Cultural History of India

What is India? How it has come to this shape? What we know about culture and traditions we often talk about? More questions are unanswered to many, but still we remain a proud Indian.



Last January, when I visited Mahabalipuram (near Chennai), I saw the ancient master pieces and sculptural wonders. I got excited by touching the edges which were touched by the artists who made those marvels around 2000 years back. I was moved by the precision and beauty of the temples and chariots of Pandvas. It was the triggering point for me to re-explore the country I belong to and know what this country was and how concoction of different cultures came into the shape it is at present. The best source was my best friend, ‘a Book’.

In pursue to understand the history of India, I started collecting material from internet; but what I found was either diluted or incomplete. I then searched for a good book to understand the mysterious of ancient India. After skimming through the options available for Indian History, I found this fantastic book by Oxford University press which was edited time to time to update the new findings and developments. There are nearly 20 masters of history, all of whom had put their best effort to give crisp information about the period of history they deal with. Further, the book clearly separates facts and findings from assumptions and general beliefs. This is how; I started my ‘excavation’ to know the history of India.

Within first few pages, I understood the origin of the word ‘India’ and how it was derived from ‘Indus’ and referred as ‘Hindustan’. Details of these levels make the reading much more interesting and knowledgeable. Moving ahead to Indus civilization and looking at the planning of there road and transport system, one couldn’t resist himself from comparing it with current situation. The road system at that time was beautifully detailed. There were exact parameters accounted by the Indus people for designing the main road of the village and subsequently other roads width are derived from it. Array of perpendicular roads with diminishing width explains the city planning of that time. This shows the clarity of planning and execution Indus people demonstrated through there road and transport system. Transporting grains through river flow, point towards the natural understanding Indus civilization had. Such system is eco-friendly and effective and could be applied in today’s world too. We can have the farms at relatively higher altitude and can just transport them through canal to storage location at lower altitude. No transportation, no fuel, no pollution.

Coming to the next big event Indus witness was Aryan invasion. Aryans (Europe) invaded Indus and completely exploited the lack of administration and self-defense capabilities of Indus civilization. Aryans were good at combat and there weaponry was advanced than that of Indus civilization. The European way of managing people through hierarchy could have been seen in Aryans form of administration. Much more interesting information is available along with supporting proofs in the book. One can establish so many relations between contemporary world and the ‘world’ that was. Same way the development of languages, cultures, art, and religions are explained in the periodic way with evident linkages and proofs.
Starting from the pure Art of painting animals, people, objects etc… on the rock, to the influence of cultural mix is visible in different forms of art. The way artist used to put their thought into an article and sometimes in coins or pots, and then the change in the design of coin due to the change in King or dynasty is simply narrate the story of that time. How well reasoned the things were and one can also see the architectural leap, India has witness during change over from Aryans to Hindus to Mughals to British. Every change reflects the change in the overall culture of that time.

Literature is the most benefited field (everyone may not agree) due to the diverse culture of India. Here, an interesting fact can be deduced logically. Sanskrit was used to write Vedas. And Vedas were written after Aryans came to India. Aryans basically came from Europe. And logically one can establish a relation in-between Sanskrit and Aryans and conclude that Aryans brought Sanskrit to India. This suggests that Sanskrit finds its origin in Europe and is not created in India. On the other hand, many languages came into existence over a period of time. The details of their development through simple poems (Some of the oldest writings in which poet describe what he sees by using similar words) to long chapters in Tamil could be seen in the documents excavated by historians.

Coming to the political history, I feel there are many altercations in this part of history than any other. Because every day a new controversy rose up, you never know when the truth will become a lie. Supporting the influence of history on India, one can see the similar pattern in the current India. Events like, killing father to take his position or betraying friends are the bitter parts of Indian history. Many kingdoms had seen their collapse because of inferior king and many kingdoms had flourished under the rule of great kings (one can see individual states of India and relate them to kingdoms). I think only the reference word has change, but the society remains same. We still have casts, economic disputes, taxes, etc.

I will end it over here, because I think it’s already too much for some people. With this we can have a little feel of great History of India and agree that there is much more to be explored and understand. Do comment if you want to add something or if you disagree with some information provided.