Humanism

Published on 15th January, 2017, in Mid-Day. The 19th century saw Hinduism being reframed for two reasons. First was missionary activity that, with its aim of gaining converts, consciously spotlighted aspects of Hinduism that the elite could not explain and found embarrassing. Second was exposure to humanistic values of the Enlightenment, with ideas such as equality and justice. The reframing that followed came to be known as the Hindu ‘renaissance’. The choice of term, ‘renaissance’, was an obvious reference to European ‘renaissance’ of the 15th century when religion was confronted with reason. This reframing was not homogenous. Different groups moved in very different directions. Some ..