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This text deals with a re-reading of the concept of modernity in Indian social theory and its application to understand contemporary Indian society and texts. It examines the work of several past and contemporary thinkers as well as issues like nationalism, secularism, notions of majority and minority, and lived Dalit experiences

In the context of analysing the relation between the master and the disciple, Ramakrishna Pramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda, the article brings together different unconnected writings for a systematic and cumulative argumentation on this important relation. This is undertaken with reference to Ramakrishna's strict adherence to equality amongst all religions and his disciple's claim for the superiority of Hinduism in general and Advaita Vedanta in particular. Having set the background, it further embarks on explaining the possible reasons for deviations by the pupil from the master by brining into the centre-stage the whole sale claims of the entire nineteenth-century scholarship as derivative by Indologists like Hacker. The failure to recognise these important dimensions imbricated in this relation is traced firstly to the general failure in reading the nature and logic of modernity, particularly, the invariance between its attitude towards both its own pre-modern and those non-Western societies like India which it sought to colonise. Second, to treating modern Indian thinkers as authors in the modern sense of the term when they are not strictly so.

Democracy requires criticism. A significant feature of democracies outside the West, though often ignored by liberal traditions of analysis, is the practice of internal criticism. This article examines some experiences of internal criticism that may be found in the writings of some Indian philosophers, focusing especially on the work of Swami Vivekananda.

Put together to honour one of the most influential philosophers in recent times, Mrinal Miri, this book brings together articles on philosophy, politics, literature and society, and updates the status of enquiry in each of these fields. In his philosophical writings, Miri has broken the stranglehold that early training has on academics and written on a range of themes and areas, including analytical philosophy, political philosophy, tribal identity, ethics and, more recently, an abiding engagement with the ideas of Gandhi.The articles in this volume mirror some of Miri's concerns and philosoph

Put together to honour one of the most influential philosophers in recent times, Mrinal Miri, this book brings together articles on philosophy, politics, literature and society, and updates the status of enquiry in each of these fields. In his philosophical writings, Miri has broken the stranglehold that early training has on academics and written on a range of themes and areas, including analytical philosophy, political philosophy, tribal identity, ethics and, more recently, an abiding engagement with the ideas of Gandhi. The articles in this volume mirror some of Miri's concerns and.