ORIENTAL PHANTOMS ^T
yet another questionable division made by the West—the First, Second and Third World Countries). Thus, when Johannis Lichtenberger's book appeared the Orient, or the East, still related primarily to those nations which had adopted the Orthodox church—and Russia was one of them. This outlook remained in the European consciousness even at the time of Dostoevsky.
The connotation of 'Oriental' gradually changed and became applicable to the Asian colonies of the European nations. The vast body of 'research' into any and every aspect of the East became known as Orientalism. And because this field developed side by side with the expansion of colonialism, no aspect of Orientalist studies is devoid of political undertones for it is "a formidable structure of cultural domination."3 Needless to say, the English and the French were the pioneers in this field. Although the colonisers could not shut their eyes to the East's enormous cultural heritage, it was the European yardstick that was used to measure it and pronounce judgements on it. Orientalism became ^a method of controlling what seems to be a threat to some established view pf things."4 Armed as they were with a monotheistic religion, a Cartesian logic and the Rennaisance concept of man's supremacy over nature the European colonisers could not comprehend India's polytheism of over 3000 gods, a holistic view of man and nature, all of which dictated the aesthetics, art and philosophy of this country. India had to have one holy book akin to the Bible. Frantic efforts in this direction ultimately led to the translation of one chapter from the Indian epic, the Mahabharata, the Bhagawata Gita and pass it off to the West as the Indian Bible—a belief held to this day by many in Europe (Imagine a chapter of the Iliad or The Odyssey being used for similar purposes). What could not be understood had to be explained—and not just explained but expounded with a feeling of condescension and superiority, i.e. from a position of strength.
"The West is the actor the Orient a passive reactor. The West is the
spectator, the judge and jury, of every facet of Oriental behaviour "5 The attitude of England and France towards the Middle and l^ear East, though fundamentally the same, was of a slightly different nature. For one thing Islam was geographically adjacent to Europe and always stood as a more direct challenge, whether militarily, politically or intellectually. Islam, a syncretic religion incorporating elements of Judaism, Christianity and Zoroashtrianism, was monotheistic. The religious war of jehad launched by Islam was comparable to the Crusades. The Europeans could not come to terms with the territorial expansian of 'this heretic faith', Islam, in the middle ages. (A century after Mohammed's death the Islamic empire extended from Spain to China). Thus, both fear and denigration of Eastern barbarity and cruelty6 intermingled in European works pertaining to the Middle East whereas one's own were glossed over.7
We now turn our attention to nineteenth century Russia. Peter the Great's "window to Europe9' ushers in a century of European culture, including philosophy, literature and art into Russia. Russia gets rapidly