15 th August 1947 – 2020- Incredible INDIA

Very short thoughts inspiration country does for many… .reading or listening their stories - dr IBH, France

India is an immensely diverse country with many distinct pursuits vastly disparate convictions, widely divergent customs and veritable feast of view points…

Any attempt to talk about the culture of the country, or about its past history or contemporary politics must inescapably involve considerable selection.

The reach of India heterodoxy is remarkably extensive and ubiquitous.

Consider the politically charged issue of the role of so-called “ancient India” understanding the India of today. In contemporary politics, the enthusiasm for ancient India has often come from the Hindutva movement – the promoters of a narrowly Hindu view of Indian civilization -who have tried to separate out the period preceding the Muslim conquest of India.

BUT more than 80 percent of Indians my be Hindu, the country ha a very large Muslim population (the third largest among all the countries in the world – larger than the entire British ad French populations put together) and  followers of other faiths: Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Parsees and others….

Embracing cultures and traditions and India diaspora

The need for integration and for a multicultural perspective, it has to be accepted that these old books and narratives have had an enormous influence o Indian literature and writings on the one hand, and folk traditions of storytelling of the Vedas  by the understanding of their role in Indian culture.

The Indian identity (nature) is significant for those who live in India but it is so important for the very large Indian diaspora across the world -estimated to be 20 million (more now)

They see, rightly, no contradiction between being loyal citizens of the country I which hey are settled and where they are socially and politically integrated, and still retaining a sense of affiliation and companionship with Inia and Indians and loyal attitude…

Indian diaspora is also ken on taking pride -some self- respect and dignity – in the culture and traditions of their original homeland.

This frequently takes the form of some kind of “national” or “civilization “appreciation of being Indian in origin.

Consider for example the tradition of public reasoning. The importance of dialogue and discussion has been emphasized in the history of many countries in the world, the fact that Indian subcontinent has a particularly strong traditions in recognizing and pursuing a dialogic commitment worth nothing especially in our darkening world – with violence and terrorism- in which we live.

It is indeed good to remember that some of the earliest open public liberation in the world were hosted in India to discuss different points of views with a particularly large meting arranged by Ashokka in the third century BC

Nehru put particular emphasis on the toleration of heterodoxy and pluralism in Indian   history.

Connections of global relevance

But there is a connection of global relevance too,,, since Ashoka was critically important for the spread of Buddhism and its SOCIAL values in the world beyond India. It is interesting to note that attaching special importance to discussions and dialogue moved with other  Buddhist principles, wherever Buddhism went. It also affected typical of enhancing the social importance of general LITERACY, education (empowerment of women). The continuing influence of what they  can, to a considerable extent, be seen in the relatively high levels of literacy in countries in which Buddhism has survived ,from Japan and Korea , to Thailand and Sri Lanka, and even in an otherwise miserable Burma. The Buddhist commitment clearly gave was oi other priorities in the thousand years after its effective exit from India. Another major Buddhist achievement – not unrelated int fact to the interest in public communication is that nearly event attempt at early printing in the world, in particular in China, Korea and Japan was undertaken by Buddhist technologists with an interest in expanding public communication. The fist ever printed book or more exactly the first printed book that is actually dated was the Chinese translation of an Indian Sanskrit treatise, the so -called “Diamon Sutra” This was translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva (a half india, half Turkish Buddhist scholar in 402 CE.

Tagore and Ghandi

For Tagore it was he highest importance the people be able to live and reason, in freedom.

….”Where the mind is without fear ad head is held high.

Where knowledge is free.

Where the world has to be broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls…

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert of dead habits.

Into that haven of freedom, my Father and Mother let my country awake…”

Tagore had the greatest admiration for Ghandi as person and as political leader, but he was also highly sceptical of for of his nationalism and is conservative instinct …..He never criticized Ghandi personally. If Tagore had missed something in Gandhi’s argument, so did Ghandi mis the pint of Tagore’s main criticism. It was not only that the charka made little economic sense, but also ,Tagore thoughts , that is was not the way to make people reflect on anything: The charka does not require anyone to think; one simply turns the wheel of the antiquated invention endlessly, using the minimum of judgment and stamina”

China and India

Yi Jig, who studied medicine in Nalanda ( in particular Ayurveda practice, was one of many Chinese scholars who visited India in the first millennia era ire to study Buddhism and other subjects (and also to collect Sanskrit documents) and many of them spent a decade or more in India . In other direction, hundreds of Indian scholars went to China and worked there between first century and the eleventh. It is certainly correct to see religion as a major reason for the historical closeness of China and India, and to appreciate central role of Buddhism in initiating the movement of people an ideas and exchanges between the countries but opening doors to more…The movement of ideas, skills in mathematics and science remains particular relevant in the contemporary world, creativity based o give and take has immediate implications for global commerce and enterprise. What may be perhaps less immediately obvious the importance of learning from each other I the commitments to public communication and in the art of public health care. There were important in the intellectual relations between china and india in the first millennium and remain quite central today

Unities, perhaps even include the constituents of a federation of cultures?

Pride to be Indian or expression of pride is essential -even perhaps perceived as  arrogance (not in this times) is not the pride of a Parsee who happened to be and India but of an Indian who happened o be a Parsee. There is a big distinction there, both important and in need of some understanding.

Finally, back to Ghandi, an inspiration for many.

It is a law of love which governs humanity. If violence, means hate, non-dialogue, conflicts in peril of people   will governs, it will disappear ..

French sais once. ? l’attachement à a la foi à son identité, à sa langue, à sa culture, à une fa?on vivre , penser et de croire c’est légitime et c’est profondément humain. Le nier c’et nourrir l’humiliation… ?

La famille, l’éducation, ? des racines ? et solidarité où la communauté jouent r?le de la cohésion et du socle pour des sociétés et des partenariats, communication et le dialogue  versus individualisme et uniquement ? performance ? centré uniquement sur soi-même et soi -même…