In Search Of New Idioms For Indic Religions : Rethinking Religion in India Conference

In this report Prof S. N. Balagandhara speaks of the need to de-Westernize Indian thinking and study on their various religions which has led to negative perceptions as well incomplete and distorted undertanding of the Indic religion. A conference is being held to address this major issue on January 2008

Quote "There is a long-standing complaint that the academic study of religion and culture has never really taken off in India. Rather than lamenting this, we would like to change this state of affairs. The current theoretical framework is firmly embedded within Western cultural history and proves inadequate when it comes to studying non-Western traditions. The framework therefore needs rethinking."

In search of new idioms
SUDHA ANANTHARAMAN

We need to develop indigenous frameworks to study the various religions of India, says Prof. S.N. Balagangadhara, who will be heading the first international conference on the religions of India in January 2008.

We need to understand and develop these extraordinary insights into the nature and structure of human psychology that no sociology, psychology or political science has ever come even remotely close to doing.
Making knowledge accessible: Prof. S.N. Balagangadhara.

Why this conference on Rethinking Religion in India?
There is a long-standing complaint that the academic study of religion and culture has never really taken off in India. Rather than lamenting this, we would like to change this state of affairs.

The current theoretical framework is firmly embedded within Western cultural history and proves inadequate when it comes to studying non-Western traditions. The framework therefore needs rethinking.

When you talk about “rethinking” religion in India will the emphasis be on Hinduism?
No, there will be an emphasis on what the term “religion” actually means, as there is no satisfactory understanding of the concept, as well as an examination of the nature of Indian traditions and not just Hindu traditions.

We will also look into the nature of the caste system because it has always been associated with Hinduism and then question the premise of whether Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism are religions at all.

The plurality of Indian traditions has led to them being described as “deficient” religions. An attempt of this conference is to start developing new ways of thinking about these traditions, finding out what their strengths are and how it might be possible for us to recover their essence and explain them in 21st century language. It makes no sense to speak of chittasuddhi, manasuddhi, atman, etc. because many of us don’t even know to what these terms refer. We would have to explain the concepts in a simple language — English in this case, because it is the language of the present time.

Full Article
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2007/12/09/stories/2007120950090400.htm