This talk argues that vernacular traditions present the epistemological and metaphysical possibility of pluralism and an alternate modernity in a theory of the true name. Juxtaposing the theory of the name against the presuppositions of religious orthodoxy and of modernity, it argues further that the genealogy of Gandhi’s thought rests in the vernacular traditions. 

Anuradha Veeravalli taught philosophy for 24 years, firstly at Hindu College and 2005 onward at the Dept. of Philosophy, University of Delhi, until she took voluntary retirement in 2017. She has published a book titled, Gandhi in Political Theory: Truth, Law and Experiment (Ashgate 2014). She has contributed the entries ​“Indian Philosophies” and ​“Nyaya” in The Encyclopaedia of Religion, ed. Lindsay Jones, 2005. She has worked and written on Gandhi, political theory, and religion from an epistemological point of view and is currently working on a book considering the foundations of the vernacular.