Time to expand India's cultural influence, usher in Maha Akhand Bharat, says Times VC & MD

New Delhi: When a troubled world is increasingly receptive to the wisdom that comes from India’s extraordinary heritage, India must step up and spread its civilisational influence.

With this as his central message in his summit address at the Times Now Summit on Thursday, Samir Jain, vice chairman and managing director of the Times Group, presented the idea of ‘Maha Akhand Bharat’ — a cultural construct that both captures the current reality of India’s rising soft power as well as points to the enormous future potential.

The world’s growing attraction for the Indian way of life must be built on, Jain said. Appealing to Amit Shah, Union home minister, Jain said such a mission is achievable if it is pursued with the kind of indomitable resolve Shah is known for.

‘Maha Akhand Bharat’, Jain said, is neither confined by territory nor restricted to history. He drew a distinction between his cultural construct and the two most famous terms with ‘Bharat’ in them, Akhand Bharat and Mahabharat.

Akandh Bharat, the geographical swathe covering the Indian subcontinent and extending east to Thailand and Indonesia and controlled by powerful dynasties in ancient India was an example of cultural influence spread by political rule. Mahabharat, the Indian epic, is woven around a great war.