Individual who comprise a nation having a common culture, imbibes the cumulative experiences of their forefather through the narration of events in their lives. This given their thoughts and emotions a colour which distinguishes them from others as plants of the same genre planted in different soil. As it is the inborn desire of man to take pride in the achievement of one’s ancestors and equally natural to the elders to speak eloquently about their past it sounds improbable of a nation can be without history. Till literary activities go on and till bards sing history of a nation must remain in the forefront.
But the glorious history of a nation may make us to live in a world of dreams which are dangerous for the world of realities. History when written by a friend is a piece of panegyric but if written by a foe it is satire. The former makes the people jubilant and the other melancholic. Inflated by exuberance or dissipated by inglorious shocks they traverse the path like intoxicated persons or infuriated bulls. Swaying between pride and frustration they become aggressive or irascible depending upon their sensibility and intelligence. In either case history will fan the fire of hatred and ill-will.
History inculcates a sense of hero worshipping. They unimaginatively revel in the achievements of their heroes treating other nation’s warrior as condemnable devils. Such feelings had generated hostilities between the French and the English before the emergence of Germany as a formidable force. Similarly the hostilities between the Christian and Turkish population in Cyprus and between U.A.R. and Israel owe their existence to their respective national histories.
Common cultural or religious values may contribute to the making of a nation but it is greatly the common interest which cements the people together. If people look to their mutual interests, survival being the supreme, they will live like good neighbors without harboring any ill-will against each other. This is possible if nations bury their past.
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There can be greater understanding among who do not know their distant past bother only about the present. Their mutual interest and mutual benefit will bring them closer. No doubt man is many times mean, selfish and self-interested yet the interest in the present day problems becomes an over-riding passion. The past stored up in the subconscious mind haunts us throughout the life.
During the different periods of history different forces work and the result is that the nation gets divided into different groups of people. Varna system adopted in ancient India was make the social life more scientifically organized but the division solidified itself into watertight compartments resulting in conflicts and complications. Living in the glory of the past is nothing less than self delusion nations which cannot act in the present will be cheated by the past. Nations cannot claim anything on the basis of their past.