Bharatvarsh, the cradle of civilization, has been acting as the eternal Guru for the entire Globe from time immemorial. Our Vedic Corpus, Upanishadic texts, Vedantic philosophy, Jataka tales or even the doctrine of Maya as propagated by Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya has acted as the guiding light to civilizations across the globe. From the Saptarishis to the Swami Vivekananda, Rishi Aurobindo or Ramana Maharshi, to name a few, this land has been the abode of Guru’s & nourishing the Guru-Shishya legacy or Parampara through the practice of Smriti & Shruti.
Time has come to understand the Cultural Heritage of Bharat as a repository of ancient knowledge, wisdom, marksmanship & artistry to name a few. Owing to the lack of inter-disciplinary & intra-disciplinary study which was acting as an impediment to reclaiming the Civilizational glory of Bharat, coupled with the absence of a persistent & resilient model around Cultural heritage thereby missing out on golden opportunities from time to time to set the tone & narrative in the Global theatre. It’s necessary to understand the fact that in today’s multipolar world, Cultural Heritage plays a pivotal role in establishing & defining the Geopolitical relationship through the lens of cultural diplomacy.
“India the ancient Mother, is indeed striving to be reborn” – Rishi Aurobindo, 1905CE. In his lecture on “My Plan of Campaign” Swami Vivekananda says “To the reformers I will point out, that I am a greater reformer than anyone of them. They want to reform only little bits. I want root & branch reform.”
As Bharat gets ready to celebrate the 75th birthday of its most illustrious & respected Karma Yogi of modern times post-Independence, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, who has led this nation through many a crisis in the last one decade working & leading on the path of Raj Yoga, it becomes absolutely critical to look back basis the vision & words of Swami Vivekananda & Rishi Aurobindo, his enigma in every aspect of life, being the living embodiment of the Srimad Bhagwat Gita’s definition of “Nishkaam Karma”. Possibly it’s humanly extremely difficult in a single article to define his magnanimous leadership in worshipping, invoking & manifesting the Cultural heritage of Bharat, as the greatest of the reformers of his times duly following the lines of Swami Vivekananda. Resurrecting the Civilization footprints is the bedrock towards reclaiming Bharat’s glorious past, for a nation whose civilizational memories, wisdom, vision & achievements, were getting wiped out through persistent efforts since Independence from the public memory through inculcation of little or no focus on building awareness around our magnificent cultural heritage.
It’s time for all the citizens of Bharat to understand his rigor for re-engineering the trajectory of Cultural Heritage towards aligning the Young & old, of the nation with the spirit of Bharat through a holistic approach across its tangible, intangible, spiritual, natural & human heritage kick starting the next Cultural renaissance.
Let’s look back at the journey since 2014, through which Bharat has switched on its accelerated & aggressive posture to reclaim its Cultural Heritage signifying the rise of the ancient Bharat, under the dynamic leadership of Shri Narendra Modi, reminding us of the famous statement of Swami Vivekananda of “Arise, awake & stop not till the goal is reached” from the Katha Upanishad & true to every Bharatiya he has for the revival of the Cultural heritage have taken path breaking measures which can be enumerated, to the organization of the 46th WHC (World Heritage Committee) session in 2024 at the Bharatmandapam, New Delhi for the first time since Independence, was a landmark achievement, which spoke of Bharat’s renewed focus on reclaiming back its Cultural Heritage. The participation of all Member nations & the attendance of various top-notch experts from various spheres of Heritage marked its resounding success, to mention the least. The event clearly set the tone of Bharat’s march towards revitalizing its glorious legacy & heritage, cutting across all elements of Cultural heritage & to mark this statement an exhibition was also put by ASI, to showcase the repatriated images of our Gods & goddesses from across the Globe which were recovered through persistent & resilient efforts of multiple agencies including the likes of ASI, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Culture, PMO, India Pride projects & to name a few.
Interestingly in the field of restitution or reparation of antiquities (Idols & manuscripts) Bharat’s performance has been very dismal till 2014, However, since 2014 under his aggressive leadership & persistent diplomatic efforts in this arena, Bharat has started getting back its gods & goddess to their true home, marking a bold step forward in redefining its aggressive posture to define a robust stand for its spiritual heritage in every sense. What stands out the most is his sharp understanding around the significance & long-term impact of such restitution in switching on the spiritual awakening of all Bhartiya’s true to the words of Swami Vivekananda, where he constantly endeavors to raise the spiritual consciousness of the nation & its people.
The Construction of the National Maritime Heritage Complex (NHMC) at Lothal, Gujarat is another project that probably is an absolute history in making under the dynamic leadership of Shri Narendra Modi. Bharat’s maritime trade has been long discussed across the long coastline from East to West. Be it the Kalingan maritime trade or the Maratha & Chola prowess or the natural harbors of Tamralipta (Tamluk), Chilka (Chilika) or the Adi Saptagram (Hooghly district) in the region of the legendary Gangaridhi, where sites like Chandraketugarh, Pipli or Manikapatnam continues to speak of its epic past all along the 600 kms coastline from the mouth of Ganges to the mouth of Godavari. No other country between 06th Century BCE to 17th Century CE prevailed so much across the globe with this impact. As such it was necessary to create such a grand complex to recreate those engineering marvels from the dock of Lothal to the culinary delicacies of the Harrapan people. With the Indian Navy cheeping in to cover the Naval maritime history coupled with application of AI in this mini township promises to be One & only of its kind worldwide. The NHMC was due ever since our Independence & it is only with his visionary leadership that Shri Narendra Modi has envisaged such a creation that will stun the world once commissioned to say the least.
For centuries together Bharat has been preserving its manuscripts traditions in the world which holds intellectual knowledge & wisdom since the earliest of times, that can be recorded & are maintained across temples, mutts, monasteries, libraries, museums to name a few. The Mission Gyan Bharatam is reclaiming India’s knowledge legacy through Manuscript Heritage. This unique effort at an international level for the conservation, preservation & propagation of Epigraphical heritage of Bharat is also taking place for the first time. While the Western world had the advantage of the Rosetta Stone in deciphering, Bharat has till date not been able to decipher the Indus script to solve multiple mysteries till date pertaining to the Sindhu Saraswati Civilization. Traditionally in such matters a multi-disciplinary & intra-disciplinary approach is needed for a mutually agreeable solutioning amongst the scholars to define the civilization ethos per say. However, in Bharat this has always been terribly lacking in this respect till date & as such this is for the first time such a multi-disciplinary effort is being made to come to a logical conclusion amongst experts from multiple streams & decipher the Indus script.
This has been possible only for the foresightedness & long-term vision of our PM Shri Narendra Modi, who will personally be present to review the recommendations by as many as eight committees in this regard. Once again Shri Narendra Modi’s adherence to Raj Yoga as defined by Swami Vivekananda wherein, he mentions “Pick up One thing & be mad at it, let it be your everything” to put in the most simplistic way. Absolutely Way to Go for Bharat. This spirit of madness of Swami Vivekananda truly reflects in every planning of this event when one looks at the line up of the various theme that will be visited starting from the metadata standards, digital archiving, restitution of manuscripts, digitization tools, platforms, protocols (HTR & AI), decipherment of ancient scripts – Indus, Gilgit & Sankha, conservation, manuscripts as tools of diplomacy & other related frameworks.
The inclusion of Srimad Bhagwat Gita & Natyashastra in the recent past in the UNESCO’s memory of World register is a moment of absolute pride for every Bharatiya. Pride is further elevated when one sees the inclusion of the 12 Maratha Forts & military landscape’s inclusion into the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. This is an epic moment when the military heritage of Bharat gains traction & momentum as well, in the Global theatre wherein Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s military & administrative acumen is now a talking & visiting point for all tourists visiting Bharat.
Bharat right from the earliest of times has been a riverine land with the Rig Veda through the Nadi Sukta to elaborate on the significance of our rivers economically, spiritually, culturally, geographically & militarily has been the bedrock of our civilization. Ma Ganga is now clean courtesy the Namami Gange program. And not just spiritually we are also working & planning further on the optimal usage of our Inland Waterways, much like our ancient times wherein maritime trade used to be the backbone of our economy. Inland waterways historically has played a crucial role in connecting our centuries old trading centers right from Takshashila (Taxilla) to Tamralipta harbor, running parallel mode of transportation along with the historic Uttarapath. Such a mammoth effort under his visionary leadership has touched the heart of millions of Bharatiya’s to say the least & the recently concluded Mahakhumb has once again reminded us of the spiritual awakening of the masses that Swami Vivekananda had always spoken off & now lived by our beloved Prime Minister. These efforts are equally backed by persistent efforts from bodies like IGNCA who have been hosting the Nadi Utsav for the last six years now & working on various research-based projects around the great rivers of our country to bring about a holistic calibration between financial & cultural aspects for the people settled around them.
It is also time to look back at certain other crucial cultural UNESCO tags that Bharat has achieved under Modiji’s guidance & leadership in recent times ranges from Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s Shantiniketan getting recognized or Bengal’s Durga Pooja securing the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage tag in 2021 or even the 64 Yogini Temples of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh & a few more states entered the tentative list of UNESCO World heritage sites in March 2025.
As such the Cultural renaissance of Bharat has started which assures us of the empowerment of our generations to come, being the true custodians of our heritage & the heritage warriors thanks to the leader called Shri Narendra Modi, who has lived for the people of Bharat in every sense.
