The Hindu : National : Ancient India had both cyclic and linear time concepts, says Romila Thapar

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Ancient India had both cyclic and linear time concepts, says Romila Thapar

Special Correspondent

The two did not exhaust variations of time, noted historian points out

— Photo: S.S. Kumar

UNRAVELLING THE PAST: Historian Romila Thapar delivers the Dennis Hudson Memorial Lecture on ‘cyclical time and linear time in ancient India,’ organised by the Prakriti Foundation, in Chennai on Thursday.

CHENNAI: Ancient India had both the cyclic time and linear time concepts, eminent historian Romila Thapar said here on Thursday.

Referring to an argument in certain circles that the cyclic concept characterised the Indian civilisation, Dr. Thapar said the view about the civilisation was so firmly maintained that it was argued that the cyclic time prevented the evolving of a sense of history. Even in the 19th century, some scholars suggested that there was a strand of linear time in certain texts but the prevailing view then was that since cycles repeated endlessly, this minimised, if not eliminated, history.

But the early India also had the concept of linear time, though not described as such but implicit in a variety of forms. The linear time was closely tied to a sense of history and more interestingly, the two concepts did intersect on some occasions.

Dr. Thapar was delivering the Hudson Memorial Lecture on ‘cyclic time and linear time in ancient India’ at a function organised by the Prakriti Foundation,

Explaining both the concepts, she said the cyclic time might be described as cosmological. The linear time, also called historical, was functional and dependent on human activity. Distinctions could be made between the cosmological time and the historical time but the degree of separation or overlap would vary depending on how history or the past was perceived. Though both were carefully constructed, the cosmological time was a conscious fantasy of time and reflective of authors and their mythologies, whereas the historical time reflected more manageable concerns.

The two concepts did not exhaust variations of time. The simultaneous use of more than one form of time indicated that different segments of society viewed their past in different ways. If time were to be seen as a metaphor of history, many dimensions in historical intersections required to be explored, Dr. Thapar said.

Earlier, she released a publication authored by D. Dennis Hudson, a scholar on religions, on the Vaikunta Perumal Temple in Kancheepuram.

Lori Hudson, wife of the scholar, handed over copies of the book to priests of the temple.

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