Historicity meets its limits: M G Ranade and a faith-based private/public sphere

Abstract

Post-modernists have been more effective at deconstructing modernity's foundations, including its notions of historicity and the separation of history and faith, while exhibiting scepticism towards affirming alternative conceptualizations of past and present, including those that may be rooted in religious or spiritual world-views. In this article I argue that in the non-west, where modernity and its categories have not always enjoyed a hegemonic status, the boundaries between history and faith have often been fluid. Here the post-colonial intervention becomes necessary both in truly recognizing difference and in suggesting alternative ethical possibilities that point to the limits of historicism and modernity. I read one of India's prominent social reformers from the colonial period, M G Ranade, as someone who while greatly drawn to historicist ideas was also sceptical about the modern separation between history and faith which he believed was not innate to Indian society and was deeply problematic in its ethical implications. Ranade, through a critical engagement with Hindu ‘traditions’ and his own personal piety, both points to the limits of historicism and suggests alternative ethical possibilities to that of the modern secular one.

Notes

1. I am not suggesting that religion, predominantly Christianity, especially Protestantism, has not heavily influenced western social theory. However religion entered social theory in a largely historicized and secular manner. For an interesting discussion about the relationship between the Christian faith and its historicization, see Van Austin Harvey, The Historian and the Believer, New York: Macmillan, 1996.

2. Religious historians and scholars have been more open to examining western faith-oriented visions as challenging the discourse of history. David Myers's work for instance suggests that sacral traditions can provide a moral compass in which to assess the past from a critical viewpoint. He examines the thought of four German-Jewish intellectuals during the period of Weimar Germany who were historicist and rationalist in their orientation but also drew from Jewish sacral traditions that questioned their modernist and secular beliefs. See David N Myers, Resisting History: Historicism and Its Discontents in German-Jewish Thought, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003.

3. With the separation of religion and history came a disciplinary divide between religious studies (whether Christianity, Judaism, Islam or other religions) and social theory. Debates within each of these spheres operate quite autonomously. While religious scholars are more aware of debates within social theory, the same cannot be said about social theorists. Post-modernists continue to operate within these separate parameters even if they claim to be breaking new ground and transcending disciplinary boundaries.

4. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Use and Abuse of History, Adrian Collins (trans), 2nd edition with an introduction by Julius Kraft, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Educational Publishing, 1957, p 42.

5. Nietzsche, The Use and Abuse of History, p 42.

6. Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None, Walter Kaufmann (trans), New York: Modern Library, 1995, does reflect an attempt to stress the ‘eternal’ and cyclical and to overcome ‘history’.

7. Nietzsche writes, ‘The modern consciousness must itself be known by a historical process’, and history, he argues, should ‘solve the problem of history, science must turn the sting against itself’. Nietzsche, The Use and Abuse of History, p 50.

8. Post-modernist historians, drawing either implicitly or explicitly from Nietzsche, argue for the need for history to turn against itself, or call for a ‘chaste historical consciousness’. See Hayden White, Tropics of Discourse: Essays in Cultural Criticism, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, p 50. Elizabeth Ermath, a postmodern historian, points out, ‘one need not give up history to challenge its hegemony’. See Elizabeth Ermath, ‘Sequel to History’, in Keith Jenkins (ed), The Postmodern History Reader, London: Routledge, 1997, pp 47–64, p 57. Berkhofer says, ‘we could accept the death of normal history without declaring the death of history itself’. See Robert Berkhofer, ‘The Challenge of Poetics to (Normal) Historical Practice’, in Keith Jenkins (ed), The Postmodern History Reader, London: Routledge, 1997, pp 139–155, p 153.

9. See Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, Alan Sheridan (trans), New York: Vintage Books, 1995; The History of Sexuality, Vol 1, Robert Hurley (trans), New York: Vintage Books, 1990; Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason, Richard Howard (trans), New York: Pantheon Books, 1965.

10. Ranajit Guha, Dominance Without Hegemony: History and Power in Colonial India, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998.

11. Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (trans), Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976, p 98.

12. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, ‘Translator's Preface’, in Derrida, Of Grammatology, p xvii.

13. Derrida, Of Grammatology, p 61.

14. Derrida, Of Grammatology, p 24.

15. Keith Jenkins, Why History? Ethics and Postmodernity, London: Routledge, 1999, p 26.

16. Jenkins, Why History?, p 28.

17. M G Ranade (1842–1901) was a leading Hindu social reformer in nineteenth-century colonial India and one of the early leaders of the Indian National Congress although he never held an official position in it since the British employed him as a judge. He was a Marathi-speaking upper caste Brahman who was a strong advocate of social change within Hinduism, especially with regard to women, including abolishing child marriage, allowing widow remarriage and giving women a greater voice in the public sphere.

18. I read episodes from Ranade's life and his personality as texts that can be analysed as part of his overall philosophy which he expressed not only through his writings but also through lived practice.

19. Partha Chatterjee, Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse? London: Zed Books, 1986.

20. Dipesh Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000, p 129.

21. Many of Ranade's speeches were given from the pulpit of the Prarthana Samaj, a religious organization aimed to reform Hinduism, started in 1867 in Bombay, which was heavily influenced by Christianity in its methods.

22. I realize there is a big debate about whether notions of ‘history’ and ‘historicity’ predated the British in India or not. Some have argued that Indians were already historically minded and that postcolonial scholars in particular have exaggerated the effects of British rule. See Romila Thapar, Cultural Pasts: Essays in Early Indian History, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000; and Sumit Sarkar, Writing Social History, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998, for such an argument. However even if some form of historical consciousness existed amongst Indians prior to the British, the modern discourse of history linked to scientific objectivity was, I believe, a specific legacy of colonialism.

23. Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe.

24. Ranade was very active in the Pune Sarvajanik Sabha, a body that dealt with social and agrarian issues, which challenged the government on many of their policies in the western region. The Sabha also demanded greater political rights for Indians, specifically allowing Indian representatives in the British Parliament. Ranade travelled extensively in rural areas under the auspices of the Sabha, to survey the agricultural and social situation. He helped bring about the Deccan Agriculturists Relief Act, which helped the peasantry by addressing their disputes through conciliators rather than going to law courts, which were expensive; and he was given the task of administering this act. He also spoke of the importance of swadeshi or the need for India to have its own manufacturing base and decrease its dependence on foreign goods. He gave many speeches on economic issues, critiquing the government for draining India's wealth while the British were getting richer. See T N Parvate, Mahadev Govind Ranade: A Biography, New York: Asia Publishing House, 1963, p 77.

25. Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe, p 8.

26. M G Ranade, The Miscellaneous Writings of the Late Honourable Mr. Justice M.G. Ranade, Bombay: Manoranjan Press, p 226.

27. N R Phatak, Nyayamurti Mahadev Govind Ranade Yanche Caritra, Pune: Neelkanth Prakashan, p 234.

28. Phatak, Nyayamurti Mahadev Govind Ranade Yanche Caritra, p 235.

29. Phatak, Nyayamurti Mahadev Govind Ranade Yanche Caritra, p 369.

30. M G Ranade, Religious and Social Reform: A Collection of Essays and Speeches, M B Kolasker (ed), Bombay: G Claridge and Company, 1902, p 28.

31. R G Bhandarkar was a close friend of Ranade's. He was a Sanskrit scholar, Indologist, professor and a member of the Prarthana Samaj.

32. B G Tilak (1856–1920) was a prominent leader of the Indian National Congress and was known as an ‘extremist’ in Indian nationalist history because, unlike the ‘moderates’ such as Ranade who urged constitutional methods to gain greater rights for Indians in their own representation, Tilak demanded ‘swarajya’ or total freedom from the British, and violence if necessary to achieve these goals.

33. It is also the case that social reform by the end of the nineteenth century was sidelined in favour of political reform or Indians demanding greater political rights against the British. But nevertheless henceforth all discussions on social reform were carried out increasingly on modernist lines.

34. Paul Hamilton, Historicism, London: Routledge, 1996, p 2.

35. Michel de Certeau, The Writing of History, Tom Conley (trans), New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.

36. The Aryans (regarded as Indo-Europeans) are said to have come from Iran to India by around 1500 BC and established the Aryan civilization which historians believe lasted until about 500–400 BC. The Vedas are said to have been composed during this period and passed down orally. There are four major Vedas: the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva. The major Hindu epics, the Mahabharata and Ramayana, are also said to have been composed in the Vedic period. Chronologically the Puranas come after the Vedas, dating from the third to the fifth and succeeding centuries.

37. Sutra is an aphorism; the shastras contain thousands of such sutras. The Vedas are known as sruti texts, or that which is heard or recited, seen as divine, eternal and embodying the highest authority. Smriti texts, or that which is remembered, refer to Puranas, which are also seen to be derived from Vedas and have final authority if not interpreted to contravene the Vedas.

38. Ranade, The Miscellaneous Writings, p 72.

39. Swayamwara refers to an age-old practice of a woman choosing her own husband from a group of ‘eligible’ men, sometimes through a contest. The most well known swayamwaras are from the epics: Sita's in the Ramayana and Drapaudi's in the Mahabharata.

40. Ranade, The Miscellaneous Writings, p 74.

41. Ranade, The Miscellaneous Writings, p 243.

42. Ranade, The Miscellaneous Writings, p 244.

43. In Hindu notions of time, there are four yugas (sata, dwapara, treta and kali), or periods of time, each yuga endowed with a moral purpose. It is a declining theory of time, from a period of goodness to that of evil, the last being the Kali Yuga, which is the worst and the period we are currently living in. Since the human race is declining, different laws and prescriptions apply to different ages. Some texts are meant specifically for Kali Yuga.

44. Lower caste intellectuals such as Jotiba Phule, writing around the same time as Ranade, wrote very different versions of the history of Hinduism which regarded ancient Hinduism as undertaking an almost genocidal violence against non-Aryans and establishing an unjust and unequal caste system that persisted for centuries. Since upper caste Hindus stood at the apex of this system, it was no surprise, Phule argued, that their histories would legitimize an ancient Hindu civilizational order. See Jotiba Phule, Mahatma Phuley Samagra Vangmay, Y D Phadke (ed), 5th edn, Mumbai: Maharashtra Rajya Sahitya ani Sanskruti Mandal, 1992.

45. Ranade points out that in the bhakti movement Islam played a pivotal role and ‘there was a tendency perceptible towards a reconciliation of the two races in mutual recognition of the essential unity of Allà with Ràma’. M G Ranade and K T Telang, Rise of the Maratha Power and Other Essays (Ranade) and Gleanings from Maratha Chronicles (Telang), Bombay: University of Bombay, 1961, p 92.

46. Ranade,The Miscellaneous Writings, p 224.

47. Ranade, Religious and Social Reform, p 37.

48. Ranade, Religious and Social Reform, p 29.

49. Madhav Deshpande, ‘History, Change and Permanence: A Classical Indian Perspective’, in Gopal Krishna (ed), Contributions to South Asian Studies, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1979, pp 1–28.

50. Deshpande, ‘History, Change and Permanence’, p 19.

51. Deshpande, ‘History, Change and Permanence’, p 12.

52. Ranade, The Miscellaneous Writings, p 112.

53. Ranade, The Miscellaneous Writings, p 112.

54. Ranade, Religious and Social Reform, pp 28–29.

55. Ranade, The Miscellaneous Writings, p 82.

56. Walter Benjamin, ‘Theses on the Philosophy of History’, in Hannah Arendt (ed), Walter Benjamin: Illuminations, New York: Schocken Books, 1969, p 261.

57. Myers, Resisting History, p 5.

58. M G Ranade, ‘Philosophy of Indian Theism’, in T N Jagadisan (ed), The Wisdom of a Modern Rishi: Writings and Speeches of Mahadev Govind Ranade, Madras: Rochhouse and Sons Limited, 1900–1988, p 73.

59. Ranade, The Miscellaneous Writings, p 172.

60. Ranade, The Miscellaneous Writings, p 171.

61. Viewing disasters as ‘signs’ from God was in keeping with ‘pre-modern’ Indians. As P V Kane writes, ‘ancient and medieval Indians regarded earthquakes as punishments sent by God for the sins of men’. P V Kane, History of Dharmasastra, Vol 5, Part II, Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Institute, 1962, p 764.

62. Ranade, The Miscellaneous Writings, p 224. Until otherwise indicated, all references are to this work, and are given as page numbers in parentheses in the text.

63. Ranade, in The Wisdom of a Modern Rishi, p 61.

64. Ranade, in The Wisdom of a Modern Rishi, p 65.

65. Ranade, in The Wisdom of a Modern Rishi, p 69.

66. Ranade, in The Wisdom of a Modern Rishi, p 69.

67. Ranade, in The Wisdom of a Modern Rishi, p 70.

68. Ranade, The Miscellaneous Writings, p 231.

69. Richard Tucker, Ranade and the Roots of Indian Nationalism, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972, p 58.

70. Parvate, Mahadev Govind Ranade, p 313.

71. Tukaram (1958–1650) was one of the prominent saints belonging to the devotional or bhakti movements that emerged from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries onwards all over India, which questioned the caste system and incorporated elements of Islam. The saints belonged to all castes and Tukaram himself was from the trader caste.

72. James Kellock, Mahadev Govind Ranade: Patriot and Social Servant, Calcutta: Association Press, 1926, pp 147–148.

73. Quoted in Parvate, Mahadev Govind Ranade, p 268.

74. Phatak, Nyayamurti Mahadev Govind Ranade Yanche Caritra, p 357.

75. Quoted in Parvate, Mahadev Govind Ranade, p 6.

76. Parvate, Mahadev Govind Ranade, p 72.

77. Ranade's notion of bhagwat dharma and his interpretation of Hinduism can be found in his religious writings: M G Ranade, Nyayamurti M. Mahadev Govind Ranade Hyanci Dharmapara Vyakhane, Bombay: Dvarkanath Govind Vaidya, undated. I have provided a very brief overview of his notion of bhagwat dharma due to a shortage of space. A more elaborate discussion can be found in Aparna Devare, ‘Historicism, Hinduism and Modernity in Colonial India’, unpublished PhD thesis, American University, Washington DC, 2005, pp 196–242.

78. Ranade, in The Wisdom of a Modern Rishi, p 78.

79. Ranade's ecumenical approach is apparent in this episode from his life. Ranade recounts an anecdote about a missionary who visited him and was disappointed to see the Bible placed below Tukaram's Gatha (book of religious poetry) since it appeared to have less importance. To this he responded by telling the missionary that in fact it was the Bible that supported the Gatha, by being placed under it. M G Ranade, Nyayamurti Mahadev Govind Ranade Hyanci Dharmapar Vyakhaney, Bombay: Dvarkanath Govind Vaidya, undated, p 235.

80. This incident has been recounted in Phatak, Nyayamurti Mahadev Govind Ranade Yanche Caritra, p 103.

81. G G Agarkar (1856–1895), a social reformer, was a hardcore rationalist who believed the basis for change in Hindu society should come entirely from non-traditional or rationalistic grounds. As Sunthankar writes, Agarkar ‘was the only reformer who did not seek the sanction of the shastras. To him religious scriptures were of no use, as they would not lead to progress in society.’ See B R Sunthankar, Maharashtra 1858–1920, Bombay: Popular Book Depot, 1993, p 265.

82. Agarkar and Tilak were once close friends but later fell apart over their ideological differences. While Agarkar decried the use of religion in politics, Tilak believed in the political uses of Hinduism as the basis of a nationalist identity. See Y D Phadke, Shodh Bal-Gopalancha, Pune: Sri Vidya Prakashan, 1977. Tilak's call to separate religion and politics while advocating a fairly exclusivist Hindu nationalist identity is not entirely surprising if one draws on Ashis Nandy's argument that those who advocate Hindu nationalism have generally been the ones who have used religion in a very instrumental fashion and disguised it as faith. According to Nandy, Hindu nationalists ‘use religion rationally, dispassionately, and instrumentally, untouched by any theory of transcendence.’ Ashis Nandy, ‘The Twilight of Certitudes: Secularism, Hindu Nationalism, and Other Masks of Deculturation,’ Alternatives 22, 1997, pp. 157–176, p 166. However, one can argue that Tilak was a far more nuanced figure than the Hindu nationalists Nandy is referring to, but this discussion falls outside the purview of this paper.

83. Ranade's argument about India's piety or spirituality being a major contribution to the world was one that was being made by many Indian intellectuals at the time, and can be interpreted as an orientalist position; however a closer reading suggests that Ranade was not making an orientalist distinction, as Partha Chatterjee has insightfully argued in the case of many Indian elite at the time that India was materially inferior while spiritually superior to the west. On the contrary, Ranade was questioning this material/spiritual divide or an orientalist approach when he argued that science was not separate from faith and the transgressing of the boundaries between the two prevailed in India and was superior to the west. For Chatterjee's argument, see Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995.

84. Quoted in Phatak, Nyayamurti Mahadev Govind Ranade Yanche Caritra, p 246.

85. Phatak, Nyayamurti Mahadev Govind Ranade Yanche Caritra, p 109.

86. Quoted in Phatak, Nyayamurti Mahadev Govind Ranade Yanche Caritra, p 358.

87. However there were some important differences. Ranade was not a mass-based leader. He was an upper caste Brahman and was deeply steeped in a Brahmanical Hinduism, unlike Gandhi who drew much more from its folk elements and believed in immersing himself in a peasant world-view and lifestyle.