Ownership, Inheritance and Civilisational Memory

The Indus Valley Civilisation is among the world’s oldest and most influential civilisations. Its major sites—including Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Mehrgarh and Taxila—are now located largely within modern-day Pakistan. But does the political location of ancient ruins automatically establish civilisational inheritance?

In this episode of Theopolitica Talk, Navita Vashisht speaks with Pandit Satish K Sharma about the growing debate around Pakistan’s claims to the Indus Valley Civilisation. The conversation begins with a powerful analogy: there is a difference between occupying a house and inheriting a family home. At the civilisational level, the central question is whether heritage is determined simply by geography—or by the traditions, memory, values, language and cultural practices that continue to live through generations.

Geography Is Not the Same as Continuity

The discussion challenges the idea that ancient civilisations can be claimed solely because their archaeological remains fall within a present-day border. Pandit Sharma argues that continuity rests on a living tradition: the transmission of accumulated wisdom, social practices, spiritual ideas and cultural knowledge from one generation to the next.

The speakers examine visible markers of this continuity—from place names and river names to food, dress, rituals, architecture and linguistic inheritance. They argue that these cultural traces need to be studied alongside archaeology, rather than treated as separate from it. In this view, the Indus Valley is not merely a collection of ruins; it is part of a wider and continuing civilisational landscape.

Appropriation and Historical Amnesia

A key theme of the conversation is the concern that civilisational symbols can be separated from their original context and repackaged without acknowledging their source. Pandit Sharma uses the example of “Christian yoga,” arguing that while the word yoga may be retained, its philosophical and civilisational roots can be omitted.

The speakers see a similar pattern in contemporary discussions about the Indus Valley: celebrating the prestige of an ancient heritage while avoiding difficult questions about the people, traditions and historical ruptures associated with that heritage. They describe this as a problem of historical amnesia—where selective narratives create a gap between the ancient past and modern identity.

Partition, Displacement and Identity

The episode also considers the lasting impact of colonial rule and the Partition of 1947. The speakers argue that the drawing of modern borders divided a civilisational space and separated many people from ancestral regions, sacred geography and historical sites.

This trauma, they suggest, remains insufficiently addressed in public memory. The discussion invites viewers to consider how historical displacement affects cultural identity—and why meaningful engagement with heritage requires more than claiming monuments or archaeological sites. It requires confronting the histories of rupture, migration, loss and transformation that shaped the region.

Tradition as Living Knowledge

For Pandit Sharma, tradition is the cornerstone of inheritance. Traditions are not simply rituals repeated without thought; they are lessons learned over generations and embedded into everyday life. They preserve approaches to community, relationships, food, farming, well-being and spiritual understanding.

When societies lose contact with those inherited sources of knowledge, the episode argues, they may lose access to the experiences and wisdom that earlier generations developed. This makes civilisational memory a living resource—not only a matter of pride in the past, but a guide for understanding the present and shaping the future.

Truth, Reconciliation and Healing

The conversation concludes with a call for intellectual honesty and human reconciliation. Rather than using history to deepen conflict, the speakers propose a process rooted in research, recognition, remorse and restitution. They argue that reconciliation becomes possible only when historical wounds are acknowledged rather than concealed.

The episode ultimately asks viewers to reflect on a larger question: What does it mean to inherit a civilisation? Is it possession of land and monuments, or a living relationship with the culture, knowledge, traditions and responsibilities that civilisation carries forward?

Watch the full Theopolitica Talk conversation for an in-depth exploration of Indus Valley heritage, Partition, cultural continuity and the importance of restoring civilisational memory.