INDIA DEFEATS EUROPEAN CONQUESTS

Cultural Nationalism in India

There had been a European conquest in India, but they could not destroy Hinduism, because of the inner strength of that religion, which is pluralism. Pluralism, in turn, is democratic, whereas monotheism, which is the hallmark of Europe, contributed to dictatorships, even in the Marxian model. Thus, democracy is ingrained in Hinduism, and hence, Sri Rama, hero of the Indian epic Ramayana, during his jungle sojourn, asked his brother Bharata whether he is honouring the Charvakas properly or not. Charvakas were the materialists and atheists of that period, and Rama was exhorting a principle of democracy-honour the opposition. So, India was aware of cultural nationalism, as a civilization, and could resist even Alexander of Greece with philosophical elan.

Hence, Irish Indologist Vincent Arthur Smith wrote about Alexander's campaign, in his Ancient History of India: (1)

“The campaign, although carefully designed to secure a permanent conquest, was in actual effect no more than a brilliantly successful raid on a gigantic scale, which left upon India no mark save the horrid scars of bloody war. India remained unchanged. The wounds of battle were quickly healed; the ravaged fields smiled again as the patient oxen and no less patient husbandmen resumed their uninterrupted labours; and the places of slain myriads were filled by the teeming swarms of a population. India was not Hellenised. She continued to jive her life of splendid isolation and forgot the passing of the Macedonian storm. No Indian author, Hindu, Buddhist, or Jain, makes even the faintest allusion to Alexander or his deeds.”

Smith describes further resilient India: (2)

"Alexander stayed only nineteen months in India, and however far-reaching his plans may have been, it is manifestly impossible that during those few months of incessant conflict, he should have found Hellenic institutions on a permanent basis, or materially affected the structure of Hindu polity and society. As a matter of fact, he did nothing of the sort, and within two years of his death, with the exception of small garrisons under Eudemos in the Indus valley, the whole apparatus of Macedonian Rule had been swept away. After the year 316 BC, not a trace of it remained. The only mark of Alexander's direct influence on India is the existence of a few coins modelled in imitation of Greek types which were struck by Saubhuti (Sophytes), the chief of the Salt Range, whom he subdued at the beginning of the voyage down the rivers."

Alexander

Alexander made the work of Chandragupta Maurya simpler and paved the path for his Hindu imperial power in the Greek-invaded areas. Observes historian Radha Kumud Mookerji: “Alexander’s invasion promoted the political unification of the country. Smaller states which handicapped unity were now merged into the larger ones, such as those of Paurava, Abhisara or Taxila. These conditions were favourable for the rise of an Indian Empire to be shortly founded by Chandragupta.” (3)

Alexander's campaign just passed like an evil spectacle. Historian R C Majumdar records: "The invasion of Alexander the Great has been recorded in minute details by the Greek historians who naturally felt elated at the triumphant progress of their hero over unknown lands and seas. From the Indian point of view, its importance lies in the fact that it opened up a free interchange between India and and the western countries which were big with future consequences. For the rest, there was nothing to distinguish between his raid in Indian history. It can hardly be called a great military success as the only military achievements to his credit were the conquest of petty tribes and States by instalments. He never approached even within a measurable distance of what may be called the citadel of Indian military strength, and the exertions he had to make against Poras, the ruler of a small district between the Jhelum and the Chenab, do not certainly favour the hypothesis that he would have found it an easy task to subdue the mighty Nanda empire. Taking everything into consideration, a modern historian unprejudiced by the halo of the Greek name may perhaps be excused for the belief that the majority of Greek writers did not tell the whole truth when they represented the retreat of Alexander as solely due to the unwillingness of his soldiers to proceed any further; nor can he dismiss, as altogether fictitious, the view recorded by more than one ancient Greek  historian, that the retreat of Alexander was caused by the terror of the mighty power of the Nandas." (4)

The Nanda dynasty, which resisted Alexander, ruled in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent during the fourth century BCE, and possibly during the fifth century BCE. The Nandas overthrew the Shaishunaga dynasty in the Magadha region of eastern India and expanded their empire to include a larger part of northern India. Based on the Buddhist tradition recorded in the Mahavamsa, they appear to have ruled circa 345–322 BCE.

The Nandas built on the successes of their Haryanka and Shaishunaga predecessors and instituted a more centralised administration. Ancient sources credit them with amassing great wealth, which was probably a result of the introduction of new currency and taxation systems. Ancient texts also suggest that the Nandas were unpopular among their subjects because of their low-status birth, excessive taxation, and their general misconduct. The last Nanda king was overthrown by Chandragupta Maurya, and the latter's mentor Chanakya.

Subsequent European invasions in India faced the same fate; the cultural consciousness of India remained intact, and it is called cultural nationalism today.

Cultural nationalism is nationalism in which the nation is defined by a shared culture, rather than on the concepts of common ancestry or race. (5) Cultural nationalism is usually a moderate position within a larger spectrum of nationalist ideology. Thus, moderate positions in Hindu nationalism are, "cultural nationalism", while such movements also include forms of ethnic nationalism and national mysticism. For instance, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) General Secretary, in reply to the Tribunal constituted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 to hear the case on the RSS, explained the position: (6)

"The term Hindu in the conviction as well as in the constitution of the RSS is a cultural and civilizational concept and not a political or religious dogma. The term as a cultural concept will include and did always include all Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Muslims, Christians, and Parsis. The cultural nationality of India, in the conviction of the RSS, is Hindu and it was inclusive of all who are born and who have adopted Bharat as their Motherland, including Muslims, Christians, and Parsis. The answering association submits that it is not just a matter of RSS conviction, but a fact borne out by history that the Muslims, Christians, and Parsis too are Hindus by culture although as religions they are not so."

This is a moderate position, and at the same time, inclusive. V D Savarkar writes that every individual who is born in India and who considers India to be his fatherland (Pitrubhumi) and Holy land (Pavitrubhumi) is a Hindu. However, Savarkar pointed out that Christians and Muslims consider their holy land elsewhere. 

Culture, on which civilization is based, is an organic constituent of human development. It is a state of being, a mode of thinking, a way of living, and a set of commonly shared values, beliefs, and practices. It is a holistic entity comprising a stock of knowledge, beliefs, customs, conduct, morals, and intellectual pursuits. It is a totality of heritage borne by society. It is the intellectual and spiritual wealth generated and preserved by society, over the centuries. It enhances the meaning and quality of life. Thus, it enriches the fullness of life, sharpens intellect and ushers in the plenitude of serenity.

The rule of dharma

India is the cradle of global civilization, and it possesses one of the finest cultures in the world in the form of Vedic wisdom. It advocates the fundamental unity of all existences, both animate and inanimate. Everything in this cosmos has a common source and sustenance. The Puruṣa Sūkta of Ṛig Veda declares that whatever existed, whatever exists and whatever shall come into existence, all are manifestations of the same Divine Being. The īśāvāsyopaniṣad of the Yajur Veda states that in this mutating world, every element is divine and is permeated by the Divine. It says about the relation of the individual's soul to the divine supreme spirit: "That is Whole and this is Whole, the perfect has come out of the perfect; having taken the perfect from the perfect, only the perfect remains. ("Om Poornam-Adah Poornam-Idam Poornaat-Poornam-Udachyate |Poornasya Poornam-Aadaaya Poornam-Eva-Avashishyate ||)

It is one unitary, self-existing principle which manifests itself diversely, says the Nāsadīya Sūkta of Ṛig Veda. It is also experienced and expressed diversely.

It is a unique feature of Indian culture which exhorted not to have the European/ biblical/ Islamic psyche of “I versus thou”. Instead, Hinduism advocates the attitude of “I and we”. (7) Indian sages cherished a spiritual global family. The ‘other’ for French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre was "hell".  But for a Hindu, the 'other' is not external or alien or separate. The ideal to be emulated is the universalisation of ‘self’, feeling indivisible with the entire cosmos. In this global family, there are both individual entities (piṇḍa) and their organic totality (brahmāṇḍa), in perfect harmony. A distinction has to be drawn between the two but they are inseparable, they are indivisible. It is an inclusive matrix to accommodate and absorb diversity. It advocates its members live in solidarity with the Whole, enjoying an individual existence and yet partaking and sharing experiences with the Whole. Since it is social pluralism, Europe could not destroy the inherent virtues of India.

About those virtues, the Urdu poet Mohammad Iqbal (1877-1938) sang in his well-known poem, “Sāre jahān se achhā Hindusatān hamārā” (Taranaa-e-Hind-1904): 

Kucha baat hai ki hasti, mitati nahin humaari

Sadiyon rahaa hai dushman daur-e-jahaan hamaara

(There is something momentous in Indian culture because of which it could not be wiped out in spite of the onslaughts of inimical forces for centuries together.)

The underpinning spirit behind Indian cultural nationalism is the universal and unifying dharma-centric worldview sustained by the Sanatana dharma (eternal values). Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya pointed out that the nation and the state are two distinct entities: A nation like India is an organic entity. It is not created, but a nation creates institutions. A nation consists of several institutions and the State is one of them. It is important but not supreme. It is to be based on Dharma, and dharma is sovereign. Dharma is the depository of a nation’s soul and should permeate all its institutions. Fundamental principles of dharma are eternal and universal. They are not rigid and need to be adapted to changing times and places.

Deendayal Upadhyaya was born on 25 September 1916, in Dhanakiya, a small village situated on the Jaipur-Ajmer rail route, his father a railway station master, like his grandfather. After the formation of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh in 1951, he became one of its general secretaries, and early in January 1968 its president. Although Jan Sangh set out as a political party, its intimate connection with the RSS remained. 

His speeches and writings, in Hindi, were published in three collections: Rashtra Jivan ki Samasyaen, or ‘The Problems of National Life’, 1960; Ekatma Manavavad, or ‘Integral Humanism’, 1965; and Rashtra Jivan ki Disha, or ‘The Direction of National Life’, 1971. In these three works, he talks of dharma-rajya.

The proposition around which Upadhyaya’s thoughts revolve, like those of M S Golwalkar, second Sarsanghchalak ("Chief") of R S S is that the existence of a nation lies in its distinctive consciousness. It rises or falls to the same degree as that consciousness comes into light or is obscured. But, Upadhyaya perceives it as centred on dharma. Upadhyaya's concern is to bring to light the real nature of Indian consciousness, its citi, as he calls it; for it is only then that one can obtain a satisfactory answer to the question, ‘what direction shall India take?’

For him, Dharma is not a sect, a philosophical opinion, or any one spiritual path. In short, dharma is not ‘Religion’. It is not a religion because if Dharma is described as Religion, in the next step all the social disorders which Religion in the West produced are quickly attached to dharma as well. He says, ‘'Of the very many damages done to us by English translations, this is one of the greatest’'.  (8) The fundamental cause of the numerous problems that modem India is faced with lies, according to Upadhyaya, in the indiscriminate application of the Western forms of thought to Indian political life, obscuring thereby the true nature of Indian consciousness. The policies that have been advanced after independence reflect, not that consciousness, but one Westernism or another. Far from achieving coherence and harmony of social purpose, the national life of India has been turned into a battleground of conflicting economic and political philosophies. Socialists and communists constitute this group. He has not termed it as the Nehruvian legacy, though it is explicit.

For Upadhyaya, a nation is consciousness-Nation arises out of a deeper life force; it is self-created, swayambhu. Western thinkers believe that a nation can be created; it cannot be done, for the common elements of national life are only expressions of an inherent consciousness at work, which cannot be created artificially by political means. Each nation has its own unique consciousness. So long as that consciousness, the citi, lives, that nation lives; when it dies, the nation dies. A nation dies, not by the loss of territory, or by a decrease in its population; a nation dies when its consciousness ceases to exist. (9)

Thus, in the Indian context, cultural nationalism is not something artificial, it is the consciousness flowing through the soul of the civilization.

Dharma is sovereign, not Nation or State. Democracy is the preferable form of governance but it should be based on dharma. It should be dharmarājya or Rāmarājya, a dharmocracy and not a theocracy. The concepts of Varnashrama dharma and Purushartha which were the guiding principles of social life in the Vedic period were based on this dharma-centric vision of life.

At the same time, the creative character of the Vedic culture was lost post-Vedic period onwards, especially since the advent of the caste system, made rigid by the conquering forces. The universal vision of Sanatana Dharma was misinterpreted in conformity with the rising requirements of colonial interests.

Hence, it is important to examine the religious and cultural onslaught of foreign powers and modern western civilisation on Indian spirituality, society, culture, economy and polity and to counter the same and establish the rationality and spiritual science behind Indian ethos, religious faiths and practices.

With vested interest, eurocentric scholars and left historians have tried to project a distorted picture of Indian culture and civilization. They have questioned the relevance of cultural nationalism in the emerging Indian social scenario characterised by rising conflicts and violence among various social groups. But, they have failed in their nefarious design as the unbiased mind has not acceded to their sinister move.

Civic vs Cultural nationalism

There is a discourse, civic nationalism versus cultural nationalism, that has dominated the Indian debate in recent decades. The former subsumes the liberal values of freedom, tolerance, individual rights and multiculturalism, with constitutional guarantees. Cultural nationalism encompasses a sense of belonging and anchoring in a specific cultural and civilizational milieu. (10)

Indian culture and society have adhered to democratic values for thousands of years. Indians are imbued with the syncretic sense of being and feeling Indian regardless of language or religion. It is this cultural nationalism that defines all Indians. India is a melting pot in which foreign influences were assimilated in an inclusive manner to create a uniquely Indian identity.

Cultural nationalism is neither a chimaera that must be vanquished. The values of pluralism and tolerance should not merely be a function of constitutional guarantees. They should be ingrained and rooted in a more enduring Indian cultural ethos. Civic nationalism is self-limiting and is defined merely by political institutions and liberal values as legal constructs. It fails to synthesise the rich social traditions or cultural conventions of India.

A nation is made up of people having a sense of a common bond (geist), which is its lifeblood. It is only through an inherent sense of belonging, what Ibn Khaldun called ‘asabiyyah’ in Arabic and a national culture that a State can achieve a distinctive identity and sustainability in the longer run. (11)

The concept of asabiyyah was familiar in the pre-Islamic era. Still, it became popularized in Arab Historian Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddimah (1377), which is described as the fundamental bond of human society and the basic motive force of history, pure only in its nomadic form. (12) Khaldun argued that asabiyyah is cyclical and directly relevant to the rise and fall of civilizations: it is strongest at the start of civilization, declines as the civilization advances, and then another more compelling asabiyyah eventually takes its place to help establish a different civilization. (13)

In India’s context, Cultural nationalism plays a major role in forging social cohesion and solidarity, transcending demographics. Hence, to reduce the State of India to the level of a ‘civic nation’, bound by a single albeit highly revered document in the form of the Indian Constitution, would be tantamount to disregarding the country’s rich heritage. India as a nation predates its Constitution.

The concept of a nation in Europe can be traced back to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Even prior to the treaty, political boundaries were being redefined throughout the European Continent. After the treaty, the concept of sovereignty was introduced when Protestantism was officially recognised as a different religion from Catholicism (14). 

The Peace of Westphalia is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire, closing a calamitous period of European history that killed approximately eight million people. Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, the kingdoms of France and Sweden, and their respective allies among the princes of the Holy Roman Empire participated in the treaties. (15)

These treaties ended the war, with the Habsburgs (rulers of Austria and Spain) and their Catholic allies on one side, battling the Protestant powers (Sweden and certain Holy Roman principalities) allied with France, though Catholic, strongly anti-Habsburg under King Louis XIV.

Several scholars of international relations have identified the Peace of Westphalia as the origin of principles crucial to modern international relations, (16) collectively known as Westphalian sovereignty. However, some historians have argued against this, suggesting that such views emerged during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in relation to concerns about sovereignty during that time. (17)

Thus, in most contexts in Europe, a “nation is a community of people that can be organised around the idea of self-determination” (18). Keeping this idea of the nation in mind, nationalism can be defined as either devotion (political or emotional) to one’s nation or as a policy of national independence (19). Therefore, a nation or the idea of a nation must exist in order for a national identity to be founded.

There is also Anderson’s absurd idea of a nation which is an ‘imagined political community’ (20). This is if a nation is considered as something imaginative, the very elements that are required for it to exist can be a myth. Even if a community does not share a common language, religion or ethnicity, a nation is formed on the basis of a strongly formed identity. Anderson used the term ‘imagined’ because members of even the smallest nations will not know everyone and yet they will be aware of their image of the entire communion.

From an anthropological perspective, Max Weber speaks about ethnic groups that are formed on the belief of common descent. He says there is a sense of affinity to a particular nation which relies on community living (21). According to American sociologist Michael Hechter, nationalism constitutes several political activities whose aim is to create political boundaries of the nation that are 'culturally distinctive, collectivity aspiring towards self-governance (22). 

Deendayal Upadhyaya

It is equally important to distinguish between the civic and ethnic ties of nations. According to Stephan Shulman, the primary difference between the Western and the Eastern European Countries is that the former developed as civic nations while the latter as ethnic nations (23). While ethnic nations can be characterised by extending kinship principles to the imagined community of the nation, the former can be defined by common political values and loyalties shared by the population of a sovereign territory (24). The Czech Scholar Hans Kohn argued that nationalism in the West, primarily in countries like France and England was primarily political. Nationalism in the western context struggled against the dynastic rule and equated citizenship with membership in the nation. Hence, in this model, the state usually precedes the creation and development of the nation (25).

On the other hand, in Eastern European and in the colonial context, where these regions were comparatively backward, the notion of nationalism arose with little or no cultural and ethnic boundaries. The Ottoman empire is an example. Kohn argues that nationalism had to struggle to “redraw political boundaries in conformity with ethnographic demands” (26). Considering this statement, one could say that nations in the East were created on the basis of people than the idea of citizenship.

In the Indian context, this idea can be translated as the idea of creating an “Akhand Bharat” or undivided India. It revolved around reuniting the ancient Indian civilisation by fighting the British. In the modern scenario, many Hindu organisations are staunch advocates of this idea which propagates the unity of present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bhutan, and Nepal.

It was only when colonialism reached its peak in the late 19th century did the need to arrive at a common language, culture, and identity arose among the people (27). Since then, the world is experiencing a rapid increase in nationalistic sentiment.  Renowned Anthropologist Margaret Mead was studying the ‘national character’ of the Americans and the English when she came to the conclusion that cultural values play a significant role in the integration of people belonging to a particular nation (28). 

Every nation has certain specific traits that differ from the others. To quote Jelena Petkovic, “cultural theories adopt the stand that a nation is formed through cultural continuity and thus the issue of national identity is almost inseparable from the issue of the cultural identity of a people” (29). This means that a cultural national identity reveals itself as an attachment to an individual’s particular culture. Hence, with the increase in the notion of individual consciousness and with the development and improvement of the channels of communication, human civilisation has become more aware of the differences that reside between them. While culture binds a group of people together, it also has the ability to separate them.

Nationalism manifests itself differently in pluralistic nation-states. 

Most pluralist nations are located in the African, Asian and Latin American continents. Colonialism played a big role in shaping their history. Through the process of divide and rule, the European colonialists created a sense of confusion between different communities. In India, despite living together for centuries before colonisation, the Hindus and Muslims became increasingly polarised during colonisation. This led to a constant feeling of neglect within both communities. At a macro-level or a more pan-India level, nationalism was viewed as being anti-colonial with the dual aims of getting rid of oppressive colonisers and establishing a sovereign republic. On the other hand, at a more provincial level, nationalism was a form of cultural consciousness that aimed to protect different cultural communities in their homeland (30).

The conqueror's agenda

What is ironic about India is that a nation possessing the largest civilizational history had to struggle against the distortions engineered by successive invasions. During the Islamic invasions, myriads of temples were plundered including those of Somnath, Ayodhya, Kashi and Madhura. The university of Nalanda was pillaged. All these were an assiduous bid to marginalise native culture and heritage and to remind them with an ocular demonstration for all the time that they were crushed. (31)

The despotic Islamic rule was succeeded by British rule, which from the very beginning sought to distort India's history and culture as a matter of conspiracy in order to legitimize its own rule. The two dozen Western Indologists who appeared as saviours of India proved to be steered by an agenda. Some of them may not have resorted to religious sabotage deliberately, but they were obviously prisoners of myopic perception within Christian mythology and white superiority. (32)

For instance, William Jones tried to employ Biblical myth in Hindu systems. To him, no human civilization is possible, earlier than 4004 BCE since Adam and Eve "appeared" that year. He deconstructed Indian History by applying the Biblical narrative that Noah was a descendant of Adam and he variously attributed Manu to Adam and Noah. According to his version, once Noah's eldest son Ham cast a glance at Noah's naked body, for which the latter cursed the former that he would be a slave in future. According to Jones, a fierce deluge broke out in 2349 BCE and Ham became a slave. Without any basis, Jones says Ham's descendants were none but the Aryans who came down to India and were hence constrained to continue as a depraved race. Jones also attributed Hindu Gods and goddesses including the characters of Ramayana to those of the Greeks. (33) It is evident that Jones had been an agent of colonialism, and hence he tried to sell absurd platitudes.

Patriotic upsurges

The combination of the British East India Company's standards in the Indian subcontinent during the eighteenth century realized financial changes which prompted the ascent of an Indian white-collar class and relentlessly disintegrated pre-provincial socio-religious organizations and boundaries. The developing monetary influence of Indian entrepreneurs and shippers and the expert class carried them progressively into a struggle with the British Raj. There were other skirmishes as well.

Within thirteen years after the decisive victory of the British at the Battle of Plassey in 1757, a Hindu revolution broke out in Bengal. The Sannyasi rebellion or monk rebellion of 1770-77 was a revolt by Hindu ascetics in Bengal which took place around Murshidabad and Baikunthapur forests of Jalpaiguri under the leadership of Pandit Bhabani Charan Pathak. It was an early war for India's independence from foreign rule since the right to collect tax had been given to the British East India Company after the Battle of Buxar in 1764.

But much before Plassey, In Kerala's Attingal, on April 14, 1721, about 120 Britishers were massacred. a party of 12o British merchants and 30 slaves, led by Gyfford, Burton Fleming and Malheiro sailed by sea to the palace,6 kilometres away, with 17000 Panam as tribute, and Vishukkazhcha. Since old Vanchimuttam was inebriated, the party was received by the young Kudamon. Cowse became suspicious when the talk on the gifts to the Pillai s was extended; he alerted Gyfford but was rebuffed. The party had left the guns in the ship, whereas, the Nairs were, as usual armed. Gyfford and the team were asked to spend the night on the palace's premises in small batches. Gyfford also became suspicious and sent a messenger to Robert Sewell, storekeeper/Adjutant/Captain. In the night, the combined Attingal forces, led by Kudamon Pillai, fell upon the Britishers and butchered them. The party had left only the women, children, pensioners and only four males to hold the Fort. Gyfford, Malhiero and Fleming were cut to pieces. The tongues of Gyfford and Malheiro were pulled out, the tongue of Gyfford cut to pieces and thrown into the Vamanapuram river. His body was nailed on a log, and thrown into the river, to float. Cowse, who tried to escape in Malayali dress, was caught by a Muslim who owed him money and was killed. A total of 133 were butchered.

It is now well known that it was not Jhansi Rani Lakshmi Bai (1823-1858), who revolted first against the British; it was Kitturu Rani Chennamma (1778-1829) of Karnataka, who first declared war against them, in 1824. When Chennamma's son died in 1824, she adopted Sivalingappa as her heir. The East India Company refused to accept it, applying the doctrine of lapse, which was officially codified later, during 1848-1856, by Lord Dalhousie. The Company ordered his expulsion, but Chennamma defied it. When the Governor of Bombay, Mountstuart Elphinstone turned down her letter, war broke out. Several people lost their lives, including the Collector and Political Agent for Southern Mahratta Doab region, St John Thackeray, and John Munro, Sub Collector of Sholapur.

Likewise, the first Sepoy mutiny in India, was not in 1857-a Sepoy mutiny happened, 45 years before, in Kollam in Kerala. It was an uprising against the British, which was crushed by executing the 29 Indian soldiers who revolted, by the Resident of Travancore, John Munro. He implicated the ousted Dewan of Travancore, Ummini Thampi, and the imprisoned 'crown prince', Visakham Thirunal Kerala Varma, who was the mastermind of the revolt and sentenced them to death. Kerala Varma was the son of Princess Atham Thirunal of Mavelikara Arattukadavu Koyikkal palace. They originally were from the Chenga palace branch of Kolathunad, in Malabar. Maybe, the reason behind Munro relinquishing his Travancore job in 1814, is revealed in this episode.

After Plassey, something extraordinary began to shake Bengal. The Bengal Renaissance was a cultural, social, intellectual, and artistic movement that took place in the Bengal region of the British Raj, from the late 18th century to the early 20th century. Historians have traced the beginnings of the movement to the victory of the British East India Company at the 1757 Battle of Plassey, as well as the works of reformer Raja Rammohan Roy, born in 1772. For almost two centuries, the Bengal renaissance saw the radical transformation of Indian society, and its ideas have been attributed to the rise of Indian anticolonialist and nationalist thought and activity. The Bengali renaissance was predominantly led by Bengali Hindus, who at the time were socially and economically more affluent in colonial Bengal. Well-known figures include the social reformer Raja Rammohan Roy, writer Rabindranath Tagore, and the physicist Satyendra Nath Bose.

The Renaissance also embraced the religious sphere, bringing forward spiritual figures such as Debendranath Tagore, Keshab Chandra Sen, Bijoy Krishna Goswami, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo, Bamakhepa, Lokenath Brahmachari, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Paramahansa Yogananda, Lahiri Mahasaya, Tibbetibaba, Nigamananda Paramahansa, Vishuddhananda Paramahansa, Ram Thakur, Sitaramdas Omkarnath, Anandamayi Ma. Related to them, reformist movements and organizations like Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj and Ramakrishna Mission sprung up.

Freedom with dharma

A rising political cognizance among the local Indian social top echelons encouraged a developing patriot estimation in India in the nineteenth century. The creation in 1885 of the Indian National Congress in India by the political reformer A.O. Hume strengthened the procedure by giving a significant stage from which requests could be made for political advancement, expanded self-sufficiency, and social change. The pioneers of the Congress upheld discourse and discussion with the Raj organization to accomplish their political objectives. Not satisfied with moderation, radical forces developed in Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra, Madras and different zones over the south.

Rajaram Mohan Roy

French political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot (34) has pointed out that Indian patriotism was created as an idea during the Indian autonomy development battle against the provincial British Raj. India has been bound together under numerous sovereigns and governments over a long period. Old writings notice India under the ruler Bharata. The Mauryan Empire was the first to join all of India and South Asia.

He is of the view that the investigation of patriotism is critical to dissect world governmental issues today and patriotism can be characterized as either political or passionate to one's country or as an approach to national autonomy. Along these lines, a country or the possibility of a country must exist altogether for a national character to be established.  

The 1857  war of independence finished East India Company's standard, alongside changes in the British strategy towards the Indian States. A standout amongst the most significant results of the revolt was that it offered an ascend to patriotism. Indian individuals turned out to be progressively mindful of their sages who yielded their lives for the nation with the goal that others may live in free India in times to come. But the revolt scarred the connection between Hindus and Muslims with the Divide and Rule Policy, embraced by the British. They felt that on the off chance that they needed to proceed with their standard in India, it was imperative to partition the Hindus and Muslims. 

Nationalism in third-world countries was and is a response to colonialism and most pluralist nations evolved in the Asian, African and Latin American Continents, where colonialism played a very important role in the formation of these states.  The conquerors had failed to consider the multi-cultural set-up of these colonies. The colonial power played an important role in creating or fostering identities to ensure control by using the policy of divide and rule while the process of state formation during the process of independence from the colonial power, ignored and even curbed the multiculturalist set-up to create a single identity.

In the 19th century, John Stuart Mill argued that nationalist movements were dependent on ethnicity, language and culture. These were the basis of the demand for statehood. But it was at the peak of colonialism in the mid-19th century that the colonised world witnessed the rise in nationalistic sentiments with an emphasis on the idea of a common language, religion, ethnicity etc. While the western idea of nationalism aims to set up a uni-nation, uni-culture dictum, nationalism operates on different principles in a multi-national, pluralist context.

Nationalism had a dual role to play in the last century through the many nationalistic upheavals leading to the decolonization of most of Latin America, Africa and Asia. At a macro level, nationalism was viewed as being anti-colonial with the aims of liberating the country from oppressive rule and establishing a sovereign state while at a more local level, nationalism was perceived to be a form of cultural consciousness that aimed to protect different cultural communities within their homeland (35).

In most liberal democratic societies, minorities are protected by the law and the state needs to take them into consideration while formulating federal policies. In India, Hindu nationalists maintain that the word of the majority community should prevail over the others in a modern democratic state. To elaborate further, colonial thinkers like Savarkar and members of organisations like the RSS maintain that Hinduism is a religion of tolerance and allows minority groups to flourish and hence, constitutes an integral part of Indian national culture (36). 

Thus, by secularising Hinduism, nationalists point out that it is the shared identity of the entire population, no matter which religion one belongs to. Not surprisingly, the rise of Hindu nationalism directly coincided with India’s integration into global systems of production and consumption. For Hindu nationalists, Islamic fundamentalism is a huge obstacle for India to emerge as a strong nation in the modern world. The idea of modernity globally today is linked to “full and unequivocal cultural and national identities”. 

The origins of Hindu nationalism can be traced back to the revivalist movements during the colonial era. To name a few, The Arya Samaj and the Brahmo Samaj went back to the Vedas and made a strong attempt to reform Hinduism to counter the rising number of conversions of the backward classes into Islam and Christianity. The central idea of the Hindu nationalist movement is the concept of Hindutva which is the exact opposite of the pseudo-secular ideals of the Indian National Congress and the Marxists. Marxism doesn't recognize nationalism; it bats for Internationalism. In India, cultural nationalism is here to stay, as long as the civilization is there to ignite it.

Dharma is eternal. It is not sufficient that democracy is understood only as the rule of the people; it must also be a rule for the good of the people. What is good for the people can be determined only by Dharma. Hence democracy will have to be also dharma-rajya, the rule of dharma. True democracy is one where both freedom and dharma combine. 

_______________________

1. Smith, Vincent, Early History of India, pp 117-118

2. ibid, 252-253

3. Mookerji, R K, Hindu Civilization: From the Earliest Times Up To the Establishment of the Maurya Empire, pp 294-295

4, Majumdar, R C, Ancient India, pp 101-102.

5. Nielsen, Kai. (1999). Cultural Nationalism, Neither Ethnic nor Civic. In R. Beiner (Ed.), Theorizing nationalism (pp. 119-130). Albany: State University of New York Press

6. Organiser, June 6, 1993

7. S R Bhatt, Cultural Nationalism: Indian Scenario, https://indiafoundation.in/articles-and-commentaries/cultural-nationalism-indian-scenario/

8. Chaturvedi Badrinath, Dharma, India and the World Order: Twenty-One Essays, Pahl-Rugesntein and St Andrew Press, 1993
9. ibid

10. Sujan Chinoy, India predates Constitution, It is cultural nationalism that makes us Indians, The Print, 4 February 2022.

11. ibid

12. Ibn Khaldun. The Muqaddimah, translated by F. Rosenthal

13. Tibi, Bassam. Arab Nationalism. 1997, p. 139

14. Straumann B (2008), The Peace of Westphalia as a Secular Constitution. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 15: 173-188

15. Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015. McFarland. p. 40

16. Patton, Steven (2019). The Peace of Westphalia and its Affects on International Relations, Diplomacy and Foreign Policy. The Histories

17. Osiander, Andreas (2001). Sovereignty, International Relations, and the Westphalian Myth. International Organization. 55 (2): 251–287

18. Nodia G (1994) Nationalism and Democracy. Diamond Nationalism Ethnic Conflict and Democracy. Johns Hopkins University Press

19. Simpson J (1991), The Compact Oxford English Dictionary. Clarendon Press

20. Anderson B. (1983) Imagined Communities. Verso, New York

21. Weber M (2003), What is an Ethnic Group? In: The Ethnicity Reader. M. A. Guibernau (ed.) Polity Press

22. Hechter M (1999), Internal Colonialism. Oxford University Press

23. Mead M (1972), National Character. Anthropology Today 642-667.

24. Gans J (2000), The Liberal Foundations of Cultural Nationalism. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 30: 441-466

25. Kohn H (1961) The Idea of Nationalism. Cambridge University Press

26. ibid

27. Gans J (2000), The Liberal Foundations of Cultural Nationalism. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 30: 441-466

28. Mead M (1972), National Character. Anthropology Today 642-667

29. Petkovic J (2011), Cultures in nations and nationalism. Nis: Center for Sociological Research of the Faculty of Philosophy 10: 141-152

30 . Rodrigues V (2004), Shodhgana. Debates on Nationalism in India

31. Atanu Mohapatra, D D Pattanayak, Cultural Nationalism in Indian Perspective, The Indian Journal of Political Science, Vol 75, no 1, 2014, pp 59-70

32. ibid

33. ibid

34. Jaffrelot, Christophe (1999), The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics. Penguin Books India, pp. 13–15

35. Sunil Kumar (2017), Contribution of Western Culture in Nationalism of India. International Journal of History and Cultural Studies (IJHCS) ISSN 2454-7646, Volume 3, Issue 4, PP 22-25

36.Savarkar V (1928), Essentials of Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?

© Ramachandran 

TWO SESSIONS AND CHINA'S GROWTH TRAJECTORY

What to Expect in China's Economy

China's Two Sessions or lianghui of the NPC and CPCC in 2023 have lifted hope to new levels by designing a blueprint for sustainable development, with the true essence of socialism with Chinese characteristics, as envisaged by the 20th National Congress of CPC.

The Two Sessions refer to the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which preside over the main economic agenda for 2023, as well as significant governmental restructuring. The CPPCC is a consultative body that includes over 2172 members from various segments of Chinese society. The NPC with 2977 deputies is China’s top legislative body. The Two Sessions are the only fixed annual meetings of these two political bodies.

The annual Government Work Report (GWR) presented at the session contained both the achievements and challenges of 2022 and the country’s socioeconomic development agenda for the year.

The goal for China is to realize socialist modernization by 2035; This rejuvenation is also part of achieving the Party's second centenary goals.

China Rebounds

In the first year of re-opening after the pandemic, China is emerging from its bruises; The lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in late 2022 has already boosted economic sectors.

China’s factory activity for February 2023 bounced further into expansion territory, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, released on March 1. The official manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) reached the highest level in nearly 11 years in February – 52.6, proving China’s factory activity has expanded at the fastest pace in more than a decade. The world’s second-largest economy staged what economists are calling a very rapid rebound after reopening from zero-Covid. It is the highest level since April 2012. In January, the reading was 50.1, a sharp increase from 47 in December, as the pandemic restrictions were starting to fade. A reading below 50 indicates contraction, while anything above that shows expansion.

The PMI for large enterprises rose by 1.4 points to 53.7, while the reading for small enterprises increased by 4 points to 51.2. The PMI for small businesses was back in expansion territory for the first time since May 2021.

Non-manufacturing PMI in February also grew further to 56.3 from January’s 54.4, when it saw a sharp improvement backed by a recovery in services and construction activity. It recorded its best level in two years. The Caixin/Markit manufacturing PMI, a private gauge of the country’s factory activity, jumped to 51.6 in February from 49.2 in January. It was the first expansion in seven months.

The official PMIs mainly cover larger businesses and state-owned companies, while the Caixin readings are more focused on smaller businesses and private companies.

The rapid expansion came amid the accelerated resumption of factory output after the Chinese New Year holidays.

The broad-based improvements for both Manufacturing and non-Manufacturing PMIs reflect the solid momentum of post-reopening recovery. While stimulus policies are expected, the People’s Bank of China would be mindful of inflation risks and may tilt to a natural policy once the economy is back on track.

Buoyed by the Two Session's outcome, there will be further improvement in consumption later this year. To further expand domestic demand in 2023, Two Sessions has proposed that 3.8 trillion yuan ($550 billion) be allocated for special-purpose bonds for local governments, compared to 3.65 trillion yuan in 2022.

But there remains a range of challenges, including sluggish domestic demand, persistent problems in the housing market, and unequal development across the country. The economic and legislative decisions made at the Two Sessions are of high importance to business leaders and foreign investors in China; they serve as a valuable window into China’s politics and reveal Beijing’s priorities and policy direction for the future.

GDP to Grow

Shortly after China’s factory activity data was released, Moody’s announced that it expects China’s economy to grow by 5% in 2023, an upgrade from its previous outlook of 4%. They expect pent-up demand for non-traded services to support a consumption rebound starting this spring.

After the data became public, Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics, wrote in a research note, "They underscore just how quickly activity has bounced back following the reopening wave of infections," adding that his firm's 5.5% growth forecast for China this year may be too conservative. The IMF recently forecast GDP growth of 5.2 percent for China this year and 2.9 percent for global growth.

Hence, the Two Sessions has set a realistic annual GDP growth target of 5 percent. In 2022, the GDP growth target was set at “around 5.5 percent”. However, China missed the target, growing 3 percent year-on-year, due mainly to the large outbreaks of COVID-19. But, China's GDP exceeded 100 trillion yuan ($14.55 trillion) for the third consecutive year in 2022 despite complex external challenges. It is expected to exceed 130 trillion yuan ($18.84 trillion) in 2023, an increase of about 10 trillion yuan from the previous year.

In reflection of the buoyant sentiment in China, provincial and municipal governments have announced ambitious local GDP growth targets for 2023: At the higher end, the provinces of Hainan, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Jiangxi have set targets of between 7 and 9.5 percent. At the lowest end, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Guangdong have set targets of between 4 and 5.5 percent. The average of all the regional growth targets is around 5.9 percent.

An ambitious growth target means more effort into short-term growth, which could come in the form of more infrastructure investment, incentive policies, and consumption vouchers. A lower target allows the formulation of longer-term development plans to address systemic issues.

Two Sessions has set the deficit-to-GDP ratio at 3 percent for 2023, which is 0.2 percent higher than last year. It is a reliable indicator of a country paying its debts. Generally, a low debt-to-GDP ratio measures a healthy economy that doesn’t accumulate future debts.

FDI to Increase

China's Central Economic Working Conference (CEWC), held in December, has highlighted the need to increase foreign trade and investment cooperation to stimulate growth and proposed expanding market access.

Foreign direct investment into China grew by 14.5 percent from a year earlier to CNY 127.69 billion in January 2023. In dollar terms, FDI increased 10 percent to USD 19.02 billion in January. Manufacturing and high-tech industries continued to attract high levels of foreign investment despite the economic slowdown, and some regions, such as the EU, increased investment in China significantly.
Certain industries saw above-average rates of investment growth in 2022. Actual use of foreign capital in manufacturing reached RMB 323.7 billion (approx. US$47.8 billion), a year-on-year increase of 46.1 percent. This accounted for 26.3 percent of all foreign capital used in the country in 2022, a proportional increase of 7.8 percentage points from 2021.

Article in China-India Dialogue

The countries that saw a relatively high increase in investment in China included South Korea, Germany, and the UK, with investments increasing 64.2 percent, 52.9 percent, and 40.7 percent year-on-year, respectively. Investment from the EU also saw rapid growth, with investment from the bloc increasing by 92.2 percent year-on-year, a significant reversal from the 10.4 percent year-on-year decrease seen in 2021.

Investment from Belt and Road countries grew 17.2 percent, and from the nine ASEAN countries grew 8.2 percent.

It is likely that the government will introduce new incentives and beneficial policies for foreign investors in 2023. These could potentially target key development zones and emerging and high-tech industries.

The total amount of investment that has been made public by 18 provinces and regions for domestic projects reached nearly 10 trillion yuan recently. The Ministry of Finance will further expand the issuance of local government special-purpose bonds to support the construction of major domestic projects. New issues exceeding 4 trillion yuan in 2022 supported more than 30,000 projects.

In February, the New Export Orders Index was up 6.3 points to 52.4, ending 21 months of contraction and supporting domestic demand and the recovery of small firms.

Structural Changes

The approval of small structural changes to the government is a regular occurrence in China. They have a significant impact on how policy is formulated and implemented over the next five years. The structural changes made in 2018, when the 13th NPC convened for the first time, were wider and saw the creation of new ministries and branches of government, including the National Supervisory Commission, an anti-corruption agency.

This time, there was a focus on restructuring the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) and establishing a National Financial Regulatory Administration. Directly under the State Council, China's cabinet, the new administration will replace the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) and be in charge of supervising the financial industry except for the securities sector. The new administration will also transfer certain functions of China's central bank and the securities watchdog China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

The new set-up is on the lines of the Central Financial Work Commission (CFWC), a financial supervisory body set up in 1998 in the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis, which was dissolved in 2003.

China will also establish a national data bureau, to boost the digital economy. It will be administered by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Policy Changes

Since economic growth and recovery are at the forefront of the 2023 agenda, the legislative changes and policies mooted by the Two Sessions focused on areas such as advancing industry development, production, and consumption. Policies aimed at propping up strategic industries - healthcare, semiconductors, green technology, and agriculture to improve food security and self-sufficiency, will get priority.

In January 2022, China released the Opinions on Promoting Standardized, Healthy, and Sustainable Development of Platform Economy, which endorsed the international expansion of tech companies. China has reassured tech companies that the government would support them in going public on domestic and overseas stock exchanges.

Considering the Western sanctions on Chinese tech companies, one major change is the passing of revision to China’s Legislation Law. A major part of the latest revision involves giving the NPC exclusive legislative authority over the "establishment, organization, functions, and powers" of supervision commissions.
It clarifies that the National Commission of Supervision can formulate supervisory laws and regulations in line with the Constitution, law and the decision of the NPC Standing Committee. 

Last year, China unveiled its Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law to respond to reckless sanctions imposed by certain foreign countries. It is a basic foreign policy law, to make provisions for countermeasures. For acts that undermine China’s sovereignty, the law contains relevant provisions to firmly counter such acts.

China has already taken a series of moves to counter foreign sanctions. In 2021, the NPC passed an anti-sanctions law, providing legal backing for sweeping retaliation against any individuals, their families and organisations responsible for imposing sanctions against the country. Those steps include denying visas and freezing an individual’s assets.

The amended Law will further devolve certain legislative powers to provincial and municipal governments, to draft regulations on matters such as urban and rural construction and management, environmental protection, and historical and cultural protection.

Thus, the outcome of the Two Sessions is pro-growth. It means more support for industry, possibly through further tax incentives, more market access, and measures to boost consumption, in a robust environment of multilateralism.

Article in China-India Dialogue: http://chinaindiadialogue.com/chinas-economy-what-to-expect

In China Pictorial: http://china-pictorial.com.cn/chinas-economy-what-to-expect

NATIONALISM TAKES ON THE CHURCH

Questioning the Christian Dogma

The Enlightenment, the intellectual movement that shook Europe, stretches from the 1630s to the eve of the French revolution in the late eighteenth century. In those few years, Rene Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Edward Gibbon, Denis Diderot, and Pierre Bayle, the best-known modern philosophers, made their mark. Most of them were amateurs: none had much to do with universities. They explored the implications of the new science and of religious upheaval, which led them to reject many traditional teachings and attitudes, and it left a spiritual vacuum in the realms of Christianity in Europe, questioning its dogma.

The seeds were sown in the seventeenth century when some people came to think that history was the wrong way around. Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was the first to crystallise this thought. Among the many that echoed Bacon, the French scientist Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) put it best in his writings about the vacuum.

Pascal's vacuum was not the spiritual one-In 1646, Pascal learned that an Italian, Evangelista Torricelli, had inverted a long glass tube filled with mercury into a bowl also filled with mercury, and the result was some mercury left standing in the tube with a vacuum above it. Torricelli thought that the mercury in the tube was kept up by the weight of the atmosphere pressing down on the bowl. Both claims were highly contested--at this time, the air was believed to be natural light, and Nature was supposed to abhor a vacuum.

Pascal sided with Torricelli, and he reasoned that if the atmosphere had weight, then less atmosphere should have less weight, and the level of mercury in the barometer should be lower. Accordingly, on 19 September 1648, Pascal engaged his brother-in-law Perier to climb the Puy de Dôme, the tallest mountain in central France, carrying a Torricellian tube with its bowl of mercury all the way up. Sure enough, as Perier climbed higher, the level of the mercury fell. This experiment, which convincingly demonstrated that air has weight, is one of the most famous experiments performed during the period of the Scientific Revolution.

 

John Locke

Bacon was an effective propagandist for the new idea that all old ideas in Europe are suspect. To Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), who was briefly Bacon's assistant, the medieval European philosophy was part of "the Kingdom of Darkness". Superstition and intolerance were at work in this kingdom. (1)

John Locke was a late starter: It was not until he was 57 that he published his main works. the Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Two Treatises of Government and the Letter Concerning Toleration, all of which came out in 1689. He was born in the same year as Spinoza and his first 45 years were far from idle. The Second Treatise of Government has been called an inspiration not only for the French revolution but for the American constitution, as well. His essay was heralded particularly in France, as the philosophical counterpart of Newton's Principia, which had been published in 1687. They were the twin prophets of Enlightenment. 

In questions of religion, Locke's idea was that theological doctrines must be answerable to the court of reason: "Reason must be our last Judge and Guide in every Thing." He said that some truths, such as the resurrection of the dead, are "Above Reason". (2) In a tract entitled The Reasonableness of Christianity, published in 1695, Locke argued that nothing in the scriptures was contrary to reason and that God had generously expressed himself in terms that can be understood even by "the poor of this World, and the bulk of Mankind." (3) 

Locke's rationalistic approach to religion did not go as far as that of his contemporary, 25-year-old John Toland, whose Christianity Not Mysterious was published the next year. Toland was condemned in parliament and threatened with arrest in Ireland for asserting that doctrines which were "above reason" were as suspicious as those which were contrary to reason and that Christianity is better off without them. (4) Locke was regularly accused by conservative churchmen of indirectly encouraging atheism in various ways, and of not having enough to say about the Trinity. On the question of religious tolerance, Locke argued for the same sort of freedom of belief that Spinoza had defended: "men cannot be forced to be saved", he wrote in his Letter Concerning Toleration, "they must be left to their own consciences." (5)

The Enlightenment dominated Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries with global effects, including India. While it included a range of ideas centred on the value of human happiness, and the pursuit of knowledge obtained using reason and evidence, in politics, it stood for the separation of Church and State. (6)

Some date the beginning of the Enlightenment to the publication of French philosopher René Descartes' Discourse on the Method in 1637, featuring his famous dictum, Cogito, ergo sum ("I think, therefore I am"). Others cite the publication of Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica (1687) as the culmination of the Scientific Revolution and the beginning of the Enlightenment. European historians date its beginning with the death of Louis XIV of France in 1715 and its end with the 1789 outbreak of the French Revolution. Many historians now date the end of the Enlightenment as the start of the 19th century, with the latest proposed year being the death of Immanuel Kant in 1804.

The Scientific Revolution was a series of events that marked the emergence of modern science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology (including human anatomy) and chemistry transformed the views of society about nature. It took place in Europe starting towards the second half of the Renaissance period, with the 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus publication De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) often cited as its beginning. (7)

The era of the Scientific Renaissance focused on recovering the knowledge of the ancients and is considered to have culminated in the 1687 Isaac Newton publication Principia which formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation, thereby completing the synthesis of a new cosmology. The subsequent Enlightenment saw the concept of a scientific revolution emerge in the 18th-century work of Jean Sylvain Bailly, who described a two-stage process of sweeping away the old and establishing the new. (8)

Philosophers and scientists of the period widely circulated their ideas through meetings at various places. The Enlightenment undermined the authority of the monarchy and the Catholic Church and paved the way for the political revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries. A variety of 19th-century movements including liberalism, communism, and neoclassicism trace their intellectual heritage to the Enlightenment. (9)

The central doctrines of the Enlightenment were individual liberty and religious tolerance, in opposition to an absolute monarchy and the dogmas of the Church. The Enlightenment was marked with increased questioning of religious orthodoxy—an attitude captured by Kant's essay Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment, where the phrase Sapere aude (Dare to know) can be found. (10)

The "Radical Enlightenment" (11) promoted the concept of separating church and state, (12) an idea credited to John Locke. (13) According to his principle of the social contract, Locke said that the government lacked authority in the realm of individual conscience, as this was something rational people could not cede to the government for it or others to control. For Locke, this created a natural right in the liberty of conscience, which he said must therefore remain protected from any government authority.

These views on religious tolerance and the importance of individual conscience, along with the social contract, became particularly influential in the American colonies and the drafting of the United States Constitution. (14) In a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut, Thomas Jefferson called for a "wall of separation between church and state" at the federal level. Jefferson's political ideals were influenced by the writings of Locke, Bacon, and Newton, (15) whom he considered the three greatest men that ever lived. (16)

Nationalism as religion

Hans Ulrich Wehler, a German historian, in his book, nationalismus (2001) has interpreted the collapse of Christianity resulting in a spiritual vacuum along the Enlightenment and secularization process as one of the conditions for the success of nationalism since the end of the Eighteenth Century in Europe. (17)

The criticism of religion during the Enlightenment (Lumières in French), the dissociation between the Church and the State as manifested in the civil constitution of the clergy during the French Revolution, and the loss of religious guidance by large strata of the population, created a “void” in which nationalism could be inserted. Religion as a system of faith and guidance lost its space in Europe. 

According to French historians, The Lumières originated in western Europe and spread throughout the rest of Europe. It was influenced by the scientific revolution in southern Europe arising directly from the Italian renaissance with people like Galileo Galilei. 

The replacement of religion with the nation became possible in Europe because religion and nationalism were going to share some common traits and functions: They would provide myths of origin, saints and martyrs, holy objects, places and ceremonies, a sense of the sacrifice and functions of legitimization and mobilization. The Jacobinical period in France and the anti-Napoleonic wars were the first manifestations of what the French historian Mona Ozouf (1976) has named as “transference of sacrality” from the strict religious domain to the nation. (18) That is how the sans-culottes (lower classes) used to talk about their “Sainte pique”, celebrated the Revolution before the “altars of the fatherland” and left to fight in holy wars. (19) 

Bacon

Elias Canetti (1992), originally from the national and ethnical “melting pot” of the Balkans, insists that the nations can be regarded as religions, and it is mainly during the wars that the national and religious feelings get mixed. Norbert Elias (1989), the historian of European civilization, points out that nation and nationalism are important systems of belief, and eventually regards nationalism as the most important faith of the Twentieth Century. (20) Georg Mosse (1976) emphasized in his book on the nationalization of masses, that nationalism is not only a political and social movement but also utilizes a religious language and religious symbols. In his view, nationalism-socialism is the expression of that osmosis between nation and religion within the political culture. (21) 

However, as early as the origin of the scientific investigation on nationalism, Carlton J. Hayes (1926) found out that nationalism is a religion since it possesses rituals and martyrs and develops a particular national mythology. (22) American historian Eugen Weber (1986) observed that a historian can be regarded as the priest of the nation, for helping to provide nationalism with a historical legitimation.

The works that focus on the nation’s symbolism inquire to what extent this symbolism was borrowed from the existing religions and creeds, or was developed in a confrontation with them. (23) The actors of this process also play a primordial role. The priests and their influence, the intellectuals and their audience, and the political men and their strategies are the factors intervening at the moments of contact between religion and nation. 

Thus, German Emperor Wilhelm II could invoke the divine right as the source of his dynasty and his government, in face of the German defeats: however, during World War I, its legitimacy, inexorably disintegrated.  (24) 

The national States did not act only as factors of communication but tried also to impose themselves as organizing principles of the societies, as sources of legitimacy and as references to civic morality. In this mission, the national States had to face oppositions, among which the strongest were those by the Catholic Church. It opposed the State’s intervention in the systems of education and in the internal operation of the Churches, as well as in the public organization of the consolidating ceremonies, the mythical heroes, and the integrating ideologies. The debates regarding the place of the Churches in national societies were always accompanied by a conflict on who was going to retain the monopoly of interpretation of the past and the present. 

Those fights in Europe were between the State and the Catholic Church, from Portugal to Italy, and from France to the Czech portion of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. There were conflicts between the newly created national States and the Catholic Church, as well as the place of a national movement in face of the Catholic Church in Europe, especially in France, Italy, the Czech portion, and Germany, during the decades that preceded World War I.

Martin Luther

In France, Italy and Czechoslovakia, the State or a laic stream stood, in the course of the Nineteenth Century, against the Catholic Church. (25) This opposition was older in France - during the French Revolution, the revolutionary State forced the clergy to make a civic oath, causing a schism within the Church between the priests that made the oath and those that refused to make it. The opposition between the two loyalties was the origin of the civil war unleashed in Vendee. (26) If under Napoleon, such opposition was attenuated particularly due to an agreement with the Holy See, it exploded again when, under the Restoration, the Monarchy leaned on the Church. But it was under the Third Republic that the conflict between the Church and the State found its most important expression.

The acts of supporting the Republic and standing for political and social progress were equivalent to anticlericalism; the acts of defending the Monarchy and opposing the Republican and, a fortiori, socialist movement were the same as defending the Christian faith and the Catholic Church. Following one of the third French Republic's founders, Leon Gambetta’s word of command: “The clericalism, here’s the enemy!”, the victorious Republicans passed laws to restrict the Institutional power of the Catholic Church (27). With the establishment of the laic, free and mandatory school using educational legislation, the privileged field of activity of the Catholic Church was reduced. In 1880, the hospitals, previously managed by the Church, were nationalized; in 1884, divorce was legalized, and, in 1889, a law decreed that priests should obligatorily render military service, like any other citizen. The practical application of the law of 1905 on the separation between Church and State caused a sometimes violent confrontation between the churchgoers and the police force. (28) The confrontation between the “two Frances” reached its summit.  

In Italy, differently from France, an agreement between the Holy See and the national movement seemed to be possible within the period that preceded the revolution of 1848. However, because the Pope stood on the counter-revolutionary forces’ side, the Church took quarters in its hostility toward the national unity, and the priests who participated in the national unification had to face problems with the ecclesiastic hierarchy. (29) This hostility was expressed on both sides after the national unity. The State responded to the questioning of the government by confiscating the Church’s properties, imposing military service on the seminarians and priests, and refusing to acknowledge the religious marriage ceremony unless accompanied by a civil marriage. The State exercised its right to inspect and consent to the ordination of the archbishops- in 1864, half of the dioceses possessed no archbishops. The Pope’s position hardened when, in 1864, he condemned in his “Syllabus” the “eighty mistakes”, and, in 1870, the Pope’s infallibility was affirmed when he speaks ex-cathedra. 

The issue of the pontifical State’s survival was the major obstacle between the two actors. The representatives of the Risorgimento proclaimed the march over Rome and elevated Rome to a symbol of the recovered national unity. After the Rome of the Caesars and the Rome of the Popes, the Rome of the people should be constructed against the Pope. With those discourses, they provoked and intensified the suspicion of the Pope, who feared that this expansionist rhetoric would lead to the abolition of the pontifical State. That occurred on 20 September 1870. (30) The subsequent decades regarded the papacy, pathetically as a “prisoner inside the Vatican.”  

In the Czech portions of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, only in the second half of the Nineteenth Century, a conflict between the Catholic Church and the national movement occurred. The Catholic Church was divided into a Bohemian and a Moravian Church, which was dedicated to the cult of their regional saints: Saint Wenceslas in Bohemia, Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius in Moravia (31). But it was with the revolution of 1848 that the Czech started to refer, more and more, to Jan Hus, the heretic who was burned during the Council of Konstanz. Hus was regarded as an important character within a European general movement towards progress and an individual religion that was based on ethics. Hus was interpreted as a factor of sacralization of the nation that, with its sacrifice, had permitted the rebirth of the Czech nation. The more the Catholic Church attacked Hus’ doctrines, the more his image gained popularity. Within a period in which the Catholic Church was losing importance, a national interpretation of Jan Hus became relevant. (32) This cult was supported by 250 important intellectuals who, in 1868, left in a peregrination to Constance, where Hus had been burned at the stake as a heretic. 

Jan Hus

The German situation was fundamentally different, for the German empire had been the stage not of an opposition between the national State and Catholicism, but of a struggle between Protestantism and Catholicism; the Hebrew community did not have the same numeric weight. The identification of the German nation with the history of Protestantism, which had already begun before 1871, was reinforced with the victory of Prussia against Austria in 1866, and with the outcome of the Franco-German war. Protestantism could claim to be the Emperor’s faith, which had been defined as Protestant. He stood against the Catholic faith, whose loyalty to the Pope was construed as antinational, and whose connivance with the enemies – often Catholic – of Protestant Prussia was suspected. During the period of the Kulturkampf – the cultural struggle- after 1871, the difference between the Protestant Empire and the Catholic Church exploded. (33)

In December, the clergy was forbidden to criticize the Empire and its constitution ex-cathedra. One year later, Prussia decided to exclude from the School inspection all the Catholics. In the same year, the Jesuits’ houses were closed and their foreign members were expelled from Germany. From that time on, the Catholic priests had to be German citizens and should have studied in the State schools of Theology. The State reserved the right to appoint the archbishops and threatened with financial penalties those who preferred to leave their positions vacant. In this confrontation, the Catholics were perceived as the internal enemies, and it was even affirmed that there was a new confession of faith in the public and private life: struggles occurred between students of different creeds, the inter-creed marriages became more difficult, and consumers chose stores that were managed by merchants of their own creed. (34)  

The Catholic Church refused to comply with the laws, organized movements of protest and refused to participate in the holidays of national celebration. In the organization of the “political circles”, as defined by German sociologist Rainer M. Lepsius, the Catholic environment would eventually organize the majority of the Catholic voters, regardless of their social origin (35). Catholicism found itself in a difficult situation, for it should try to find its place in a national culture defined by the Protestants. Considering that, for a long time, Catholicism had defended a Germany that lived under the domination of Catholic Austria, and it found itself in an uneasy position in face of the victory of Protestant Prussia. Moreover, its social professional composition was damaging to it, for Protestantism was supported by the great majority of the members of the "enlightened bourgeoisie", whose importance was smaller within the Catholic sphere. Because the members of the bourgeoisie had a prominent position within the German national movement, the Catholics had limited space to make their voices heard.

Another trend would constitute the nation as a community of believers, by using Christian symbols to ascribe it to a sacred nature, resorting to the religious liturgy to celebrate it, and developing a history of national redemption. (36) The was a re-interpretation of the national figures and the establishment of civil religion, as developed by Rousseau in 1772 in his “Considerations on the government of Poland”; then there was the national application of the biblical figures, of the saints or of the characters of the Churches’ history.

In the history of the nationalization of religion, the cult of Martin Luther in Germany is important. The reformer was celebrated as a national hero, for having defended Germany against the Pope and Catholicism. The Reformation was celebrated as a pre-history of German national unity. During the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of his birth, on 10 November 1883, forty thousand speeches were allegedly made in Germany about the Reformer’s merits; a Luther Foundation was created to sponsor the higher education of the pastors’ and teachers’ children, and a multitude of monuments was built and inaugurated in Luther’s honour. The reference to Luther and to a Protestant national tradition also helped to differentiate, in history and in the present time, those who favoured the uprising of the nation and those who opposed it. The Middle Ages were regarded as gloomy and ineffective, and the Catholic Church was ultramontane and vassal to Rome. The European countries that were regarded as enemies of the new German nation, such as France, in their majority Catholic, were perceived as “rotten” due to the ultramontanism that prevailed there. With many initiatives and resources, Protestantism succeeded, under the Empire, to promote a “religionization” of the nation and a nationalization of the religion.

The German Catholics responded with the same enthusiasm and with similar arguments. Even in 1848, Ignaz von Döllinger contended that the “only true national Church is... the Catholic Church” (37). Against Luther, the Catholics mobilized, especially after 1848, Boniface, the “apostle of the Germans”, to emphasize that the German nation had been associated, by the time of its birth, with the introduction of Christianity. Boniface, whose name derives from the Latin bonum facio, was celebrated as the one who, during the AD Eighth Century, was assigned by Pope Gregory II with the mission of Christianizing the German provinces. In this missionary action, he was murdered – as the legend has it – by pagans from Northern Germany. The missionary and civilizing action and the martyrdom were, in Boniface’s Catholic perspective, good examples of the longevity of the Catholic struggle for the unity of Germany. 

In France, a similar effort to nationalize a character of the ecclesiastic history occurred when the Republicans tried to nationalize the cult of Joan of Arc, which had great importance within the Catholic Church. As demonstrated by Krumeich (1989), Joan of Arc achieved great popularity among Catholic believers and in popular culture (38).  To the “maid of Orleans”, who had saved the king, the Republicans opposed a Joan of Arc that had been betrayed by the king, by the noblemen and by the Catholic Church, and who had to die to save France. The Republicans placed among the adversaries of Joan of Arc all those that they combated during the Third Republic. The Republicans were successful in ascribing a sacred nature to the national heroes by transferring them to the Church of Saint Genevieve. Such a decision, made during the Revolution of 1789, was abolished during the Second Empire, but renewed under the Third Republic. The entombment of the national heroes inside an ancient church raised a strong reaction from the Catholics, who regarded it as a profanation and a sacrilege. However, in 1855, Victor Hugo - the national poet – was transferred to the Pantheon. (39)

It is surprising to see how the policies of memories and symbols are similar in the four Christian societies. They were based on characters of the past, both to celebrate the longevity of the national unity that had been created by the Christianization of the country – such as Saint Wenceslas, in Czechoslovakia; Boniface, in Germany; Joan of Arc or Saint Louis, in France – Jan Hus, Martin Luther, Giordano Bruno, and a Republican Joan of Arc could serve as an example. In this opposition, the characters of the ecclesiastic history were nationalized and inserted into a historical construction, into an “invention of tradition.” (40) The nation itself was made sacred with those discourses and lost the character of a contingent and historical construction. The nation was not defined in a pluralist, open way, but as a closed, unique and holistic entity. 

Joan of Arc

During the years preceding World War I, in Italy, the Right-wing had tried to attain a commitment to the Catholic Church and avoid manifestations and publications that could be regarded as anti-clerical. The attitude of the Catholic Church was changing as well. With the encyclical Rerum Novarum, the Pope signalized a relative openness toward the modern world and allowed the national Churches to set out for a policy of commitment with the laic National States (41). This did not produce deep effects in France, where the Catholics had eventually adopted the national symbols such as the tricolour flag and the commemoration of July 14, but where the separation between the Church and the State of 1905 unleashed new conflicts and increased the rupture between the laic Republicans and the Catholic believers. Only World War I allowed the Catholic Church to participate in the defence of national unity and the “sacred” cause of the nation, without eliminating the fundamental differences between the “two Frances”. (42)

Tipu ties up with the French

While Europe was in conflict with the Church, in 1794, surprisingly, the despot Muslim king of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, allegedly founded the (French) Jacobin Club in Seringapatam, had planted a Liberty tree, and asked to be addressed as 'Tipu Citoyen,'" which means Citizen Tipu. (43) Helped by French republican officers, he founded the club for ''framing laws comfortable with the laws of the French Republic."

One of the motivations for French Emperor Napoleon's invasion of Egypt was to establish a junction with India against the British. Bonaparte wished to establish a French presence in the Middle East, with the ultimate dream of linking with Tippoo Sahib. (44) Napoleon assured the French Directory that "as soon as he had conquered Egypt, he will establish relations with the Indian princes and, together with them, attack the English in their possessions." (45) According to a 13 February 1798 report by Napoleon's chief diplomat and cleric Charles Maurice Talleyrand: "Having occupied and fortified Egypt, we shall send a force of 15,000 men from Suez to India, to join the forces of Tipu-Sahib and drive away the English." (46) Napoleon was unsuccessful in this strategy, losing the Siege of Acre in 1799 and at the Battle of Abukir in 1801.

But, In a 2005 paper, historian Jean Boutier argued that the club's existence, and Tipu's involvement in it, were fabricated by the East India Company in order to justify British military intervention against Tipu. (47)

Ignorance in England

The majority of textbooks on British history make little or no mention of the English Enlightenment, although they do include coverage of major intellectuals such as Joseph Addison, Edward Gibbon, John Locke, Isaac Newton, Alexander Pope, Joshua Reynolds, and Jonathan Swift. (48) Freethinking, a term describing those who stood in opposition to the institution of the Church, and the literal belief in the Bible, can be said to have begun in England no later than 1713 when Anthony Collins wrote his "Discourse of Free-thinking", which gained substantial popularity. This essay attacked the clergy of all churches and was a plea for deism.

The reasons for this neglect were the assumptions that the movement was primarily French-inspired, that it was largely a-religious or anti-clerical, and that it stood in outspoken defiance of the established order. (49) After the 1720s, England could claim thinkers to equal Diderot, Voltaire, or Rousseau. However, its leading intellectuals such as Gibbon, (50) Edmund Burke and Samuel Johnson were all quite conservative and supportive of the standing order. The reason given was that Enlightenment had come early to England and had succeeded such that the culture had accepted political liberalism, philosophical empiricism, and religious toleration, positions which intellectuals on the continent had to fight against powerful odds. Furthermore, England rejected the collectivism of the continent and emphasized the improvement of individuals as the main goal of enlightenment. (51)

In England, during the last decade of the Eighteenth century,  the pattern of English thought got altered profoundly. Responding to the dual impulses of the French revolution and the evangelical revival, educated Englishmen changed their attitudes toward both political and religious questions. In politics, a Trory emphasis on traditional institutions superseded the Whig insistence on traditional rights as the framework for debate on public issues. In religion, emotional Evangelicalism began to compete with rational Christianity of the late Eighteenth century for the allegiance of the educated population. These changes in the political and religious views in turn modified the hitherto dominant ideas in other spheres of thought and thus set a cultural pattern which persisted well into the nineteenth century. (52)

In the period of transition in England, the least studied development was the growth of public concern about the relation of science to religion. This most perplexing nineteenth-century problem had caused Englishmen little anxiety in the years before 1790. The orthodox opinion then assumed that science and religion were complementary, not contradictory, and that scientific investigations would confirm the literal truth of the religious writings. English scientists for the most part acknowledged this religious mission and carefully organized their findings to accord with the scriptural account of the origin of the earth and its inhabitants. According to Charles C Gillispie, Eighteenth-century English scientists were influenced by rationalist ideas and began to express the religious applications of their work in "the language of convention rather than of ardent conviction." (53) 

Scientists and theologians were united in that "peculiarly English phenomenon, the holy alliance between science and religion". (54) 

It is in this world of contradictions that the East India Company Writers in India tried to place Indian scriptures.

____________________________

1. Gottlieb, Antony, The Dream of Enlightenment, Allen Lane, 2016, p xi
2. ibid, p 116
3. ibid, p 117
4. ibid
5. ibid
6. Zafirovski, Milan (2010), The Enlightenment and Its Effects on Modern Society, p. 144
7. Juan Valdez, The Snow Cone Diaries: A Philosopher's Guide to the Information Age, p 36
8. Cohen, I. Bernard (1976). The Eighteenth-Century Origins of the Concept of Scientific Revolution. Journal of the History of Ideas. 37 (2): 257–88.
9. Eugen Weber, Movements, Currents, Trends: Aspects of European Thought in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (1992).
10. Gay, Peter (1996), The Enlightenment: An Interpretation, W.W. Norton & Company
11. Israel, Jonathan I. (2011). Democratic Enlightenment: Philosophy, Revolution, and Human Rights 1750–1790. Oxford University Press. p 10-11
12. ibid, pp. vii-viii
13. Feldman, Noah (2005). Divided by God. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, p. 29: "It took John Locke to translate the demand for the liberty of conscience into a systematic argument for distinguishing the realm of government from the realm of religion."
14. ibid, p 29
15. Sorkin, David. Hayes-Robinson Lecture: Enlightenment and Faith: Debates among Protestants, Catholics and Jews in Eighteenth-Century Europe, 2008, p. 10
16. Susan Manning, Francis D Cogliano, ed., The Atlantic enlightenment, 2008, Routledge p. 14
17. Heinz-Gernhard Haupt, Religion and Nation in Europe in the 19th Century: Some Comparative Notes, Estudos Avancados, 22 (62), 2008
18. Ozouf, M. The Revolutionary Party: 1789-1799. Paris: Gallimard, 1976, quoted in Heinz-Gernhard Haupt, Religion and Nation in Europe in the 19th Century: Some Comparative Notes, Estudos Avancados, 22 (62), 2008, quoted in Heinz-Gernhard Haup
19. Martin, J. C. Violence and Revolution: Essay on the Birth of National Myth, Paris: Seuil, 1996
20. Elias, N. Studies on the Germans: Power Struggles and Culture Development in 19th and 20th Centuries. Jahrhundert. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1989. quoted in Heinz-Gernhard Haup

21. Mosse, G. L., The Nationalization of the Masses. Political Symbolism and Mass Movements in Germany from the Napoleonic War to the Third Reich, Frankfurt: Campus, 1976. quoted in Heinz-Gernhard Haup
22. Hayes, C. J. H. Essays on Nationalism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1926
23. Temps Modernes, v.550, May 1992, quoted in Heinz-Gernhard Haup
24. Haupt H G & Langewiesche, D ed. (2001, 2004), ) Nation und Religion in Deutschland. p.293-332.
25. Burleigh, M. Earthly Powers. The Clash of Religion and Politics in Europe from the French revolution to the Great War. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005 (2005),
26. Martin, 1996, quoted in Heinz-Gernhard Haup
27. McManners, John (1972), Church and State in France-1870-1914, Oxford, p.2327-58
28. Mayeur, Separation of Church and State (1966), quoted in Heinz-Gernhard Haup
29. Papenheim, Margot, 2003, p.202-36, quoted in Heinz-Gernhard Haup
30. Verocci, G, 1997, Places of memory, Characters and dates of United Italy, p.89, quoted in Heinz-Gernhard Haup
31. Hroch, The Europe of Nations, 2005, p.55, quoted in Heinz-Gernhard Haup
32. Schulze-Wessel, 2004, p.135-50, quoted in Heinz-Gernhard Haup
33. Burleigh, M. Earthly Powers. The Clash of Religion and Politics in Europe from the French revolution to the Great War. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005 (2005), p.311 ss
34. Kuhlemann (2004), p.27-63, quoted in Heinz-Gernhard Haup
35. Laube, 2001, p.293-332, quoted in Heinz-Gernhard Haup
36. ibid, p.302ss
37. ibid
38. Winock M, 1997, p.4427-73, quoted in Heinz-Gernhard Haup
39. Ben Amos, 2002, Funerals, Politics, and Memory in Modern France, 1789-1996. Oxford University Press, 2002
40. Burleigh, 2005, p.365
41. Hobsbawm & Ranger, ed, (1992), Invention of Tradition, Cambridge
42. Mollenhauer D, 2004, p.228, quoted in Heinz-Gernhard Haup

43. Conrad, Sebastian (2012). Enlightenment in Global History: A Historiographical Critique. The American Historical Review. 117 (4): 999–1027
44. Watson, William E. (2003). Tricolor and Crescent: France and the Islamic World (2003), Praeger Publishers
45. Amini, Iradj (1999). Napoleon and Persia, Mage Publishers

46. ibid

47. Boutier, Jean (2005). "Les "lettres de créances" du corsaire Ripaud. Un "club jacobin" à Srirangapatnam (Inde), mai-juin 1797". ( The "credentials" of the corsair Ripaud. A "Jacobin club" in Srirangapatnam (India), May-June 1797". The Learned Indies, Les Indes Savantes.

48. Peter Gay, ed. The Enlightenment: A comprehensive anthology (1973) p. 14

49. Roy Porter, "England" in Alan Charles Kors, ed., Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (2003) 1:409–15
50. Karen O'Brien, English Enlightenment Histories, 1750–c.1815 in José Rabasa, ed. (2012). The Oxford History of Historical Writing: Volume 3: 1400–1800. Oxford, England: OUP. pp. 518–535
51. Roy Porter, The Creation of the Modern World: The Untold Story of the British Enlightenment (2000), pp. 1–12, 482–484.
52. Gillispie, Genesis and Geology, Cambridge, 1951, p 10, quoted in Norton Garfinkle, Science and Religion in England 1790-1800: The Critical Response to the Work of Erasmus Darwin, Journal of the History of Ideas, (June 1955) vol 16, no 13p 376-388
53. Morris Quinlan, Victorian Prelude, New York, 1951, W L Mathieson, England in Transition,1789-1832, London, 1920
54. Basil Willey, The Eighteenth Century Background, (New York, 1941, p 136)

© Ramachandran