This book details on the handpicked modern and contemporary Indian thinkers, and their creative attempt to respond to challenges of modern times by revisiting and reinterpreting the classical Indian thought together with adapting suitable western ideological inputs. Question of tradition and modernity rocked the minds of the thinkers of the given period compelling each one to effectively face the challenges in their own milieu, socio-economic political-academic-religious-spiritual-cultural contexts. Schooled in classical philosophical thought, loaded heavily by medieval devotional beliefs and practices, and now challenged by modern ideas in colonial and post-colonial periods, these thinkers and activists have critically analysed both their own cherished traditions and that of others. Varied are their responses in plural contexts, with ever widening horizon. An attempt is made by the author to mark their thoughts relevant to the contemporary times enabling the readers to respond creatively in a given context with renewed thinking.
John Peter Vallabadoss is a Franciscan Capuchin belonging to Amala Annai Province, Tamil Nadu. He obtained his PhD from Universtiy of Madras. In his 19 years of teaching philosophy; he has been the Dean of Studies at St. Joseph's Capuchin Philosophical College, Kotagiri, Tamil Nadu and visiting faculty at Jnanadeepa Vidyapeeth (JDV), Pune; Satyanilayam, Chennai; Arulanandar College, Madurai. He has been the Treasurer and Secretary of Association of Christian Philosophers of India and a Consultant in Philosophy at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi. He has also served as Registrar of Vijnananilayam Institute of Philosophy and Religion, Eluru, A.P. He has convened three National Seminars. To his credit, he has authored two books and edited four books till date. He has also contributed 43 research articles in various publications. Presently, he is pursuing his Post- Doctoral Research in Paris.
The encounter with other cultures from the time of Persian, Mughal and British invasion and rule was very much influential in shaping Indian philosophical and cultural milieu. Indian cultures and religions were forced to rethink and to open up to other ways of thinking and living. Especially, the British rule from the 18th Century brought deep socio-cultural changes in India. The changes led to a deep transformation of the religious and philosophical traditions of India. This process of transformation is rightly called 'Indian renaissance," when various forces of change obliged the medieval set up to break down and brought the beginning of a new age. The fine background for modern and contemporary Indian thinking lies in the Bhakti movements and the revivalism of traditional popular religious traditions in the medieval period, especially in the central India, Bengal and in Tamil region. Much could be said about the medieval bhakti movements and their influence on Indian thought pattern.
In this course on Indian thinkers in Modern and Contemporary period, we will study the process of transformation as it appears in the life, activities and writings of Indian thinkers of the 19th and 20th century. The list of thinkers treated here are not exhaustive as we have only selected few representatives of certain type of thinking in each section. The following pages have writings on various thinkers which are merely a complied work (even reproduced) from unpublished study materials and class notes provided in JDV by professors like Claude Grou, Subash Anand, James Ponnaiya who have taught this course. before the present writer. The credit of this work actually goes to them. We have merely added few sections of notes collected from other sources. Therefore, attention could be paid so as to consider this work only as a guiding material to lead students to go to original sources of the thinkers and study them deeply.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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