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Thank you for this comment. So true. The colonialists came with their world view, made the Indians feel inferior to subjugate them. Indians in turn have fetishi

Thank you for this comment. So true. The colonialists came with their world view, made the Indians feel inferior to subjugate them. Indians in turn have fetishized this colonial view and have self hated on their own culture as a result, to the delight and as intended by colonialists. Part of this self hate is this conflagration of Sanskrit with Hinduism, and while the two were closely related, there is such a rich intellectual culture of Indian thought (Both Sanskrit and non Sanskrit thought) that can be appreciated while still being “modern”, let’s call it. I really wish more Indians would understand this.

keewee7 5y ago
>The colonialists came with their world view, made the Indians feel inferior to subjugate them. It is still going on. There is a reason a gang rape in an Indian village becomes global news on BBC and CNN but gang rapes in other countries don't get anywhere the same attention. The current rape hysteria about India is as old as European colonization and even Karl Marx wrote about: >During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, known as "India's First War of Independence" to the Indians and as the "Sepoy Mutiny" to the British, Indian sepoys rebelled en masse against the East India Company's rule over India. Incidents of rape committed by Indian sepoys against British women and children were reported in the English press, particularly after British civilians fell into Indian hands after sieges such as at Cawnpore. However, after the rebellion was suppressed, detailed analyses by the British government concluded that although Indian sepoys had engaged in massacres of British civilians after they captured them, there had never been one single instance of war rape committed by the sepoys.[103] One such account published by The Times, regarding an incident where forty-eight British girls as young as fourteen and ten had been raped by the Indian sepoys in Delhi, was criticised as an obvious fabrication by German author Karl Marx, who pointed out that the story was written by a clergyman in Bangalore, while the rebellion was mostly confined to the Punjab region.[104] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartime_sexual_violence#Indian_Rebellion_of_1857 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartime_sexual_violence#Indian... This has a modern parallel; anglophone Indian journalists write about local crime in a highly exaggerated manner to get more clicks and views from a global audience.
xwolfi 5y ago
But you wonder how the colonialists managed to colonise in the first place... I mean if the culture is rich and beautiful, it's still useless if it crumbles at the sight of the first merchant ship from thousands of kms away. Point being, the indian intellectual culture is enjoyable but it did not focus enough on what could have made people able to stay free, and stealing part of the invaders ideas to reinforce the local ability is not bad, it's the only way to resist the next wave. To simplify grossly: less worship, less obedience, less birth hierarchy, more political alliance with neighbours (so that you're not surrounded by sharks when you're in trouble), more national awareness (opposed to tribal), more ability to quickly iterate even if elders disagree (so that you're the one with a big innovative merchant navy) . It feels that's what made some countries rise super fast and start colonising while others went rotten and self destructed. My country, France, is a few kms away from England and they stopped being able to colonize us long before India, so what was missing in India, so expensive to invade ? (ofc, France also horribly colonized countries and we should have had the maturity not to, but guess what we told our own protectorates when we came: look at England colonizing your neighbour, let us "protect" you so you can compete...)
- amznbyebyebye 5y ago
  It is military innovation more than anything. If they didn’t have guns and other weapons I don’t think they would have had such an easy time subjugating india.
- Nevermark 5y ago
  "Usefulness" means a great deal more than "reliably repelled invaders". Many civilizations have collapsed or been subjugated and yet produced lasting useful knowledge and beautiful culture we still use and appreciate today. If they had a crystal ball they no doubt would have reprioritized some things.

keewee7 5y ago

>The colonialists came with their world view, made the Indians feel inferior to subjugate them. It is still going on. There is a reason a gang rape in an Indian village becomes global news on BBC and CNN but gang rapes in other countries don't get anywhere the same attention. The current rape hysteria about India is as old as European colonization and even Karl Marx wrote about: >During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, known as "India's First War of Independence" to the Indians and as the "Sepoy Mutiny" to the British, Indian sepoys rebelled en masse against the East India Company's rule over India. Incidents of rape committed by Indian sepoys against British women and children were reported in the English press, particularly after British civilians fell into Indian hands after sieges such as at Cawnpore. However, after the rebellion was suppressed, detailed analyses by the British government concluded that although Indian sepoys had engaged in massacres of British civilians after they captured them, there had never been one single instance of war rape committed by the sepoys.[103] One such account published by The Times, regarding an incident where forty-eight British girls as young as fourteen and ten had been raped by the Indian sepoys in Delhi, was criticised as an obvious fabrication by German author Karl Marx, who pointed out that the story was written by a clergyman in Bangalore, while the rebellion was mostly confined to the Punjab region.[104] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartime_sexual_violence#Indian_Rebellion_of_1857 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartime_sexual_violence#Indian... This has a modern parallel; anglophone Indian journalists write about local crime in a highly exaggerated manner to get more clicks and views from a global audience.

xwolfi 5y ago

But you wonder how the colonialists managed to colonise in the first place... I mean if the culture is rich and beautiful, it's still useless if it crumbles at the sight of the first merchant ship from thousands of kms away. Point being, the indian intellectual culture is enjoyable but it did not focus enough on what could have made people able to stay free, and stealing part of the invaders ideas to reinforce the local ability is not bad, it's the only way to resist the next wave. To simplify grossly: less worship, less obedience, less birth hierarchy, more political alliance with neighbours (so that you're not surrounded by sharks when you're in trouble), more national awareness (opposed to tribal), more ability to quickly iterate even if elders disagree (so that you're the one with a big innovative merchant navy) . It feels that's what made some countries rise super fast and start colonising while others went rotten and self destructed. My country, France, is a few kms away from England and they stopped being able to colonize us long before India, so what was missing in India, so expensive to invade ? (ofc, France also horribly colonized countries and we should have had the maturity not to, but guess what we told our own protectorates when we came: look at England colonizing your neighbour, let us "protect" you so you can compete...)

amznbyebyebye 5y ago
It is military innovation more than anything. If they didn’t have guns and other weapons I don’t think they would have had such an easy time subjugating india.
Nevermark 5y ago
"Usefulness" means a great deal more than "reliably repelled invaders". Many civilizations have collapsed or been subjugated and yet produced lasting useful knowledge and beautiful culture we still use and appreciate today. If they had a crystal ball they no doubt would have reprioritized some things.