Multiple Images

UNIT 1 INDIA: MULTIPLE IMAGES*

Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Tradition of Plurality and Culture of Accommodation in Indian Society
1.2.1 Facets of Pluralism and Unity in India
1.2.2 The Eternal Syncretic Tradition in Hindu Spiritualism
1.2.3 The Historical Trajectories of India
1.3 Colonial and Western Imagination of India
1.3.1 Macaulay’s Minute
1.3.2 James Mill’s Description of Indian Civilisation
1.3.3 India as Imagined by Hegel, Marx and Engels
1.3.4 Max Weber on India
1.3.5 Mark Twain on India
1.4 Cultural Encounter: East and West
1.5 The Assimilative, Liberal and Cultural Nationalist Imagination of India
1.5.1 Rabindranath Tagore
1.5.2 Gandhi
1.5.3 Nehru
1.5.4 Ambedkar
1.5.5 Cultural Nationalist Imagination
1.6 Nationhood and Uniqueness of India
1.7 Let Us Sum Up
1.8 References

1.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit you should be able to:
Explain the traditional facets of plurality of Indian society and the legacies
of unity and diversity therein.
Elucidate the eternal syncretic tradition in Hindu spiritualism
Develop a critique of the colonial description of Indian society
Underline Hegel’s, Marx’s Weber's and Twain’s visions of India
Elaborate Tagore’s, Gandhi’s, Nehru’s and others’ perspectives of India, and
Examine the plural foundation of Indian society as enshrined in the Indian
Constitution

1.1 INTRODUCTION
India as a society is founded on pluralism and traditions of accommodation and
cultural liberalism. It has a long historical legacy of such a tradition. However

*Contributed by Prof. Debal K SinghaRoy, IGNOU, New Delhi 11

Ideas of India the cultural ethos of Indian society has not been interpreted and imagined
uniformly. While Indian leaders, philosophers, poets and writers have highlighted
the essential plural and accommodative foundations of Indian society based on
historical facts, the colonial rulers and many Westerners have portrayed Indian
society in negative terms. This unit will provide glimpses of such images and
will create the backdrop for the further discussion on Indian society. It begins
with the essential facets of the culture of accommodation and pluralism, unity
and diversity of Indian society. It also provides a historical glimpse of Indian
society and presents a brief outline of colonial imagination of Indian society
through Macaulay’s Minutes, and James Mill’s description of Indian civilisation.
Furthermore the understandings of Indian society by Hegel, Marx, Engels, Max
Weber and Mark Twain are also briefly given in this unit. This would be followed
by the images and description of India by Edward Said, Rabindranath Tagore,
Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Ambedkar and the cultural nationalist
ideologues. The plural foundation of nationhood, the uniqueness of India and
the constitutional foundation of Indian society are also discussed in this unit. Let
us begin with a discussion of the plural foundation of Indian society.

1.2 TRADITION OF PLURALITY AND CULTURE

OF ACCOMMODATION IN INDIAN SOCIETY
As we try to develop an image of India, we very often encounter varieties of
ideals, images and realities of India. We have a huge landscape with long
civilizational heritage, rich religious and philosophical traditions, profound
cultural frameworks and economic foundations to describe the socio- political
and geographical dynamics of India. Significantly all these ideals, images and
realities have always remained plural in Indian society.

1.2.1 Facets of Pluralism and Unity in India

Society consists of people. In India we find people of distinctive physical features.
Herbert Risley had classified the people of India into seven racial types. These
are (i) Turko-Iranian, (ii) Indo-Aryan, (iii) Scytho-Dravidian, (iv) Aryo-Dravidian,
(v) Mongolo-Dravidian, (vi) Mongoloid, and (vii) Dravidian.
According to the 1971 census there are 1652 languages in India which are spoken
as mother tongue. The famous linguist Grierson noted 179 languages and 544
dialects. India is a land of 22 official languages, 13 different scripts and over 720
dialects. India is a land of multiple religions. Though India is the birth place of
Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and varieties of tribal religions, every
major religion like Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Bahaism
have their strong followers in India. According to census 2011, followers of
Hinduism form 72.8% of the total population, Islam 14.2%, Christianity 2.3%,
Sikhism 1.7%, Buddhism 0.7%, Jainism 0.4% and other religious groups forms
0.7% followers.There are also caste or caste like diversities within most of these
religious groups.
However despite these diversities there are strong bonds of unity in India which
are reflected in the geopolitical unity marked by the Himalayas in the north end
and the oceans on the other sides. Politically India is a sovereign, secular and
democratic state. The same Constitution and same Parliament cover every part
of it. We share the same political culture marked by the norms of democracy,
12 secularism and social justice. The ideal of geo-political unity of India is culturally
and historically inherited as reflected in the concepts of Bharatvarsha (the ancient Multiple Images
classic name for India). The other important source of unity of India is marked
by the institution of pilgrimage which is reflected in the network of shrines and
sacred places in different parts of India.

1.2.2 The Eternal Syncretic Tradition in Hindu Spiritualism

The syncretic tradition of Indian culture provides the space for accommodation
and tolerance and the bondage which creates the mosatic of unity in diversity.
Though Hinduism is the majority religion of India, The tradition of
accommodation is eternal to Hinduism as it is practised as the way of life in
India. Philosophically it has upheld the tradition that has conceived the whole
world to be part of a single family: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (“vasudha”, the
earth; “iva”, is ; and “kutumbakam”, family). The concept originates in the Vedic
scripture Maha Upanishad (Chapter 6, Verse 72): It goes further to say that ayam/
nijah Paroveti ganana laghuchetasam udaracharitanam tu vasudhaiva
kutumbakam which means: "Only small minded man discriminate saying: One
is a relative; the other is a stranger. For those who live magnanimously the entire
world constitutes but a family. It is considered an integral part of the Hindu
philosophy.
Hinduism is founded on the spirit of universality. As Vivekananda has aptly
pointed out in his famous Chicago speech in 1893, Hinduism as a religion has
taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance that believes not only
in universal toleration, but accepts all religions as true. He further pointed out
that India as a nation has sheltered the persecuted and refugees of all religions
and all nations of the earth. On that occasion he quoted a few lines from a Vedic
hymn that depicts the essence of Indian society and Hinduism:
“As the different streams having their sources in different places all
mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which people
take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked
or straight, all lead to Thee”.

1.2.3 The Historical Trajectories of India

Hinduism has traditionally been defined as a way of life rather than a monolithic
religion. As way of life it has remained linked to varieties of societal practices
and its civilizational trajectories. India possesses the 5,000 years old heritage of
the Indus Valley Civilization, known as the Harappan Civilization (c. 3300-
c.1500BCE). While tracing the trajectory of Indian history, we trace it roots to
the Vedic society ( c.1500-c. 200BCE), and also note its encounters and the
emergence of Jainism and Buddhism, medieval dynastic rules, Persian, and Greek
attacks (c. 200 BCE-c.1200 CE); repeated Muslim attacks and formation of
Muslim Sultanate, spread of Bhakti movements, emergence of Sikhism,
strengthening of Vijayanagar Empire in the south India (c.1200-1526 CE),
formation and expansion of Mughal, Maratha, Sikh and other empires; the arrival
of British colonial power and end of Mughal power (c.1526-1857CE),
consolidation of British colonial power and India’s struggle for freedom (1857-
1947). All through these phases of historical changes, challenges and encounters
with outside forces, India has retained the culture of pluralism and accommodation.
However the response of Indian society to the changing historical trajectory in
general and to the outside forces in particular has been portrayed differently by
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Ideas of India various scholars. In the following section of this unit we will provide a glimpse
of such portrayal and imagination of India by Macaulay, Hegel, Marx and Engels,
Weber, Mark Twain and others

Check Your Progress 1

1) Identify the main features of unity and diversity in India
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1.3 COLONIAL AND WESTERN IMAGINATION

OF INDIA
The colonial power had made a negative portial of Indian society, its people and
culture, language and education. This perspective was widely depicted in the
infamous Macaulay’s Minute on Education, February 2, 1835, James Mill's
account of India etc.

1.3.1 Macaulay’s Minute

The document reads:

“…that the dialects commonly spoken among the natives of this part of India
contain neither literary nor scientific information, and are moreover so poor and
rude …. ....... I have read translations of the most celebrated Arabic and Sanscrit
works.
I have never found one among them who could deny that a single shelf of a good
European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. The
intrinsic superiority of the Western literature is indeed fully admitted and I
certainly never met with any orientalist who ventured to maintain that the Arabic
and Sanscrit poetry could be compared to that of the great European nations. …
It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say that all the historical information which
has been collected from all the books written in the Sanscrit language is less
valuable than what may be found in the most paltry abridgments used at
preparatory schools in England. In every branch of physical or moral philosophy,
the relative position of the two nations is nearly the same.……”
Hence Macaulay suggested that “we ought to employ them in teaching what is
best worth knowing, that English is better worth knowing than Sanscrit or Arabic,
We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between
us and the millions whom we govern, -a class of persons Indian in blood and
colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect. To that class
we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those
dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to
render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass
of the population”(http://home.iitk.ac.in/~hcverma/Article/Macaulay-
14 Minutes.pdf).
1.3.2 James Mill’s Description of Indian Civilisation Multiple Images

Many colonial historians have described Indian civilization with various negative
attributes. For instance, an English historian James Mill, compared the Hindus
with the “savages of America”; the Indian architectural and sculptural creations
were termed “arts of the barbarian”; and India was, in these writings, a “half-
civilised nation”. The colonial scholars also considered the Indian way of life
abominable and believed that it needed to be metamorphosed and given a western
orientation. This perception was behind the “civilising mission” that the British
had embarked upon. It is to be mentioned here that their description of India was
not only impressionistic, but also biased. They were unable to take cognizance
of several noble ethos of Indian society. both in their imagination and writings.

Mill's low estimate of the state of civilisation attained by the Hindus provided a
justification for continued British rule, and supported the view that India should
be governed according to civilised European standards, rather than those of the
native population. Mill believed that ‘the English government in India with all
its vices is a blessing of unspeakable magnitude to the population of Hindustan’
(https://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/james-mill-and-india).

1.3.3 India as Imagined by Hegal, Marx and Engels

In the imagination of Hegel, Marx and Engels, India appeared to be a static
identity. They figured India as distinctive specimen. For Hegel, the dawn of history
was in the East. But China and India remained unchanged for millennia. In Hegel’s
own words: “India like China is a phenomenon antique as well as modern; one
which has remained unchanged and fixed”.

Marx used Indian material to elaborate his materialistic theories of the social
history of Europe. He described very early stages of human society in which all
men were both owners and workers. Marx believed that a society of this nature
had actually existed in India from the most ancient times until the British conquest.
In the Communist Manifesto central concern was the societies which were his
based on class differentiation. Here no reference was made to the nature of society
in India, China, or other countries of Asia. In his “Principles of Communism”,
Engels in 1847 referred to India and China as countries which for thousands of
years have made no progress. In the same place he refers to semi-barbarian
countries which previously had more or less remained outside of the line of
historical development. These are now doomed to be taken over by civilization,
personified above all by English industry and trade (cf. Thorner 1980).

The most distinctive character of India according to Marx is its age-old village
system. The great mass of the population are dispersed over the surface of the
country in tiny agglomerations. Situated on its own tract of arable and waste
lands, each village forms a little world unto itself with an independent organization
and a distinct life. The dominant feature of the village is the “domestic union of
agricultural and manufacturing pursuits”. The “peculiar combination of hand-
weaving, hand-spinning and hand-tilling agriculture” gives the villages self-
sufficiency (Marx 1853)

Since the Indian villages had preserved their ancient structure, Marx described
Indian villages to have “stereotyped primitive forms”. Another label he applied
to them was “family communities, implying that they were held together by ties
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Ideas of India of consanguinity”. Caste and slavery are mentioned as village features, but only
in passing and not much is made of them. There is an isolated reference to
differences in rank (Thorner 1980). For Marx self- sufficing communities i,e.
Village communities had some specific characters:

“These idyllic village communities had always been the solid foundation of
oriental despotism… they restrained the human mind within the smallest possible
compass, making it the unresisting tool of superstition, enslaving it beneath
traditional rules, depriving it of all grandeur and historical energies. …..that these
little communities were contaminated by distinctions of caste and by slavery,
that they subjected man to external circumstances instead of elevating man to
sovereign of circumstances, that they transformed a self-developing social state
into never-changing natural destiny”

1.3.4 Max Weber

Max Weber viewed the evolution and transformation of the world in terms of
rationalization of thoughts, ethics and actions. For him the society in India that is
founded on the traditional spirit of Hinduism, is devoid of the rational spirit to
develop rational capitalism in society. The predominance of “otherworldly”
mysticism – in which salvation can only be achieved through a process of
detachment from material wellbeing, has made the people remain grounded on
traditional thoughts and actions.

However Max Weber's thesis has been contested by many scholars on the ground
that many traditional business communities have contributed to the growth of
capitalism; that many have compartmentalised their religion from economic
activities and have contributed to the growth of capitalism. It has also been
mention that the, process of capital accumulation in India in to be understand in
terms of specific nature of Indian culture and economy; and not by aping the
west.

Moreover there is no dearth of scholars who have effectively shown India, its
people and culture with a positive connotation and spirit. Here we may cite the
example of Mark Twain:

1.3.5 Mark Twain

America’s beloved humorist and one of its best known writers, Samuel Langhorne
Clemens, better known to the world as Mark Twain came to India in January,
1896. Based on his extensive visit to India, Mark Twain wrote that “India is the
cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history,
the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition.” Twain records
in his autobiography, “an imaginary land - a fairy land, dreamland, a land made
out of poetry and moonlight for the Arabian Nights to their gorgeous Miracles
in. . .” . He found the people “pleasant and accommodating.” He added “They
are kindly people. . . . The face and the bearing that indicate a surly spirit and a
bad heart seemed . . . rare among Indians.

Commenting on the Indian heritage, Twain said: “India had the start of the whole
world in the beginning of things. She had the first civilization; she had the first
accumulation of material wealth; she was populous with deep thinkers and subtle
intellects; she had mines and woods and a fruitful soil. ...”. He was intrigued by
16 the diversities in the Indian way of life. “Their character and their history, their
customs and their religion confront you with riddles at every turn - riddles which Multiple Images
are a trifle more perplexing after they are explained than they were before,” he
wrote.

Twain said repeatedly that India was his favorite land on the whole 'Equator
journey'. He loved the color and variety of Indian life. Take the famous passage
in "Following the Equator" : This is indeed India - the land of dreams and romance,
of fabulous wealth and fabulous poetry, of splendour and rags, of palaces and
hovels, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the . . . cradle of the
human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of
legend, great-grandmother of tradition . . . the one land that all men desire to see,
and having once seen, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for all the
shows of all the rest of the globe combined (cf.Sharma 1968)

Check Your Progress 2

1) What was the objective of British education in India according to Macaulay?
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2) What were the features of Indian villages according to Marx?
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1.4 CULTURAL ENCOUNTER: EAST AND WEST

It is important to note that for centuries the British kept on describing India in
terms of their own understanding and imagination of Indian society and its history.
These descriptions tried precisely to justify the continuity and expansion of the
colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent. However from the later part of the 19th
and early 20th century with the gradual spread of English education and emergence
of a thin section of middle class the public awareness among Indians about the
colonial perception of India and its culture, society and civilization started
growing. They started to react and object to the colonial assumptions of Indians,
which were biased and derogatory in many ways. The arrival of the printing
press, both vernacular and English, and increased connectivity widely contributed
to such articulations.

Indian scholars and leaders developed a critical view not only western culture,
but also of their own culture. The cultural contacts made the scholars see the
17
Ideas of India strengths and weaknesses of both the cultures. Consequently, there have been
descriptions of both the Oriental and of the West by scholars.

It is to mention here that India has got unique spiritual tradition and has
experienced several movements to regenirate this tradition. Bhakti movement in
15th century was a popular movement which treated all sections of society equally
and it developed two traditions of Saguna and Nirguna. The first one believes in
the form of God Vishnu or Shiv relating to the Vaishnavite or Shaivaite traditions.
It advocated equality among all the castes. The followers of Nirguna believed in
formless universal God. Ravidas and Kabir were the major figures of this tradition.
It became more popular among the dalits in urban areas in the early 20th century
as it provided the possibility of salvation for all. It promised social equality.

1.5 THE ASSIMILATIVE, LIBERAL AND

CULTURAL NATIONLIST IMAGINATION OF
INDIA
Although there were substantial differences among the social thinkers, and
nationalist scholars on the necessity and outcome of these cultural contacts, they
were agreed that the pre-colonial era was neither “dark” nor “bereft of glory”.
The Indian freedom fighters, scholars, poets and philosophers widely highlighted
the underlying facets of unity in Indian society that was a precursor in attaining
‘nationhood’.

The writings of of R.G. Bhandarkar, Bankimchandra Chatterjee, Rabindranath

Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru Ambedkar and many others, widely
contributed to lay the foundation of nationalist discourse of Indian unity. Some
scholars highlighted the aspects of civilizational unity of Indian society to
strengthen the foundation of Indian nationhood

1.5.1 Rabindranath Tagore

Tagore has imagined India as assimilative, cosmopolitan, compassionate, liberal
and quintessentially secular philosophically. This is most comprehensively
expounded in his classic poem 'Bharat Tirtha' (Indian Pilgrimage), where Tagore
writes:

“Oh! Mother, let my mind awake slowly on this sacred shore of the sea,
where great souls of the world have come together to pay reverence.
Here with outstretched hands we bow down to the Divine in human form.
……..Adore here your reverential Mother Earth where great souls have
come together on the seashore to pay reverence”.
With regard to the arrival of outsiders in India he writes: “Nobody knows
whose invitation invoked so many souls who have gathered here like a
turbulent current of river that has come and dissolved itself in the Divine
Ocean. In this sacred place the Aryans, non-Aryans, Dravidians, Afghans
and Moghals have come and detached their individuality in One Supreme
Body. ….. Nobody will go empty handed from this seashore where great
souls come together to pay reverence. Those crossed the great mountains
and deserts singing the song of your glory from their hearts like martial
music and got their seats in your Own Self. …… By throwing away
18 Prophecies the bonds of difference, they have emerged into universal
 brotherhood”. Multiple Images

He also invites everyone to come to this country with a purpose and he

writes:
“Come, Oh! Aryans, come non-Aryans, come Hindus and Muslims. Come,
come, Oh! Englishmen, come Christians, come Brahmins, purify your
heart; hold the hands of downtrodden and out-castes. Remove all ills
and disrespect. Come quickly for the coronation of Mother, where the
“Mangal Ghat” has to be filled with sacred water which become
consecrated by the touch of the great souls who have come together on
the seashore to pay reverence”. (http://www.scotlandyoga.com/sahaja-
yoga-news/2007/07/06/bharat-tirtha/)

Tagore was a universalist and a humanist. He was against all orthodoxy as

practised in Indian society. He was looking for an ideal image of India, while
critiquing the social ills and orthodoxy in society. In many poem and through
many characters in his novels he raised this concern. Perhaps the most complex
novel to explore this theme was 'Gora', the story of an adopted child of a Brahmin
family who turns ultra-orthodox only to realise the reality of his birth and the
futility of orthodoxy.

Tagore was for a free India, and strong by condemned voice against the merciless
killing of freedom fighters by the British forces. He returned his Knighthood in
the wake of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre He wrote “My voice is choked, my
flute has lost its strains, it’s like the inside of a prison on a moonless night. You
have submerged my world under the burden of nightmares. That’s why I tearfully
ask — have you forgiven, have you loved those that poisoned the environ you
created, those that stamped out the light of your lamp” (Mitra, 2017).

In Tagore’s view, Indian civilisation was ‘syncretic’ in nature. It is founded in

unity in diversity, without diminishing the significance of the uniqueness of all
social and religious groups that has provided the plural and composite foundation
of Indian society. In direct opposition to this was the aggressiveness of western
civilisation, which tried to forcibly homogenise different cultures — a feature
Tagore vehemently opposed.

1.5.2 Gandhi
Gandhi has furthered the idea of the assimilative nature of Indian civilization.
He even suggested that the objective of the freedom movement need not be to
expel the British from India. For him the English would get assimilated in Indian
society as the thousands of other migrants have got assimilated in it. Gandhiji
recognised that India was a land of diversity and so he never substituted ‘Indian
civilisation’ with ‘Hindu culture’ or ‘Hindu civilisation’.
Gandhi had a wide and inclusive understanding of India as a nation: To him "By
the Indian nation Gandhi means ordinary Indians, irrespective of their religious,
linguistic, regional or caste differences, as well as the new emerging middle
class"..(Gandhi: xiv). He further writes: India cannot cease to be one nation
because people belonging to different religions live in it. In reality, there are as
many religions as there are individuals, but those who are conscious of the spirit
of nationality do not interfere with one another’s religion. If they do, they are not
fit to be considered a nation’
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Ideas of India He always said: “If the Hindus believe that India should be peopled only by
Hindus, they are living in dreamland. The Hindus, the Mahomedans, the Parsees
and the Christians who have made India their country are fellow countrymen,
and they will have to live in unity if only for their own interest” (Gandhi 52-53).

Gandhi’s view on the village is unique. Gandhi believed in the autonomy of the
villages founded on agriculture, supplemented by village and cottage industries.
He was not in favour of industrialization. He wrote: "India does not need to be
industrialized in the modern sense of the term... Agriculture does not need
revolutionary changes. The Indian peasant requires a supplementary industry.
The most natural is the introduction of the spinning-wheel, not the handloom.
The latter cannot be introduced in every home, whereas the former can, and it
used to be so even a century ago" (Gandhi115). Gandhi was for self sufficiency,
dignity and autonomy of each individual.

Gandhiji has written about political power and the state. He writes “To me political
power is not an end but one of the means of enabling people to better their
condition in every department of life. Political power means the capacity to
regulate national life through national representatives. If national life becomes
so perfect as to become self-regulated, no representation becomes necessary.
There is then a state of enlightened anarchy. In such a State everyone is his own
ruler. He rules himself in such a manner that he is never a hindrance to his
neighbour. In the ideal State, therefore, there is no political power because there
is no State.But the ideal is never fully realized in life. Hence the classical statement
of Thoreau that, 'government is best which governs the least. (Young India, 2-7-
‘31)

1.5.3 Nehru
India appears in Pandit Nehru’s imagination as a plural country of various sorts.
He writes that the ‘heart of Hindustan as it has so long been considered, the seat
and centre of both ancient and medieval civilization, the melting pot of so many
races and cultures’.. He further writes: When I think of India, I think of many
things: of broad fields dotted with innumerable small villages; of towns and
cities I have visited; of the magic of the rainy season which pours life into the
dry parched-up land and converts it suddenly into a glistening expanse of beauty
and greenery, of great rivers and flowing water; of the Khyber Pass in all its
bleak surroundings; of the southern tip of India; of people, individually and in
the mass; and, above all, of the Himalayas, snow-capped, or some mountain
valley in Kashmir in the spring, covered with new flowers, and with a brook of
our choice, and so I have chosen this mountain background rather than the more
normal picture of a hot, subtropical country. Both pictures would be correct, for
India stretches from the tropics right up to the temperate regions, from near the
equator to the cold heart of Asia (1946:49-50, 54).

Regarding diversity and unity among the people of India he says that the diversity
of India is tremendous; it is obvious;, it lies on the surface and anybody can see
it. It concerns itself with physical appearances as well as with certain mental
habits and traits. Their racial stocks are not the same, though there may be common
strands running through them; they differ in face and figure, food and clothing,
and, of course, language. He however finds that though outwardly there was
diversity and infinite variety among our people, everywhere there was that
tremendous impress of oneness, which had held all of us together for ages past,
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whatever political fate or misfortune had befallen us. … That essential unity had Multiple Images
been so powerful that no political division, no disaster or catastrophe, had been
able to overcome it…. I was also fully aware of the diversities and divisions of
Indian life, of classes, castes, religions, races, different degrees of cultural
development. Yet I think that a country with a long cultural background and a
common outlook on life develops a spirit that is peculiar to it and that is impressed
on all its children, however much they may differ among themselves……But if
we were going to build the house of India’s future, strong and secure and beautiful,
we would have to dig deep for the foundations (Ibid. 52—53).

What is Bharat Mata and who is Bharat Mata? On this question he clarifies:
Bharat Mata, Mother India, was essentially these millions of people, and victory
to her meant victory to these people. You are parts of this Bharat Mata, I told
them, you are in a manner yourselves Bharat Mata, and as this idea slowly soaked
into their brains, their eyes would light up as if they had made a great discovery
(Ibid 54)

Some kind of a dream of unity has occupied the mind of India since the dawn of
civilization. That unity was not conceived as something imposed from outside, a
standardization of externals or even of beliefs. It was something deeper and,
within its fold, the widest tolerance of belief and custom was practised and every
variety acknowledged and even encouraged.

He also writes regarding the differences. “Differences, big or small, can always
be noticed even within a national group, however closely bound together it may
be. The essential unity of that group becomes apparent when it is compared to
another national group, though often the differences between two adjoining groups
fade out or intermingle near the frontiers, and modern developments are tending
to produce certain uniformity everywhere. In ancient and medieval times, the
idea of the modern nation was non-existent, and feudal, religious, racial, or cultural
bonds had more importance. Yet I think that at almost any time in recorded history
an Indian would have felt more or less at home in any part of India”(Nehru. 55).

1.5.4 Ambedkar
Ambedkar was deeply concerned about establishing a social order in India founded
on equality and justice for all. However he was deeply disturbed with social
division in Indian society. As nationalism became a concern, Ambedkar pointed
out that ‘‘philosophically, it may be possible to consider a nation as a unit, but
sociologically, it cannot be regarded as consisting of many classes and freedom
of the nation, if it is to be a reality, must vouchsafe the freedom of the different
classes comprised in it, particularly of those who are treated as the servile classes”.
He further writes that nationality is ‘ a feeling of consciousness of kind which on
the one hand binds together those who have it , so strongly that it overrides all
differences arising out of economic conflicts or social gradations and on the
other hand , severs them from those who are not their kind . It is a feeling not to
belong to any other group. This is the essence of what is called a nationality and
national feeling’
For him a serious and ideological commitment for ensuring equality for all sections
is a prerequisite to actualize nationhood. Nationalism in India emerged not only
as a protest against the domination of the colonial forces but also as a protest
against the internal domination of the lower castes by the upper caste. Within the
persisting system of inequality and caste based social segregation according to 21
Ideas of India him, the untouchables would be underprivileged; rather they would remain in a
situation of slavery. He writes: “Turn in any direction you like, caste is the
monster that crosses your path.”Ambedkar was for a casteless society to be
founded on the constitutional principle of equality, fraternity and justice for all
citizens. (We will discuss more about Ambedkar’s ideas of India in the following
unit of this course).

1.5.5 Cultural Nationalist Imagination

The cultural nationalists have seen India in terms of a traditional cultural unit
founded on the spiritual ethos of Hinduism. This view perceives India as a unique
manifestation of a historic, geographic, cultural, linguistic unity. The writings of
Savarkar(1923) locate the roots of Indian nationalism on the claim of inherited
common race, land, history, language, culture and common ‘others’. Savarkar
elaborates that Sindusthan/Hindusthan is founded on ‘one nation and one race—
of a common fatherland and therefore of a common blood’… Hindus are the
decedents of the ‘Aryans who made their home ‘on the banks of the Sindhu …
developed a sense of nationality … and actually brought the whole land from the
Himalayas to the Seas under one sovereign sway; that Hindusthan is a land of
Hindus who had to face the attack of Arabs, Persians, Pathans, Baluchis, Tartars,
Turks, Moguls invaders for centuries. It was through this prolonged furious
conflict that people of India became intensely conscious of themselves as Hindus
and were welded into a nation. To him the Hindus are one because they own a
common Sanskriti (civilization) of Hindu culture and Sanskrit has been the chosen
means of expression and preservation of that culture and the history of this race’.:
(Savarkar 1923: 4-12, 43, 92, 115). ….

Check Your Progress 3

1) Write a note in about 50 words on Gandhi’s idea of the village in India
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2) Who is Bharat Mata according to Pandit Nehru?
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1.6 NATIONHOOD AND UNIQUENESS OF INDIA

India has acquired independent nation statehood through a prolonged struggle.
The society in India is founded on the idea of cultural syncretism. It is founded
on the sustained culture of dialogue, accommodation, synthesis, reciprocity,
tolerance and mutual respect for each other. The liberal ethos of all religious
groups has been part of the national symbol of independent. Brenad S. Cohn
wrote: India established as a secular state at independence, carefully chose several
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non-Hindu symbols for its flag. It has the Buddhist Wheel of Law on it. The new Multiple Images
government selected the Ashok Chakra and Lions for the national seal, Ashoka
was a Buddhist ruler. For the national anthem, they accepted the poem by Tagore,
Jana Gana Mana, which has a listing of the regions and peoples of India as the
national anthem. (Cohn 54). It depicts the legacy of tolerance and accommodation
of Indian society and polity.

Constitutionally India is founded on one state and one citizenship. It has imagined
each citizen to be equal in the eyes of law. Equality, fraternity and justice for the
citizen has been the cornerstone of the Indian Constitution. However to pave the
foundation of a plural society, along with individual rights, the Constitution of
India has also given every religious group the freedom to promote and protect its
cultural activities as per law. It has provided the space of individual rights through
Article 19-22 of the Constitution. Article 19 ensures the individual right to freedom
(freedom of speech and expression; to assemble peaceably and without arms; to
form associations or unions; to move freely throughout the territory of India; to
practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business). Article
20 provides protection to the individual in respect of conviction for offences.
Article 21 provides protection to individual of life and personal liberty. Article
22 provides protection to individual against arrest and detention in certain cases.

The Constitution of India also provides the space for collective rights through
Article 15 and 26. Article 15(4) permits the State to make special provision for
the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizen
or for the Scheduled Castes the Scheduled Tribes. Article 26 gives ‘every religious
group a right to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable
purposes, manage its affairs, properties as per the law’

Check Your Progress 4

1) Write a note on religious pluralism in India’s national symbol.
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2) What is the place of group rights in the Indian Constitution?
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Ideas of India
1.7 LET US SUM UP
India is essentially a plural society founded on multiculturalism. It has a long
historical past that encountered a host of outside forces including those of Islam,
Christianity, and colonialism etc. These have in many ways contributed to the
fabric of the composite culture of Indian society. However the foundation of
Indian society has been diversely depicted by scholars. This unit has provided
you a glimpse of the views of the colonial administrators, of Hegel, Marx, Engels,
Weber etc on Indian society. It has also the highlighted the imagination of Swami
Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru and others.
The ideal image of India is enshrined in the Constitution of India; we have also
touched upon some aspects of this image. This unit is a precursor of the units to
be discussed at length in the following units of this course.

1.8 REFERENCES
Sharma, M. L. 1968. Mark Twain’s Passage to India, Mark Twain Journal,
Gandhi, M.K. 1933. Hind Swaraj. Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House.
Gandhi, M.K. 1947. India of My Dreams. Ahmedabad: Navajivan Mudranalaya.
Nehru, J. 1946. Discovery of India. Calcutta: The Signet Press.
Brunt, P.A. Arrian, with an English Translation, Vol. II, (Indica, 11,1-12,7),
Cambridge, Mass. 1983, pp. 337-41)
Sachau, E. C.1993. Alberuni’s India. New Delhi: Low Price Publications.
Elliot and Dowson. 1996. The History of India as told by its own historians.
New Delhi: Low Price Publications, vol. II.
Sarvarkar, V.D. 1923. Hindutra: Who is a Hindu, Rpt 1989. Bharatiya, Sahitya
Sadan: New Delhi,
E Resources
https://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/james-mill-and-india
http://home.iitk.ac.in/~hcverma/Article/Macaulay-Minutes.pdf
http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415485432/3.asp on Megasthenes‘
Depiction of India’s Society
http://www.gktoday.in/articles

GLOSSARY
Cultural Ethos: The cultural world-view of a specific people.
Civilization: An advanced stage of social and cultural development
Orientalists: refers to scholars who study Asian societies, their culture, languages,
history, literature and their politics.

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 Multiple Images
FURTHER READING
Elliot and Dowson. 1996. The History of India as told by its own historians.
New Delhi: Low Price Publications, vol. II.
Gandhi, M.K. 1933. Hind Swaraj. Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House.
Nehru, J. 1946. Discovery of India. Calcutta: The Signet Press.

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