On serpents, inevitability and the South Asian imagination

Abstract

The South Asian nations are imaginary states sustained by illusory ‘national identities’. These constructed identities have replaced the sense of community that is essential for the healthy development of traditional societies causing a permanent sense of crisis. This crisis is further fuelled by turning religion, tradition and nationalism into ideologies which promote inversions of reality and fabricate conflict. The perpetual defence of obscurantist historic tradition and imported Western ideas and ideologies has trapped the South Asian imagination into an imitative mould. Saving the South Asian future requires killing the two-headed serpent of ideology and imitation, and unleashing the creative imagination that is anchored to the Self of the Indian subcontinent.