We are amidst a battle between dharma and adharma.
Bharat’s uniqueness is its dharmic character, held up by mainstream Hinduism and three other majorreligions—Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism—which were birthed here, not to speak of the myriadother smaller vanvasi and other traditions that argued with one another and yet co-evolved to createthis unity in diversity. Despite being home to more than a billion Hindus, India faces threats bothfrom outside and inside, from those who want to dismantle this civilization even as their own isfalling apart from the excesses of wokeism, secularism and Islamism.
India, inheritor of a 5,000-year civilizational heritage that is co-terminus with the idea of Bharat,faces extreme challenges in the twenty-first century, where forces inimical to its dharmic heritagewould want to eviscerate it eventually. Western academia and India’s liberals, including some sectionsof the judiciary and the bureaucracy, are using internal fault lines to push woke Hinduphobic ideas.They are also creating imaginary divisions between Hinduism and Hindutva and trying to promotefissures among Hindus in India and those who have made their homes abroad.
This book is a call to all Hindus to rediscover the essential dharmic heritage of Bharat and closeranks to defend dharma. For this, Hinduism must become a partly missionary religion once more,and encourage Indians who follow Islam and Christianity to become more dharmic in character.For India to rise, a rediscovery of Bharat’s dharmic nature is vital.
Dharma must defeat adharma.
Review
‘This is a thought-provoking—and provocative—book. The edifice of any society is dharma and Indian society and the Bharatiya nation cannot be delinked from its dharmic roots. The secular implant, reflected in the implanted Constitution, should be questioned, as this string of essays does.'
—Bibek Debroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister of India
‘India is amongst the last two great surviving millennia-old civilizations, with the rest destroyed by invasions or otherwise. What made India withstand centuries of brutal occupation by outside forces was its innate dharmic way of life based on individual freedom and no dogma. In this book, Jagannathan, or Jaggi, explores what makes India, that is Bharat, so unique.’
—T.V. Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Aarin Capital Partners
‘This book is an important plea for Indians to support establishing dharma as the core political tenet in India.’
—Rajiv Malhotra, author of Artificial Intelligence and Snakes in the Ganga
‘Jagannathan, in his remarkable book Dharmic Nation, reminds us that the ancient and complex spirituality that props up from behind what is today called Hinduism, is a vast, intricate and many-sided philosophical system.’
—François Gautier, author of An Entirely New History of India
‘At last a thoughtful book about India’s civilizational nationhood, that takes on both colonial and neo-colonial narratives that have dominated the conversation for two long centuries. Rarely is such a heated topic presented in such a cool, sane manner.’
—Sanjeev Sanyal, economist and writer
About the Author
R. Jagannathan has been at the forefront of Indian journalism for well over four and a half decades. Currently the Editorial Director of Swarajya magazine, he has been part of many launch teams, including Business Today, DNA and Firstpost.com. He headed and revamped many business publications, such as Financial Express, Indian Management, Business World and Forbes India. He started his career with Financial Express in Mumbai. His recent focus has been on digital commentary and journalism, including commentary on Hindutva and dharmic ideology. He was awarded the Shriram Sanlam Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. His first book, The Jobs Crisis in India, dealt with another urgent issue.
He tweets @TheJaggi
+91 9818282497
