Unequal Eminences

A book that highlights what is not really news: the dominance of the upper caste male over Indian science in the first half of the 20th century

01 November 2011
Nobel Laureate CV Raman, who discovered that when light traverses a transparent material, some of the deflected light changes in wavelength.
COURTESY RAMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE LIBRARY
Nobel Laureate CV Raman, who discovered that when light traverses a transparent material, some of the deflected light changes in wavelength.
COURTESY RAMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE LIBRARY

IN THE PREFACE to his book, Alternative Sciences, Ashis Nandy observed how determined many Indian scientists and those writing about them have been to uphold the image of science as a “bloodless affair”.

One would imagine this to be a natural corollary of the valorisation of science, from the Age of Enlightenment onwards, as an activity professedly divested of human imperfection by its ability to create order through systems and laws, and by its emphasis on exactitude, rigour, empiricism, objectivity and rationalism.

The idea of science as a modernising force, symbolising the triumph of reason over irrational beliefs and practices, gave the activities of the British colonial administration in India in the 19th century—including the introduction of Western education; the production of surveys, studies and censuses; and the building of irrigation canals, railways and so on—the aura of a civilising mission.

Amrita Shah  is a columnist and nonfiction writer. Her last book was Vikram Sarabhai: A Life.

Keywords: gender caste racism nationalism Indian scientists research modern science CV Raman Homi J Bhabha Jagdish Chandra Bose atomic energy brahminic concepts
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