The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and IdentityIndia is a country with many distinct traditions, widely divergent customs, vastly different convictions, and a veritable feast of viewpoints. In The Argumentative Indian, Amartya Sen draws on a lifetime study of his country's history and culture to suggest the ways we must understand India today in the light of its rich, long argumentative tradition. The millenia-old texts and interpretations of Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Muslim, agnostic, and atheistic Indian thought demonstrate, Sen reminds us, ancient and well-respected rules for conducting debates and disputations, and for appreciating not only the richness of India's diversity but its need for toleration. Though Westerners have often perceived India as a place of endless spirituality and unreasoning mysticism, he underlines its long tradition of skepticism and reasoning, not to mention its secular contributions to mathematics, astronomy, linguistics, medicine, and political economy. |
Contents
Inequality Instability and Voice | 34 |
Large and Small | 45 |
The Diaspora and the World | 73 |
Tagore and His India | 89 |
Our Culture Their Culture | 121 |
Indian Traditions and the Western Imagination | 139 |
China and India | 161 |
Tryst with Destiny | 193 |
India and the Bomb | 251 |
The Reach of Reason | 273 |
Secularism and Its Discontents | 294 |
India through Its Calendars | 317 |
The Indian Identity | 334 |
Notes | 357 |
| 393 | |
| 401 | |
Other editions - View all
The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity Amartya Sen Limited preview - 2005 |
The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity Amartya Sen Limited preview - 2013 |
The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity Amartya Sen Limited preview - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
achievements agency Akbar Alberuni Amartya Sen ancient Arabic argued arguments Ashoka Asia Asian astronomy Ayesha Jalal basic beliefs Bengali Brahmagupta British Buddhist Calcutta Cambridge century BCE China Chinese civilization claim contemporary context contrast critical critique Delhi Delhi and Oxford democracy Development discussed in Essay distinct diverse earlier economic emperor example fact favour Faxian female-male ratio films freedom Gandhi gender inequality global heterodoxy Hindu Hinduism Hindutva Hindutva movement human ideas important India Indian culture Indian history Indian identity influence intellectual interest involved Islamic issue Jean Drèze Kerala literature London Mahābhārata mathematics millennium modern Muslim nuclear Oxford University Press Pakistan Parsees particularly political Rabindranath Tagore Rāmāyaṇa reason relevance religion religious role Sanskrit Santiniketan Satyajit Ray scepticism sectarian secularism social subcontinent Tagore's tended tion tolerance tradition translation understanding West Western Xuanzang Yi Jing York