What went wrong to India ?

[SuvarnaTeja]

When do you think it was a very cultured and advanced civilisation?

It was until 800 CE.

 

[Nilu Pule]

If Muslims would have been sent to neighboring country in 1947, India would have been a developed country by now

 

[Joe Shearer]

It was until 800 CE.

Arguable. But a fair date; the worst of the caste system had not come into being, social mores and norms were still relaxed and not puritanical, cities were recovering from the repeated invasions of the past six centuries, and society had not sunk into the woman-degrading habits of the military camp that was to come, literature had peaked, perhaps was getting over-ripe - fair enough.

On the other hand, does this date keep in mind that the previous centuries had been filled with blood and strife, far worse than we think about the later cycle of Arab, Turkish and Turco-Persian, and Afghan invasions. The Greeks attacked and went far beyond Alexander's furthest limits; so much for the romantic and self-aggrandising notion that his advance further east would have led to bloody defeat. They penetrated up to the centre of the Ganges delta. Then the Scythians swept in, cleaned up southern Afghanistan, the ancient Arachosia and thereafter Seistan, after the Sakas themselves; they were followed by their tormentors, the mysterious, Centum-speaking Tocharians, the Yueh Chi or the Moon Clan, who called themselves the Kushana; finally, the gargantoylean Ephthalites and their grotesque cruelty, that rivalled Genghis Khan and Taimur's brutality. India was not a peaceful place, not the part that gets into the history books.

There is much to be said for the school that points to the myopic version of Indian history served up in schoolbooks, that concentrate on the Gangetic Delta and bits and pieces of the Indus and the lower reaches of the Ganges river. It was myopic and most north Indians (the Pakistani included in that geographical expression) know little or nothing about the glorious cultures of the Peninsula and beyond.

Pity, really.

 

[SuvarnaTeja]

The Greeks attacked and went far beyond Alexander's furthest limits; so much for the romantic and self-aggrandising notion that his advance further east would have led to bloody defeat. They penetrated up to the centre of the Ganges delta. Then the Scythians swept in, cleaned up southern Afghanistan, the ancient Arachosia and thereafter Seistan, after the Sakas themselves; they were followed by their tormentors, the mysterious, Centum-speaking Tocharians, the Yueh Chi or the Moon Clan, who called themselves the Kushana; finally, the gargantoylean Ephthalites and their grotesque cruelty, that rivalled Genghis Khan and Taimur's brutality. India was not a peaceful place, not the part that gets into the history books.

The problem is Indians never believed in documenting history. Except the brutal Kaliga war where thousands have been killed as acknowledged by Ashoka before propagating peace & Buddhism, there is not much information or claims of bloody wars until going back to the Mahabharata period. Kingdoms did expand (and contract) through other means too

1) Marriages and Alliances
2) Projection of power (through Rajasuya & Ashwamedha rituals) there by getting other small kings pledge allegiance to the emperor (or would be Emperor)

On the contrary, Muslims were good record keepers. The battles that they fought, number of people killed, number of temples that were looted/destroyed were very well documented. All the history that we know today of the Islamic invasions in the last 1300 years are from those same Islamic records that were very well documented and preserved.

 

[padamchen]

The problem is Indians never believed in documenting history. Except the brutal Kaliga war where thousands have been killed as acknowledged by Ashoka before propagating peace & Buddhism, there is not much information or claims of bloody wars until going back to the Mahabharata period. Kingdoms did expand (and contract) through other means too

1) Marriages and Alliances
2) Projection of power (through Rajasuya & Ashwamedha rituals) there by getting other small kings pledge allegiance to the emperor (or would be Emperor)

On the contrary, Muslims were good record keepers. The battles that they fought, number of people killed, number of temples that were looted/destroyed were very well documented. All the history that we know today of the Islamic invasions in the last 1300 years are from those same Islamic records that were very well documented and preserved.

Everyone around the world kept written records the past thousand years.

Indian history predates this by a lot.

At least the Hindus did not have their texts destroyed as the Zoroastrians did.

Cheers, Doc

 

[SuvarnaTeja]

Everyone around the world kept written records the past thousand years.

Indian history predates this by a lot.

At least the Hindus did not have their texts destroyed as the Zoroastrians did.

Cheers, Doc

Hindus hardly kept any records. Even Vedas were passed verbally from generation to generation and were never written. 1000s of Upanishads were supposedly written while hardly 100 survive today.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Everyone around the world kept written records the past thousand years.

Indian history predates this by a lot.

At least the Hindus did not have their texts destroyed as the Zoroastrians did.

Cheers, Doc

No, he's right, Doc. I'll answer in a bit; busy packing.

 

[Jugger]

Wow not a single troll post in this thread. It was a delight to read till now.
This is how threads should be in PDF.

 

[nahtanbob]

Everyone around the world kept written records the past thousand years.

Indian history predates this by a lot.

At least the Hindus did not have their texts destroyed as the Zoroastrians did.

Cheers, Doc

most societies did not keep written texts

 

[Asian.Century]

Muslims 1000 year endes - 100 British and then Hindus became majority and it destroyed Indian fabric.

 

[Han Patriot]

most societies did not keep written texts

I can trace my ancestry to 1000 BC.

 

[nahtanbob]

I can trace my ancestry to 1000 BC.

most dudes cannot