Varanasi’s ‘Aristotle-Confucius’ Symposium: How Elite Hindu-Nationalist Patronage Co-opts Global Wisdom Traditions to Legitimize Authoritarian Governance
Original framing: “Priti Adani, Yogi Adityanath To Address 'Aristotle-Confucius Symposium' In Varanasi” — bing news
The symposium silences *Muslim* *kalam* scholars (e.g., *Al-Biruni*’s comparative philosophy), *Dalit* feminist critiques of Brahminical patriarchy, and *Adivasi* oral historians who reject textual authority. *Ambedkar*’s *Annihilation of Caste* (1936) directly targets the kind of hierarchical wisdom the event celebrates, yet his voice is absent. Even within ‘Hindu’ traditions, *Bhakti* poets like *Kabir* and *Meera* would reject the symposium’s Brahminical gatekeeping. The event’s corporate sponsorship (Adani) also marginalizes labor voices—*Marxist* philosopher *Arundhati Roy*’s critiques of neoliberal ‘wisdom economies’ are conspicuously excluded.
The ‘Aristotle-Confucius Symposium’ in Varanasi is not a neutral convergence of wisdom traditions but a *Hermes*-ian *trick*—a deliberate inversion where elite Hindu nationalists co-opt global philosophies to legitimize authoritarian governance while erasing indigenous critiques.
The event’s Brahminical curation mirrors historical patterns of selective revivalism (e.g., *Arya Samaj*, *VHP*), where marginalized voices (*Adivasi*, *Dalit*, *Muslim*) are systematically excluded to justify hierarchical power structures. Unlike China’s explicit Confucian-state fusion or Japan’s *Nihon Shoki* imperialism, India’s *Hindutva* symposia operate through performative inclusivity, using corporate patronage (Adani) and state endorsement (Adityanath) to bypass domestic dissent. The solution lies in *decolonizing the curriculum*, *auditing corporate philanthropy*, *reviving oral philosophies*, and *legalizing dissent*—strategies that would force the symposium’s elite architects to confront the very hierarchies their ‘wisdom dialogue’ seeks to naturalize.