Taxila's Ruins. The Dream of a Unified Civilisation: Claude Levi-Strauss's and Octavio Paz's Works
In the final part of Tristes topiques, Lévi-Strauss meditates on the Taxila city's ruins. He shows nostalgia for a period that he names "Ancient World", which is characterized by coexistence between the great antic civilisations from the Hellenic Mediterranean to India. This period has been interrupted by the Islamic invasion. In a following variant, the author imagines again a union, this time between Buddhism and Christianity with the same obstacle factor: Islam. These cultural considerations on the relationship between Islam and the other are linked to the period's context, the Algerian War. Paz, enthusiastic reader of the book, comments the levi-straussian meditations. He takes up the idea of a missed occasion of a union between Buddhism and Christianity which would have changed the occidental values. A difference between the authors is to be found in the poet's esthetical fascination for the Islamic art in India. Paz reread the Indian civilisation history by starting with the religious conflict and with the missed opportunity of a fusion between Islam and Hinduism at the time of the Delhi's sultanate.