Does India have a tradition of international thought in the modern period? Does it have influential and provocative thinkers who have written illuminatingly about international life and India’s place in it? Engaging with these questions through the writings of eminent public figures, this volume introduces readers to Indian thought from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century and attempts to bring their ideas into the mainstream of global discussions.
Kanti Bajpai and Siddharth Mallavarapu excerpt the writings of seven key modern Indian personalities—Swami Vivekananda, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Rabindranath Tagore, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, and Sayyid Abul A’la Maududi—and two Europeans who made India their home, Sister Nivedita and Annie Besant. The extracts provide a gateway through which Indian thought engages with, and makes its presence known in, the world. As most of the extracts are from the pre-Independence period, the dominant theme in this volume is the nature of nationalism. In their wide-ranging Introduction, the editors relate different conceptions of nationalism, implicit or explicit, in the excerpted writings to notions of international order.
India, the West, and International Order aims to locate Indian international thought within the growing debate on ‘post-Western International Relations’ and comparative political theory. This book, the first volume in the series India’s International and Strategic Thought, will be a valuable resource for scholars interested in modern Indian thought and the prospects of a more globalised discipline of International Relations.
Kanti Bajpai is Director, Centre on Asia and Globalisation and Wilmar Professor of Asian Studies at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore.
Siddharth Mallavarapu is Professor and Head of the Department of International Relations and Governance Studies at Shiv Nadar University, India.
Series Note Publishers’ Acknowledgements Acknowledgements Introduction Siddharth Mallavarapu and Kanti Bajpai
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA (1863–1902) 1. First Public Lecture in the East 2. France—Paris 3. Progress of Civilisation
SISTER NIVEDITA (1867–1911) 4. India Has No Apology to Make 5. National Righteousness 6. The World-Sense in Ethics 7. Indian Nationality, A Mode of Thought
GOPAL KRISHNA GOKHALE (1866–1915) 8. East and West in India
ANNIE BESANT (1847–1933) 9. Causes of the New Spirit in India 10. Self-determination and Self-government
RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1861–1941) 11. Nationalism in India
MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI (1869–1948) 12. Excerpts from Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule
VINAYAK DAMODAR SAVARKAR (1883–1966) 13. International Life MADHAV SADASHIV GOLWALKAR (1906–1973) 14. Our World Mission 15. Challenge of the Times 16. The Elixir of National Life – I 17. The Elixir of National Life – II
SAYYID ABUL A’LA MAUDUDI (1903–1979) 18. Intellectual Subjugation—Why? 19. The Sick Nations of the Modern Age 20. Suicide of Western Civilization 21. Conflict of East and West in Turkey 22. Fallacy of Rationalism – I 23. Fallacy of Rationalism – II