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National Integration Through Culture

structure

(1) Opening    —    National integration has to be the aim of every activity of our private and public life.

(2) Body    —    A critical and careful analysis of the currents and cross-currents of India’s recorded history of more than two thousand years.

(3) Closing    —    Quote Vivekanand.

In a multi-lingual and multi-racial country like India having 1652 mother-tongues, 400 recognised and 21 scheduled languages, each of them having history and literature dating back to more than a thousand years, national integration has to be the aim of every activity of our private and public life. It is not only the need of the present times but it has always been the pressing need in all the periods of our history.

A critical and careful analysis of the currents and cross-currents of India’s recorded history of more than two thousand years reveals that after every three hundred years a movement sweeps across the heart of India, rising above all barriers of caste, colour and creed, and gradually turning into a national movement, yielding rich political results. When Buddhism arose on the swindling remains of Brahminism in the 6th Century B.C., it was thought that Brahminism had gone for ever. But no, three hundred years later Buddhism itself underwent changes in the days of Ashoka so as to admit dissent. During the Ist century A.D. there again was schism in the folds of Buddhism in the forms of ‘Hinyana’ and ‘Mahayana’. A big religious upheaval was witnessed not only in India in the days of Harsha but also in the world. Islam emerged as a new religious force which 

changed the destinies of a number of countries. And when it entered India, it gave birth to new movements such as Sufism and other ‘Silsilahs’ under Nizamuddin Aulyia and Amir Khusrau. Exactly three hundred years after, we have the Bhakti Movement to be followed three hundred years later by new religious orders in the 19th century such as Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Theosophical Society, etc. The study of Bhakti Movement against this time-profile is not merely interesting but also historically important, socially rewarding and economically distinctive. Some movements were simple, others were complex. But the value system they upheld was the same. Every movement upheld the unity of India and, in its own way enriched the composite culture of this vast sub-continent on the principles of national integration and national solidarity.

Amir Khusrau was the first to use the world ‘Hind’ for the whole country while he reserved ‘Hindustan’ for what is today called ‘Uttar Pradesh’. Guru Nanak Dev used the word Hindustan for the entire country in 1522 in a poem in which he pictures Hindustan as a well-integrated whole—at least 12 clearly distinguished plains, hills, mountains, coastal provinces. He called these provinces as ‘Desas’. Guru Nanak stood for cultural integration of the country as did Amir Khusrau three hundred years ago and Swami Vivekananda three hundred years later.

Guru Nanak travelled throughout the length and breadth of the country and collected the songs of saints and sufis which were later included by Guru Arjun Dev in Adi Granth, the sacred book of the Sikhs. From Multan and Pak Pattan he collected the hymns of Baba Shaikh Farid. From Sind he got the poems of Saint Sadna and Dhanna, the Jat. From Gujarat and Maharashtra he acquired the poems of a Muslim Poet Alam and the ‘Abhangas’ of Trilochan and Namdev. He went to Karnataka and Sri Lanka. The poetry of Kabir, Ravidas, Ramanand, Surfas and Beni, the celebrated author of Geet Govinda touched his heart. Being well-versed with the writings of Shankar Deo of Assam and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Bengal he laid the foundations of a new faith called ‘Sikhism’—the word derived from the Sanskrit ‘Shishya’ or Pali ‘Sikhia’.

Guru Nanak Dev, therefore, performed the gigantic task of compiling a national anthology representing the country’s faith and beliefs enshrined in Adi Granth, covering 1430 pages and consisting of more than two lakh words. Besides, the works of 16 Bhatta were included. Edited by Bhai Gurdas, the anthology was completed in 1605 when Akbar had died.

A name among the Sufi saints of medieval India is that of Nizamuddin Auliya (died 1325 A.D.), a contemporary of Amir Khusrau (1253-1325 A.D.), the first Hindi poet and the first Persian poet outside of Persia who acquired world fame. Amir Khusrau was a first generation Muslim who advocated not only the mixed language but also the mixed culture, popularly known today as the composite culture of India. Nizamuddin Auliya was a saint of international status and led a very independent life seeking no favours from the rulers of Delhi. Another saint of Chisti ‘Silsilah’ Shaikh Nasiruddin Chirag (died 1357 A.D.) of Delhi gave Mohammed Bin Tuglak, the Delhi Sultan, a tough fight when the latter wanted to interfere in the religious life of the Durgah. Ibn Batuta, the Moorish traveller who visited India in the reign of Mohammed Tuglak refers to numerous convents (Zawiyahs) and hermitages (Takias) from Multan to Deoigri and from Delhi to Lakhnauti.

Popularly remembered as “Tooti-e-Hind”, Khusrau sang full-throatedly of the glories of Indian culture in the popular language of the people even when Persian continued to be the official language of the court. He wrote in praise of his motherland and in various things India excelled. Among those are included Indian philosophy, Indian music, mangoes and mathematics. He sang of the Indian seasons. He sang of Indian life in all its aspects and shades, the songs of sorrow and separation of the beloved, the rainy season, the falling of leaves in autumn. Writing in praise of Indian women, Amir Khusrau says, “The women of Turkistan and China have too small eyes while the Russian women are flat and tasteless. The Tartar women have no smile on their lips and those of Khotan lack flavour. The beauties of Khurasan were odourless and those of Samarkand and Qandhar have no sweetness in them.” He also did not find any charm in the silver-bodied and silver-faced women in Egypt. The women of India had everything in them—elegance, suppleness, sweetness and charm. Khusrau also wrote hundreds of riddles and puzzles and conundrums which are popular even today, with our children and adults alike. According to Jawaharlal Nehru, there is no other instance anywhere in the history of world literature of songs written 600 years ago maintaining their popularity and their mass appeal and being still sung without any change of words. Khusrau represents the composite culture of India as very few poets have done before or after him.

Another great name that shines as pole star and carries forward the torch of India’s composite culture is Nanak (1409-1539). Born in a Hindu Kshatriya family of Bedi caste at Jalwandi near Lahore, he learnt the Puranas and the Quran at an early age. Nanak infused a new spirit in minds of the Punjab peasantry. He put man above all institutions. To be human was to be divine. He said all material things were subservient to moral wants. He advocated equality in all aspects of life. Ramanand had also preached equality but Nanak practised it. He threw aside the robe of an ascetic and became a householder. He addressed the Muslim Mullah and the Hindu Pandit, the Sufi and the Sanyasi, the devout and the Dervish and asked them to worship only one God which is omni-present and invisible. He travelled throughout the country and visited all the sacred places of the Brahmins. He also went to Kabul, Bagdad and Mecca. A story is told generation after generation that while at Mecca, Nanak was found sleeping with his feet towards the Masjid. When asked that he was dishonouring the House of God, Nanak asked with a smile if his feet could be turned where there was not the House of God. At Multan he wore the dress of a Muslim Dervish and attended assembly of devout Muslims and told them that he was like the sacred river Ganga entering into the ocean of holiness. During his sojourn to Persia he was accompanied by his Muslim disciple, Mardana, the harper who sang of the glory of God and the beauty of Indian culture. His dialogues with the Hindu Brahmins and the Muslim Mullahs reveal that he was trying to bridge the gulf between the two major religions of India. In no time he was accepted as a leader by both the communities as is evident from the popular saying of the time:

Baba Nanak Shah Fakir

Hindu a Guru Muslim A Peer.

The Bhakti Movement indianised everybody and created a mixed and composite culture. It also created an atmosphere of tolerance, reconciliation and respect for the other man’s point of view. In other words, the resilience of ancient Indian culture once again asserted itself and its native qualities of assimilation and growth came to the forefront. It was in this atmosphere that Akbar laid the foundations of the great Mughal Empire, embraced his Hindu brethren, married Rajput ladies and formed, what can be broadly called, a national government. Dr. Abid Hussain in his book. The National Culture of India says: “One of the most powerful factors which contributed to this reconciliation was the historical role of mediator played by the Muslim Sufis and the Hindu saints of the Bhakti School. Most of the Muslim Sufis in India conceived and preached divine unity in terms of idealistic monoism. The Hindus who found their ideas very much like those of Vedantic philosophy were naturally contributed by them.” The Islamic concept of love, equality and brotherhood appealed to the Hindus. Likewise, Rama’s and Krishna’s personalities appealed to the Muslims. Bhakti, which was essentially a spiritual upsurge, became a social movement and in no time it was seen bubbling with national and patriotic sentiments.

Respect for all religions has been the hallmark of Indian culture right from the dawn of civilisation in India. The rock edicts of Ashoka clearly indicate that in India, respect for other religions is the bed rock of respect for your own religion. The good king Harsha respected all religions as a state policy. The same message is permeated in the teachings of Bhaktas who preached in the medieval times the unity of God and the brotherhood of man. Ram, Rahim and Rahman according to Guru Nanak were the names of the same God who was merciful, compassionate and considerate to the sufferings of humanity. He did not actually start a new religion but emphasised the basic truths of Hinduism and Islam which echo through the sacred 

texts of Gita and the Quran. Guru Nanak placed truthful living above truth. “Truth”, he said, “is great but truthful living is greater, higher than truth.” He did not abandon the world nor did he live the life of a recluse but he practised truth as a householder and asked his countrymen not to submit before any inequality, injustice, exploitation or humiliation.

It is interesting to observe how invader after invader was integrated into India’s composite culture. This was a greater historical spectacle which can be compared to the scene of a crowded train where new passengers try to get in at every stop and the old passengers sitting in it put forward all the resistance at their command. We may call this train as India’s cultural train which is always in movement in spite of resistance. As it happens, the invaders of the previous station become the resistors of the next station. The invading passengers try to get in by all means, including violent means, by hook or by crook; more often by crook than by hook. The old inmates of the train, including the invading passengers of the previous station, all join hands to resist the new invader with all their might. Consequently, at every station some invaders (passengers) are admitted into the broad spectrum of India’s cultural train and it moves on and on. This process was in operation since the days of Aryans. The list of invaders in India is very long. We had the Persians, the Creeks, the Parthians, the Huns, the Yeuchis, the Sakas, the Arabs, the Afghans and the Turks. All became part and parcel of India’s social national set up.

In the 40 years’ rule of Shivaji and 40 years’ rule of Ranjit Singh, not a single communal riot took place. There were no forced conversions, no second rate citizens. A test of a culture is how minorities in a state are treated. Judged from this stand-point the Bhakti Movement is one of the major movements of India’s history because it resulted into communal harmony between the three major communities of India viz. the Hindus, the Sikhs and the Muslims. A story is told of a Muslim calligraphist knocking the doors of Maharaja Ranji Singh’s palace at Lahore and demanding rupees one lakh for a caligraphed copy of the Holy Quran. He said he had been to the courts of almost all Muslim princes at Rampur, Lucknow and Hyderabad but not body could pay him the price. He had heard of the secularity of the Sikh ruler and of his generosity and that explained why he came all the way to Lahore. The Maharaja listened to the calligraphist, rose from his silver chair, kissed the Holy book and asked his Finance Minister to pay the price the calligraphist demanded. Fakeer Azizuddin, the Foreign Minister of the Sikhs who was present on the occasion asked the Maharaja why he had ordered the huge payment for a book which did not belong to his religion. Maharaja’s only eye twinkled and he said:

God had ordained that I should took upon all the religions with the same eye. That is why He took the light from the other.

It was the same spirit of religion which appealed to the saints of the 19th century. Swami Vivekananda echoed the Bhakti thoughts when he said:

‘‘I do not want a religion which cannot wipe the tears of a widow’s eye, which cannot give food to the hungry and which divides instead of uniting.”