sikh nation

[Beast]

Dear Jahan,

1. One has to leave the whole notion of nation as it is understood today for it is mainly an end of 18th century construct that arose in Germany with movement such as Junge Deutschland. We are talking here about civilisation and this means that many ethnic groups and religious groups can be placed in that larger definition without losing their identity. Nation and state are two different things:

a. there never was a unified South Asia yet there has always been a notion of Indianity. The early Greek and Chinese travellers clearly refer to that fact.

b. this Indianity was not based on religion (Hinduism is a 19th century concept and please remember Hindu and Hinduism are different words)

c. this Indianity wasn't based on a unity of languages. grosso modo the Indian world includes Indo-Aryan languages derived from Sanskrit (Panjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Marathi) or from Iranian dialects such as the Dardic languages; the Dravidian languages (tamil, malayam) and Tibeto Burmese (dzongpa etc..)

d. this indianity was based on the common acceptance of Sanskrit as a cultural reference.

2.For references to Sanskrit used in Sout East Asia see:

I6976 - Bhattacharya, Kamaleswar - US$44.00

RECHERCES SUR LE VOCABULAIRE DES INSCRIPTIONS SANSKRITES DU CAMBODGE

(Paris, 1991)

99 pp., 195 x 280 mm, pbk.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/e...and/3794197.stm

The above is a link to BBC Sport where a footballer (Henchoz, plays for Liverpool ) talks about the disunity in his squad because of differences in the dialects of the players. They speak either German, French or regional dialects.

Liverpool defender Stephane Henchoz is concerned that language problems could scupper Switzerland's chances.

The members of the Swiss squad speak German, French and various dialects.

Henchoz said: "It's a difficult thing to get used to and we do end up with the French-speaking players and the German-speaking players not mixing.

"I'm sure people outside of Switzerland don't understand how we get a team together at all and it certainly doesn't help our chances."

Switzerland are in Group B along with Croatia, England and France.