Implicit in The Discovery of India is a view of freedom’s multiple and uneven histories across the globe—in the West, China and India. In the West, religious dogmas ruled for most of human history. There was limited freedom of belief. Yet, there was greater flexibility of social structures in Europe than in other parts of the world. In China, religion had a more limited role and there was greater flexibility of mind as compared with Europe or India—reflected in a social equilibrium that kept China stable and unchanging for long periods. In India, by contrast, ‘extraordinary freedom and
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