Abstract
The topic with which this paper' deals first began to interest me in 1958 when I was concluding a study of Hindus' reactions to working in a large factory. I had predicted considerable strain on those workers trying to be proper Hindus on the one hand and having to adjust to the demands of industrialism on the other. To my surprise, I found little strain. Some of the chief elements easing the strain, I discovered, were various types of Hindu fatalism. One man stated, It is my karma to work in the Another said, God provided me with an opportunity to work in the mill; that is how I got my job. With statements such as these, it was not very difficult for me to relate contemporary Hindu views with the teachings of the Upanishads, the Manu Dharmashastra, or the Bhagavad Gita, or to trace their relationships with the classical concepts of karma, dharma, the separation of actions from their results, and even the cycle of reincarnation. Although the fit was not perfect in every case, it was close enough so that I could argue for the view that Hindu fatalism was playing an important part in morally justifying significant social change. I had reached what I felt was a satisfactory plateau of explanation as to why Hindus in this particular factory felt so little strain in being proper Hindus and industrial laborers at the same time when suddenly I recalled that a number of Muslims also worked in the mill. Their willingness to work obviously could not stem from the Gita, karma, or the concept of reincarnation. Since the main question of my study had to do with Hindus and industrialism, I had systematically excluded Muslims from my sample. Now, at the final moment, I wished that I had interviewed a sample of Muslims as well-if only to filter out what
Published Version
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