B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 1 General English 2017 Dec Question Paper with Solutions

For full marks, cover: his own answer in "My Search for Truth" (the challenge of Christian critics; finding what is living and what is dead in Hinduism); the roots of that response: a religious childhood in pilgrim towns, an inborn faith in the unseen, a meditative nature; twelve years in missionary schools; Hindu pride stirred by Vivekananda; respect for ordinary Hindu piety; the Hindu tradition of tolerance and his annoyance at ridicule; the national awakening; the gap in the university syllabus; the thesis on the Ethics of the Vedanta and Professor Hogg's testimonial; the lifelong study that followed; an assessment.

2. An inborn faith and a meditative mind

He writes that from the time he knew himself, he had a firm faith in an unseen world behind the changing appearances of things. He could not explain this faith, but it stayed with him even in grave difficulties. He also had a meditative frame of mind and loved solitude and books. A young man of this temperament was likely to take questions about religion seriously, and to want to understand his own tradition deeply.

3. Twelve years in missionary schools

His entire education took place in Christian missionary institutions. These were the mission high school at Tirupati (1896 to 1900), Voorhees College at Vellore (1901 to 1904) and Madras Christian College (1905 to 1909). There he came to know the teaching of the New Testament well. But he also heard, again and again, the missionaries' criticism of Hindu beliefs and practices. This was the "challenge" that he says impelled him.

6. The tradition of tolerance

His upbringing had taught him never to speak lightly of what others held sacred. This respect for all creeds, he says, is bred into the marrow of one's bones by the Hindu tradition. He quotes the Bhagavadgita: faith in other gods is faith in the Supreme, though not in the prescribed way. Religions, for him, were fellow labourers in the same task, not rivals. So it annoyed him that sincere missionaries could ridicule doctrines that others held in deepest reverence. He felt this practice had little support in the teaching or example of Jesus.

7. The national awakening

He adds that the spirit of the times strengthened his resolve. India, in his words, was "turning in its sleep". There was a growing wish to rediscover and value India's own heritage. A study of Hindu philosophy was part of that awakening.

8. A gap in the syllabus

The philosophy courses for the B.A. and M.A. at Madras University did not require any knowledge of Indian systems of thought. He notes that, even in 1937, Indian philosophy was a minor part of philosophy courses in Indian universities. So if he wanted to study his own tradition, he had to do it on his own initiative.

Assessment

Radhakrishnan's turn to Hindu philosophy was not a narrow defence of his religion. He studied it critically, to separate what was living from what was dead. He used the tools of Western philosophy, learnt in the same mission colleges whose criticism had stung him. In that sense the missionaries gave him both his motive and his method. The result was a body of work that made Indian thought part of the world's philosophy.

Conclusion. Radhakrishnan took up the study of Hindu philosophy because the criticism of Hinduism he heard in Christian mission schools challenged him. That challenge wounded a pride stirred by Vivekananda and offended his Hindu sense of tolerance. A religious childhood, a deep inner faith, the national awakening and a syllabus that ignored Indian thought all strengthened his resolve. His thesis on the Ethics of the Vedanta was the first result of a study that became his life's work.