Politics of Origin
During my course of study in Comparative Literature, I had a paper on the Literatures of the Ancient World I and II, which gave me access to the topic of Ancient Indian religion and philosophy. I realized how lack of knowing the correct history can cloud our perception of reality.
For example, 21st Century India is being enraged by this ‘politics of origin’, where the current government strategically uses it to frighten a sect of Hindu people about non-Hindu ones. The ruling party brings about new rules to prove that this country belongs only to ‘original Indians’ and not to anybody whose ancestors might have migrated or “invaded” this land. Now, who is an original Indian? How does one prove that he/she is an original Indian?
The government observes that anybody whose descent is directly related to the original race of this country has the right to live in this land — because otherwise, they are primarily invaders who came from a foreign land and tried/still trying to destroy the ‘cultures’ and ‘traditions’ of India. To create vote banks, of which the government is highly successful, they portray India as the land of Hindus. Research shows that the people credited with the composition of Vedas — the most sacred of all Hindu texts, were of the Aryan race. They entered the Indian subcontinent around 4000 years ago, bringing with them horses and a Proto-Indo-European language. On the other hand, research also shows that ‘Race’ is more of a social construct since it lacks proper biological evidence. According to the theory of evolution, our earliest ancestors originated in East Africa and spread across the length and breadth of this earth. From them emerged the various races, ethnicities, communities, and nationalities that exist today. From the beginning of time, humans have wandered, plundered, and settled in a place that one found conducive to his/her survival. It is the very innate nature of humans to move.
So my question is, is there any purely homogenized society without the influx of people from different parts of the world? Going by the theory of evolution, is the concept of a nation-state strong enough to deal with the natural phenomenon of human evolution?
Currently, the whole world is thriving on xenophobia and harbors antagonizing feelings for other religions and ethnicities. I believe acceptance of the “other” comes only when one knows the history which divided the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’.
