Marxist R.Thapar Admits to India's Ancient Glory

[Guest guest]

INDIAN HISTORY IS FULL OF ROMANCE AND WONDER!

 

There is a controversy about everything in India. Garrulous,

argumentative and noisily assertive, Indians can wax eloquent on the

simplest of causes. The latest example of this national pastime of

arguing has been the recent changes in history textbooks by the BJP-

led National Democratic Alliance government. Murli Manohar Joshi,

with his RSS links, has been vociferously accused of 'saffronising'

the teaching of history in Indian schools because of the new windows

introduced on the Vedic period.

 

However, listening to the riveting exposition of ancient Indian

history offered by scholars like Romila Thapar, one truly wonders if

modern Indian children know enough about the glory of India long

before either the Moghuls or the Europeans landed on its coasts after

1000 AD. If only to become familiar with India's early history, which

shows the true spirit of the Indian civilizations, the early

milleniums must be studied by all those who want to understand the

eternal and limitless nature of Indian culture.

 

The first millenium of the Gregorian era, according to Thapar, was a

golden age of Indian art, science, learning and scholarship. With

burgeoning trade, which brought about an import and export of all

kinds of goods, India developed a diverse civilization, which was

open to new ideas and new influences. Great temples were built in

this era. Wondrous cave shrines were constructed, with immortal

sculptures and frescoes contributed by Buddhist, Hindu and Jain

artists, working side by side, in the same caves. Roads and sea

routes, transport and trade were developed. Art and culture

flourished and worldwide communication links were forged long before

either the Moghals or Europeans set foot on the soil of India.

 

"Peninsular Indian kingdoms of the Cheras, Pandyas and later the

Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Pallavas and Cholas had highly developed

ports, says Thapar, "India was known for its trade with the Roman and

Greek empires and ports in the Mediterranean area. Ports like

Bharukachcha - now Broach - Kalyan and Sopara on the West Coast of

India conducted continuous trade with Romans and Greeks as well as

Jews and Arabs from the Middle East to the Mediterranean. Alexandria

too was a busy port. Because of the trade, mainly in spices (pepper)

and fine textiles, Greeks, Arabs and Jews came to India and often

made settlements here to permanently live in this country. These

visiting traders who made the Indian peninsula their home, found that

Indian society of those years was curious, anxious to learn about the

world and open to a free exchange of knowledge. Greek and Arab

writers came to India and experienced for themselves the openness of

the Hindu and Buddhist societies and wrote copious diaries or records

about their visits to the various kingdoms and cities. They found

that Indian society was roughly divided into several classes. These

were - Scholars and philosophers, cattle tenders and herdsmen,

agriculturists, soldiers, artisans and counselors. They recorded that

almost 120 shiploads of goods came from various destinations to India

at the end of the monsoon - which was even then the vitally important

season for the people of India. The ships brought in a cargo of gold,

silver, wine, oil, porcelain and horses as well as other goods. After

two months, when the winds were clement, the ships returned home with

a huge cargo of spices (pepper), textiles, timber (teak and

sandalwood), apes and peacocks.

 

"The visiting chroniclers also wrote about the ascetic sects of

India, the many gods the Hindus worshipped and the prevailing freedom

of thought which even included a place for atheism. Many scripts were

used by this early society. Inscriptions, books and palm leaf

manuscripts were written in Brahmi, Tamil and Prakrit. Many of them

recorded that the rich among the visiting traders gave ample

endowments for the building of caves and temples and supported

architects, sculptors and artisans in their magnificent efforts. Of

particular importance is the reference to the Karla caves near

Lonavala in Maharashtra which seem to have received sizeable

donations from so-called Yavanas who were so highly impressed with

Buddhism that some of them even practised the religion. The Karla

caves have the single largest rock cut hall among all caves in the

world. The Yavanas stayed on and mingled in Indian society so well,

that to date, people of the West Coast in India are known to have

Greek blood in their families.

 

"The Yavanas of those ages were divided into two categories: 1. The

Greeks 2. Other Mediterranean visitors. Through these visitors and

their active participation in India's religious and social

development, the Indian scholars' knowledge of astronomy, mathematics

and medicine reached many a Mediterranean civilizations. The writings

they have left behind are a mirror to our early past, which absorbed

influences from all areas of the world.

 

"Excavations in various sites in peninsular India have shown that a

huge number of gold coins were brought in by ships for the ongoing

trade," says Thapar, "Temple funds, it is reported, were used for

importing 10,000 horses a year from Arabia. These horses were used

for transport, travel, war and for ceremonial rituals. Several

references to these historical events and the family life of traders

and tourists have been recorded in the Jeniza letters, which were

found in a synagogue in Cairo, Egypt in recent years.

 

"Later, from 500 AD, the Roman Empire began to lose its glory and

splendour. Other trade routes developed. Busrah and Constantinople

became busy ports. The Chalukyas and the Rashtrakutas even appointed

Arabs as their administrators for their far-flung provinces.

Chroniclers like Al Beruni came to India and left a valuable window

to the past for us to study. Islam slowly came to India with several

sects like the Khojas and Bohris seeking settlements here. India

became the treasury of the world with its jewels, textiles, rich

agriculture and highly developed knowledge systems. The trade route

to the Far East - especially China - opened up and many ships from

the West and the Arabian countries traversed from Western ports to

the ports of China via India.

 

"It is important that students in modern India should be exposed to

all aspects of Indian history. I am not denigrating the study of the

Vedic past. I insist that history and the available knowledge has to

be assesses in a total historical context. This context has to be a

scientific, rational inquiry," says Thapar.

 

Obviously, correct knowledge of the past is not possible without

correct insights and research. Indian students today, who show such

an abysmal lack of knowledge and awareness of Indian history, should

be required to delve into the past and learn about India's ancient

and rich civilization and its development till the modern age. Only

then will they get a correct, balanced perspective on their country.

 

This article is based on Prof. Romila Thapar's Vasant Sheth Memorial

Lecture for 2002 in Mumbai.