Is India Civilized? Essays on Indian Culture English 2010

Sir John Woodroffe (1865–1936), British judge of the Calcutta High Court, is widely renowned as an early expositor of Tantra. In this small book (published for the first time in 1918), taking excuse on the view of an English writer that India was not a civilized country, he writes a strong and passionate defence of India and its culture, exposing the principles that made her civilization. In an epoch where criticism of India was widespread in the Western world, and imitation of English culture was predominant among the Indian elite, Woodrofe encourages India to follow her own tradition and ways. Ninety years after the publication of this book, in spite of the changed political and social environment, it surprises us to see how much alive are his words, and to how much an extent they are still valid for the India of today.