Is Indian Civilization a Myth?: Fictions and Histories

by Sanjay Subrahmanyam

n the title essay of this enthralling collection, Sanjay Subrahmanyam sets a provocative ball rolling: At the heart of the matter , he says, is the notion that at some distant point in the past, say about AD 500, the concept of Indian civilization had already been perfected. Everything of any importance was in place: social structure, philosophy, the major literary works ... The central idea here is of India-as-civilization, and it very soon becomes the same as a notion of closed India. Demolishing some of the myths which sustain the notion of the wonder that was India , he shows us a region that was always more a crossroads, a rendezvous for concepts, cultures, and worldviews. Subrahmanyam s book is itself a meeting point for a dazzling variety of ideas. It provides the cosmopolitan perspective of a multilingual world scholar who, having begun life in New Delhi, has gone on to live in several thought-provoking cities, including Paris, Lisbon, and Oxford. He is witty, debunking, iconoclastic, and polemically entertaining in all that he anatomizes here Indian history and fiction, South Asian cultural forms, imperialism and imperialists, secularism and Hindu nationalism, travel writing, and the central conceits in Hemingway, Rushdie, Naipaul, and Marquez.

Subrahmanyam is renowned as a historian and biographer. This book, which makes us rethink India and the world around it, is the first to reveal that he is also a writer of accessible and delightful English prose.

Genres: India, History, Nonfiction, Essays

276 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2013

About the author

He taught Delhi School of Economics, then EHESS (Paris), then Oxford, before becoming Holder of Navin and Pratima Doshi Chair of Indian History at UCLA which he joined in 2004.
In 2013, he became Holder of Early Modern Global History Chair at Collège de France.

Reviews

[Sumirti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pandemonium. I should rate this book somewhere between 3 stars and 4 stars. I don't know where to place it. Pandemonium.

Sanjay Subrahmanyam is that rare breed of historians who write history for the sake of history. He is a scholar of high caliber and deep research but not the one who is well-known among the general readers. To put it simply, he is not a public intellectual. I began this book with a good dosage of doubt that whether this whole work would be within my grasp (I was warned before). But, as it turned out, this collection of essays are riveting and at times compelling. Each essay is well-written with a splash of adequate, and sometimes, controversial ideas poured in generously. Yet, some of the unsavory stances shows the author's gumption to speak out his mind, no matter how much such opinions go against the sentiments (often poor) of the reader. The language and prose are sophisticated. And, there is a pleasure in reading this whole book, for sure.

However, this is actually a loosely packed book of essays from various sources and there is no underlying theme in their choosing. The question whether "Is Indian Civilization a Myth?" is not adequately answered. The title of the book is drawn from the first essay which runs for not more than scarce ten pages, and where the author dabbles with ideas rather than bringing down the topic to an authentic conclusion. Most essays are the author's book reviews previously published in LRB and to add to the woe of the reader, none of the these essays have an objective discussion or introduction on the background or the subject matter of the books reviewed (the second essay "Back to the future: Why the west rules the world" just flew over my mind, for I had no previous idea of the book under review).

I was reading this book alternatively with Salman Rushdie's 'Imaginary Homelands: Essays and criticism' which is once again a collection of essays from various sources. Yet, I found Rushdie's collection prudently chosen, the title of the book justifying the whole essays, and each essay was self-contained. Perhaps, in case of Sanjay Subrahmanyam, one has to blame the editor of the book more than the author for the show of negligence to elucidate the reader on the essays chosen and engaging them in a better way. The book's blurb runs with the high praise of T.C.A.Srinivasa Raghavan (one of my favorite Economics columnists) and Srinath Raghavan (now, a rising star of a historian). But, the book does not seem to do adequate justice to the blurbs at hand.

If you are looking for a scholarly yet lightly constructed essays on random topics (like the Surprise me option), go for this book. Even if not, just browse through the LRB catalog to read Mr.Subrahmanyam's reviews. It is quite a time well-spent.

My Favorite Essays: "Is Indian Civilization a myth?", "Secularism and the Happy Indian Village", "Marquez, Hemingway and the cult of power", "India's discovery of Vasco da Gama".

[Conrad Barwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wide-ranging collection of essays by one of the most prominent Indian historians writing today and probably the most eminent in the pre-colonial mideveal period. Title is some what misleading though as only one essays tackles that question. The rest are devoted to book reviews of Naipaul, John Darwin, the author's sojourn's in Paris and Lisbon, reminisces of the famous Delhi School of Economics as well as several other theoretical issues concerning historiography of Asia and history in general.

[Neha Tyagi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I m not being able to understand how marquez, hemingway etc are related to indian civilization? what is the connection of 9/11, islam or his (sanjay subrahmanyam) d.school days or paris to indian culture or civilization? In my opinion the content of the book is not justifying the tittle of the book.

[Pravar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of the author’s essays from publications such as the London Review of Books, without any particular overarching narrative. The book’s title is therefore somewhat misleading, referring only to the first essay in the volume. Nevertheless, it is an interesting exploration of the author’s experiences as a scholar and his views on the discipline of Indian history more broadly.

[Parasara Sridhar Duggirala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good English, in appropriate title.

Read more: https://psduggirala.blogspot.com/2019...

[Praveen Kishore · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for every Indian, especially in these times of growing chest thumping chauvinism!

[Nihar G · Rating 5 out of 5]

An delightful and engaging tour of Indian history and of prominent writers and thinkers of contemporary times.

[Appu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of essays by Historian Sanjay Subramanyam is a mixed bag. Some of the essays are highly academic which a general reader may not appreciate. there are however a few well written general interest essays as well. I particularly liked Subramanyam's critique of Ashis Nandy and also the title essay. Both a worth a second read.