Final Reflective
What Does It Mean to be an Indian?
Cadet Bowen JL
HI-327X: The History of India
December 11, 2014
Help Received: None
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The sub-continent of India has seen radical change and influence throughout its turbulent
history. Since the Vedic Age in the B.C. era to the now modern establishment of India, the
cultural identity of the sub-continent has shifted greatly. India nowadays is comprised of many
different ethnic groups, languages, religions, and cultures all under one flag. A single Indian
identity is hard to visualize because of all of these differences. However, the definition of what it
means to be an Indian cannot be explained as one, singular identity in India. The question what it
means to be an Indian can be answered as simply as unity through diversity. This question can be
further examined through the three artifacts on Babur, Bihar, and Nalanda University.
Babur was the great founder of the Mughal dynasty during a new rise of power in the
Indian sub-continent. He orchestrated and created a new empire in India, which did not represent
one of the native religions of Hinduism or Buddhism. The arrival of the Mughal Empire thus
continued to recognize Islam as an official religion in India. India was now ruled over by a
minority. The majority of Indians were Hindus and Buddhists and was now expected to live
under Islamic rule. Not to mention, the hundreds of other religious groups such as the Jainists
and Sikhs. This disunity would seem like a major obstacle for India; however, Babur mediated
this religious tension effectively in his administration. He held an open policy for non-Muslims
to take part in the government structure and his successors would continue that through Akbar
the great. Babur gave Hindus the opportunity to expand their interests and escape the depths of
Indian society. His beliefs allowed Indians to effectively merge together different religions and
cultures into a unified empire. Babur also showed unity through disunity through architectural
advances. He helped influence many existing Hindu temples and added in a traditional Muslim
flair to them. The result was mosques throughout the country of India, including the Panipat and
Babri Mosques. These architectural structures displayed the full
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beauty of Mughal architecture and further linked Babur’s influence in answering what it means
to be an Indian. He aided in piecing together different cultures under a single Indian culture.
Babur’s conquest brought great relief to the Indian people after the Delhi Sultanate. His actions
and policies allowed Indians to peacefully coexist and strengthened the ties between the different
cultures. This was a time in India where major turbulence between Hindus and Muslims was kept
to a low level and Indians could actually identify themselves as Indians.
The region of Bihar was another example where the question of what it means to be an
Indian is explored. Prior to 600 B.C., India was highly dis-unified with various Indo-European
groups, such as the Aryans, scattered throughout. These groups would eventually come together
and consolidate into steady communities. Bihar was the main region that hosted this lifestyle
shift from a pastoral, nomadic way of life to empire building. Around 600 B.C. marked the
beginning of the Pre-Mauryan Age in Bihar, where a massive shift to urbanization occurred.
Bihar was a great area for natural resources and was able to effectively foster this shift because
of the great wealth generated. This region eventually went on to host the Mauryan, Gupta, and
other major dynasties throughout Indian history. Also, the major religions of Buddhism and
Jainism can trace their roots to the region of Bihar. However, the importance of Bihar lies in
what it accomplished as a region fostering Indian settlement. India historically has not seen much
large-scale unification prior to the Mauryan Empire. India, for thousands of years, was divided
through many different clans living a nomadic way of life. The Mauryan Empire and the shift to
urbanization erased the memories of a scattered India to a more unified one. Even though there
were many different groups of people and religions, the region of Bihar provided the opportunity
for coexistence and unification under a single dynasty from a long history of dis-unification. This
region contributes in answering the question of what it means to be an Indian through hosting the
unity of Indians in a disunified landscape at that time.
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Another key contributor in India that aided in answering this key question was Nalanda
University in the region of Bihar. This university, started in the 5th Century C.E., was
revolutionary for its time and was a premier institution of higher learning. The university hosted
lectures in many academic topics, religious teachings, and was capable of housing thousands of
students in residential dormitories. Nalanda was best known as a central hub for the teachings of
Buddhism. Nalanda University existed during Ashoka’s reign in the Mauryan Empire, and as a
result, Buddhism was able to find itself into a consolidated center of teaching and learning. This
university was the ideal place for Buddhism to be taught besides the Dhamma of Ashoka.
Nalanda was able to establish itself as a learning platform for Buddhism for all of India for a
time and allowed the religion to effectively grow and prosper from its beginning stages. Nalanda
University as a whole was an ideal example of how Indians could unify regardless of language,
religion, or ethnic group. This learning institution brought together hundreds of thousands of
Indians from all over, and even foreigners, into one center. Even though there were many
different groups of people in India at the time, Nalanda University united those differences and
provided a never before seen central power of knowledge in India.
India is one of the most unique regions in the world because of its long history of disunity
and steps the nation took to reach what it is today. India is definitely not considered a “melting
pot” of cultures because the different groups in India did not all conform to a single ideology. So
what does it mean to be an Indian? Being an Indian means existing as a sum of all the different
cultures in India living under one nation. Through Babur, the region of Bihar, and Nalanda
University’s differences, Indians could live unified under their disunified characteristics.