India has a very old civilization. There were contemporary civilizations in
other parts of the world, but all of them are now buried along with their
material remains. Indian civilization has showed excellent continuity till
today. India or Bharat – the name of the geographical entity north of the
Indian Ocean, got its recognition as a state right from the pre-vedic period.
Myriad kings ruled here, many kingdoms emerged and extinct. Many wars
happened. Yet a uniting force was keeping India together, assimilating
everything into its fold throughout the history. Individual efforts to form a
united kingdom by the rulers were sometimes superficial. That artificiality
eventually had to pay a heavy price when the subcontinent was cut into two
nations post independence. The vibrant society existing as the largest
democracy is an wonder. True are the words “The wonder that is India”.
The name India was used by the westerners to denote the area
beyond the river Indus. The Indus valley civilization flourished some two
thousand years before the current era. They had contacts with other
civilizations from then the name ‘India’ got a place in foreigners mind. It
became a sought after destination for trade attracted by its wealth, natural
resources and agricultural produces. In their desperation to find India via
sea routes many islands got the name as India. The islands off coast of
American mainland were named after India and later changed to West
Indies. They called the indigenous population of the American continent as
Indians and later changed to red Indians. Thus the name India got
recognition far and wide.
The consolidation of the land as a single state happened post the
Indus valley civilization by the legendary king Bharatha. His reign is called
‘bharathavarsha’. The name we Indians gave to our land ‘Bharat’ was after
this king. His kingdom encompassed the whole peninsular India, the
Northern plains, Kashmir and Pakistan. The stories of our epics Ramayana
and Mahabharatha happened in this period. The imprint left by then kings
and then culture in the Indian culture is very deep. Perhaps these epics are
the adhesives binding the numerous cultures together. The heroes of that
time Rama, Sita, Krishna, the Pandavas are the heroes even today. The
stories behind all our festivals traces back to this epic period. Not only that
these heroes are the gods of Hindus, but they are the links to tie all Indians
together. It is amazing that the story supposed to be happened in sixth
century BCE is still widely discussed, argued and criticized. Majority of Indian
literature developed afterwards have either visible or invisible links to these
epics. Many people interpreted it many ways –but still the core values
remain the same. Many people took the relatively unexplored but strong
characters in the story and made them the heroes of their creations. The
Bhagavat Gita, the essence of all the philosophies in a nutshell is still shown
to the outside world by the Indians proudly. Every Indian carries the sense
of belonging for this great works. Along with trade, Indian culture and the
epics also travelled to other countries. They also helped to get a unique
identification of the land of Bharata. If we go by the wisdom of the story, we
can see the scientific agricultural and artillery advancements that Indians
had in that age. The culture thrived to continue over the history but perhaps
it is only that scientific temperament we lost over time.
India was not ruled as a single entity throughout the history. Rather it was
fragmented for most of the time. The empires of Ashoka, the guptas and the
mughals covered the major portion of the subcontinent. In times of turmoil
and intense infightings, it is the geographical uniqueness that had held the
Indian state together. It is surrounded by Indian ocean on three sides in the
south. The mighty Himalaya is a barrier along its north west to north east
border. The Hindkush ranges forms the north western border. The
mountains and oceans effectively preserved the unity of the nation. The role
of Himalayas in uniting the nation is magnificent. The ruggedness and
mightiness of the ranges have shut all the cultural and territorial invasions
from the northern regions. Himalayas provide a distinct climate also. The
Hindkush ranges in the North West to south west is not as continuous and
inaccessible as the Himalayas. It is only through this gap that several
invasions happened. Roman & Greek empires had trade relations. Afghan
kings came and looted the treasure. The Mughals came and made India
their home land. The most important invasion was that of the Aryans. These
emigrants settled along the Indus and slowly spread southwards and
eastwards covering the entire subcontinent. They gave a distinct dimension
to Indianism. They brought the vedic culture which became the inseparable
part of Indian culture. Even though Chinese culture was flourishing in the
north, except some intrusions along the Himalayas passes and the northeast
it did not trickled south to the Indian subcontinent. The relation isolation of
the north east India can also attributed to the Himalayas and its southern
extension as the poorvanchal. Usually the north east India was left out from
the dominions of the Indian Kings even the great Bharatan, Asokhan and
Mughal empire had left out this land. It was only the Guptas who had some
in-roots upto Kamarupa, the present Assam. The monsoon is a unique
climatic gift for India. Whether it is Apatanis of North East or Rajathanis of
North West, the tribals of central India or farmers of south India all will
eagerly wait for the arrival of monsoon every year. The rhythm of agriculture
in all regions is decided by the agriculture. Every Indian farmer is at the
mercy of the monsoon. The anxieties, the relief, the prayers of all peole are
common. The Himalayas play a major role in distributing the monsoon rains
over country. It ensures that all from its east to west receive rains. Barrier
has given India the distinct tropical monsoon climate not withstanding its
territorial extension over the tropical and subtropical regions.
Post Mauryan period, many foreign rulers invaded India from its North
West frontier. Many times their empire encompassed the areas of present
Afganisthan and beyond. Absence of a strong ruler divided the land among
many powers. Under the foreign rulers such as Kushanas, Satavahanas
Indians never felt being ruled by foreigners. They had freedom. Indian
people had accepted the tolerant foreign rulers. They even Indianised them
giving Indian names and accumulating them to the existing caste structure.
These rulers encouraged the local arts, literature and culture. They brought
along with them their artisans and writers. Different style emerged and
flourished. The writers gave a vivid account of India their works were
translated into many languages and carried the fame of India worldwide.
Many Indian works were translated to other languages. From this
informations, the curious Europeans started expeditions to find this
beckoning land. Major portion of India was united again during the Gupta
age. It was a golden age for Indian art and literature. The unwritten
knowledge of generations were consolidated this time . The Epics, the Vedas
and the Upanishads were written. The Vedas are still regarded as the store
house of all ever known wisdom of the humans. The scientific achievements
that time are commendable. The yoga by Patanjali is the excellent work. The
Arthasatra is the text book for all the kings. The Abinjana sankunthalam is
the story of all people. The Ayurveda is still the basic treatment of all
Indians. The great works during this age is still today the binding force
among all Indians. The knowledge and authenticity of the works are
unchallenged till now and practiced even today. Still we are trading this
ancient knowledge to the outside world. Indianism got its unique nature and
character during this period. The Hinduism attained its modern form during
this period.
The contribution of the Hinduism as a uniting force is well acclaimed
Hinduism is a set of thoughts and practices evolved along with the history of
India. It evolve from the prehistoric nature worship, Harappan mother
goddess, vedic gods of Indra and agi , shavisim, vaishanivsm to include all
the tribal god and goddess in its fold. It gave a common religious form and
rules. Even Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism are also included in its vast
definition. It grew by taking, giving and sharing with all other regions that
come to India. The foreign religions adapted many customs and rituals from
the Hinduism and become Indian. This great power of assimilation is the
greatest strength of India to remain united with a myriad religions, cultures
and customs. The common festivals and common gods all over India is a
binding force. Himalayas is the abode of the god for all the Indians. The
Ganga is their holy river. The caste-structure is common all over India. The
caste system is so rigid that foreigners had more freedom to get assimilated,
than the Indians to move between the castes. This system divided Indians
among different social economic and occupational strata. Even though the
system preserved the horizontal unity all over India, the vertical
discrimination did harm to the social development. The lower strata termed
as untouchables are yet to be brought into the mainstream. Despite the
numerous policies and programmes of the government some sections of
people still facing difficulties to throwaway the shackles.
Muslims also made India their homeland during the Mughal reign. Even
as some Muslim invaders came looted India and returned, the Mughals saw
India as their own land. They never imposed new religion on their subjects
or curbed their freedom. After a period of political uncertainties, the Mughals
consolidated India to a single empire. Lot of cultural exchanges happened.
Mughal rulers had patronaged both Hindu and Muslim art and culture.
Hindusthani music, Mughal architecture, Hindusthani language evolved
during this period. Urdu, Persian got mingled with Indian languages. Apart
from the unfortunate incident of partition of India post independence,
Muslims never felt that India is an alien land . The Sufi movement tried
along with the Bhakti movement for a religious revival. Non-cooperation
movement and Khilafat movement fought together against the British.
The modern form of the unity of India got structured during the colonial
perod. The British east India company came here for trade and gradually
started territorial acquisitions. During the rule of lord Dalhousie, the major
portion the subcontinent came under British rule. India which was deeply
disintegrated after the fall of Mughal Empire got a territorial unity. But this
imposed unity was rather artificial because it was the greediness of the
colonialists that bought the vide area including Myamar and North West
province under single rule. First time the whole north east was integrated to
India. Later separate administrative units, boundaries were drawn as per the
convenience of the rulers. Thus the culturally and ethically connected
population was separated across the borders. The roots of secessionist
movement and insurgencies along the Indian Border States can be traced to
this un empathic marking of boundaries. In the name of administrative
convenience, British adopted divide and rule policy. The united Bengal was
divided on religious grounds into two. The seeds sown by this policy grew
into very large thorny bush and bleed India. But the repressive British rule
helped to unite the Indians. The idea of India as a single nation got into the
blood of every Indian. The social reformers tried to arise the people by
trying to revive the old glory of India. The cultural and religious renaissance
efforts emerged. all this gave India the sense of unity and urge to end the
foreign rule. The ideals of the struggle the non-violence, ahimsa and
satyragraha was drawn from our culture. On positive side the british rule
had helped to achieve an administrative unity. They introduce a common
legal system first railway line, telegraph, postal system, connecting language
and a framework for the government. Unlike other foreign rulers, British
never saw India as their homeland. They never patrone Indian arts or
culture. Other than the missionary work, they never tried for cultural
exchanges. Their sole motive was economic exploitation, the common anger
against the colonial rule brought forward people from all wakes of field - the
peasants, students, lawyers, soldiers, merchants into the national struggle
for freedom under the leadership of Gandhiji.
The post colonial India saw a great divide in the unity. The land was
divided among India and Pakistan. After a painful separation and massive
communal violence, India has emerged as a vibrant democracy. India saw
secessionist movements in Punjab, Kashmir and Nagaland. The economic
growth has helped to accumulate all. The land of extremes is united by a
common economy. The majority do subsistence agriculture. Cottage
industries the handicrafts and art works show a common nature all over
India. Service sector has become the largest. We are still trading our soft
skills as we did right from the prevedic times.
The topography, culture, society, economy, climate, religion are the
uniting forces of India. Almost all rulers ruled here have encouraged cultural
and religious assimilation. The underlying thread of unity connecting the
nuke corner of India runs very deep. The thread is both temporal and
spacial. The spacial connection gives all Indians the feeling that they are
part of one family. The temporal connection runs through the history and
gives us the sense of belonging and ownership to our culture. The seemingly
unmentable cut in this weaves happened in 1947. The true Indian spirit still
hopes for the reunion of the parted relatives into a single state as existed
during the Bharatavarsha.
