The Immortals Of Meluha and The Republic by Plato : A comparative study – Part 1

May 4, 2012 | Filed under: Books | Posted by: yusufsufi2012

The best for a man were not to have been born or to have seen the rays of light, but if once born, to pass through the gates of death as speedily as may be….

Brief introduction about Republic and The Immortals of Meluha

Plato’s Republic is a sprawling work with dazzling ideas of Plato. The book was written in around 360-380 B.C. The book has two original versions namely “respubica” and “politica” the only connecting link between these three books is the thread which is justice.

Plato’s Republic is one of the later middle dialogues out of the 42 dialogues written by him. The book is in form of conversation between Socrates and his friends. Socrates is Plato’s alter ego. Plato used his name as the central character throughout the book in order to pay tribute to his master.

Immortals of Meluha, on the other hand, is one of the three novels written by AMESH TRIPATHI. The book is a national best seller. The book deals with an imaginary kingdom Meluha similar to the one discussed in The Republic. Lord Shiva has been represented as a common head of a nomadic tribe who brought enlightenment to the society and thus led them towards good.

REPUBLIC

The conversation between Socrates and his friends began with the definition of justice. Some said justice is telling the truth and paying ones debt. While on the other hand some said it’s about doing good to friends and harm to enemies. Thrasymachus being a sophist said that justice is doing good only for self and harm to everyone.

Socrates criticized all these notions one by one. He said that sometimes it’s very difficult to distinguish between friend and foe. Moreover tit for tat cannot be the justice. He regarded the concept of Thrasymachus as a treatise on immoral. He rejected his view on the ground that no one is willing to rule. It’s only because the good or just people don’t want the power to go into the hands of evil that they agree to rule. Moreover it is not the ruler but the ruled who are benefited and any honourium paid in return to the work done by the ruler cannot be considered.

It was then that Socrates said that in order to understand the notion of justice in individual, we are supposed to understand it on larger scale, i.e. society. He cited the example of few short sighted people who cannot read small font letters ascribed on wall at a distance. But if those very same letters are written in larger font, they become visible to all of them.

Now the questions that arises is that what is a society and why do we need it? How to realize this society?

Society is an organism characterized by differentiation; subordination and integration above all. We need a society for two reasons namely:

mutual need
difference in aptitude

Individual as a whole is always dependent on other for its need while a society is self-sufficient. Both the society and individual owes each other for their existence. Now what Plato did was to imagine a society which is just in nature.

However such society is only imaginary and thus his concept about an ideal society is utopian. Aristotle regarded republic as an extreme form of dictatorship in his ideal society. Plato talked about three classes namely:

guardians
auxiliaries
economic class

The guardians:

The guardians were regarded as the best men in the society. They were responsible for ruling the state. Such people are believed to have qualities like wisdom, courage, spirit. However guardians are free from any lust and desire. They are philosopher kings who know what is right and what is wrong and always act for the welfare of the society.

The auxiliaries:

They are the watchdogs friendly for own men and fierce for others. They were responsible for protecting the country from enemies and maintaining law and order. The auxiliaries have qualities like spirit and courage.

The economic class:

They comprises of the traders, merchants, doctors, call-girls e.tc they have qualities like appetite. They lack qualities like wisdom and spirit and thus for the lower class of the society.

This classification is similar to the one mentioned in Geeta. However we must remember that in both the books the class division was not based on discrimination of birth and family. It is our deeds that lead us to a higher or a lower class.

Read Part 2 : The Republic by Plato : An analysis [The Immortals Of Meluha and The Republic by Plato : A comparative study - Part 2]

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