Indianisation or indigenisation? Greater India and the politics of cultural diffusionism

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ABSTRACTThe paper focuses on the notion of Greater India that celebrated the diffusion of Indian cultural practices in Asia. Although prominent in the early twentieth century, it continued to fascinate Indian statesmen in the post-independence period. Juxtaposing its cultural frame with alternative conceptions of India’s self-identity, the paper argues that Greater India at once engaged with, and was in defiance of, both colonial and nationalist discourses. To what extent was the diffusionist logic calibrated to acknowledge mutual learning in the region? The paper critically engages with the dynamics between the circulation of ideas and their systematisation in India’s intellectual history.