“India That Is Bharat: Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution – J Sai Deepak”
J Sai Deepak
“India That Is Bharat: Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution – J Sai Deepak”
SKOCH Literature Award -“India That Is Bharat: Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution – J Sai Deepak”
LITFest Panel Discussion –
L to R: J Sai Deepak, Advocate, Supreme Court of India: Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, SKOCH Group
L to R: J Sai Deepak, Advocate, Supreme Court of India: Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, SKOCH Group
India that is Bharat:Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution
J Sai Deepak
Advocate, Supreme Court of India
It is called a book of consequence. It is also called a rigorous survey of India’s political history since the Papal Bull of 1493. In the book, J Sai Deepak argues that while the colonisation of the Indian landscape may have been reversed, the minds continue to be possessed and ultimately handicapped by a historical narrative that the outsider set for us.
The author explores the underpinnings of the idea of Bharat, by first traveling into the history to excavate the corrosion of the idea, then as lawyers do, offering evidence of its sustenance and subsequently paving the way for a decolonised interpretation of the constitution. The book traces the history of the Indian conscience as it was bruised and moulded by the intervention of the foreign.
The writer suggests that ever since Christopher Columbus’ travels, the notional wisdom has been to consider, “European history as the history of humanity”. Not only has this notion robbed others of agency, but it has also delegitimised the existence of the indigenous and the right of the indigenous people to assert their cultures.
“India That Is Bharat: Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution – J Sai Deepak”
J Sai Deepak
India, That Is Bharat: the first book of a comprehensive trilogy, explores the influence of European ‘colonial consciousness’ (or ‘coloniality’), in particular its religious and racial roots, on Bharat as the successor state to the Indic civilisation and the origins of the Indian Constitution. It lays the foundation for its sequels by covering the period between the Age of Discovery, marked by Christopher Columbus’ expedition in 1492, and the reshaping of Bharat through a British-made constitution-the Government of India Act of 1919. This includes international developments leading to the founding of the League of Nations by Western powers that tangibly impacted this journey.
Further, this work also traces the origins of seemingly universal constructs such as ‘toleration’, ‘secularism’ and ‘humanism’ to Christian political theology. Their subsequent role in subverting the indigenous Indic consciousness through a secularised and universalised Reformation, that is, constitutionalism, is examined. It also puts forth the concept of Middle Eastern coloniality, which preceded its European variant and allies with it in the context of Bharat to advance their shared antipathy towards the Indic worldview. In order to liberate Bharat’s distinctive indigeneity, ‘decoloniality’ is presented as a civilisational imperative in the spheres of nature, religion, culture, history, education, language and, crucially, in the realm of constitutionalism.
J Sai Deepak Advocate, Supreme Court of India
J Sai Deepak is an engineer-turned-lawyer, practising as an arguing counsel primarily before the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Delhi. A mechanical engineer from Anna University, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in law from IIT Kharagpur’s law school in 2009, and has carved a niche for himself as a litigator in civil commercial and constitutional matters. Over the years, he has been a part of several landmark matters, such as the ones relating to the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple, the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple and Basmati Geographical Indications. In 2019, he was awarded the Young Alumni Achiever’s Award by his alma mater IIT Kharagpur. Apart from delivering lectures on law, he is a prolific writer on constitutional issues for leading newspapers and magazines.
J Sai Deepak is an engineer-turned-lawyer, practising as an arguing counsel primarily before the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Delhi. A mechanical engineer from Anna University, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in law from IIT Kharagpur’s law school in 2009, and has carved a niche for himself as a litigator in civil commercial and constitutional matters. Over the years, he has been a part of several landmark matters, such as the ones relating to the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple, the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple and Basmati Geographical Indications. In 2019, he was awarded the Young Alumni Achiever’s Award by his alma mater IIT Kharagpur. Apart from delivering lectures on law, he is a prolific writer on constitutional issues for leading newspapers and magazines.
J Sai Deepak Advocate, Supreme Court of India
“India That Is Bharat: Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution – J Sai Deepak”
J Sai Deepak
India, That Is Bharat: the first book of a comprehensive trilogy, explores the influence of European ‘colonial consciousness’ (or ‘coloniality’), in particular its religious and racial roots, on Bharat as the successor state to the Indic civilisation and the origins of the Indian Constitution. It lays the foundation for its sequels by covering the period between the Age of Discovery, marked by Christopher Columbus’ expedition in 1492, and the reshaping of Bharat through a British-made constitution-the Government of India Act of 1919. This includes international developments leading to the founding of the League of Nations by Western powers that tangibly impacted this journey.
Further, this work also traces the origins of seemingly universal constructs such as ‘toleration’, ‘secularism’ and ‘humanism’ to Christian political theology. Their subsequent role in subverting the indigenous Indic consciousness through a secularised and universalised Reformation, that is, constitutionalism, is examined. It also puts forth the concept of Middle Eastern coloniality, which preceded its European variant and allies with it in the context of Bharat to advance their shared antipathy towards the Indic worldview. In order to liberate Bharat’s distinctive indigeneity, ‘decoloniality’ is presented as a civilisational imperative in the spheres of nature, religion, culture, history, education, language and, crucially, in the realm of constitutionalism.
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