The Tolstoy of Hindi

Image from Time

Weekend is the time to catch up with all the reading that was missed during the week. It is during that catching up I came across Yuval Noah Harari’s article in the Time [Jan 30 – Feb 6, 2023]. Titled ‘The Dangerous Quest for Identity,’ the article argues why undue stress on one’s identity as a member of a narrow group can hamstring our understanding of ourselves.

If you choose to emphasise those parts in you that connect you to a group and ignore the other parts, you will obviously see only a small part of yourself. For example, if you define yourself as a proud Hindu Indian and believe that your culture is the best, you are obviously ignoring a lot of things in your personality that came from other places and cultures and religions. There are, probably, more factors which came from other sources than your religion and nationality that make up your personality. You ignore all of them the moment you choose to see yourself primarily as a Hindu Indian.

If you are reading this post, obviously you know English and that is not a contribution of Hindu India. The writers who have influenced you, the artists you admire, the music you go to bed with… the medicine that runs in your blood right now... so much of the technology without which your life would be miserable… there’s lot that came from somewhere out there, from beyond the Arabian Ocean. To know you fully is to know those things that came from other sources too.

Let me adapt a parable used by Harari. Suppose someone asks a Hindi chauvinist, “Who is the Tolstoy of Hindi?” Well, there may be certain writers in Hindi who can be named in answer to that question, no doubt. But the best answer would be “Tolstoy is the Tolstoy of Hindi.” What that means is: Tolstoy is not just Russian. He belongs to the whole world. He is an integral part of humankind. He belongs as much in Hindi literature as in Russian. If you are able to say that, your thinking has gone beyond the narrow confines of languages. You belong to the universe just as much as Tolstoy does. You become greater than if you were to define yourself as a Hindu Indian. You become a universal citizen, a citizen of the cosmos. When I say “I am a human” I belong to a society of nearly 8 billion people. Why would I want to trim down that to a much smaller figure and limit myself?

After all, Tolstoy does belong to the world. He was influenced by Victor Hugo, Arthur Schopenhauer, Jesus and Buddha – none of whom were Russian. We are all similarly influenced by many things which are not Indian. It is possible to ignore those influences by declaring our pet ideas and ideologies as the only right ones. But, in the words of Harari, “As long as I adhere to that narrow story, I’ll never know the truth about myself.”

Narrow identities are political gimmicks that can win votes. Harari agrees on the vote-winning potential of such identities. But those leaders who make use of such strategies as identity politics have no right to claim to be Vishwa Gurus. You cannot be the guru of those whom you shut out from your horizons. If you refuse to accept the relevance of other traditions and ideas, how can you be their guru?