In India, the word “development” once referred to the spiritual growth of an individual. These days it refers mainly to the material growth of the economy, and while extravagantly celebrating the idea of unity, politicians are importing values, which by their very nature, give rise to disunity.

Are India’s deals with the West a predestined part of the great cosmic cycle? Must the downward spiral of growing division inevitably end with the the Natraj, Shiva’s final dance of creative destruction? And as home to one of the last living traditions that bears the common hallmarks of many lost civilisations around the world, what does India’s spiritual decline mean for the rest of us?