ABSTRACT
The very idea of India, and not just its wealth and wisdom,has been the site of fierce historical contestation. G.W.F.Hegel, the famous German philosopher, gave a not untypical nineteenth-century description of India as an object of desire:
From the most ancient times downwards, all nations have directed their wishes and longings to gaining access to the treasures of this land of marvels, the most costly which the Earth presents; treasures of Nature — pearls, diamonds, perfumes, rose-essences, elephants, lions, etc. — as also treasures of wisdom. The way by which these treasures have passed to the West, has at all times been a matter of World-historical importance, bound up with the fate of nations.
