Citizen India The Many Are One

merely a "geographical expression no more a single country than the equator." His colonial assumption was that the Indian nation was a creation of the British, and that prior to it there was only a collection of competing diversities linguistic, ethnic, religious, regional, and political. Today, Churchill can perhaps be forgiven for articulating the hubris of a conquering power, but the fact is that the notion of India far preceded the coming of the British in the seventeenth century. The notion of Indian-ness is based on a civilizational unity dating back to the dawn of time. When people within a defined geographical area evolve in the same crucible of history for 5,000 years, there develops a definitive identity that is unique to them. Along with antiquity, Indian civilization has been and remains noteworthy for its continuity, its pinnacles of aesthetic refinement, its unique social structures and customs, the loftiness of its metaphysical inquires, and of course its pluralism. Four of the great religions of the world: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism were born here; the largest number of Muslims outside of Indonesia makes the sub-continent their home; and Christian missionaries and Jewish refugees were welcomed to its shores 2,000 years ago. Finally, its powers of assimilation have led it to absorb, over a millennia or more, what a train of conquerors left behind.