This volume conveys that Indian philosophy has intricate and complex metaphysical and epistemological theories as other philosophies and that these disciplines – epistemology and metaphysics – are an essential part of Indian philosophy.

One of the most readable and lucid introductions yet written, Dr. Rajuês new book is designed for the student or layman with little or no knowledge of Indian philosophy. Dr. Raju explains the basic forms and the conceptual framework of Indian philosophy in simple language, gradually guiding the reader towards the more complicated or difficult concepts. He gives due weight to logic and metaphysics and refrains from the temptation of indiscriminately reading. Western doctrines into Oriental wisdom, yet draws astute comparisons with Western philosophy where justified. Both over-simplification and unnecessary complexity are avoided. No acquaintance with Sanskrit is assumed on the part of the reader and Sanskrit terms (which are given in brackets wherever useful) are kept to the minimum in the main text. New translations of many terms have been adopted in the light of the latest studies and research, and a full glossary and index have been provided for ease of reference.

Based on exhaustive reference to primary source material, this volume explores the relationships between religious mythologies and religious philosophical system within the theistic traditions in India. Not content merely to explore these relationships, the author further examines the relevance of mythology and philosophy in a discussion of salvation—salvation understood in its sociological, eschatological, and philosophical senses. The treatment of myth and philosophy is comprehensive in scope, pulling together a great variety of sources and commentary, and illuminating them for the Western reader. This study will be of interest both to students of Indian religions and to students of comparative religion interested in creating a context for the discussion of Eastern and Western religions.

Working within a framework of environmental philosophy and environmental ethics, this book describes and postulates alternative understandings of nature in Indian traditions of thought, particularly philosophy. The interest in alternative conceptualizations of nature has gained significance after many thinkers pointed out that attitudes to the environment are determined to a large extent by our presuppositions of nature. This book is particularly timely from that perspective. It begins with a brief description of the concept of nature and a history of the idea of nature in Western thought. This provides readers with a context to the issues around the concept of nature in environmental philosophy, setting a foundation for further discussion about alternate conceptualizations of nature and their significance. In particular, the work covers a wide array of textual and non-textual sources to link and understand nature from classical Indian philosophical perspectives as well as popular understandings in Indian literary texts and cultural practices. Popular issues in environmental philosophy are discussed in detail, such as: What is ‘nature’ in Indian philosophy? How do people perceive nature through landscape and mythological and cultural narratives? In what ways is nature sacred in India? To make the discussion relevant to contemporary readers, the book includes a section on the ecological and ethical implications of some philosophical concepts and critical perspectives on alternate conceptualizations of nature.

This book presents an analytical exposition of the ‘Nine Schools’ of Indian philosophy, extrapolating ‘Environmental Ethics’ from the profound metaphysics of these Nine Schools, which serve as the cornerstone of a life lived in wisdom. This book uses the popular contemporary word ‘Environment,’ with the meaning expounded by the Vedic texts. Therefore, it includes the internal, external and cosmic states of all the creatures of the world, and relates them to the universal laws of creation, preservation, and annihilation of every existence following the path of the cosmic order (Ṛta). It argues that realization of the fact that all entities in the world are illuminated by the same Universal Spirit is also necessary. While the book emphasizes the external environmental woes of the world, such as deforestation, animal cruelty, pollution, climate change, and more, it also underscores that these are merely manifestations of humans’ internal perverted environmental states. Thus, humankind should not look at external issues that are limited and temporary, but should focus on the longer-lasting internal transformation.

Objective of this series of essays on Indian History and Culture is to select contributions which could interest, educate and inspire our readers. Attempt has been made to make available to our readers best literature written by renowned scholars, through the ages, to enable our students, teachers, policymakers and our general readers to analyse the themes, they are interested in, in proper historical perspectives. This will enable them to think, write and dream of a developed India of twenty first century. How far the study of our history, religion, culture, economy, philosophy, music, science, law, education, technology, trade, art, architecture, etc. can provide to us inputs for a bright brilliant and vibrant India, is one of the major concern of these volume. There is a crisis of character all around, how far this exercise in Indian History and Culture can stem the tide of corruption, criminalization of politics and ills of the consumerist culture is one of our aims in compiling this series of volumes.

Arthâpatti is a pervasive form of reasoning investigated by Indian philosophers in order to think about unseen causes and interpret ordinary and religious language. Its nature is a point of controversy among Mimamsa, Nyaya, and Buddhist philosophers, yet, to date, it has received less attention than perception, inference, and testimony. This collection presents a one-of-a-kind reference resource for understanding this form of reasoning studied in Indian philosophy. Assembling translations of central primary texts together with newly-commissioned essays on research topics, it features a significant introductory essay. Readable translations of Sanskrit works are accompanied by critical notes that introduce arthâpatti, offer historical context, and clarify the philosophical debates surrounding it. Showing how arthâpatti is used as a way to reason about the basic unseen causes driving language use, cause-and-effect relationships, as well as to interpret ambiguous or figurative texts, this book demonstrates the importance of this epistemic instrument in both contemporary Anglo-analytic and classical Indian epistemology, language, and logic.

This volume focuses on the gradual emergence of modern Indian philosophy through the cross-cultural encounter between indigenous Indian and Western traditions of philosophy, during the colonial period in India, specifically in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This volume acknowledges that what we take ‘Indian philosophy’ or ‘modern Indian philosophy’ to mean today is the sub-text of a much wider, complex and varied Indian reception of the West during the colonial period. Consisting of –twelve chapters and a thematic introduction, the volume addresses the role of academic philosophy in the cultural and social ferment of the colonial period in India and its impact on the development of cross-cultural philosophy, the emergence of a cosmopolitan consciousness in colonial India; as also the philosophical contribution of India to cultural globalization. The issue of colonialism and emergence of new identities in India has engaged the critical attention of scholars from diverse fields of inquiry such as history, sociology, politics, and subaltern studies. However, till today the emergence of modern Indian philosophy remains an unexplored area of inquiry. Much of the academic philosophical work of this period, despite its manifest philosophical originality and depth, stands largely ignored, not only abroad, but even in India. This neglect needs to be overcome by a re-reading of philosophical writings in English produced by scholars located in the universities of colonial India. This edited volume will facilitate further explorations into the presence of colonial tensions as they are visible in the writings of modern Indian academic philosophers like B. N. Seal, Hiralal Haldar, Rasvihary Das,, G. R. Malkani, K. C. Bhattacharyya, . G. N. Mathrani and others.

This book considers teaching in modern institutional settings, among other things, as the ethical questioning and reversal of passively accepted prejudices, particularly in contexts of diversities and inequalities. Its thematic focus is the ethics of teacher-learner and learner-learner relationships within the democratic setup, and the possibilities of critique and transformation emerging out of such a relationship. The first theme of the book is diversity and pluralism, the second is the question of inequality in such contexts of radical diversity. With respect to this question, an unavoidable phenomenon of our times is the capitalisation of education and the reductionist view of learners as customers and consumers of knowledge. The approach to education that sees students merely as skilled human resources to be readied for the job market militates against critical thinking and do not respond appropriately to the questions of diversity and inequality. Thus, a significant focus of the book is the impact of inherited inequalities of caste and race on classroom ambience and teachers' interventions in the modern institutional context. The pertinent question is the increasing unwillingness of teachers to recognise and challenge discriminatory views and play their role in social transformation. In this regard, the teaching and learning of the humanities is also investigated. Teaching and the traditional classroom, it is often said, may not be required in the future as machines and remotely located teachers/explicators might claim their place. Hence, another question of focus is whether such a future would be hospitable to the critical task of education to cultivate young citizens of democracies.