Narratives of ‘Common Civilization’ of South Asia: Tracing the Origin of Shared Values and Culture

Abstract

South Asia is a constructed concept. Although South Asian countries choose to function within the paradigm of independent statehood, they are undergoing overlapping developments rooted in the distant and recent colonial past. This paper reflects on the notion that South Asia has a common past. In this context, the civilizational politics of India is addressed and the discourse on civilization is unwrapped to understand its contemporary and historical perspectives. The study of South Asian history constructs that Indus valley civilization presents a common ground for cultural and civilizational associations of South Asian countries. To understand the changing form of Indian civilization over the period of time, this paper examines four variants of Indian civilization: Orientalist, Anglicist, liberal nationalist, and Hindu nationalist variants. In this discussion, the perception of Tagore and Gandhi on nationalism is considered, and discourse on civilization between Asian thinkers like Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and Western thinkers like Samuel P. Huntington are provided to understand the historical underpinning of Indian civilization.