Brewing rivalries, conflicts, and more significantly the recent terror attacks have brought with world to a bind. Samuel Huntington’s “The Clash of Civilisations”, is no longer an event of a distant past. It is happening now and the threat is imminent. People, especially, Indians who are lulled into complacency are suddenly jolted. This new reality has further stoked the latent surge of a Hindu awakening. Battling to fight the war of narratives that continue to undermine the antiquity and most importantly the continuity of Bharatiya civilization, a conscionable attempt to decolonise the discourse has picked up pace.
More than
ever, there has been a new interest in getting connected to the roots and
deciphering the antiquities of the civilisational values that they hold dear. Catering
to the dharmic quest for unvarnished facts Padma Shri Meenakshi Jain through her
prominent scholarly works- Rama and Ayodhya, The Battle for Rama: Case of
the Temple at Ayodhya, Sati: Evangelists, Baptist Missionaries, and the
Changing Colonial Discourse, Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples: Episodes
from History; Vasudeva Krishna and Mathura have broken the stranglehold of
partisan historiographies which not only dominated the academics but the
discourse. Through her latest book- “The Hindus of Hindustan: A
Civilizational Journey”, Dr. Jain did a splendid job of providing clarity
to the much-debated concept of national unity.
Setting the
context, The Preface of the book starts off by saying- “During British rule,
Colonial administrator/ scholars, confronted with the vastness and diversity of
the country, declared “there is not, and never was an India or even any country
of India possessing, according to European ideas, any sort of unity, physical,
political, social, or religious; no Indian nation, no ‘people of India,’ of
which we hear so much”” (Strachey, 1911;5).
Ironically
for eons though Indians continued to pay an ode to the antiquity and geography
of Bharat through the customary chanting of the Sankalpa and the
purification mantra- “Gange cha Yamunechaiva Godavari Saraswati Naramade
Sindhu Kaveri jalesmin sannidhin kuru” every day, the trusted Indian
cultural sepoys of the colonial masters who were driven out close to eight
decades ago prattle the whimsical Winston Churchill’s remarks of “India is
merely a geographical expression”.
As has been her wont, Dr. Jain who has
clinically dismantled the concocted myth of Rama Janmabhoomi in her current
work, shreds the deliberate propaganda of “India is a geographical construct”
with undisputable facts. Tracing the references to India, Dr. Jain cites the 63
verses of Prithvi Sukta, the first national song of veneration in Atharva
Veda, Panini, Katyayan, Patanjali, the Mahagovinda suttanta, the
oldest section of Tripitikas where Bharat was described as Maha
Prithvi. The shape of Bharat was likened to a bullock cart- rectangular in
the north and conical in the south.
The Indian
epics-Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Puranas have an immense wealth of
information about the geography of the country like rivers, mountains, forests
deserts, etc. The Puranas also talk about the division of India into nine
portions (Nava Khanda), an idea that was adopted by ancient astronomer
Parasara. Varahamihira’s Brihat Samhita actually provides topographical
details of these divisions. The 10th-century work, Kavyamimamsa of
Rajasekhara divides India into five divisions- Madhyadesa, Udicya, Pracya,
Dakhsinapatha, and Aparanta these are identical to the Bhuvanakosa
chapters of some Puranas. In fact, the “Five Indies” concept of
Chinese can be traced to this division of India. Even Kalidasa’s
Kumarsambhavam and Meghaduta are replete with geographical
descriptions of India.
A common
comprehensive term of ‘Jambudvipa’ is found across all these venerated
sources-used for the territory extending from the Himalayas in the north to the
sea in the south. Alexander’s historians who chronicled his confrontation with
King Porus note that ancient Indians had precise information about the size and
shape of their land. These observations are preserved in the writings of
Eratosthenes (276 BCE-194 BCE), Strabo (64 BCE- 21 BCE) and Arrian (86
BCE-160CE). Two thousand years later, Alexander Cunningham concurring with
Greek historians wrote, “they (ancient Indians) had a very accurate
knowledge of the form and extent of their native land”.
The timeless
Bharat civilisation has been extensively referred to in Vayu Purana,
Markandeya Purana, Vishnu Purana, and Matysa Purana and the first
inscription with the word Bharadhvarsha was traced to the 2nd
century BCE in Hathigumpha. Hence, the
mischievous and ill-conceived propaganda of Bharatvarsha being a ‘physical
reference’ is totally misplaced and holds no ground.
The book
also excellently encapsulates another astounding feature of Indian civilisation
which is the continuity of cultural practices- worship of Shiva, mother
goddess, trees, fire altars, the use of earthen ladles for yagnas, construction
of ritual tanks adjacent to Hindu temples, worship of pillar or Skambha and
certain yogic postures. This Vedic Skambha which is the cosmic pillar and Yupa
or sacrificial place has extended to become Chakra Stamba, Garudu Stamba,
and later into venerated Stupas of Buddhism and Jainism as well. Gradually the
co-existence of different faiths became the defining feature of Indian
civilisation.
This
continuity is more pronounced in agricultural practices like the plantation of
mustard in the North-South direction alongside horse gram in the East-West
direction, the method of pounding grain, household chores, the use of carts and
the curved beam of plough share, an iconic feature of Harappan times.
With kings
extending benefactions to all faiths, the sacred structures of various faiths
existed and blossomed across the vast expanse of the country. Udayagiri,
Deogarh, Badami Caves, Ellora Caves, Khajuraho etc. stand as a testament to
peerless syncretism. There was no trace of any imposition of foreign faith on the
indigenous populace. The foreign rulers embraced the native faiths and became
an integral part of Indian society.
The Ancient
Indian lawgivers have facilitated the Indianization of immigrants. The
admittance of immigrants and their communities into Indian society was
illustrated in Nyaya Sutras of Gotama Aksapada (dated between 6th
BCE and 2CE), Vatsyayana’s Nyaya Darsana and Gargi Samhita.
Interestingly, the assimilation is subject to “the acknowledgment of the
accomplishments of foreign groups in various branches of science”.
Bharat is
traditionally known to be a land where people have been connoisseurs of
knowledge. Instructively, expertise in specific fields of knowledge or science
becoming the basis for admittance of foreign rulers speaks volumes of the progressive
outlook of ancient Indian society, its rare scientific temper that bestowed the
highest emphasis on knowledge acquisition. This singularly destroys the warped
Nehru-Marxist narrative of Indian society being orthodox, inflexible and
xenophobic.
The foreigners
which included Greeks (Yavanas), ancient Iranians, Kushans, Sakas (Scythians
and Parthians), and the Huns embraced Indian faiths and their cultural and
spiritual practices completely. But things changed dramatically with Islamic
invasions in the 8th century. Repugnance towards foreigners
increased with the desecration of temples, forced imposition of alien faith,
killing of priests, and breaking of idols. The Arab and Turkish invasions
ruined the prosperity and people were forced to flee to safer regions.
The book
laid out in 19 chapters has two major sections titled – The Making of Early India
and The Advent of Islam. Each of the chapters is standalone making the book an
easy read. What certainly stands out are chapters 18 and 19 which shed light on
why early foreigners became part of Indian society and not the later ones.
These break into smithereens the carefully constructed discourse of extolling
the Muslim invaders and the ignominious depiction of India as an uncultured
society.
Replete with
generous doses of primary and secondary sources of authentic references, the
book can be an important starter for any enthusiastic dharmic reader genuinely
interested in the time travel of Indian Civilisation. What sets the book apart
is the continuity and connection between the Harappan and Vedic civilisations
which it brings to the fore. Packing together several important milestones,
etched with stories of Hindu resistance and the valiant efforts of the Hindu
confederacy to repel the marauding Muslim invaders to the heavy influence of
dharma sastras on Kurral, the book is a treat for history buffs.
This
scholarly treatise expertly rebuts the jaundiced narratives and coloured
perspectives that systematically denied the ancient Hindu civilization its due
place.
Published
by: Aryan Books International, 2023
Pages: 318,
Price: Rs 995
@ Copyrights reserved.
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