Write short notes onScope of Indian Renaissance.
Answers
Renaissance is renewal and reawakening. There have been several renewals and reawakenings in a land as ancient as India.
During the Gupta period, there was a wonderful reawakening of arts and culture that resulted in a ‘golden period’ this side of BC / AD divide.
At the time of Adi Shankara, there were a ‘Hindu’ renaissance and a new flourishing of art, literature, architecture to accompany this religious and philosophical awakening. India went from sombre canting of monks to lyrical Jaydeva.
After the terrible onslaught of islam on India during the 11th century, India went through dark ages for about 400 - 500 years. Akbar’s enlightened rule brought a period of renaissance that revived many lost arts, crafts and ideas.
Two generations later though, during Aurangzeb’s purge of anything non-islamic, India experienced ‘cultural dispersal’ and new renaissance came about in unexpected places. New art centres came into existence as artists from Delhi spread out across Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Himalayan foothills, Sindh, Punjab, Deccan and Maratha territories. New ‘gharanas’ developed in dance and music. New art forms merged regional and Mughal influences. Rustic kingdoms adopted and moulded imperial art and architecture into something more approachable and personable.
After the fall of Mughals and splintering of India into 560 kingdoms, mid 1800s saw a cultural awakening that revived our interests in arts, language, culture and history that was long suppressed under islamic mis-rule of India. As archaeology unearthed ‘factual evidence’ to backup Hinduism’s claims of ancient antecedence, there was a huge new interest in everything from Harrapa to Ajanta. Likes of Ram Mohan Roy, RamaKrishna and Raja Varma revived everything from arts, philosophy, social order to education.
As more Indians went abroad, they reinterpreted ancient wisdom in modern idioms and likes of Vivekanada, Mrs Arundale, Lokmanya Tilak, Sarvarkar, Gandhi, Kaniyalal Munshi, Tata, Birla and Bose helped spark renaissance in different fields of art, crafts, dance, music, philosophy, politics, economics, science, literature etc.
After the terrible socialist, Nehruvian cold snap of over 50 years, India and it’s masses are reviving again. There is a new renaissance in India and its genius is blooming again in every field from Bollywood to IT & IPL. Winds of change have taken our Renaissance to Silicon Valley, Toronto, London, Medellin, Cape Town, Dubai and beyond.
Current renaissance of India allows us to question everything anew and renew our acquaintance with our past. Indians inside and outside India are going through unprecedented amount of ‘change’. And it is remarkable that this new change is still rooted very strongly in our soil.