Jawaharlal Nehru on Culture, Understanding, and Global Relations

Jawaharlal Nehru's Vision: What is Culture?

Jawaharlal Nehru's essay, "What is Culture," is a speech delivered at the inauguration of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations. He earnestly hoped that the formation of such an association would lead to a better understanding between the Indian people and the people of other countries. In this essay, Nehru discusses the importance of mutual understanding, the nature of culture, and its vital role in fostering a better world.

The Paradox of Knowledge and Understanding

Nations, individuals, and groups talk of understanding one another, and it seems an obvious thing that people should try to understand and learn from one another. However, countries which are next door to one another—whether in Europe or in Asia—somehow seem to rub one another the wrong way, though they know one another very thoroughly. Thus, according to Nehru, knowledge by itself does not necessarily lead to greater cooperation or friendship.

Defining Culture and Its Roots

Every country and every individual seems to have their peculiar idea of culture. Nehru cited one historical example: the attempts of the German people to spread 'Kultur' by means of conquest and other methods. There was a major war fought both to spread this 'Kultur' and to resist it.

Nehru stated that each nation and each separate civilization develops its own culture, which has its roots in generations hundreds and thousands of years ago. This conception is affected by other conceptions, and one sees constant action and interaction between these varying cultural ideas.

Factors Influencing Cultural Development

Culture depends on a vast number of factors. It is affected by geography, by climate, and by all kinds of other elements. Nehru’s own view of India was that the Indian people can almost measure the growth and advance of India—or its decline—by relating them to periods when India had her mind open to the outside world and when she chose to close it up. The more she closed it up, the more static she became.

The Necessity of Historical Roots

The individual human being, race, or nation must necessarily have a certain depth and certain roots somewhere. They do not count for much unless they have roots in the past, which is, after all, the accumulation of generations of experience and a type of wisdom. It is essential to have these roots. If one does not have them, they become just pale copies of something which has no real meaning to them as an individual or as a group.

Nationalism: A Force for Growth and Limitation

Nationalism is a curious phenomenon which, at a certain stage in a country's history, gives life, growth, strength, and unity. But, at the same time, it has a tendency to limit one, because one thinks of one's country as something separate from the rest of the world. Nationalism, which is a symbol of growth for the people, can become a symbol of the cessation of that growth in the mind.

Nehru warned that nationalism, when it becomes successful, sometimes goes on spreading in an aggressive way and becomes a danger internationally.

The Challenge of Mutual Conflict

The one thing that troubled Nehru was the observation that people who understand one another more and more often begin to quarrel more and more.