Reception of Ancient Cosmological Narratives in the Socio-Political Discourse of India in the 20th–21st Centuries

Article
Open Access
by Taras Kononenko1 and Iryna Petlenko2
1 Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Kyiv, Ukraine)
2 Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Kyiv, Ukraine)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29202/phil-cosm/36/6
Received: 21 October 2025 / Accepted: 29 December 2025 / Published: 1 February 2026

View Full-Text Review Reports Cite This Paper

Abstract

The article explores how cosmological and mythological ideas of ancient Hindus influenced social structure and political discourse. An example is the hymn Purusha Sukta, which shows how the image of Purusha’s cosmic sacrifice became a way to sanctify the social hierarchy, later reflected in the Manusmriti. The article examines how British colonial researchers and administrators interpreted this myth through the lens of European legal thinking, turning religious texts into tools for governing and classifying Indian society. In postcolonial studies, the transformation of the Purusha myth is analyzed within modern discussions on Varnas, identity, and social justice. The paper combines philosophical mythological and cultural-political approaches to understand how myth, power, and social structure interact in the Indian tradition. The authors conclude that ancient India’s cosmological ideas were a significant source of symbolic legitimation for the social hierarchy. The influence of Purusha Sukta can be seen over a long historical period — from its institutionalization in the Manusmriti as a normative model of Varna division to its echoes in modern India’s constitutional structure. This aims to address the rooted social inequalities. However, this influence is not straightforward; it is a complex, multidimensional phenomenon. Therefore, the changing interpretations of the hymn — from ritual-cosmological to political — reflect the complex process of transforming traditional ideas of order and justice within modern Indian society.

Keywords: history of Oriental philosophies, historical and philosophical practices, cosmological topics and narratives of Indian mythology, Purusha Sukta, Manusmriti, Varnas/ castes/ Jati, sociopolitical discourse, identity.

References

Abbott, H. P. (2020). The Cambridge introduction to narrative. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108913928

Ambedkar, B. R. (2019). Riddle in Hinduism. Samyak Prakashan.

Bloomfield, M. (1897). Hymns of the Atharva-Veda: Together with extracts from the ritual books and the commentaries (Vol. 42). Clarendon Press. https://sacred-texts.com/hin/av.htm

Bugrov, V. (2021). Institutionalisation of Research Achievements of the Institute of Philosophy in Educational Practices: experience of the “Kyiv School of Philosophy”. Philosophical Thought, 4, 27–37. https://doi.org/10.15407/fd2021.04.027

Cassin, B. (2016). More than one language (S. Zheldak, Trans.). Dukh i Litera.

Chatterjee, S., & Datta, D. (2010). An introduction to Indian philosophy. Rupa Publications

Das, B. (2000). Moments in a history of reservations. Economic and Political Weekly, 35(43-44), 3831–3834.

Davis, D. R., Jr. (2010). The spirit of Hindu law. Cambridge University Press.

Dirks, N. B. (2001). Castes of mind: Colonialism and the making of modern India. Princeton University Press.

Dow, A. (2021). History of Hindostan. Legare Street Press. (Original work published 1768)

Dumont, L. (1970). Homo hierarchicus. University of Chicago Press.

Fuller, C. J. (2017). Ethnographic inquiry in colonial India: Herbert Risley, William Crooke, and the study of tribes and castes. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 23(3), 603–621. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12654

Government of India. (1935). Government of India Act, 1935. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.35417

Government of India. (1950a). The Constitution of India. https://www.constitutionofindia.net/constitution/constitution-of-india-1950/

Government of India. (1950b). The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 (S.R.O. 385). Gazette of India, Extraordinary. https://socialjustice.gov.in/writereaddata/UploadFile/CONSTITUTION%20%28SC%29%20ORDER%201950%20dated%2010081950.pdf

Griffith, R. T. H. (1897). The hymns of the Rigveda (Vol. 2). E. J. Lazarus & Co.

Griffith, R. T. H. (1899). The texts of the White Yajurveda: Vajasaneyi-Samhita (with a running translation). E. J. Lazarus and Co. https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/yv/index.htm

Hansen, T. B. (1999). The saffron wave: Democracy and Hindu nationalism in modern India. Princeton University Press.

Jamison, S. W., & Brereton, J. P. (2014). The Rigveda: A philological and cultural history. Oxford University Press.

Jodhka, S. S. (2025). On the futures of caste. Economic and Political Weekly, 30(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/097226612513465

Kalwar, B. A., Shabbir, T., Shujaudin, S., Meghwar, P. S., Kalwar, M. A., & Kunbhar, A. A. (2025). Colonial legislation and the erosion of Brahmanic dominance: Transforming the caste system in British India. Dialogue Social Science Review (DSSR), 3(2), 789–809.

Keith, A. B. (1925). The religion and philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads (Vol. 31). Harvard University Press.

Kononenko, T., Kyrylenko, K., Hnatovska, H., Kyriienko, A., Kulinich, H., & Ovdiienko, D. (2019). Indian philosophy: A textbook for university students. Folio.

Kononenko, T., Shcherbyna, N., Petlenko, I., & Borodii, A. (2021). Archeographic guide to the history of philosophy: Research publications of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in the field of philosophy, 1944–1961. Press of the Research Institute of Ukrainian Studies. https://doi.org/10.30840/ndiu.95

Kumar, K. (2005). Political agenda of education: A study of colonialist and nationalist ideas (Rev. ed.). Sage Publications.

Liakh, V. V., & Khmil, V. V. (2025). Enlightenment Thought and the Characteristics of Its Contemporary Transformations. Anthropological Measurements of Philosophical Research, 28, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.15802/ampr.v0i28.348985

Lingat, R. (1973). The classical law of India (J. D. M. Derrett, Trans.). University of California Press

Macdonell, A. A., & Keith, A. B. (1912). Vedic index of names and subjects (Vols. 1–2). John Murray.

NDTV News. (2024). Deve Gowda calls upon Parliament to think if reservation should be on economic basis. NDTV. https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/deve-gowda-calls-upon-parliament-to-think-if-reservation-should-be-on-economic-basis-7269459

Nugent, H. M. (1979). The communal award: The process of decision-making. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 2(1–2), 112–129. https://doi.org/10.1080/00856407908722988

Oldenberg, H., & Shrotri, S. B. (2024). The religion of the Veda: Die Religion des Veda (1st ed.). Motilal Banarsidass Publishing House.

Olivelle, P. (2005). Manu’s code of law: A critical edition and translation of the Manava Dharmasastra. Oxford University Press.

Petlenko, I. V. (2018). The concept of the history of philosophy by S. Radhakrishnan (Candidate of Sciences dissertation). Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

Petlenko, I. V. (2025). India’s colonial experience: Chronology and tools of colonial rule. Philosophy and Political Science in the Context of Contemporary Culture. https://doi.org/10.15421/352511

Plowden, W. C. (1883). Report on the census of British India taken on the 17th February 1881. Eyre and Spottiswoode.

Pobocha, T. D., & Khmil, T. V. (2025). The Ontological Basis of Hryhorii Skovoroda’s Ethical Doctrine. Anthropological Measurements of Philosophical Research, 28, 74–84. https://doi.org/10.15802/ampr.v0i28.349026

Radhakrishnan, S. (2008a). Indian philosophy: Volume I (2nd ed., Vol. 1). Oxford University Press

Radhakrishnan, S. (2008b). Indian philosophy: Volume II (2nd ed., Vol. 2). Oxford University Press

Ramaswamy, S. (2010). The goddess and the nation: Mapping Mother India. Duke University Press.

Rudenko, S., & Changming, Z. (2022). Lady Xian’s Cosmology and Philosophy as a Masterplot of Modern Chinese Culture. Philosophy and Cosmology, 29, 116–124. https://doi.org/10.29202/phil-cosm/29/10

Rudenko, S., & Liashenko, I. (2020). Chinese studies in Ukrainian philosophy of the Soviet period. Studia Warminskie, 57, 85–100. https://doi.org/10.31648/sw.6007

Srinivas, M. N. (1952). Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South India. Oxford University Press.

Stevenson, J. (1842). The Samaveda Sanhita: A Collection of Hymns used by the Adhvaryu Priests. Oriental Translation Fund.

Walby, K., & Haan, M. (2012). Caste confusion and census enumeration in colonial India, 1871–1921. Histoire sociale / Social History, 45(90), 301–318. https://doi.org/10.1353/his.2012.0026

European Dictionary of Philosophies: Lexicon of Untranslatables (2009). Kyiv: Dukh i Litera.

Yogamaya, P. S. (2025). Conflict management in Vedic traditions: The term Jati, conventional meaning and solution in the Vedas [Paper presentation]. WAVES International Conference 2025, Puri, Odisha, India.

Share and Cite

Kononenko, Taras, and Iryna Petlenko (2026) Reception of Ancient Cosmological Narratives in the Socio-Political Discourse of India in the 20th–21st Centuries. Philosophy and Cosmology, Volume 36, 154-175. https://doi.org/10.29202/phil-cosm/36/6
Back to the list of Articles