The rhythm of the soul of India, the synergy of the soul of India, the inner discipline of the soul of India, the deep-rooted secular fabric of the soul of India, the change management determination of the soul of India and the adaptive flexibility of the soul of India enabled her eternal self to sustain herself against a battery of expeditions and subsequent pillages and calamities through ancient domains and till 1947.
In the backdrop of such a prelude let me endeavor to narrate the progression of our beloved country through thick and thin, through sorrow and happiness and through splintered disintegrations
and misery…India celebrated a few days ago the 75th edition of India’s Independence or liberation from the clutches of the brutal British rule in India. It was ostentatiously celebrated all across India with much fanfare by designating the event as “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’’…
On the Independence Day of August 14th midnight, the prime Minister designate, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru delivered a speech in which he said “Long years ago we made a tryst with
destiny that at the stroke of such a midnight hour while the whole world sleeps India will wake up to life and freedom” And wake up we did. And at that particular moment in time India was a hopelessly de- coupled country with many ethnic groups, multiple languages, a number of mainstream religions and at last a geographically diverse peninsular territory and above all a ridiculously disintegrated national entity as such.
The Britishers were skeptical of our ability to steam forward and even scoffed at the misery we have ended up in. Churchill said India is just a territory somewhere in the equator and it can’t be classified as a Nation as such. Another British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli followed with saying that India doesn’t have a common language, common religion, no common traditional bindings, no historical backgrounds to tie them together and over and above a clear marked boundary line. Since all such ingredients are a pre-requisite in the formation of a nationhood or geographical entity, in the very absence of this how this ill-defined territory can boast as a nation or breath as a nation. But what our distractors or critiques failed to realize or envisage is that the synergy and a strong foundation of understanding, unity in diversity gripping our psyche like a vice and as a nation that is hidden but a divine invisible thread assimilating all such entities into a single one will define our territorial landscape as a nation one day. And a determined India proved all sceptics wrong and rose to the skies as a phoenix bird. And we propped our mother little by little, bit by bit, brick by brick, territory by territory, language by language, religion by religion and enabled her ultimately to evolve as a single geographical phenomenon to the utter dismay of the very people who pillaged our mother, plundered our resources and left us high and dry to fend for ourselves or perish.
And when a constitution rolled out in 1950 with an 18-point agenda to reinforce the vision of fundamental rights, secularism at all levels, rule of law, independent judiciary, democratic foundations etc. star marked that India got ready to take on the world. And many who were doubtful on our might to bounce back silently observed with eye bulging awe, bewilderment and utter horror the resurrection of a mighty nation. And now 75 years down the line we have generated many single digit accomplishments viz the 5th largest economy, the 2nd military force, the 6th biggest thermonuclear power, the 8th biggest exporter of food grains etc. to many more feathers to add up in times. And all these traits in spite of the astronomical population explosion from 340 million at independence to 1400 million as of now.
Though being a dynamic and vibrant formation, i.e. India , our progression into the future was marred with invasive expeditions and infringements by alien entities beginning with the advent of Aryans from Eurasia(Khazakhistan,Kyrgyzstan etc.) and north western Iranian steppes in 1600 BC (And until that time India used to be the sole domain of the Harappans since 7000 BC or may be much behind in times) .They gifted India with the vedic culture and converted the fabric of India from a “cattle economy” bracket into an “Agro pastoral society” even though they resorted to a “Varna dharma” social pattern from a “Kula Gotra tradition” in the Indian society.
Needless to say, that such an initiative did the seeding of a divisible pattern of Indian social order later in times. After the legendary Mahabharata war in 800 BC a stable group of principalities surfaced as a result of Agro-based wealth mobilization. And by that time India emerged also as one of the richest countries in the world. And while they were on such an unprecedented fortune streak, calamity struck.
India was subjected again by an invasion by Alexander the great in 325 BC. And around and during these times two religious concepts got rooted in India viz Buddhism and Jainism. In 1000 AD Muhammed Ghazni of the Turkic Ghaznavid dynasty invaded India. The sole purpose of this invasion was to plunder and cart away the wealth and resources of our nation. It was followed in 1190 AD by the loot of India by Mohammed Ghori who descended down from Herat in Afghanistan after defeating Prithivi raj who ruled a prosperous northwestern territory, and he will go down in our history as the man who laid the foundation stone of a wave of Muslim invasions in India.
And in 1200 AD Qutb al Din Aibak invaded and established sultanate in Delhi. In 1397 it was the turn of the Mongols who conquered India under Timor Lang and ravaged the entire region. Islamic India fragmented after the brutal devastations flood gated in India under Timor.
The entire scenario changed when Baber a Uzbek monarch trekked through the terribly hostile contours of the Hindu Kush mountains and scaled down on India during 1527 and established Mughal Rule which ended up around 1700 AD with Bahadur shah Safar at the helm.
Side by side from the 1400’s the westerners were marking their presence in India which culminated in the establishment of a British Raj in 1857 AD after the battle of Plassey. Thereafter memories are fresh in our minds- the series of events which finally positioned us to 1947 August 15 midnight. Though we suffered scores of expeditions and loot a glaring point under the scanner should be the way the Britishers dismantled the wealth of India. If others were focusing on stealing India’s financial wealth and resources like looting high yield temples like Somnath
Mohammed Ghazni is credited with pillaging Somnath temple 17 times only to pocket the huge hundi of the temple
The Brits took another trajectory for the same purpose. They focused on mobilizing the geographical and natural resources of India to make their country richer. We the people of Kerala took the maximum beating in this regard when they resorted to large scale deforestation of the western Ghats including inundating the Periyar river basin for the reservoir formation of Mullapperiyar dam. It is to be noted that India in 1947 was a victim of 100 or more invasions with a population of 340 million people,4 mainstream religions, multi fragmented territories, diverse cultures, whopping ethnic mix ups and an untamable geographical enclosure. On a closer look what India achieved is a feat no other entities in the world could have ever imagined. But how we could reach where we are today-to comprehend we have to dig deep into the fusion prowess of India’s diverse mix-ups Coupled with a unique synergy to bounce back with zeal, enthusiasm and national pride and determination.
Under such enviable backgrounds India continues its march forward to attain the status of a formidable geographic, ethnic, religious and a multicultural configuration among the comity of nations. And how can any country occupied by 800 million Hindus,140 million Muslims,40 million Christians and the rest Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Zoroastrians combined exist in perfect harmony and unity as it is in India. A unique position India only can occupy and be proud of.
Concluded