Review of Alternative Standpoints: A Tribute To Kalidas Bhattacharyya Edited by Madhumita Chattopadhyay

The Heart of Acharya Ramanuja
Freud rejects all metaphysics. Are we not tired of

having everything deconstructed without ever
understanding what Logos is? Who amongst us
will say that our lives are like onions with no inner
meaning and there is an eternal slippage of meaning? Scruton knows and proves that the early and
popular Derrida and his acolytes are wrongwe
need more of Scruton than of Of Grammatology.
Unlike what is found on the Internet about
this book and Scruton generally; Scruton is a
theologian of the caliber of Karl Barth, Rudolf
Bultmann, and Jrgen Moltmann. Scruton is a
theologian since he speaks of standing on the
edge of a mystery which is the God of the Covenant (185). Philosophers know it all; only a theologian is moved by music, God and Our relation to
God as an intentional relation (188). Scruton
mercifully avoids being plebeian without being
difficult. Dense writers are only dense.
Arthur Schopenhauer haunts this book. But
Scruton has not explicitly mentioned him anywhere.
Subhasis Chattopadhyay
Alternative Standpoints:
A Tribute to
Kalidas Bhattacharyya
Edited by
Madhumita Chattopadhyay
D K Printworld (P) Ltd, Vedasri,
F395 , Sudarshan Park Near
esi Hospital New Delhi 110015 .
www.dkprintworld.com. 2015. xxii +
258 pp. pb. ` 900. isbn 9788192570297.
rank Kermode gestured towards the sense of

an ending. That which has a finality is neither
art nor philosophy. The genius of Maitreyee Datta
is to end her analysis ofKalidas Bhattacharyyas
understanding of self within Yogachara Buddhist
concepts of self (14051) in this festschrift with
Perhaps I feel (151). The subjectivity involved
in doing philosophy is best illustrated by this admission to interiority; the phenomenological turn
which certainly influences Datta and of course,
Kalidas Bhattacharyya. Husserl is everywhere
in this volume, but is only mentioned twice in
the book, other than once in the index. For example, in Goutam Biswass chapter on Kalidas
PB September 2016
53
Bhattacharyyas aesthetic ideas (15975), we have

an explication of feeling of feelings, emotions fluctuating between the individual mind and the sublation of that mind into the universal mind (171).
If one attends seminars in the humanities, one
hears of Derrida, Lacan, Alain Badiou, and of the
subaltern studies group ad nauseam. It is as if Indian philosophers have no place in learned discussions. Of late one hears of Giorgio Agamben and
Martha Nussbaum. Nary a word on Indian thinkers
who might be used to foreground disciplines as diverse as literature, political science, and film studies.
It is akin to blasphemy to have no reference to
American and Continental philosophers in an international symposium, say on, immigration or the
rise of religious extremism. Yet Kalidas Bhattacharyyas understanding of Anekanta Vada is unknown
to most. Western savants do not care to understand
that cosmopolitanism is a Hindu concept; neither
a Jain concept nor is it a Greek concept as is mistakenly taught in classrooms worldwide and mentioned on the Internet. Tara Chatterjees Anekanta
Vedanta (11224) should be read by English literature scholars first since they are the ones who
hardly know that they are mistaking as Western,
concepts which Indian doyens of modern philosophy have already written on. How many Masters
and post-Masters English-literature students know
of Kalidas Bhattacharyas monograph on Indian
cosmopolitanism published in 1982?
It is the sad state of Indian studiesliterary and
philosophicaltoday that while Western scholars
acknowledge the contributions of the likes of Kalidas Bhattacharyya and Bimal Krishna Matilal, Indian academics are ignorant of them. Madhumita
Chattopadhyay has done a great service to Indian
and world letters by editing this volume. Hopefully, Indian lovers of all things First World will
now wake up and refer students to this book. It is
time that we stop grinding Anita Desai and Manju
Kapur under the millstones of Julia Kristeva and
bell hooks in the name of appearing avant garde.
Kalidas Bhattacharyya can provide the requisite
hermeneutical lens; if only one has the sense to read
him. May be, in the future the Centre of Advanced
Study in Philosophy, Jadavpur University, will bring
out a similar volume on Bimal Krishna Matilal.
Subhasis Chattopadhyay
673

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The Heart of Acharya Ramanuja

Freud rejects all metaphysics. Are we not tired of

rank Kermode gestured towards the sense of

Bhattacharyyas aesthetic ideas (15975), we have

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