South Asian intellectuals and social change : A study of the role of vernacular-speaking intelligentsia

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The role of intellectuals in the political developments of new nations has attracted widespread attention. Works of numerous scholars devoted to the subject attest to the importance which is attributed to their role in political development and the modernization process. Mostly, however, these studies have focused on the role of Westernized English or French-speaking intelligentsia. The societies such as China, India and Arabic countries have also inherited the intellectual traditions from the past which were carried on by the intellectuals who expressed themselves through the native languages. In the societies of South Asia, where English language be- came the primary channel of communication among the emerging elites, who led the independence movement, the vernacular-speaking intelligentsia was bequeathed with the traditional heritage. English was not only the language of the ruling class, but its knowledge also enabled an individual to obtain a lucrative job within the administration. The English language was looked upon as a source of superior knowledge. The Western-educated elites were exposed to the rational technical knowledge through the medium of the English language and they enjoyed a higher status in the South Asian societies. On the other hand, the vernacular-speaking intelligentsia, who carried on the traditional knowledge through native languages, were looked upon as backward and they occupied secondary status. It was the Muslim Ulama and the Maulvi, the Hindu Pandit, and the Purohit and Buddhist Bhiku and Sangha, the Sikh Gränthi and Jain Muni and Acharya who became the custodians and the carriers of the sacred knowledge. Whereas Ulama, the Pandit and the Acharya specialized more in philosophy, theology and the traditional law, the Purohit and the Maulvi performed mostly priestly duties. Astrologers and the practitioners of the native medicines (Vaidyas and Hakims) also always used the native languages. It was, however, the creative author and the teacher of and the scholar in the native language who introduced the modern ethos in intellectual activities of the vernacular speaking intelligentsia.