No More Kings

Being American, it is an interesting concept that I come from a large, developed country that was, by its conception, devoid of kings. All of the countries that I have lived in or traveled to, without exception, have a rather modern or contemporary history of kings and queens, save for my own. One could argue rather pedantically that the US did have kings, when we were the colonies, but technically that would be remiss.

The Declaration of Independence was an enormous milestone in the history of human civilization, and one that has been a model for many, many countries since its signage. It has been interesting teaching in India and discussing the relationship of the US and the UK here because 99% of the time, people assume that I am from the UK upon seeing me. (For some reason they know I am not from here.) However, I will then tell them that I am American, and they are often eager to know about it, because, as I have found out, that the US is not only physically half way around the world, but conceptually as well. Many Indians that I have met do not have a concrete image of America, unless they have family there and have visited it.

In the various classrooms I have taught in and visited, I have given many introductory talks about who I am and where I come from, asking them questions about what they know or think about America. As I mentioned in a previous Blog post, , many of them are quick to say that they know MLK, Obama, Abraham Lincoln, Bill Gates, and now, because of the prominence of his death, Steve Jobs. India has an affinity with each, the former three because of its own struggle for independence, opportunity, and equality, while for the latter, it is a reflection of India’s strident efforts in becoming a world power in the IT sector. When I told my cousin who is a computer guru at the University of Colorado in Boulder where I would be, she knew exactly where I was talking about because of the many IT connections here in Tamil Nadu, specifically Madurai, as well as further north in Karnataka’s Bangaluru (Bangalore).

The concept of a king is not altogether unappealing, though, I must admit, as in the case of Thirumalai, the illustrious Nayak king who ushered in a renaissance of sorts into Madurai in the 16th Century. However, it was an indelible mark left upon the historic consciousness of our species when the early American lawmakers drew up a constitution to abolish the rule of the British Monarchy.

Valluvar, Tamil Nadu’s most renown poet of the sangam tradition, sums up this sentiment in his landmark work, Thirukkural, saying:

Though blessed with various gifts of bountiful wealth,

A land gains nothing when it is not at peace with the King.

So true, and the deeper message of the Quest for the Holy Grail, that a land without a King (read, God), is no land at all.

The Indian I have spoken with have been curious about the fate of the British Monarchy ousted some 2 and a quarter centuries ago, though at times with mixed reactions. There is a population of Indians who regret that the British actually did “Quit India,” and say that well in an equivalent of, “at least the trains ran on time,” and that Gandhi’s movement for independence was misplaced or ill-timed. With that reference, it must be noted that the Italians who do say that about the Mussolini-era trains mythically being on time is just that, urban legend. Trains have never run on time in Italy, and most likely there was little more semblance of order in India before, during, or after the British Raj. India, like Italy, has been depicted rather uniformally chaotic throughout Time, verging always on the “functioning anarchy” ascribed to India by Robert Clive, I believe.

Having now been in India for nearly two months, in all truth, the thought of having a remotely controlling monarch her is beyond ludicrous to me. I can only speak from what I have seen here and now, but I cannot imagine a time that thinking that a solitary crown could ever contain the flood of energy on the sub-continent is really like sticking a finger in a doomed levee when the waters are already breaching the top. It is, as history bore out to be true, an exercise in futility.

However, merely removing a monarch is not always easy, as history has also proven to be true time again, and when done so, there exists a nature-abhorred power vacuum, something that seems to still be present in India as a whole. Though India does function in spite of itself, and I mean that quite literally, there is at times the sense of the scene in Apocalypse Now when Willard’s PT boat reaches the Cambodian border during a firefight and Willard asks in disbelief at the chaos ensuing, “Who’s in charge?” The answer in the movie is not much different when you ask someone here the same question. A vague sense of government is in place, but are they really ruling?

I have become more and more skeptical that India can even be ruled at all, whether by a monarch, local or imported, or by democracy, oligarchy, or even tyranny. India to me is just as unique in America’s incredible experiment in, like or not, the most successful democratic system in the world (I used to doubt that til having lived abroad in numerous countries) in that it is perhaps one of the greatest examples of human history of existing without any true seat of power. There have been dynasty aplenty, but fleeting and large power shifts, and for the most part, Dravidia has never really played ball with the rest of the Sanskrit-based sub-continent, preferring an autochthonous autonomy for thousands of years.

Living in India has certainly made me look at my own government with a sense of awe in the fact that it truly was created from scratch and emerged, historically speaking, in a startling short time upon the world stage as the world power. That power is currently waning, or at least dissipating, but it is still looked upon as the model that broke the monarchial bank of power, beginning the end of the never-setting British sun on the soil of the planet. For better or worse, one could argue, but impressive nonetheless.