Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Altered Destinations
- 1 Self, Society and Nation: Indian Notions of Responsibility
- 2 1857: The Religious Roots of Indian Anti-Imperialism
- 3 Indian Alternations: Aurobindo, Ambedkar and After
- 4 Interrogating Indian Post-Nationalism: Culture, Citizenship and Global Futures
- 5 Hindi Hain Hum: An Account of a Vibhashi's Romance with the National Language
- 6 The Case for Sanskrit as India's National Language
- 7 National Education? Problems and Prospects
- 8 Regaining the Indian Eye
- 9 Secularism vs. Hindu Nationalism: Interrogating the Terms of the Debate
- 10 Plurality, Tolerance and Religious Conflict in India
- 11 Towards a Common Future? An Indo-Pakistani Story
- 12 The Availability of Mahatma Gandhi: Towards a Neo-Gandhian Praxis
- Notes
- Works Cited
1 - Self, Society and Nation: Indian Notions of Responsibility
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Altered Destinations
- 1 Self, Society and Nation: Indian Notions of Responsibility
- 2 1857: The Religious Roots of Indian Anti-Imperialism
- 3 Indian Alternations: Aurobindo, Ambedkar and After
- 4 Interrogating Indian Post-Nationalism: Culture, Citizenship and Global Futures
- 5 Hindi Hain Hum: An Account of a Vibhashi's Romance with the National Language
- 6 The Case for Sanskrit as India's National Language
- 7 National Education? Problems and Prospects
- 8 Regaining the Indian Eye
- 9 Secularism vs. Hindu Nationalism: Interrogating the Terms of the Debate
- 10 Plurality, Tolerance and Religious Conflict in India
- 11 Towards a Common Future? An Indo-Pakistani Story
- 12 The Availability of Mahatma Gandhi: Towards a Neo-Gandhian Praxis
- Notes
- Works Cited
Summary
Introduction: Being Responsible for India
In a sense, this whole book is an outcome of my feeling responsible to and for my country. Caring for India and being involved in the Indian narrative has been the mainstay of my intellectual life for the last thirty years. This process has implicated me in the question of what it means to be a citizen of India and also what India itself means as a nation, state, civilization, and cultural entity. Who are we? How did we come to be this way? Where are we heading? Such questions inform much of the reflections in the chapters that follow. However, instead of beginning at the other end, with speculations about the meaning of India, I thought a productive way to start was to reflect on the idea of responsibility itself from which this book originates. What does it mean to be responsible? How does one show this responsibility? My opening chapter will try to address this question by trying to take stock of India as a nation and civilization, before going on to ask what responsibility means to us.
India is a very ancient and complex living civilization that is larger than the present nation-state called the Republic of India. This nation, which would be more appropriately described as a civilization-state, is also the custodian of a diverse and plural culture, which has many layers, regions, languages and subnationalities.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Altered DestinationsSelf, Society, and Nation in India, pp. 1 - 16Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2009