"Marxvad Aur Ramrajya": Contestation, Convergence and Micro-Phenomena of Governance of Polity and Economics
"Marxvad Aur Ramrajya": Contestation, Convergence and Micro-Phenomena of Governance of Polity and Economics
by
Abstract
Karpatriji, who authored Marxvad Aur Ramrajya, adheres to the ancient Indian political philosophy tradition. It includes governance as an annealed part of the troika, philosophy, politics, and economics. Genesis of Hindu political philosophy owes to Kautilya and Shukracharya to show the Indian integration of the milieu of the three disciplines in unison, i.e. Neeti-shastra. Chanakya, also known as Kautilya, offers a doctrine of the mandala, known as spheres of influence, in foreign policy; mandala philosophy finds resonance and tacit presence in the book Marxvad Aur Ramrajya amongst discussed subject matter. Karpatriji illustrated the embeddedness of dharmic phenomena1 in the governance framework of Ramrajya and presents a thesis on Dharmic perspectives in the post-modern world. The book is a magnum opus on a comparative view of Marxism and Dharmic proposition on governance, having veracity of themes and topics discussed in the work. It details Marxism not as a standalone Vad or alternative view on social theory, but instead depicts Marxism founded on a well-developed foundation of Western philosophy, classical Greek philosophy, and Western political thoughts of his time.
Vad can remain a theory in the Dharmic tradition until subject to rigorous testing and validating outcomes through distinct stages of showing a Siddhantaor - a doctrine. In Marxvad Aur Ramrajya2, Karpatriji begins with a background of the idea. The author then shows the principal argument of the opponent, called Purvapaksa; later dismantling the proposition through logic, using established notions and new notions, to support or add to the established concepts, and eventually instituting the Siddhanta, the alternative view accepted by the Purvapaksin. The work reinforces the method of Purvapaksa and offers a detailed exhibition of the development processes of an argument within Siddhanta. The contestation and convergence of Marxvad Aur Ramrajya happened so distantly. Ramrajya says that just governance must fulfill the micro-phenomena of ethics and virtues; Sukracharya explains in Neetisaarthat Ram the epitome of ethics, intrinsic worth, and integrity like no other king in the past nor would bear in the future.
Ram told Laxman, “A king must not exhibit any atrocity on its citizens, thinking about personal selfish happiness of prosperity; else the victims may destroy the unruly king and his kingdom”. It finds a subtle micro-resonance with the collective virtue of the labour class in the Marxist philosophy of uniting and raising the voice against capitalist injustice and exploitation.
This paper aims to examine the following from Karpatriji's work Marxvad Aur Ramrajya. It also includes a political philosophy analysis in European and Indian contexts -
- Purvapaksa doctrine, a methodological tool relevant in the post-modern world;
- A brief comparative epistemological analysis of Marxvad Aur Ramrajya.
- Micro phenomena of governance in contestation and convergence of Ramrajya, Marxist-Economics, and the philosophy of Karl Marx.
Published in
Licensing Information
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non–Commercial No Derivatives License which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of the Publisher must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
