UNIT
– 1
Evolution of India’s World View
- What are
the sources of India’s traditional values? How have these values guided
India’s
World-view after its independence? Explain.
Ans: Five aspects of India’s traditional values have a bearing on the evolution of its world-view, namely,preference for a middle way, tolerance, idealist and realist traditions, absence of imperialist tradition, and a habit of expressing positive ideas through negative terms.
i.
Preference for the Middle Way
A
preference for the middle way has been one of the cardinal features of Indian
tradition and culture. Nehru echoes the sentiment, when he says: “India has absorbed
and harmonised different religions; and even the conflict between science and
religion in the past; and maybe it is our destiny to help reconcile the
conflicting ideologies of today.”
In view of such a cultural-philosophical tradition, it
was not surprising that India should prefer the golden mean of the middle way
between the two competing international ideologies during the Cold War
years—Western liberal democracy and Soviet egalitarianism. With the West, India
shared such values as dignity of individual and sanctity of civil liberties,
democratic political institutions, the rule of law, and modern technology. At
the same time, it appreciated the Soviet emphasis on distributive justice and
its stand against colonialism and racialism, as also its Asia mindedness.
India, therefore, refused to align with any power bloc and resolved to cooperate with both of them in furtherance of its own ideals and interests. Thus, by becoming a bridge between the two power blocs and by blunting the edges of the ideological conflict between them, India acquired a prominence in the comity of nations far in excess of military strength and economic capabilities.
The
tradition of tolerance in fact has been the basis of India’s emphasis on the
peaceful settlement of disputes through negotiations. The essence of India’s
approach has been that, to achieve a lasting result, an attempt should be made
to see that neither of the parties engaged in a conflict suffers significant
loss. This is how Gandhi tried to resolve India’s domestic tension as well as
to secure freedom for India. Nehru clarified the essence of this approach and he
said; “If we desire peace we must develop the temper of peace, and try to win
over those who may be suspicious of us or who think that they are against us.”
This
approach to conciliation is also reflected in India’s offer of a no-war pact to
Pakistan in 1949 and its repeated renewal of the offer in the subsequent years,
its willingness to accept a division of Kashmir on the basis of the ceasefire
line in the interest of Indo-Pakistani peace. New Delhi’s current peace initiative
with Pakistan is the latest manifestation of this negotiating method.
iii.
Realist and Idealist Traditions
India attempted the peaceful method of negotiation in
each case. In summing up the application of the ideal of non-violence to
India’s world-view, Nehru therefore publicly stated: “He drew his inspiration
from Gandhi.” He, however, followed the Master only as far as was practicable.
The realist component in India’s world-view got
strengthened after the Chinese aggression of 1962. As Nehru himself admitted:
“In the past our preoccupation with the human problems of poverty and illiteracy was such that we were content to
assign a relatively low priority to defence requirements in the conventional
sense.”
iv.
Absence of
Imperialist Tradition
Another distinguishing feature of Indian tradition is the
absence of imperialist tradition, including what is called cultural
imperialism. No prominent Indian thinker, not even a realist like Kautilya or Manu
or Bodhayana, advocated the extension of Indian empire beyond the geographical boundaries
of Bharat (India). The Mahabharata
too lays down that an Indian empire should not extend beyond the geographical
limits of the country.
With this anti-imperialist tradition and culture, it was not surprising that when India achieved its independence it vigorously pursued the cause of emancipation of colonial and dependent territories and of promotion of racial equality through the policies of non-alignment and panchasheela. Nehru, therefore, declared: “India’s world-view is grounded in ancient tradition and culture of this country.”
The formulation of the concept in a negative way reminds us of the fact that one of India’s most far-reaching contributions to world civilisation is the concept of zero and its mathematical use in positive value. Seen from a wider angle, the expression as well as content of non-alignment may similarly suggest a deeper connection with the Indian cultural tradition. For, the word, nonalignment is though negative in expression, it has very positive connotations that include pursuit of an independent world-view, and efforts towards development, disarmament, decolonialisation and democratisation of international relations.
According to India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal
Nehru, who tailored its world-view during the initial phase, two aspects of
India’s world-view, namely, the ‘positive aspect of peace’ and the desire to
promote ‘a larger degree of co-operation among nations,’ were based on India’s past
thinking on the formulation of foreign policy. It is therefore necessary to
discuss those socially accepted traditional values, which are expressed either
in writings of thinkers or embodied in ancient institutions and customs that
inculcate peaceful attitudes and practices notwithstanding imperfections or
shortcomings in these ideals and objectives native to India.
- Evaluate the idealist and realist thinking in ancient India. How, and to what extent could Nehru combine both the approaches in his world-view? Discuss.
Ans: Two important approaches to inter-state relations
have existed in India since the beginning. While these realist thinkers differ
over the means to be employed, they generally believe that both defence of a
kingdom and aggressive war, if used to conquer the whole country, are just.
They hold that war should be undertaken only as the last resort, not because
war is immoral, but because it is expensive and troublesome and victory is not
certain. Panchatantra, for instance, says that royal policy has peace
for its beginning and war for its end.
On the other hand, from the times immemorial, a school of
philosophy has existed in India, which maintains that penance, self-abnegation
and non-injury are the means to get rid of sin and secure salvation. The Upanishads
give us the basis of the theory of non-violence. There is one undivided and
indivisible spirit, which may be called God or truth. The universe is
expression of it, and all beings form part of it. Since perfection consists in
realising this truth, any kind of violence would be a repudiation of the truth.
- “India’s policy of secularism and non-alignment are two aspects of the same coin, namely, tradition of tolerance.” Comment.
Though there were religious persecutions during the time
of some Muslim rulers, tolerance was conspicuous during the reign of the
Emperor Akbar, who adopted a policy of universal harmony (sulh-i-kul). We cannot deny that the
tradition of tolerance is fundamental to the life of the masses in India. This
explains why secularism has been adopted and has survived in India inspite of
its aberrations.
In the sphere of foreign relations, tradition of
tolerance made it impossible for India to join any particular bloc and conduct
its international relations from the black-and-white perspective of that bloc.
The tolerant and pluralistic outlook of the Indian mind made it to react
instinctively against the politics of the Cold War characterised by intolerance
and against the claims of the two blocs that they alone had the monopoly of
truth and virtue. Instead, India chose to purse a policy of peaceful
co-existence and friendship towards all countries.
The tradition of tolerance in fact has been the basis of
India’s emphasis on the peaceful settlement of disputes through negotiations.
The essence of India’s approach has been that, to achieve a lasting result, an
attempt should be made to see that neither of the parties engaged in a conflict
suffers significant loss. This is how Gandhi tried to resolve India’s domestic
tension as well as to secure freedom for India—a modern application of the
principle of negotiation so forcefully adumbrated in the Mahabharata.
Nehru clarified the essence of this approach on several occasions. For instance,
he said: “If we desire peace we must develop the temper of peace, and try
to win over those who may be suspicious of us or who think that they are
against us.”
- Discuss the traditional sources of
India’s world-view.
Ans: - The chief sources of India’s ancient
values are the scriptural texts like the
i.
The Vedas; the
law books by sages such as Manu, Yajnyavalkya, and Parashar;
ii.
The Dharmasastras; text of Buddhists and Jains;
iii.
The great epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata;
iv.
The puranas, legends, and chronicles of great national events; and
theological treatises and manuals of worship.
As a means of popular education in social values, these
epics are even more important than the scriptural texts and law books,
knowledge of which is generally confined to a very few.
covered various aspects of human life such as spiritual,
social, economic, and political, as ancient
Indians did not divide human activities in watertight
compartments. Secondly, though these
traditional values underwent certain changes due to the
impact of the Islamic and Western culture,
the works of modern Indian thinkers like Vivekananda,
Tagore, Tilak, Aurobindo, Gandhi, and
Nehru show that they were very much influenced by ancient
Indian thought, which in turn influenced
their ideas about shaping the destiny of independent India.
