History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.315

v4.c62.315

In ancient India the modern sentiment of nationalism had hardly taken root. Writers speak of rājya (State) and of rāṣṭra (territory) as an element of rājya. They had no sense of nationality nor did they seriously work for national unity. The modern idea of a nation is more a question of feeling and sentiment than of objective fact. The State has been at all times a great co-ordinating agency, but as its boundaries were extremely variable in ancient India, the modern sentiment of nationality, of 'my country, right or wrong' hardly ever arose in India (except perhaps for over a century in Mahārāṣṭra in the 17th and 18th centuries and among the Sikhs). In the whole of Hindu India, there was no doubt a certain unity of religion, philosophy, literary forms and conventions of arts and forms of worship, and in reverence for holy places, but this did not make for a deep-seated and effective sentiment of nationhood or national unity.