers clear of
subjects in Inilia'?(To avoid unnecess-ary anidmultiple 'connections' we hiaveto what anvylormulaic apl*oach. Yet there is a
argumentation.however, I shouldcmake it we, in b)ecomning.moder hliliave coen to see remarkable failure of the intellect in this
clear that I am not reproducing hlre an as 'non-lational. 'Tradition/modernitv'. hookevetytime it is a questionof interpreting
'extendedvs nuclearfarmily'argument.On ' 'intellectual/emotion'
i'atioeinahl/nonl-i-aionllll or explaining the role 'religion' played in
the ground,many extenidedfamilies a;rcas - these untenzble and pIrobleanatic binaries thispoliticalmovementwvhich didmoirethan
horrible as mlany niuclear-familics. Nor am hiave haunted our self-represenItaions inI aniy other phase in modern Bengali hiistory
I suggesting any essentialistic east/west ascial sciece laniguage sinice Ihle 19thl to bring to life and immortalise, for both
distinctions.for quite a few of my 'western' century. Anidew S artori's work otnthe 19tli Muslims andlHindus. the image ol Bengal:
fiends live inorpracticeversionsof extenided century Beingalioi'icitalist and Indologist as a mnother-goddess deimandinig love and
kinship.) The question usually goes Rajendralal Mitra hals recently dirawnlour sacrific lIom her cli ildren.
unansweredin Iindianhistory wlien it is not attention to this problerm. As S.ii-tori .showvs. This was a mnovement. as Sarkar him.self
seen througli some version of the sterile thelisplitbetvwein the analytic andtlihe afective so carefully dlocumenits.absolutely full of
'tradition/modernity' dlichotomny. An is something itself- produced by the colonial Hindu-religioussentimentst; ani(imagination.
instanceof the historiographicalsilence that discourse anlldmarks for everi the speechi of But nioticelhowSarkar.while he is willing
our framneworksproduce could be the the coloniial intellectual. Sartori has givenI to grant that a modleirnpolitical movement
phenomenon of friendship. We iave as yet us a telling examplc of this phiciomieioni - may have to use 'religion as a mineans to a
noresearchedhistoricsof modelrnfriendships from the last century. He quotes Rajendralal politicalend (amidparticularlysotin a peasant
in India.butsurelyit would not be surprising Mitra. writing. in the early DU7Ns,on the society), disapprovesof momentswhen. for
it it turnedout thatkinship-derivedmodels customl of blood sacrifice' il inlcient India. thehisto'icalactorsmiivolved.religionloxked
ol' per.solnhood and s-ociality have been a practice the Orientalist in hlilmwould hlave like becominig an end in itself'. He writes:
extremnely influentialin thleformationof the no (doubt secn as barbaric and unicivilised. ...whatseems indisputableis thatthe other-
affectivebondswe nowdevelop in Europeain- However. this 'anicicnt' pralicticewas in no worldly pull of religion tended to assert
derived public spaces and institutionssuch sense a;ntiquated in Mitria's own times. As itself particularly aitmiiomentsof strain and
as tlheschool. univelsity aindthe office (not the followinig quotation shows. Mitra had frustration. Religiont culitivated (itfirst as a
to speak o' tlhepolitical piarty). had somenpersonal exposure to it. Yet niotice nueauns to the end of tin,ss contact and
A similarpoint can be maide about the so- howl hiecategor-iseshii.sown, livcel connection stimul7ationtolfinorale. could all too easili
called religious as it comes into our lives to the fitual as partIof'his' 'affective' iratler becomte aCmendtiin its-elJfTrhe process of
and shapes the structuresof our perception than the 'rationall or 'reasoning' self. At thie inversionis retleted clearlyin Aurohindo'.s
cognitionianidaffect. A large range ofo ur end ol hi jilessad,iilsc i
uss;ing thiecu.stom, itra [a nationalist leaderl faliioUs Uttarpara
pleasures. desires. emotionis anid wr'ite.s in a memolrable passage: speech... "I spoke once before with this
uniderstantdinigof what constitut-esthe social 'I'heoffering ol one' hS loid to thy go(ddess torce inrme aindI said then thatthis moivement
(includinig the family) hlave the religious iS 1o0t a politicial movemiient aind that
[Kalij is a mcdieval and imiodern rite... 'Ihe
built into them at least as collectively lasttimiieI saw the ceremonryw;as six years nationalismi is not politics hut a religion. a
practisedrituals.How else couldI- andIlere a"goIwhemin'.when milylaiterevered parent, creed. aifaith. I say it again today. but I put
I deliberately speak aulhobiographically. ais tottemingwith aige.madlethe oftering for imy it in ainother way. I say no longer that
amale.Bengali.(Hindu)mnidd/leclk.malxist recovery tronii at dangerous and lone- nationalism is a creed, a religion. a faith;
(of some kinid!) - hlave emotional access to o fpleurisy. What,,,'%',:, I say that it is the Sanatan Dhanra which
protractedlattack ma1y
the lhumain and other relations conjuredtip he thought of it hy persionshbrught iip un(ler for us is nationalism [Sarkar 1977:316;
in (middlecla;Js.sversion.sof) the:R4wrt,,mda,, al creedl different froml that ofl the 111db- emllphasisadded].
andltheM /ZvIhaaiar.inl'med{ieval'Benigali A^rvan.s, I calnnot rca:;ll tolmemnorythe fact, So) relig:ion a.s a 'means' r:sacceptable. but

Economic and Political Weeklv April X, 1995 753

religionas 'anend in itself is not. ForSarkar. intellectualhavoc in its trail.Sarkar'sfailure instincts' in human beings anyway. Roy
the marxist historian, the question never to give us any insights into the 'religious' even extended part of the argument to
arises as to whether a 'religious senisibility that cotnstantilyerupts initothe political in animals!5
could also use a political structure and Indian modernity is not a personal failure. Modern Age and India was the voice of
vocabularyas a mea;nsto a (religious) end It is failure of hyper-rationialism,a failure a generation now mostly gone - optimistic,
(forthatindeedis the burdenot Aurohindo s that marks the intellect of the colonial in love with the vision of a modernised.
speechfromwhich Sarkarseemsto have hiis modern. It occurs within a paradigm tlhat democraticIndia, and sure in its belief that
ear turned away). sees 'science' and 'religion' as ultimately, what was opposed to scientific rationality
Why does this happen?!Why does one of and irrevocably, opposed to each other. could only be characterised as 'dogma
our most capable and knowledgeable This dogmatism is an olcd and even Certainthingshadchangedby the 1960s and
historians fail to give us any insight into respectable part of the hiistoryof Bengali the I970s when Sarkarwrote TheSwcadeshi
moments in the history of our political anid .secularism'. I will provide two examples Movement. For Sarkar and his colleagues
public life when religious sentiments to give thereadersome ideaof theintellectual who were ourintellectual mentors in a shared
presentedthemselves as their owIn end anid tradition thatSarkarand1havebothinherited Calcutta, the optimism of the 1950s had
not as means to some end defined by a and against which, in part. we have to been extinguished. Indian capitalism itself
European political philosophy. however. struggle. In 1949, some leading Bengali had put an end to that. But the colonial
much some Indians may hiave made this academic-intellectuals of left-liberal hyper-rationalismwhich opposed 'reason'
philo-s-ophy theirown? It is because history persuasionorganised a series of lectures-in to 'faith' remained. The 1970s marxist
for Sarkaris a perpetual struggle between Calcutta to discuss the question of Indian critique of colonial India argued, as one
the f0rces of 'reason and 'humani.sm on modernity. The lectures were published in respected historian put it. 'Iallien rule and
the onc side andthose of 'emotion ancdfaith' 1950 by the Left Book Club as a book, modernity are never compatible', and
on the otlher.andlve are left in no doubt a.s ModemnAgeanl India.The essays collected deduced therefore that what India had
to which side Sarkarhimself is on. Of the inModernnAgeandlndiareflected an impli- received as a legacy of the colonial period
Swadesshimovement he writes in a manner cit consensus among the contributors as could only be characterisedas 'enclaves' of
that also dliscloses to us hi.s view of this to what 'modlernity'was. They agreed. (1) modernity:
'ideological hattlciground' oni whiclh he modernity. apa;rt from the differences there were indeed variances in western
positions himself: imposed by differentnationalhistories,was Europeanearly moderndevelopments...on
[An] ..nimportant...theeme[of the Swadeshi univer.sallythe same all over the world (a a comparative scale. Yet each particular
moveinentl is the ideological conflict view most powerfully expressed by Nirmal patternin westernEuropewas clearerand
between modernismi and traditionalism - Bhattaclhaiyapp 242-43): (2) that 'the more spontaneous, and where foreign
between an attitude which broadly speaking Modern Age all over the world undeniably interferencecouldbe resisted.moresecular
demands social reforms. tries to evaluate stem[med] frommodernEuropeanhistory' andrationalthancondition!in the previous
things and ideas by the criteria of reason and (TripurariChakravarti,p 13); (3) that '[tJhe period... What is normally described as
present-day utility. and bases itself on a most glorious characteristicof the spirit of modernityrepresentsthe superstructure of
hunianism seeking to transcend limits of the modernage [was] its emancipationfrom a given culture.whoseeconomicbaseis the
caste and religion; and a logically opposite dogmas...[whichlha[d]markedtheceaseless emergenceof capitalism.It is unrealisticto
trend which defends and justifies existing define a superstructurewithoutits base, to
pursuitof scientific knowledge in modern
social mores in the name of imimemorial times' (these arethe very opening scntences expect the fruitsof modernitywithoutthe
tradition and the glorious past, aind which uneven development and hard-headed
ol' the book writteniby Nareslh Chandra exploitative practices of a European
tends to substitute emotion and flaith tor Sen Gupta. p 1); (4) that science itself was
reason [Sark-ar 1977:24]. modernitywhichoften [in placeslike India]
value-nieutral, 'exemplifie[d] how man caine to term.swith feud,alremnants...and
What else is this but an unreflexive haldi tamed the forces of nature', and which took to colonialismifor maintaining
(re)statement of 'the struggle of the .science '[was] obliged to oppose religion progress in its catpitalist development
Enlightenment with Superstition'? 'Reason uncompromisingly' whenever religion [De 1976:123-24;emphasis aidded].
and truth' on the side of democracy and 'Ispokel about thingsi of this earth' Thisireference to base and superstructure
humanism, and 'faith' - a 'tissue of (Satyendraniath Bose. PP)144 and 148): and wasrepresentativeof whatwouldhavepassed
superstitions. prejudices and errors', as a (5) thata central meaning of moderinitylay for 'common seinse' in Indliai marxist
famous philosopher of the Enlightenment in the theme of emancipation/freedom(a hiistoriograplyof the 1970s. Forthepurpose
put it - on the side of tyranny [Hegel topic discussed in most chapters of this- of this discus.sion. however. I wish to
1977:3301. This conflict, for Sarkar. book). To he fair. the celebrationof science highlight wlhatthis statement, admittedly
structuresthe whole nalTativeof Bengali in this book was not totally devoid of any sshorn of the optimism of the 1950s, shares
modernity. HtLtraces it "right thlough the critical spirit.Writingin the shadows of the with the latter:a common under-standing of
19th century from the days of the Atmiya first atom bomb, several of our authors whatit meantto be modern.True,modemity
Sabhaand the DharmaSabha (1820s]" and warned about the evil consequences that born in Europe had been productive of
sees it "continu[ing] at the heart of the could follow from the 'unlimitednature'of colonialism in India. but it still had a
Swadeshi movement just as in the [Bengal] the power that 'science' could offer discernible 'progressivecontent'which was
'renaissance' which had preceded and humankind (see in particular the contri- 'diluted' in the colony because of under-
prepareolthe way for it". butions by Satyendranatlh Bose and development (remember that this was the
Insofarastheswadeshiagesawa determined Nareshclhandra Sen Gupta).They also made period also of 'dependency theory'). This
thoughnotentirelysuccessfuleffortto give some pertinentcriticisms of contemporairy 'progressivecontent' had in partto do with
the national movement a solid mass. basis. political leadershlipin India. But the faith 'rationialoutlook', the 'spiritof science' and
the periodcan be regardedaksa sort of test in the capacityof 'scientific spirit'to (leliver '1'ree'enquiiy'.etc. '[It is possible', wrote
fortherelevanceoftheseopposedideological the humanikinld lrom their problems, runs BarunDe in concludinighis piece, 'thatsome
trendsin the work-of nationalawakening intact through these essays. M N Roy. the future historians ...might put the 19th and
[Sarkar1977:34-351. communi.st-turnied-radical-lhumanist, wlho early 20th centuries at theend of a medieval
This i.s Enligh1tenmentrationlalismindeed. also contributedto this volume, even argued perio)dof uncertainty.insteadof thebeginning
but nozw (re)visiting. the history of the that the tenets of 'modernity' were but of the modern period, which s;tillawaits us
co)lonisedas amodleni.stclogma alndw reaking theoreticalexpre.ssion.s of whatwere 'natural in the third world' [De 1976:l21-125].

754 Economic and Political Weekly April 8, 1995

 'Modernity still awaits us', this is the that is to say. to he wlhatwe also ai-c n1t. political will sometimes expr-essesitself in
refrainofthe hyper-rationalcolonialmodern. Tllis is not a question of ihavinigto dlissemble the form of physical force. He physically
Whywouldmodernitystill awaitus in lndia. or simulate. it is rathera question o 'having throwsout of the house the Muslim maulvi
more than200 years afterit was introduced to live poorly, in and as bad translationls. the ReverendMotlherhiadappointedfor their
by Europeanimperialism?How long does To move from the register of lamcnt to childrenis religious educcltion, the only
it take for an Indian to become moderni?A that of irony: that is thc shitt pro(lucedby clement in the children's educationthatwas
'full-fledged modernity',as the idea is used an attitude of inicre(lulity towards the of herchoice. The reasonhe gives to hiiswife
in these texts, is by definition something metanalrativesof the EuropeanEnliglten- in dlience of hiisaction will probablywarm
good. Itembodies the fullness of eveiything ment. But that is only the first step tlhoughl thelhcartof every.vsecul ar-rationalistIndian:
-of prosperity.of rationalism.Itcannoctever it preparesus for openinlgup our hiistories 'He was teaclhingthemIthechiildrenlj to hate,
be whatwe have got is all we have got. What to other possibilities, soen of whiclhI will wife. He tells them to hate Hindus and
we have is only a bad versioniof what is in- consi'derin tlhefinal sectionlot this essay. Buddlliistsand Jains and Siklhs and who
itself good. We have not yet arrived. We knows wlhatothlervegetarians.'
look faulty though it is not our fault. The II The Reverend Motlheris in the position
blame lies with colonialism. Colonialism Unreasonable Origins of Reason of the classic subaltern.The reasonableness
stoppedus frombeingfully moxlern.Scholars of thedloctor's position is neverself-evident
will repeat Barun De' s lament: we are Salman Rushdie s Midnighti'sClhildrlen to her. And so the battle goes on in the lives
incompletelymodern.SumitSarkarwill open containsa sub-plotwhicihillustrateshow the ol the Reverend Motlherand hierhusband,
his book ModemnIndia, published a decade problem of 'force' or 'coercion' may arise a battle organised around mutual
after Barun's De's essay, on this elegiac in the coniversationbetweenithe so-called incomprehension [Rusldie 1984:42-431
note: India's is a story of a 'bourgeois 'modern'anidthe 'non-modern'.andindeed This mutual incomprehensionis what, one
modernity'thatis 'grievously incomplete'. how strategies of domination emerge as a could argue in Aiz'zs defence. drive both
Themourningwill speakthrougliSusieTharu necessary move to bring to a close an the good (loctor a;nd their wife to their
andK Lalitha's impressive and sensitively- argumentthatcanniotnot bc settled through respective delsperatemeasures.
edited collection Womtten lWiitingin India: purely rationalprocedures.It is significant If I were to read this parl of the novel as
600 BC to the Earlv 20th Centuriy: thatthe subalternof this particularna-rrative an allegory of the hiiistoryof modernity.
Scholarswho havequestioned...a linearor of modernity should be a woman. historianswould object.lt woulclbe saidthat
progressive understanding of history claimii AdamAziz. the Europe-returnedmedical this allegoty, powverfulbecause it ransuch
that the liberal ideal.s ot reformers [of dloctor who is also the grandfatlher ol' the a strongblack-and-whitehinar-yof traditioni/
women's conditions] could not have been narrator Saleem Sinai. inaugurates a modlernity right through the storyline. was
realised under the economic and political nationalistprojectin hiisdomestic life when not trueto the complexities of 'real' history
conditionsof colonialrile. andwarnagainst he marriesNaseem Ghanii.Aziz as a modern (which historians are fond ot picturing in
applying such simiple, linear narratives of person,knownthatwomenin Islam/tradition the colour grey). The niarrative could have
progress to the study of nineteenth century have becn confined/unfree.He instructshiis gone diffeirenitly(as indee(dwe know from
India. What appears as retrogressive in wife 'to come out of puredali and, as a women's aindsubalternhiistor-ies) anidmight
nationalism11was not a conservative back-lash, demonstrationiof his will, burns her veils, not have been structuredby suclh a stoing
butthelogicallimitsof reformnist progra.mmes saying: 'Forgetaboutbeinga good Kashmiii opposition between the moder-niserand the
in a colonial situationthat would never,as girl. Start thinking about being a modlern yet-to-be-modernised. In such possible
Sumlit Sarkarwrites, allowimorethana "weak- Indianwoman'[Rushdie1984:34].Naseem. alternative accounits the Reverend Mother
anddistorted"caricatureof "fullblooded" latertheReverendMotherof Saleem Sinai's might have in fact nee(dedAziz's alliance
bourgeoismiodernity.either for wom:ien or description, the daughter of a Muslim against other patriarchal authorities. hel
fr men. (Tharuand Lalitha 1991:1841.' landlord.is f'romthe beginningportrayedas father,ora possiblemother-in-law,andcould
Does it now become clear as to why it tradition heirself. Readers of the niovel will have becinmot ameneable to his .suggestions.
might be useful for us. intellectuals of a recallthatwhenAdamAzizfirstencountered Similarly. the peasanthkelddown by tyrants
colonialfomnationtomaintaina criticalwatch ler as a patienltin a conservative/traditional might seek out the help of the modern in
on the history of (European)reason'!Why Muslim family. she could only be examined theirownstruggles.Andwhatif thesubaltem
it might be helpful to see that the tlhrougha seveni-inch hlole in a bedlsheet held thlroughtheir own agency discovered for
Enlightenment's story of the struggle of over her b(xly with only the relevanitpart themiselvesthe pleasures of the modern:of
'science-rationalism'versus 'faith-religion' of her bo)dymade visible. The doctor fell the autonomous-self, of interiority, of
can be repeatedin Indiaonly as an example in love with this fragmented boxly and science. of teclhniology. (ofIp-st-enligtenment
of bad translation?For both the sides of the discovered only after their wedding the rationalism its-elf"? The cominig of
equation are violated in translating them formidably'traditional'hacrttlat beatinside enlighteniment rationialism. in such hiistor-ical
across-to ourpast andpresentpractices.The it.Theirmutualincomprehensionstartswith recall. would not be a story of dlomination.
history of our hyper-rationalismis not the their love-making wheln, on their second Have not the critics of the modernstatehad
same as thatof Enlightenmentrationalism. night, Aziz asks her 'to move a little': it said to them thatthe people actuallywant
and the practices that we gather under the 'Movewhere?'she asked.'Movehow!' He the state. or the critics of modlernmedicine,
name 'religion' do not repeat the hiistory of becameawakwardand said, 'Only ove,.I that the people, once introducedto moxdern
that Europeancategory of thought.I accept mean,likea woman...'Sheshriekedinhorror. medicine, want it?
that in today's world such translations are 'My (iod whathaiveI married?I know you Gra;nted,but then whatis the relationslhip
unavoidableandoften needed. But we need European-returned men. You fin(dterrible betweeinRushldie'sstoty and thc hiistoryof
to recognise them for what are: they are women and then you try to maikeus girls modernity?Rushdie's is an allegoty of the
mistranslations, no matter how much we ListenDoctorSahib.husband or-iginsof modlernity.It tells us about the
be like themii!
need them in pursuing our multifarious or no husbaind.I am not ...any bad word beginningsof the historicalprocessthrough
conflicts of interests.It may precisely be an woiiman'lRushdie 19?4:34J. which women in the Aziz family became
ironyof ourmoodernity thatwe arecon.stantly The battle continucs tluroughouttheir modern'. Thiisprocess was not benign and
calledlupon to believe in what only require.s malTiage, Aziz. conducting it from the that i.s not an unfamiliar tale to histo)rians
to be performed, to treat a bad translation po.sitionof thekno)wiuig. willing anldjudging of modecrnityeven in the homeland of the
as though it was a perfectly adequate one, .subject of modernity. His modlernising Enlightenment, western Europe. The door

Economic and Political Weekly April 8, 1995 755

by whichoneenters citizenshipora nationa- Whelrc caniwe. historiansof a thirdwor-ld Will our self-proclaimed Fationalist' ad
lity always has a 'durwani'(gatekeeper) - country like Indliawhere the distinction 'secularist'"historians isay that?
himself usually only partiaillyadmitted to hetweeinthe foundlingandithe preservative
therites of equality- posted outside: hisjob moxles of viole:nce in the f'ulnCtionlilig of the II1
is to he mean. to abuse. bully. insult and law is hardlto sustain, anchor such facile History as Democratic Dialogue
excludeor to humiliateeven wheltihe letsyou optimism?'Thepr-ocessof making'peasants' with Subaltern
in. This is recognised by European hiisto- or individuals into 'Indians' takes place
rians and intellectuals. The violence of the everydlaybefore our eyes. It is not a process I niow come to what to me is the hardest
discourse of public healtlhin 19th century with a single or simple characteristic.nor part of my argumenit.not least because I
Englanddirected itself against the poor and is it without any material benetits to the myself have not practise(dwhat I am about
the:workingclasses [Stallybrass and White people involved. But were we to convert to preaclh. I am ttying to tthinkmy way
1986]. Thneprocess by whicihrural France particular bexnefits. which often (lo create towards a 'subaltern historiography that
is modernised, in the l9thcentury is descriibed problems in their turn. into some kind( of a actually tries to learn ftromthe subaltern.It
by EugenWeberas something akinto 'inter- grandnarrativeof progress. it wouldlleave is also an attemptto transcendtlheposition
nalcolonialism'[Weber19761.Denidadiscus- us with a tfew importa;ntand l nagging thatearly SubalterSlnSudies took as its point
ses thesame problemfromwithinthe experi- problemns.If a certain kind(of colonising of departure.
enceofbeingFrenci. 'Asyouknow'.hewrites. driveis inhserient to thecivilising-in(xodrnisiing Let me go back to one of the fundamental
in many countries.in the past and in the project. and if one Were.in one s point of premises of this essay. I do not deny the
present.one foundingviolence of the law view, toiside uncritically with this prqject, immense practical utility of left-liberal
oroftheiimposition of statelawhasconsistedhow would one erect a critique of political philosophies. One cannotperform
in imposinga languageon nationalor ethnic imperialism? Weber's solution to thiis effectively in the context of modern
minoritiesregroupedbv the slate. T'hiswas prohlemndocs not solve anything:hlesays. bureaucracies- and therefore one cannot
the case in Franceon at leasttwo occasions. in effect. maybe it's all riglhtto practise access the benefits these institutions are
first. when the Villers-Cotterel dlecree colonialism on on's people. But that is capable of delivering - if one is not able to
consoldiatedtheunityofthe monarchicstate getting th(e story back-to-front. for the mobilise own's own identity. personal or
by imposing French as the juridico- assumed purpose of this colonialism, in collective. thiroughthe languages.skills and
administrative languageandby forbidding... Weber's scilema. was to make real the practices these philosophies malkepossible.
Latin.... lhe second major inonoenl of category 'onels ownipeople'! One canniiot The very ideao 'distributivejusticerequires
impositiinwastha,toftheF4rench Revolution. assume into existenice at the beginninigol' that these languages and competencies - of
when linguisticunificationtook the most a process what the process is meanit to citizenship. of democracy. ot welfare - be
repressix"c pedagogical turn... Dl)errida produce as its own outcome. If'Weber s madecavailable to all classes, particularly
1992:211. sentiment hias aniy political validity in those subordinated and oppressed. It means
Derridadistinguishesbetween 'two kindsof Fr-anice today. it only means thal hlie thia.twhcneverwe, membersof theprivileged
violence in law. in relation to law... : thc colollising prcess succeeled in achlie'ilng classes, write subalter:nhistorices- wheither
founding violence. the one that institutes this ei(l, popularising the story of progress we write lhem as citize:ns(i e. on behalf of
and positions law .... and the violence that (though that would he takinig a raithcr the iicaoofdemocraticrights:)oras socialists
conserves. theoneithatmna intain.s,confirms. Whiggisil view itofthat his;tory). Let mne (desirinigradical social chanjice)- a certain
insures the permanienceanidenlforceability repeal my point once more: If it is true tlhal lpedagogic driv'c comes into play in OUr-
of law...' [DelTida 1992:311. Fnlighlitenmetiirationalism requires as its writing. We write. ultimately. as part of a
These are knowvnfacts and probably are vehicle the modern state and its collectiv'eclTrtI'1 it)ohell) tea1chi
the oppressed
featuNs of the: history of modernity accompanying institutionss-the insti'umineits ofltoday how to he the democratic subject
anywhere. Thc question is. what is our of governmentality. in Foucault's terms - of tomorrow.
relationship to these two kinds of vioIlenice anl if thisentails a certain kindotofcolonising Sinice pedagogy is a dialogue, even if it
in Indian mod:ernity?It is easy to see that violence anvwav' (however justifiable the -is only thieteacheCrsvoice thatis hicard-
our attitude to the Iirst kind of violece - violence might he from a retrospeUtive a.s Barthes once said. 'when tile teachier-
tht:foundinigone - is deter-minedlargely by poinlt of view). tlenli one cannot both speaks to hiisaudience. the Otlheris always
our relationlshipto)the second. For FugenI unicriticallywelcome thiisviolence andvet there, punctringhin s discourse' - suballern
Weber.for instanice,thief'actthatsomethinig mainta.in a critique of European imperialism history produced in this manner. is dialogical
like ai 'internalcoloniialism'was needed to in Indiaexcept on some kindof essentialistic IBarthes 1979:951. But the dialogue. by its
make peasants into Frenchmncl.arouses no andtdindigenist ground (e g. onily indians very structure.is not democratic (which is
ire for the end-result has been good lor have a righl to colonise themselves in tile niotto say thatit is notof use to the subaltern).
everyhbxoy:'the past was;a time of misery interestof modernitv).Inthe 1970s. marxist To be open-ended. I wouldl argue. a dialogue
anid barbarism. the: priesent a time of historians in India andcelsewhere - secing has to be genuinely non-telcological, i e, one
unexampled comfort and(isecurity. otf themselves as inheritors of the Eurolpan must1not presume., on iny aipriori basis. that
machines and schooling and services. of all Finligilteiincmet aIIndyet wvantitlgto distance whalever position our political ideology
thewondersthataretranslatedas civilisation' the:mselves from the fact of Furopean suggests as correct will hb necessarilv
[Weber 1976:478J. Beginnings. however colonillism - tricedout anothersolution. Bv vin(licated as a result of this dialogue. For
ugly. do not matterfor Weber- tlheycaniniot f'using marxism wilhl (dependency theory. a (lialouge can be geniuinelylopen oily undcr
act as a site fromwhere to develop a critique tlhy sought to feti.shise colonialism inilt) a 011CCondition: tllhatno0party puts itsell' in a
of the present(as Foucault leaches:us to do distinct socio-cconomic formation. poisition wlher it caniunilaterally (lecide the
with his genealogical metllhxl)- for he tells. inhierently productive of underdevelopment. final outcomes olf thle conversation. This
and believes in. a story of progress. His Trhetdeise l Ot'dependency theoryhiasrobbed ncverhal)pensbetweenithe 'moderniandtile
teleologysaveshimfromhavingto)becriticail. us ofl hat ground. Frankly. il'Enliglhltlelnnt o11n-mirodern . Becaus.;c. however, noin-
The pain of lhe 19th century Fm'nchl peasant rationalism is the only way h1umaln i societies coercive the conversat ion betvween thei
ts rio lo)ngerhis own. It is a wounldover can hiuIm11;anise themnselves,then we oughi'to Kantian subject ( i c. thc tralnxscetildeit
which time h1asfoermede it doe.s not be eratevtulth1atthe European.s.set out to academticYi
a s^cabh. ose)srver. theakwingtsvll.*j udgingi
bleed any more. domlinatethe worlIdandL .sprezadit.s me.ssalge. andeWvillinlg .subje:ctof1trnslcrnlity)andthtle:

756 ix andPolitical Weekly

EIconomi ApriilX. 1'95
subalternwvhoenters intoahistoricaldialogue thatare ticedto tlhalreality. Indeed.this must national-ethnicuniily.withoutthe unity of
with the formerfrom a nonl-Enlightenment remain one cntirely legitimate mode of itsit]glelanguageor a deep nionolinguistic
position. this diaglogue takes place within rloduluc
ing ;Ub)altern histories. tradition.It is a world of giay rights and
afieldof possibilitiesthatis alreadystructured f
Yet the problen u)fundenimocracv remains femiinists.of radliclilyldelnlocratic.anti-
fiom the veiy beginning in favourot certain in the structureof this dlialogue. Can we hierairchica:l.anti-elitist structures,with a
outcomes. To put this In terms of Gyan imagine aniotler mnomentof'.suba;lt.eri iistoly. praigmlatic view of truthand principles.and
Prakash's book on *kamiauti'(bonded. in where wvestay - per-ma;ne:ntly.
not simply ais in whichchildrenwoul(dhe educatedniotin
badltranslation)lahourin the Indiandistrict a mattert of political tactics - with whlat is
aiClassical Giymnasiumi but in free public
of Bihair. if the peasant has until niow institutionswith schools in which Andy
fragmentaryanidepisodic. preciselybecause Warhol would get as big a hearing as
understoxod the world of power in tenns of that wvlichiis fr;agieintary aindepiso dic does
SophoclesandAeschylus.schoolsfilledwith
ghlostsand spirit-cults. surely the initended not, cannot, dream of the whole called the coiiiputers and the latest technological
result of this communicatioinbetween the state and therefore must be suggestive of advances, schools that maikea particular
positioinof the modern subject and that of knolwledge-fornms thatarenot tied to the will effort to reach the disadvantatged.
the peasant would be entirely predictable: that produces the state'?This is wherc we. Heide9ggerwould ratlier he (lead.[Caputo
thatthe peasantwould learnto see hiisworld the miiddleclasses. childrenol thiestate. go 1993:971. Not only would a Heidegger die
structuredby the(removable)inequalities of to the subalternin order to learn. learn to in .such a world, the absence of a 'deep
class. gender and ethnicity [Prakahsli 19901. imagine whaltkniowledgec inight look like if monolinguistictraditioi' wouldkill a Tagore
Tllcrev'erse. that the peasant milghit convince it wvere to serve hlistori-es thia.t were too! Our philosopher does cveinrecognise
modern., political 'commentator" of the What,wouldl ndian
fragmentailyandlepsl).o(lic. the protoundicly
parochial niatureot his own
existence of ghosts and spir-its.would be an hiistory be like if it were imagitied as favouritebranidof North Americancampus
unimaginable (thierefore disallowed) flrazgmlentati
iy' Nolt 'f-agmentai'v'intlh sense r.adicalissmthat he prescribes for everybody.
conisequenice of this process of communi- of fr.agmentsthatrefer to an implicit whole To go to thc subaltern in order to lcarn
cation. (In the limiting case of the problem. but flragments that challengei not only lhe to be radically fragmentary' and 'episodic'
all peasants would be educated out of tllcir idea of wholeness but tlie very ideai of the is to move away firom thi monomiania of thie
peasantncss.) 'f-agmient' itself (fOI-if there were not to be imagination that operates witiin the gesture
Inpedagogic hiistor-ics, it is the subaltern's anly wholes. wlhal would be 'fragmnetits' be that the knowing. judging. willing subject
relation.ship to the world that ultimately 'fragments; of)? [Panidey 1992:27-55: always already knows what is good for
calls foit improvement. Subaltern-, Stuidies, Chlattej'ee 1993]. everybody. alheadof any investigation.The
the series, was founded withiinthis gesture. I rai-eliis
thquestio becaiuseto me itseetms investigation, in tumrmust be p)ossessCdof
Guhla's inisurgent peasants. for instance. to)be coninectedto the question ol the limit.s ainopCeliliss so IradicalthatIcanionly express
fall short in their understanidinigof what to acadIeimic
formns of knowle(dgeof socitety. it in Heidegger-ia;nterms: the capacity to hear
is requiredfor a 'comprehenlsive'rieversal I am nlot. a;s I hlave said1. sceptical of' the that which does inotalreat.dyunder-stand.' In
of the relations of power in aniexploitative practical utility of the language of left-liberal othel words. to allow the subaltern position
society [Guha 19831. And this was exactly politicalphilosophiy.pailticularlyineniabling to chialleingeour owinconceptionisof what
positioni of the man whl o gave us the the subalternclasses t.lo enjoy thlebetnefits is universal. to be open to the possibility of
categoy 'subalterin'.ForAntonio Gramsci. that the institution.softmodlernityoffer. But a particular thouglht-wol ld. however,
readers will recall. the subaltern named a I amndeeply sceptical (of an intellectual concer-nedit might be with the taskgrasping
political position that. by itself, was assumInptiolnthat IruInsthlrougl the writings a totality. being reinder-edfinite by the
incapahle of thinking the state: this was t social scieitists whlo tliniikonly thriioughl presence of the Other: such are the utopic
a thought to be brought to that positioni hy thils language. This is the assumption that horizons to wvhich this otlhcr ioment Of
the revolutionary intellectual. Once thc 1ied iversity otfcultures.the dlivergenit ways Suba/litern.Studies calls us.' Knlowledge-
subalterncould imagine/thinlkthe lstate,. he Ot being lhumanthat culture is all about, forms produced at this cnd will not be tied
transcended. theoretically .speaking, the could be rienderedfIfti/ transparent to the to the state or governmentalityfor they will
condition of subalternitv. While it is true gaze of ainlyoine particular political philo- not reflect a will lt) rule. The subalternhere
that Gramsci developedi a dialogic soplhy. no0mat(terhow different the circum- is theiclealfigurcoflhewhiosurvivesaictively.
mai'xismwhichlwas meant to takeseriouslv stances ithin whi'l tlihephiloso)phy origi- even joyously. on the assumption that the
wlhat wentt oni iniside thei hieads of' the natedelmighitbe from theculturc undLerstudly. e'ffective instrumenuitsoft domimationi will
oppresised. he was clear on wihat the A certain kini(dof mo)nomaniiao'tesnsl)eaks always belotig to somebody else and never
subalternlacked andlhis words would bear thiouglh statements by liberal scholars, thel itspilres to tlh.tli.
repelition: idea, tor inistance. tlhal it is intellectually Wlhatwvillhistory prodlucedin this mnodle
The.suhaltern classes. hy definition.arenot possible to) envision a goo(l s>ciety for look like? I cannot say. forone cannot wirite
unitedand cannotunite until they are able ever-ybody on tliis carth evenI it we are this history in a pure Iorm. The languages
to becomea 'Stale'...l'hehistoryot suhallern ignorant of' the circumstances anidcultures of thefstate. of citizenilship.of wholes and
oial groupsis neessarily fragineniedand of others. In thiis, all pedagogic histories. totalities. the legacy of Enlighiteniment
episodic. There undoubtedlydoes exist a whcthicr liberal or socialist. are on.c There rationalism(thatto say. the badtran.slations
tendency to (at least provisional slages of) is always the assumption thiatwhile the wotrld productiveOfhyper-rationalism) will always
unificationin the historicalactivityof these is- plural. it could noever-be so plural as to cut across it. At the same time this other
groups. but this tendency is coniiuiilly be impossible of description in any one hiistory wvilllpresent itself as that which
interruptedby the activity of the ruling system of repriesentationi. For example. this disrupts. these languages. To open OUrsClvCs
groups...In reality, even whenthev appear passage occurs in aniothlewise interesting to tihese histories would mean to listein
triumphaint.the subaltern groups are merely book otn H-eilegger by ani American careflully to the radical polysemy of our
ainxious to defend themselves... [(iranisci philosopher. aiirguinig against Heldegger's languages aiid practices. to admit to our
1971:52.54-55J. attachin'licn m the ideal ot 'enrootedlness. consciousness the many possible worlds we
As I have alreaelyindlicated.hiistorieswritten 'I'h.' result. a) mi' possiblc resull. ol this inhabit.to-seriouslyallow forthepossibility
in thispedagogic-diafogicmode arenotonly fcnilvthllogising r(t Heidleggerl is a world that hleseworlds mlayhe incotrnmensurable
welcome,. this mode i.s in fact ine.scapalble. tha. ... Hemdi'g.gcr- the maln- wouelld aIhhor. With re?spcCtto each other,and1henl'etogranit
We live in3societies structuredby the .state It i.s atmalmlili
ngual
{. multlicultrll'I. nliisc'eec- oursociaillifrea.con.stantlackof tran.spare
ncy
and thleoppre:s.sedne:edknlowlcedge-form.s natedt.polymorphic:. piluralist
xvolrld
(it biout withl regardeto any one particularway of

EJconomicand Political Wcckly April X, 1995 757

thinking about it. This is no ground for
rejection of Enlightenimentrationalismn:it
is, on the other hand, the ground oniwllicl
1. an intellectual produced by a colonial JUST RELEASED
formation. accept Enlightenmenitrationla-
lism, secure in the knowledge that
investigative procedure embodying this
rationalityonly give us a par-tialhold on our
MARGIN
lives, and thattoo throughnecess-ary.much QuarterlyJournal of NCAER
neededandyet inevitably poor translations.
Whichi means our live.s are no lonlger (Volume 27, No. 1, October - December 1994)
adequatelyrepresentabletlhr-ouglh theunitary
languageof a particularpoliticalphilosophy,
that is, through some kind of a Hegelian
Chief Edftor:S.L. Rao Editor:Shashanka Bhide
synthesis that can contain and subsume all
ourdifferenceswithothersandthosebetween
ourselves. This is why we need to go to a Contents
DerTida,or a Lyotard or a Levinas, not
because they have become 'fashions in the Indian Economy
west' (that's raising the question at its most
- Macro Economic Indicators 1
superficial level) but because they are the
philosophers of 'difference' and 'non- - Review of the Indian Economy (July - September 1994) 7
commensurability' for our times.
Sarkar's fearthata critical understandling Articles
of our intellectual inheritances from the - Child Labourin Carpet Industry 54
European EnlightenmentwouTdoinly help - Locationand Dispersion Trends in IndianShare Prices,
the 'fascistic' Hindus is based on some 1976 - 1991: Quick Sign Tests 71
sputiousassumptions.GrantedthatEuIropean
Dilbagh Baroca
fa.scism drew on certain spirit of
disenchantmentwith 'post-Enlightenimenit
Book Reviews
rationalism', but from this the rever-sedoes
not follow. One cannlotargue on this basis - InterlinkedAgrarianMarketsin Rural India 80
that every critique of this post- AnilSharma
Enlightenment rationalism' must endl up - Health Care Expenditurein India 82
being fascist. Or else. we would have count D. K. Pant
some strangecandidates among our lifstof
'reactionaries',and amonigthem would be Books Received
such differentpeople as Gandhian(dWeher
and,for ourtimes, not only Michel Foucault - Glimpses of IndustrialIndia 84
but JurgenHabermasas well. They remind - India:Macro-economicsand PoliticalEconomy, 1964-1994 84
us that to critique post-Enlightenment - Macro-economicPolicies, Crises and Growthin Sri Lanka,
rationalism,or even modernity,is ncotto fall 1969-1990 85
initosome kind of 'ilTationalism'. As Lydia - The Strategic Silence: Gender and Economic Policy 85
Liu has recenitlyremarkedin hierdiscussion
of Chiinesehistoty, 'thecr-itique
of modernity Seminars/Conferences at the NCAER
has always been partof the Enliglhtenmetit
legacyfromtheRomantics,Nietzsche,Marx.
- Developing A Trade Model for India 86
and Heidegger to Horkheimer. Adorno. - The Dynamics of Rural Income Change: 1971-1982 87
Foucault.Dernidaandeven Habermas'[Liu
1993:19 1. It is also truethatthe experience Projects-in-hand with NCAER 88
of fascism has lefta certainth'aumain Leftist
intellectuals in the west. They have ceded Annual Subscription
to the fascists all moments of poetry,
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sentiments and communities (however
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onilyreminidsthem of the Nazis. Ours are
culturies rich in the-.seelements. Gandhi,
Tagore and a host other nationalist.shiave Availablefrom:
shown by theirexamples what tremenidous Publications Division
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of fabricating new forms of life. It would 11, Indraprastha Estate, New Delhi - 110002 (India)
be .sadif we ceded this e:ntireheritage to the
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758 Economic and Political Weekly Apfil 8. 1995

theirhistories.andthatoUr presentblunders. been achieved with their help. ['Amnader Bose. A N (ed) (1950): ModernAge atn India,
whatever these are, must be the same as itihac o his masters voice' (Our History and Left Book Club, Calcutta.
theirs in the past. What, indeed. could he His Master's Voice)' Balromas,p 72]. Bra;ss,T1om(1993): 'A-away withTheirWor(l)ds:
Rural Labourers through the Postmodern
a greater instance of submission to a 2 Itis a well-wornipoint of Europeanhistory that Prism', Economic and Political Weekly,
Eurocentricimagination than that fear? the idea of an irrevocableopposition betweeni JuIne5.
science/rationalism' aind 'religioni' goes (Caputo. John D (1993): Dewnvythologising
Notes against all -availableevidence. For a recenit Ileidegger, Bloonii ngton.
collectioniof careful discussionis.see l)avid C Chakrabarty.Dipesh (1992): 'AimaderItihas o
[I am grateful to audiences,at the University of Lindbergand Ronald I. Numbers (eds), God HisMastersVoice', Bartoma.s, AnniualNumber
Melbourne and at the Univers-ityof California andNatlure:IlistoricalEssavsontheEwe-ounter 1992.
campusesat Berkeley, Irvine and Riverside who between Clriistiaityiiatul.nienre (Berkeley, Chatterjee. Paithla(1993): ThteNatiotnand Its
heard and comnmentedon aniearlier versioni of 1986). Fragmnents,New Jersey.
this paper.Conversationswith David Lloyd, Lisa 3 See the interesting discussioi in A K De, Barun (1976): 'The Colonial Context of the
Lowe, NaolkiSakai. FionaNicoll, SimionDuring. Ramanujan, 'is There an Indiani Way of Bengal Renaissance' in C H Phillips and
ChristopherHealy, Robin Jeffrey, Jane Jacobs, Thiniking"? An Informal Essay' in McKim Mary Doreen Wainwright (eds), Indian
LeelaGandhi,LawrenceCohen. GautamBhadra. Marriott(ed). Inlia throughHitdluCategories .Societvandthe Begintntngsof Modertnisatlion,
Sanjay Seth, Rajyaashree-Gokhale. RanajitGuha (New l)elhi. 1990), pp 41-58. RamanuIan 1830-18O.S.London.
andGayatriSpivakhave been extremelyhelpful.] discusses the case of his own scientist father Derrida, Jacques (1992): 'Force of Law: The
I The intensityof the hostility of these criticisms who was both an astronomerand 'an expert "Mystical Foundation of Authority"' in
may be gauged from some of tactics emiiployed astrologer'.Ramanujanwrites,"Ihadjust been Drucilla Comnellet al (eds), DecosLstruction
in this debate. A historian of Sarkar's converted by Russel to the 'scientific adl the Possibility ofJJusrtice,New York.
distinction, for instance. finds it necessary to attitude'...I looked lor consistenicyin him. a Farias;,Victor (1989): Heidegger atid Nazism
suppress,or ignore or omit facts pertinentto consistency he did not seem to care about or (translatedby Paul Burrelli), Philadelphia.
a discussion of the disagreemiients he has aired. eveti thiik about" (pp 42-43). Gay. 1P(1971): ThleParty oJ /liwnanity: Essays
Incriticising Bhadra.for example. he does not 4 Rajenidralal Mitraltuno-Asyans,Vol 2. pp 111- it thleFretich E'nlightenmient. New York.
mentionthe debatehe ancdothers have already 12. cited in Andrew Sartori's master's thesis - (1977): The Enlightenment:An Interpretation,
hadwith GautamBhadrain the pages of Naiva (Melbourne University, 1993). p 60. Thie New York.
(the Bengali journal he mentions) where thoughtsexpressedhereowe muchto Sartori's Gramsci. Antonio (1971): Selections Jro(tntthe
Bhadra's interview was first published and analysis of this passage. PrisonNotebookvofAntonioGramrsci. Quintin
where Bhadrahas subsequenitlydefended his 5 See M N Roy, 'CulturalRequisitesof Freedomii' Hloareand Geoffrey Nowell Smith (eds),
position.I am equallysurprisedby his distorted in A N Bose (ed), ModertnAge atnd Ilnia, New York.
readingof what I said. My Bengali essay does p 181: "Mankind has pursued the ideal of Guhla. Ranajit (1983): ElemfientaryAspects of
not., contrary to Sarkar's claim, equate freedomlfrom tlimeimmemiional.Because the Peasatit Insurgenccy itnColonial Itndia.Delhi.
Macaulaywith Marx;in fact it does not, even struggle for freedoii..., i e. to experience the Gyan 1Prakash (1990): Botnded Histories:
mention Marx. Nor does it, being concerned unfoldmnentof human potentialities. is a Genealogies of Labour.Seivitule in Colonial
withdiscussinigacookbookwrittenby awomian biological urge in every human being". And India, Camilbridge.
of an elite. zamiintdar family, have much to do on p 183: "Itis one thiingto feel the urge for Hegel. GWF (1977): Phenomenology (ofSpirit.
withlsubalterns,uncriticallyorotherwise. And freedom,as allaanimalsdo"(Roythen proceeds (translatedby A V Miller), Oxford.
finally, it does not reject Enlightenment to distinguislhhumatnsfromianimals). Heidegger. M (1982): Otnthte Vaytlo Language
rationalismthoughit includes a critiqueof the 6 The reference is to Sumit Sarkar'sA Critique (tranislatedby Peter 1) Hertz), New York.
Kantian and Hegelian ideas of 'universal of ColontialIndia. pp 1-17. 71-76. Laird,M A (1'972):Mis.sionaries atnl Fduratio
-
history' my position being, both in thatessay 7 Seethe AminestyInternational l's repot onI1ndia itnBetngal 179-3-1837. Oxford.
and elsewhere, that academic critiques of in 1992 where the majorityof illegal torture Liidberg. David C and Ronald L Numbers(eds)
Enlightenment rationalism can only be are documentedto have been inflicted by lihe (1986): God atul Native: Historical Essays
producedthrougha performativecontrdiction, law-enitorcinig arm
iof the state miachinery.the on thleEncounter between Christianityand
i e, by staying strictly within the procedures police. Science. Berkeley.
of such a rationalisttraditionitself. Here is, 8 Heidegger speaks about ridding 'ourselves of Liu, Lydia H (1993): TranslingualPractice:Tlhe
in translation, what I wrote: the habit of always heanng only what we Discourse of Individualismibetweeni Chi'na
already understand'.See Martin 1Heidegger, and tbe West', Positions: East Asia Cultures
The earlyvehicles forthe spreadof modernity 'The Natureot Laniguage'in his Otn thte WVav Critique. Vol 1, No 1, Spring.
throughout the world were European to Laniguage,p 58. SihouldHeidegger's name Norris. Christopher (1993): The Trutlhof
imperialisms and their various violent raise politically correcthack-lesbecause of his Post1nodertnisin. Oxford.
procedures. This has lodged a pemianent Nazi past, let us renimemiber that the Nazis Pandey, Giyanenidrai (1992): 'In Defeniceof the
contradictionat the very centre of the history sometimesmiiounted thesamie 'objectionagainst Fragmienit:Writinig about Hiindu-Muslin
of modernity. Martin Heidegger once said his thoughts as those raised by the Old left Riots in Iidia Today', Representations.
that, in any attemptto understandsociety, it against post-structuralism:'in his last rector's Winiter.
wasalmostimpossibletoresistthetemptations speech [said a Nazi evaluation of Heidegger] Ramianujan, A K ( 9')90):'Is Therean IndiatiWay
of EuropeancategofriestodaysincebAth'man' philosophy tends in pr-acticeto dissolve into of Thinklinyg'An Informal Fssay'. Mckiin
and 'world'hadbecome 'Europeanised'.One an aporetic of endless questioning. ...In any Marriott(ed). Ilnia thtroughlH1indlu
Categories,
has to accept one's position within modernity case. one ought not to be silent about certain New Delhi.
- whatever this word means: scientific themes of the philosophy of "care"[Sotrge] Rushdie, Salmani(1984): Midnight's Childrent,
rationalism, the autonomous individual, which, like anguish, could lead to truly London.
economic development, the hungry society paralysing'effects'. Victor Farias,Hei(legger Sarkar,Sunimit (1977): T71eSwadeshi Movemrent
of consumerism,technical,governmentaland andiNazism1,p 165. itn Bengal 1903-1908, Delhi.
bureaucratic raltionality, civic/democratic 9 My debt to Levinas an(d Dernrdaand their -( 1985): A Ctitique of Colonial India, Calcutta.
rights, public health (and one has to aiddto numerous commentators will be obvious at - (1993): 'The Fascism of the Sangha Parivar',
this, population increase [explosion], mass this point. Economic atid Political Weekly, Vol 27,
poverty and large-scale ethnic conflict or No 5. January20.
racism)- andwritehistory[fromthatposition]. References Smith, Preserved (1966): ThteEnlightenmtent
WhatGandhioncecalled 'Englishrulewithout 1687-1776, New York.
the Englishmen'hassonmekindoftriuthtoday. Balagopal. K (1993): 'Why Did l)ecember 6, Stallybrass. Peter and Allon White (1986): Thle
It is no longer possible therefore to build 1992 Happen'?. Econoinic atnd Polilical Politics atid Poetics of Transgression,
individual or collective lives ignoring the Weekly, Vol 28, No 17. April 24. Londoin.
demands of the thoughts already entailed ini Barthes, Roland (1979): Imhage-Music-Text, Tharu.Susie iandK Lalitha(eds) (1991): Women
[concepts] such as 'democracy'. Individual (trdnslatedby Steplhenilieaith), Glasgow. Wrtitingitt India: 600 BC to thiePresent, 1,
freedomland autonomy', the 'nation-state', Behrens,( BA(1985): .%(oiety,,GovsernmJZent atun Delhi.
.nationality',etc. These are the contributions thle Enlli?ghtenmsent: Thle Exerienes* of Weber, Eugen(1976):Peasanlts intoFrenchSmen:
that Europeancivilisation has made to our EighlteenthlCenturm'Francee anld Prulsia, Th1eModernlisationlof Rural France, 1870)-
society and many desirable changes have Thames and Hudlson. 1914, Sitanford,

Economic and Political Weekly April 8, 1995 759