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Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Festive Surge

India’s bazaars have glittered this Diwali with the unmistakable glow of consumer confidence. The country’s festive sales crossed a staggering Rs. 6 lakh crore with goods alone accounting for Rs. 5.4 lakh crore and services contributing Rs. 65,000 crore. More remarkable still, the bulk of this spending flowed through India’s traditional markets rather than e-commerce platforms. After years of economic caution and digital dominance, Indians are once again shopping in person and buying local....

Festive Surge

India’s bazaars have glittered this Diwali with the unmistakable glow of consumer confidence. The country’s festive sales crossed a staggering Rs. 6 lakh crore with goods alone accounting for Rs. 5.4 lakh crore and services contributing Rs. 65,000 crore. More remarkable still, the bulk of this spending flowed through India’s traditional markets rather than e-commerce platforms. After years of economic caution and digital dominance, Indians are once again shopping in person and buying local. This reversal owes much to policy. The recent rationalisation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which trimmed rates across categories from garments to home furnishings, has given consumption a timely push. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s September rate cuts, combined with income tax relief and easing interest rates, have strengthened household budgets just as inflation softened. The middle class, long squeezed between rising costs and stagnant wages, has found reason to spend again. Retailers report that shoppers filled their bags with everything from lab-grown diamonds and casual wear to consumer durables and décor, blurring the line between necessity and indulgence. The effect has been broad-based. According to Crisil Ratings, 40 organised apparel retailers, who together generate roughly a third of the sector’s revenue, could see growth of 13–14 percent this financial year, aided by a 200-basis-point bump from GST cuts alone. Small traders too have flourished. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) estimates that 85 percent of total festive trade came from non-corporate and traditional markets, a robust comeback for brick-and-mortar retail that had been under siege from online rivals. This surge signals a subtle but significant cultural shift. The “Vocal for Local” and “Swadeshi Diwali” campaigns struck a patriotic chord, with consumers reportedly preferring Indian-made products to imported ones. Demand for Chinese goods fell sharply, while sales of Indian-manufactured products rose by a quarter over last year. For the first time in years, “buying Indian” has become both an act of economic participation and of national pride. The sectoral spread of this boom underlines its breadth. Groceries and fast-moving consumer goods accounted for 12 percent of the total, gold and jewellery 10 percent, and electronics 8 percent. Even traditionally modest categories like home furnishings, décor and confectionery recorded double-digit growth. In the smaller towns that anchor India’s consumption story, traders say stable prices and improved affordability kept registers ringing late into the festive weekend. Yet, much of this buoyancy rests on a fragile equilibrium. Inflation remains contained, and interest rates have been eased, but both could tighten again. Sustaining this spurt will require continued fiscal prudence and regulatory clarity, especially as digital commerce continues to expand its reach. Yet for now, the signs are auspicious. After years of subdued demand and inflationary unease, India’s shoppers appear to have rediscovered their appetite for consumption and their faith in domestic enterprise. The result is not only a record-breaking Diwali, but a reaffirmation of the local marketplace as the heartbeat of India’s economy.

Why Pāli is Important?

Pāli is Important

In earlier times, when the Buddha gave sermons, there was no way to write them down in books or manuscripts. The bhanakas (reciters) would memorise all the teachings and propagate them to the laypeople. After the Buddha’s mahāparinibbāna, during the first and second councils, the entire Buddhavacana was recited by senior monks. However, it was during the third council that King Ashoka made efforts to inscribe the Buddha’s teachings on stones, caves, and rock pillars.


The most revered Buddhist scholar and commentator of the 5th century, Buddhaghosa refers to this as an origin of all languages (“Māgadhikāya sabba-sattānam mālabhāsāya,”) Pāli evolved from some Prākrit, the vernacular of the Buddha’s time in the Magadha region of North India, with influences from other Middle Indo-Aryan dialects. Over time, it spread across various regions in India and beyond, making it a unique language with deep roots and widespread reach. The evolution of Pāli through regions like Avanti (modern-day Ujjain) in central India and later to the Chola region and the Kaveri basin of southern India, showcases its versatility and adaptability. Thus, Pāli is not just a language of North India but truly has a pan-Indian presence, incorporating elements from both Eastern and Western dialects.


The next stage in the growth of Pāli took it beyond India to countries like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. What makes Pāli even more unique is that it not only absorbed the life and culture of these countries but also carried Indian cultural knowledge, systems, and ideas into them. It served as a lingua franca for these nations, especially within monastic communities, where Pāli was the primary language of communication. To this day, Pāli remains a strong cultural force in these countries.


While discussing the nature of Pāli, it is essential to understand that the Buddha’s dispensation (Buddhasāsana) consists of nine components or literary genres: Sutta (discourses), Geyya (mixed prose and verse), Veyyākaraāa (expositions), Gāthā (verses or hymns), Udāna (inspired utterances), Itivuttaka (as it was said), Jātaka (birth stories), Abbhutadhamma (wondrous events), and Vedalla (analytical discussions), all embedded in the Vinaya Pitaka, Sutta Pitaka, and Abhidhamma Piāaka. All these teachings were preserved in the Pāli language within the Theravada Buddhist Canon, the earliest records of the Buddha’s teachings. The huge work of commentaries by prodigious scholars like Buddhadatta, Buddhaghosa, Dhammapāla, Māhānāma, and Upasena are written in Pāli.


Throughout his 45 years of teaching, the Buddha gave countless sermons and key concepts to help free humankind from suffering. Without these Pāli texts, we would not have access to the Buddha’s profound teachings. These texts are also a rich source of the geographical, cultural, religious, economic, and political history of India.


In modern times, great Indian scholars like Dharmanand Kosambi, Rahul Sankrityayan, Jagdish Kashyap, Anand Kausalyayan, and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar worked hard to study and revive this magnificent language. Their goal was not just personal liberation or academic pursuit but broader social transformation.


Today, practitioners of all faiths benefit from Vipassana meditation for mental peace and well-being. A basic understanding of Pāli and a little knowledge of the Abhidhamma can greatly enhance this practice.


Now that Pāli has been recognised as a classical language, it is vital to further strengthen the Indian Knowledge System by exploring its applied aspects. It is high time we see how Pāli can continue to offer valuable insights, especially in terms of Buddhist thought, which can act as a catalyst for understanding modern subjects. In this way, Pāli remains relevant even today and can play a significant role in understanding Indian culture.


(The author is a scholar based in Pune. Views personal.)

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