The definition of a nation is different from that of a country. Bharat is not just a country, a piece of land, a geographic territory that is merely confined to a state that is self-governed politically, but it is a living nation intellectually, ethnically, spiritually, esthetically, ethically, historically, linguistically, scripturally, philosophically, artistically and scientifically. The word nation comes from old French nacion, meaning a place of origin. The same principle is adopted by a few countries in the name of bhumiputra.
Significance of Sanskrit
A nation is bound by its physical boundaries. Bharat is known as Aryavarta, Jambudvipa and Bharatakhanda, geographically spans from Himalayas to Indian Ocean as written by the great poet Kalidasa. It is described as follows in the opening verse of Kumarasambhava –
अस्त्युत्तरस्यां दिशि देवतात्मा हिमालयो नाम नगाधिराज,
पूर्वपरौ तोयनिधीवगाह्य स्थितः पृथिव्यामिव मानदण्डः।
Himalayas, an abode of the divine, king of mountains, stands on the earth (Bharat) as a symbol of its pride, in the north, with seas on both its sides- the East and the West. It is said in Vishnu-purana that the nation (varsham) that lies North of the ocean and South of the snowy mountains (Himalayas) is called Bharat. The people who live there are descendants of Bharat.
उत्तरं यत्समुद्रस्य: हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् । वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम: भारती यत्र संततिः ।।
It is identified as a nation created by the divine
in a Sanskrit Subhashita –
हिमालयं समारभ्य यावत् इंदु सरेावरम् |
तं देवनिर्मितं देशं हिंदुस्थानं प्रचक्षते ||
Meaning that its span starts from the Himalayas and extends up to Indu Sarovaram (Indian Ocean) and it is a nation created by the divine called Hindustan.
Bharat as a Rashtra has preserved all the fundamental components of nationalism that have remained unfragmented. Over millennia, people developed their own languages in various parts of Bharat but the mother of all Indian languages is Sanskrit. There are a variety of scripts, but the mother is Brahmi. A known English scholar Monier Williams wrote, “India though it has … 500 dialects, has only one sacred language, and only one sacred literature, accepted and revered by all adherents of Hinduism alike, however diverse in race, dialect, rank and creed. That language is Sanskrit and that literature is Sanskrit literature … .,”
Bharat as a nation is identified by its distinct culture developed by the rishis and munis sitting on river banks and intensely meditating. They did not share any fixed ideology but left it to develop on internalisation of the philosophy of life.
A nation is a piece of land bound by political boundaries, nationalism is an emotion where everyone has patriotic feelings for a certain country; they love their motherland, have faith in the traditions of their fore-fathers; they aspire for its all-round development, those people become its identity, they live a life aiming at higher values, they respect its heritage, and cultural symbols built over centuries, they feel connected with their history and feel pain for painful moments and rejoice with joyful. Their country is their sacred land. The foundation of their culture is the same. People imbibe a collective approach towards nation, it does not matter whether they are living in huge palaces or straw-huts. Nationalism is their Dharma. The land is sacred and adorable through pilgrimages. Let us ponder over the idea of nationalism written by some visionaries.
Nationality is a corporate sentiment … … relating to a definite home country. It springs from a common heritage of memories of great achievements and glory or of disaster and suffering. (Prof. Hole Combe)
…. A common language and literature, common customs and consciousness … … (Burgess)
… … a common civilization gives a sense of unity, a common heritage of memories is history.. … (Blunsky)
We Hindus are indigenous children of the soil always from time immemorial and are natural masters of the country. Here we have compiled our imitable Vedas, reasoned out our philosophy of the Absolute… … built our sciences and arts and crafts .. …. Here we … … flourished and prospered – a great nation of a great race – propounded the one religion …. … and built up a culture… (MS Golvalkar, We, Our Nationhood Defined: pg. 13)
The word nation consists of certain distinct notions fused indissolubly into a whole, which stands so long as its components exist in unison. (MS Golvalkar, We, Our Nationhood Defined: pg. 21)
Bharat has an unbroken distinct identity as a nation for millions of years. While several other countries either never could fulfil all the required pre-requisites or components of being a nation or they lost one or the other element. Let us look at the nationalism of a few countries which became fragmented due to several reasons. Egypt has lost its native identity. They are the people who built huge pyramids along the river Nile. They had built abodes of their own adorable Gods around 2000 BC. The amazing statues at Abu Simbal temple which were consecrated by the first rays of Sun twice in a year.
Collapse of
The civilisation and culture of the Greeks was destroyed. Their ancestors built a glorious culture, produced great poets and philosophers, Aristotle, a student of Plato and Plato whose teacher was Socrates. They worshipped Zeus, Apolo, Athena, Athens, Delfi, temples, academies, glorious history, but it is now all gone. They wrote Iliad and Odissi like chronicles. The first University Academies established by Plato in the fifth century BC are in ruins after being destroyed in the fifth century AD, their libraries at Alexandria were burnt down. Greek Professors of Constantinople were thrown out. Memories of their ancestors went into amnesia. Their religion in Greece is finished. National heritage could not survive. Thus, their nationhood is fragmented.
Nationalism is Fragmented
In Iran, Islam was forcefully established. But Iran did not lose its language. They still wish to cherish the memories of their ancestors but unfortunately either they are faded or forgotten. Often, they hesitate to revisit the stories of their cultural achievements. Their heritage is destroyed. Today they have a short memory and think that the invaders were their own ancestors. Thus, their Nationalism is fragmented.
Let us talk about North America, which has a history of three-four centuries. People from several countries reached there, occupied the land, and became its citizens. The largest number was from Britain. So, English became their language, and Protestant their religion. Samuel P Huntington wrote books like Who Are We and Clash of Civilizations. They raise questions about the elements of American nationalism. The idea began to develop gradually during the 19th century. There are people of different ethnicities like Russian, Chinese, Indians, Japanese, Polish and so on. They contributed as Americans for nationalism by the 20th century. A new term was created as ‘American Creed’. It contains ideas of thousands of thinkers and says, “I believe in the USA as a government of the people, by the people, for the people, whose just powers are derived from consent of the governed, a democracy in a republic, a sovereign nation of many sovereign states, a perfect union, one and inseparable, established from those principles of freedom, equality, justice and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives -and fortunes.’
Fragmented Nations
Czechoslovakia was divided into two; forming two countries – Czech and Slovakia on the basis of different ethnicities. The wall between East and West Germany was pulled down for the sake of German identity. China as a country comprises many ethnicities because of its policy of expansionism. North and South Korea are not in a position to be united. Look at Israel. It is a Jewish nation. It had lost its homeland but had preserved their language. When they were persecuted and were enthused by the pride of their language and ethnicity, they began to migrate to Palestine strategically and finally on May 14 in 1948 declared statehood. In Bharat the national cultural identity is based on the same principles and social collective consciousness. Rising above the daily needs of survival, our ancestors created a treasure of literature, built temples, enshrined deities, focused on understanding the self, meditating on complex issues of life and truth. Acharyas all over Bharat aspired to reach the highest, explored avenues of science and spirituality, established schools of philosophy and composed treatises which are equally important for the whole of the nation.
One of the components of our nationalism is Sanskrit because the entire monumental literature from Vedas onwards is the common heritage of the nation extending from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and Gujarat to the easternmost part of Arunachal Pradesh. Literature has been created in all the regional languages, but their foundation is similar thought values. Sanskrit texts are written in various Indian scripts like Sharada in Kashmir, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali and so on. The whole of Bharat has nurtured the same ethical values, esthetical expressions and approaches, the eternal and all-pervading philosophy of life. Every Indian worships the sacred rivers – Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Sindhu, Narmada, Krishna and Kaveri. They are the source of life carrying pure waters for all without discrimination.
A former Prime Minister of England, Ramsay MacDonald wrote in the foreword of the book Fundamental Unity of India by Radha Kumud Mukharjee, Hindu at any rate from his tradition and his religion regards India as the outwards embodiment as the temple- nay, even as the goddess mother of his spiritual culture. India and Hindus are organically related as the body and soul. He made India his symbol of culture … …. … He filled it with his soul … … … In his consciousness it is his greater self. Bharat for all Indians is a temple, a divinity prayed as Bharat Mata.
We, the nationals of India, built temples all over and enshrined the divine. Across the country our sages taught us meditation, contemplation, transcendence, gave us various sciences equally to all the parts, we shared our narrative literature, we lived with the same ought values, social ethics, political and national thinking.
Twelve Jyotirlingas: Revered Shrines
The twelve Jyotirlingas denote Bharat as one nation. These are Shaiva places of pilgrimage for everyone- Bhimashankar in Maharashtra, Grishneshvar near Aurangabad, Kashi Vishwanath at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Kedarnath in Himalayas, Mahakaleswar at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Mallikarjuna at Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, Nageshvar near Dwarka, Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh, Ramanathaswami in Tamil Nadu, Somnath in Gujarat, Trimbakeshwar in Maharashtra, Vaidyanath Jyotirlinga in Bihar. Devotees from all over Bharat throng these places. Remains of a deceased person, i.e. a devotee from Tamil Nadu, may be taken to be immersed in the sacred Ganga and water from Ganga to be carried to Rameshwaram. A pilgrimage is not complete until we go to Kedarnath in the North and Rameshwaram in the South.
Hundred and eight divya deshams, temples dedicated to Bhagvan Vishnu are spread throughout the country, from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari. ”Divya” means “divine” and “Desam” indicates “place” (temple). The temples dedicated to Bhagavan Vishnu, are called Sthalams in the works of the Tamil Azhwars (saints). Similarly, there are 18 Shakti Peethas and Pancha Bhoota lingams, the five elements of nature in south India, dedicated to Shiva. Everywhere the abode of Shiva is Kailash mountain. Adi Shankara established four mathas in the four directions of Bharat- Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetam in Karnataka, Jyotir Matha in Uttarakhand, Kalika Matha in Dwarka in Gujarat and Govardhana Matha in Puri in Odisha. Ramanuja and Madhavacharya spread Vaishnava bhakti across India. Ramanujacharya, a South theologian and philosopher, was born in Sriperumbudur and died in Srirangam. At the age of ninety he went to Kashmir on foot to get a copy of Brahma Sutras written by Bodhayana, the immediate disciple of Vedavyas, because it was required to write Sri Bhashya. All over Bharat Bhagavan Vishnu and Devi Lakshmi are worshipped together because Vishnu is the sustainer of the world and its sustaining is not possible without financial strength. The three commentaries written by Ramanujacharya hold pan-Indian value- Vedartha-samgraha, Sri-bhashya and Bhagavad Gita-bhashya. Madhvacharya studied most of the shastras like the Vedas, Puranas, Gita, Brahmasutra, Mahabharat and Upanishad.
Divine knowledge and spiritual progression are key to India’s identity as a nation. The teachers are Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshvara. Alwars are known for their devotion to Vishnu. The word means drowned in the sea of divinity. There are 12 saint poets known for their devotion. Among them Andal was from Shri Ranganatha. She is adored as a gopi in Vrindavan. She was a daughter of Vishnuchitta, a saint, a yogi and a poet in the land of Pandyas called Perialwar meaning great Alwar. His poems are written in praise of Krishna as an infant and boyhood. His daughter’s mind was occupied by her passions for the divine. She went through a symbolic marriage with Shri Ranganatha, Vishnu in his temple at Srirangam as Meera was wholeheartedly devoted to Krishna in such a way that she accepted him as her husband, and had refused to marry anyone. Tiruppavai, a set of Tamil hymns, were composed by the poetess saint Andal. It is said to be Vedam Anaithukkum Vithagum, meaning its seed is in the Vedas. The essence of the Vedas are hidden there like a tree in a seed.
Ramayan and Mahabharat are the most outstanding epics of our nation. Over thousands of years different versions were created in various parts of India and even beyond its political boundaries. It is an impossible task to compile and bring out a single edition using all of them as there are more than 300 versions of Ramayan. It has percolated deeply in many spheres of our lives. Similarly Mahabharat has around 1,000 versions in India and beyond. Its main plot is the same but there are differences in various versions also. Moreover, there are abbreviated and oral versions, and special versions created for theatre and by strolling minstrels.
Historically, we are nationals of Bharat when our heart bleeds for the challenging times, the time of invasions, destruction and genocide. When our head is high reading the glorious history, the achievements of our forefathers, they feel proud for being a cultural leader of the world. We feel proud of the policymakers like Chanakya, the valorous history of Vikramaditya, the knowledge of Rishi Kapila and Kanada, the grammar of Panini, the bravery of Shivaji, Durgavati and Lakshmibai, the great cities like Kashi, Mathura, Kanchi, Takshashila, Ayodhya and Puri.
Bharat has preserved its distinct unfragmented identity as a nation, lying at its core to unite it, over millennia and will continue to do that.
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