Whose Knowledge Matters? Caste, Gender, Power, and the Politics of Indian Knowledge Systems in Contemporary Discourse
- By Abhijeet Muneshwar Vaidye
Abstract
Contemporary debates on Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) have gained renewed prominence in academic and policy circles, particularly through claims of epistemic decolonisation and cultural reclamation. While IKS is widely projected as an initiative to counter Western epistemic dominance, this paper critically examines whether its current articulation advances epistemic plurality or reproduces internal hierarchies rooted in caste and gender. Framed within the sociology of knowledge and critical social theory, the study interrogates the central question: whose knowledge matters in contemporary IKS discourse?
Employing a qualitative secondary research methodology, the paper undertakes a critical review of scholarly literature, policy documents such as the National Education Policy (2020), University Grants Commission guidelines, and institutional IKS curricula. Using a conceptual framework informed by power–knowledge relations, epistemic asymmetry, and Dalit feminist standpoint perspectives, the analysis examines patterns of inclusion, exclusion, and authority within dominant representations of Indian knowledge.
The findings reveal that while IKS discourse explicitly critiques colonial epistemologies, it often remains selective by privileging Sanskritic and Vedic textual traditions as the epistemic core of “Indian” knowledge. This selective decolonisation risks facilitating a process of re-Brahmanization, wherein Vedic culture is transformed into Vedic authority, marginalizing Dalit-Bahujan, Adivasi, women’s, and oral knowledge systems. The paper further demonstrates how caste and gender shape epistemic legitimacy, relegating marginalized communities to experiential roles while denying them theoretical agency.
The study argues that IKS holds emancipatory potential only if it is redefined as a plural, inclusive, and socially just epistemic framework. Without a critical engagement with internal hierarchies of caste and gender, decolonisation risks reproducing epistemic domination rather than dismantling it.
Keywords
Indian Knowledge Systems, Knowledge and Power, Caste and Gender, Epistemic Asymmetry, Decolonial Discourse, Sanskritic Authority, Inclusive Knowledge Frameworks
DOI link – https://doi.org/10.69758/GIMRJ/2601S01V14P003
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