India has a history of diverse cultures, says Satchidanandan

‘Existence of many religions not a threat to national unity’

India can never be a nation with only one culture or language pervading its social life as we have been influenced by many diverse civilisations across centuries, Kerala Sahitya Akademi president and poet K. Satchidanandan has said.

He was here on Sunday to deliver a lecture titled ‘Challenges to India’s cultural pluralism’ in memory of late filmmaker and cultural critic ‘Chintha’ Ravi.

Mr. Satchidanandan pointed out that mainly four points were being propagated by Hindutva proponents to prove the “uniformity” of our country. “One is that India belongs to Hindus. Two, India is a country of Aryans. The third is to make Hindi a common language for everyone and fourth is the presence of a singular cultural tradition,” he said.

Mr. Satchidanandan said that the modern-day Hindu, often referred to by the Hindutva proponents, was a construct of the Orientalists who were inspired by the West. “The effort is to create a Semitic-type exclusive religion which alienates many sections of society,” he said. The poet said that Hindu religion, its culture, philosophy, and art had been influenced by other religions, including Islam, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Historians such as Romila Thapar had busted the Aryan theory. “Indians are a hybrid cultural group. Many have come here and mixing of races has happened. Aryans were probably the last to arrive,” he said.

Mr. Satchidanandan pointed out that the form of Sanskritised Hindi popularised these days, with all the influence of Urdu wiped out from it, can never be a common language for the country. “India also had a long tradition of debates between religions and between various philosophies within religions. Our culture can never remain one. It is said that the Advaita philosophy which spoke of non-dualism, too was later challenged by the Vishishtadvaita,” Mr. Satchidanandan said.

He claimed that the existence of many religions would never be a threat to our national unity. “Actually the threat will come if our cultural diversity is challenged as it will directly impact our democratic set up as well,” he added.

K.P. Kumaran, filmmaker, was given the ‘Chintha’ Ravi memorial award. Writer N.S. Madhavan presided over the event, where Kalathinte Kurippukal, a book by writer Paul Zacharia, was also released.