Q.2: To what extent can Vico’s framework be applied to South Asian history? Discuss.

Answer:

Giambattissta Vico was one of the influential Philosopher of the 17th century. He made a theory
on which we can explain the large portion of Human experiences in a scientific way. His theory
is called Law of three stages. In his theory he identified three main types of societies that are
Poetic wisdom, Heroic wisdom and finally humanistic wisdom. The epistemology of all these
societies were rooted in different things i.e the epistemology of poetic society is rooted in
mythical traditions, its politics is based on theology and controlled by religion. In other words
that this society is religion-centric in nature. According to Vico the epistemology of Heroic
society is based on heroism, the sole power is the warrior class. And the epistemology of
humanist society is premised on rationality and logic.

We cannot apply the framework of Vico on the South Asian history because in the South Asian
perspective religion is always an important aspect of every society in South Asia. Let me crack
the history of South Asia. The societies of Ancient civilization, Indus valley civilization are
premised on the poetic wisdom with certain features of Humanism. After Indus valley
civilization Aryans came to India and they made a Vedic civilization in India which is premised
also on the vedic religion, which according to Vico came in poetic wisdom category. After that
the Gandahara civilization and again Gupta empire was based on religion them Muslims came to
India and the formation of Delhi sultanate by Muslim. The society of that time is based on
heroism. The hole history of Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire with a short interval of sher
shah Suri, a bit humanistic society, based on the heroism. The horrors took major decision in
politics, economic and cultural trends were based on heroism. In Akbar’s time the social system
is bit changed. He applied rationality to the system and offer jobs based on merit. So tilted the
society towards humanism but is a very limited capacity. Them came Aurangzeb the society is
transformed again in to poetic wisdom. Then the Britisher came to India the they made a society
which is based on secularism which is neither religious nor based on heroism and not humanistic
in nature. At the end of British empire again nationalistic-cum religious movement started and
Indian subcontinent divided into two states India and Pakistan. Pakistan based on religion of
Islam and were named as Islamic republic of Pakistan while India based on Secularism and
Humanistic society but again not in a true sense. This is the history of South Asia is not fully fit
in the framework of Vico cyclical theory of three stages. If we look at the history of Pakistan
again the Vico theory is not applicated in a true sense because in South Asia the influence of
Religion is always great on the societal level not political or economic level.

From the above discussion we can conclude that Vico theory is not applicable on the politics of
South Asia because of the fast that South Asian society is always deeply influenced by religion
either it was Islam or Hinduism or Sikhism. However, if we talk about politics and economic
then it justifies the Vico to greater extent.