If you think about it, there is a certain peace in bankruptcy. No one can take anything away from you. The fear of losing anything is absent now, precisely because you have nothing to lose in the first place. But when a country like Spain is on the verge of that, then it becomes dangerous for the world. Spain has now started to attack Indians by portraying our economic growth in a bad light.
Recently, La Vanguardia, a 141 year old Spanish newspaper headquartered in Barcelona, published a confusing presentation of the Indian Economy. It simply published a Cartoon depicting India’s growth rate. The graph shown in the picture is more than accurate from an analytical point of view.
It is in fact futuristic and shows that the Indian economy will continue to rise in decades to come. From the final extrapolation of the graph, it is easy to conclude that the newspaper foresees infinite economic growth of India.
Reason why Spain is in awe of Indian economy
Spain has sound economic reasons to do that. In a post-covid world order, it is quite natural for Spanish to be amazed by India’s economic rise. India is the only major economy in the world whose chances of getting hit by an upcoming recession is zero. Not a long ago, we clocked an astronomical 13.6 per cent growth rate.
This comes on the back of strong economic fundamentals which is evident from the fact that India is hot favourites of investments all across the world. Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Make-in-India and most recently PLI Scheme has done wonders for our domestic manufacturing. We are fastly replacing China in the mobile export markets. The numbers will only witness a spike in upcoming years and according to IMF, India will be 3rd largest economy in the world by 2027-28.
On the other hand, the whole of the Eurozone is on a roller coaster ride, with more downwards spiral than upwards. Their needless pseudo moral posturing during the Ukraine-Russia crisis is leading them towards civil war. Spain itself is one of the biggest sufferers of it. Its economic growth has already slowed down.
Two weeks ago, Spanish government lowered its GDP growth estimates from 2.7 per cent to 2.1 per cent for FY 2023. Obviously, the lifestyle which the Spanish are accustomed to is declining. To add insult to injury, the Spanish government is down to rationing energy stocks.
The fine for whose violation ranges from €60,000 for minor offences, to a maximum of €600,000 for serious violations. Added to that is the burden of immigrants. No wonder, the right wing is rising in Spain is a sign of decline of liberal democracy in the country.
Malafide intentions by the newspaper
It is clear; the newspaper’s portrayal of the Indian economy has a sound reasoning in numbers, but the way they decided to do so cast a shadow of doubt about their intentions. In its pictorial representation, it committed a fatal blunder.
At the 0, 0 coordinates of the graph, a person is sitting with a snake flute in his hand. The instrument is used by snake charmers to make snakes dance on their tunes. Two conclusions can be drawn from it. First, maybe the newspaper wanted to convey that Indian economic growth is hollow, the chances of which are low. The second and more realistic conclusion is that the Spain still consider India as a country of snake charmers.
Our leaders have propelled the stereotypes
The most plausible explanation for this kind of caricature is, the fact, that throughout centuries European countries have portrayed India as a country of snake charmers. If that was not enough, our Bhura Babus accepted it as an archetypal truth. Jawahar Lal Nehru further boosted the stereotype by showing the then first lady of the USA, Jacqueline Kennedy, a snake charmer’s performance as a welcome gesture.
This was like a vindication for Western media outlets and after that stereotyping never seemed to end for decades to come. If they had done a little research on the history of India, they would have realised the stark difference between the treatment of snakes in Christianity and Sanatan. To fully grasp it, first let us understand our pre civilisational encounter with snakes.
There is a reason to fear snakes
Snakes are reptiles and humans are mammals. Through the course of evolution, mammals and reptiles have been at war with each other. While mammals used to hunt for meat, reptiles like snakes used to rely on catching them off guard. In a sense, encountering reptiles like snakes has been an act of bravery as well as facing the fear of death. Scientific studies have shown that snakes trigger a response in our amygdala, which is associated with anxiety.
Okay, got it. Reasons to fear snakes is a part of our nervous system. But should it have continued even after we have developed a civilization? Definitely not. There is a remarkable difference between the ways in which Indic culture has treated snakes and Western countries have treated it.
Indians have always shown respect for snakes
In Indian texts, all three Bhagwans of the divine trinity have direct associations with snakes. Devadidev Mahadev has the King of snakes, Vasuki, garlanded around his neck. Lord Vishnu resides on Anant or Adishesh, the infinite divine snake with its endless coils floating in the waters of the cosmic ocean in Vaikuntha Lok. According to Varaha Purana, Lord Brahma’s son Kashyapa had four wives. Kashyapa’s third wife Kadroo gave birth to Nags (snakes).
Bhagwan Krishna has also used the snake analogy to define infinity of the Universe. He had remarked, “Among the serpents I am Ananta.” Ananta is the infinite divine snake whose coils rest upon the waters of creation. Then there is Manasa Devi, who is also known as the snake Goddess and is worshipped mainly by Hindus in Bengal and other North-Eastern states of India.
She is also known as ‘Nagini,’ the female serpentine avatar or ‘Vishahara,’ the goddess who annihilates poison. Manasa Devi is believed to be the daughter of sage Kasyapa and Kadru, the sister of the serpent-king Sesha.
In fact, we have a dedicated day for being thankful to the contributions of snakes. The day is called Nag Panchami. Apparently, there is no dearth of literature around worshipping snakes in Indic history.
Representation of snakes in Christianity
On the other hand, Europeans have integrated snakes in a totally different fashion. In the book of Genesis, snakes are shown as evil predators that are responsible for expulsion of Adam and Eve from the terrestrial paradise called the Garden of Eden.
A Serpent is shown as deceptive creatures in the first book of Torah. This particular serpent is antithetical to the conception of God in Christianity. The serpent is shown calling the forbidden orders of Gods as a force of good. In other words, Snakes have been considered akin to Satan in literature.
We could also hate snakes, but choose not to
Now, every human has their own reason to fear snakes. Even in our literature, Meghnad used snakes to wound Bhagwan Ram and Laxman. This reason should have been enough for everyone to start hating the species. But we did not. Every snake is dangerous, when it sees us as danger. At the same time, if we don’t trouble them, they won’t do the same to us. We gave them utmost respect and assimilated them in our civilisational journey by giving them form of a deity.
On the other hand, the West has not been able to move on from the predatory and sneaky nature of snakes. Most of them have been fearful of snakes and that is how cruel practices like snake charming in India continued to be the source of entertainment for them. Indians used to flawlessly do what they feared. This is the hero archetypal and they got fascinated by it.
But after Independence, we took initiatives to curb this practice and snake charming was banned in India in 1972. But the stereotype did not disappear. On his part PM Modi did convey the message on a global level. Consequently, western outlets did not have much to write about for many years. But, trauma can make you do unthinkable things.
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