The book ‘Socio-political Revolution in India’, a magnum opus written by Kalyan Ray, a retired civil servant and a man of erudition, published by Kalpaz Publications, Delhi, surprisingly explores and boldly justifies how cast fantasy and religious phantasmagoria have, unbelievably, been affecting Indian socio-political trajectory all along its long and chequered history.
The foreign rulers whoever invaded India, never bothered to administer this land, because they found its population with a social hierarchy based on cast system as self-administered. They just did all that was required to remain content in collecting taxes. This self-governing cast division marking the Indian social mosaic, has never allowed a cultural mobilization while composing new pages of its national history. There are no heroes or villains in history. Ideas and beliefs play major roles in weaving the story of a race.
The idea of divine sanction with a package of prejudices, blind beliefs, irrationality and misconceptions is actually the architect of socio-political change that has ever happened here. This shocking revelation is all what this book puts forth in plain and persuasive prose.
In going to sustain and substantiate his claim, the author brings together lots of proofs and propositions from a great many scattered sources and convinces us that we need to comprehend all these forces in order to build a modern nation based on scientific temper.
Cast system is not indigenous to India. The author continues. The idea of a superior cast is originally an ancient Greek mindset that Alexander left here before he retreated. Brahmanism is a new edition of Plato’s philosopher king. Hindus had never been seen to be more loyal and dutiful to any system than the dictates of caste. Laws of Khilafat governed Muslims, on the other hand. Too late, British rule and introduction of English education system set the static Indian society in motion of secularisation and democratization.
Very engaging are the pages when they recount a narrative of ideas and beliefs in their historical succession. The insightful analysis through the x- ray vision of the author relating to past events leaves a reader in awe and wonder when one flips through them. Obsolescent ideas give rise to dictatorial societies, the author argues strongly. Religion has served as a more potent instrument than the State power.
The atheistic Soviet State was caused to collapse by might of church power. Religious belief system played a pivotal role in Indian society and helped it retreat to self governing system. The book has captured the time past and the continuity of the Indian society with a rare dexterity by the brilliant foresight, farsight and insight of the author and is a must to be preserved as a treasure- token for researchers in varsities' libraries and in once’s study table. The publisher of the book is Kalpaz Publications, New Delhi, while its distributor is Guan Books Pvt Ltd, New Delhi. It costs Rs 715.