Throughout most of history India has been home to any number of kingdoms, fiefdoms, and princely states, while rarely does a empire emerge conquering the entire subcontinent under one crown.
So how could it be possible if a united Indian polity becomes the norm, rather than the exception, similar to how the inertia keeps pulling China together under a single crown? For this to occur a sense of "Indian-ness" which transcends all kings must emerge over thousands of years.
Would each Indian Emperor profess to be the living avatar of, say, Ashoka, or a deity such as Vishnu, in order to use religious beliefs for themselves? How would foreign invaders get absorbed into the Indian culture?
So how could it be possible if a united Indian polity becomes the norm, rather than the exception, similar to how the inertia keeps pulling China together under a single crown? For this to occur a sense of "Indian-ness" which transcends all kings must emerge over thousands of years.
Would each Indian Emperor profess to be the living avatar of, say, Ashoka, or a deity such as Vishnu, in order to use religious beliefs for themselves? How would foreign invaders get absorbed into the Indian culture?