The colonial powers, for their own interest, started evangelising India through its proponents such as Bishop Robert Caldwell “by creating false identities such as Dravida and Arya” and did gross damage to the country’s civilization by destroying our social institutions, Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi said in Chennai on Monday.
During his interaction with students and faculty members of Anthropology Department, University of Lucknow, who are on a cultural studies tour to TN, an official communication said: “He [the Governor] said Bharat is a Rashtra and not just a geographical and political entity.”
Bharat is an age-old civilizational evolution based on principles defined during the period of the Vedas, which include believing in one creator who permeates every element of creation, the Govenor said: “Unfortunately, the politics became so overwhelming that it overshadowed the very basics of Bharat. The word “India” was given by the Europeans.”
Even after Independence, “we continued the colonial mindset. The nation progressed economically, but the civilizational, spiritual, and cultural parts of Bharat’s identity were left unattended. As a result, our society continued to divided and subdivided. “New identities in the forms of caste, language, and region started emerging. Our diversity, which is one of our strengths, was projected as a weakness by calling it differences. It created division in our society.”
