Ok, so now we're getting into the second half.
And here we go again:
11. Shankaracharya and Advaita Vedanta ~ 800 AD:
The revival of Hinduism and its formation in the way we know it today began to take shape during this time. Shankaracharyya, Madhava and Ramanuja played an important role in eliminating other contemporary schools of thought and consolidating what would become the mainstream Hinduism. An already declining Buddhism would gradually be absorbed into mainstream Hinduism in the centuries that would follow.
12. Rajendra Chola's Rule - 1012-1044 AD:
While Northern India was being ravaged by the hordes of one Sultan Mahmud of Ghazani, an Afghan invader who plundered the country in seventeen raids, South India saw one of its greatest rulers on the throne of the Chola Empire. Rajendra Chola's empire directly held Deccan in almost its entirety and thrugh his ambitious naval campaigns he spread his influence across South East Asia.
13. Second battle of Tarain - beginning of the Delhi Sultanate - 1192 AD.
After the fall of the Pala Empire, Northern India was once more in disarray and the power vacuum was finally filled up by the Turko-Afghan ruler Muhammad Ghauri. Ghauri who was defeated in an earlier battle against the Rajput King Prithwiraj Chauhan, came back to defeat Chauhan and rapidly spread his empire across the plains of Northern India, establishing the first Islamic Empire in India.
14. Second battle of Panipath- Rise of Akbar - 1556 AD.
Humayun was routed by the prolific Afghan Sher Shah Suri, and the prospect of Babur's descendants were appearing grim. At Panipath, the Mughals make a comeback lead by Akbar the great and recapture Delhi. In the course of time, Akbar would expand his empire across India, establish a strong system of governance and his rule would be later remembered to be the high point of the Mughals in India.
15. Aurangzeb's Death:- 1706 AD Beginning of the end of the Mughals
Aurangzeb expanded the Mughal empire to its greatest extent, but his negative and communal policies lead to rising dissents across India, notably among Shikhs, Jaaths and Marathas under Shivaji. The Empire would collapse in a few decades.
16. Battle of Plassey:- 1757 AD.
The British win their first war in India through treachery and backstabbing and capture the rich province of Bengal in the process, thereby establishing the foundation of British India. What follows in the next few years is a systematic depletion of wealth and oppression of the highest kind; something that would lead to the infamous Bengal famine.
17. Third Battle of Panipath:- 1761 AD. Decline of the Marathas.
A regional power that could have been India's last hope against the British face a crushing defeat in the hands of Ahmad Shah Abdaali, the Afghan warlord. Once again, a decisive battle is fought at Panipath, and once again, the defenders are on the losing side.
18. The Great Mutiny, 1857:-
First nationwide armed resistance against British authority. Hindus and Muslims jointly revolt against British authority and an army revolt snowball into a nationwide uprising, perhaps the first of its kind in India. Once the mutiny is crushed, India is brought under the direct rule of the British Monarch, thereby bringing an end to East India Company's rule.
19. Foundation of the Muslim League in Dhaka, 1906 :-
While Bengalis participate in a mass movement against the partition of the province of Bengal on the basis of religion, apprehension about Hindu dominance grows within a section of the Muslim society as they form a political organization. This event would gradually polarize the population along religious lines and would later lead to the birth of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,
20. Independence and Partition, 1947:-
An unarmed old man speaking of peace leads a nation to her freedom. Amidst the tragic scenes of mass migration and communal riots that kill and displace millions, two new nations are born out of British India; two countries that would remain hostile to each other for years to come and would face each other in several wars, both open and covert.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Events That Defined the History of India - Part-I
Tough task. Here are my picks.
I started this as a single blog but then as it became too long I decided to split into two instalments.
1. The arrival of modern man: 70,000 to 50,000 BCE
An extensive analytical study done on the mutations of the Y-chromosome establish that some 70,000 to 50,000 years ago, the first homo sapiens, or modern man, set his foot on the land that would later be known as India. This marked the beginning of an amazing journey that our nation would make in aeons to come.
2. The coming of the Aryans: 2000-1500 BCE
The next big event would be Aryan migration. Even though the Aryan migration theory is still disputed among some circles there is ample evidence to suggest that Aryans or Indo-Europeans weren't descendants of the earlier tribes that had settled in India ages ago. Rather, they appear to have been a branch of nomadic tribes that originated somewhere in Central Asia and set out in search of lands to inhabit.
3.Battle of ten kings: dates: UNKNOWN
The earliest war that finds mention in Indian literature, the battle of ten kings, as described in the Rigveda was a war fought between the Bharata tribe, lead by King Sudas against a confederacy of ten other tribes somewhere in Punjab; possibly by the banks of river Iravati (Ravi). The Bharatas emerged victorious and their supremacy was established over the greate Punjab region.
4. The earliest composition of Mahabharata: 9th-8th century BCE (?)
A civil war of the Kurus spread all over Northern India and gave rise to one of the greatest epics ever written in human history. The war of Kurukshetra marks the junction of the age of legends and the age of history in the Indian context. The epic, though grows beyond a story of war and emerges as an encyclopaedia of Ancient India itself; and along with the Ramayana constructs the basis of Indian moral values.
5. The spiritual revolution: 6th century BCE
A spiritual revolt against Brahmanian orthodoxy and corruption took shape in the form of some 40 odd Naastika movements, the most prominent of which were Buddhism and Jainism. The authority of the Vedas was challenged vehemently, and the events that unfolded left a deep impact on Indian society in centuries to come.
6. Emergence of Magadha as the Indian superpower under Mahapadma Nanda: 4th century BCE
This would eventually lead to the formation of the first Pan-Indian Empire under the Mauryas. Though it started in Buddha's times with Bimbisara and Ajatashatru; it was Mahapadma Nanda who extended the empire across the Gangetic plains and Central India, vigorously uprooting numerous minor kingdoms. By the time of Alexander's invasion (323 BCE), Magadha under Mahapadma's descendants was already a formidable power which even the Greeks weren't keen on taking on.
7. Kalinga war: 261 BCE
It wasn't Ashoka's coronation (273 BCE), but this war fought in modern day Orissa that gifted the land with perhaps the greatest ruler that it would ever see. Ashoka, once a ruthless ruler, underwent a radical change and started preaching the doctrine of love; establishing a most benevolent system of administration and sending his peace missions to the furthest corners of the known world. Ashoka's territory after the Kalinga war also was the greatest pan-Indian empire ever, in terms of area, extending upto and including modern day Afghanistan.
8. Chandragupta II's reign: 375-413/15 CE
Every culture identifies a golden age in its course of history which marks a culmination of art and literature. For India, the most popular forerunner for this coveted spot is the rule of the Gupta Dynasty, the most prominent part of which is marked by the reign of Chandragupta II. Also known as Vikramaditya, this emperor and his court of poets and artists have attained legendary status.
9. Invention of zero and the decimal system: 5th century AD (?)
Needs no further elaboration as far as its importance is concerned with respect to Science in general. Aryabhat, the scientist generally credited with this invention was also the first person to propose the theory of a heliocentric solar system as opposed to the traditionally accepted geocentric one, about a thousand years before the "Copernican Revolution".
10. Invasion of white Huns: 477 AD
Though the Hun invasion was baulked by the Gupta emperor Kumaragupta, it greatly weakened the Gupta Empire, and lead it to its steady collapse afterwards. The ruthless Huns would however gradually dissolve in the ocean of Indian population and would later be embraced into mainstream Hindu society as Rajput tribes.
============ End of Part I ============
I started this as a single blog but then as it became too long I decided to split into two instalments.
1. The arrival of modern man: 70,000 to 50,000 BCE
An extensive analytical study done on the mutations of the Y-chromosome establish that some 70,000 to 50,000 years ago, the first homo sapiens, or modern man, set his foot on the land that would later be known as India. This marked the beginning of an amazing journey that our nation would make in aeons to come.
2. The coming of the Aryans: 2000-1500 BCE
The next big event would be Aryan migration. Even though the Aryan migration theory is still disputed among some circles there is ample evidence to suggest that Aryans or Indo-Europeans weren't descendants of the earlier tribes that had settled in India ages ago. Rather, they appear to have been a branch of nomadic tribes that originated somewhere in Central Asia and set out in search of lands to inhabit.
3.Battle of ten kings: dates: UNKNOWN
The earliest war that finds mention in Indian literature, the battle of ten kings, as described in the Rigveda was a war fought between the Bharata tribe, lead by King Sudas against a confederacy of ten other tribes somewhere in Punjab; possibly by the banks of river Iravati (Ravi). The Bharatas emerged victorious and their supremacy was established over the greate Punjab region.
4. The earliest composition of Mahabharata: 9th-8th century BCE (?)
A civil war of the Kurus spread all over Northern India and gave rise to one of the greatest epics ever written in human history. The war of Kurukshetra marks the junction of the age of legends and the age of history in the Indian context. The epic, though grows beyond a story of war and emerges as an encyclopaedia of Ancient India itself; and along with the Ramayana constructs the basis of Indian moral values.
5. The spiritual revolution: 6th century BCE
A spiritual revolt against Brahmanian orthodoxy and corruption took shape in the form of some 40 odd Naastika movements, the most prominent of which were Buddhism and Jainism. The authority of the Vedas was challenged vehemently, and the events that unfolded left a deep impact on Indian society in centuries to come.
6. Emergence of Magadha as the Indian superpower under Mahapadma Nanda: 4th century BCE
This would eventually lead to the formation of the first Pan-Indian Empire under the Mauryas. Though it started in Buddha's times with Bimbisara and Ajatashatru; it was Mahapadma Nanda who extended the empire across the Gangetic plains and Central India, vigorously uprooting numerous minor kingdoms. By the time of Alexander's invasion (323 BCE), Magadha under Mahapadma's descendants was already a formidable power which even the Greeks weren't keen on taking on.
7. Kalinga war: 261 BCE
It wasn't Ashoka's coronation (273 BCE), but this war fought in modern day Orissa that gifted the land with perhaps the greatest ruler that it would ever see. Ashoka, once a ruthless ruler, underwent a radical change and started preaching the doctrine of love; establishing a most benevolent system of administration and sending his peace missions to the furthest corners of the known world. Ashoka's territory after the Kalinga war also was the greatest pan-Indian empire ever, in terms of area, extending upto and including modern day Afghanistan.
8. Chandragupta II's reign: 375-413/15 CE
Every culture identifies a golden age in its course of history which marks a culmination of art and literature. For India, the most popular forerunner for this coveted spot is the rule of the Gupta Dynasty, the most prominent part of which is marked by the reign of Chandragupta II. Also known as Vikramaditya, this emperor and his court of poets and artists have attained legendary status.
9. Invention of zero and the decimal system: 5th century AD (?)
Needs no further elaboration as far as its importance is concerned with respect to Science in general. Aryabhat, the scientist generally credited with this invention was also the first person to propose the theory of a heliocentric solar system as opposed to the traditionally accepted geocentric one, about a thousand years before the "Copernican Revolution".
10. Invasion of white Huns: 477 AD
Though the Hun invasion was baulked by the Gupta emperor Kumaragupta, it greatly weakened the Gupta Empire, and lead it to its steady collapse afterwards. The ruthless Huns would however gradually dissolve in the ocean of Indian population and would later be embraced into mainstream Hindu society as Rajput tribes.
============ End of Part I ============
Home
My grandfather was a refugee. One morning, some sixty years ago, he had waken up to learn that his country wasn't his any more. His family was one of millions that became homeless during the chaos that ensued the partition of the former British India. Through years of struggle, he did re-establish himself in a land that was new to him. Starting from scratch, he got a job and earned a name for himself in his professional career, but the wounds of being severed from home were too deep to ever heal completely. He didn't dislike his later residences; in fact he loved them; but that special spot in his heart was always reserved for a place he was never able to return to. Never was he tired of narrating the same old stories of the hamlet where he grew up, of those coconut trees, those lakes and woods, and the people whose lives revolved around his own. That quaint little neighbourhood wasn't his country anymore, but it still was where his home was, and it was the place he wanted to go back to. Always.
It's hard to fix a definition for the word 'home'. Perhaps it suffices to say that it's the place one feels sad to leave and where one wants to go back to, again and again, from anywhere else. After a long journey, or after a day's work, or simply, when one feels like. To a person, it could mean an apartment, a house, a neighbourhood, or even a city; depending on her perspective. However, it's not a place or a house alone that makes a home. The sights, sounds, smells and perceptions that one associates with the place are also a part of it. It's not just another point on the earth's crust with a fixed longitude and latitude, but a place that emerges beyond its spatial existance onto a level where it can be connected to with feeling and nostalgia.
That is not to say that the spatial aspects or the building is insignificant. They have their own place. They constitute the skeleton; a foundation on which the other, less tangible entities weave enchanting patterns of memory. Each room in the house, in fact each spot in each room has its own special place. You remember the slippery floor where you slipped and fell when you were a kid, the flight of stairs where you had once overstepped, the dining room where the family would gather every night, the lawn chair on the balcony where you would sit and watch the birds and the passers-by; the cosy little corner in your room where you would log in to your first computer.
People, of course, are an integral part of it. The warmth that one associates with a home generally oozes from the people who stay, or have stayed in and around that place. Memories that we cherish and that often make us homesick, also are woven around the same people; people we love, people we feel a strong connection to, people we long to see again.
There are other aspects of it as well. Little things we seldom pay attention to show their worth by creating indelible impressions on the mind. These impressions reflect prominently when one's away. When I think of home, among other people and things, I also think of the random strangers who would walk across the street and whom one could watch from our balcony; stray cats that would wander about in the nighbourhood, street dogs that would whine in the middle of the night, crows that would meet for their daily congregation at our terrace every afternoon, and the tree next to my window that would burst into a revolution of red blossoms every spring. None of these seemed to be of any significant importance when they were around me, and yet, they probably were, for they had made their presence felt.
And then there are things I would do when at home, and that I miss when I'm away. Reading the local newspaper in the morning while relishing a cup of the most refreshing tea, or taking those exciting auto-rickshaw rides across the city through peak traffic; or getting drenched in the monsoon downpours when umbrellas just don’t work; or jostling with sweaty crowds on a packed up minibus; or getting enchanted by the mystifying glow of the setting sun on a rain-soaked evening are just some of them. Oddly enough, I even miss the frequent power-cuts at the peak of summer, the intense heat, the chaotic traffic and the noisy crowds. All of them combine to complete a collage that I call home. Some are a nuisance; but they are essential components nevertheless, for they too contribute to put all the colours to the image and to put all the notes to the sound.
All these things, parts of our memory: big , small, important, less important, tangible, abstract, intense, vague; come together to remind us of our home. And they call us to come back; luring us with glimpses of a familiar world.
However, while we find ourselves in a far away land, seperated by hundreds and thousands of miles from the domain of familiarity; at times we realize that home might not be as far as it seems. After all, it's the same blue sky, the same moon and stars, the same clouds, white and grey, and the same raindrops. People and objects are capable of creating a bond of a similar intensity, even if that's of a different kind. And then we realize that perhaps our home isn't limited to a fixed location. As we grow, and as we travel, our horizons expand, and our homes become larger. While for some of us, home remains a complex image from the past of a fixed place; for the rest, it changes. That doesn't mean that the earlier home loses its significance, it holds on to its special place eternally, but other places gradually are elevated to that level too.
Home, after all, is where we want to be; where we want to return to; and to which we could relate and connect to emotionally. It can be a single place, but it also can be more than one place if one feels equally at ease at all of them, and feels an equal sense of attachment to all of them. In a global society, where people often have to stay away from their original homes not because they were driven out by wars or partitions, but because they left deliberately to pursue career goals; it is natural to build a strong connection with the new surroundings. With time, the new place often grows on us. With all its little nuances that capture our perception, it, too, weaves a world of familiarity; and becomes our second home; not replacing the first by any means, but becoming as special.
It's hard to fix a definition for the word 'home'. Perhaps it suffices to say that it's the place one feels sad to leave and where one wants to go back to, again and again, from anywhere else. After a long journey, or after a day's work, or simply, when one feels like. To a person, it could mean an apartment, a house, a neighbourhood, or even a city; depending on her perspective. However, it's not a place or a house alone that makes a home. The sights, sounds, smells and perceptions that one associates with the place are also a part of it. It's not just another point on the earth's crust with a fixed longitude and latitude, but a place that emerges beyond its spatial existance onto a level where it can be connected to with feeling and nostalgia.
That is not to say that the spatial aspects or the building is insignificant. They have their own place. They constitute the skeleton; a foundation on which the other, less tangible entities weave enchanting patterns of memory. Each room in the house, in fact each spot in each room has its own special place. You remember the slippery floor where you slipped and fell when you were a kid, the flight of stairs where you had once overstepped, the dining room where the family would gather every night, the lawn chair on the balcony where you would sit and watch the birds and the passers-by; the cosy little corner in your room where you would log in to your first computer.
People, of course, are an integral part of it. The warmth that one associates with a home generally oozes from the people who stay, or have stayed in and around that place. Memories that we cherish and that often make us homesick, also are woven around the same people; people we love, people we feel a strong connection to, people we long to see again.
There are other aspects of it as well. Little things we seldom pay attention to show their worth by creating indelible impressions on the mind. These impressions reflect prominently when one's away. When I think of home, among other people and things, I also think of the random strangers who would walk across the street and whom one could watch from our balcony; stray cats that would wander about in the nighbourhood, street dogs that would whine in the middle of the night, crows that would meet for their daily congregation at our terrace every afternoon, and the tree next to my window that would burst into a revolution of red blossoms every spring. None of these seemed to be of any significant importance when they were around me, and yet, they probably were, for they had made their presence felt.
And then there are things I would do when at home, and that I miss when I'm away. Reading the local newspaper in the morning while relishing a cup of the most refreshing tea, or taking those exciting auto-rickshaw rides across the city through peak traffic; or getting drenched in the monsoon downpours when umbrellas just don’t work; or jostling with sweaty crowds on a packed up minibus; or getting enchanted by the mystifying glow of the setting sun on a rain-soaked evening are just some of them. Oddly enough, I even miss the frequent power-cuts at the peak of summer, the intense heat, the chaotic traffic and the noisy crowds. All of them combine to complete a collage that I call home. Some are a nuisance; but they are essential components nevertheless, for they too contribute to put all the colours to the image and to put all the notes to the sound.
All these things, parts of our memory: big , small, important, less important, tangible, abstract, intense, vague; come together to remind us of our home. And they call us to come back; luring us with glimpses of a familiar world.
However, while we find ourselves in a far away land, seperated by hundreds and thousands of miles from the domain of familiarity; at times we realize that home might not be as far as it seems. After all, it's the same blue sky, the same moon and stars, the same clouds, white and grey, and the same raindrops. People and objects are capable of creating a bond of a similar intensity, even if that's of a different kind. And then we realize that perhaps our home isn't limited to a fixed location. As we grow, and as we travel, our horizons expand, and our homes become larger. While for some of us, home remains a complex image from the past of a fixed place; for the rest, it changes. That doesn't mean that the earlier home loses its significance, it holds on to its special place eternally, but other places gradually are elevated to that level too.
Home, after all, is where we want to be; where we want to return to; and to which we could relate and connect to emotionally. It can be a single place, but it also can be more than one place if one feels equally at ease at all of them, and feels an equal sense of attachment to all of them. In a global society, where people often have to stay away from their original homes not because they were driven out by wars or partitions, but because they left deliberately to pursue career goals; it is natural to build a strong connection with the new surroundings. With time, the new place often grows on us. With all its little nuances that capture our perception, it, too, weaves a world of familiarity; and becomes our second home; not replacing the first by any means, but becoming as special.
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