RE-READING T. S. ELIOT’S THE WASTE LAND THROUGH INDIAN KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS: UPANISHADIC THOUGHT AND THE QUEST FOR SPIRITUAL RENEWAL

Deepak

doi:10.29121/shodhgyan.v3.i1.2025.129

Authors

Deepak M.A (English), NET, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhgyan.v3.i1.2025.129

Keywords:

T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land, Indian Knowledge Systems, Upanishads, Comparative Philosophy, Modernism, Spiritual Renewal, Decolonial Reading, Mandukya Upanishad, Cross-Cultural Hermeneutics

Abstract [English]

This paper aims at a critical re-reading of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land (1922) with the intent of analyzing the philosophical theories which underlie it in the context of Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), specifically the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and other dharmic systems. Eastern thought has been recognized as Eliot's preoccupation in the scholarship that already exists, but most studies have considered his reliance on Indian materials as ornamental or exoticist. This review suggests that, far from being ornamental, the Upanishadic residue of The Waste Land is essential: that the poem's philosophical construction, its epistemological fears, its soteriological hopes are all in some way determined by Indian philosophy. The present paper focuses on the contributions of recent scholars working on comparative philosophy, postcolonialism and the framework of the National Education Policy (NEP 2020) in introducing concepts such as brahman-Atman identity, maya, doctrine of detachment (vairagya) and theory of consciousness in the Mandukya Upanishad that facilitate the understanding of the structure and meaning of the poem.

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