Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c2.16

c2.16

In the last chapter, I have tried to present the manifestations of *vāda* on a vast canvas during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. India was facing the onslaught of modernity and social reforms as well as the ethics evolved through its contact with Christianity during these two centuries, drawing sharp reactions from fundamentalists or puritans. “Modern Indian thought finds itself in a historical context created by Europe, and it has difficulties speaking for itself. Even in its self-representation and self-assertion, it speaks to a large extent in a European idioms. This does not however mean that the dialogue between India and Europe has been decided in favour of Europe, or that India has been superseded by Europe. The power of the Indian tradition has not exhausted itself in self-representation and self-interpretation of modern India. The dialogic situation is still open.” At the backdrop of these remarks by Wilhelm Halbfass, this chapter raises several questions, i.e. whether with the anthropocentric self-confidence of the West remains an overpowering force; whether the relationship between Orient and Occident is a relationship of subordination of India and subjugation by the West; or there are possibilities in the *paṇḍit’s* tradition for rejuvenating itself. Ananda K. Coomarswamy says that India would come out unscathed from the colonial onslaught though its body was badly damaged.⁹ Sri Aurobindo would view the scenario as a mere surface deterioration.