India is a nation united by the sensibilities of a unique Sanskrit-Urdu culture and no one can take that away from us
When the British ruled India, they questioned whether it was a nation at all. They held that it was only an administrative unit created and united by them. Their view was articulated by John Strachy, a high official in India who said in 1880, in his lectures given at Cambridge University (collectively published as a book titled ‘India’), that India was only a label of convenience, a name given to a large geographical territory having several countries. He said, “This is the first and foremost thing to learn about India, that there is not and never was an India, nor any country of India, possessing, according to European ideas, any sort of unity — physical, political, social or religious. No Indian nation, no people of India, of which we hear so much.” The same view was reiterated by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the creator of Pakistan, who insisted that, “India is not a nation, nor a country. It is a subcontinent of nationalities.” So, what is the truth?
To my mind, the views of Strachy and Jinnah are wrong and India is indeed a nation. What really makes a nation are features which distinguish it from other countries. Is there any such feature which makes India a nation? Yes, there is, and it is our composite Sanskrit-Urdu culture, which unites us and makes us one nation. Now, when I say this, immediately objections will be raised. Many South Indians, people of the northeastern States and so on, will ask what have they to do with Sanskrit or Urdu? Some people in the country are averse to Sanskrit. For instance, many Tamilians, who regard themselves as Dravidians, call it the language of Aryan invaders and oppressors. Where Urdu is concerned, many Hindus regard it as the language of Muslims.
Sadly, these objections are based on a lack of understanding. When I use the expression “Sanskrit-Urdu culture”, I am referring to the spirit of Sanskrit and the soul of Urdu. There is a misconception that Sanskrit is a language that is predominantly used for chanting mantras during worship in Hindu temples and sacred texts. Only about five per cent of Sanskrit literature is devoted to religion, while the rest deals with diverse topics such as philosophy, science, mathematics, art, law, linguistics and so on. The emphasis of Sanskrit is on reason because it was the language of free thinkers who questioned everything. The great Hindi writer Rahul Sankrityayan, who was in his early years an orthodox Brahmin, said that before he learnt Sanskrit he believed in God but, after he learnt the language he became an atheist. And indeed, much of Sanskrit literature is atheistic.
On the other hand, the emphasis in Urdu, which is wrongly regarded as the language of Muslims (before 1947 it was a common language of all educated people, whether Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh or so on, in large parts of India), is on emotion. Urdu poetry expresses the voice of the human heart and the afflictions of the common people with an elegance that perhaps no other poetry can ever achieve. The two main attributes of humans are reason and emotion, and both are necessary for progress. In Europe, the great French thinker Voltaire emphasised reason and combated religious bigotry and superstitions in his writings. On the other hand, the equally great French thinker Rousseau stressed upon emotion and passion. He said that mere reason makes one a cold, calculating and selfish being who never has the desire to help his fellow human beings and never thinks of the suffering of others.
The fact remains that India is broadly a country of immigrants, like North America. About 92-93 per cent of the people living in the nation today are the descendants of immigrants, most of whom came from the north-west. Its original inhabitants are the pre-Dravidian tribals like the Bhils, Gonds, Santhals, Todas and so on, who make up only about seven to eight per cent of the country’s population. These immigrants brought with them their own language, religion, practices, culture and so on. Through the intermingling of these immigrants for over thousands of years, a common culture emerged, which can be broadly called the Sanskrit- Urdu culture. This is the culture of India. Sanskrit and Urdu complement each other. In fact Sanskrit is one of the grandmothers of Urdu (the other grandmother being Persian), as many Urdu words are derived from it.
Though Sanskrit is a great language, by its overemphasis on reason (like Voltaire) it lacked compassion for fellow human beings who were suppressed. However, this compassion was supplied by Urdu (much like Rousseau, who empathised with the poor). Thus, what unites India and makes it a nation is the Sanskrit- Urdu culture. To those who say they have nothing to do with Sanskrit or Urdu (in fact most young Indians do not know these languages anymore) my reply is that when I use the expression “Sanskrit-Urdu culture” I am not referring to Sanskrit or Urdu literally, but to the spirit of Sanskrit and the soul of Urdu. Even Tamilians, Nagas and so on, have reason and emotion and in that sense they belong to the Sanskrit-Urdu culture. India is a nation united by the sensibilities of this unique Sanskrit-Urdu culture and no one can take that away from us.
(The writer is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India. The views expressed are personal.)