The anti-national liberalism at the core of Indian national identity
The anti-national liberalism at the core of Indian national identityThis is a sensitive subject, but tell me how Indians deal with the fact that it was foreign imperialists, the British, who created India as a unified country. Is that a wound in the Indian psyche, or is it assimilated into a larger view in which it makes sense and is ok with the Indians? That’s very complicated. I think our starting point has to be the fact that India is not a nation like Germany or Japan. It’s a political creation that brings together hundreds of different tribes and peoples living together. So when one asks the question about a people’s conception of their history, it depends which people one is talking about. The Sikhs for example have a very simple history—it originates in their ten Gurus who were their law givers and then culminates in furious wars with Moslem rulers in which the Sikhs despite being hopelessly outnumbered brought the Moghul empire to the brink of collapse. But the crux of it is that Indians don’t really have a conception of their history. The writing of history was never done in ancient India. All the history we know about India is found in the writings of foreign travellers—Arabs and Chinese.
posted by Unknown @ 11:41 AM
2 Comments:
Sissyblue,
On the topic of your off-topic:
Yes, isn't that bizarre. I have yet to come across a conservative blog whose commentary resides at such a low-level. I think one would have to read neo-Nazi, and "God hates fags" websites in order to find such discourse on the right.
Could it be that what passes for contemporary mainstream liberalism is truly extremist hate?
This is a sensitive subject, but tell me how Indians deal with the fact that it was foreign imperialists, the British, who created India as a unified country. Is that a wound in the Indian psyche, or is it assimilated into a larger view in which it makes sense and is ok with the Indians?
The Indian PM recently gave a speech in which he indicated that much of India (including secularism) is based on a pre-imperial heritage, but he graciously acknowledges the British contribution to India c. 2005. As conciliatory historical myth-making goes it's a pretty good speech.
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