| Abstract: | India is a country of great diversity and is more aptly called a civilisation rather than a nation-state or a republic, with an extraordinary diversity of languages, castes, classes, creeds, religions, regions, and ethnicities. Yet, despite these apparent differences and diversities, there has been a profound sense of unity in India spanning millennia. This paper argues that the foundation of this unity is the idea of Bhāratīya: being a Bhāratīya is a civilisational identity rooted in the ancient imagination of Bhārata or Bhāratavarṣa as mātṛbhūmi: a sacred motherland, and that being Bhāratīya precedes and transcends religious, social, and political identities and serves as the foundational unifier of Bhāratīya pluralism. In contrast to Western models, where nationalism and a sense of exclusiveness and belonging to a particular state are often associated, and secularism means a complete negation and rejection of religion, in the Bhāratīya model, nationalism has been redefined as patriotism, and secularism has been defined as a principled and age-old acceptance and promotion of all religions, always secondary to Bhāratīyaness. Therefore, unity in India has been based on a civilizational ethos and not merely on legal frameworks and structures. Unlike other models, Bhāratīya nationalism has placed a greater emphasis on patriotic unity than on exclusivist ideology, and secularism has meant religious pluralism and not a negation of religion itself. This unique Bhāratīya model of civilizational ethos, predating and surmounting all distinctions and differences of caste, class, creed, religion, race, politics, and status, has been and continues to be an essential part of India’s evolution as a cohesive and responsible global entity. This paper, therefore, ends with a conclusion that for India to emerge and become a successful and responsible global entity, a renewed commitment to being a Bhāratīya, rooted in a sense of duty, responsibility, and honour, is essential. |
