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Article: Reconceiving a nation: who controls the past.... (religious conflict in India)
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- July 16, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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India is simultaneously among the oldest and youngest of places. As a civilization, it can claim a past that stretches back thousands of years. But as a modem nationstate, it is not even half-a-century old--a mere infant among the members of the world community--and still very much in search of its own sense of self.
India's present identity depends heavily on its image of its past. Nations, like individuals, are defined by what they think they once were. But the past, it may also be noted, is never what it used to be. The recollection of history, by individuals and by nations, is constantly updated and revised by the everchanging needs of the present. We ...