A million monuments

It is shockingly easy to just stop noticing that our cities and our countryside are dotted with signs of our endlessly fascinating past. Monuments and heritage sites live and breathe in India in a way that they may not elsewhere; they are part of the fabric of many peoples lives,a sight seen so regularly that sometimes they begin to breed something like contempt. And that,while inspiring,can also become a problem. Living though they might be,they are also held in trust by todays Indians for tomorrows generations: that is,after all,precisely what heritage means.

Which is why,the new attempt by the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities to create a registry of historic structures is laudable,essential,and overdue. A million monuments,it is expected,will be on the list,a five-year project which will bring together information from disparate sources. And the proportion of those that have been overlooked,neglected,encroached upon or otherwise harmed will,no doubt,be depressingly high.

It can be nobodys case that heritage sites should be bloodless,antiseptic,and unchanging. But winning that argument is not enough. By their very nature,heritage sites are heirlooms; at the very least current generations must take care to not degrade them,lest we fail in our responsibility to those others who have stakes in them future Indians seeking a connection to their nations past,or even people from elsewhere who have as much a stake in the relics of our great civilisation as we have in the Bamiyan Buddhas or the Great Wall of China. Great nations with great histories nurture their inheritance. If India wishes to be one,it must do the same. A registry is a necessary start,but it is not enough. An entire change in mindset is required.