India, May 16 -- The word "Sanatan" means eternal. It is now among the most fiercely contested words in Indian public life, invoked often to denounce, defend or mobilise with an urgency that might suggest the arguers have some acquaintance with the tradition the word names. The urgency disguises a near-universal absence of that acquaintance. This is the characteristic condition of a tradition that has survived for several millennia: its label is loudly possessed while its philosophical core is quietly unread. A label offers identity without the cost of inquiry; the tradition's core offers inquiry without the comfort of a pre-settled identity. These are incompatible offers, and the parties who fight most loudly over the label are, on both ...