Reflections on Ramanujan’s “Is there an Indian way of thinking?”
In his informal essay titled “Is there an Indian way of thinking?”, A.K Ramanujan starts off by exploring four possible interpretations of this central question using the Stanislavskian exercise for actors which involves asking the question differently each time, emphasizing a different keyword — “is”, “an”, “Indian” and “thinking”. He then illustrates the central characteristic, “inconsistency” and the inherent hypocrisy of Indian thinking, through the example of his father who is adept at Mathematics and Astronomy while simultaneously being a Sanskrit scholar and Astrologer. How his father could resolve these distinct ways of thinking astounded a young Ramanujan and inspires him to probe this question further.
He then proceeds to cite accounts of the work of various European scholars who have described the peculiar Indian character to be inconsistent in logic, entirely missing the concept of self and lacking in any understanding of universality. Having presented these external views, Ramanujan, from his position as a linguist, goes on to forward a formulation to explain cultural tendencies in terms of the context-sensitive and the context-free ways of thinking. He also shares his observations about the counter movements in context-sensitive and context-free cultures. He concludes by noting how India’s modernization can be viewed as a movement from a context-sensitive to context-free culture of thought.
I never thought of the style of my thinking as being distinctly set in a “way” or method but Ramanujan’s formulation helped me question some of the characteristics of my own thinking such as the notions of logic, ego, objectivity and truth-telling. I now realize that my thinking has been greatly influenced by my education, which unsurprisingly, comes from the standards that were set by the colonial powers and continues to influence the lens through which I choose to see concepts such as ethics and legality. While at first it appeared absurd that Manu would prescribe a caste-based way of deciding punishment for crime, when viewed from the context-sensitive bias of Indian culture, it starts appearing consistent. The framework he proposes helps me examine what I earlier considered a unresolvable conflict between my way of thinking and that of so called right-wing conservative political groups in the country.
Whereas I would earlier judge them heavily for lack of logic, I can now get myself to look for the possible context behind their thoughts and actions. The Indian way of thinking somehow already found a way to accommodate what the western way would consider only exceptions — truth telling defined in terms of Kant vs. Manu being a prime example. In the pursuit of trying to retrofit nuances of Indian culture in the western context, lot of words and concepts lost their meaning and this is something I felt Ramanujan tried to point over and over in his essay.
Ramanujan points out how English language and western inventions such as the calculator and computer get contextualized once they entered India yet the undercurrent of cultural transformation within India is to move form a context-sensitive to a context-free way of thinking. As much as it seems the ideal, upheld by the protestant Christian way of thought, there are some serious ramifications for marginalized groups of people in India i.e. lower castes. The correction of the wrongs done to them over centuries cannot come in the form of adopting equal affordances to all and this is where the debate of caste-based reservation and other caste-related tensions lie. Context-sensitive legislation can make possible what Westerns today call “affirmative action”.
A case that comes to mind is the clashes between Dalit and Maratha castes and the ensuing Bharat Bandh that took place in January 2018. When viewed from a context-free point of view, a secular Indian mind would perceive the celebration of the British Victory over the Peshwas quite an unpatriotic cause to celebrate. And certainly among the middle class educated urban citizens this was largely the rhetoric that was spreading on social media. But both the need to commemorate the event and the need for miscreants from the Maratha caste to incite violence at the event can be understood once we unpack the politics of caste (context-sensitive) aspect of the incident. From the point of view of the members of the Dalit castes the victory of the East India Company which employed people from the Mahar (back then an untouchable caste) in the army and gave them a chance to serve, is a respectful remembrance of how they were able to realize their potential beyond the definition of their caste whereas for the Marathas the event saw the downfall of a their power over their constituency.
One can say that this agenda to push a context-free way of thinking in spheres like access education, government jobs and other avenues tries to dilute the sensitive underlying context and promotes an unhealthy path to modernizing India. Ramanujan’s formulation is a great way to start conversations in such scenarios and comes handy to start the process of questioning and critically examining commonly held truths in the Indian context.
