Quote:
Originally Posted by bolo121
Tronic i must disagree, there was no such thing as Indianness. At best we could say that the rulers and upper elites agreed on all being inhabitants of Hindustan.
But core identity was based then as it is now on a mix of Religion, caste and regional ethnic identity. Most of us hated each others guts much much more than we ever hated the English. The grievances were deeper and more long standing than our dislike of Imperial Britain.
Nationalism is a thin coat that struggles even now to bind our peoples together.
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And to think of it, the Mahabharatta ranges from Kurukshettra to the Nagas, and even down to Lanka! Yet there was no such thing as Hindustaniat?
And to add here; we may offend the hell out of each other; but when an Afghan or a Turk mentions how their forefathers plundered Punjab; it is Tamils, Bengalis, and others who rise in defense; despite them having nothing to do with Punjab. Any reason, why that is so?