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Slightly adapted from the works of Anuradha Dr. Rakesh Muduli and Sri Devasis Mishra at HINDUPOST Networks . Special acknowledgements to RAJIV MALHOTRA Indic Studies.
The Prelude:
The expansion of Indian civilization "to those countries and islands of the Orient where Chinese civilization, with strikingly similar aspirations, seemed to arrive ahead of it," is one of the outstanding events in the history of the world, one which has determined the destiny of a good portion of mankind. "Mother of wisdom gave her mythology to her neighbors who went to teach it to the whole world. Mother of law and philosophy, she gave to three-quarters of Asia a god, a religion, a doctrine, an art. She carried her sacred language, her literature, her institutions into Indonesia, to the limits of the known world, and from there they spread back to Madagascar and perhaps to the coast of Africa, where the present flow of Indian immigrants seems to follow the faint traces of the past." Sylvain Levi, L'lnde civilisatrice: Apergu historique (Paris, 1938), p. 136
"BHARAT is culturally the Mother of Japan. For centuries it has, in her own characteristic way, been exercising her influence on the thought and culture of Japan." : Hajime Nakamura(Japanese Orientalist, Indologist, philosopher and academic of Vedic Dharmic Buddhist scriptures)
The ongoing struggle of Bharat to launch itself onto the path of economic development has been patchy and challenging even more than 70 years after Independence. We tend to look towards foreign nations as role models for attaining our goals, but perhaps we need to look closer to home, that is, within Asia.
Soviet Union split, cold war came to a halt, western scholars celebrated it as the triumph of capitalism, democracy and the end of the history. They boasted the universalism of western model of governance, institutions and ideals. Some scholars too prophesied that capitalism and democracy are the only models to achieve all-round advancement, at par with western nations. They declared that western nations are ready to export capitalism and democracy to the rest of the world.
“Can Asians think?”, a compilation of thought provoking first rate essays, first time by an Asian, expressed dissenting voice against the conventional wisdom of western liberal intellectual orthodox scholars. Author Sri Kishore Mahbubani, a Singaporean diplomat, refuted the claim of western universalism and argued that something which is good for western nations may not be good for other nations.
As per the author, his essays are intended to stimulate Asian minds to address questions about their future. He warned the Asian nations to search their own model of governance, institutions and ideals, rooted in their own age-old civilizations. The author stressed that western nations have already contributed a large in the field of science and technology for the service of mankind and hence, it is now the time for Asian nations to contribute their share. But, the author reminded this must be done by inventing and exploring their own, not by borrowing or importing from outside Asia.
Communist ruled china realised and worked on this idea from the eras of Deng Xioping, prioritised to revive Confucianism, Taoism and Mandarin language as the base civilizational bed rock, to search their models of different institutions in their own historical past. This may the reason for China’s emergence as the most developed and influential nation.
Then we cover the spectacular story of South Korea’s journey to development from a colonized and later war-ravaged agrarian country in the 1940s and 1950s to a global economic power by 2000. In 2016, it became the eleventh largest economy in the world in terms of GDP, and is today one of the most technologically advanced nations.
Then you have this ‘Taiwan Miracle’.
Today Japan under Shinzo Abe followed the footstep of China and are also reviving their own civilizations to search their own alternative models of various institutions in order to modernise and advance at par with western nations. Scholars are now debating and advocating the newly described term “Civilizational State” to properly define the identity of these countries in place of “Nation State”.
Bharat, the home of Hindu Dharmic Vedic civilization, is the only state which has dumped its core civilizational values exported foreign amreekunt ideals and institutions to modernise itself. This is the biggest tragedy ever met by any civilization in its own land. This may be the reason why Bharat which used to be top most level dominant rich cultural political power for well documented 5000 years before present, today, despite innumerable improvements and positives finds itself operating at a lower effectiveness and efficiency.
Why revival of Hindu Civilization?
The author concluded the reason of growth of western nations is due to exploitation of colonised nations. The developed nations of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development cannot digest this revelation and assigned Angus Maddison, noted economic historian of brits, to unravel the truth. He published his research thesis “The World Economy: Historical Statistics” in 2004, covering contribution of nations in Gdp for last two millennium.
Result Paul Bairoch’s Study of World Economy, Source: SwarajyaMag
It very well-known that Hindu Bharat had provided safeguard and freedom of flourish to the earlier persecuted Syrian Christians, Jews and Zoroastrian communities when Christianity and Islam invaded their land. When the Islamic rule was established in southern coastal region and Christian rule established in Goa those sheltered communities were again persecuted in their hand. Therefore, Hindu Civilization must be preserved and flourished to maintain religious diversity of the world.
The polytheistic civilization which is the bedrock of plurality and diversity of society, once flourished in entire Europe, Arab, and American main land has been destroyed with the advent of these monotheistic religions of Christianity and Islam. Hindu civilization is the only polytheistic society which has survived and hence need to be revived in order to maintain the composite and diversity nature of Bharatiya society.
It is well documented that ancient Bhartiyas Hindus had flourished a vibrant culture of innovation and creation, this has been clearly reflected in Sanskritic literatures, ancient crafts and sculptures. This culture had been ruptured during the colonial era. The revival of Hindu civilization will also revive the scientific temperament and skills among its generations.
The duty and responsibility of a state is to protect its indigenous civilization. Bharatiya state must realise that the Hindu civilization is intrinsic to its land and must care for its protection. Therefore, Bharatiya state must work for repealing the provisions from Article 25 to Article 30 in Bharatiya Constitution, which are systematically and gradually annihilating the Hindu civilization.The call for revival of Hindu civilization is an honest effort by a Hindu to define its own social and national identities in a way which will enhance his sense of self-esteem in a world, where his immediate ancestors had subconsciously accepted that they were lesser beings in a western universe and Abrahamic world. The opponents must not misunderstand it as a war like call of jihad or crusade in Abrahamic world.
To provide an immediate boost, Bharatiya state must withdraw its control on Hindu temples. Bharatiya state must care for implementing Uniform Civil Code and introducing a subject “Religion and Philosophy” in educational curriculum to enable Bharatiya kids and youths know the fundamental doctrines and philosophies of every religion. Bharatiya judiciary system should be more cautious while admitting a pil or pronouncing a judgement or passing a remark against any Hindu civilizational institution.
Above all, Bharatiya state must understand that reconnection with civilizational heritage will definitely boom the morals of its generations which will ultimately emerged Bharat into a global power in the field of science, technology, economics, political and social sectors.
On Japan’s path to economic growth :
Beginning in the mid-19th century when most of the Ancient civilisation viz Chinese and Bhartiya were on decline no other, non-Christian, non-european nation met this challenge more dynamically and dramatically than Japan. Long before its recent accomplishments in automobiles and electronics and pop-culture phenomena like manga and anime, and long before its disastrous plunge into militarism and war in the 1930s and 1940s, Japan was widely recognized as the great nation-building “success story” of the non-Western world in 18th -19th ad onwards.
In the 19th and early-20th centuries, Japan alone among the major countries of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East succeeded in escaping colonial or neo-colonial domination by the amreekunts and expansionist nations of europe. Japan alone adopted an agenda of industrialization and so called “westernization” that enabled it to emerge as a global power in its own right. Indeed, when the victorious nations of World War One met at Versailles in 1919 to dictate peace terms and form the League of Nations, Japan participated as one of the “Big Five” powers, alongside the United States, England, France, and Italy.
This was an extraordinary accomplishment, particularly when one considers how backward the country had appeared to be only a few generations earlier.
For seven centuries, from the late-12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by a warrior elite. For over two centuries, beginning in the 1630s, the feudal government based in Edo (present-day Tokyo) had enforced a strict “closed country” (sakoku) policy that prohibited Japanese from leaving and foreigners from entering.
While this Europe and the United States experienced revolutions, and adopted expansionist policies, Japan turned inward—embracing seclusion and, at least at official levels, venerating Shinto Dharmic Buddhist fuision type of tradition.
This was the country Commodore Matthew Perry of the amreekunts encountered when his warships made two visits in 1853 and 1854 to force the feudal government to abandon the “closed country” policy.
This was a daunting challenge to Japan’s leaders, who were aware of Western imperialism and “gunboat diplomacy” elsewhere—including in China next door. In the notorious “Opium War” of 1839 to 1842, defeated China was forced to accept and legalize the opium trade of the Western countries. In the sordid “Arrow War” of 1856 to 1858, shortly after Perry’s mission to Japan, the British and French had bombarded Canton and Tientsin and forced China to make additional humiliating concessions.
No one was sure, at the time, whether Japan would sink or swim.
No one anticipated that Japan would or could throw off seven centuries of feudal rule quickly and announce—as the new government did within a matter of months—that “evil customs of the past shall be broken off” and “knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundations of imperial rule.” That was the “Charter Oath” of 1868.
The Charter Oath of the Meiji Restoration (1868) :
Certainly no one dreamed that in 1894 and 1895, a mere 40 years after Perry’s arrival, Japan would be capable of mobilizing a modern army and navy and bringing China to its knees—and, 10 years after that, doing much the same to Tsarist Russia.
The coal-burning paddlewheel ships that astounded the Japanese when they appeared in Commodore Perry’s fleet in the 1850s quickly became part of Japan’s own navy and merchant marine.
Iron bridges became listed among the “famous places in Tokyo.” Young women who had formerly been employed spinning and weaving cotton and silk in small cottage industries were quickly mobilized for larger-scale production.
Japan's wealth and power :
By the 1880 No matter what international law might say, “the Strong eat up the Weak.” This perception became the rationale for building a military establishment capable of overseas missions, and for simultaneously promoting a potent, emperor-centered nationalistic ideology to buttress this.
In time, the Japanese coined the word tenshoku — literally “heaven’s work” or “divine calling”—as their own code word for this expansionist vision.
In a phrase that was often repeated six decades later in second world war the precepts declared that, for the Japanese fighting man, “Duty is weightier than a mountain, while death is lighter than a feather.”
Closing remarks :
One country whose model of economic development and progress we perhaps need to study and draw from is Japan. Though not identical, but Japan and Bharat share some religio-cultural features. As we saw that Japan was one of the first Asian, non-Christian countries to become a global power in modern times.
Jeff Baugh emphasizes that Christian nations have a Biblical context and even communist Russia has Christian roots which is why Marxism also has a Biblical context. In the case of Japan, what makes it different is
Few, if any, developments in the postwar era possess as great a significance as the rise of Japan. Normally, Japan’s rise is discussed in economic or political terms.
In the Tokugawa period between 1638 and 1867, the Japanese society was a feudal one where hereditary military commanders called shoguns ruled over their respective fiefdoms and all were answerable to a nominal head, the emperor (Mikado). The Japanese society was stratified into classes consisting of warriors (samurai), traders, artisans, and farmers, with no mobility permitted between these social classes. This appears to be similar to Bharat’s varna system, labelled as ‘caste system’ by ignoramous.
Few, if any, developments in the postwar era possess as great a significance as the rise of Japan. Normally, Japan’s rise is discussed in economic or political terms. Its religious significance, especially for a nation such as the amreekunts whose cultural inheritance is so deeply rooted in biblical religion, is seldom discussed, much less understood. Japan is the world’s most successful nation with non-Christian roots right now from 19thad onwards. Even the Soviet Union has Christian roots. Marxist atheism is grounded in the very biblical tradition that Marxism negates. Moreover, the apparent conflict between the Western proponents of a biblically grounded attitude and a secular ethic takes on the appearance of a family quarrel when seen against the horizon of Japanese Shinto Buddhist fusion religion and culture. Far from being the antithesis of biblical region, the secular spirit that pervades so much of Western life is its unintended consequence. Wherever the biblical faith in a unique, exclusive, extramundane God penetrated, it was utterly destructive of indigenous gods and traditions. Sooner or later this polemical, desacralizing faith was bound to give birth to a consciousness that would not rest until all the gods without exception were dethroned. Under the circumstances, it is hardly surprising that a civilization as determined to preserve its own integrity as that Japan should marshal all its forces to resist both the believing and the secular manifestations of biblical religion.
Panel B: Domestic and External Sources of Aggregate Supply and Demand Growth: Manufacturing and Mining , Gross Domestic Fixed Capital Formation , and Trade.
Side by side with this is the Indian BHARTIYA concept that each man is the whole of nature unto himself–as is evident in Zen philosophy as well.
According to Umehara, Japan’s “Jomon roots” cover a period that preceded the introduction of agriculture and lasted almost 10,000 years, coming to an end about 300 bce. The prime minister thus asserts that Japan’s religious culture goes back to her earliest roots. This is not a heritage he or any other Japanese is likely to abandon. Nor do all Japanese regard the emperor’s postwar denial of his divinity as having really changed his “divine” status. In a document prepared for the Ninth International Congress for the History of Religions (1958), the Shinto Publications Committee declared,
Since the change was merely a change in outward treatment, it is only natural that the Shinto of the imperial House and Shrine Shinto should still be considered orthodox. It is one of the noteworthy peculiarities of Shinto as a religion that, since these types of Shinto are not bound by dogmas and scriptures but preserve their life in traditional form, [insofar] as there is no great impediment in the continuation of the religious rituals, the wounds inflicted by this change are not too deep.
The divinity of the emperor was never considered comparable to that of Jesus in Christianity or God in biblical Judaism. The emperor was thought of as ikigami, “a living human kami.” The term refers to outstanding servants of the nation who might be enshrined and worshipped while still alive. Imperial princes, national heroes, Shinto priests, and the emperor can all be reverenced as ikigami. To the Japanese, the emperor remains the supreme living kami. At present, his status is somewhat ambiguous. As Japan’s power continues to grow, there is every likelihood that the ambiguity will be clarified in favor of the traditional understanding of the emperor’s divine status.
Economic growth was steady and significant in this period. Agricultural production grew and manufacturing was also strengthened which led to a wealthy merchant/trader class and this led to the growth of many Japanese cities like Edo (Tokyo), Kyoto, and Osaka that showcased urban culture. These cities catered to the merchants/traders and the samurai rather than to the nobility (shoguns) and their vassals or warlords (daimyo). The urban culture saw the growth of the Kabuki theatre and Bunraku puppet theatre and woodblock printing.
This rare woodblock print reveals the acute sensitivity of the Japanese to the threat of Western “gunboat diplomacy” in Asia. The incident depicted is an attack on China by French warships in 1884.“Story from the Sino-French War” by Utagawa Kunisada III, 1884
Over time, when agricultural production did not fare as well as the mercantile and commercial activities, followed by famines, this caused peasant uprisings which further weakened the shogun and samurai class.
When unequal treaties were imposed by stronger nations on countries of East Asia including Japan, ‘Japan had the choice of either radically restructuring her society or suffering defeat and humiliation by the predatory foreign powers.’
What led Japan onto the path of progress was its response in this situation. ‘As we knew, the foreign threat was met speedily and successfully by perhaps the most radical restructuring of any society the world has ever known.’
The Choshu and Satsuma clans which were anti-Tokugawa, combined forces and toppled the shogunate in 1867. This was came to be called the Meiji restoration. The emperor was the head of the state but the shoguns were the functioning head of the government. Owing to this division of power, the shogunate could be overthrown while the supreme sovereign could remain without being discredited. This allowed for introducing new policies which appeared to have the sanction of the supreme sovereign, considered by the citizens as a revered source from antiquity. Without this division of power, Japan would not have been able to survive the denigration of its indigenous institutions.
The Charter Oath of 1868 pledged greater equality between classes, a much needed reform. But it is important to note that classes previously on the lower rung of society were not given special privileges aka ‘reservations’ that have been granted under Bharat’s Constitution to so-called lower castes. In Bharat, those privileges have only become further entrenched and acquired perpetuity in the decades following independence, with ever-increasing number of groups, including powerful land-owning classes, clamouring for the ‘backward’ label.
The slogans used in Japan were: ‘Rich Country, Strong Army’; ‘Civilization and Enlightenment’; and ‘Encourage Industry’. The imperial institution ensured historical and civilizational continuity. Japan’s transition could be achieved in a largely bloodless fashion in contrast to transformation in the Christian West such as the 17th century English revolution and the 18th century French revolution.
Japanese leaders determinedly resisted destruction of the historic continuity of their civilization.
The peace and stability and absence of Western interference of the Tokugawa period had helped pave the way for rapid modernization during the Meiji restoration period.
In 1889, the Meiji Constitution came into effect under which a bicameral Parliament called the Diet was formed. This Constitution remained until 1947. The unequal treaties were revised in 1894 as Japan gained respect in the eyes of the western world. Within a mere 32 years, Japan had carved out a space for itself as an industrialized, modern power.
However, during the imperial restoration period, Japan began to emulate Western expansionist policies and in 1894, it defeated the Chinese Quing Empire and a year later gained control of Taiwan and the Liaodong Peninsula, which it had to give up after a Russian intervention. Japan consolidated militarily as a response and defeated Russia in a battle in 1905.
Japan’s expansionist policies apart, through attaining economic progress, it had managed to do what no other non-Christian nation had achieved before during 18th-19th ad.
In the following 2 posts we will see the economic models of South Korea and Thailand.
The Prelude:
The expansion of Indian civilization "to those countries and islands of the Orient where Chinese civilization, with strikingly similar aspirations, seemed to arrive ahead of it," is one of the outstanding events in the history of the world, one which has determined the destiny of a good portion of mankind. "Mother of wisdom gave her mythology to her neighbors who went to teach it to the whole world. Mother of law and philosophy, she gave to three-quarters of Asia a god, a religion, a doctrine, an art. She carried her sacred language, her literature, her institutions into Indonesia, to the limits of the known world, and from there they spread back to Madagascar and perhaps to the coast of Africa, where the present flow of Indian immigrants seems to follow the faint traces of the past." Sylvain Levi, L'lnde civilisatrice: Apergu historique (Paris, 1938), p. 136
"BHARAT is culturally the Mother of Japan. For centuries it has, in her own characteristic way, been exercising her influence on the thought and culture of Japan." : Hajime Nakamura(Japanese Orientalist, Indologist, philosopher and academic of Vedic Dharmic Buddhist scriptures)
The ongoing struggle of Bharat to launch itself onto the path of economic development has been patchy and challenging even more than 70 years after Independence. We tend to look towards foreign nations as role models for attaining our goals, but perhaps we need to look closer to home, that is, within Asia.
Soviet Union split, cold war came to a halt, western scholars celebrated it as the triumph of capitalism, democracy and the end of the history. They boasted the universalism of western model of governance, institutions and ideals. Some scholars too prophesied that capitalism and democracy are the only models to achieve all-round advancement, at par with western nations. They declared that western nations are ready to export capitalism and democracy to the rest of the world.
“Can Asians think?”, a compilation of thought provoking first rate essays, first time by an Asian, expressed dissenting voice against the conventional wisdom of western liberal intellectual orthodox scholars. Author Sri Kishore Mahbubani, a Singaporean diplomat, refuted the claim of western universalism and argued that something which is good for western nations may not be good for other nations.
As per the author, his essays are intended to stimulate Asian minds to address questions about their future. He warned the Asian nations to search their own model of governance, institutions and ideals, rooted in their own age-old civilizations. The author stressed that western nations have already contributed a large in the field of science and technology for the service of mankind and hence, it is now the time for Asian nations to contribute their share. But, the author reminded this must be done by inventing and exploring their own, not by borrowing or importing from outside Asia.
Communist ruled china realised and worked on this idea from the eras of Deng Xioping, prioritised to revive Confucianism, Taoism and Mandarin language as the base civilizational bed rock, to search their models of different institutions in their own historical past. This may the reason for China’s emergence as the most developed and influential nation.
Then we cover the spectacular story of South Korea’s journey to development from a colonized and later war-ravaged agrarian country in the 1940s and 1950s to a global economic power by 2000. In 2016, it became the eleventh largest economy in the world in terms of GDP, and is today one of the most technologically advanced nations.
Then you have this ‘Taiwan Miracle’.
Today Japan under Shinzo Abe followed the footstep of China and are also reviving their own civilizations to search their own alternative models of various institutions in order to modernise and advance at par with western nations. Scholars are now debating and advocating the newly described term “Civilizational State” to properly define the identity of these countries in place of “Nation State”.
Bharat, the home of Hindu Dharmic Vedic civilization, is the only state which has dumped its core civilizational values exported foreign amreekunt ideals and institutions to modernise itself. This is the biggest tragedy ever met by any civilization in its own land. This may be the reason why Bharat which used to be top most level dominant rich cultural political power for well documented 5000 years before present, today, despite innumerable improvements and positives finds itself operating at a lower effectiveness and efficiency.
Why revival of Hindu Civilization?
| Max Weber shows that the societies which have grounded the protestant Christianity ethics are only prone to economic growth and Asiatic societies, evolved from Hindu Dharma, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism, cannot advance economically due to their passive look to the living life and extra interest for salvation after life. To the surprise of many western protestant Christian states, Japan, an Asian Nation, defied the Weber’s hypothesis, by its rapid economic growth of double digit of 12%, hence become subject for research interest. |
| Paul Bairoch, a Swiss economic historian, published his researched work “Economics and World History: Myths and Paradoxes” covering economic history of 19th and 20th centuries, which revealed up to 1820, China, followed by BHARAT were the largest contributors to world Gdp which declined later with the simultaneous rise of western nations out of direct result of genocide of 4 continents Asia 2 Amreekas and Australia Africa. |
The author concluded the reason of growth of western nations is due to exploitation of colonised nations. The developed nations of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development cannot digest this revelation and assigned Angus Maddison, noted economic historian of brits, to unravel the truth. He published his research thesis “The World Economy: Historical Statistics” in 2004, covering contribution of nations in Gdp for last two millennium.
Result Paul Bairoch’s Study of World Economy, Source: SwarajyaMag
| The global contribution to world’s Gdp by major economies from year 1 to 2003 according to Angus Maddison’s estimates. The opponents of revival of Hindu civilization must observe that Bharat was the leading contributor, with china in the 2nd position, throughout 1st millennium. China overtook Bharat, only around 1500ad. They both led the world up to 1820ad and declined after the colonial rule established by the Europeans. China again gained her momentum around the end of the twentieth century and emerged as an economic superpower. Though, growth of Bharat has been started in late twentieth century, but still to be honest, China is far ahead in every aspect. The sole reason of China’s economic growth can be attributed to its positive connection with civilizational heritage. Though China ruled by a politically communist regime, still they developed strong interest and affinity to their culture and civilization. Whereas Bharatiya communists, are still filled with hatred towards Hindu civilization, which is verifiable from the coining of the term “Hindu Rate of Growth” by Prof. Raj Krishna to the poor economic growth during 1950s to 1980s. In the last 70 years Hindus has been taught systematically in their class curriculum to hate their civilizational heritage as unscientific, unprogressive, uncivilised and irrational. Todays Hindu generations are the product of such education system, who looked down upon their own civilizational heritage. Noted Hindu revivalist thinker Shri Rajiv Malhotra, while challenged the western universalism in his book “Being Different”, established that the essence of revival of Hindu civilization is to maintain the diversity of the world. He reminded the Abrahamic world, that it is the Hindu civilization in the lap of Bharatiya subcontinent, which has protected and preserved the minor religions like Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism and the micro religion of Zoroastrianism. |
It very well-known that Hindu Bharat had provided safeguard and freedom of flourish to the earlier persecuted Syrian Christians, Jews and Zoroastrian communities when Christianity and Islam invaded their land. When the Islamic rule was established in southern coastal region and Christian rule established in Goa those sheltered communities were again persecuted in their hand. Therefore, Hindu Civilization must be preserved and flourished to maintain religious diversity of the world.
The polytheistic civilization which is the bedrock of plurality and diversity of society, once flourished in entire Europe, Arab, and American main land has been destroyed with the advent of these monotheistic religions of Christianity and Islam. Hindu civilization is the only polytheistic society which has survived and hence need to be revived in order to maintain the composite and diversity nature of Bharatiya society.
It is well documented that ancient Bhartiyas Hindus had flourished a vibrant culture of innovation and creation, this has been clearly reflected in Sanskritic literatures, ancient crafts and sculptures. This culture had been ruptured during the colonial era. The revival of Hindu civilization will also revive the scientific temperament and skills among its generations.
The duty and responsibility of a state is to protect its indigenous civilization. Bharatiya state must realise that the Hindu civilization is intrinsic to its land and must care for its protection. Therefore, Bharatiya state must work for repealing the provisions from Article 25 to Article 30 in Bharatiya Constitution, which are systematically and gradually annihilating the Hindu civilization.The call for revival of Hindu civilization is an honest effort by a Hindu to define its own social and national identities in a way which will enhance his sense of self-esteem in a world, where his immediate ancestors had subconsciously accepted that they were lesser beings in a western universe and Abrahamic world. The opponents must not misunderstand it as a war like call of jihad or crusade in Abrahamic world.
To provide an immediate boost, Bharatiya state must withdraw its control on Hindu temples. Bharatiya state must care for implementing Uniform Civil Code and introducing a subject “Religion and Philosophy” in educational curriculum to enable Bharatiya kids and youths know the fundamental doctrines and philosophies of every religion. Bharatiya judiciary system should be more cautious while admitting a pil or pronouncing a judgement or passing a remark against any Hindu civilizational institution.
Above all, Bharatiya state must understand that reconnection with civilizational heritage will definitely boom the morals of its generations which will ultimately emerged Bharat into a global power in the field of science, technology, economics, political and social sectors.
On Japan’s path to economic growth :
| Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundations of imperial rule. -1868 Meiji Pledge |
Beginning in the mid-19th century when most of the Ancient civilisation viz Chinese and Bhartiya were on decline no other, non-Christian, non-european nation met this challenge more dynamically and dramatically than Japan. Long before its recent accomplishments in automobiles and electronics and pop-culture phenomena like manga and anime, and long before its disastrous plunge into militarism and war in the 1930s and 1940s, Japan was widely recognized as the great nation-building “success story” of the non-Western world in 18th -19th ad onwards.
In the 19th and early-20th centuries, Japan alone among the major countries of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East succeeded in escaping colonial or neo-colonial domination by the amreekunts and expansionist nations of europe. Japan alone adopted an agenda of industrialization and so called “westernization” that enabled it to emerge as a global power in its own right. Indeed, when the victorious nations of World War One met at Versailles in 1919 to dictate peace terms and form the League of Nations, Japan participated as one of the “Big Five” powers, alongside the United States, England, France, and Italy.
This was an extraordinary accomplishment, particularly when one considers how backward the country had appeared to be only a few generations earlier.
For seven centuries, from the late-12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by a warrior elite. For over two centuries, beginning in the 1630s, the feudal government based in Edo (present-day Tokyo) had enforced a strict “closed country” (sakoku) policy that prohibited Japanese from leaving and foreigners from entering.
While this Europe and the United States experienced revolutions, and adopted expansionist policies, Japan turned inward—embracing seclusion and, at least at official levels, venerating Shinto Dharmic Buddhist fuision type of tradition.
| Cities grew, commerce flourished, and literacy became widespread during this long period of isolation. Peace and relative prosperity spawned the vibrant popular culture we can still visualize vividly today through traditional woodblock prints (which first appeared in the 17th century). Still, in the mid-1800s Japan was a small, introverted, resource-poor, and fundamentally agrarian society. Even within the context of Asia alone, it seemed dwarfed in China’s shadow in every way—historically, culturally, physically, and on any imaginable scale of human and natural resources. |
This was the country Commodore Matthew Perry of the amreekunts encountered when his warships made two visits in 1853 and 1854 to force the feudal government to abandon the “closed country” policy.
This was a daunting challenge to Japan’s leaders, who were aware of Western imperialism and “gunboat diplomacy” elsewhere—including in China next door. In the notorious “Opium War” of 1839 to 1842, defeated China was forced to accept and legalize the opium trade of the Western countries. In the sordid “Arrow War” of 1856 to 1858, shortly after Perry’s mission to Japan, the British and French had bombarded Canton and Tientsin and forced China to make additional humiliating concessions.
No one was sure, at the time, whether Japan would sink or swim.
No one anticipated that Japan would or could throw off seven centuries of feudal rule quickly and announce—as the new government did within a matter of months—that “evil customs of the past shall be broken off” and “knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundations of imperial rule.” That was the “Charter Oath” of 1868.
The Charter Oath of the Meiji Restoration (1868) :
- By this oath we set up as our aim the establishment of the national weal on a broad basis and the framing of a constitution and laws.
- Deliberative assemblies shall be widely established and all matters decided by public discussion.
- All classes, high and low, shall unite in vigorously carrying out the administration of affairs of state.
- The common people, no less than the civil and military officials, shall each be allowed to pursue his own calling so that there may be no discontent.
- Evil customs of the past shall be broken off and everything based upon the just laws of Nature.
- Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundations of imperial rule.
Certainly no one dreamed that in 1894 and 1895, a mere 40 years after Perry’s arrival, Japan would be capable of mobilizing a modern army and navy and bringing China to its knees—and, 10 years after that, doing much the same to Tsarist Russia.
|
The coal-burning paddlewheel ships that astounded the Japanese when they appeared in Commodore Perry’s fleet in the 1850s quickly became part of Japan’s own navy and merchant marine.
Iron bridges became listed among the “famous places in Tokyo.” Young women who had formerly been employed spinning and weaving cotton and silk in small cottage industries were quickly mobilized for larger-scale production.
Japan's wealth and power :
By the 1880 No matter what international law might say, “the Strong eat up the Weak.” This perception became the rationale for building a military establishment capable of overseas missions, and for simultaneously promoting a potent, emperor-centered nationalistic ideology to buttress this.
We must not wait for neighboring countries to become civilized so that we can together promote Asia’s revival. Rather we should leave their ranks and join forces with the countries of the West. We don’t have to give China and Korea any special treatment just because they are neighboring countries. We should deal with them as Western people do. Those who have bad friends cannot avoid having a bad reputation. I reject the idea that we must continue to associate with bad friends in East Asia. [quoted in Oka Yoshitake’s excellent “Prologue” to Marlene Mayo, ed.,The Emergence of Imperial Japan]
In time, the Japanese coined the word tenshoku — literally “heaven’s work” or “divine calling”—as their own code word for this expansionist vision.
In a phrase that was often repeated six decades later in second world war the precepts declared that, for the Japanese fighting man, “Duty is weightier than a mountain, while death is lighter than a feather.”
Closing remarks :
One country whose model of economic development and progress we perhaps need to study and draw from is Japan. Though not identical, but Japan and Bharat share some religio-cultural features. As we saw that Japan was one of the first Asian, non-Christian countries to become a global power in modern times.
| The Japanese have created a thoroughly modern, highly technological, capitalist civilization whose religious foundations rest upon animistic and polytheistic traditions that adherents of the biblical regions normally assume to be discredited, primitive, and idolatrous–a remnant of a far earlier stage of religious “evolution.” From the Japanese perspective, such views are, of course, utterly without substance. |
Jeff Baugh emphasizes that Christian nations have a Biblical context and even communist Russia has Christian roots which is why Marxism also has a Biblical context. In the case of Japan, what makes it different is
| In general, traditional societies can be understood as more or less autonomous, religiously legitimated, extended kinship groups. In such groups, far greater emphasis is accorded to collective than to individual interests. … in spite of its modernization, Japan remains such a society. |
Few, if any, developments in the postwar era possess as great a significance as the rise of Japan. Normally, Japan’s rise is discussed in economic or political terms.
In the Tokugawa period between 1638 and 1867, the Japanese society was a feudal one where hereditary military commanders called shoguns ruled over their respective fiefdoms and all were answerable to a nominal head, the emperor (Mikado). The Japanese society was stratified into classes consisting of warriors (samurai), traders, artisans, and farmers, with no mobility permitted between these social classes. This appears to be similar to Bharat’s varna system, labelled as ‘caste system’ by ignoramous.
Few, if any, developments in the postwar era possess as great a significance as the rise of Japan. Normally, Japan’s rise is discussed in economic or political terms. Its religious significance, especially for a nation such as the amreekunts whose cultural inheritance is so deeply rooted in biblical religion, is seldom discussed, much less understood. Japan is the world’s most successful nation with non-Christian roots right now from 19thad onwards. Even the Soviet Union has Christian roots. Marxist atheism is grounded in the very biblical tradition that Marxism negates. Moreover, the apparent conflict between the Western proponents of a biblically grounded attitude and a secular ethic takes on the appearance of a family quarrel when seen against the horizon of Japanese Shinto Buddhist fusion religion and culture. Far from being the antithesis of biblical region, the secular spirit that pervades so much of Western life is its unintended consequence. Wherever the biblical faith in a unique, exclusive, extramundane God penetrated, it was utterly destructive of indigenous gods and traditions. Sooner or later this polemical, desacralizing faith was bound to give birth to a consciousness that would not rest until all the gods without exception were dethroned. Under the circumstances, it is hardly surprising that a civilization as determined to preserve its own integrity as that Japan should marshal all its forces to resist both the believing and the secular manifestations of biblical religion.
Panel B: Domestic and External Sources of Aggregate Supply and Demand Growth: Manufacturing and Mining , Gross Domestic Fixed Capital Formation , and Trade.
| Percentage Contribution to Growth due to: | Trade Openness and Trade Growth [c] | ||||
| Years | Ma to Output Growth | GDFCF to Effective Demand Growth | Years | Openness | Growth in Trade |
| 1888-1900 | 19.3% | 17.9% | 1885-89 | 6.9% | 11.4% |
| 1900-10 | 29.2 | 30.5 | 1890-1913 | 16.4 | 8.0 |
| 1910-20 | 26.5 | 27.9 | 1919-29 | 32.4 | 4.6 |
| 1920-30 | 42.4 | 7.5 | 1930-38 | 43.3 | 8.1 |
| 1930-38 | 50.5 | 45.3 | 1954-59 | 19.3 | 12.0 |
| 1955-60 | 28.1 | 35.0 | 1960-69 | 18.5 | 10.3 |
| 1960-70 | 33.5 | 38.5 |
The Japanese tend toward polytheism rather than monotheism. We believe in many gods and consider ourselves part of nature’s unending cycle. There is broad and general acceptance of the idea that a man’s fate is inseparable from that of every animal, tree, and blade of grass.
Side by side with this is the Indian BHARTIYA concept that each man is the whole of nature unto himself–as is evident in Zen philosophy as well.
| The Japanese combine both of these concepts, oneness with nature and the individual as the whole of nature, within their being. It is my belief, however, that our sense of oneness with nature is indigenous and goes back to our Jomon roots. Japan’s ancestor worship is thus quite different from Christianity’s contract between man and his monotheistic god. In the process of honoring our forefathers, we create the harmony which is such an integral part of our life-style. |
According to Umehara, Japan’s “Jomon roots” cover a period that preceded the introduction of agriculture and lasted almost 10,000 years, coming to an end about 300 bce. The prime minister thus asserts that Japan’s religious culture goes back to her earliest roots. This is not a heritage he or any other Japanese is likely to abandon. Nor do all Japanese regard the emperor’s postwar denial of his divinity as having really changed his “divine” status. In a document prepared for the Ninth International Congress for the History of Religions (1958), the Shinto Publications Committee declared,
Since the change was merely a change in outward treatment, it is only natural that the Shinto of the imperial House and Shrine Shinto should still be considered orthodox. It is one of the noteworthy peculiarities of Shinto as a religion that, since these types of Shinto are not bound by dogmas and scriptures but preserve their life in traditional form, [insofar] as there is no great impediment in the continuation of the religious rituals, the wounds inflicted by this change are not too deep.
The divinity of the emperor was never considered comparable to that of Jesus in Christianity or God in biblical Judaism. The emperor was thought of as ikigami, “a living human kami.” The term refers to outstanding servants of the nation who might be enshrined and worshipped while still alive. Imperial princes, national heroes, Shinto priests, and the emperor can all be reverenced as ikigami. To the Japanese, the emperor remains the supreme living kami. At present, his status is somewhat ambiguous. As Japan’s power continues to grow, there is every likelihood that the ambiguity will be clarified in favor of the traditional understanding of the emperor’s divine status.
| Prior to the onset of the Tokugawa period, Japan had around 300,000 Christians whose rebellion in the Shimbara peninsula was crushed with a heavy hand followed by closing down the country to outside contact including to Christian missionaries. Trade with Western nations was also banned but Japan maintained a close relationship with China and Korea. |
Economic growth was steady and significant in this period. Agricultural production grew and manufacturing was also strengthened which led to a wealthy merchant/trader class and this led to the growth of many Japanese cities like Edo (Tokyo), Kyoto, and Osaka that showcased urban culture. These cities catered to the merchants/traders and the samurai rather than to the nobility (shoguns) and their vassals or warlords (daimyo). The urban culture saw the growth of the Kabuki theatre and Bunraku puppet theatre and woodblock printing.
This rare woodblock print reveals the acute sensitivity of the Japanese to the threat of Western “gunboat diplomacy” in Asia. The incident depicted is an attack on China by French warships in 1884.“Story from the Sino-French War” by Utagawa Kunisada III, 1884
Over time, when agricultural production did not fare as well as the mercantile and commercial activities, followed by famines, this caused peasant uprisings which further weakened the shogun and samurai class.
When unequal treaties were imposed by stronger nations on countries of East Asia including Japan, ‘Japan had the choice of either radically restructuring her society or suffering defeat and humiliation by the predatory foreign powers.’
What led Japan onto the path of progress was its response in this situation. ‘As we knew, the foreign threat was met speedily and successfully by perhaps the most radical restructuring of any society the world has ever known.’
The Choshu and Satsuma clans which were anti-Tokugawa, combined forces and toppled the shogunate in 1867. This was came to be called the Meiji restoration. The emperor was the head of the state but the shoguns were the functioning head of the government. Owing to this division of power, the shogunate could be overthrown while the supreme sovereign could remain without being discredited. This allowed for introducing new policies which appeared to have the sanction of the supreme sovereign, considered by the citizens as a revered source from antiquity. Without this division of power, Japan would not have been able to survive the denigration of its indigenous institutions.
| In spite of the loss of an active political role, the imperial institution gained overwhelming new importance. As a direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu-omi-kami, the emperor symbolized national continuity, identity, and sovereignty at a time when foreigners threatened these values more profoundly than at any other time in Japan’s history. The emperor also symbolized national unity and the harmony between the rulers and the ruled. |
The Charter Oath of 1868 pledged greater equality between classes, a much needed reform. But it is important to note that classes previously on the lower rung of society were not given special privileges aka ‘reservations’ that have been granted under Bharat’s Constitution to so-called lower castes. In Bharat, those privileges have only become further entrenched and acquired perpetuity in the decades following independence, with ever-increasing number of groups, including powerful land-owning classes, clamouring for the ‘backward’ label.
The slogans used in Japan were: ‘Rich Country, Strong Army’; ‘Civilization and Enlightenment’; and ‘Encourage Industry’. The imperial institution ensured historical and civilizational continuity. Japan’s transition could be achieved in a largely bloodless fashion in contrast to transformation in the Christian West such as the 17th century English revolution and the 18th century French revolution.
Japanese leaders determinedly resisted destruction of the historic continuity of their civilization.
| By utilizing a seemingly conservative doctrine, that of the emperor’s divinity, to legitimate a radical social and political revolution, the elite was able to create a strong central government, abolish all estate distinctions, eliminate warrior privileges, open military service to commoners hitherto forbidden to possess arms, establish a system of universal public education, and facilitate the entry of members of the samurai class (in general the best-educated class) into the world of business and commerce. |
The peace and stability and absence of Western interference of the Tokugawa period had helped pave the way for rapid modernization during the Meiji restoration period.
| So by 1871, administrative reorganization was accomplished and the domains were replaced by the prefecture system, feudal class privileges were abolished, and the national army was formed. Two years later, universal conscription was introduced to strengthen the army. Agricultural tax reforms were done as was the unification of monetary and tax systems. The country was opened up to Western trade. A European style banking system was introduced in 1872. Although a modern education system was introduced, it emphasized traditional values of social harmony and samurai loyalty. |
| And Around 1880, some of the reforms began to be met with resistance and uprisings, which were quashed by the army. Responding to the pressure, the government in 1881 promised to provide a new Constitution by 1890. In 1885, a cabinet system was formed and in 1886, it began to work on the Constitution. |
In 1889, the Meiji Constitution came into effect under which a bicameral Parliament called the Diet was formed. This Constitution remained until 1947. The unequal treaties were revised in 1894 as Japan gained respect in the eyes of the western world. Within a mere 32 years, Japan had carved out a space for itself as an industrialized, modern power.
However, during the imperial restoration period, Japan began to emulate Western expansionist policies and in 1894, it defeated the Chinese Quing Empire and a year later gained control of Taiwan and the Liaodong Peninsula, which it had to give up after a Russian intervention. Japan consolidated militarily as a response and defeated Russia in a battle in 1905.
Japan’s expansionist policies apart, through attaining economic progress, it had managed to do what no other non-Christian nation had achieved before during 18th-19th ad.
In the following 2 posts we will see the economic models of South Korea and Thailand.
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