October 25, 2023

What's indic view of modern history of India and how does it differ for Marxist and leftist individual's

I researched the Indic view of modern history of India and how it differs from Marxist and leftist perspectives by examining four sources, including YouTube videos on the history of Hindu India, historiographical approach to Indian art, the tradition of Indian historiography, and Karl Marx & Conflict Theory. The sources provided different viewpoints on the subject, with some focusing more on the religious and cultural aspects, while others discussed the political and economic factors. Based on my research, I can provide a general understanding of the differences between these perspectives, though there may be some uncertainty due to the varying focus of the sources.

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Indic View of Indian History

The Indic view of Indian history emphasizes the role of Hinduism, the oldest living religion in the world, with its origins traced back over 6,000 years to the Saraswati Indus region of the Indian subcontinent. Indian art and culture are deeply intertwined with religion, and Indian art forms are considered divine and interrelated, with no distinction between Fine Arts and decorative Arts as in Western civilization. The Indic view also highlights the importance of dharma, a cardinal concept in Hinduism that upholds the principle of ahimsa or non-violence.

Leftist View of Indian History

The leftist view of Indian history tends to focus on the role of labor and the importance of peasants, who make up a large part of India's population. This perspective may also criticize the caste system, Varna, which classified people into groups based on specific occupations and eventually became hereditary.

Marxist View of Indian History

Marxist theories of history, such as historical materialism, emphasize the role of class struggle and the development of modes of production in shaping historical events. In the context of Indian history, the Marxist view would likely focus on the economic conflicts between different classes, such as the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and analyze the relations of production and forces of production that change over time and lead to crises in society.

Colonial Historiography

The colonial historiography of India often justified colonial rule, with early scholars who studied and wrote about Indian history, mainly British officers and Christian missionaries, sometimes ridiculing Indian culture. Orientalist scholars, however, studied Indian culture and admired its civilization, with Friedrich Max Mueller being a notable example.

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Research

"Historiographical Approach to Indian Art - I - YouTube"

  • The lecture is discussing the historiographical approach to Indian art.
  • Indian art has a deeper meaning associated with it, and it can be understood with reference to specific political, social, economic, and cultural contexts.
  • Indian art can be traced back to the prehistoric period, beginning from the Paleolithic age.
  • The subcontinent has been home to several migratory populations, different religious creeds, and each one has contributed to the culturally rich artistic forms that have evolved and have become part of the Indian civilization.
  • A very important aspect of Indian art has been its association with religion, which has induced and encouraged different art forms.
  • Indian art is not just aesthetic expressions of shape, form, or any kind of physical representation, but it is a visualization of the absolute reality of the Transcendent quality in the existence of the beings.
  • Indian art historians argue that all arts, whether they were performing or plastic, graphic or architectural, were considered divine and were perceived as interrelated.
  • The Indian artist made no distinction between Fine Arts or decorative Arts as was the case in western civilization.
  • Indian art forms have an intense decorative urge and led to a profuse use of ornamentation on surfaces, and this kind of became an essential feature of Indian art and architecture where there were hardly any walls that were plain, and where there were hardly any pots that did not carry a specific kind of design.
  • Realism did not project something as it existed in reality; the goal of the Indian artist was to embody philosophical and humanistic ideals in his or her creation.
  • Collective consciousness was an essential feature associated with early Indian art.
  • Portraiture in sculpture or painting was hardly the concern or objective of artists in early Indian art scene.
  • There is no identity of a Hindu architecture or a Muslim architecture if we are talking in the context of the Indian subcontinent.
  • Interaction and adoption was the key to understanding Indian art both secular as well as religious.
  • Indian art does not move in a linear trajectory.
  • Instead of looking for influences, we need also to focus on the processes of creation.
  • Art historians today have attempted to understand Indian art forms on their own terms, not to apply the canons of Western universal art history to evaluate them.
  • In the colonial period, British scholars, administrators, historians, archaeologists were trying to gather more and more information about India’s past, which led to the beginning of comparing the art in the Indian subcontinent with the west.
  • Rejecting the notion of linear development of art

"Historiography : Indian Tradition |STD 10th History | ANIMATION | - YouTube"

  • The tradition of Indian historiography.
  • Memories of great deeds, social traditions, and mythological lore preserved orally.
  • Inscriptions on Harappan seals and other artifacts date back to the third millennium BCE or earlier.
  • Indian literature including epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, Puranas, Jain and Buddhist texts, written and oral, are important sources of history writing.
  • The biographies of kings and dynastic histories marked important steps in Indian historiography.
  • King Harsha’s biography, written by Banabhatta, portrays a realistic picture of the socio-economic and political life of India around the seventh century CE.
  • Copper plate found from Sohgaura in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh is supposed to be from the Mauryan period.
  • Historical accounts by Indian authors and also travelogues by foreign travelers are important sources of history writing.
  • Muslim historians in the courts of Arab and Persian rulers in India were influenced by Arab and Persian historiography.
  • Important among medieval Indian historians in courts of Muslim rulers is Ziyadeen Barani, who held an important place in Tariq-i-Firuz Shahi, a book written by him.
  • Medieval Indian Bakars are of various types.
  • Abul Fazzal’s Akbar Nama is vital from the standpoint of critical historiography.
  • Many books about India were written by foreign scholars among them Hasan Nizami, who wrote about Temur Lung, who invaded India.
  • An important feature of British colonial historiography of India was the justification of colonial rule.
  • Cambridge History of India published during the 1920s and 1930s is a distinct example of colonial historiography.
  • Orientalist scholars studied Indian culture and admired and respected its civilization. Friedrich Max Mueller is a notable Orientalist scholar.
  • Indian historians who were trained in the British educational system inclined towards restoring pride in the ancient glory of India.
  • The writings of Marxist historians on Indian History.
  • Metanarrative approach of Marxist historians.
  • Underlying issues in the Marxist approach to Indian history.
  • The leftist view of history in India.

"Karl Marx & Conflict Theory: Crash Course Sociology #6 - YouTube"

  • Karl Marx was a scholar in Europe who focused on the question of what it means to be free, and developed an entire theory of history around this.
  • Marx’s perspective on history is known as historical materialism, which is concerned with material reality like food, money, resources, and labor.
  • Marx believed that modes of production, or how labor is organized and resources are controlled in society, lead to massive inequalities and societal changes, which drive class struggle and revolution.
  • Historical materialism views social institutions like politics, culture, and religion as secondary to modes of production and the organization of labor and resources in society.
  • Marx saw labor as the central focus of historical materialism, giving rise to his theory of forces of production and relations of production, which change over time and lead to crises in society.
  • Labor gives rise to the perspective created by Marx and his longtime collaborator Friedrich Engels – a perspective known as historical materialism.
  • Marx’s theory of labor gave rise to economic classes, mainly the bourgeoisie who own or control the means of production and the proletariat who work in factories and use resources to make things but don’t own them.
  • While Marx viewed classes as being defined more by the relations of production than by laws, classes have some legal matter, like rules about who labors and who doesn’t.
  • Marx believed that the bourgeoisie always look to make profits as large as possible, driving down wages and driving up productivity, which causes crises, especially crises of overproduction.
  • Marx’s solution to crises was class conflict, where the proletariat, who want the surplus of production to benefit them, challenge the bourgeoisie, who are aligned with the relations of production that allow them to extract surplus from workers.
  • Marx’s ideas gave rise to a host of conflict theories in sociology, including Race-Conflict Theory, Gender-Conflict Theory, and Intersectional Theory.
  • Antonio Gramsci built on Marx’s ideas and developed the theory of hegemony, arguing that the ruling class stays in power through a dominant set of ideas that shape everyone’s understanding of things like economic exploitation.
  • Marx’s conflict theory focuses on how struggles over power drive societal change and how owners and workers fight for control over resources.
  • Marx’s ideas suggest a leftist view of history, where uneven distribution of economic power leads to crises which can only be solved through a revolution that takes power away from the ruling class and establishes a socialist state.
  • Marxism has been an important theoretical perspective for Indian leftist movements, like the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the N

"The History of Hindu India (English narration and English subtitles) - YouTube"

  • Hinduism is the oldest living religion in the world and the third largest with over 1 billion followers worldwide, mostly in India.
  • The origins of Hinduism can be traced back over 6,000 years to the Saraswati Indus region of the Indian subcontinent, extending from Sri Lanka in the south to the Himalayan mountains in the north.
  • The Vedic culture emerged out of the Indus civilization that developed in the region, eventually becoming the world’s largest and most advanced civilization, superior to Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China.
  • The civilization was centered around many highly organized cities, connected by trade routes that extended west to Mesopotamia and east to Central Asia.
  • Archaeologists have discovered pottery seals, statues, beads, jewelry, tools, toys, miniature cars, and dyes that hint at life in the Saraswati Indus region.
  • Certain religious and cultural practices in the Indus civilization were identical to those followed by Hindus today, including swastikas, statues of the mother goddess, worship of the Shiva Lingam, fire altars, sacred baths, priests, sacred animals, and symbolism in the performing arts.
  • The four Vedas, the central holy books of Hinduism, were composed in Sanskrit starting at least 6,000 years ago. The Rig Veda, the earliest of the four, describes the Saraswati as the most mighty of rivers.
  • Dharma, which includes righteousness, truth, sacred law, ethics, duty, justice, religion, and the laws of nature, is a cardinal concept in Hinduism that upholds the principle of ahimsa or non-violence.
  • The caste system, known as Varna, was a distinctive feature of ancient Hindu society that classified people into groups based on specific occupations. This provided a strong grounding in their profession or trade, and eventually became hereditary. The class system did not include forest tribes or small communities considered untouchable, such as the cremation ground chandala’s scavengers and leather workers.
  • Women in ancient times were responsible for running the household, while men looked after their craft form and family security. Women participated equally in religious ceremonies, festivities, and social relationships. Some of the foremost religious and political leaders in India’s history have been women, and some have even composed Vedic hymns.
  • The period from 1,003 BCE to the mid-sixth century BCE was a time of great scientific and mathematical advancement in India. Hindus developed the counting

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Comparison of Marxist and leftist perspectives on Indian history

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Overview of modern history of India