Book review: Himanshu Roy and Mahendra Prasad Singh, Indian Political Thought: Themes and Thinkers
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556118814656 |
| Author | Bhuwan Kumar Jha |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
260 Book Reviews
He informs readers that the cross-cousin marriage system is dying slowly.
However, traditions are not entirely given up, rites are now performed by the
Church pastor, and ju is being replaced by tea. In the last chapter, Hemkhochon
Chongloi emphasises the disunity among the denomination that has parted the
Kuki people. The author calls for finding an indigenous pattern to bring various
Kuki Christian groups into one fold. He blames denominationalism for disturb-
ing the unity of the people. As Kukis were one in the age of indoi worship, such
unity in the past, he believes, should be applied even in the Kuki ecclesiology. He
compares the indoi symbolism as the religious and philosophical dimension of
khankho, meaning the way of one’s life.
In conclusion, I would say that the book is a must read to understand who
are the Kukis and their political struggle. It provides an in-depth understanding
of the Kuki nationalism right from its birth and clarifies the misinterpretation of
outsider views. The second section of the book closely resembles an anthropo-
logical study as it highlights practices that are now a memory of a few. The book
will help many new researchers and students grapple with past values and beliefs.
However, the editor would have done justice had the second part of the book
included more chapters on the cultural aspects of the Kuki society, its customary
laws, the role of women and kinship as the book title includes the role of politics
and culture. Another drawback of the book is the chapters that give arguments
through Biblical text, as adding personal belief is considered subjective and bias
in social science studies.
Lyna H. Misao
Centre for the Study of Social Systems
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
lynamisao143@gmail.com
Himanshu Roy and Mahendra Prasad Singh, Indian Political Thought:
Themes and Thinkers (2nd Edition). Noida: Pearson, 2017, xxix + 441
pp., `339 (paperback). ISBN: 978-93-325-8733-5.
DOI:10.1177/0019556118814656
Indian Political Thought is a collaborative effort of about two dozen scholars who
selected, analysed, retrieved and resurrected the major political thinking which
originated in this land and which influenced and impacted our society and politics
in numerous ways. Thinkers are arranged chronologically, with as many as ten,
out of the total of twenty-seven, belonging to the ancient, medieval and modern
times. This is remarkable, given the bias against anything from the ‘pre-modern’ to
possess an idiom which fits in with the lexicon of ‘political’. These saints–
scholars–reformers are often taken as points of reference by modern-day political
formations and ideologues and hence are quite relevant from the contemporary
perspective. The range in the thematic choice of thinkers runs from one end of the
spectrum to another, and here lies the urge to carve a balance of thoughts, since it
is the ideas, and not the exigencies of politics and ideology, which seem to have
been given priority. It would be difficult to find Manu and Ambedkar, Mahatma
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