From Inner Worlds to Cultural Currents: The Legacy of Sudhir Kakar’s Work on Indian Identity

Abstract

Sudhir Kakar (1938–2024) trained as a psychoanalyst and was one of the foremost clinicians who attempted to understand Indian identity and psyche through the application of Western psychoanalysis. Kakar infused classical psychoanalysis with uniquely Indian experiences of tradition, religion, mythology and folktales to enter the ‘inner world’ of Hindu families and households. In this paper we attempt to trace the journey of Sudhir Kakar’s work using two books authored by Kakar to describe the shift in focus and attention over a span of the almost 30 years that lapsed between the two books. In The Inner World, (1998) Kakar’s work as a psychoanalyst forms the backdrop as he delved into the intricate dynamics of Hindu society and childhood. Kakar’s analysis highlighted how cultural routines, and religious practices can influence the development of children’s identities, providing a nuanced understanding of the intersection between mythology and psychology in Indian society. In the second book, The Indians: Portrait of a people, (2007) Kakar, along with anthropologist Katharina Kakar, moved beyond psychoanalysis and demonstrated a distinctively cultural turn in the understanding of Indian identity. The Indians explored the impact of rapid modernization and urbanization on childhood experiences and the cultural frameworks within which families operate, attempting to reveal the contemporary face of the new age Indian family. Through a review of the essential features of both volumes we will demonstrate the legacy of his work and its contribution to decolonizing clinical psychology and developing a culturally driven understanding of the Indian psyche.