INDIA - Glimpse in the Past

“India- Glimpse in the past”

India is 7^th largest country in the world, area wise. It is largest democracy in the world inhabited by over 1.2 billion people. Country is 10^th largest by GDP [nominal] and 3^rd by GDP [PPP]. It constitutes 28 states and seven union territories. It got its independence on 15^th august 1947 from British rule of near 100 years. Country is multilingual, multiracial, multi ethnic in composition. It has long history with glorious past. Its decline started in 700ADafter king Harsha's death. Muslims invaded country in12th century AD. .Gauri was first Muslim invader in 1192AD. He was followed by Babur, a Mongol in 1526AD. Babur settled in India and became founder of Moghul rule. Moguls ruled India till 1800AD. From 1800—to1862AD multiple short span rulers ruled India .From 1862AD Britain took hold of INDIA AND THEY RULED TILL 1947. Britishers divided India in name of independence and created Pakistan.

In Stone Age [7000BC---3000BC] and Bronze Age [3000BC---1300BC] India gave two advanced civilizations namely Indus Valley civilization and Vedic civilization. These civilizations were disputed by European Indologists who labeled India a land of snake charmers and settlers. These settlers they named: Aryans “who as tribe invaded India from central Asia though no homeland of Aryans has been assigned till date. With Archeological excavations done in early twentieth century in northern India these Indologists had to rewrite Indian ancient history. Over 2500 archeological sites have now been documented. These sites are mainly located   in western India, present day Pakistan and establish Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa civilization, commonly known now as Indus Valley Civilization [IVC].

IVC is bracketed at 3300BC---1300BC’. This civilization matured around 2600BC-----1900BC. This civilization collapsed possibly due to climatic change/draught/famine.IVC was a urbanized civilization with pottery, Terracota,bull cart, traded in Agriculture, had some writing system.Sumarians called them [Meluhas]. They worshiped ‘SIVA’ had symbols like Swastika and worshiped Idols.

This civilization was replaced by VEDIC civilization. Aryan invasion was proposed by Max Muller to support European supremacy and discredit indigenous civilization. This so called Aryan invasion was slated around 1500BC which is purely hypothetical. There are many commonalities between IVC and VEDIC civilizations like “OM”, Swastika, worshiping of Idols and some rituals which point to continuity and migration of civilization from Indus to Ganges belt. Following points pin point drawbacks in Aryan invasion theory:

1. How could nomads unsettle and conquer an advanced society?

2. No homeland of Aryans outside India has been documented. There are some authors who even have

postulated Atlantis, Germany as Aryan birthplace, purely conjectural.

3. Genetically speaking group haploRIa originated from Gujarat, India----Kashmir----central Asia-----Russia then to Europe around 30000 yrs. back. It did not occur in reverse way.

4. From linguistic point of view three basic languages namely Greek, Latin and Sanskrit have been established. Sir William J ones said that these three languages originated from a common source which no longer exists now. Adelung in his book’ MITHRIDATES’ DESCRIBED 500 LANGUAGES and dialects and hypothesized a universal descent from the language of paradise, located in Kashmir, a view not endorsed by Young.

5. No foreign invasion of India is documented in ancient historical accounts including Vedas. Satellite images have confirmed dried up Saraswati River mentioned in Rig-Veda.

 Dating of this Vedic age is extremely difficult as very little written ancient historical accounts are available Literature which survived ,most of it was burnt by Muslim invaders/ rulers.Tilak gives date between 6000BCto2000BC .Presently many authors believe that’, MAHABARATA’ occurred around 2800BC, Dwarka got submerged in 1500BC, Saraswati river dried up in 1900BC and Rig-Veda was written around 3000BC. Max Muller, author of Aryan invasion dates Rig-Veda was written around 250BC—300BC and Aryan invasion around 1500BC.This Vedic civilization had decimal system, Sanskrit as fully developed language, introduced hashing, infinity, Geometry and zero concept. They excelled in warfare and reached to dizzy heights in spirituality. This civilization evolved over a period of time and gave birth to a religious philosophy called Sanatan Dharam, now known Hinduism. This religion did not come on a particular day but evolved over a time till it took a concrete shape. It started as polytheism and ended with monism. Its literature is available in two forms: Shruti-----means what is heard and Smriti-----means what is remembered.

Vedas come under category of Shrutis while Ramayana and Mahabharata, Manu smriti come under Smriti category. Shruti literature is veritable and inviolable. On contrary Smriti literature may get modified under influence of time and place.Smriti literature has its basis in Shruti.Vedas constitute sublime knowledge revealed to Rishis while doing penance. Vedas are eternal. They acquired verbal form during certain period in history. They are timeless in the sense that they are beyond the confines of time. Vedas contain divine knowledge. Vedas are earliest documents of human mind. THEY ENCOMPASS the human life and they do not belong to any race or country. They reflect all aspects of existence. They throw light on creation, Atman and all related issues of spiritualism. Vedas contain  mantras which have different and specific purposes.

Word Veda originates from word ‘VID’ i.e.  To know’.Ved Vyasa categorized all mantras and compiled them in four parts -’4 VEDAS’. Rig-Veda is oldest with10552 mantras written by over 400 Rishis.Yojur Veda is smallest one. Samveda has 1875 mantras. Atharvad has special place in field of philosophy and spiritualism. Mantras are in the form of metered verses. Vedas acquired written form very late. Rig-Veda was written around 3000BC’.  Scholars believe that Vedas have two parts-----Samhitas and Brahmanas but others believe Vedas have 4 parts-----Samhitas, Brahmanas, ARANYAKAS AND Upanishads... Samhitas and Brahamanas constitute rituals and rites while Aranyakas and Upanishads form ;Gyan Khanda’. Brahmans hint at magical power of sacrificial rituals. Samahitas are hymns concerned with nature and deities. In Aranyakas spiritual interpretation of rituals and ceremonies is evident. Upanishads are in the form of dialogue and are concluding part of Vedas. They contain sublime knowledge that deals with the topic at great depth; there are 108 Upanishads of which 10 are considered exquisite. Of the 10 Katha Upanishad, Isha, Chandogya and Badaryana Upanishad are held in high esteem. In all Upanishads CREATOR, AND CREATED are dealt in depth. Their discussions deal with Monism, Dualism and qualified dualism. In dualism GOD and Universe are two different identies but in Monism Creator and Created are one and same. Proponent of this Monism has been Adi Sankaracharya. He has written lot on the subject .He calls it’ ADVAITA’-----the end of Vedas.

Hinduism which started with worship of multiple gods ends up with single GOD, that too ‘NIRGUN’ I.e. without attributes. This speaks of evolution and wisdom of high order. A question frequently asked is—who can be called Hindu?

Answer:  1.Any person who believes in one GOD

                 2. Who believes in law of Karma

                 3. Who believes in law of involution and evolution

It is immaterial which god you worship, which book you believe or whether you are Idol worshiper or not.

In classical period too [1AD----1279AD] and late medieval [1206AD—1596AD], India gave decimal system, Zero, Trigonometry [Aryabatt], Calculus [Baskara], Mathematical analysis [Madhava]. INDIGO, Metallurgy,  Astronomy, Plastic surgery to name a few to this world.