L'Inde dans l'œuvre de Montesquieu

Although India is not the subject of a systematic treatment and analysis, its presence in Montesquieu’s writings, and mainly in the Esprit des Lois, is remarkable. This concerns ancient times, which attracted Montesquieu’s attention for the dynamics of international commerce and the effects of Alexander the Great’s conquests, as modern times as well, which offered many reasons of interest and examples connected to central aspects of Montesquieu’s social and political reflection. Mughal India is mainly important from this point of view, and the utilization of the available sources on this topic - François Bernier’s Voyages, Lettres édifiantes and curieuses and others - gives us the possibility of observing more precisely the development of Montesquieu’s ideas, either on the nature of despotic government and its social and economical effects, or on the relationships between religion, society and governments. The general representation of Indian world by Montesquieu firmly supports the idea of a great continuity of its social structure and of a strong resistance to change, and this produces an image which had durable effects for the cultural attitudes to India in the age following the publication of the Esprit des Lois.