India, is a very diverse country. A sense of unity in diversity is the prime element of its cultural, structural and geopolitical stability. It is taught from the very young age. We have Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs and many more religions. It is the capability of its tolerance that so many dynasties had come here to rule and took a lot from here to their homeland. We have nurtured their culture, tried to make sense of time. Before the infiltration and wars, it was the land of Hindus.
The 17th century was the worst in Indian history. We see the degradation of culture, human behaviour and religious sentiments and knowledge. The cause was, the mixture of culture and knowledge, the mixture of fashion and tolerance, the mixture of ignorance and power, the mixture of greed and ego. It was quite a sure thing that the history is going to write itself. Then comes the 18th century. The end of Mughal emperor and the start of another dark age by Britishers. In a time when every thing was messy and empty, the only thing that left, is human labour. They took that also by mean of the cost of a pinch of salt. The whole spirit of Hindu was somehow scattered and they crucified their own brother and sister by mean of orthodox religiosity. And it was the Hindus that tried to bring the truth into consideration. We see a lot of social reformers from this era.
When everything was so scattered and messy the ultimate weapon to rejuvenate the sentiment of oneness or ‘sanatan’ was rooted in its ground, they called him Bapu or Tagore or many more. The process of ‘Being’ started from those days. The 19th century.
Ref:
1. UNDERSTANDING EIGHTEENTH CENTURY INDIA (https://nios.ac.in/media/documents/SrSec315NEW/315_History_Eng/315_History_Eng_Lesson15.pdf)
2. India in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century - Medieval India History (https://prepp.in/news/e-492-india-in-the-first-half-of-the-seventeenth-century-medieval-india-history-notes)
3. When the bird of gold fell: India’s 18th century history can be instructive for the present, provided the right lessons are learned (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/all-that-is-solid-melts/when-the-bird-of-gold-fell-indias-18th-century-history-can-be-instructive-for-the-present-provided-the-right-lessons-are-learned/)
4. A Timeline of India in the 1800s (https://www.thoughtco.com/timeline-of-india-in-the-1800s-1774016)
5. What these rare images of 19th-century India tell us about colonial rule (https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/india-photography-19th-century/index.html - They were making India look (like) a place that was in need of intervention.)
