Opinion | India’s Heritage – A Source of Pride!

India is an ancient nation. It is not just a collection of about one and a half billion people or a part of history and geography. Not even just one country. It is a unique cultural experience. Indian culture is very ancient. There is a flow of Sanskrit tradition from the Vedic period and even earlier. To know, to hear, to keep what is heard in the memory and to recite it is called fasting in the Upanishads. Shruti and Veda are words with similar meaning. The maintenance of word and form knowledge is memory. Of truth and beauty Re-creating is culture. There is continuity in Indian culture. All symbols and monuments with permanence are heirlooms of a prosperous heritage.

All countries maintain and strengthen their ancient heritage. Prime Minister Narendra Modi rightly said on the occasion of International Museum Day that museums inspire us to connect with the past and awaken awareness of the future. Museums are the greatest classrooms for properly understanding the culture of any period. Harappa or Mahanjodaro went to civilizations and also got it from the antiquities preserved in museums.

Through these things, we get to know the lifestyle and customs of the people of that time. It is also a fact that the techniques used for construction and urban planning during the Harappan or Mohenjo Daro civilizations are far behind even today’s cutting-edge technologies. There is no knowledge of the drainage system and architecture of that time. The tragedy is that in hundreds of years of slavery, all the heritage of the country has been lost. Precious manuscripts and Libraries were burned. Many artifacts were taken out of the country in an unethical manner. Due to the growing prestige of India, many countries have started returning these heirlooms.

Fewer than twenty artefacts came to India in the decades after independence, but in the last nine years about 240 artefacts have been brought back. Preservation of cultural heritage and monuments is a national duty. Article 49 of the Constitution mentions, ‘Artificial or artistic works of national importance, declared by or under a procedure made by Parliament.It will be the responsibility of the government to protect every monument, place or object of historical interest from damage, destruction and damage. Despite this, many memorials were lost during the previous governments.

In 2009, the number of missing memorials was 35. According to the Archaeological Survey Agency of India i.e. ASI, 14 monuments were victims of urbanization till 2018. Twenty-four monuments were not known. Meanwhile, the Indus Civilization Study Committee attached to the Ministry of Culture has attached importance to the study of excavations at Bhirana and Rakhigarhi in Haryana.given According to carbon dating, the civilization was estimated to be 7000-6000 years BC. The committee emphasized on studying the period of 9000 years back with the Vedic period civilization. ASI committee chief KN Dikshat said that the results of carbon dating should be understood in relation to the time of Rigveda, Ramayana and Mahabharata. The antiquity of these heritages can also be determined with literary evidence. The alleged scholar who described India as a land of many cultures considered the Harappan civilization to be earlier than the Vedic civilization.They do not tell they describe Sumerian civilization as older than Harappa. They do not focus on Vedic word proofs. In the Rigveda, the river Saraswati is full of water. These facts are ancient from Harappa. The relations between India, Sumer and Egypt should be seen in the light of the Rigveda. Some historians do not consider the Rigveda as evidence. In their view, the meaning of archeology is only the objects related to the science of building construction.

Building construction alone is not proof of antiquity. This antiquity can also be in words and objects related to art or architecture also in UNESCO declared the Rigveda a World Heritage Site because it is the oldest written evidence of humanity. India is a prestigious country in the world heritage.

There are more than 35 places on the World Heritage List. Aquarius has also been included in this list by UNESCO. India is striving to get all the other places included in the World Heritage List. Before the Islamic invasion, there were millions of temples in India. From the invasion of Muhammad bin Qasim to Aurangzeb, the demolition of temples has a tainted history. Many temples are not broken by the same material Mosques were built. The aggrieved Hindus struggled for this heritage.

The destruction and reconstruction of Somnath is evident. A historic movement took place over the Sriram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya. The temple is under construction. The case of Gyanvapi is under consideration in the court. A lawsuit is also going on regarding Srikrishna Janmabhoomi. The mosque ‘Quwat-ul-Islam’ built with the same material after demolishing many temples in Delhi has become a challenge to Indian pride.

The Atala Masjid of Jaunpur is said to have been built on the Atala Devi temple. of the temple in Pandua, Bengal the place is a mosque. The Indian nation is a cultural concept. Culture is also expressed through architecture and other symbols. All such heritages fill the mind of India with national pride. Through them we connect with our heroic past. There is a similar philosophical cultural continuity in India from the past to the present but the so-called liberals call it a mixed culture or a composite culture.

The Supreme Court said after 1994, ‘There are many differences among the people of this country. They feel proud that they are partners in common inheritance. That heritage is nothing else, the heritage of culture. All the centers of Indian culture are in Pakistan after the partition of the country. Land ownership changes, but inheritance does not. After partition, there was a campaign to free Pakistan from the ancient Indian tradition. Wheeler, a British archeologist, tried to give historical material to Pakistan that people did not know much about.

In 1949, his article titled “Pakistan 4000 Years Ago” was published in Pakistan Quarterly.was Pakistan was two years old then. Wheeler’s intention was to free Pakistan from Indian heritage. Pakistan and its supporting scholars did not last. Pakistan has no heritage of its own. The whole world is looking at India and the heritage of Indian culture. India itself is a world famous international heritage site.

– The writer can be reached at vkmalout@gmail.com