A Journey back to the roots: Psychology in India

Ajit K. Dalal

Psychology as an academic discipline made a new beginning in India in the first decade of this century. Review of research shows that Western theories and concepts still constitute the core of research and teaching programmes in most of the Indian universities. This chapter argues that Indian psychologists live in two parallel worlds: one of west-oriented academic psychology to advance professional growth; and another of less formalized scholarship to satisfy their creative urges. As a result, academic psychology did not get enriched from diverse expertise and life-experiences of Indian psychologists. Though psychology has traversed a long distance in India, lack of direction has cast doubts about the application of psychology in the context of a rapidly changing socio-economic scenario. Psychology in India has remained dissociated from its own vast storehouse of knowledge inherent in the Indian philosophical texts. These scriptures and texts provide immense possibilities of developing psychological theories of self and human development. At the turn of the Millennium, psychology in India is returning to its roots and a new beginning seems to be in the offing.