On the Death of the Pilgrim: The Postcolonial Hermeneutics of Jarava Lal Mehta

Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures

Series EditorsEditor-in-Chief: Purushottama BilimoriaThe University of Melbourne, Australia; University of California, Berkeley CA, USA

Co-Editor: Andrew IrvineMaryville College, Maryville TN, USA

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Editorial BoardBalbinder Bhogal (Hofstra University)Sheerah Bloor (University of Melbourne)Christopher Chapple (Loyola Marymount University)Vrinda Dalmia (University fo Hawaii at Honolulu) Gavin Flood (Oxford University) Jessica Frazier (Kent University) Kathleen Higgins (University of Texas at Austin) Morny Joy (Calgary University) Parimal Patil (Harvard University) Laurie Patton (Duke University)Joseph Prabhu (Cal State LA) Carool Kersten (King’s College, London) Richard King (University of Glascow) Arvind-Pal Mandair (University of Michigan) Rekha Nath (University of Alabama) Stephen Phillips (University of Texas at Austin) Annupama Rao (Columbia University)

The Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures fosters critical and constructive engagement of the intellectual and philosophical dimensions – broadly construed – of religious and cultural traditions around the globe. The series invites innovative scholarship, including feminist, postmodern, and postcolonial approaches.

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Thomas B. Ellis

On the Death of the Pilgrim: The Postcolonial Hermeneutics of Jarava Lal Mehta

Thomas B. Ellis Department of Philosophy and ReligionAppalachian State University Boone , NC , USA

ISBN 978-94-007-5230-6 ISBN 978-94-007-5231-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-5231-3 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London

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v

This project began in the late 1990s while I was a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania. At that time, I was studying Sanskrit and Indian philosophy with the late, and I would want to add immediately, “great,” Wilhelm Halbfass. Under Halbfass’s watchful eye, I, and my graduate student colleagues, read the original texts of some of India’s greatest philosophical voices. What struck me then, however, and continues to strike me now, is that many Western students interested in Indian philosophy fi nd motivation in a desire to understand the so-called “classical” schools or darśanas . This is, in itself, not necessarily problematic. Indeed, we have many fi ne scholarly products today that exhaustively detail what one particular school or thinker has proposed. These are generally the products of descriptive Indology. Of course, these projects occasionally, if not routinely appear a bit apologetic and, from one particular philosophical perspective, antiquated. This is not the place to take up such a polemic. What I do want to draw attention to is the so-called comparative project. Comparative projects interested me then and interest me now. Indeed, I am interested in the fruitful exchange between intellectual traditions originating in geographically distinct spaces. As it is with descriptive Indological products, we have at our disposal today many books and articles that juxtapose fruitfully a classical Indian school with a modern Western thinker. This is all fi ne and good until we realize that such a project potentially perpetuates a subtle Orientalism. It is as if the only Indian thinkers worthy of Western, scholarly attention are from a distant past. This, in itself, betrays a Hegelian sense of the march of reason. Projects devoted to classical Indian thinkers either alone or in comparison with modern Western thinkers may encourage readers to believe that the heyday of Indian intellectual life has passed. This could not be further from the truth.

This book assesses the contributions of a twentieth century Hindu intellectual to the global, philosophical conversation currently under way. Hindu intellectual life, to be sure, did not stagnate with the work of the great Śaṅkara or Abhinavagupta. In fact, I argue that such thinkers are not prepared to handle the developments in philosophy and theory as they have unfolded in the so-called West during and after the Enlightenment. The relevance of Indian intellectual traditions must be sought and found in contemporary voices, not in classical ones. In this regard, I hope to

Preface

vi

show that Jarava Lal Mehta is one Hindu intellectual worthy of our sustained attention and engagement. You, the reader, will have to be the judge as to the success or failure of such a project.

Many mentors, colleagues, and friends have contributed to the eventual production of this manuscript. While a list of such contributors exceeds what I can add here, there are a few individuals who deserve explicit recognition. First, I would like to acknowledge, once again, my mentor, Wilhelm Halbfass. He surely understood my frustration with studying only classical Indian systems, and as such encouraged me to undertake a project on J.L. Mehta. I regret to say that Professor Halbfass passed away prior to the completion of the dissertation manuscript. I can only hope that he would have approved of my presentation. In Halbfass’s absence, Stephen Dunning (University of Pennsylvania) and Fred Dallmayr (University of Notre Dame) took up the chore of seeing the manuscript to completion. I thank them for their guidance throughout. I would also like to acknowledge two of my graduate colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania: Jason D. Fuller and Tirdad Derakhshani. These two gentlemen showed me, each in their own way, that I had and still have plenty of homework to do. I would like to thank Purushottama Bilimoria for his insistence that I see this project to publication; without his assistance, I may have just let this one rest on the corner of my desk. I also want to thank Anita Fei van der Linden at Springer for her guidance through the publication process; editors have quite the arduous task. A note of gratitude is certainly due to the two reviewers of the initial drafts. Their encouragement was most appreciated; and, as usual, where the manu-script still comes up a bit short, I take full responsibility. I also want to thank Veena and Vikram Mandloi and Vimila Mehta for graciously hosting me in Japabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. I regret that Mrs. Mehta also passed away before this volume was produced.

Finally, there are three individuals that I want to single out especially. While Professor Halbfass mentored me through most of my graduate training, my under-graduate mentor and now friend, Hal French (University of South Carolina), deserves credit for helping me fi nd my professional path. As an undergraduate fl ailing about, trying to fi nd a major, it was Hal’s course on comparative religion that initially propelled me towards Indian studies. Lastly, I want to thank my wife, Megan Lynch Ellis, and my daughter, Madelyn Davies Ellis. These two women have put up with my academic commitments for quite some time; their sustained encouragement and support continues to amaze me. Thank you, one and all.

Boone, North Carolina Thomas B. Ellis

Preface

vii

1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 References ................................................................................................... 12

2 From Banaras to the West and Back ....................................................... 15 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................ 15 2.2 The Birth of a Detective ..................................................................... 16 2.3 The Detective Takes a Turn ................................................................ 27 2.4 The Detective Finds Himself Worthy of Investigation ....................... 31 2.5 Mehta’s Petition ................................................................................. 34 References ................................................................................................... 38

3 From Subcontinent to Continental .......................................................... 39 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................ 39 3.2 The Hermeneutics of Facticity ........................................................... 42

3.2.1 The Question of Being ........................................................... 44 3.2.2 Dasein ..................................................................................... 49 3.2.3 Thrown-ness ( Geworfenheit ) and Guilt ( Schuld ) ................... 52

3.3 Gadamer and Philosophical Hermeneutics ........................................ 58 3.3.1 Prejudice ................................................................................. 59 3.3.2 Provocation ............................................................................. 62 3.3.3 The Fusion of Horizons .......................................................... 68

3.4 Heidegger’s Kehre and Post- Kehre Works ......................................... 71 3.4.1 Heidegger’s Ontological Difference ....................................... 72 3.4.2 The Opening, the Riss ............................................................ 74 3.4.3 Poets and Poetry ..................................................................... 78

References ................................................................................................... 82

4 Pilgrims and Pilgrimages ......................................................................... 85 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................ 85 4.2 Comparative Philosophy and Comparative

Philosophy of Religion ...................................................................... 89 4.3 Understanding the Other: Roots and Soil .......................................... 99

Contents

viii

4.4 Pilgrims and Cross-Cultural Pilgrimage ............................................ 106 4.5 The Pilgrim and the ‘Europeanization of the Earth’ .......................... 114 References ................................................................................................... 122

5 Digging at the Roots: The Logic of the Hindu Tradition ...................... 125 5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................ 125 5.2 The Old Order: Ṛgveda , Upaniṣads, and the Thwarted Self .............. 129 5.3 The Transition: The Mahābhārata , “Nihilisitic Narcissism,”

and the Economy of Friendship ......................................................... 141 5.4 The New Order: The Bhāgavata Purāṇa

and the Devoted Self .......................................................................... 153 References ................................................................................................... 162

6 Greek Heroes, Jewish Nomads, and Hindu Pilgrims: Ulysses, Abraham and Uddhava at the Cross-Cultural-Roads ............ 165 6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................ 165 6.2 Greek Heroes and German Idealism .................................................. 167 6.3 The Jewish Nomad and Franco-American Postmodernism ............... 175 6.4 The Hindu Pilgrim Returns to the Plains Below ................................ 183 6.5 The Trope of Woman in Mehta and Levinas ...................................... 194 References ................................................................................................... 198

7 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 201 References ................................................................................................... 203

Index ................................................................................................................. 205

Contents

ix

Below I provide a list of abbreviations for those works most often cited throughout the project. The fi rst two sets are lists of abbreviations pertaining to Mehta’s published and unpublished works. Though his international reputation was established with the publication of The Philosophy of Martin Heidegger , Mehta’s other published writings consist of essays that are now available through several different sources. Accordingly, I list fi rst the books and collections of essays with their own abbrevia-tions. I next list the abbreviations for each essay in alphabetical order along with the date it was originally written, as well as the abbreviation of the source from which it was taken. I have also provided notes addressing multiple publications. Finally, I provide abbreviations for two other sources that fi gure prominently in this project, namely, Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time and Hans-Georg Gadamer’s Truth and Method .

Mehta’s Books and Collections of Essays

IW India and the West: The Problem of Understanding . 1985. Chico: Scholar’s Press.

JLM J. L. Mehta on Heidegger, Hermeneutics and Indian Tradition , W. J. Jackson (ed.). 1992. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

LRO Language and Reality and Other Papers , ed. J. L. Mehta. 1968. Varanasi: Centre for the Advanced Study in Philosophy – Banaras Hindu University.

PMH The Philosophy of Martin Heidegger . 1967. Varanasi: Banaras Hindu University Press. (Also published as, Martin Heidegger: The Way and the Vision . 1976. Honolulu: The University of Hawaii Press.)

PR Philosophy and Religion: Essays in Interpretation . 1990. New Delhi: Indian Council of Philosophical Research.

Abbreviations of Cited Work

x

Mehta’s Individual Essays

B “ Bhakti in Philosophical Perspective” (1986) PR BBK “Beyond Believing and Knowing” (1976) IW BNB “Being and Non-Being” (1968) IW CP “Concept of Progress” (1967) IW CS “Concept of the Subjective” (1966) IW DR “Dr. Radhakrishnan’s Eastern Religions and Western Thought Review ”

(1967) unpublished DV “Discourse of Violence in the Mahabharata ” (1987) PR E “Existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre” (1966) IW ET “Existential Themes and Indian Thought” (1965) unpublished FH “Finding Heidegger” (1977) JLM 1 HCIW “Heidegger and the Comparison of Indian and Western Philosophy”

(1970) PR HD “Heidegger’s Debts” (1967) JLM HT “The Hindu Tradition: The Vedic Root” (1982) 2 JLM HV “Heidegger and Vedanta: Re fl ections on a Questionable Theme” (1978) 3 IW IM “In Memoriam: Martin Heidegger” (1977) PR K “Krishna: God as Friend” (1988) JLM KD “Krishna Dvaipayana: Poet of Being and Becoming” (1987) PR LLY “Sri Aurodindo: Life, Language and Yoga” (1983) PR LR “Language and Reality” (1968) LRO LW “Life-Worlds, Sacrality and Interpretive Thinking” (1987) 4 JLM MM “The Meaning of Metaphysics” (1965) unpublished MT “Modernity and Tradition” (1986) PR MY “My Years at the Center for the Study of World Religions: Some Re fl ections”

(1979) PR NPM “The Nature of the Phenomenological Method” (1987) JLM P “Postlude” (collected in 1992) JLM PIU “Problems of Inter-cultural Understanding in University Studies

of Religion” (1968) IW PNE “Philosophical Necessity of Existentialism” (1966) IW PP “Postmodern Problems East/West: Re fl ections and Exchanges” (collected

in 1992) JLM PPE “Philosophy, Philology and Empirical Knowledge” (1982) PR

1 Also found in Philosophy and Religion . 2 Also found in Philosophy and Religion . 3 This essay has also been published in G. Parkes, ed., Heidegger and Asian Thought (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1987). 4 This essay has also been published in T. S. Rukmani, ed., Religious Consciousness and Life-worlds (Delhi: Indian Institute of Advanced Study and Indus Publishers, 1988). It also appears in the collection Philosophy and Religion .

Abbreviations of Cited Work

xi

PPR “The Problem of Philosophical Reconception in the Thought of K.C. Bhattacharyya” (1974) IW

PU “Problems of Understanding” (1988) JLM RV “The Rigveda : Text and Interpretation” (1988) 5 PR SA “A Stranger from Asia” (1977) PR SCW “Science, Conversation and Wholeness” (1984) PR SL “Saving Leap” (1967) 6 JLM TP “Transformation of Phenomenology” (1987) JLM TRV “T. R. V. Murti: A Philosophical Tribute” (1986) unpublished UT “Understanding and Tradition” (1969) 7 IW WC “‘World Civilization’: The Possibility of Dialogue” (1977) JLM WI “The Will to Interpret and India’s Dreaming Spirit” (1974) 8 JLM

Other Cited Works

BT Heidegger, Martin. 1988. Being and Time , trans. J. Macquarrie and E. Robinson. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

TM Gadamer, Hans-Georg. 1989. Truth and Method (2nd Rev. Ed.), trans. J. Weinsheimer and D.G. Marshall. New York: Continuum.

Abbreviations of Cited Work

5 This essay has also been published in Chattopahyaya, Embree, and Mohanty , eds., Phenomenology and Indian Philosophy (Albany: SUNY Press, 1992) as “Reading the Rigveda: A Phenomenological Essay”. 6 This is also the concluding section of The Philosophy of Martin Heidegger . 7 Also found in J. L. Mehta on Heidegger, Hermeneutics and Indian Tradition . 8 Also found in India and the West.