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India will be the greatest contributor to the universal world culture that is likely to develop in the years to come, the Indologist Koenraad Elst, said here today.
Delivering a special lecture on `India's image in the West' at the Avinashilingam University, Dr. Elst said, "In future, we are going to have one universal civilisation in which the most valuable elements of every culture will have a place. Most of these will be traceable to India."
Many of the worthwhile elements that the Indian civilisation had produced over long periods of time would be useful for everyone in the world.
Some of these universal precepts such as vegetarianism and yoga were now being practised abroad even by people who had never visited India.
"At present, the rest of the world is standing in awe of India as a land of brains and intellect, most conspicuously in computer science. India is also taking off economically, with many industries that were destroyed or moved to Britain during British rule, coming back to the country," he said, and added that this was the result of the inborn talent and working capacity of Indians.
Dr. Elst said that in the past, India had been identified with poverty and misery.
People in the developed countries lived under the impression that these undesirable conditions could be removed only by combating negative and inhuman practices.
Despite the developmental efforts after Independence, India continued to be considered a land of "injustice, untouchability and idolatory" with Indians themselves contributing much to create a negative image of their own country.
In the 1960s, India gained reputation as the "land of enlightenment", with accent on yoga and spirituality.
"People from popular culture in the West, such as film stars and singers, came to India to sit at the feet of gurus and learn transcendental meditation, Dr. Elst said.
With the resurgence of nationalism in India, there were attempts to rewrite history recorded under the British rule. However, the tendency to claim that India was the "origin for everything", was a "form of greed".
These views had been picked up and highlighted by those who wanted to project a negative impression of India to the rest of the world.
The Chancellor of Avinashilingam University, K. Kulandaivel, who presided, observed that Western historians had not brought out the greatness of India.
There had been "distortions and
misinterpretations" that had been brought to light through current research,
he added.
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