Altered destinations : self, Society, and nation in India

Altered Destinations addresses the complex interrelations of self, society, and nation in India through the medium of culture, compellingly reframing the debate in the context of the Gandhian concept of svaraj. Starting with Gandhi's classic text Hind Swaraj (written in 1909), which, breaking away from the colonial past, envisioned an entirely new form of identity and governance in India, Paranjape extends the discussion to the field of culture to examine how ideas of autonomy, selfhood, and independence have been expressed, depicted and studied. In Paranjape's analysis svaraj becomes a struggle for intellectual freedom and sovereignty, and an attempt to escape from both Western and Indian forms of oppression and colonization.

Altered Destinations is divided into three parts. The first examines deep cultural and ideological issues, analysing Indian notions of responsibility, the history of anti-imperialism in the 1857 revolt, and ideas of nationalism and post-nationalism in India. Part two focuses on language and education-on Hindi, Sanskrit, ideas of a national education-and Indian ways of seeing. The last part of the book is a critique of Indian secularism that problematizes contentious issues of tolerance and plurality. It makes a passionate plea for a culture of co-existence and mutuality, and argues for the politics of hospitality not hostility, returning to the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi.

A critic, poet, and novelist with over thirty books, 125 academic papers, and hundreds of notes, book reviews, and journalistic essays to his credit, Makarand R. Paranjape is currently Professor of English at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His latest book, also with Anthem Press, is Another Canon: Indian Texts and Traditions in English.