Culture can be understood as the collective values of a society, manifested through its numerous institutions and disposition of its members. It includes intellectual and aesthetic elements pertaining to language, literature, and all its art forms, traditional and modern. Values are the life breath of any society, providing its sustenance and growth, defining its essential character and lifestyle, and offering an ennobling humanitarian vision of life.

Principles like ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (World is a family), ‘Sarve Janah Sukhino Bhavantu’ (May all the people be happy), ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ (Our Guests are like God), and ‘Maataa Bhumi, Putroham Prithivya’ (Earth is my mother / I am her child) are unique Indian contributions to the world culture. These have provided a strong thread of unity over millennia across the country with myriad cultures from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Tripura to Surat. The Indian people have imbibed love of nature with all her flora and fauna, and spiritual value of interconnectedness of all creation. Inclusiveness and tolerance have been an integral part of Indian national ethos that have enabled it to welcome migrants from other lands over centuries and assimilate salient aspects of their cultures.

Values invariably change with time as various developments—social and technological—affect our thinking and lifestyles. Some of these are temporary in nature. However, some values endure over much longer periods that provide continuity and underpinnings of social norms of a community.

Exposure to English and world literatures opened new vistas of thought and ideas for Indians. Developments during the last two centuries, have brought about changes in the aim and purpose of literature with greater emphasis being given to actual problems of contemporary society, particularly those of the marginalised. Emergence of conflicting political ideologies have seen bitter power struggles at various world forums. Violations of provisions of the UN Charter and other international agreements on issues like human rights, climate change, gender justice, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, politics of religion, and several more, have created a divided world today, where many traditional values of harmony no longer seem to be working. All these have affected our writings.

The question arises whether there are values that are seen as rising above these ideological differences and conflicts to give humanity an ennobling vision of peace, love, unity, and brotherhood/sisterhood? Have there been sagacious voices that have provided reasons for humanity to see life beyond political divides and war mongering? Have such values endured and continue to guide humanity? Do traditional values still have relevance in the world that has moved on to cyber lifestyles and has thrown up newer set of social values?

Open, dispassionate and continual review of time-tested values and their distillation through the filter of constant interaction and synthesis with the contemporary dynamics provide a fusion of the tradition with the modern, the idealistic with the realistic.

The feature in the 100th Issue Special of Muse India (Nov-Dec 2021) will try to understand some of these issues as perceived and dealt with by Indian literatures. It is planned to have one article for each of the regional literatures. Muse India’s Contributing Editors are requested to contribute to this discourse by their views on how the literature of their State/region has addressed the above concerns and any other related issues; and whether there have been any unique values guiding the social norms of the state/region. Articles of up to 2000 words may be sent to me at gsprao2003@gmail.com with a copy marked to the Chief Editor, Atreya Sarma at atreyasarma@gmail.com latest by Sep 30, 2021. If any Contributing Editor is unable to spare time for this work, for whatever reasons, he/she may kindly identify a suitable scholar/writer and invite him/her to do the piece.