India - History

Introduction

The story of the Indian people goes back to the dim past. More than 5,000 years ago, civilised communities lived in India in planned cities with adequate arrangements for sanitation. They built houses of burnt bricks, wore cotton garments, made beautiful jewellery, pottery and toys. Their fine steatite seals bore a pictographic script which is still to be deciphered. The Aryans How and when these highly urbanised people disappeared from the scene are questions which cannot be answered yet. They were perhaps submerged by the successive waves of Aryan migrants, who began pouring into India through the mountain-passes of the north-west about 1,500 B.C. The newcomers had learnt the use of iron and tamed the horse. This gave them superiority in warfare over the pre-Aryans, who were defeated. In time, a new pattern of life emerged from the fusion of the two.

The sport-loving pastoral Aryans evolved a type of rural life which has remained basically unchanged to this day, and to their functional organisation of society is to be traced the origin of the caste system. They worshipped the sun, the moon and the rivers and composed songs in praise of them. The lines addressed by them to Usha (dawn) are considered some of the best in the world's literature. Their spiritual efforts are enshrined in the Vedas, the Upanishads and the two famous epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which have exercised a powerful influence on the people of India through the ages. Their contribution to science included the decimal system of notation and the concept of the zero. They developed a system of medicine and surgery. The tales and fables with which they entertained their children found their way to the Western world as the Arabian Mights and the Aesop's Fables.

Buddha and Mahavira With the passage of time, many undesirable tendencies made their appearance in Hindu society. Excessive ritualism robbed it of its former simplicity. Gautama Buddha, who founded Buddhism, and Mahavira, the first Jain apostle, led the revolt against the established order about the 6th century b.c. The former wanted the people to lead an ethical life and follow the principle of the Golden Mean. The latter laid emphasis on ahimsa or non-violence, the source of the pacific strain in Indian thought. Alexander's Invasion The West made its first contact with India through Alexander's invasion in 326 B.C. The Greek incursion left a permanent impression on Indian art and mythology, while the West borrowed extensively from Indian science and mathematics. The first Indian empire took shape soon after Alexander's withdrawal. Its founder was Chandra Gupta Maurya, grandfather of Asoka the Great. Assisted by Chanakya, the reputed author of Arthashastra, a famous treatise on politics and administration, he defeated the Greek General Seleucus Nicator and welded India into a single political entity. Asoka the Great The empire, when Asoka came to the throne in 273 b.c, included almost the whole of India and Afghanistan. The conquest of Kalinga (modern Orissa), accompanied as it was by a tremendous loss of life, produced in the emperor's mind a deep revulsion against violence. He embraced Buddhism and decided to conquer men's minds with love. He caused monolithic stone pillars to be erected throughout his far-flung empire. To propagate the dharma, he had them inscribed with a code of morals based on the teachings of the Buddha. He forbade the killing of animals on certain days of the week. This humane emperor sent out missionaries to Central Asia, Burma and Ceylon to spread the message of the Buddha. Greater India With the dawn of the Christian era begins another fascinating period of Indian history. Merchants and adventurers left the shores of their home country to set up colonies in Java, Sumatra, Bali, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaya. They were followed by princes, missionaries, architects and artists and the Indian colonies in time grew into kingdoms. The inhabitants of these lands adopted the Indian way of life. Indian philosophy, religion and art and architecture thus began to flourish in distant lands. From the first to the middle of the 15th century, the whole of South-East Asia was under Indian influence.
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