By Anil Raturi (IPS, Retd)Intermittently, discussion keeps coming up regarding various facets of the Indian tradition.
Generally, there seem to be two poles to the argument. One, who challenge the Indian traditional and cultural superstructure-beliefs caste, knowledge, etc., –and the other, that often argues defending certain aspects of this tradition, etc.
The former sees little good in the Indian culture and civilization, while the latter, appears to be sanguine enough about it, to defend it.
The discussion for sometime, now, has been stimulating enough to compel me to think about the subject.
Despite being educated and also having spent a lifetime in this land, I’m aware of the obvious challenge for any individual, even if he is an Indian, to be able to subsume the awesome sweep of human experience of this ancient land into one lifetime!
In that backdrop, my humble understanding of the issue is not something that would be of an expert scholar, but rather something, that is very basic, which therefore, ought to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Nonetheless, for whatever their worth maybe, my random thoughts on the subject are the following:
In this world, amongst all creatures, human beings are the most fortunate ones as they are gifted with the faculty of reason.
With reason and wisdom they have the potential for creating a society in which all humanity as well as all other creatures can live happily in harmony with nature.
It is to realise this goal, since time immemorial, that all systems –of tribal or feudal chieftains, monarchies,
socialism, communism, liberal democracies, etc., alongwith their respective, distilled collective experiences, in the form of culture, tradition and civilization have been promising equity and happiness for all.
It is the pursuit of this goal-“happiness of all”-from which they have also, all along, been deriving their power too.
Human history has shown that so far, this goal, has never been achieved in totality by any society. In this regard, the degree of success of different systems has been quite varied.
It is said that the taste of the pudding is in the eating. In that sense the measure of any system-government, culture, civilization, tradition, etc.,–should be palpably measured by what it could achieve for its people.
To what extent it was able to successfully provide food, clothing, dwelling, education, health, security, dignity, etc., to its people.
Taking this as a yardstick, the Western countries USA, UK, Western Europe-particularly Scandinavian nations-Singapore and Japan), in various phases, have been able to achieve a reasonable level of quality of life for its people.
In the last two decades, China too has achieved this to a remarkable extent.
It is an irony that India, even today, with some of the richest natural resources in this world, continues to remain home to a large number of poor people.
As an Indian, it makes one ponder on the reasons for this paradox.
In terms of knowledge, India is a land that has some of the oldest written documents.
Some of the noblest ideals that humanity can aspire to, can be found in these ancient Indian texts and Vedanta.
The following are some examples of this:
“Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam,” “Satyamev Jayatey,” “Ahimsa Parmo Dharma,” “Daan,” “Karuna,” “Daya” “Nishkaam Karma,” Atithi Deva Bhav,” etc.
That these are laudable ideals is beyond dispute.
When most of Europe was still living a life of savages, India had already produced such commendable ideas.
In the course of history, many of these noble ideals created great individuals in this land. One such individual was Buddha, who was perhaps, one of the wisest humans to walk this land.
The goodness of these thoughts influenced the cultures of China,
Japan, South East Asia
and to an extent even the middle East and West Asia.
Through the Arabs, Europe too felt the impact of ancient Indian ideas.
What then prevented India from truly benefitting from the greatness of its own ideals?
It seems that the social stratification created by caste got fossilised. This divided the society into factions. The privileged classes did not facilitate percolation of the finer aspects of the “great” culture amongst the largest section of its society by limiting the access to education.
In order to sustain their privilege, the elite linked caste to birth and religion. Consequently, the society became socially fragmented and the large portion of society was condemned to the socio-economic margins.
Conquest of India, at various stages in history by foriegn armies, can also perhaps, be attributed to the intense social divisions within the Indian society. This prevented it from putting up a unified front against the conquerors.
It is interesting to note that despite the noble ancient Indian value of “Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam,” (All of this world is one family), the value that “all men are equal,” became a norm in India only recently, post Independence, after promulgation of the Constitution.
In most of India’s history, all men were not equal. Society had a hierarchy based on caste.
The force of caste has been such that it survived even after conversions to another religion!
To be fair, it is pertinent to mention that before the French Revolution of 1789,practically, “equality of man” as a concept, did not ever exist in any society on this planet!
Till then all societies were feudal, including the so called mother of modern democracy, England, also was a Monarchial land of feudal privileges.
In 1776,USA, with its “Declaration of Independence,” inspired by the ideals of French Revolution (Égalité,
Fraternité,Liberté) became the first nation in human history to de jure proclaim ” that all men are created equal..!”
It is another matter that it took almost two centuries for it to actually give equality to its black citizens!
Notwithstanding that aberration, it is commendable that it put up such an ideal before itself as an aspiration.
It is the existence of this ideal and the morals imbued in it that built moral pressure on the US Government paving the way for the eventual legislation of the Civil Rights Act in the USA.
Despite the enactment, many whites in USA are still racially prejudiced against the blacks.
All societies have had social stratification of some kind and therefore also inequalities.
However, of all social stratifications in this world, the Indian caste system has been the most complex and endemic.
Linked to an entire theory of karma, past life, birth and religion, it became entrenched in the psyche of its people. Both the ruling elite and the ruled–in many cases oppressor and oppressed–through the process of socialisation, during the course of centuries, have internalised caste into their subconcious beings.
In the above context, caste as a social entity remains a formidable barrier to true egalitarianism in India.
Consequently, it is also an impediment to the socio-economic development.
Post independence with the revolutionary Indian Constitution coming into force, equality of all humans (irrespective of his caste),for the first time became a legally enforceable right.
Yet, after about 78years of Independence also, a “free” India, still continues to confront the regressive aspects of caste which have prevented it from realising its true potential as a nation.
Coming back to the two opposing sides and their arguments regarding the contentious subject at hand, one may only add that the Indian culture did throw up some remarkable ideals. The tragedy seems to lie in the fact that those noble precepts (regarding equality) were not actually practiced by the society at large.
For propagating a social system fraught with inequity, the people of India paid a heavy price in the form of its loss of sovereignty and long enslavement at the hands of foreigners.
A society that has experienced centuries of inequality will take some time to recover from the ills of its past.
The pace of reform, no doubt is slow, but with the legal systems in place, India will howsoever slowly but surely achieve its true destiny.
It may do so later than sooner!
Godspeed India!
