South Asia: Definitions and Clarifications

OF ALL THE WORLD'S MAJOR REGIONS South Asia is surely the most misunderstood and misinterpreted. Worse still, India lovers embrace India with little or no understanding of the country. The ancient Hindus, much given to philosophy, mathematics, art and astronomy, seem to have had no time for the writing of history. Hence one's dependence on Greek, Chinese and later, Muslim sources.

The arrival of the Europeans, however, was a turning point in India studies. The pioneering researches of the Orientalists cannot be overestimated. It is no exaggeration to claim that European scholarship bestowed on the Hindus a definite distinction, even, tragically, a sense of haughtiness and self righteousness. Europeans besotted with India in general and Hinduism in particular, a prize example being Annie Besant, beheld nothing but the wonders of India and the supreme excellence of its civilization. On the other hand, a number, of Muslim and other commentators, notably the first Mughal emperor Babur, found the subcontinent extremely unattractive. They perceived India as a caste-ridden country inhabited by idolaters steeped in stygian darkness, sin and superstition. The truth, perhaps, lies in the chasm between Besant and Babur. India, moreover, is finally on the move. The rate of economic and social change accelerates each year, a phenomenon that will be discussed in the author's next book.

Since 1947, India studies and Pakistan Studies have become exercises in political spin and vilification. Myths and legends are held up as facts and prejudice is buttressed by so-called historical research. In the cause of creating a national identity and a particular vision of greatness, dangerous doctrines and unpalatable events are either ignored or nimbly explained away. Truth is being sacrificed at the altar of expediency. This wide-ranging back sweeps away several religious, cultural, social and historical cobwebs. Fashionable correctness in all its forms is firmly rejected. Many received notions are proved to be false and famous iconic figures are shown to have had failings that affected the region's future. Encountering South Asia: Definitions and Clarifications, therefore, may be shocking to some and uncomfortable to others. Nevertheless, all who read this book will be impressed by its rigorous research, cogent arguments and lucid logic. It will certainly provoke wide debate.

Massey has managed to combine facts and stories with the laudable idea of telling us about the tolerant, liberal and inclusive India which is often ignored in the recently fashionable zealous enthusiasms of chauvinist historians. It is eminently readable and vastly informative... a fine sweep of such a long and complex history Here is a comprehensive but absorbing account of the subcontinent. Reginald Lord Desai of Saint Clement Danes Emeritus Professor, London School of Economics has been able to portray the entire spectrum of beliefs, values and practices that constitute its variegated history over the millennia. Reginald Massey does that admirably and identifies the caste system as the ultimate organising principle of the social, political and economic life in the Indian subcontinent. Internal revolts and external invasions as well as ideological challenges posed by Islam and Christianity failed to dislodge it; on the contrary it has percolated them and as a result diverse syntheses have evolved in the process. Massey demonstrates his thesis amply with convincing examples over a historical span extending from pre-history into the present times. The result is a tour de force of truly encyclopaedic proportions. The story of the Indic Civilisation has been told many times, yet no book hitherto Dr Ishtlaq Ahmed Professor of Political Science, University of Stockholm Visiting Senior Research Fellow, National University of Singapore Reginald Massey has authored many works on India. His books on Indian classical music and dance are required reading for all those who study these subjects. He wrote and produced Bangladesh I Love You, a film which starred the boxing phenomenon Muhammad Ali. Azaadi!, his collection of stories and histories concerned South Asia after 1947, the year of India's independence and the creation of Pakistan. His poetry collection Lament of a Lost Hero and Other Poems chronicles subcontinental society in the post-independence period.

Born in Lahore, in British India, he lives in Britain where over many years he has been journalist, critic, director-producer, broadcaster, lecturer and activist. He is currently completing South Asia: The Twenty-first Century and the Future, a sequel to this book. In 2008, he was Writer-in-Residence at the UBS think tank at Wolsberg chateau, Switzerland. His wife, actress Jamila Massey, collaborated with him on three books: The Music of India, The Dances of India and The Immigrants, a novel. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.