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| The Hindu Phenomenon |
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A UNIQUE PHENOMENON |
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points need to be emphasized because the continuity of practices,
even if routinized, and the availability of an enormous corpus of
ancient knowledge make it possible for us to engage in a search for
self-renewal and self- affirmation in our own terms. This is not
open to peoples of other ancient civilizations because their past
has been obliterated. Ancient Egypt, for instance, is only a memory
to Egyptians. The better educated among them can, at best, derive
pride from the unrivaled pyramids. The heritage itself means little
to them. It certainly does not arouse among them the desire to
reclaim it.
To take up our own case, it is about time we recognize that we are not a nation in the European sense of the term, that is, we are not a fragment of a civilization claiming to be a nation on the basis of accidents of history which is what every major European nation is. We are a people primarily by virtue of the continuity and coherence of our civilization which has survived all shocks. And though inevitably weakened as a result of foreign invasions, conquests and rule for almost a whole millennium, it is once again ready to resume its march.
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