D.P.

MUKERJI
DHURJATI
PARASAD
MUKERJI
(1894- 1961)
 ABOUT HIM
D.P. Mukerji was born on 5 October 1894 in a middle class Bengali brahmin
family with a long tradition of involvement in higher education. He did
undergraduate degree in science and postgraduate degree in history and
economics from Calcutta University.
• In 1924 he was appointed as a lecturer in the department of Economics
and Sociology at Lucknow University.
• From 1938-41 he served as Director of Information under the first
Congress-led government of the United Provinces of British India
( present day Uttar Pradesh)
• In 1947 he served as a member of the U.P Labor Enquiry Committee.
• In 1949 he was appointed as professor at Lucknow University by the
special order of the Vice Chancellor.
• In 1953 he was appointed as professor of Economics at Aligarh Muslim
University.
•Between the 1920s and the 1950s, sociology in India was equated
with the two major department of Bombay and Lucknow.
•Both began as combined departments of sociology and economics.
•While the Bombay department in this period was led by G.S.
Ghurye, theLucknow department has three major figures, the
famous ‘Trinity’ of Radhakamal Mukerjee ( the founder), D.P. Mukerji
and D.N. Majumdar.
•Although all three were known and widely respected, D.P. Mukerji
was perhaps the most popular.
•In fact D.P. Mukerji- or D.P. as he was generally known- was among
the most influential scholars of his generation not only in sociology
but in intellectual and public life beyond the academy.
•His influence and popularity came not so much from his scholarly
writings as from his teaching, his speaking at academic events, and
his work in media, including newspaper articles and radio programs.
•D.P. came to sociology via history and economics, and retained an
active interest in a wide variety of subjects ranging across
literature, music, films, western and Indian philosophy, Marxism,
political economy, and development planning.
•He was strongly influenced by Marxism, though he had more faith
in it as a method of social analysis than as a political program for
action.
•D.P. wrote many books in Bengali and English.
•His INTRODUTION TO INDIAN MUSIC is a pioneering work,
considered a classic in its genre.
D.P. MUKERJI ON TRADITION AND
•It was through his dissatisfaction with Indian history and economics

CHANGE
that D.P. turned to sociology.
•He felt very strongly that the crucial distinctive features of India was
social system , and that, therefore, it was important for each social
science to be rooted in this context.
•The decisive aspect of the Indian context was the social aspects:
history, politics and economics in India were less developed in
comparison with the west, however, the social dimension were ‘Over-
Developed’.
•[Link], “…my conviction grew that India had society, and very
little else. In fact, she had too much of it. Her history, her economics,
and even her philosophy, I realized, had always centered in social
groups, and at best, in socialized person.”
•Given the centrality of society in India, it became the first duty of an
Indian sociologist to study and to know the social traditions of India.
•Thus, tradition was a living tradition, maintaining its links with the past, but
also adapting to the present and thus evolving over time.
•As he wrote, “…it is not enough for the Indian sociologist to be a sociologist.
He must be an Indian first, that is, he is to share in the folkways, mores,
customs, and traditions, for the purpose of understanding his social system and
what lies beneath it and beyond it.
•He believed that, “in keeping with this view, sociologists should learn and be
familiar with both high and low languages and cultures – not only Sanskrit,
Persian, or Arabic, but also local dialects,
•D.P. argued that Indian culture and society are not individualistic in the
western sense.
•The average Indian individuals pattern of desire is more or less rigidly fixed by
his sociocultural group patterns and he hardly deviates from it.
•Thus, the Indian social system is basically oriented towards group, sect, or
caste- action, not voluntarist individual action.
•Although Voluntarism was beginning to influence the urban middle classes, its
appearance ought to be itself an interesting subject of study for the Indian
•Traditions are thus strongly rooted in the past that is kept alive through the
repeated recalling and retelling of stories and myths.
•However, this links with the past does not rule out change, but indicates a
process of adaptation to it.
•Internal and external sources of change are always present in every society.
•The most commonly cited internal sources of change in western societies is the
economy, but this source has not been as effective in India.
•Classic conflict, D.P. believed had been “smoothed and covered by caste
tradition” in the Indian context, where new class relations had not yet emerged
very sharply.
•Based on this understanding, he concluded that one of the first tasks for a
dynamic Indian sociology would be to provide an account of the internal, non-
economic causes of change.
•[Link] that there were three principle of change recognized in Indian
traditions, namely- shruti, smriti, and anubhava.
•Of these, the last- anubhava or personal experience- is the revolutionary
principle.
•However, in the Indian context personal experience soon flowered into collective
•D.P. emphasized that this was true not only of hindu but also of Muslim
culture in India.
•In Indian Islam, the Sufis have stressed love and experience rather than
holy texts, and have been important in bringing about change.
•Thus, for D.P. the Indian context is not one where discursive reason
(buddhi- vichar)is the dominant force for change; anubhava and prem
( experience and love) have been historically superior as agents of change.
•Conflict and rebellion in the Indian context have tended to work through
collective experience.
•But this resilience of tradition ensures that the pressure of conflict
produces change in the tradition without breaking it.
•So we have repeated cycles of dominant orthodoxy being challenged by
popular revolts which succeed in transforming orthodoxy, but are eventually
reabsorbed into this transformed tradition.
•This process of change- of rebellion contained within the limits of an
overarching tradition- is typical of a caste society, where the formation of
the classes and class consciousness has been inhibited.
•D.P.’s views on tradition and change led him to criticize all
instance of unthinking borrowing from western intellectual
traditions, including in such contexts as development planning.

•Tradition was neither to be worshipped nor ignored, just as

modernity was needed but not to be blindly adopted.

D.P. was simultaneously a proud but critical inheritor of

tradition, as well as an admiring critic of the modernity that he
acknowledged as having shaped his own intellectual perspective
 N T H E B L AN K S
ILL I
1- Radha Kamal Mukherjee, D.P. Mukerji and D.N Majumdar together are
known as __________________.

2- His ___________________ is a pioneering work, considered a classic in its

genre.

3- D.P. argued that Indian culture and society are not ______________ in the
western sense.

4- The three principle recognized for change in the Indian tradition are
___________________.

5- Tradition was ______________ tradition.

 QUESTI
QUESTION-1- Explain the three principle recognized for
ON
change in Indian tradition.

QUESTION-2- What did D.P tell about the Indian sociologist,

what are the criteria's are and Indian sociologist?

QUESTION-3- Why was D.P.’s view of tradition change was

criticized?
T H AN K
YOU