INDIA: WHAT-WHO-WHOSE

What is India? 

My answer to this is beyond the physical boundaries of Republic of India because boundaries change with the time but the philosophy remains with the people. We are the immigrants from all over the world bringing different religions, customs, heritage, food and art. India witnessed so many civilizations and took the essences those to build its own color and odor.

Before getting into the answer in depth we need to understand the impact of various civilization and incident:

Impact of Dravidian Civilization

Word “drāviḍa” is used to denote the geographical region of South part of India with Tamil as a ethnic identity. Tamil is the oldest living language in the world which means the customs and cultures carry forward since 3rd Century BCE. Chola empire stretched from Southern India to Southeast Asia including Philippines, Malaysia, Southern Thailand and Indonesia.

The largest-Dravidian ethnic groups are the Tamilians from Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka and Singapore resp. Malaysia, the Kannadigas from Karnataka, the Telugus from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the Malayalis from Kerala, and the Tulu people from Karnataka. Certain communities of Marathis from Maharashtra are considered as Scytho-Dravidians. This only define that the Indian culture are beyond the physical boundaries as it has spread all over the world and still the process is going on as millions of Indians migrating to different parts of the world and blending there goodness and heritage with the existing culture.

Chola period contributed Nataraja, the one of the greatest symbol of Hinduism and a symbol of India which represent the  glory of it’s art and strength.

Impact of Vedic or Indus Valley Civilization

Vedic period is when Indo-Aryans settled into northern India, most of them native of South Asia. Today’s India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afganistan, Uzbekistan were the part of Indi-Aryan Civilization. Veds Vedic civilization

Collaboration of so many cultures resulted in Rigveda-samhita, one of few best of knowledge known to human beings. When accruing knowledge becomes the highest of goal then nothing comes close to the human evolution.

There are countless incident which had a far reaching impacts on idea of India

1. Sramana श्रमण (Raise of Buddhism & Jainism)
2. Christianity: introduced to India by Thomas the Apostle, AD 52
3. Islam: Cheraman Juma Mosque,Methala, Kodungallur, Trissur 629 AD (Believed to be 2nd built mosque in the world after the Makka). Islam arrived in North India only in 12th Century AD via the Turkic invasions. We can say that Islam in North India was forced upon whereas in South India it got recognized and adopted.
4. Sikhism: Hindu tigers raised on occasion and saved whole Hindu community from force conversion to Muslim religion by giving sacrifices. Once they become “Singh” it was difficult for them to live normal and hence Sikhism was born. Sikhs are the bravest and kindhearted community known to humans
5. Parsee: Idea of India is incomplete without the mention of Persian Civilization impact on Vedic and Parsi community’s love and contribution towards modern India.

Now whose India is India? People can challenge the ownership of the land but for how long, the land’s life span is far greater then the men’s life. This land was ruled by Chakravati Ashoka and Chandragupt Maurya, this land belonged to Mughal King Akbar, this land was in rule of British Queen and it’s a land of people now. Land belong to none, we can be associated with it for a while only.

Now back to the question “What is India?” India is not the shining glory of Mauryan’s neither the property of Mughal’s, Sun never sits in Britain but still India does not belong to them. Then what is India, who belongs to it? India belongs to millions of Illiterate & starving, India belongs to pickpocketers, prostitutes, sweepers, handicapped, dying farmers  and porter who work hard and cough blood. India belong to the mother whole sell her womb just to feed her kids, India belongs to countless unnoticed who contributes for the betterment of the country. These people has no face no religion no leader just fights for survival is the rule of life.

I heard people making fun during demonetization that below 2% population are paying Income Tax and other 98% are enjoying the feast. This is more an index of the population who were unnoticed during all these great civilizations and kings passed through. When Politicians are challenging to the poor that they can exists with 5Rs a day and now expect those poor to pay Income tax is the greatest tragedy of India.

India does not belong to Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi, India does not belong to any political parties, the system rule by the people for the people and of the people was created to uplift the under privileged and poor but somehow it lost it purpose at the starting point itself.

Reference http://www.wikipedia.com

Photo Courtesy Neelabh Sarkar