Born- 1929 Died- 1993 Fluent in 5 languages- English, Kannada, Telugu, Sanskrit, Tamil Awards- Sahitya Akademi for his collected poems Themes- Indian culture, death, family Held comprehensive knowledge of Indian Mythology Influence of “Tamil Tradition” Belief- True suffering, and sorrow brings out poetry

1. English 2
Asst. Professor of English
Anjuli Thawait
A.K. RAMANUJAN
“IS THERE AN INDIAN WAY OF THINKING?”

2. A.K. RAMANUJAN
• Born- 1929 Died- 1993
• Fluent in 5 languages- English, Kannada, Telugu, Sanskrit,
Tamil
• Awards- Sahitya Akademi for his collected poems
• Themes- Indian culture, death, family
• Held comprehensive knowledge of Indian Mythology
• Influence of “Tamil Tradition”
• Belief- True suffering, and sorrow brings out poetry

3. Contributions:
A. Poetry Collection
• The Striders
• Relations
• Second sight
• Black hen

4. Contributions:
B. Prose
• Translation of Shiva Poems
• Translation of Ananthmurthy’s Samskara
• Essay: “Is there an Indian way of thinking?”-1990

5. ANALYSIS: Division into 5 sections

6. He talks about context-sensitive and
context-free cultures. Indian thinking,
which is a product of the former, is
influenced by morals and ethics that are
context-dependent, whereas the Western
way of thinking is informed by morals and
ethics that are more absolute in nature and
unaffected by context.

7. He starts by asking the question “Is there an
Indian way of thinking” in four different
ways, emphasizing a different word each
time as well as giving two answers to every
question.

8. The first question places the emphasis on
“is” and questions the very existence of such
a thing as an Indian way of thinking. The
answers:
(a) there was such a thing but not any more,
and
(b) India never changes, so the Indian way of
thinking still exists.

9. The emphasis in the second question is on
“an”, and so he asks if there is one unique
way of Indian thinking or many such things.
The answers, in this case:
(a) each community in this country — and
there are many, divided by language,
caste and class — has a unique world view
and, therefore, a distinct way of thinking,
and
(b) there exists “unity in diversity” here and
so all Indian thought is the same.

10. The third question shifts the focus to the
word “Indian”, and Ramanujan says that
(a) there is nothing inherently Indian about
this way of thinking and that it’s also
found in other societies that have reached
a similar state of development, and
(b) the Indian way influences everything that
enters the country and makes it its own.

11. The fourth question puts the emphasis on
“thinking”, and Ramanujan doesn’t offer
any arguments here.

12. Additions:
Ramanujan then talks about his father, a
man of both mathematics and astrology, and
uses his example to explore the utter lack of
cognitive dissonance that should have
otherwise risen from pursuing two mutually
antagonistic activities.

13. He goes on to talk about modernization and
says that even though it may seem like
modernization attempts to do away with
context, borrowings from other cultures get
converted before being assimilated into the
host culture. Each culture comes with its
own inherent bias