The Rebirth of a Nation

IN RESPONSE TO MY last column on the possible ‘extinction’ of Indian literature and the real threat to our creativity, an avid reader and friend quipped, “Then, what is the way forward?” I promised that I would explain in a follow-up.

India stands at a pivotal moment caught between the allure of its great past and the promise of an uncharted future. The ruling dispensation has made the celebration of India’s ancient greatness a cornerstone of its cultural and political agenda, invoking what has come to be known— somewhat ambiguously, if not ubiquitously— as Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS).

Alongside this revivalist fervour runs a parallel emphasis on decolonisation, a project that feels both urgent and belated, arriving over 75 years after Independence. Yet, amid this flurry of activity, a critical question lingers: what is missing? Sri Aurobindo answered this question over a hundred years ago. The Indian renaissance, he said, is neither a nostalgic return to the past through self-glorifying movements, nor a slavish imitation of the West. It is, instead, “new creation.”

We have to forge a new future, born out of a bold convergence between ancient India’s spiritual and intellectual wisdom and the dynamism of modernity, innovation, and all-round excellence which may, but need not, be Western-inspired. Instead of tom-tomming our past greatness, in this crucial phase of our national life we have much to learn from others, both East and West. Are we ready for this transformative leap, or are we, as Rabindranath Tagore warned, losing ourselves in “the dreary desert sand of dead habit”?

The current narrative championed by the ruling political satraps rests heavily on the glorification of the past. From the Vedas to Ayurveda, from the architectural marvels of ancient temples to the philosophical depth of the Upanishads, there is an undeniable richness to India’s heritage that commands reverence. IKS has become a catch-all phrase, encompassing everything from traditional mathematics, like the Sulba Sutras, to ecological wisdom embedded in the Bhumi Sukta and millennial indigenous practices. This resurgence is not without merit: it seeks to reclaim a sense of pride in a civilisation that predates and, in many ways, outshines the colonial interlude that sought to diminish it.

Yet, this project often veers into what used to be called revivalism—a selective excavation of the past that risks ossifying it into a museum piece rather than a living force. I love Sanskrit, but it cannot be reduced merely to a linguistic totem, even taboo. The promotion of ancient texts as unerring sources of knowledge betrays a tendency to fetishise history rather than engage with it critically. Sadly, those who do so do not have the ability to read, let alone properly understand, the very texts and traditions that they laud.

Decolonisation, too, while a noble aim, often manifests as a rejection of Western ideas and precepts while copying their technology and systems. Of course, there is no clear articulation of an alternative vision. Seventy-five years after Independence, this tardy reckoning feels more like a reaction than a revolution. Are we decolonising to liberate ourselves or merely to replace one set of idols of the tribe with another?

No doubt, for much of the post- Independence era, India’s intellectual and cultural elite looked to the West—or the Soviet Union—for paradigms of progress, whether in the form of Nehruvian socialism, English-medium education, or the adoption of secular modernity. This mimicry arguably yielded some gains: a robust scientific establishment, a democratic framework, and a global presence. Yet, it also fostered a disconnect, alienating India from its own roots and creating a bifurcated society where the urban anglophone elite often stood apart from the rural, vernacular majority.

But even today, the West exerts a magnetic pull. The startup boom, the obsession with foreign credentials, and the proliferation of English-language media reflect an enduring aspiration to “catch up” with global modernity. Nearly all our top bureaucrats, businessmen, judges, and generals, not to speak of leading politicians, have children or relatives studying or settled abroad. Decolonisation, in this context, risks becoming a superficial gesture— repainting the façade of a Western edifice in saffron hues—rather than a radical rethinking of India’s place in the world.

Will we adapt and change, or sink into internecine conflicts born of ignorance and malevolence? What is India’s role now that future shock has become present tense and has already made a hard landing like a huge crater by a meteorite crashing into Earth? If we look around, in today’s India, politics trumps everything else, whether it is arts, entertainment, sport, business, technology, or even spirituality.

Are we moving forward in the right direction or have we lost the way?

What, then, of the “new creation” that Sri Aurobindo proposed?

Sri Aurobindo’s concept of “new creation” is deeply intertwined with his vision of the Indian renaissance. He envisioned this renaissance as a profound rebirth of India’s soul, leading to the emergence of new forms of energy, thought, and action that would harmonise India’s ancient spiritual essence with modern challenges and opportunities.

Sri Aurobindo emphasised three critical aspects of new creation: recovery of spiritual knowledge, creative transformation, and social solidarity. The infusion of new consciousness in our intellectual, artistic, and cultural endeavours would produce new forms and prototypes of civilisational progress and expansion. This process would not merely replicate the past but reinterpret and evolve it to address modern challenges. The result would be a spiritualised society that could offer solutions to global issues.

He believed that India’s spiritual heritage held the key to addressing the broader challenges of humanity, offering a model for integrating the material and spiritual dimensions of existence. Thus, new creation in Sri Aurobindo’s vision was both a national imperative and universal endeavour.

I would add the role of science and technology in human transformation. We are right in the middle of such a revolution with the rapidly advancing applications of AI. In less than a decade, we are likely to have non-human agents and robots doing the hardest of the menial as well as sophisticated tasks that we must perform today. This is a great opportunity for human consciousness to rise to the occasion, with India showing the way.

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