This paper is an extended version of the Fourth Caparo Annual Lecture which I was privilieged to give at the University of Hull, England, on 24 October 1991. It is being published simultaneously by the University.

I am grateful to Bhikhu Parekh, Asghar Ali Engineer, James Björkman, Gopal Krishna, T. P. McNeil, and Noel O'Sullivan for their comments and criticisms. In the preparation of the present text I have been helped by the encouragement of several colleagues in Delhi, particulary Upendra Baxi, Dharma Kumar, Ashis Nandy, Ramashray Roy, Satish Saberwal and Jit Uberoi.

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