What is the most beautiful note of music ? Nothing, the beauty of music lies only in the co-existence of notes. A thousand instruments need to sound together to produce the marvel of a symphony. That, my friend, is the secret of India.
What is the most beautiful color ? It is not blue – of a clear sky, not green – of a mango grove, not red – of a hibiscus. It is the absolute colorlessness of a ray of sunshine. Let it pass through a prism, and then you can marvel at the complete rainbow of colors. That, my friend, is the secret of India.
India is not a country. It is a dream. It is an idea – that the true liberty of man lies only in true equality, an idea to think beyond the hardened walls of custom and rigid practice, and an idea to dissolve the narrow boundaries of tribes and nations. India is an idea for mankind.
In 1947, a battered and destitute people, with only squalor and disease to claim as their properties, achieved their first victory of freedom. They did not speak a single language. They did not belong to a single race, they did not possess a single religion. But they had the audacious dream of living together as a single country. Even worse, they wanted to be a democracy – a complete democracy with universal franchise, every man and every woman sharing the dignity of equality. What has followed is now the greatest miracle in the modern history of mankind. Sixty years have passed, and the dream lives on, growing only stronger and stronger. What these people have discovered, my friend, is the ancient secret of India.
300 years earlier to this, around 1650 AD, a young prince in Delhi was compiling the first translation of the Upanishads into the Persian language. The crown prince for the richest empire in the world, a devout Muslim, and the apple of his father’s eye – Dara Shikoh observed, the only hope for the progress of the human spirit lies in the equality of religions, the equality of ideas. Thus, my friend, has he discovered the secret of India.
1800 years earlier to this, around 220 BC, a council of learned men was meeting at the behest of the emperor Ashoka – he did not call himself the greatest of the kings or as the mighty emperor, but as Devanampiya (the one loved by the gods) Piyadassi (the one who pleases every human being). Having built the Magadha empire – the mightiest in the world, Ashoka was still not satisifed. He knew he has yet to conquer a greater empire – that of his own inner self. He seeked to discover the one true religion and the council was conceived for this purpose. The council debated for a long time and finally discovered the one truth – the dignity of equality for all ideas. Thus, my friend, has the council of Ashoka discovered the secret of India.
300 years earlier to this, around 550 BC, an Acharya was holding the council for the republic of Taxila. The council was to decide if they have to provide more power to the representative, the raja, and maybe even turn into a kingdom. The Acharya decides in favour of the parishad – the council of the people. The ganarajya (republic) will have to continue, no person stands superior to the process of debate and consensus. Thus, my friend, has Taxila discovered the secret of India.
2000 years earlier to this, around 2500 BC, the council of the city of Meluha was meeting. The discussion was about the construction of a special palace for the commander of the army. No, the decision has been reached – it cannot be constructed at the expense of the common good of the society. And no, no slave labour can be employed in the city of Meluha. Thus, my friend, has the ancient Sindhu civilization discovered the secret of India. Leaving no trace of monuments marking superiority, the Sindhu civilization shall be the first egalitarian governing system that the world has seen.
Meluha was the sister to Sumeria. Taxila was the sister to Greece. Magadha was the sister to China. Delhi was the sister to Arabia. Cities rise and cities fall. But, the spirit of India lives on. Equality of mankind lies in equality of ideas. Betrayals to this cause have only brought peril and destruction to the country – temporary eclipses in the perennial civilization. But just as the Himalayas keep enriching the waters of the river Sindhu, the people of India keep discovering their much cherished secret.
The secret of India is the secret to any civilization. Civilization flourishes only in the interchange of ideas – only in the interchange of people. People who have betrayed this principle for the devil of racism and fundamentalism have only brought sorrow and shame to their cultures.
Having said everything I wanted to say, I now conclude this blog. I hope my posts will prove informative for anyone who is interested in self discovery. Good luck and good bye.
Let’s see what lessons we take from history. Idealistic extollations don’t achieve objective results. If Dara Shikoh, rather than furthering his capabilities as a scholar had furthered his capabilities as a political and military leader, his idealistic virtues would have benefited us the children of true India. Instead, Aurangazeb left a legacy, that paved way for British to fill the vacuum.
Nehru’s Hindi-Chini bhai bhai rhetoric rather than pragmatically working with the Chinese to resolve the border issues, a colonial legacy, would have averted the Ind0-China skirmishes and more strategically disallowed Pakistan from attaining the nuclear technology that they have today.
Underlying point is that, while multiple ethnicities and linguistic groups are tied together in a nation called India, based on a shared notion of history and culture, this cannot be taken for granted. Extolling the virtues of such, can be replaced with a more objective analysis of what ticks and what doesn’t in this dynamic grouping. Let’s not kid ourselves, we have many undercurrents or overcurrents of dissatisfaction. Conservatives in every state have been vocal, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharastra, Assam, while open dissent towards central government exists in North-eastern states (especially in Nagaland, Assam), in Kashmir. Khalistani sentiments haven’t died completely either, while the 20% muslims still feel far more closer to their supposed brethern in some god forsaken Saudi Arabia, than to their ethnically closer Hindu or non-muslim brothers.
What makes India tick? Right now, there’s potential for widespread dissatisfaction. As a south Indian, am I satisfied with a North India centric India, where a Prakrit language of little consequence is forced down on us in the name of a national language? Am I happy to see that Indian politics have been dominated by the Northerners?
What dominates our history texts is North India specific history. What about Rastrakutas, once considered one of the four most powerful ancient empires of it’s time, or Chalukyas, who controlled as far north as Kanpur/Kannauj. Or Cholas who’s extensive influence extended as far east as Java and probably farther. No, what dominates are Guptas (how far reaching was their influence? not to belittle their heritage). Rajasthan is on the map as THE tourist destinations. What about Karnataka, the land of temples and multiple temple complexes?
I am probably not that unhappy, but the above is just to reflect the potential for idyllic Indian unity to be unravelled.
I am a Telugu speaking person. It annoys me just as much when I am tagged as a “South Indian” as it does with the uniform label “Indian”. Telugu people are as different from Tamilians/Kannadigas as the French are different from Spanish/Italians.
You may be aware that Hindi is not any national language of India. We have 23 officially recognized languages in India. Hindi only has a special status, as the language most spoken in India.
In India, no language is persecuted. Instead of cribbing about cultural domination, why not do something productive ? Kerala is as popular as Rajasthan is, with respect to touristic spotlight. If the other states are not doing equally well, it is purely their own fault.
India is like a rainbow. Stealing some colours out of a rainbow is stupid. As an Indian, I ask every other Indian to be proud of their own language and showcase their own culture in the best possible way. That way, all the colours shall shine with equal brightness in the rainbow. Our very own national flag has been so cleverly designed to reflect this idea.
The feeling of Indianness is precisely this ability to welcome all influences and take pride in every colour there is. This does not mean that identities such as Telugu/Kannadiga/Bihari/Muslim cannot exist. As Vivekananda has said, we should have a culture with open windows. We should welcome people and influences from every corner of the world. It is time to revise the Quit India movment and start a Come to India movement.
About the skirmishes that we have with China and Pakistan, honestly are they that important ? We have far more important issues that we need to tackle as a nation. A strong and resurgent India will have a lot to teach the rest of the world. We need to take back that place of pride that we have always occupied in history.