Indian civilization has a long history, perhaps the longest amongst the great civilizations of the world. Through most of her history, India has seen herself and has been seen by others as the Land of great wealth and even greater wisdom. The recent experience of alien rule seems to have led to a certain loss of pride in India. Indians, particularly the metropolitan elite Indians, have lost sight of not only the civilizational greatness of India but also her natural abundance.

The mountains, rivers, soils and sunshine of India are all unique in themselves; early observers and geographers have always described these in superlative terms. And the wisdom of India – her inborn and deeply ingrained discipline of according dignity and divinity to all aspects of creation and perpetually endeavouring to maintain harmony amongst all of them– is so unique that several other great civilisations of the world have revered India as the great teacher. The people of India gratefully accepted this divine bounty of wealth and wisdom and have diligently and dutifully built a civilisation that almost throughout her history has been renowned for her material and cultural riches. This exhibition is designed to help us recollect this greatness and grandeur of India.

Once the memory is rekindled, and we begin to form a proper appreciation of our geography and history, and of the extraordinary material and cultural skills of our people, we shall certainly begin to undertake the task of reviving the affluence and wisdom of India in earnest.

The Hindi version of this book has been published in June 2004. The book was recently released by Sri Chandra Sekhar, the former Prime Minister of India, in a function at Bhopal in the presence of Srimati Uma Bharti, the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. Both the Hindi and the English version are also presented in the form of an exhibition, which has been displayed at several places in the country.
                                                             

Timeless India: Resurgent India
J. K. Bajaj and M. D. Srinivas
Centre for Policy Studies, Chennai
English 2001 ISBN 81-86041-12-5
Hindi    2004 ISBN 81-86041-17-6
Price Rs.200/-