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Geography of a Land influences the History, Culture, and philosophy of the Land

By Happymantata ( M.V.S.Murthy)

One may wonder how an inert and static feature like the Geography of a land could influence the dynamic and ever- changing feature like History and Culture of that land. This is best illustrated by applying it to a country. India or Bharat is a particularly good example.

Geography of Indian sub-continent.

Around 120 million years ago, a mass of land broke off from the African landmass and drifted towards the Asian landmass and collided with it. The collision caused the formation of mountains, The Himalayas, in the north and with it, a part of the sea got drained to form plains. The southern peninsular plateau is one of oldest rock formation on earth. Thus, the Indian subcontinent was formed.

Indian Subcontinent has well defined natural borders:

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Snow clad Himalayan mountains stretch across the North and Northeast with a few narrow passes, creating a challenge for migration and foreign invasions in ancient times. Vast stretches of fertile Plains fed by perennial rivers like Indus and its cluster of 5 branches, and Ganga-Yamuna, Brahmaputra provide abundant food for people and cattle, minerals, and timber etc. Vindhya and Satpura hills and thick tropical forest, like Dandakaranya separate the northern Plains from southern Peninsula. The Southern Peninsular Plateau with monsoon-fed rivers like Krishna, Godavari, Kaveri, and Mahanadi, bring with them their fertile delta. The Western and Eastern Ghats flourish with spices, timber, rubber, mineral wealth, and unique ecology. The Arabian sea, Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean, cover the three southern sides of the Peninsula. This long coastline, while preventing foreign invasions, also enabled trade and commerce with faraway Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Arab lands to the west, and neighboring Southeast Asian states, China and Japan to the east.

Dawn of Civilization in Indian sub-continent.

Quoting from ‘Ancient India’ by Joshua J Mark published on 13th Nov.2012 https://www.ancient.eu/india/,

“Hominid activity in Indian Subcontinent stretches back over 250,000 years and it is therefore, one of the oldest inhabited regions on the planet.

Archaeological excavations have discovered artifacts used by early humans, including stone tools, which suggest an extremely early date for human habitation in the area.

While the Civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt have long been recognized for their celebrated contribution to Civilization, India has often been overlooked, especially in the West, though its history and culture is just as rich.

The village of Balathal near Udaipur in Rajasthan illustrates the antiquity of India’s history as it dates to 4000 BCE.  Balathal was not discovered until 1962 CE and   excavations were not begun there until the 1990s CE.”

There is evidence of Pre-historic man roaming about on this land some 60,000 years back. With good climate, abundant food, protection from invaders and freezing Northern winds, the early nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes settled down to farming, resulting in flourishing villages and towns.  Several highly developed cradles of civilizations like those of Harappan and Mohenjo-Daro, sprang up during second and third millennia Before Christ.

Historian V. Gordon Childe writes in 1952, (ref. History-Encyclopedia Britannica) https://www.britannica.com/place/India/The-Indus-civilization#ref484994

“India confronts Egypt and Babylonia by the 3^rd millennium with a thoroughly individual and independent civilization of her own, technically the peer of the rest… The Indus civilization represents a very perfect adjustment of human life to a specific environment.”

Archaeological Excavations in the past 50 years have dramatically changed the understanding of India’s past which was till then, based on inference of Western Scholars. It was believed till then that civilization came to India from the West, with the Aryan Invasion around 1500BC.    

While there is no reference in any ancient scriptures or puranas about either origin of  Aryans from outside the Indian subcontinent or period of such exodus, there is reason to believe that Aryans were the original inhabitants of the Aryavarta mentioned in ancient Hindu texts like Dharma Shastras and other scriptures alike. According to Manu Smrti, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manusmriti the area between the Himalayan range, the Vindhya range, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian sea is referred to as Aryavarta.

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The current understanding is that the Indian Civilization and Sanatana Dharma were evolved indigenously, and Aryan invasion from West is considered a myth. An article Ancient India’s Links to Today by Mini Menon reveals the vibrant past.  https://www.livehistoryindia.com/history-of-india-2000-years/2020/05/12/ancient-indias-links-to-today  

 

 

Archaeological excavations in the past five decades have dramatically changed the understanding of India’s past.  But, after the partition of India in 1947 AD., a sizable part of Ancient India including important cultural centers like Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa, Takshashila, Gandhara, which were the hub of Indian Civilization, are now under rulers of a different culture. What is known now of India’s past is only the ‘tip of an iceberg,’ needing further modern archaeological investigation over a larger area. Such objective archaeological investigation, in the Indus valley which is now in Pakistan is not likely to be attempted nor pursued by the present administration and an important part of the Ancient history may be lost forever.

Earlier, archaeological investigations were confined to large cities and their ruins, and the finds were donated to museums or were purchased by art collectors. Modern archaeology is more extensive and with latest dating techniques, it is more precise and covers people who lived there, their economic and cultural activities, shedding light on history of the region.

I had come across a book of over 760 pages, Civilizations of Ancient Mediterranean- Egypt, Greece & Rome by Charles Freeman, a wonderful book, giving a narrative account of main events with minute details, highlighting developments in cultural and social histories with references to evidences. It is updated with latest authentic investigations. Though it is a textbook, it is readable for a layman like a novel! 

I very much wish that Indian History is presented by our historians in a similar authentic and detailed manner, unbiased by Western interpretation and conclusions.

Let us now examine how the rich Indian civilization and Sanatana Dharma, a unique world religion, could have evolved independently in India, thanks to the geography of this country.

 

Archaeologists have recently found evidence of Homo heidelbergensis, an ancestral species to modern Homo sapiens, who inhabited the Indian Sub-continent much before humans migrated from Africa to Europe.

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“Hominid Activity in the Indian Subcontinent, dates back to over 250,000 years and is one of the oldest Hominid activity on the planet … Significant human activity was under way in India by the Holocene Period ( 10,000 years ago)…The beginnings of Vedic tradition can now be dated to the indigenous people”  {Ref. Ancient History Encyclopedia- Ancient India. By Joshua J Mark published https://www.ancient.eu/india/,

Let me point out a few unique features in Indian civilization and its spiritual and cultural achievements, which are not found in other civilizations and religions, to bring out how I feel that geography has an influence in bringing about these unique features.

Spiritual Achievements - Religion

·        When early man looked around with awe, respect and fear, at the Sun and Moon, Nature, Wind, Ocean, and Fire over which he had no control and yet could influence his life and comfort, he sought to supplicate and worship them; such was the beginning of Idolatry. Numerous deities were worshiped. Each village had a small temple for the ‘Grama Devata’ to  whom the villager  looks up to  for his problems and ailments. When there is an epidemic   pestilence or famine, all the villagers group together to worship her . She is referred to  as ‘ Mother ‘.This practice of  worshiping a Grama Devata has survived even to this day in rural areas.

·        Soon he argued that there might be a superior and controlling Power, which could be worshiped, and he called it GOD.

·        Man, also realized that unlike other forms of life like animals, he had a unique ability to think of Good and Bad actions, and their effects on himself and society.

·        When he saw life and death, he concluded that there must be a ‘soul’ which was there in every living being, though un-perceivable, which would leave the body on death. He deduced that the body was not permanent, but subject to aging and ultimately perish, but the soul would not perish.

·        Man’s aim in life is happiness while avoiding hardships and grief. He seeks help from God to achieve this, communicating through worship and prayers to please Him. The worship could be done individually or collectively.

·        Further, he developed the concept of his actions being virtuous or good, and sinful or bad, resulting in God’s reward of Heaven and punishment of Hell. He believed that, on the death of a man, God would sit in judgement and send his soul to either Heaven or Hell.  Although it was the soul which was to undergo pleasures of Heaven or torture of Hell after death, man was concerned about them even in this life!                                                           *

·        Righteousness is the same for all religions and God honors and encourages righteousness.

·        God is all-powerful - Omnipotent, though he is invisible, he is everywhere - Omnipresent, and is all knowing – Omniscient.

These are more or less common in every religion including Sanatana Dharma of Hindu religion.

But the uniqueness of Sanatana Dharma as I understand is:

1.     Concept of GOD in Sanatana Dharma:  God is one for the whole universe. He is loving and compassionate to mankind. There is no Hindu or Christian God, but He can be worshiped in different ways. As all rivers ultimately meet the sea, so do all prayers reach the one Eternal God. Hence there is no superior God and persons of one religion need not try to convert a believer in another religion either by any type of inducement or by coercion or killing. However, leaders of different religions or faiths could sit together for a philosophic discussion to justify their beliefs. This is how, in the third century BCE, Buddhist religion spread all over East Asia, with neither war nor forcible conversion.

Our scriptures tell us that God is without form and beyond comprehension of man. To comprehend Him, and concentrate on Him, in prayer, we assume a form for him.  He is the Creator, Protector and Punisher and he is worshiped in several forms as Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, all different aspects of the one God Para brahma.

Several sects like Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakteya sects are found in Hindu Religion, just as we find Catholic and Protestant in Christianity, or Shia     and Sunni in Islam. Yet, in Hindu Religion, they can co-exist in harmony.

2.     Concept of re-birth: Every living being has a soul in him, a spark of the Great God that is indestructible. It is only the perishable body which gets destroyed. When one dies, the good and sin he has accumulated resulting from his actions accompany with the soul. A form of God sends the soul to Heaven or Hell based on these actions – good actions (Punya) or bad actions (Papam). After enjoying the reward or serving the punishment for a period, the soul again takes birth on this Earth with a new body accumulating Punya or Papam yet again. This cycle of life and death and accumulation of Punya and Papam continues till its net effect is nil. It is now when the Soul will ultimately get salvation, or become one with God, and there is no further birth or death to it. So, every human being must strive to overcome the   cycle of birth and death and reach a stage of eternal happiness. One way to break the cycle is by trying to live righteously as guided by the scriptures.

 

3.     Concept of action: God has endowed man with a brain which has the power to think, has a conscience and an ability to discriminate between good and bad using a guide in the form of religious scriptures. Man, also has the resources of Shastras, Puranas, Gurus, and Piety to emulate, and if he still finds himself in trouble due to his own actions, God may throw up His hands and say ‘Go to Hell!’

For example, in the Bhagavad Gita, we see Arjuna in the battlefield, totally dejected and confused whether to wage the war or not. Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna in 18 chapters of the Gita, what his Dharma is and at the end, he says ‘Arjuna, I have told you in detail what is your duty, now it is up to you to think and act as you like’ (Gita.18.63). No dogma here, that is Sanatana Dharma!!

4.     Concept of universal oneness: Sanatana Dharma considers world as a family (Vasudha eva Kutumbakam). Hence there should be no hatred between people. Most of our prayers are for happiness of all beings and mitigation of misery to the whole world. It is not limited to the self, family, or members of one’s religion alone.

 

5.     Concept of collective wisdom: Most religions have a founder who claims that he is the messenger of God and his is the only true religion which looks after its own followers.

But, Sanatana Dharma is universal and works for the happiness and welfare of all beings of the world, including animals and plants. It is a religion which is a collective wisdom of a large number of spiritual leaders, saints and Rishis who have, after a lot of scientific questioning and discussions, evolved to form a religion based on scientific reasoning and one that is applicable to whole world.  It is divided into Shruti and Smrti. While Shruti tells of God and how to attain Him, and so, is spiritual and eternal, Smrti deals with do’s and don’ts of how to live and seek God. Both can be modified depending on needs of society and beliefs with change of time. Thus, Sanatana Dharma, though old is ever new and always relevant.   

6.     Concept of avataar: God declares that whenever there is a decay and downfall of Dharma or righteousness, and Adharma or social evil is rampant, God manifests Himself to protect the righteous and destroy the evil. These are called Avataars. It is believed that 8 such avataaras have taken place in the past Yugas or eons. Hindu mythology recognizes Goutam Buddha, the founder of Buddhist religion, as the 9^th avataar in this Kaliyuga  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_Yuga. Such is the magnanimity of the religion, to recognize greatness even in an adversary.

 

Influence of Geography in evolving a unique religion: Sanatana Dharma.

Birth of Varna ashrama Dharma:

In the Aryavarta in the plains of Ganga and Sindhu, during 3^rd millennium BCE, there was peace and plenty.  Villages for agriculture and cattle-rearing, towns and cities for trade and commerce had sprung up.

Our Early Forefathers recognized that Man is born with 3 “gunas”, natures or traits:  

Satvika or righteous - One who is sincere, steadfast, thinks of others’ good, content and not avaricious, keen of intellect, eager to learn and teach, eager to think about God.

Rajasika or royal - One who has leadership qualities, boldness, valor, good bodily strength, of fighting spirit - but is also forgiving, honest, patriotic and considerate to the weak.

Tamasika - Those with good bodily strength, obedient but tend to be lazy, not keen on fair play or morality.

These 3 gunas or traits are found in all the members of a society but in varying degrees.

Our forefathers decided that for faster development of the society, it is desirable to categorize the society into 4 Varnas based on their nature or dominant trait and put them to tasks to which they are best suited. The 4 varnas are, Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra. Each category had specific rules of conduct. The society depended on the collective efforts and cooperation of all the 4 categories for smooth functioning.

In the earliest religious text – Rigveda – there is Purusha Sookta telling that the 4 varnas formed limbs of God -

“Brahmano asya Mukham aaseet. Baahoo Rajanyaha krutaha.

Uooruu tadasya yad Vaishyaha, Padbhyaam  Shudro ajaayata”

Brahmana came from His face, Kshatriya formed His arms, Vaishya formed His thighs and Shudra from His feet.

So, the members of the 4 varnas felt that being a part of the God, they were bound to obey the duties or Dharma enjoined to their respective Varna.  There was Shraddha or zeal and earnestness in adhering to their Dharma. There was no feeling of one being superior or inferior to other.                                                                       ###

Lord Krishna tells in Gita, Chaaturvarnyam mayaa srustam Guna Karma vibhaagasaha (4.13). It means, the Varnas are created by God, based on individual’s Guna and karma, nature and work not by birth.

Brahmanas were to learn spiritual and religious texts and teach them to others. ‘Brahmana’ means knower of Brahman or God. He should develop virtues like control of mind, austerity, honesty truthfulness, contentment, frugal living, not attracted to riches, good conduct, and control over vices like Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada, and Matsarya, (Excessive Desire, Anger, Miserliness, Lust, Pride, Hatred) (See Gita 18^th canto 42.).

 

Kshatriyas were to be rulers or guardians of society. They should be brave, honest, compassionate, maintain law and order, dispense justice, and get guidance from Brahmins who are their Kula gurus. There were rules in fighting war. Supremacy and control over other kingdoms were permitted, but war was resorted to after exhausting Sama, daana, bedha. Wars were fought based on a set of rules as given in Manu smriti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manusmriti. Unlike in the West, in a war, no cities are destroyed, no slaves are taken, and womenfolk were to be treated well.

 

Vaishyas were tradesmen, farmers, and took care of cattle rearing. They were the producers of wealth. They were to be honest, trustworthy, just and kind to subordinates and educated in their trade

 

These three varnas are classified as ‘Dwija’, or ‘Twice-born. The first birth being biological. After this birth and childhood, they undergo a religious ritual which makes them eligible for Brahmacharya and live the life of a student, this is considered as a second birth making them fit to live life on earth. Youth of all the three varnas stay together and get educated in Gurukulas and learn scriptures and books of their trade or profession. There is no Varna distinction or rich or poor in Gurukula. Generally, at the end of learning the guru seeks fee according to ability of student to pay.

 

Shudra:  The rest of people who are temperamentally Tamasa (lethargic) are grouped as Shudras. They are laborer or service-providers.

 

Demographically the 4 Varnas formed a pyramid with Brahmana as the top and Shudra as base. Thus, the society created Brahmana Varna from the cream of the society with desirable qualities like satvica guna, spirituality, dedication, desire to learn and teach, without pride or avarice or desire for domination. They preferred to live in secluded clusters called Ashramas practicing austerity and maintained centers of learning, pursued different branches of knowledge, and lived on alms or donations from the rest of the society.

 

The Brahmana community had a wide sphere of activities. Some conducted Gurukulas for educating children of all the 3 dwija communities. Some took upon spiritual studies Veda and Upanishads and became Tapasvis and Rishis. Some devoted themselves to the sciences, mathematics, agriculture and animal husbandry, medicine and ayurveda, social sciences, music and dance, art of warfare and weapons including Astras (weapons superimposed with divine powers), commerce etc., all considering their activities as worship of God. They used techniques of yoga, pranayama, meditation, and austerity to sharpen their skills. This helped in achieving great progress in various aspects of civilization, while the people of other varnas were busy with day-to-day activities of the society. Thus, there was harmony, peace, and prosperity, in addition to advancement in spiritual, scientific, and cultural fields.  

 

I may mention here that we had a large number of Rshis and Tapaswis who,  by deep austerity and Tapas, had acquired supernatural powers such as, extra sensory perception, distant communication of thought, clairvoyance, knowing past-present-future, materializing objects, blessing or curse which would happen -  all this for Dharma or the good of society. This art is now lost. But, with present day advancement in communication technology, cybernetics, artificial intelligence, automation, etc., man could rediscover a part of these and put them to use for the good of society, unrestricted by the outmoded Varna or Jati.  Man has realized that only a small part of his intelligence has been put to use till now and knowledge is boundless and is waiting to be discovered.

 

Foothills of the mountains abounded with rivers and lush green meadows provided ideal places for hundreds of Rishis and hermits to establish their Ashrams and concentrate on spiritual matters or explore scientific and artistic pursuits without any hinderance. This has resulted in the Hindu civilization to indigenously attain progress in both spiritual and material fields, ‘leap-frogging’ all other civilizations of the West, all this, before the beginning of Christian Era.  Hundreds of intellectuals, scientists, inventers, poets and artists, Rishis, Yogis and saints who have contributed to this achievement over centuries have remained incognito.

 

This achievement can be attributed to:

·        Geography of the sub-continent: Foothills of Himalaya and other mountains    sheltering Ashramas, monasteries, and hermitages and providing ideal environment for work of spiritual and technological development.  

·        The people who inhabited this region expressed foresight, engaged in a ‘live and let live’ community, championed fair-play, and employed a scientific and logical state of mind.

·        Varna ashrama dharma which placed people in professions best suited to the individual’s in-born qualities and skills, brought out hundreds of rishis and saints who worked diligently on development of society instead of personal aggrandizement. No other civilization has mustered up so many tapasvis and intellectuals over a specific period as the ancient Indian civilization has done.

 

Achievements of ancient Indian civilization compared with those of some Western civilizations in the field of Science, Technology, Arts and Culture:

It can be appreciated that ‘four or five millennia of uninterrupted agricultural life in the Indus Region set the stage for final emergence of a highly developed indigenous civilization by about 2600BCE’ (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).

While writing about ancient India, it is difficult to separate religion from other achievements as spirituality gets intertwined with them, whether it is within the arts like music, dance and yoga, or science like mathematics, astronomy, or Ayurveda.

As our focus is on influence of geography on science and technology, it is relevant to compare the achievements of ancient Indian civilization with the status in other such civilizations at a particular time, say, beginning of the Christian era under the following nine different parameters.

1)     Language:  Sanskrit. Although Sanskrit is considered as a “dead language” by some, because it is not being spoken in daily life, yet, it is used daily in prayers, hymns, Vedic mantras, sacred literatures, music, etc.  Though regional languages and dialects were used for day to day activities, during spiritual and technical debates, Sanskrit was used and understood by intellectuals.  Sanskrit was a language used in Kings’ courts and correspondence with foreign countries, much the same way that we use English today.  However, during the Muslim rule the usage of Sanskrit was almost abandoned.  Further in the English rule, learning Sanskrit in schools was also abandoned leading to the death of a technically mature language.   While Vedic Sanskrit was the earliest language form in the 2^nd millennium BCE, a more refined version of Sanskrit followed which was used in all the epic scriptures, Puranas, Shastras, philosophical and scientific literature, and was a communication link for rishis and yogis. It was also used as a court language by kings. Pāṇini assigned grammar and systemized the language which has helped it survive through all the centuries.

 

Peggy Holroyde in her ‘An ABC of Indian Culture’ while writing on Sanskrit says “Most scholarly Englishman, Oxford Graduate Sir William Jones, appointed by Governor General Warren Hastings (1783-1794), described Sanskrit as ‘more perfect than Greek, more copious than Latin and more exquisitely refined than either’. In an era when colonial Europe was globally dominant, subjecting others in Africa and Asia to its supposedly superior civilization, it had not realized that in fact Sanskrit was the mother language of the Indo-European System.”

 

But decline set in with the rise of Buddhism and Jainism, and the Persian language gained popularity under the Moghul rule. During the last 3 centuries, due to British dominance, English drove Sanskrit to the status of an archaic language much like Latin and Greek in Europe.

 

2)     Script: Devanagari. Script is an important medium for language to record and communicate a spoken thought without ambiguity. Letters, alphabets, and characters, each have a distinct sound, but when grouped together, bring out the spoken word.  Language needs script for preservation, dissemination, and communication of knowledge.

Egyptian civilization is one of the most ancient. Still they did not evolve their alphabet. They had several hundred pictographic signs to represent words. It was time consuming, both to write and read, and the precision was absent.

Ancient Greek and Romans developed 26 alphabets. Several alphabets are grouped to bring out the sound of a syllable. Phonetic usage of alphabets is often absent. Sometimes an alphabet is ‘silent’ depending on usage.

 

The Devanagari script was evolved in about the 2^nd millennium BCE.  It has 56 alphabets, 16 of which are vowels. It is fully phonetic and nearly all words in the language can be written. The beauty of the language and its precision is guarded by a grammar developed by Pāṇini.  Amarasimha created Amarakosha, a Sanskrit thesaurus providing vocabulary for precise usage.

Thus, the Sanskrit language with Devanagari script is easy to read and write without ambiguity.

 

3)     Culture: Tolerance.  Hospitality, courtesy, and respect to the learned such as one’s parents, Gurus, and elders are imbibed deeply in Indian culture. Kindness to animals is in the nature and ahimsa is a creed.

For instance, the cow is held in reverence for its docile nature, providing nourishing milk and cow dung as covering mud floor and as manure. A cow is never killed for food.

Also, when walking and riding bullock-carts were the means of transportation, for pilgrimage or other ventures, it was customary to welcome a stranger, an unexpected guest for lunch. A guest was treated as God: ‘Atithi devo bhava.’  

Religious tolerance is a major pleasing cultured behavior.

St. Thomas the apostle who came with traders established a Christian Syrian orthodox church in 52AD on the Malabar coast of South India, Christianity was in India perhaps even before its spread in Europe! Similarly, several groups of Jewish heritage took refuge in India at various periods, earliest being the 68 AD.  A group of Zoroastrians took refuge in a state near Surat in 7^th Century AD and became Parsees.  All these people of different religions and cultures sought refuge and lived amicably following their religion and culture. Muslims who came as conquerors destroyed temples and killed and converted people to their religion.  Britishers who followed were able to wipe out old systems in the name of modernization.

Now it is for the present generation to wake up and salvage the Indian Civilization and put it back to its past glory. A basic need is, everyone in the country, Hindu, Muslim, Parsi, Christian or any other creed should feel and proclaim that he is first an INDIAN and work for its betterment. There should not be any doubt in loyalty.

Ancient India in 2^nd millennia BCE gave the world the concept of zero and infinity, the decimal system which revolutionized mathematics, the atom and the universe influencing both physical science and metaphysical concept of God.

 

The period between the 6^th century BCE and the 1^st century BCE appears to have been a period of Intellectual exuberance in which a vast body of works,   on topics outside the perview of faith and religion were composed in the Indian subcontinent. These were scientific and political works on a host of subjects like politics economy , holistic wellness medicine mathematics grammer Drama etc.

These works leaned heavily on even earlier works and refined and recast into the form of treatises, shastras and samhitas  to serve as text books for further study and referance through the ages. They were a culmination  of existing knowledge and served as nucleus for subsequent development. What is amazing is that they find relevence even in this day  It is a misfortune that almost all original manuscripts are lost, but luckily we have numerous referances to them down the ages which help us to rebuild them .

 To name a few of such historic works.

·        Ayurveda.Medicine and Surgery.   Charaka Samhita, based on earlier works of Agnivesha and Atreya of 6^th centuryBCE and Sushruta Samhita( 6^th centuryBCE

·        Holistic Wellness.  Patanjali ‘s Yoga Sutras (2^nd CenturyBCE) Science of Asanas ,Pranayama  Meditation etc

·        Sanskrit Grammer, and Literature:  Panini’s Asthadhyayi (5^th-4^th century BCE) Pingala’s works on Chandas shastra.(2^nd CenturyBCE)

·        Politics, Statecraft, Economy:  Chanakya’s Artha Shastra (4^th Century BCE)

·        Dance Drama and Music :  Bharata Muni’s Natya Shastra (5^th century BCE)

 

4        Medicine: Ayurveda Charaka defines Ayurveda as “the science of life” not merely of health, as it deals with good and bad life - happy and unhappy life.  Ayurveda, an indigenous herbal Indian medicine and surgery, was a part of Atharva Veda and believed in a holistic view of both body and mind while diagnosing and treating. The Ayurvedic system emphasizes on prevention of a disease by correcting lifestyle, rather than treating the ailment.

Sage Atreya guided Agnivesha to compile a treatise on Ayurveda in 8^th century BC based on prevailing knowledge which was revised and codified in 3^rd century BC by Charaka into the Charaka Samhita (consisting of 8 parts and 120 chapters). This was used as a standard text for studying Ayurveda for over 2 millennia and was translated to many foreign languages including Arabic and Latin.

Sushruta compiled a similar Sushruta Samhita mainly for surgery. This was often used for treating injuries sustained during war or sports.    The field of medicine in ancient India was so advanced that the textbooks written 2500 years back by Sushruta, mentions 1,120 medical conditions, 700 medicinal plants, 400 surgeries and 121 surgical instruments. (Ref. Age of Literature: The Art &Science of living -by Aditi Shah)

Ayurveda as systematized and codified by Charaka and Sushruta is still in use. Even chronic diseases are treated successfully, and a number of foreigners come to take up this treatment even in present 21^st century. Himalayan Foothills, and the Ghats of southern peninsula abound in rare herbal treasure, thanks to India’s geographical features. Many medicinal herbs and tubers are exported for use, supplemented in drug manufacture by western manufacturers. Ayurvedic pandits were functioning in every town and village before the introduction of Western medicines, but with ‘injection pill’ culture, indigenous medicine has faced a setback. From Vedic times, yoga, meditation, and Pranayama, were in wide use to enhance mental ability. These have now been popular both in India and other parts of the world, often as a novelty, forgetting the correct technique, thereby losing the expected benefits.

 

5        Performing Arts: Dance, drama, and music, both traditional and classical rural and folk forms of music had developed to a high standard in Ancient India. Treatises, codes, and texts have been developed by saints and rishis from Vedic period and cultural purity has been maintained while absorbing influences from other cultures.

       For example, the Natya Shastra, by Bharata Muni, dates back to 1^st millennium BCE. The text consists of 36 chapters and over 6000 verses detailing all aspects of performance arts. This includes composition, structure of play, the stage, selection of artists, subtleties of acting and body movements to bring out the 9 Rasas, the Sutradhaara and his sakhi introducing the story and the purpose to the audience. The purpose of this is not only entertainment but an added aesthetic enjoyment that transports the audience into a spiritual experience. Natya Shastra does not permit the portrayal of death on stage.  

Music and Dance are considered Vedangas or extension of Vedas. Their presiding deities are Saraswati and Nataraja. Performances are conducted for entertainment and also during rituals like marriages, Utsavas, and in temples. It is traditional to start an auspicious act with music by the ‘Mangala Vadyams’.

India has developed a wide variety of musical instruments that are stringed, wind, percussion and cymbals. Some of these are unique like Veena, Tabala, Ghatam, and Brass Cymbals.

 

6        Architecture: Rock art. Archeological excavations of ruins of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro have revealed that Indus Valley had indigenously developed a very high level of urban development in the mid-3rd millennium BCE.

Ancient Buddhist stupas and Hindu temples of north west India of the 1^st century BC and earlier have been lost due to vandalism and looting during the Taliban regime of Afghanistan.

Pre-historic cave paintings in Bhimbetka in central India date back to the 10th millennium. This is a stone-age habitation covering over 750 rock shelters over 10 km, showing the skill and artistry of pre-historic man. The paintings depict themes of animal-hunting and dancing. This is also classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Similar cave paintings are found in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Odisha.

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Ajanta caves in Maharashtra date back to 2^nd century BC. These are world-famous rock-cut caves, also classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They consist of Buddhist monasteries and worship places carved into rock cliffs and are covered with vivid mural wall paintings and sculptures. The caves are carved out of basalt rock on a vertical cliff side. Excavation was begun by cutting a narrow tunnel at the roof level and expanded down and outwards. Massive pillars were carved out to support the roof. There was a two-story monastery.

The skill, ingenuity in planning, the enormity of work involved, the army of rock cutters and sculptors diligently working in inaccessible places  with primitive implements tools, and the sheer feat of engineering speak to the advanced status of this civilization, which has managed to sustain and survive to the present day. It is also to be appreciated that the motivation to these efforts are not self aggrandizement for an individual’s purpose (as was in the case of Egyptian Pyramids) but a devotion to God or service to society.

India is dotted with huge temples with marvelous sculpture, many in ruin, victims of plunder or religious intolerance.

 

7        Political Science and Finance: Indian scholars had made a deep study of various aspects of life as they existed at the time of their study and also explored aspects that would be relevant even after centuries. They had laid down rules and norms giving reasons, assumptions, and explanations.  

Chanakya’s Artha Shastra is one such script. It contains 15 volumes, 150 chapters and over 6000 verses in Sanskrit, covering topics like Governance of a country, Law, Civil and Criminal Courts, Ethics, Economics, Markets and Trade, Diplomacy, art of War, nature of peace, Foreign policy and espionage. It also included the duties and obligations of a King, written as a practical guide for a king to survive! Chanakya warns the king that the end justifies the means, and one day you make peace and next day you may be attacked.

 

8        Measuring Progress

a.    

Figure 1Iron Pillar at Merouli

Technology and metallurgy: Indus Civilization exhibits a wide range of crafts and technical skills; Occupational specialization was firmly established. Copper and bronze were principle metals used for making tools and implements like axes, chisels, knives, arrowheads, and spears in large quantities, both for local needs and even for export on occasions. They were also used to make cooking vessels, seals and tablets embossed with animal motifs. Bronze castings of human and animal figures were made by the lost-wax process. The quality of both sheet metal and castings were outstanding. Silver, gold, and lead metal work were frequently used. Ornaments, jewellery inlay work, shells and ivory, soapstone carving, and terra-cotta figurines were extremely popular for export

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glazed earthenware with artwork were mainly for trade within the country and for export to Mesopotamia and Akkadians.

Ironworking was indigenously developed around 12^th century BCE. Apart from introducing iron ploughshare and other implements, an engineering marvel had been achieved- an Iron Pillar 23’ 8” high and weighing about 3tons. This iron pillar at Mehrauli Delhi has been resistant to corrosion and has not rusted over the years even through its exposure to sun, rain, and the current polluted atmosphere.                                     Figure 2Inscriptions on Iron Pillar

 

b.      Agriculture and Animal husbandry:    Agricultural practices like planting seeds in rows, harvesting, threshing, and storing in granaries had been developed in the Indus valley, by about 7000BCE, thanks to the fertile soil and abundant availability of water.  Wheat and barley cultivation and rearing of cattle sheep and goats had started.   By 5^th millennium cotton cultivation had started and by 4^th millennium spinning and weaving had also been evolved. Several wild cereals including rice growing in Vindhya hills were domesticated and developed indigenously in 7th millennium and rice farming spread to Ganga valley and delta of Bengal and later to South-east Asia (Wikipedia History of Agriculture in Asia.) Thus, it can be concluded that many agricultural practices and verities of crops had originated in India and spread to south-east Asian countries.  Sophisticated irrigation and water storage system were developed, including artificial reservoirs at Girnar dating back to use 3000BCE. Use of animal drawn plough had been evolved. Deccan plateau was not far behind in developing their own traditional practices.  Western Ghats developed growing of spices like pepper, cardamom etc. Spices, timber, herbs, and jewelry were exported to European and Gulf countries by Indian and Arab ships. Sugar cane cultivation and purifying and crystallizing sugar were developed, China had sent Buddhist monks in 647CE for learning sugar refining technology.  Dung-mounds for manure, was a prevailing practice.

 

c.      Progress in Literature: When we talk of the Heritage of Indian Literature, we cannot overlook Vedas and Vedanta, being the oldest crystallisation of thought.

 

As Peggy Holroyde puts in her ‘An ABC of Indian Culture,’ about Vedas,

“true Indian view of Life - a glacier of knowledge, assessment after speculation, insightful flashes of inspiration that gathered material slowly over the terrain of human thinking in a period that must have stretched for at least 3,000 years, before finally being set down in written text.”

Assuming that Hinduism had started its decline by the time Buddhism and Jainism came about, which is about 6^th century BCE,  and allowing one millennia for Hinduism’s Golden age, the compilation of Vedas and Upanishads could be put at the beginning of  2^nd millennium BCE.

This was followed by a large number of classical Epics like the Ramayana, the Maha Bharata, the Bhagavad Gita and 18 Puranas and Itihasas which picturised the philosophy of the Vedas and Upanishads for the guidance of common man, to follow the path toward observing Sanatana Dharma.  Thus, while Vedas and Upanishads could be read and understood by intellectuals, the universal Sanatana Dharma or the way of life was illustrated into stories such as those in the Epics like Ramayana and Maha Bharata, for the whole society to follow and imbibed into their daily life. In addition, the epics were outstanding in their literary value; with poetic beauty and rich cultural impact, they spread all over India and to countries of Southeast Asia and have survived to this day. Other art forms like music, dance, sculpture, and painting have drawn heavily from these literatures.

Katha Sarit Sagara as the name implies, is a treasure of stories for adults and children, anecdotes, folk lore collected over centuries by unknown storytellers, which provided themes for poets to weave dramas and poems. Bhasa, a famous dramatist several centuries prior to Kalidasa has written dramas using characters from Katha sarit sagara like Udayana, Vasavadatta, Yaughandarayana. He was one of the few   Indian play-writes who wrote Tragedies like Urubhanga Karnabharam known for their pathos and characterisations

d.     Trade and commerce: The Indian subcontinent, with its rich varieties of spices, metal implements jewellery pottery, artifacts and agricultural products etc. provided a good market for internal trade as well as export to countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Northern rivers provided inland waterway, and maritime trade on the coasts of both the Arabian sea and the Indian Ocean were developed by ports.

Maritime history of India dates to 3^rd millennium BCE. Indus Valley was known to Mesopotamians as Meluha. Louver Museum in Paris houses a Akkadian Cylinder seal of about 4300 years back showing a Meluhhan tradesman with Mesopotamians, indicating that trade existed between Mesopotamia and Lothal port (in present day Gujarat).  Ruins of Lothal indicate a wharf, Warehouses, and a flourishing trade centre. A Roman Historian mentions that in 26BCE he saw 120 ships ready to leave for India at Red Sea port of Myso Horomos (Indian Maritime History – Wikipedia) other ports of India in Ancient Times are Muziris, Poompuhar Pattanam, Baruch, Arikamedu, and Tuticorin.

 

9        Sustainability:  How sustainable is this civilization – is it susceptible to decline and vanish or resilient and survive.

World has seen a number of civilizations which have outshined for a short period, excelling in a few fields, but ultimately faded into oblivion .This could be due to Natural causes as in the case of Mesopotamia, where  rivers flooding of fields and lack of drainage causing salt incrustation and decrease of fertility of soil. In the case of Egypt, it was weak administration, which could not retain its cultural identity and withstand the cultural impact of Roman, Persian, Christian and Muslim cultures.  Roman civilization crumbled due to life of over-indulgence and dependence on slave-labor.

In the case of Indian civilization, though it has fallen from past glory, a resurrection like Phoenix is possible as cultural values imbibed over centuries lay dormant and could be awakened and unity in diversity consciously practiced. An analogy is: All the fingers in the hand are different from each other, yet they all act together in times of need.  There is also a need for deep introspection of our old practices and attitudes and revising our Smriti discarding outmoded beliefs and practices. Dadabhoy Naoroji had said a century back, ‘Whether I am a Hindu, Mohammedan, Parsi, Christian or of any creed, I am above all an INDIAN and my country is India ‘There is a basic need for everyone to feel and proclaim that he is First an Indian and this is his country.  There should not be any doubtful loyalty. WE should keep in mind the concept of ‘Vasudha eva Kutumbakam’ and try to introduce it as a global concept.  

 

 

 

 

Above narrative briefly indicates that

·        the unique geographical features of India played a major factor in the creation of a highly mature civilization in ancient times. The features primarily provided the ideal environment for a large number of intellectuals, thinkers and Maharishis to devote uninterrupted time both, in the spiritual field and other various aspects needed for a civilization to flourish. There are hardly any places in the world that can claim a similar condition

·        A mature world religion which teaches humans how to live in harmony for a better society.

·        A large group of Intellectuals and sages who, over a period of several centuries have given to society, treatises on various aspects of civilization with such a sound base, that the civilization can withstand any pressures of foreign invasions, or religious intrusions

As Peggy Holroyde commenting on the Indian Rishis writes at the end of her book ‘An ABC of Indian Culture’

How very modern at the level of its philosophical view, and how very contemporary in embracing what we would call ‘scientific exploration’ is the entire basis laid by India’s incisive thinkers… and that too so very long ago.  With not even rudimentary technology, let alone our advanced electron microscopes etc., how then did those rishis of such antiquity come to understand the immensity “out there” and “within” the mind of consciousness?  I think, with concentration, meditation, and keenness of thinking, the rishis could solve problems, spiritual or scientific, and arrive at ‘Knowledge’ even in the absence of aids like tools or labs.

 

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