Indian civilization traces its origins to the Harappan civilization in the 3rd millennium BC, it had acquired a definite mold in the early centuries of the Christian era. During this period, India had not only developed a unique social order and philosophy of life, but also a set of political norms which in turn shaped its worldview (Cox, 1997: pp124). The concept of religious tolerance, for example, has been a leitmotif throughout Indian history, including the period of Turkish rule between the 13th and 8th centuries (pp125). Although the socio-political order and ethical-moral norms devised during this period, subtly changed in response to changing situations, they were long-lasting enough to strongly influence all subsequent movements and formations in the country, including governments. The history of India, according to Michael Wood, is a story of incredible drama, great inventions, enormous diversity, phenomenal creativity and the greatest ideas. But it is also the story of one of the world's emerging powers. (Wood, 2008 pp 8). India became a free nation only 60 years ago, but in reality it has existed for thousands of years. Historical economists hypothesize that India's GDP was the largest in the world until about 1500, when it was surpassed by China only to be eclipsed by both in the age of European empires, when the center of history shifted away from the landmasses of Asia. to the coast of Western Europe, transformed by the wealth of the New World. (Wood, 2008 pp 10) By 1900 both China and India had come to generate a small percentage of the world's wealth, India less than 3%. India, a country of wide diversity – religious, anthropological, linguistic, has gone through a stormy process of construction.. .... half of the charter ... of fundamental human rights which, among other things, involves non-use of force or the threat of force against weaker states. The vision of such a world is fully in tune with India's history and cultural ethos (Cox pp143). India also faces many problems, especially related to social inequalities, rural poverty, overpopulation and environmental degradation. But it has immense advantages: it is an open society and a vibrant democracy with formidable practical and linguistic skills, and, as a civilization that has attempted to be pluralistic and tolerant over a vast period of time, it can draw on enormous cultural resources from its past. Despite difficulties and failures, the creation and acceptance of a dynamic and functioning democracy has been a remarkable achievement over the past 60 years, and it is a democracy that has many things to teach many other states. (Wood, 2008 pp10)