ABSTRACT
The peasants and the marginalized have thrown away the indignity in which they had earlier lived. To feel impressed by the absence of vulgarity of wealth, by the confidence and dignity of the marginalized would have been a rare empathy especially among the upper-classes and castes that shaped the new Indian nation. The few leaders who felt empathy and concern like Gandhi, Ambedkar and Nehru, were in fact quite lonely. The venture of the defining national boundaries as one knows them today, is a rather recent occurrence in history and it is situated at a point of intersection of politics, and technology and social transformation. One finds this argument interesting because it explains historical patterns and path dependencies somewhat better. It includes the influence of culture, religions, and social hierarchies, customs and belief systems on the collective choices that nations make.
