Secularism in Its Place

This article was published in The Journal of Asian Studies in November 1987. (The journal is published by Cambridge University Press for the Association for Asian Studies, headquartered in Michigan, USA.) The article contains the transcript of a lecture delivered by Prof. T. N. Madan at the annual conference of the Association of Asian Studies in Boston in 1987.T. N. Madan is Honorary Professor at the Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi, and an Honorary Fellow at the Royal Anthropological Institute, London.In this article, he writes that “…secularism in South Asia as a generally shared credo of life is impossible, as a basis for state action impracticable, and as a blueprint for the foreseeable future impotent.” This is because the majority of South Asians are ‘active adherents’ of some religious faith and it is difficult for States in the region to maintain ‘religious neutrality or equidistance’.Citing Peter Berger, Prof. Madan says ‘secularisation’ is the process by which sectors of society and culture are removed from the domination of religious institutions and symbols...