Idea of India

Idea of India is multifaceted and multilayered to say to say the least. It may be explored form Historical,   Geographical, cultural and multiple perspectives. Its antiquity lends it to many diverse interpretations beset with the contradictions as life itself is.

Looking at my passport I found two different words for India. Whereas the English version speaks of ‘India’ the Hindi version speaks of ‘Bharat’. This description lends itself to bi- polarity.  History demands proof whereas mythology is a matter of faith. On one plane the identity of India is based on the historical and geographical connotation given by others, as is the case with the name of an individual that one carries as his /her identity for a life time. At the same time the identity of mythology tends to be one that one carries as a self image of himself/herself that makes an individual what he considers one to be. One is self image the other is objective – social identity that one assumes.

The idea of India through all complexities and contradictions has to be explored from these two different perspectives. In a way this is a bi-polar situation that we confronted with.

In state of being mere sapiens as hunters and foragers ‘Man’ had no had no sense of ‘Country’. It was all geographical sense  about rivers Valleys Mountains. Even in the early stages of civilization there was no concept of any country and the tribes would move from one place to another and simply occupy it. There was no concept of ownership and  belonging to any specific country. The concept of country and ownership of the land by an individual, group, tribe or a king came much latter when man became food producer due to discovery of agriculture which process in itself was uneven over the lands and time span.

 In this manner when some tribes came to fertile plains of mighty river Sindhu it was identified as the land of Sindhu. They were so overawed by the mighty river that in oldest text of Rigveda we find that eight stanzas dedicated to mighty Sindhu have survived the ravages of the time. Over a period many tribes continue to pour in that often resulted in initial contest and eventual merger. Due to geographical proximity, Persians were next to come into contact with that area and due to linguistic reasons as they could not pronounce “S’ and “S” turned to “H” and the land was identified as Hindustan and the inhabitants of the land were given identity as Hindu. It must be noted that the word Hindu does not carry the same connotation as religion. It was erroneously given religious connotation much later by foreigners who came with concept of organized religion with one Holy book, a Prophet and organized religious establishment. Whereas till this day we do not have any specific definition of  the word “Hindu”. As a religion and it lends itself to multiple interpretations. It may be conceded the people of the country have a rich mythology in the forms of Puranas and Epics. They contain the historical remnants and   descriptions of various tribes that came to occupy this land at different times. The continuity that is presently given to many episodes of Purannas is process of adaptation, interpolation, elimination and merging of many narratives came at a very later date. It may be conceded that many of these Puranic- mythological, traditions and rituals connected to these narratives continue to influence thinking  and imagination of the  bulk of the population till this day and are observed in day to day life.

The country we call today India has seen rise of many mighty empires that may be envy of any other empires in the world and have mase splendid contribution to culture ,art and knowledge in various fields. It has also seen fragmentation of empires into various kingdoms and fiefdoms continuously at war with each other causing untold misery. It has a lofty tradition of highly speculative philosophy and advance in sciences as well as suffers from ridiculous superstations. It is a society beset with numerous contradictions as the life itself is. The society in this country in essence mirrors the nature of ‘Man-kind’.

Another aspect that needs to be stressed is that while political boundaries have been changing with kaleidoscopic pace in the History whereas the linguistic boundaries are natural and have remained constant. No doubt the numerous invasions have left their imprint on the language but their distinctness has survived the language may change but it never dies. In fact language is the oldest tradition of the man and every language is a living capsule of collective historical experience of that region. People belonging to that region share unique traits and cultural traditions. It has to be acknowledged that the variety of the languages spoken in India is staggering so is the cultural diversity.            

 Another fact that cannot be denied is whereas symbol of Political power is sword that divides and the power grows with that division. Though sometimes foisted imperial uniformity gives illusion of unity but it is only language that unites. In this way language- culture (Not to be confused with court culture) and   political power move along conflicting trajectories.

 It is mute multitude that continues to grow as grass of the soil that is trodden under the feet of marching armies and hooves of horses that unites them in their perpetual hunger and suffering.
It is in order to address this factor we find emergence of Bhakti- Sufi era poetry cutting along established religious establishments and priestly class- so called guardians of religions to bring balm to them. Bhakti- Sufi poets emerged in all the languages, sang with unfettered joy and compassion bridging all faiths and administering the balm to the wounded souls.  The Sufi poetry articulated the defiance against orthodox clergy and Bhakti poets defied the monopoly of Brahmins and shattered caste distinctions. This movement swept across the subcontinent called India and spoke in multiple languages and voices diverse and distinct as the languages spoken across the land. This gave the uniqueness to India and spoke about common man without distinction of caste, creed and region and religion.

It is this complexity and multiplicity that is at the core of consciousness of sense of India and any measure to impose uniformity in the name of Unity is doomed to fail as variety is at the very essence of the NATURE.    

( A Talk  presented on 3^rd August 2023 at the’ Umesha’ A Festival of letters- International Writers’ meet 3 -6^th August organized at Bhopal by Sahitya Akademi.)