The Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations in an early 2000 report, highlighted the power of India’s civilisational propensity. It noted that the world’s largest temple was in Cambodia and that there was still a Sanskrit-speaking village in Vietnam. Strong roots of Indic civilisation were significantly present in Indonesia, which also had a university named after Guru Sandipani.
The report marvelled at the civilisational strength of India and its capacity to gain a global footprint using its dominant soft power and not its strong military power. This civilisational strength of Bharat is unique for its continuum, which is unparalleled.
Such a civilisational strength driven through cultural unity is the focal tune of Kashi Tamil Sangamam (KTS) which resonates with Bharat’s Bhaava, Raaga and Taala. KTS is a multi-dimensional connection between two spiritual-cultural twins of Bharat—Kashi and Tamil Nadu.
Kashi Tamil Sangamam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s honest and unique efforts to celebrate the civilisational coherent synergy between Kashi and Tamil Nadu, is being launched today.
It will continue to enlighten and entertain lakhs of visitors to Kashi as KTS has in store a recipe for a cultural fiesta. Twelve groups from Tamil Nadu shall be visiting Kashi over a month-long period starting today in batches of 250 each in special trains to get an immersive Ganga bath and an immersive Kashi experience and to showcase Tamil Nadu’s historical and eternal proximity to Kashi.
It is these proximal maxima that will be highlighted to the visiting groups of students, teachers, artisans, rural champions, professionals, businesspersons, entrepreneurs, literature lovers, spiritualists, heritage activists, and cultural and temple enthusiasts.
The range of activities include specially curated academic sessions that shall see scholars and experts from Tamil Nadu flown into Kashi to share their inputs with Kashi counterparts on various topics of mutual interest, cultural shows driven by various arts forms of Tamil Nadu, special exhibitions decorated by the Kashi-Tamil Nadu artisan collective, Ganga cruise and Ganga Aarti and, most importantly, the Tamil Nadu cuisine that shall hopefully include my favourite Kashi Halwa!
The sum total of the visitors’ experiential outcome will undoubtedly be etched into the hearts of all for endured periods of time and passed on to present and successive generations. Special competitive events are also planned for the returning students and teachers who shall demonstrate in various tangible forms the impactful outcome of KTS.
The visiting Tamilians shall visualise the connection between Kashi and Tamil Nadu as they explore the Kashi terrains through KTS’ contours. Roaming the streets of Kashi, reminiscing about Mahakavi Subramania Bharati, testing their artistic flavour at the weavers’ museum, relishing the poetic literary flow along with the divine water flow of Ganges, expanding their business and entrepreneurial minds, internalising their connect with the divine powers at serene Saivism spots, cerebrating the power of India’s Knowledge System, celebrating the cultural entertainment and tasting the Tamil Nadu-centric cuisine that shall be an epicurean’s delight, KTS is one type of event that manifests in many continuous forms.
The continuity of experience in this eight-day trip is a historical capsule of the civilisational continuity between Kashi and Tamil Nadu.
The relevance of such events in the modern context is extremely important. While researchers spend resources to understand the future of India, there also needs to be an equal effort to understand its past. With its present geopolitical strength recently nourished by its G-20 presidency, a growing superpower like India cannot afford to leave its past uncertain. The uncertainty in India’s past cannot be porous to leaky outflow and distorted inflow and needs to be sealed with authentic information.
The authenticity of KTS will, in its own way, present with accurate certainty the historical connection between Kashi and Tamil Nadu, which is definitely a foundational pillar of Bharat’s past. Such foundational pillars will emerge as the safe bed for the aspirational superpower Bharat. A super-structure built on such an unshakeable past is India’s answer to not only itself but also to the world as it stands tall amongst the comity of nations with its undated and undateable civilisational past driven by its Sanathan Dharma.
KTS is just the tip of an iceberg that shall create an avalanche of sorts and is truly a defining moment in the socio-cultural march of Bharat’s supremacy. As the avalanche starts rolling down with the curtains for KTS rising today, the next month shall be a teaser of sorts for the main storylines that shall abundantly follow, catering to the multiple appetites of various interest groups.
If history records an event that celebrates and cerebrates the unifying power of historical geographies, Kashi Tamil Sangamam shall undisputedly find its rightful place as a genuine and unique effort to showcase and record the voluminous and varying multi-dimensional enrichers.
As history is being created at Kashi, this twelve-dimensional avatar of Bharat’s civilisational prowess is the most defining moment that strengthens the past, present and future in various directions. In short: Kashi Tamil Sangamam is Kashi’s Dvadasha Darshan.
Dr S Vaidhyasubramaniam
Vice-Chancellor, SASTRA University
(Views are personal)