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The
architect of modern India, Pandit Jawahalal Nehru, in his book 'The
discovery of India,' described India, " As a geographical
entity, a cultural unity in the midst of diversity, a bundle of
contradictions held together by strong but invisible threads.
Overwhelmed again and again, her spirit was never conquered and to
day…. she remains undaunted and unconquered….She is a myth and
an idea, a dream and a vision and yet very real, and present and
persuasive."
From
age to age, she has produced great men and women, carrying on the
old tradition and yet adopting it to the changing times. For
centuries before Christ, there were regular intercourse both
cultural and commercial,, between India and the west.
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The
writings of PLINY, STRABO, PTOLEMY, and the anonymous pamphlet '
Periplus Maris
Erithraei,' published in the first century AD, provide
sufficient evidence to the above conclusion.
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The
discovery of Indian statues at MEMPHIS, the ancient capital of
Egypt, dated 500BC,
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The
discovery of the Indian seals at SUMERIA,
in Babylonia and in
Mycenian cities in Greece, all dated between 2000BC to
3000BC,
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The
Buddhist relics found in Central Asia, Syria, Palestine and
Egypt,
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The
existence of the GNOSTIC school of thought of ALEXANDRIA,
(influenced by he Buddhist philosophy,) are all conclusively
traced to the ancient Indian contacts.
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Traces
of HINDU CULTURE have been found in various parts of Eastern
Europe. Many LITHUANIAN customs and rites, their river names and
their tribal names as well as the names of their Gods,
worshipped by their ancestors are distinctly Indian and ARYAN.
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Many
of the DRUIDIC rites are traced to the ARYAN VEDIC
origins and
to the Aryan influence.
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According
to the Greek traditions THALES, EMPEDOCLES, ANAXAGORAS,
DEMOCRITUS and others undertook journeys to the oriental
countries to study philosophy.
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The
scholars have established the influence of the Indian philosophy
on the Christian Gnosticism,
during the second and third centuries as an undisputed fact.
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Roman
Emperors like AUGUDTUS CEASER, TRAJAN, AND MARCUS AURELIUS,
received Embassies from India.
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The
foreign invaders of India --The GREEKS, THE SAKAS and THE HUNAS
in particular, were most of them were absorbed in to the Indian
population and became part of he being, they having adhered to
the ideals of the race.
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The
Rajputs who in the tenth and eleventh centuries occupied almost
the whole of the Northern, the western and the central India,
are said to have foreign elements in them, thus Aryanised.
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Before
the rise of Islam, there lived in Arabia, many Hindus, and
mostly Brahmins. It was from these Brahmins that the Arabs
learned the science of Maths, Astronomy, Algebra and Decimal
notation, which were transmitted later by the Arabs to
Europe.The aim of the early Muslims was plunder and destruction,
rather than any political power which motivated the later Muslim
invasions.
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Though
Muslim invasions resulted in the subjection of the
Indians, gradually it turned out to be not so much a
foreign rule - because Muslim settled
in the country and made it their home. Whereas the
British rulers sent their pregnant wives to their native
motherland so as to keep their offspring's pure, and where they
could not arrange the travel, they ensured
the delivery of their babies in the
international waters--that is inside the ships anchored
at the nearest
Harbours.
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Force
of circumstances led both Hindus and Muslims to understand each
other and evolve a cultural fellowship whose traces are found in
all branches of ARTS and LETTERS. When the Arabs came they
stopped near the Indus. The Turks and Afghans spread only
gradually. It took several centuries to establish themselves
firmly on the throne of Delhi. It was a continuous and long
drawn out conflict.
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While
this struggle was going on, the other process of absorption and
Indianisation was also at work. Thus the invaders became as much
Indian as any one else. AKBAR became the great representative of
the old Indian ideals of a SYNTHESIS of differing elements and
their fusion into a common NATIONALITY. AKBAR identified himself
wit India and India took o him although he was a new comer;
because of this he built a new
and strong Empire. So long as his successors kept in line
with his policy and with the genius of the Nation, their Empire
endured. When they opposed such an ideal and broke away, the
whole drift of national development weakened and Heir Empire
broke in to pieces.
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In
south India, for
more than a thousand years after the Mauryan Empire had shrunk,
(and finally ceased to be,) great states flourished. These were
SATHAVAHANAS, CHERAS, CHOLAS, PANDYAS, HOYASALAS, CHALUKYAS, and
RASHTRAKUTAS ETC.
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The
repeated invasions of the North India did not affect the south
directly. Indirectly it led to large migrations of people from
the North to the South. These migrants included builders,
craftsmen, and artisans Buddhist and Jains, who were persecuted
in the North, migrated o the south and produced some of the
great literary masterpieces in the local languages.
Thus
the south thus became the centre of the old artistic traditions,
while the north was more affected by the new currents which the
invaders brought with them. Thus to this day comparatively the south
remains the STRONGHOLD of the HINDU ORTHODOXY, while the north
remains more COSMOPOLITAN in out look!
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The
western impact according to Sri AUROBINDO gave India the needed
impulse. It revived the dormant intellectual and critical
impulse. It rehabilitated life and awakened desire of new
creation. It put the reviving Indian spirit face to face with
novel conditions and ideals and the urgent necessity of
understanding, assimilating and conquering them. The national
mind turned a new eye on its past culture, reawaken to its
senses and import, but also at the same time saw it, in relation
to modern knowledge and ideas. Out of this awakening vision and
impulse, the Indian renaissance is arising and that must
determine its future tendency.
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Where
the Mughals failed the British triumphed, but hardly had they
established themselves in the north, when the great mutiny broke
out and developed in to war of independence and nearly put an
end to the British rule.
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India's
trade was sought by every contemporary civilisation over 5000
years. Even in the modern world the western Europeans sought
India's trade, and in the search for it, discovered the great
continent of America and initially mistook it to be India.
In
the beginning, it is important to note this trade started as export
of manufactured goods from India to England. Besides getting ships
of the British mercantile marine, the British also built their Navy
in India since India had a million-year-old tradition of
shipbuilding and maritime activity.
Historians
both the British and the Indian, have referred to the "Drain of
India's wealth," to Britain systematically for well over a
century and a half. It was carried first by indiscriminate loot and
plunder by the rapacious agent of the East India Company and later
as organised loot by the industrial, fiscal, defence and other
policies by the British Government.
In
spite of curbs from inside and out, Indian ARTS and CRAFTS held
their own till about 1810. Then started the steady decay of the
Indian industry due to the enormous exports of Indian raw material
and import of enormous quantities of the British manufactured goods
through imports
WILLIAM
DIGBY estimated, (In his book 'Prosperous British India,
P-33.')" ……that probably between the battle of Plassey in
1757, and Waterloo in 1815, a sum of
one thousand million pounds was transferred from India's
hoards to the British Banks." The drain of wealth from India
was a contributory factor for the
rapid industrial development of Britain.
The
spirit of 19th century liberalism and nationalism,
contacts with European political ideas and institutions, the
improved facilities in transport and communications, classical
revival by the Orientalists, the role of the Royal Asiatic society,
individual contributions made by the eminent scholars like Prof.
Maxmuller, RG Bhandarkar, Rajendra Lal Mitra, the dispassionate and
dedicated work and services rendered by the Socio-religious
reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Devendra Nath Tagore, Kesava
Chandra Sen, Eswar Chandra Vidhya Sagar, Dayananda Saraswathi,
Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Vivekananda, Mrs Annie Besant, native
writers their literary contributions, native journalism-- thus
Tagore, BankimChandra Chatterji, ( His book 'Anandamutt,') R.C.Dutt,
Dina Bandhu Mitra, Hem Chandra Banerjee, Navin Chandra sen, D.L.Roy,
news papers like, 'Indian mirror', 'Hindu patriot,' 'The Hindu,'
'Bombay Samachar,' 'The Amrita Bazar Patrika,' 'kesari,' 'The
Bengalee,' --all accelerated the process of National awakening.
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The
economic exploitation of Indians, the middle class suffering,
the death of the native Indian arts and crafts, the Indian
economic system adjusted to the British needs, the British
policy f laissez-faire leading to the decline of the Indian
textile industry, heavy taxation, growth of unemployment,
frequent famines and pestilence's, led to the unpopularity of
the British.
THE
MAIN STAGES OF THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT IN INDIA.
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First
stage 1885 to 1905,
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Second
stage 1906 to 1918,
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Third
stage 1919 to 1947.
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Stage
one is described as the period of petitions and prayers-moderate
nationalism.
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Stage
two is described as the period of Lal, Pal, Bal or the era of
the extremists. During this period congress split in to two
factions. The Muslims left congress in good numbers.
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Stage
three is described as the Gandhi era. Moderates left the
Congress and the Muslim League gained strength.
Gandhi
era is the most significant one. Writing on Gandhi WILL DURANT
pointed " He did not mouth the name of Christ, but he acted as
if he accepted every word of the SERMON ON THE MOUNT. Not since the
FRANCIS OF ASSISI, HAS ANY LIFE KNOWN TO HISTORY BEEN SO MARKED by
gentleness, disinterestedness, simplicity and forgiveness of
enemies. It was to the credit of his opponents, but still more to
his own, that his undiscourageable courtesy to them won a fine
courtesy from them in return; the Gvernment sent him to jail with
profuse apologies. He never showed rancour or resentment. Thrice he
was attacked by mobs, and beaten almost to death; not once did he
retaliate; and when one of his assailants arrested, he refused to
enter a charge. This was the man THE MAHATHMA who led India in
freedom struggle.
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