Why are Patriotic Indians Obsessed with the Past?

Raise a hand if you’ve heard statements like this on blogs, articles and various comment forums:

  1. India was the greatest power in the world for thousands of years
  2. Muslim invaders came and destroyed Indian culture
  3. Indian knowledge was far ahead of its time and was the envy of the world
  4. India had the greatest philosophers
  5. India had the wisest kings
  6. India had the best warriors
  7. The British stole India’s Kohinoor! etc etc.

You get the idea..

They are made with the utmost passion and are usually followed by a tirade of how India has fallen from greatness, has embraced “western imperialism” and needs to get back to its roots. Modern society is degenerating, homosexuals are roaming freely, and women are “losing their modesty”. Honestly, I’m astounded at how often I hear such nonsense.

Beware the Evil Muslim Hordes!
Beware the Evil Muslim Hordes!

Let’s assume it’s all true. Obviously there’s a good amount of idealization, glorification and whitewashing, but I’m going to ignore it for now. Pretend that India was the greatest jewel on the planet for thousands of years, that all the rulers were paragons of virtue, justice and wisdom. Give in to the belief that evil Muslims came and destroyed everything great about this paradise hundreds of years ago and imposed their barbaric rule, culture and laws upon it.

I may be asking for too much I know, but bear with me. Now that we’ve descended into self delusion and absorbed this nauseatingly glorified past, I have just one question.

So…bloody…what??

Indians living today share nothing but a few bits of DNA with our long dead ancestors. We didn’t know them. They certainly didn’t know us. We have no connection to them. But still we want to somehow claim greatness based on their (supposedly) lofty stature in the past. In effect, we want to bask in undeserved glory. The reality is that the deeds of those before don’t confer superiority on us today. Those who lived and died hundreds of years ago are strangers to us.

It means nothing. We have no business to feel proud.

I’ll tell you the kind of people who look to the past to find glory and feel better about themselves. Those who have no achievements of their own. People who think themselves so worthless and without anything to brag about that they have to dig up old glories of India – imagined or not – to elevate themselves and compensate for their current failings.

The atrocities committed hundreds or thousands of years ago have no bearing today. Those responsible have long since died and crumbled to dust, beyond the reach of our laws. Even those who suffered have been extinguished. The past is past. Let bygones by bygones.

Advocates of the past justify bringing up these old non-wounds by saying we must “learn from history” and trot out that famous saying “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This might have been valid if there was a danger today of Muslim hordes overrunning India today. If there was a risk of barbarians on horses frothing at the mouth waiting to convert every Hindu into a Muslim.

But there are no such barbarians today. There is no threat. We have far bigger problems than Islamic terrorism threatening us. Perhaps we’re afraid of tackling them and so find an easy target to blame everything on. It’s the evil Sonia Gandhi and her Christian pals in Rome! It’s the minority appeasing Congress that wants to convert every Hindu into a Muslim and impose Sharia law!

If only things were that simple and the enemy was so clearly outlined. But they’re not. Nothing is simple. We have far deeper and real systemic problems which we need to address. Finding an enemy to swing a sword at is just childish. We desperately need to grow up.

What do you think of this post?
  • Agree (13)
  • You're an asshole (5)
  • Don't Agree but Interesting (2)

160 thoughts on “Why are Patriotic Indians Obsessed with the Past?”

  1. “So…bloody…what??”

    I have been asking the same. You have written for me too, every word. I agree we have no business to feel proud unless we achieve something in the present. I remember writing something of the sort on one of my posts. So what if my great-grandfather was a great poet? It is not going to make me great unless I do something that makes me so. Same logic.

    Reply

    • In reply to Shail

      When I was in college, I too felt I was something great because of the achievements of my grandfathers and other ancestors. Then I realized how pathetic that sounded and have never used that as a crutch ever again.

      Reply

      • In reply to bhagwad

        It took me longer than that. Once my college going son said something similar. My first reaction was to tell him we did have a glorious past, but then I stopped short, I understood what he was saying. I realized our past may be glorious, but it is best left in the past where it belonged and not used as an empty prop for glory (and that too reflected) in the present.
        I have grown up listening to anything and everything Indian being praised sky high. “We (Indians) are not like them.” or “We knew these things much much before them” etc etc. Of course I have had my own share of rebellions while growing up. You see I loved the Enid Blyton way of life, believed in the qualities she writes of. I loved the integrity and truthfulness her characters seemed to have. :) So not all the “We Indians, the Superior Beings” could get to me completely.

        Reply

  2. I guess it’s a common human trait to fall back on a glorious past when the present is not so rosy. I remember a conversation I had a with a Korean friend. She said she was proud of her country because they had been conquered and battered so many times but they always managed to rebuild themselves. I realised that in India we keep blaming the British for our current situation but other countries have had a similar colonial past (the Japanese were very cruel colonial masters) and managed to recover and move on. We need to quit the excuses and address the real issues or at least admit that we are incapable of addressing them.

    Reply

  3. Maybe it’s a result of our collectivist culture.

    It’s not just the past though. Even in this day and age, we have headlines which stridently proclaim that such and such person of INDIAN ORIGIN (who now lives in Canada/The US/UK/Australia/whatever) won such and such prize.

    I mean, come on!

    It’s one thing to highlight someone’s spectacular achievements and tell us what prizes they’ve won for their efforts. Emphasizing and underlining the Indian “connection” is just ridiculous, though, especially when there’s no connection to speak of, apart from the said person’s grandfather who migrated in the freaking 1960s or something. The fellow is no more Indian than a North American beaver.

    Get over it already.

    Reply

    • In reply to Cynically Engineered

      Oh yes, I completely agree. It was only recently that some fellow of Indian origin won the noble prize for something. When the Indian media (predictably) hyped up his “Indianness,” he was forced to tell them that he had no connection to India and not to keep bringing that up again and again.

      :D

      Reply

  4. liberalism with a tinge of english speaker’s i-am-always-right is an intellectual disorder. not much can be expected from such “modern” ‘international’ citizens.
    may they get some award by spitting on the sun each lovely morning.
    god bless.

    Reply

  5. LOL!! Yes! “So…bloody…what??”

    I didnt come to that conclusion until I had a “gyanodhay” in the middle of a very similar conversation with a few friends about a decade ago…we went with how great our culture was, and how the miserable Muslim hordes invaded us and ruined our culture and how they usurped our land and how the British took OUR Kohinoor. Suddenly it occured to me…hmmm the Kohinoor belonged to the Mughals, part of the same Muslim hordes who Invaded and over-ran our “fine” Hindu culture and then the British took the Kohinoor so why are we crying over it, when it didnt belong to us but our usurper?

    Alright lets ignore that and go a little further – Fine, the British took the Kohinoor then…so why arent we doing anything to get it back? Yes!! that put a complete end to my Basking in Past Glory. I still appreciate the Sanskrit Hymns, the household herbs and medicine, the yoga, the hospitality etc….but things have to be relevant to me to actually bask in its glory.

    Reply

  6. I am patriotic and i am proud about India’s past ,so what ?

    why should’t we feel proud about our civilization which has stood test of time for thousands of years?

    but i don’t think muslims came and ruined our country ,the mughal empire was one of the most powerful and richest empires in human history , i am happy for it despite being a Hindu.the British did exploit our economy and made India poor ,that doesn’t mean i hate the British ,everything that happened to India had both positive and negative effects.

    This is the story of India,India absorbs everything that happens to it(it adapts and LEARNS,that is why we have such a long history and we didn’t go extinct like the Egyptians or Mayans.)

    The British conducted(atleast tried to) social reforms:-
    (1)They banned sati
    (2) they discouraged child marriage
    etc….

    They brought back the long lost rationality in Indian minds which were full of ,you know.. ..caste system,religious superstitions etc…that doesn’t mean we have nothing to be proud of.

    India did have one of earliest civilizations IN THE HISTORY OF HUMANITY.

    (NO CIVILIZATION IS PERFECT ,EVERY CIVILIZATION HAS IT’S OWN FLAWS.)

    India has produced a lot of great philosophers ,thinker, mathematians ,kings,economists etc

    The number zero originated in India.

    the modern number system originated in India(the idea of expressing numbers in ten symbols)… even binary numbers ,even primitive forms of calculus

    The value of pi was first calculated in India etc

    basic geometry was developed in India long before it was done in the West.
    And it goes on…..
    India had one of the first metallurgists,doctors,engineers…..etc

    AND I KNOW THAT I CAN’T CLAIM CREDIT FOR ALL THAT MY ANCESTORS HAVE ACCOMPLISHED ,I DON’T IT WANT TO EITHER.

    Reading our history and feeling proud motivates me to do more for my country,look at all the poverty ,malnutrition, corruption and under development,all this will make me think that if we had such a glorious past then we are definitely capable of having a glorious future!!! but obviously it is difficult.

    It unites the people of our country,it will make us put aside our stupid differences like caste, religion etc and will make us work for general good of the society.This is what is required for developing our country.If such inner changes don’t take place then we will just continue to be underdeveloped.

    You know what? when i was in high school i hated maths (not just maths ,studies in general)but i when i read about what my own ancestors did so long ago i felt proud and motivated ,my attitude towards maths changes dramatically later i started reading about India’s accomplishments in all the branches of science and even literature and philosophy. My attitude towards studies itself evolved ,i started respecting every branch of science every from of knowledge and got interested in them too!!
    is this bad ???

    We have to read our history for motivation ,it gives us confidence that if our ancestors could do all that so long ago ,perhaps we can do it too…

    I am no genius , i haven’t achieved anything so what ?i am just 19

    I want to achieve something and reading Indian history motivates me.

    quotes like these gives me confidence when i am not doing well.

    “I think the civilization in India has developed is not to be beaten in this world,
    Rome went,Greece shared the same fate,might of the pharaohs was broken,japan became westernized ,of China nothing can be said but India is still ,some how or the other sound at the foundations” -M.K Gandhi

    I DON’T CONSIDER INDIA TO BE “SUPERIOR” TO ANY OTHER COUNTRY BUT I DON’T FEEL THERE IS ANYTHING WRONG IN PROUD FOR INDIA.

    A person with no RESPECT of history has no future.

    India never gave up neither will i.

    Thank you for reading.

    -Shashank

    Reply

      • In reply to bhagwad

        Did i say ,i am not ?

        I have said that British rule did benefit India in some ways,
        i am proud of Britain for starting the industrial revolution,
        i am proud of america for the lunar landing,etc…

        Just because i feel proud about India ,doesn’t mean i am not happy with other countries’ achievements

        The British feel proud about themselves ,having ruled 1/4th of the world and starting the industrial revolution ,the Americans feel proud for sending the human to the moon,so why shouldn’t we feel proud of having one of the world’s earliest civilizations ?

        Yes ,we live in a globalized world, i am ready for “One world government” are you? may be..but how many in the world are ready to be proud for the whole humanity??

        It is not just about Indians,Americans feel that they are superior to others, the British feel that too so do the Chinese ,it is not just an Indian problem.

        Just because i glorify India ,doesn’t mean i consider others as Inferior.

        All this “Indian pride” has only started recently ,earlier (even now) most Indians don’t really respect or glorify India (people want to leave India and settle in the US or UK or Australia,they don’t glorify India),it is just a small portion of the upper crust of the society.

        Reply

      • In reply to Shashank

        Good to know that you feel proud of the achievements of other humans too – no matter where they are. But just because people in other countries foolishly tout their achievements doesn’t mean we have to do the same.

        Let each human give up these silly notions of “countries” and “nations” and start viewing everything holistically as one unit – one species…perhaps we can even move beyond the boundaries of species and start viewing all life as one. Then one with the universe too ::)

        Reply

      • In reply to bhagwad

        When i talked about this “One world government” Idea in one of the internet forums,the response i got was horrible especially from the people of the Western countries.. (they feel just so superior about themselves) ….It is just too far fetched.

        Reply

      • In reply to Shashank

        Shashank- Your defense of taking pride in India & her achievements is solid & well-founded.
        Indeed I do admire your solo courage in swimming against the tide.
        I am utterly astounded at so many fellow Indian bloggers & their self-condemnatory comments.
        Your assessment of the “superiority ” complex of Westerners is very correct!
        Everything white is superior & one has to live & interact with people in the West to learn the bitter truth.
        First the West colonized Bharat & emptied us out materially but now tragically we are getting mentally colonized by them in every sphere of our lives.
        Our whole culture is changing and we can see this transformation in the way our women & men behave,dress and talk.
        Every western savant of repute (Max Mueller,Thoreau,Kipling,William Jones,Mark Twain and many more) took from our land -our philosophy,Yoga & Ayurveda & Science & they also acknowledged this.We in India are ignorant of many facts and suffer from a strange complex.
        Today people from the West come to learn our Arts & Sciences & go back & then they make U-turn and start to regurgitate our knowledge systems in their language English to us and we become beholden to them like beggars at the receiving end!
        WHY?Because we have lost touch with our own great languages.
        We take great pride in spouting & writing in English (here in this very blog all of us are doing it)
        The ground reality may be another matter when they say “the mixture has to be grinded” instead of saying “the mixture has to be ground”!
        We are more western than the Westerners & that proves the point.But no nation can become another by just aping.We will never ever be accepted and our hollowness will show sooner or later.
        Actually we do not know our own History and what we know is the misinterpreted versions written by the colonialists & tragically being promoted even today by “sycophantic ” Indians who wish to exploit & profit by repeating the same twisted untruths propagated for vested interests.
        Indians have to re-write their own History & without doubt every child must be taught the truth so that he/she will take pride in our heritage so that Bharat once again reclaims her lost glory.
        Yes indeed no nation has suffered as much as India at the hands of marauders-Muslim invaders & White English Gentlemen Traders who cheated us by cunning & occupied our great land!
        It is indeed shameful that people feel that they need not take pride in the achievements of our great ancestors.If not for them what would we be!
        Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.
        Jai Hind! Vande Mataram!

        Reply

  7. If you look at any developed countries and countries which are developing fast ,they have a strong opinion about themselves,
    Americans ,British,Chinese and Japanese etc..
    I don’t think these people respect achievements of other countries , they call us slum dogs.

    In fact people of other countries are more nationalistic than us.

    We Indians don’t respect our own country,our own civilization or our languages etc..

    Some people talk in English at home despite having their own mother tongue!!
    They feel superior ,if they talk in English and inferior if they talk in Indian languages (i have seen such people).
    They feel superior if they listen to Western pop music and inferior if they listen Indian classical music.
    I don’t think people of other countries do that.

    I have heard American presidents say “God bless America” ,i have never heard them say “God bless the world” ,but Nehru in his speech has said something like….”for a far greater cause of Humanity”.
    Do you know Glen beck ? he is a bloody American nationalist ,i don’t think i have seen such people in India..

    I have seen in a lot of internet forums where Americans call themselves “the greatest and the most intelligent people on earth ,we will never be overtaken” and things like that.

    In Chinese newspapers everywhere you see ,you find these words “China is great”,but in Indian newspapers you don’t see a lot of that.

    Reply

      • In reply to Shashank

        but other countries are living in the present yes other countries may be more nationalist, but they have something to be proud of what happened in the present, currently india has done nothing, the last great thing they did was over a thousand years ago. right now 96.3 percent of indians are living on less than 5 dollars a day, india has absolutely nothing to be proud of. yet stupid people just love defending india. and i bet 90 percent of those people live on less than 5 dollars a day. they arent getting any benefit from living in india yet they still think america is a bad place with lots of “firangis” they need to stop being sentimentel and be practical or-else when their grandperants hard earned money that they inherited will run out and they wil be in the sewer, then they can bad mouth america. either overly-patriotic indians are jealous or just ignorant and their grandperants left them to much money. and to those indians wbo returned to india saying they have a better and more comfortable life in america, thats the most ridiculous thing ive ever heard, the problem is that they live off their rich perants and just cant become independant. i have worked hard and stayed in a small apartment with my family of three for eight years, saved up and bought two 1400 sq feet houses in america. no mortgatge no loan. my own money. i also have 2 cars. again this is all witb my own money no loan. to sum it up i think most indians who return just dont even try to fit in and work hard. they come to america with very high expectations. you can and will achieve whatever you dream in america. you just have to work hard, and if you are an indian step out of your perants arms

        Reply

  8. Hi,

    It seems there is a contest to demean the Indians and their pride going on here!!
    Let’s say a person achieves glory doing something. Could be anything that needs to be awarded. Now please tell me how you are going to know about it or feel any way good or bad about it, unless it becomes past (history). History is the greatest tool available for man to learn and judge and learn again…
    Ironically, The people or community that don’t have as glorious past as ours say Americans are the ones that study history the most and gain insights from it. (The American History is fraught with many accounts of racial discrimination and communal violence.) They are still learning from it and making amends and we are falling all over ourselves here to declare that we want nothing to do with ours!! Have you not heard that it’s your history that makes you not your future or present. What you learn from it and what you want to make of what you’ve learned from it. I like the idea that you’re looking for something to be proud of now and I’m all for it…. I just would like to point out that the ‘now’ is some variation of what was ‘then’!!

    Reply

    • In reply to Sunil

      Exactly ,how can we simply detach ourselves from our past ? our past is what made us and our future will depend on how well we learn from our past(both mistakes and achievements),to know ourselves better,we should know our history,to know the causes of the problems we have today,we need to read our history.

      Reply

      • In reply to Shashank

        Again – I’m all for studying history. I haven’t claimed otherwise anywhere in the post.

        But it’s not “our past” don’t you see? “Our” past began when we were born. Everything before that was someone else’s past. We have no connections to anyone who died before we were born. That doesn’t mean we can’t study the past. Just no use in feeling proud of it.

        Reply

      • In reply to bhagwad

        That is the problem with Indians ,we think only of ourselves not about our country.

        by “our past” i meant our country’s past ,by “our problems” i meant our country’s problems ,i was not talking about individuals.

        I know you didn’t say anything about reading history.

        Reply

      • In reply to Shashank

        But what does it mean that India is “our” country? That we were just born here accidentally? We could have been born in Pakistan and then we would be proud of Pakistan’s history too!

        I can’t feel proud of an accident.

        Reply

      • In reply to bhagwad

        This is not even a point! You could not have been born and then you would not feel at all! The fact, by accident or design is that you were born in India!
        As Master OOgway says in KungFu Panda,” There are no accidents!” ;)

        Reply

      • In reply to bhagwad

        Sure! Whatever clicks, right? You see, what makes you feel proud is your prerogative. Who am I to judge you? But we were discussing why we should feel proud in the first place… and that according to me is because you feel connected to it somehow.
        That somehow again is your thing! And I won’t judge you! I’d just either agree or disagree. My whole point was that there really are things that can be felt proud of in the Indian history, that’s all. After all, if an American decides to feel proud about the lynchings that the rednecks carried out, who are we to stop him? But we can disagree with him and if we are in majority, then we’ll stop him to act on that pride. That’s just plain old democracy in action.

        Reply

      • In reply to Sunil

        Oh I agree completely! People have the right to feel proud of whatever they want. But we also have the right to debate and call that pride irrational. They can continue to feel proud of it, but unless a redneck proves that his/her pride is rational, I will have no qualms about calling it irrational pride.

        I’m not denying the freedom of people to feel proud of what they want. It’s their life and their choice.

        Reply

      • In reply to bhagwad

        But then there wasn’t this discussion also!! You see the premise of your logic (a little skewed by my opinion) presupposes your existence otherwise there is no point discussing it at all… since your birth was an accident according to you, what you feel proud of or not is also an accident. By that thread, I could very easily assume that you could have felt pride in Indian history, just by accident. The fun part is the only way in which you could disprove me is by pointing out the fact, which incidentally is that you don’t!!
        Googley? But true… Logic doesn’t believe in insights!!

        Reply

      • In reply to Sunil

        Well, after my birth I have a choice to either feel proud of something or not no? So it can’t be an accident because an accident is random. And I choose not to feel proud of history. It’s not an accident at all. So I don’t think think I understand your point…

        Reply

  9. Seriously Bhagvad?

    The nature and nurture OR the nature or nurture; anyway you lean, development of an individual can’t be separated from parental or communal history for that matter. What you learn and what you don’t learn is because of history. Nothing more. What you do with what you have learn will be yours is a given but to postulate that we don’t have any connection to people who died before you is ridiculous, classical ignorant!
    As an example let me assume that your great great great grandfather has passed on now. Are you to claim that you have no relation to him?
    Socially, you claim that you have no relationship with anything that happened or lived before you. So how about laws and Indian Independence? They happened I think, before you were born!!

    Reply

    • In reply to Sunil

      Good points Sunil. Let me go one step further. I have no relation to my grandparents, never mind going further back. They’re strangers to me. I don’t care about them, think about them, or take inspiration from them.

      The only people who are real in one’s life are those one has actually interacted with. My parents are real to me. Those who died before I was born have no connection except random strands of DNA.

      Isn’t this a fact?

      As for Indian laws, it’s because I happen to agree with most of them that I still stay in India. Otherwise I would move to a country where the laws better suited me. Being in India was an accident of birth after all no?

      Why do you say that “what you learn and don’t learn is because of history?” Maths, science, etc don’t change because of history. History itself changes of course, and yes, learning history is important academically. But why feel proud of it? What did we do?

      Reply

Leave a Comment