Medical ethics in India: ancient and modern (II).

With the comin g of the Europeans, and especially during the colonial rule, imitation of what the rulers did and practised became more and more popular. But, there was also resistance to this wholesale copying of the foreigners’ practices. ‘Reverence for the past is a national trait. There is a certain doggedness of temperament, a stubborn loyalty to lose nothing in the long march of the ages. When conf?onted with new culture or sudden extensions of knowledge, the Indian does not yield to the temptations of the hour. but holds fast to his traditional faith, importing as much as possible of the new into the old. Conservative liberalism is the secret of the success of India’s culture and civilization. 71