Sri Narayana Guru- Philosopher of the subaltern India

Abstract

The history of philosophy in India has often marginalized the intellectual contributions of Native Indians, portraying them as negligible before the arrival of Aryan speakers around 1500 BCE. This view ignores the advanced knowledge systems of the Harappans, who built cities, docks, and engaged in trade. Scholars like D.P. Chattopadhyay and N.N. Bhattacharya highlight the epistemology of Tantra, rooted in Sankhya philosophy, as part of a suppressed subaltern tradition. Native practices persisted through grassroots traditions among marginalized communities, despite being dismissed as superstition. Reformers such as Buddha, Nagarjuna, Kabir, Ravidas, Nanak, and Sri Narayana Guru emerged as dissenters against Brahmanism, fostering rival epistemologies. Sri Narayana Guru, central to Kerala’s Renaissance, played a pivotal role in transforming a region marked by caste-based oppression into one known for its high Human Development Indicators. His movement addressed the systemic inequalities perpetuated by temples and orthodoxy, which reduced marginalized communities to subhuman conditions. Colonial civil servants documented these harsh realities in contrast to classical Hindu texts, which predominantly reflected elite perspectives. Observations, such as Swami Vivekananda’s description of Kerala as a “lunatic asylum,” underscore the severity of oppression. However, mainstream academia has largely overlooked these records, focusing instead on ritual and literary traditions. This summary calls for a deeper examination of marginalized histories and the transformative contributions of reformers like Sri Narayana Guru, who championed human dignity and social justice.