Customer Reviews

VISHNU'S CROWDED TEMPLE India since the Great rebellion

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How do we choose from the bumper crop of great new books out of India? Elsewhere on Amazon, I've strongly recommended the new Gandhi: The Man, His People, and the Empire (Philip E. Lilienthal Book in Asian Studies) as a first choice.

If your interest in India is broader than Gandhi, though, or if his biography whets your appetite for more -- then this new historical analysis of modern India by Oxford scholar Maria Misra is an intriguing choice.

No, this is not a sweeping narrative of dramatic scenes from the Raj to the modern scene. It's actually more valuable, because it uses history to explore why this emerging global superpower still mystifies the world with its complex religious, cultural and social divisions.

One of Misra's most striking arguments is that, rather than passively observing India's caste system, the Raj actually manipulated and hardened caste distinctions to make the country easier for the British to rule.

Here's a good test of your interest: If you occasionally enjoy flipping the pages of Foreign Policy or the Economist, then this book's style is right for you

Misra's book claims to be a 'different' account of Indian History as compared to the usual Marxist, Subaltern, Nationalist and Imperial accounts. It is true that Misra does provide a rich canvas of Indian History, which she chooses to describe from 1857 onwards. However, one wonders whether her acccount is 'historical' or an 'interpretation' of history. Her notes at the end of the book are frustratingly obtuse and reflect a very heavy reliance on already available 'primary sources', which leads me to ask if access to Misra's sources are accessible to the general reader, then why bother with her book in the first place?

Further, her lack of familiarity with the primary Indian languages, that is to say, Hindi and Urdu, not to mention the classical languages that have been present in India for centuries such as Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic is quite obvious - at least insofar as she highlights them in her book. One particularly grating example (which I initially dismissed as being a mis-print) occurs in the Introduction wherein her rendering of the specific melodic modes heavily used in Indian classical music appears as the word "rags" (p xxvi)! The word she should have used in this context should have been 'raga' or 'raag' (Sanskrit, lit. "colour" or "mood"). This is but one example of what may be considered as a 'minor' inconsistency. As the reader reaches the end of the book, however, the cumulative weight of such inconsistencies, which are not limited to the rendition of Indian words (Sanskrit-based or otherwise), but also of events, personages and descriptions becomes unbearable and ultimately detracts from the author's effort.

It is worth mentioning, however, that Misra has a style of writing, which some readers may feel comfortable with. I, however, did not find it particularly engaging. I should also hasten to mention that this is a personal preference and thus others may disagree or have other opinions.

Some of the events that she presents in the book are interesting and thought-provoking, but when taken as a whole, her effort is discordant. Admittedly, Misra states upfront that her 'history' is an attempt to recount the 'complex polyphony' that, to her, is the history of India but, in my opinion, she fails...and miserably! Her lack of adequate grounding in the late 19th Century Hindu Revivalist Movement (particularly in Bengal) is quite obvious and, to some extent, even betrays her ideological and philosophical biasness. There are other such fractures in her presentation which also leads to the suspicion that her account is quite heavily biased thus distorting what would have been an ambitious exercise in the writing of a most complex history. Her knowledge - or at least that what she displays in this book - of the ancient Indian texts is abysmal. And, most worryingly, her general condescending tone towards the 'complex polyphony' of Indian History gets progressively irritating as one works through her narrative.

Her book holds nothing new for someone who is adequately-versed in the various interpretive strands of Indian History including, but not limited to, the British Raj. At the same time, her book is quite ill-suited for the newcomer to Indian History given her skewed account.

The two stars that I have given for this book are for her writing style on which I have commented above AND for her ambition (which must be lauded) to write such a complex history. Stars were deducted for her biasness, her lack of familiarity with the primary materials and (possibly) of the languages of the sub-continent(or at least of their nuances), and for her unscholarly presentation. This last point, I think, is also reflected in the review that appears above wherein the reviewer writes that those familiar with the style and presentation of the Economist may find themselves more comfortable with Misra's writing.

In sum, therefore, Misra book is not a work of academic rigour, at best it is a 'pop' version of history, which does not only the history that she purports to engage with a disservice, but also to her effort.

I would give this one a pass and look for alternatives.