Has India become a reflection of West ?

Contemporaries are no good judges. Saying simply 'yes' or 'no' to the question that is raised here is no answer. History is replete with examples of great men who misread their own times. Hence, a judicious way of looking at the problem is to state and examine the arguments, both in favour and against the implied assertion of the title given.

What is known as the Western impact is far too obvious. In today's political scenario in India, almost everything appears to have been taken from the West. The basic concept of democracy that all men are equal before the law is entirely a western concept because in the past our country was ridden with caste, feudal and communal discriminations. Also, today's structure of government is a close parallel to the unwritten English Constitution. What the Constitution of India has omitted to state is expected to be governed by the practices of the British Constitution. Some of the ideals as stated in the Directive Principles of State Policy were fathered by the famous Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb. At the bureaucratic level too, the minute-writing and note-drafting are guilty of "technological officialese", a significant charge levelled by Winston Churchill against the note-drafting of the British bureaucrats during the Second World War.

Nevertheless, the contention that we are a carbon copy of the Western political institutions and philosophy is fallacious. The traditions of free government and elected bodies are as old as rocks in India. As borne out by the Vedas, Samiti(meaning meeting together) was known to the people of ancient India. Sanskrit scriptures state that the Samitis were sovereign bodies. The village was led by the Gramani who was a representative at the coronation ceremony. This institution suffered an eclipse from 600 B.C. onwards because of the rise of Hindu empires. However, till 600 A.D Janapadas or national assemblies were mentioned, which enacted laws, scrutinized the finances and decided matters about succession to the throne. Before 600 A.D, the most famous republics were those of the Sakyas and the Vaijjians. Although these democratic institutions declined by 600 A.D, we have concrete evidence that King Gopala of Bengal, in the medieval ages, was elected by the people. Moreover, all through the centuries, local assemblies flourished in some form or the other. These meagre facts prove that democracy is not a stranger to us.

In the field of economics too, the impact of the West from railways to modern electronic traffic signals is tremendous. Before the establishment of the British Raj, self-sufficient economy was a normal practice. During the British regime, monetization of our economy began and in its wake came the economic thinking of the west, in particular the influence of the London School of Economics. Very often, when the economists of India analyse the economic problems of today, the analytical tools are those of the Western thinkers and are based on Western economic experience. Further, the day-to-day material needs of the people are increasingly those of the West. In other words, simple living and high thinking is still a norm in the economic field.

Coming to the social field, we find that the impact of the West is tremendously impressive; for, it ranges from fashion and manners to social conventions like the 'tea parties'. The popularization of western social behaviour is mostly because of the film-world and the trash that is read by people in India.

Here also, the picture of western domination is a distorted version of the real spirit of India. What is true of society is always to be found amongst intellectuals. It is the intellectuals that constitute archetypes of any society. What they think and what they practise might not be acceptable to the generality of the community at any one particular moment, but they get absorbed in course of time by the common man. The only book that has won the Nobel Prize is Geetanjali by Rabindranath Tagore. This book was awarded the prize not because of the structural part of Tagore's poems is comparable to some of the important poets of the western world, but its sole strength consists in its ability to convey Indian sensibility. Tagore himself at one time made clear that he referred to no God in this book. The burden of the whole book is that a man can apprehend the supernatural through aesthetic joy. This is typically Indian because a Hindu temple is the center of divinity as well as a center of architecture. Therefore, to contend that Indian social life has been mortgaged to the Western social life is a distortion of the truth. At the moment, the picture might be blurred but it will ultimately triumph as the typical social milieu if India gains ascendancy.

The last field is Religion, which has very few traces of the Western impact. Whatever may be Western spiritual awareness that is experienced belongs to the small two percent English-speaking people. It is surprising to see that even they have not really abandoned the real Indian spiritual awareness. Nearly, ten percent of the people have been converted to Christianity. Perhaps this is the major reason behind the troubles in the Mizo Hills, amongst the Nagas, and also among some of the tribes of Assam.

Coming to the field of arts, we have to say that the soul of India is intact. In painting, it is accepted that Amrita Shergill and Rabindranath Tagore are the greatest representatives. The former used the Parisian techniques of the twenties but her paintings are typically Indian because they embody the traditions of the Ajanta frescoes and the Mughal miniatures. Those who regard Tagore as the greatest modern painter speak his lyrical lines, the forte of Indian painting. In the field of sculptures and music too, the basic Indian traditions in aesthetics continue to adhere. Broadly speaking, the aesthetic principles as laid down in Bharata's Natyashastra govern the artistic activity of India- promotion of the four basic rasas; erotic, pathetic, heroic and beatific. Here and there, there may be a few exceptions; but they do not belong to the broad stream of Indian aesthetic development.

Thus, the analysis of the five important fields of Indian life clearly brings home to us that Western impact is in appearance only. An Indian can directly trace his descent from the cultural values of the Indus valley ruins. We have built, out of ignorance, embankments with the bricks unearthed from the Indus valley ruins, Harappa and Mohenjodaro but the spirit lives with us.