A Bond Older Than Diplomacy

In a letter to F Ovchinnikov, written on April 8, 1910, iconic Russian author and philosopher, Leo Tolstoy, spoke of India, where “over 200 million people, highly gifted in both spiritual and physical strength, are under the rule of a totally alien small circle of peoples, who are immeasurably lower than those whom they rule…”

From his letter, it was evident that towards the end of his life, Tolstoy assiduously read Vivekananda, the “Hindu writer”, whose works he found “extremely interesting.” Tolstoy ranked Vivekananda with Buddha, Confucius, Lao-Tzu, Socrates, Plato, Christ, Rousseau, Pascal, Kant, Schopenhauer, Emerson, Fichte and others. He saw Vivekananda descending from the “authors of the Indian Vedas”, and ranking among the “modern serious thinkers” of the world.

Well-known Russian Indologist, linguist and scholar of Bengali language and literature A.P. Gnatyuk-Danil’Chuk, tells us that “during the last year and a half of his life, Tolstoy paid great attention to the problems of contemporary life of India, of liberation of its people.” Young revolutionary nationalist, the intrepid Taraknath Das had written to him, and the Russian philosopher, in response to Das, had written his famous ‘Letter to a Hindu’ (December 1908). It was addressed to an individual, but was “essentially a message to the entire Indian people.” The letter starts with Vivekananda’s epigraph, “God is one whole; we are only its parts.”

In an article he wrote in August 1908, “Religion and Science”, Tolstoy virtually says, points out Danil ‘Chuk, “that mankind must assimilate the heritage of Vivekananda along with that of other sages…” Tolstoy intended to get Vivekananda’s works translated into Russian. On 7 May 1909, he spoke to the editor of the Posrednik publishing house, founded by Vladimir Chertkov, one of Tolstoy’s close disciples, referring to Vivekananda as the “most eminent of modern Indian thinkers” who should be published.

Tolstoy, we are told, continued to stress “the need for reading Vivekananda” On 24 June 1909, he made an interesting observation in respect to Vekhi a collection of philosophical tracts, written and published by leading Russian philosophers like Nikolai Berdyayev, “It is not worth reading the Vekhi … when one has such (things) for reading as Ramakrishna, the Buddha, Vivekananda, the Gospel” [of Sri Ramakrishna].

Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore was looked upon in Russia as equaling Shakespeare, Goethe, Pushkin, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. His works were widely translated and read. The reason for this, Danil ‘Chuk writes, “is to be sought in the chronicles of bygone times, in the vast, abiding interest and curiosity which the peoples of Russia, from times immemorial, had in India, in her great, unique culture.”

Russian thinkers and writers closely followed all that was being published on India from Western Europe, especially translations of India’s fundamental Sanskrit texts and works. When Charles Wilkin’s translation of the Bhagavad Gita appeared in 1785, the Moscow University publishing house was quick to follow it up with a Russian translation of the Gita by A. A. Petrov in 1788. 1792 saw the complete translation of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala in Russian by the leading historian and poet of his time, Nikolai Karamzin, a close friend of the iconic Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. Karamzin’s 12-volume ‘History of the Russian State’ remains a monumental and civilisational dimension study of Russia.

Karamzin’s preface to the Russian translation of Kalidasa’s Sakuntala was inspiring. “The creative spirit does not live in Europe alone; it is a citizen of the universe,” wrote Karamzin, “a human being is everywhere a human being; everywhere he has a sensitive heart, and in the mirror of his imagination he holds both heaven and earth; everywhere nature is his preceptor and the chief source of his pleasure. I felt this most ardently, while reading Sakuntala…Almost on every page of this drama, I have found the most beauteous forms of poetry, subtle feelings, an exquisite and ineffable tenderness…For me, Kalidasa is as great as Homer. They both got their brush from the hands of nature, and both painted nature.” Karamzin’s perhaps is one of the most moving descriptions of one of civilisational India’s most lasting works of poetic expression and thought.

On the iconic Gerasim Lebedev’s tomb in St Petersburg, the epitaph reads, “He, the first of the sons of Russia, Went to Eastern India, Took the Indian manners and customs, and brought to Russia their language…” Leading Russian thinkers, thought-leaders, philosophers and litterateurs were struck by the civilisational depth and richness of Bharat. The attraction was not superficial, it was not piecemeal, nor was it momentary. It was deep and abiding. It was a rediscovery of an essentially civilisational link that needed to be renewed across the ages. Russian recognition of India’s civilisational achievements, at a time when India was under occupation, was in itself hope-generating and refreshing. For Russia and Russians, the Bharat civilisational connection enabled them to come in contact with the essence of eastern thought and ideals. To these, they felt a certain kinship and link.

For those who have periodically immersed themselves in this past, the just-concluded Modi-Putin summit is a reminder that the India-Russia partnership is civilisational and not merely a country-to-country, or issue-to-issue bonding. The fact that a special strategic partnership sustains itself, on an even keel, for over a quarter century, is in itself proof enough of its civilisational dimension.

Tolstoy and Vivekananda were representatives of the civilisational spirit of both Russia and Bharat in their era. It was a vastly different era from the present, yet the essence of the ideals that they espoused in that epoch continues to drive the rise of Russia and India, respectively. Both Modi and Putin symbolise those ideals and aspirations and lead their nations on that trajectory. India and Russia today symbolise rising powers. India is emerging as a fresh and new rising power, and Russia is emerging as a self-renewing rising power. Both have a civilisational consciousness which drives their rise.

In his essay, “The Stagnant Order: and the End of Rising Powers”, political thinker Michael Beckley refers to British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury’s famous dictum of 1898, where he had warned, “that the world was dividing into ‘living’ and ‘dying’ nations. The living were the rising powers of the industrial age – states with growing populations. Transformative technologies and militaries of unprecedented range and firepower. The dying were stagnant empires, crippled by corruption, clinging to obsolete methods, and sliding towards ruin.” Beckley argues that for the first time in centuries, “no country is rising fast enough to overturn the global balance.”

Beckley may have his theorems and frameworks upon which he bases his narrative, but both India and Russia come across as living nations. Any nation which actively attempts to rediscover and to restate its civilisational dimension in the present context is a living nation. Any nation which proffers the dynamics and narrative of a new order, speaks of a multipolar and multi-centred world structure, is a living nation. Any nation which has to offer an alternate global structure and does not conform to the debunked theory of a one-size-fits-all model of global development and progress is a living nation.

Both India and Russia, under Modi and Putin, have been championing such an approach and vision. While failing states, rogue states and ageing incumbent global powers drift towards the dying nation category, India and Russia are moving towards offering an alternate global framework, based on respect for and recognition of diversity, core strength and civilisational self-esteem. The renewed rise of both countries is an indication of an impending possibility of the global balance altering and reconfiguring, amidst the many challenges that define geopolitics today.

Beyond the brass-tacks, beyond the hard diplomatic, economic and strategic dimensions of the Modi-Putin Summit, there are continued indicators of the shaping of a deeper civilisational partnership that will not only stand the test of time, but will shape the times to come. That must elicit our attention and interest.

Views expressed are personal. The writer is a member of National Executive Committee, BJP and Chairman of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation