Book Review: ‘Under the Bhasha Gaze’ by P.P. Raveendran
The HinduPublished : Oct 05, 2023 11:00 IST - 7 MINS READ In his preface to Under the Bhasha Gaze, Prof. P.P. However, throughout the main text of this book, Prof. Raveendran has used the term “Indian literature” in a collective sense while adopting the term “Indian literatures”, meaning bhashas, in the blurb. The author describes bhasha as “the common word for ‘speech’ or a ‘regional dialect’in most Indian languages, especially when used in opposition to the hegemonic language of Sanskrit”, among several other usages. Chapter 7, “Bhasha Writing as World Literature”, begins by formulating two approaches in defining “Indian Literature”: one, the concept of an “essential spirit of Indianness” that enfolds bhashas, and, two, “as a politically significant blanket concept that binds ‘discrete’ literary formations, each of which are formed around a bhasha with its own canons and traditions”. The author describes bhasha as “the common word for ‘speech’ or a ‘regional dialect’ in most Indian languages, especially when used in opposition to the hegemonic language of Sanskrit”.
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