Navtej Sarna: “Without a sense of history, we will all become rootless people”
The former diplomat spoke about how books on history written in India are making former colonisers reassess their own past and wrongdoings
You have served in Bhutan as a diplomat. Now you are back as an author talking about your books at Drukyul’s Arts and Literature Festival. How has Bhutan changed?
I was in Bhutan from 1989 to 1992 as a First Secretary in the Indian Embassy. I don’t think Bhutan has changed much in terms of population, which is still less than a million people. But there have been some major transformations, for example, the change in the governance structure that took place a few years ago, and there is a lot more infrastructure development in Thimphu. There is a marked improvement in facilities and living conditions.
I also see a fundamental change in the way Bhutan communicates with the rest of the world, and the way the rest of the world communicates with Bhutan. There is much more interaction. There are many new hotels. There are a lot more tourists than in previous years. I see Bhutan turning its head towards emerging technologies, while maintaining its focus on environment protection that has always been a strength, and also paying attention to women and child development. These changes are visible to anyone who is visiting after a long time.
I was at the festival nine years ago, when it was called Mountain Echoes. This time, they have added an arts component with parallel sessions and workshops. The festival, of course, has grown in size but it has retained its core message of spirituality, culture, and mindfulness.
Speaking of spirituality, you wrote The Book of Nanak (2005) revolving around the life and teachings of Guru Nanak – the first of the Sikh Gurus. What similarities do you see between what Sikhism and Buddhism (the state religion in Bhutan) have to offer?
I am glad that you asked. The book was rereleased by Penguin Random House in a slightly revised format with a new look this year. In terms of similarities, I would focus on walking the middle path, which is about shedding your earthly attachments but still living in the world like a lotus that floats on water and does not get muddy or like a duck who floats on water and manages to stay dry. In a similar way, man is supposed to move through the world with a sense of detachment and yet a sense of service to fellow human beings. We also know that Guru Nanak is supposed to have travelled widely in this region. One cannot say if he travelled specifically to Bhutan but he is certainly revered in the Himalayas. There are many people in Ladakh, for instance, who refer to him as Lama Nanak. Also, there are Bhutanese people who travel to Amritsar and visit the Golden Temple.
In your book Indians at Herod’s Gate: A Jerusalem Tale (2014), you speculate whether Guru Nanak might have visited Jerusalem. What led you to this line of thought?
It is said that he went to Baghdad and to Mecca and Medina. He took the path of the Hajis. In the past, people who went to Mecca and Medina for the Haj did go to Jerusalem. It was just an intelligent speculation; nothing more than that. This book, as you know, is about the Indian Hospice – an institution that grew around the room where the great Sufi saint Baba Farid, who belonged to the Chishti order, meditated for 40 days. He went there from Punjab. The Guru Granth Sahib contains a substantive number of verses composed by Baba Farid, so it is clear that the Sikh gurus were aware of Baba Farid’s poetry and his teachings. It is just my gut feeling that, if Guru Nanak went to Mecca and Medina, he would have gone to Jerusalem. And if he went to Jerusalem, I think he would have gone to the place where the great Baba Farid is said to have been absorbed in meditation in an underground room.
What was it like to have stumbled upon this history of India-Palestine solidarity going back generations; framed not through a political lens but through a spiritual lens?
It was a very exciting process. The Indian Hospice, of course, was known to us. The excitement came from digging deep into the past, looking at ancient documents and old land records, and reliving the history of the place from the eyes of the family that has been looking after the hospice. As part of this process, it was exciting to learn about the Indian connection to Jerusalem for over 800 years and where the Sufis and the pilgrims used to come and stay. I owe much to the 17th century Turkish traveller, Evliya Çelebi, who travelled through Jerusalem. In his travelogue Seyahâtnâme, he wrote about the Zawiya Al-Hindiya (the Indian quarter) and where the Indians used to perform their daily zikr (remembrance of Allah through prayer). It was very fulfilling to discover one layer of history after another through travels, documents, references, and conversations, and to piece it all together to tell this fascinating story. The book has also been translated from English into Hebrew and Arabic.
This book was published a couple of years after you served as India’s ambassador to Israel from 2008 to 2012. Could you tell us about the present condition of the hospice, especially given the situation in Israel and Palestine?
The Indian Hospice is in a good condition. With the help of the Indian government, it has been fully repaired. One round of repairs took place in the 1990s, and another round took place during my tenure. There are comfortable rooms and good facilities for people to go and stay at a nominal charge. Of course, they do not have many pilgrims visiting now but artists and writers like to go there and spend some time in the old city. It is open to Indians of all faiths. The place is being looked after by the same family. Sheikh Munir Ansari, who was the director and trustee of the hospice, passed away in May 2024. His father, Sheikh Nazir Hassan Ansari, a police inspector’s son from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, was the first custodian of the hospice. Now the grandson, Sheikh Nazeer Ansari, is the director. The family is in touch with the Indian government, our embassy in Tel Aviv, and our office in Ramallah. We are ensuring that India’s historical imprint in the old city of Jerusalem is kept safe and secure. The underground room where Baba Farid is supposed to have meditated was repaired about 10-15 years ago. We have a cultural centre named after him. Baba Farid’s writings, and paintings of him, are kept there. The Indian government has also put up a new board outside the Indian Hospice, emphasizing the historical connection of this place with Baba Farid.
Growing up in a Punjabi family, was Baba Farid an important presence in your life?
There is a certain familiarity and connection with his poetry because of the Guru Granth Sahib. He was one of the first major poets to be writing in Punjabi rather than Sanskrit or Persian, so he has a very strong following in Punjab. I wouldn’t say that I knew a lot about his life in my youth but I have learnt more about his teachings over time through reading.
How did you manage to get the accomplished Sufi singer Zila Khan — daughter of the great Ustad Vilayat Khan — to perform there? That must have been magical. The book offers only a fleeting glimpse of that concert. Please tell us more.
Zila is a dear friend. She came to Jerusalem for a festival of Indian culture that we had hosted in 2011. The festival was called India in Israel. For the first time, we had organized something on such a massive scale. It was spread out over three weeks, and in different cities including Jerusalem. Zila was part of that. We told her about the presence of this heritage site associated with Baba Farid, and invited her to sing there. She was delighted. We had a small function where she sang the poetry of Baba Farid and other Sufi kalams. She was, of course, splendid! What else can I say? It was a very emotional moment for many of us. The old sheikh greeted her warmly and said that she had brought life back to the hospice after it was bombed in 1967 during the Israeli takeover. People from the family had died.
What are your thoughts on India’s role in Israel-Palestine relations at the moment?
Well, we have done what we had to do. India has been critical of the terrorism that took place in Israel on October 7, 2023. Later on, India has brought in the traditional support to the Palestinians. To my mind, it is not a question of what India can do. It is more a matter of what the Israelis and other major players can do to stop the circle of violence and bloodshed and move towards the only solution in this scenario, which is a two-state solution.
Tell us about your experience at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during your stay in Jerusalem.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque is one of the most sacred places for Muslims. I am glad I had a chance to visit. That whole area, which includes the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, the Western Wall and the Holy Sepulchre, has some of the most sensitive and revered shrines of three of the world’s major religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is like walking on these old trails where all sorts of things have happened; so much history has been created.
Speaking of history, your novel Crimson Spring (2022) is based on the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in Amritsar in 1919. In recent years, a lot of writing has emerged on this subject. Do such narratives make people relive trauma or do they remind them of what has happened so that it is not repeated in the future?
It’s not about reliving trauma. It’s about knowing your history. Without a sense of history, we will all become rootless people. We won’t know good from bad. If we don’t talk about these things, future generations will be clueless. I don’t think that talking or writing about our history is meant to provoke violence. Nobody wants revenge for what happened over a hundred years ago but history helps you understand your present more clearly.
We are also living in a world where history is being constantly evoked by political parties to sow seeds of hatred between communities. What are your thoughts on that?
That is a very temporary, superficial thing. We have to think of the longer run. History is something that people of every nation must be aware of. It is not necessary that knowing what happened in the past will prevent similar things from happening in the future. This is also a time when colonisers are coming face to face with their own histories. The books that we write in India reach a wider audience outside the country, and they feed into the reassessment that colonizers are making about their own past, their own wrongdoings. What happened in India during British Raj is hardly taught to students in the United Kingdom. When they read Crimson Spring, or other books about the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre or watch a film about the Indian freedom struggle, they will learn something. The world has grown much smaller now because of the Internet, so what is published in one part of the world can travel elsewhere quite quickly. Besides that, books also get translated.
How do your skills as a diplomat help you as a writer? What are you working on?
I am working on something but it is too early to say anything substantial. As far as the overlap between diplomacy and writing is concerned, both have to do with language, communication and a love for words. The other thing is that writing has given a special dimension to my diplomatic presence. Wherever I have gone, I have been able to open doors by being engaged in the cultural life of the place and people. When you go for a literature festival, you are a writer first. It humanizes your persona. I guess, other doors would open up for diplomats who are economists, professors or scientists. The life of a diplomat, by definition, involves a globalized existence. It includes a lot of travel, meeting people from various backgrounds, being open to experiences and accepting of differences. These skills, which are essential for being a good diplomat, are also essential for being a good writer.
Chintan Girish Modi writes about books, art and culture. He can be reached @chintanwriting on Instagram and X.