Building India’s Soft Power Since 1893

 

We are not talking about a start-up in the 21st century! Instead we go back to the late 19th century, specifically 1893, when a young monk crowdsourced his way to represent Hinduism at the World Parliament of Religion in immediate post-civil war America. The young man, Swami Vivekananda, representing a country under the yoke of colonialism, transformed how people looked at India through a series of speeches – a defining moment in India’s history of soft power.

 

Beginning with “Brothers and Sisters” rather than the traditional “ladies and gentlemen”, he embodied the “better angels of our nature” by welcoming everyone as his equal, irrespective of their caste, creed, religion or colour. And gender too. By acknowledging the women in the assembled audience, he was undoubtedly in the vanguard of progressive thought, in those days, not just in the US but across the world that was dominated by oppressive colonialism.

Within such a context, the call for equality of all individuals irrespective of their origins or stature in life was not only progressive but could be considered truly revolutionary. Vivekananda firmly extended the same spirit of equality to all religions.  

“I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true,” he said.

“As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.”

At the final address he went on to say:

“It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character.

In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, 

I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written in spite of resistance: “Help and not fight,” “Assimilation and not Destruction,” “Harmony and Peace and not Dissension.”

Could any message be more relevant in today’s world wherein we have seen destruction and the worst forms of human depravity in the name of religion?

The haunting images of the inhumane plight of the Syrians, Rohingyas and most recently, children/toddlers being locked up in cages in the 21st century, supposedly the “beacon on the hill” for human freedom, show that this holds true even for the refugee crisis that has become a sore point in the US, European Union, Middle East and Asia Pacific due to lack of safety and opportunity.

Here was a young monk, in the 19th century, who was proud of his country, despite the humiliating backdrop of colonial oppression, and represented his heritage of welcoming people of diverse identities, without forcing them to amalgamate.

“I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation.”

He ended his speech with the words:

“I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.”

His speeches in Chicago in 1893 embodied India’s spirit and provided the foundation of modern India’s soft power that is celebrated globally today.  As New York Herald pointed out “He is undoubtedly the greatest figure in the Parliament of Religions. After hearing him, we feel how foolish it is to send missionaries to this learned nation.”

source https://www.indiaoutbound.org/building-indias-soft-power-since-1893/