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India is a land with a radiant past. Indian culture is more than five
thousand years old and the Vedas are the oldest tradition of
knowledge, originally transmitted orally and later in the written
form.
The Indian tradition originated three thousand years before the
Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions came into being. The civilisation
that existed on the banks of the Indus flourished in the lap of a
culture that far surpassed any other in terms of sheer
advancement in thought, science and human development.
Sanskrit had become one of the most perfect linguistic
phenomena by way of grammar and phonetics. Research
scientists in computer technology and linguistics now feel that
Sanskrit's syntactical and scemantical perfection makes it the
most suitable language for programming.
The various schools of philosophy that were propagated from this
great culture mushroomed into famous international universities,
where scholars from all over the world migrated in search of the
latest developments in human thought. Takshasila and Nalanda
were two such great centres of learning.
The peoples of this civilisation, whatever their caste or creed,
called themselves "Bharatvasis". The word "Hindu" was used for
them only by foreigners.
The word "Hindu" did not exist in the Vedas nor in the post-Vedic
texts of other religions like Buddhism or Jainism. It was the Greeks
who used the word Indu for the river Sindhu and its people. The
Arabs and Persians who followed them named the race of people
living on the other side of this river as "Hindi" and they continue to
do so until today.
While Muslims, Christians and Buddhists were seen as adherents
of their respective religions, Hindus were considered to be those
who lived on a particular tract of land.
Thus the word Hindu refers to all Indians who lived in India, similar
to the words, Americans, British, Israelis, Persians, Arabs and
Africans, all of which refer to people living in that particular region
of the world.
If people claim that Hindus are those who follow the Vedas, again
the word "Hindu" cannot be associated with a particular religion.
The root of the word Veda is "Vid" which means "to know". In this
context, Vedas are books of knowledge and refer to the science
and art of living.
The Mongols, Turks and other invaders could not initially
penetrate the political network of this region which stretched from
Gandhar to Burma, and from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari.
The British used the divisive forces of caste and creed, and the
sense of insecurity among the Muslims and other religious
minorities to divide and rule.
Greedy and power-hungry politicians have encouraged these
divisive forces. Unfortunately, this undermines the pace of foreign
investments, decelerates the rate of economic growth and defeats
us all in our battle against poverty.
Political, business and social leaders of the country should not
encourage activities which hamper our efforts to alleviate poverty
and achieve social progress.
Instead, they should bring about a change in the mindset of the
people. That change should aim at promoting awareness of the
true meaning of word "Hindu", and discourage leaders from using
and abusing this word for their political and monetary gains. After
all, why should anyone become an "untouchable" simply
because the word "Hindu" has become misunderstood?
The word Hindu refers to all Indians and should only be used to
encourage a national identity not a religious one.
All of us belong to the same culture and tradition of India, whatever
our religious affiliation. Unfortunately, power bases have been
built by dividing sections of the society on the basis of religion,
caste and creed.
In the developed world, however, politicians who stay in power for
a long time cannot resort to such tactics because the concept of
nationhood is stronger than identity with a particular religion.
A communist country like China is able to make-the free market
work better than India. Modem India faces a stark choice - it can
accept divisions of its society which will lead to continuing poverty
and undermine social progress, or it can work to integrate the
concept of nationhood and build a prosperous future.
The dynamic, catalytic process of economic liberalisation should
now be brought forward to its logical conclusion: to redeem Indian
society from the deep-rooted fissures that have divided different
groups based on caste, religion and creed.
The Hinduja Foundations have established two Dharam Hinduja
Indic Research Institutes - one at Cambridge University headed
by Dr Julius Lipner, and the other at Columbia University in New
York under Dr Mary McGee - to conduct research into the identity
of the Indic tradition of knowledge. A third centre has been set up in
New Delhi under Dr Kireet Joshi.
I am proud to have descended from the ancient universal Indic
culture - a culture that gave birth to universal tolerance.
This is a new vision whereby we can live together, with a sense of
common humanity and common purpose for the future, enriching
each other from the strengths of our particular traditions, and
helping each other overcome the weaknesses of each of these
traditions. This should be the new, constructive meaning of the
term "Hindu". It ought to be a description that binds us together,
through our diversity of faiths and perspectives, into one
fellowship.
(Srichand P Hinduja is chairman, Hinduja Group and Hinduja Foundations)
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