"Travel to the remotest corners of India, and you will find things that are linked to our epics and scriptures. The Pandavas are said to have taken refuge in so many places one visits. Or that Bhim, Arjun, or Ramchandra came there. So many habitations are named after our sages and saints. . . . When we speak of the unity of India, we do not really China may be defined by a certain political unity, but India is marked on the other hand by a cultural unity. In the past, what we now know as India was never under a single state or political unit. This was not the case in the time of the Mauryas or of the Guptas. . . . However, Nagaland was never part of this broader Indian culture. Call it a misfortune or an 'accident of history'!"