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Indian nationalism refers to the political and cultural expression of patriotism by peoples of India, of pride in the history and heritage of India, and visions for its future. It also refers to the consciousness and expression of religious and ethnic influences that help mould the national consciousness.

Nationalism describes the many underlying forces that moulded the Indian independence movement, and strongly continue to influence the politics of India, as well as being the heart of many contrasting ideologies that have caused ethnic and religious conflict in Indian society. It should be noted that, although controversial, Indian nationalism often imbibes the consciousness of Indians that prior to 1947, India embodied the broader Indian subcontinent.

It must be noted that in Indian English, there is no difference between patriotism and nationalism, and both the words are used interchangeably; nationalism does not have a negative connotation in India, as it does in much of Europe and North America.

National consciousness in India

See Also: History of India, Ancient India

The Indian civilization, its leaders and those who admired the culture and civilization of this country are a source of nationalist sentiment to its people and those who identify themselves with the Indian culture.

Belief in the ancient nature of the Indian civilization

The core of Indian nationalism lies in the belief that the Indian civilization is one of the most ancient and influential in history. A strictly abridged set of mentions highlighting the ancient nature of the Indian civilization is given below:-

• The origins of the Indus valley civilization can be traced to Mehrgarh, which the archaelogist Jean-Françoise Jarrige has dated to before 6000 BCE.
• The Indus script can be dated to 3500 BCE.
• At the peak of the Indus valley civilization, around 2300–2000 BCE, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa housed some 40,000 inhabitants who enjoyed a high standard of living; for example, this developed, urban culture was sophisticated enough to have organized municipal waste management, drainage and well planned roads.
• The Rigveda, the oldest available text in Sanskrit, goes back to about 1500 BCE. Sanskrit is one of many Indo-Aryan languages India is home to; India is also home to the Dravidian and Munda language families.
• India is the birthplace of one the two major schools of religions in the world, the Dharmic religions, the other school being that of the Abrahamic religions. The Dharmic religions include Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. India is also the present home of the 14th and current Dalai Lama, his holiness Lama Tenzin Gyatso, the equivalent of the Pope in Tibetan Buddhism. Bodhidharma, founder of Zen, is described as South Indian by primary sources; however, that identification is disputed by the oldest of the primary sources.
• Hinduism is the oldest living religious tradition.
• India is widely seen as an important bastion of the Abrahamic religions with Jews and Christians having lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D respectively. India is home to the Bnei Menashe community, which claims to be a lost tribe of Israel. According to the Acts of Thomas, India is also the final resting place of Jude Thomas Didymus, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. Islam came to India as the early as the 7th century CE with the advent of Arab traders.
• C. 300 BCE, Kautilya, prime minister to the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta, wrote the Arthashastra, a treatise on statecraft which prefigures Machiavelli's Prince by 18 centuries.
• The numerals called "Arabic" in the West actually come from the Indian Brahmi script.
• The Ancient Indian town of Taxila was home to the Takshashila University, is regarded by many historians as the world's oldest university.

John Marshall explicitly mentions the possibility of Taxila being the oldest university.Marshall, John (1951). Taxila. Cambrisge University Press. </ref>

• The ancient practice of Yoga, which includes practices for spiritual enlightenment, martial traditions, exercise and conditioning, curing diseases and ailments, learning and concentration originated in India.
• Chess originated in ancient India and was known as "Chaturanga", which translated to four bodied.
• Several martial arts of prominence including those emanating from the Shaolin temple and even modern martial arts such as Brazillian Jiu Jitsu officialy credit India as their origin. Sam Chan notes the influence of Indian martial arts on submission wrestling, including catch wrestling and shoot wrestling..
• The Charaka Samhitā, the earliest surviving text of Ayurveda—that is, traditional Indian medicine—may date to around 100 CE.
• Kanada, who founded the Vaisesika school of philosophy in 600 BCE, was one of the (or perhaps the) earliest exponents of atomism.
• Aryabhatta referred to Algebra (as Bijaganitam) in his treatise on mathematics named Aryabhattiya.

• In around 500AD Aryabhata devised a number system which has no zero yet was of a positional nature. He had used the term "kha" for position and it would be used later as the term for the arithmetic null identity. Later Indian mathematicians had names for zero in positional numbers yet had no symbol for it. The first use of the null identity with symbol was believed to be around 876 .

• In Ancient India, the knowledge of theoretical and applied aspects of square and square root was at least as old as the Sulba Sutras, dated around 800-500 B.C. (possibly much earlier). A method for finding very good approximations to the square roots of 2 and 3 are given in the Baudhayana Sulba Sutra. Aryabhata in the Aryabhatiya (section 2.4), has given a method for finding the square root of numbers having many digits.

• The second section of earlier portion of Narada Vishnu Purana (written by Veda Vyas) describes "mathematics" in the context of Triskandh Jyotish. Numbers are listed in antilogarithmic order (10 to the power n). In addition, different methods of mathematics have been elaborately discussed, most importantly the method of finding cube roots..

• A 12th century mathematician, Bhaskaracharya, authored several mathematical treatises; one of them, Siddantha Shiromani, has a chapter on algebra. "The origin of the fallacy that any number divided by zero is equal to infinity goes back to the work of Bháskara." In 1816, James Taylor translated Bhaskaracharya's Leelavati into English.

These theories have attracted attention of the Indologists, and veteran Australian Indologist A. L. Basham has concluded that "they were brilliant imaginative explanations of the physical structure of the world, and in a large measure, agreed with the discoveries of modern physics."

This belief that India is one of the cradles of human civilization is one of the greatest reasons of pride and Indian nationalism.

Ages of war and invasion

India today celebrates many kings for combating foreign invasion and domination, such as Shivaji of the Maratha Empire, Maharana Pratap of Rajputana, Prithviraj Chauhan, who combated the Mahmud of Ghazni, Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Tipu Sultan who fought the British.

Liberal Muslim kings are also a part of Indian pride. Akbar was a powerful Mughal emperor who admired Hinduism, forged familial and political bonds with Hindu Rajput kings, and developed for the first time in medieval India an environment of religious freedom. Akbar undid most forms of religious discrimination, and invited the participation of wise Hindu ministers and kings, and even religious scholars in his court. In his reign, India was politically powerful, prosperous and its common people secure.

Foreign admiration

India has attracted many admirers from foreign nations. Chinese travelers and observers Hsien Tsang and Fa-hien attest to the prosperity and glory of India's ancient kingdoms. Their documentation of times in ancient India are a great source for nationalistic pride. Annie Besant, C. F. Andrews, Madeleine Slade and A.G. Horniman were Europeans who advocated and worked for political freedom in India. Mrs. Besant led the Theosophical Society in its studies of Indian religious thinking. German historian and writer Max Muller was a pioneer in Indian historical research, tracing the roots of human civilization in India and the origins of its diverse culture and peoples. His work remains a major influence on the common understanding of India's ancient past.

The most famous words describing a foreigner's admiration for India are arguably those of Mark twain, his words were "India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only".

More recently, Western celebrities like actor Richard Gere, Australian cricketer Steve Waugh and Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates have contributed large sums of money and visited India frequently to promote higher education and social causes. American actor Demi Moore has studied and praised Yoga, the ancient Indian system of spiritual and physical exercises. Their visits attract much attention from Indian media. Foreign praise and enthusiasm for Indian history, heritage and India's future has been a major source of pride for Indians. Often times, the pioneering work of foreigners like Fa-hien and Muller has helped Indians better understand their own history, while people like Richard Gere have increased Indian awareness and participation to stop a major public health crisis from AIDS.

Renaissance vision

See Also: Arya Samaj, Brahmo Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission

A new generation of Western-educated Indians sought to end practices and traditions that were responsible in their view for India's economic backwardness, social depravation and political disunity. Laying a definitive national vision, this generation sought to promote western-style scientific education and democracy. Raja Ram Mohan Roy sought to fight suttee and illiteracy. He founded the Presidency College in Bengal, and inspired the foundation of the Brahmo Samaj, as a Hindu reform society seeking to remove the ills of untouchability and casteism, as well as brahmin domination and dogmas. Syed Ahmed Khan promoted Western-style education in Muslim society, seeking to uplift Muslims in the economic and political life of British India. He founded the Aligarh Muslim University, then called the Anglo-Oriental College.

At the same time, Indian religious leaders like Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo emphasized the spiritual richness of Hinduism and Indian philosophy. Vivekananda asserted that the West could greatly help solve India's problems of entrenched poverty and encourage economic progress, while India could bring spiritual and cultural wealth to Western societies. Dayananda Saraswati formed the Arya Samaj to combat social evils within Hindu society, and increase the pride and purity of Hindu worship, returning to the Vedas and worship of God, not lesser deities.

Swaraj

Main Articles: Indian Independence Movement, Indian rebellion of 1857, Indian National Congress - Freedom Era

In the Indian rebellion of 1857, Indian soldiers and regional kings fought the forces allied with the British Empire in different parts of India. The war arose from the racist viewpoint and disregard the British exhibited to Indian religious traditions, and the desire for Indians to retain religious purity and freedom regardless of war or violence as its expense. There were also kingdoms and peoples, such Holkar, Scindia and the Sikhs, and Indian soldiers who supported the British. This event laid the foundation not only for a nationwide expression, but also future nationalism and conflict on religious and ethnic terms.

The Indian desire for complete freedom, or Swaraj, was born with Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who looked to the glories of Indian history and heritage, and condemned the racist and imperialistic discrimination of common Indians, who were not permitted a voice in the affairs of their own country. Tilak and his followers were the first to express the desire for complete independence, an idea that did not catch on until after World War I, when the British attempted to exert totalitarian power with the Rowlatt Acts of 1919. When the Amritsar Massacre of hundreds of unarmed and innocent civilians by British forces took place in the same year, the Indian public was outraged and most of India's political leaders turned against the British.

The Gandhian era

Main Articles: Gandhism, Satyagraha

Mohandas Gandhi pioneered the art of Satyagraha, typified with a strict adherence to ahimsa (non-violence), and civil disobedience. This permitted common individuals to engage the British in revolution, without employing violence or other distasteful means. Gandhi's equally strict adherence to democracy, religious and ethnic equality and brotherhood, as well as activist rejection of caste-based discrimination and untouchability united people across these demographic lines for the first time in India's history. The masses could participate in India's freedom struggle for the first time, and the membership of the Congress grew over tens of millions by the 1930s. In addition, Gandhi's victories in the Champaran and Kheda Satyagraha in 1918-19, gave confidence to a rising younger generation of Indians that the British hegemony could be defeated. National leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad and Badshah Khan brought together generations of Indians across regions and demographics, and provided a strong leadership base giving the country political direction.

The INA

Main Articles: Indian National Army, Arzi Hukumate Azad Hind

While Gandhi's leadership attracted the vast majority of Indians, Subhas Chandra Bose led a forceful initiative of military revolution when he formed the Indian National Army in the early 1940s, out of Indian POWs and indentured workers in South East Asia in World War II, with the help of the Japanese. Just as Gandhi had brought Indians together for peaceful, mass revolution, Bose united Hindus, Muslims and different ethic groups in a military outfit aimed at liberating Indian territory from British control.

The INA engaged the British Indian forces in Assam, Nagaland and parts of Bengal, but were overwhelmed by the better equipped enemy, the treacherous forest and mountainous environments, as well as lacklustre aid from the Japanese Army. Many thousands were killed and thousands others surrendered. Bose was killed himself in 1945 himself when flying in a Japanese plane, which crashed over the Taiwan Strait. However, the INA's military assault on British rule occurred concurrently with the Quit India movement, and electrified many Indians with the audacity of their effort and bravery.

More than just "Indian"

See Also: Demographics of India

Indian nationalism is as much a diverse blend of nationalistic sentiments as its people are ethnically and religiously diverse. Thus the most influential undercurrents are more than just Indian in nature. The most controversial and emotionally-charged fiber in the fabric of Indian nationalism is religion. Religion forms a major, and in many cases, the central element of Indian life. Ethnic communities are diverse in terms of linguistics, social traditions and history across India.

Hindu Rashtra

An important influence upon Hindu consciousness arises from the time of Islamic empires in India, during which many Hindu temples were destroyed and Hindus forcibly converted to Islam, and thousands killed by Muslim invaders. Entering the 20th century, Hindus formed over 75% of the population and thus unsurprisingly the backbone and platform of the nationalist movement. Modern Hindu thinking desired to unite Hindu society across the boundaries of caste, lingustic groups and ethnicity. In 1925, K.B. Hedgewar founded the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in Nagpur, Maharashtra, which grew into the largest civil organization in the country, and more potent, mainstream base of Hindu nationalism. The main purpose of the RSS was to unite Hindu society, with its cadets from across the caste and ethnic spectrum working to alleviate Hindus from poverty and ignorance, as well as working for social and economic development.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar coined the term Hindutva for his ideology that described India as a Hindu Rashtra, a Hindu nation. This ideology has become the cornerstone of the political and religious agendas of modern Hindu nationalist bodies like the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Hindutva political demands include revoking Article 357 of the Constitution that grants a special status to the Muslim-majority state of Kashmir, adopting a uniform civil code, thus ending a special legal framework for Muslims. These particular demands are based upon ending laws that Hindu nationalists consider as offering special treatment to Muslims. Demands like banning cow slaughter and building a Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya reflect in Hindu passions to assert cultural nationalism and a reversion of the destruction of Hindu temples by Muslim invaders.

The Qaum

Main Article: Indian Muslim nationalism

In 1906-1907, the All India Muslim League was founded, created due to the suspicion of Muslim intellectuals and religious leaders with the Indian National Congress, which was perceived as dominated by Hindu membership and opinions. However, Mahatma Gandhi's leadership attracted a wide array of Muslims to the freedom struggle and the Congress Party. The Aligarh Muslim University and the Jamia Millia Islamia stand apart - the former was averse to the freedom struggle, while the JMI was founded to promote Muslim education and consciousness upon nationalistic and Gandhian values and thought.

While prominent Muslims like Allama Iqbal and Muhammad Ali Jinnah embraced the notion that Hindus and Muslims were distinct nations, other major leaders like Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, Maulana Azad, Badshah Khan, Hakim Ajmal Khan strongly backed the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian freedom struggle, opposing any notion of Muslim separatism. This school of Muslim nationalism did not enjoy much support in the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and Bengal, where the Muslim League enjoyed extensive political power, and where Pakistan was ultimately formed. India's firm foundations of constitutional and popular secularism has brought prosperity, security and prominence to Indian Muslims who remained in India after partition. Zakir Hussain, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and A.P.J. Abdul Kalam were all Muslims, and holders of the Presidency of the Republic. Actors Shah Rukh Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Aamir Khan, music legends Zakir Hussain, Amjad Ali Khan and cricketers Syed Kirmani, Mushtaq Ali and Mohammad Azharuddin are icons to the Indian public.

Most Muslims staunchly defend their identity as Indians when questioned by radical Hindus in sensitive times. Some Indian Muslim families maintain and establish familial relations with Pakistani and Bangladeshi families, separated by partition. After especially bloody episodes of violence following the destruction of the Babri Mosque in 1992, and the 2002 Gujarat violence, and the rise of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, some Muslim religious leaders have called for a Muslim political party to protect the rights and interests of the Indian Muslim community. The embrace of rigid forms of Islam in Muslim religious schools and mosques across India has created an atmosphere of cultural alienation in some parts of the country.

The Khalsa

See Also: Sikhism, Khalsa The religious and cultural pride of the Sikhs, mainly based in the state of Punjab has played an important role in the history of medieval and modern India. Sikh forces combated Muslim armies and rescued themselves and Hindus in Kashmir from religious pogroms. The Sikh Empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was one of the first to openly challenge and weaken the Mughals, while asserting their own glory in the Punjab. Today, Sikhs form a major proportion of officers and soldiers in the Indian military services, and Punjab is one of the most economically progressive states in the country, known as the breadbasket of India. Sikh political leaders like Master Tara Singh were responsible for politically leading Sikhs during the Partition of India, and uniting them after millions of Sikhs were displaced from Pakistan. Tara Singh and the SGPC led the demand for a Sikh-majority state in Indian Punjab, which was granted in 1966. While Sikhs pride themselves for their patriotism and a great military tradition, many other Indians feared that demands of such nature would give rise to political separatism.

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale led a small extremist group demanding independence for Sikh-majority Punjab in the early 1980s. It was responsible for committing acts of terrorism, but when it was violently crushed during Operation Bluestar in 1984, within the sanctions of the Golden Temple, thousands of militants, civilians and Army soldiers were killed. Sikhs viewed this as a desecration and insult of the holiest Sikh shrine. These led to the assassination of the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards. When over 5,000 Sikhs were killed in riots perpetrated in Delhi after the assassination, many millions of Sikhs in India and across the world were estranged from the Indian mainstream for some time. While the negative effects of this period and events have been greatly healed over two decades, there remains some suspicion and bitterness.

Ethnic nationalism

See Also: Demographics of India, Aryan Invasion Theory, Dalit, Caste

Post-independence India has had to deal head-on with nationalist expression based on regions, states, linguistic groups and ethnic, racial origins. The Assam guerilla movement led by the ULFA, and the Punjab Khalistan movement of the 1980s represent the more violent end of the spectrum. The rise of ethnic nationalistic sentiments took place as peoples of various regions, linguistic groups and racial origins sought to discover their place within the wider expression of Indian national consciousness. Some states like Assam deplored the fact that the revenue obtained from the export of tea grown in Assam ended up benefiting other states more than it did the Assamese people, and that it received lesser proportion of Government aid than did larger, more populated states. Assam and neighboring states were also angered by the Chinese incursion into their territory in 1962, which the Indian army failed to prevent, giving rise to a sense of insecurity, and a notion that India would not expend resources to protect its farther, northeastern constituent parts.

Similarly, Tamil linguistic nationalism arose after politicians began pushing for Hindi to be adopted as the national language. Many Tamils felt that Tamil, one of the oldest languages of India and with a rich tradition of literature of its own, would be demoted into a second-level tongue and be pushed into extinction by making of Hindi as the lingua franca of India. Many non-Hindi speaking states have resented the adoption of Hindi, and regional languages are thus given official status for the respective state governments.

But ethnic nationalism also ranges all the way back to 3000 BC, when the Indus Valley Civilization flourished in western India, and the Indo-Aryans first introduced themselves to the subcontinent. It is postulated that the early Indo-Aryans saw the indigenous peopels as un-Arya and uncivilized at times, and segregated themselves at times. It is even today a matter of debate whether it is true that the Aryans invaded India, as per the widely-debated Aryan Invasion Theory, or if they were actually indigenous peoples of India. The latter possibility is actively championed by Hindu nationalists in politics, seeking to amend the history curriculum in state-sponsored textbooks. At the same time, many Dravidian and Dalit politicians describe the Aryans as foreign and racist, and equate possible Aryan wars with indigenous peoples as ethnic cleansing. The conflict of modern day Indo-Aryans with the darker-skinned, South-based Dravidian peoples, although more subtle and less important to many, still plays an interesting and indirect role in the progress and problems of India. However this division of "Aryans" and "Dravidians" is played up only by corrupt politicians and few colonial-era historians of today. It has been accepted by many scholars (including Max Muller) that this theory is nonsensical.

Nationalism and politics

See Also: Politics of India

The political identity of the Indian National Congress, India's largest political party and one which controlled government for over 45 years, is reliant on the connection to Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, and the Nehru-Gandhi family which has controlled the Congress since independence. The Congress Party's fortunes up till the 1970s were single-handedly propelled by its legacy as the flagship of India's Independence Movement, and the core platform of the party today evokes that past strongly, considering itself to be the guardian of India's freedom, democracy and unity. Muslims have remained loyal voters of the Congress Party, seen as defender of Nehruvian secularism. Small religious parties have arisen, and Muslim frustrations with communal violence and the aggressive attitudes of Hindu nationalists might lead to the development of a party solely on Islamic religious lines. In contrast, the Bharatiya Janata Party employs a more aggressively nationalistic expression. The BJP seeks to defend the culture and heritage of India and the majority of its people, the Hindu population. It ties nationalism with the aggressive defence of India's borders and interests against archrivals China and Pakistan, with the defence of the majority's right to be a majority. The party's fortunes arose primarily in the 1990s, with the frustration of the people with over 40 years of Congress domination, corruption, sycophant leaders and lack of direction.

Ethnic nationalist parties include the Shiromani Akali Dal, which is closely identified with the creation of a Sikh-majority state in Punjab and includes many Sikh religious leaders in its organization. In Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena uses the legacy of the independent Maratha kingdom under heroes like Shivaji to stir up support, and has adopted Hindutva as well. In Assam, the Asom Gana Parishad is a more state-focused party, arising after the frustration of the ULFA as a benevolent expression of Assamese nationalism. In Tamil Nadu came the first of such parties, the DMK. Today the DMK stands for a collection of parties, with the DMK, the AIADMK, the PMK and the MDMK. Caste-based politics invite the participation of the Bahujan Samaj Party and the party of Laloo Prasad Yadav, who build upon the support of poor low-caste and dalit Hindus in the northern, and most populated states of India like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Almost every Indian state has a regional party devoted solely to the culture of the native people. Unlike the Akali Dal and the AGP, these mostly cannot be called nationalist, as they use regionalism as a strategy to garner votes, building on the frustration of common people with official status and the centralization of government institutions in India.

Nationalism and military conflicts

See Also: Indo-Pakistani Wars, Military History of India

India has a long military histoy, establishing some of the greatest empires in history including the Chola Empire, Gupta Empire, Magadhan Empire, Maratha Empire, Mauryan Empire, Mogul Empire and Vijayanagara Empire. India's recent military history also serves as a source of nationalist sentiment.

The scale of Indian military achievements

Indian armed forces have been widely acclaimed for several military achievements both while fighting for objectives of national importance and for the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. Indian armed forces have achievements like destroying most tanks in a post world war 2 battle theatre during battle of Asal Uttar, taking the maximum number of post world war 2 prisoners of war during the Bangladesh Liberation War, capturing the world's highest battlefield, the Siachen glacier and Operation Cactus in the Maldives. These are a source of nationalist sentiment in India.

Other incidents of particular importance to an Indian national are mentioned below :-

• During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the Indian army undertook the Bangladesh Liberation War on the eastern front while engaging in battles such as the Battle of Longewala on the western front. The final result saw Pakistan surrendering 93,000 soldiers to India on the eastern front and losing 40 tanks and a total of 100 vehicles on the western front.
• The Kargil War saw the retreat of the combined Pakistan army and mujahideen axis and India reclaiming its territory against well entrenced Pakistani forces. The Indians also consider not crossing the line of control an act of honour when it clearly would have meant less casualties on the Indian side. Indians take pride in almost completely eliminating ememy forces like the Northern Light Infantry and the frequent admissions of Pakistan's prime minister Nawaz Sharif of the scale of damage inflicted by the Indian armed forces serve as reminders of the army's operations under severely unfavourable conditions.
• Indians take special pride in their forces withstanding infiltration and Islamic Jihad. Indians have faced cross border terrorism in Kashmir since 1989. The United States claims that India is amongst the countries most tageted by Islamic Jihad .

Nuclear power

Main Article: India and weapons of mass destruction

In 1974, India tested its first nuclear weapon in Pokhran, Rajasthan, and thus became the 6th nation in the world to possess an arsenal of nuclear weapons. It is postulated that India's nuclear program arose in the 1960s as a response to the Chinese acquisition of the nuclear weapon. It also resulted in Pakistan pursuing similar ambitions, resulting in the May, 1998 testings of five nuclear devices by both countries, opening a new era in their rivalry. India is not a signatory to the NPT and CTBT, which it considers an encroachment on its right to defend itself.

The Kashmir issue

Main Article: History of the Kashmir conflict

The Kashmir question stands as a perpetual roadblock to the rise of India's economic and political power. While the Indian government is prepared to respond to attempts by other countries to seize areas currently controlled by India, it is openly questionable whether India's people would support an offensive operation to take areas that are not currently controlled by India. And as both China and Pakistan have nuclear weapons, this possibility has become even more remote.

The building of stronger commercial and culture relations may possibly point to both India and Pakistan coming closer a solution, which might involve partitioning Kashmir along the Line of Control. The military solution has weakened in practicality and popular imagination ever since the end of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 in 1971 and the signing of the Shimla Agreement.

New visions

A wide-spread economic boom and industrial expansion, a rising Indian middle-class and a whole new generation of young Indians hold interesting potentials to the changing expression of nationalism in India, and for Indians around the world. What issues and attitudes these new Indians hold important are considerably different from what their forefathers in the 19th and 20th centuries held as important or inviolable.

India's Growth

See Also: Foreign relations of India; India as an emerging superpower

Many young Indians envisage that by 2020, the Indian economy would be strong enough for India to command a formidable position in world affairs, given that India is already the world's largest democracy, a nuclear power, with the 3rd largest military services in the world and a population exceeding 1 billion. It is one of the few nations that have been considered by media as possible future superpowers. It currently meets many of the characteristics of a superpower to the extent that it is labelled an emerging superpower and great power. This growth is a source of pride and nationalism amongst young Indians who foresee living in an advanced Indian society. President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam released a book India 2020, outlining the necessary policies to promote India's social, economic and scientific advancement. India has conducted a major diplomatic campaign to obtain a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council with veto powers. In recent years India and the United States have increased their influence. Some believe that the United States would prefer India over China as a new global power.

Emanating from Cold War times suspicions and close ties with Russia, portions of the Indian public perceive the United States as an arrogant superpower. The Indian government criticized the U.S. for what it saw as attempts to impose the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty upon all nations despite its eventual rejection by American politicians themselves. India also perceives the U.S. economic and military aid to Pakistan as fueling its rival's aggressive designs, and criticizes the U.S. for ignoring Pakistan's long-standing aid to terrorism in Kashmir. Indian public opinion also sees its neighbor China, the most populated nation in the world as its biggest competitor in economic, political and military influence, and the leadership of Asia. The continuing territorial dispute over Aksai Chin and China's military aid to Pakistan contributes to bringing a serious military aspect to this rivalry. However, India and China have created strategic partnerships over energy and oil, and are pursuing extensive trade relations that have created a positive atmosphere. The United States have been increasingly acceptive of India's power and the stepping stones have been laid for a positive relationship with the United States as well.

Akhand Bharat

It is the vision of many nationalists to one-day see the reversal of the Partition of India, and the reunification of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh into one nation. While the idea of a wide-scale war, and employing violence to force this re-unification is distasteful to all save the most hardcore, and that even hardline Hindu nationalists see the reversal to pre-1947 boundaries as impossible (especially due to the vast proportional majority enjoyed by Muslims in the populations of both Pakistan and Bangladesh), it remains the dream and fantasy of many mainstream Indians, Hindus and Muslims. And while Akhand Bharat is a term used only by Hindu nationalists, many young Indians and some Pakistanis have envisaged a possible loose constitutional union in the future, such as Lal Krishna Advani, the senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Support for a reversal of partition exists in some intellectual circles in Pakistan, who view partition as a great loss for the Muslim community being divided into three nations, rather than utilizing the opportunities and power presented by a united population of 400 million in one, united country. The South Asia Free Trade Agreement and the possible success of the peace process over Kashmir may make this dream feasible one-day in the distant future, which today remains too fantastic to contemplate practically.

See also: Undivided India

Trans-national expression

The large expatriate Indian communities in the United States, Western Europe, South East Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Australia have played a role in Indian nationalism as long ago as the Ghadar Party and as recently as the Californian Hindu textbook controversy. As the Indian government's own Singhvi commission notes, "the sun never sets on the Indian diaspora." Yet the cultural transmission model is rapidly transforming from a one-way street, in which the Motherland gives and the diaspora receives, to a two-way street, in which the diaspora is as confidently Indian, sometimes more so, than India itself. Bollystan ("Bolly-" for Bollywood, and "Stan", the Urdu suffix for "land" comprise this term) is a neologism which recognizes this changing balance of power between the home country and its diaspora. Technology has enabled the diaspora to manufacture "Indian-ness" as competently as their home-bound relatives through film, dance, music and even religious practices. These externally produced symbols of Indian-ness have in many ways become the primary representation of India in the West and around the world. The term was first used by Parag Khanna, when he guest edited the UK's ethnic lifestyle magazine Another Generation in Fall 2004 (www.anothergeneration-mag.com). The entire issue was based on the theme of Bollystan, This was subsequently then used in an article in The Globalist. The London-based Foreign Policy Centre think-tank has also recognized Bollystan as a form of "diasporic diplomacy". In the January/February 2005 issue of Foreign Policy magazine, Mitra Kalita of the Washington Post writes, "Finally there is a name for where I live: Bollystan."

The world's largest democracy

Indians take pride in freedom and democracy reaching to the very grassroots of Indian nation, the noisy Indian political elections are enthusiastically followed by leigons of voters across rural India with the Indian media covering some of the largest political exercises in human history.

The fact that India is the world's largest democracy (by population), especially in a region where it finds itself surrounded by communist China, Pakistan (a state with over half of its history under military rule), Myanmar (military dictaorship) and Nepal (long history of Monarchy and presently under conflict with the Maoist rebels), Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, is seen as a symbol of Indian resilience and commitment to its core values of democracy and freedom.

Film Industry and Indipop

Indian Film Industry is the largest industry churning out more than 800 movies every year. The Hindi Film Industry (Bollywood), Telugu Film Industry (Tollywood), Tamil Film Industry (Kollywood) are the major contributors. Of all the major regional film industries, Bollywood has grown prominence mainly due to the wide spread diaspora across the world.

During recent times, Bollywood, the Mumbai based Indian film industry has become a symbol of national pride for the Indian nationals. The industry is credited with churning out more movies than any other industry in the world. Bollywood is also the home of some of the most followed film stars in the world like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai.

India is also the home to Indipop, a young, distinct style of music which is charecterized by the frequent remixes and multi-ethnic appeal, emphasising equally on classical Hindu songs, Muslim traditional music and Sikh music. Indipop has put Indian singers on the map throughout the world, with the stars staging concerts throughout the world with great success. Indipop is also very popular in European dance clubs, particularly the U.K. based dance clubs.

Global acceptance of beauty and fashion

Indian nationals have been immensely successful both in the major beauty peagents of the world. India, along with Venezuela, is the country awarded the most Miss World peagent wins. Indian representatives have also won the Miss Universe title twice.

India is also the only country in history to have twice won both Miss World and Miss Universe competition in the same year.

In 2000, Aishwarya Rai, Miss World 1994 from India, was awarded the Most Beautiful Miss World of All Times title.

Indian fashion is also experiencing a resurgence with some of the world's largest fashion events being held in India, including fashion week events. Indian fashion designers have held showcased Indian fashion in New York, London, Paris and Milan, widely acknowledged as the fashion centres of the world.

Indian cuisine

Indian cuisine is distinguished by its sophisticated use of spices and herbs and the influence of the longstanding and widespread practice of vegetarianism in Indian society.

Britain has a particularly strong tradition of Indian cuisine that originates from the British Raj. At this time there were a few Indian restaurants in the richer parts of London that catered to British officers returning from their duties in India.

In the 20th century there was a second phase in the development of Anglo-Indian cuisine, as families from countries such as Bangladesh migrated to London to look for work. Some of the earliest such restaurants were opened in Brick Lane in the East End of London, a place that is still famous for this type of cuisine.

After the Immigration Act of 1965, South Asian immigration to the United States increased, and with it the prevalence of Indian cuisine, especially in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and the New York City neighborhoods of Murray Hill, Jackson Heights and East 6th Street.

Indian restaurants can also be found in many Continental European cities, particularly Paris.

Indian restaurants are common in the larger cities of Canada, particularly in Toronto and Vancouver where large numbers of Indian nationals have settled since 1970. A number of the more adventurous restaurants have transformed their offerings into so-called Indian "fusion" menus, combining fresh local ingredients with traditional Indian cooking techniques.

The South Asian diaspora has resulted in a number of inauthentic "Indian" foods, like the bunny chow of South Africa, chicken tikka masala and the balti.

External links

• Ancient India's Contribution to World's culture
• Seafaring in ancient India
• Amazing Sciences from India
• India's traditional flying machines
• Online course material for InSIGHT, a workshop on traditional Indian sciences for school children conducted by the Computer Science department of Anna University, Chennai, India.
• Traditional Knowledge systems

References

1. Flood 1996:25
2. Bryant 2001:178
3. Flood 1996:24-25
4. Houben 1996:10,13
5. Broughton 1999
6. Klostermaier 1994:1
7. Scharfstein 1995
8. Thapar, Romila (1960). Ashoka and the Decline of the Mauryas. Oxford University Press.
9. Porter 1999:138
10. Teresi, Dick (2002). Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science—from the Babylonians to the Maya. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, New York.
11. Joseph, ch.8.
12. http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/storyid.aspx?StoryId=4279
13. http://fpc.org.uk/fsblob/377.pdf
14. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/users/login.php?story_id=2761&URL=http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=2761

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• Indian independence movement
• Politics of India
• Politics and race
• Nationalism