Inauguration of History Association Activities

Revisiting Nehru in the contemporary India

 

Economical system of the post-Mauryan India

Apart from flourishing trade, other significant features of this period are: monetization of economy, development of crafts, growth of urban centres and weakening of state control over the farming operations.

The post-Mauryan India saw the monetization of economy on an unprecedented scale. The Indo- Greek rulers were the first to issue gold coins. Menander was perhaps the last of the Indo-Greek rulers to issue gold coins. After them the Kushanas issued them in considerable numbers. In the opinion of some scholars, all Kushana gold coins were minted out of Roman gold.

Aryans

Where Did the Aryans Come From?

 Max Mueller has identified Central Asia as the original home of the Aryans. He has based his view on the study of the world's languages. The significant evidence is that there are fundamental similarities among some ancient languages such as Latin, Greek and Sanskrit and the resemblances continue in the languages derived from them.

Burzahom

Burzahom

Burzahom, or the ‘place where the birch trees grow’ is a major archeological find that lies between the Dal Lake and the Zabarvan hills – and is located off the Naseem – Shalimar road.

This was the first site with a Neolithic settlement to be excavated in Kashmir and is dated to have been inhabited between 3,000 BCE and 1,500 BCE. 

DECLINE OF THE HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION

 DECLINE OF THE HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION

The Harappan Civilization flourished till 1900 BC. The period following this is marked by the beginning of the post-urban phase or  (Late Harappan  phase).

This phase was  writing, uniformity in weights and measures, homogeneity in pottery designs, etc. The

regression covered a period from 1900 BC–1400 BC There was also the shrinkage in the settlement area. 

Science in VEDAS

Science in VEDAS

The core foundation of Hindu belief is that Vedas contain source of all knowledge – physical or metaphysical. However in last 100 odd years, this belief has come under scrutiny due to the advances that modern science claims to make.

An entire group of Vedic ‘experts’ have stood up to prove that Vedas contain early man theories and are not compatible with modern discoveries. These include communist historians propelled by commentaries on Vedas by western indologists like Max Muller, Griffith et al and a new breed of intellectuals who initiate all research with assumption that ‘old means defective’.

Religion of Sangam Period

Religion of Sangam Period

· The religion of the Sangam age was not uniform.

· Their rituals were related to animism and other forms of anthropomorphic diety worship.

· The whole philosophy of reincarnation, hero worship, ancestor worship, sati worship etc. were related to death.

Sangam Society

Sangam Society

· The stratification in Tamil Sangam society was primarily confined to the binary between the Vyarntor (the high born) and Ilipirappalar (the low born).

· Tolkappiyam list of four categories (castes): Andanar (brahmanas), arasar (kings), vaisiyar (traders) and velalar (farmers).

Sangam Polity

Sangam Polity

The Cheras

· The Cheras ruled over an area comprising north Travancore, Cochin and South Malabar.

· The site of Vanji, the Chera capital has been located by some scholars near Musiri (Cranganore) while many others identify it with the inland city of Karur on the Amaravati river in the Coimbatore district.

Sangam Works

Sangam Works

Sangam works may be generally classified into three parts like Ettuttogai (the eight anthologies) and Pattupattu (the ten idylls) and pathinenkilu kanakku.
The group of Ettuttogai consists of:

SANGAM PORTS & TRADE

SANGAM PORTS & TRADE

· Ptolemy lists six coastal places in TN to which he appends the word ‘emporium’.

· Three of these, Musiri, Korkai and Kavarippattinam are known from anthologies to have been chief ports of three early kingdoms.

· Another city, called either Perimula or Perimuda, is described as “the greatest emporium of trade in India”. It was on the Vaigai delta near Rameshwaram.

Religion of Sangam Age

Religion of Sangam Age

· The religion of the Sangam age was not uniform.

· Their rituals were related to animism and other forms of anthropomorphic diety worship.

· The whole philosophy of reincarnation, hero worship, ancestor worship, sati worship etc. were related to death.

· Animism accounts for a good part of Tamil Sangam religion and comprised worship stones, water, stars and planets.

Achievements Of Ancient India

Achievements Of Ancient India

Ancient India can be acredited with many acheivements. Some of them are listed here:

• Earliest known precise celestial calculations: Aryabhata, an Indian Mathematician (c. 500AD) accurately calculated celestial constants like earth's rotation per solar orbit, days per solar orbit, days per lunar orbit.
• Astronomical time spans: Apart from the peoples of the Mayan civilization, the ancient Hindus appear to be the only people who even thought beyond a few thousand years. Hindu scriptures refer to time scales that vary from ordinary earth day and night to the day and night of the Brahma that are a few billion earth years long.

HISTORY OF INDIAN LEARNING AND EDUCATION

HISTORY OF INDIAN LEARNING AND EDUCATION

The highly esteemed Vedas have come to down to us. They existed for nearly 2000 years before they were known in India. It was the knowledge of acustics that enabled ancient Indians to orally transmit the Vedas from generation to generation. Institutional form of imparting learning came into existence in the early centuries of the Christian era. The approach to learning was to study logic and epistemology.

The study of logci was followed by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, one of the most important topics of Indian thoughts was pramana or means of reliable knowledge. The nyaya schools upheld four pramanas - perceptions of areliable by anology or comparison, word (Sabda), and pronounciation of a reliable authority such as the Vedas. The Vedanta school added one more to it i.e. intution.

HISTORY OF INDIAN SCINECE & TECHNOLOGY

HISTORY OF INDIAN SCINECE & TECHNOLOGY

Knowledge of science and technology, however, got linked with religionand social relations. Relying primarily on pragmatism some intellectuals in India acquired intuitive awarness of scientific temper. In view of absence of experiment, some insights became ridiculous.

Knowledge of science was known from very ancient times, although science, as we know today, was not known in India till modern times. The archaeological remains of the Indus Valley reveal knowledge of applied sciences. Scientific techniques were used in irrigation, Metallurgy, making of fired bricks and pottery, and simple recknowing and measurement of areas and volumes.

It contrast more is know about Aryan achievements in the field of astronomy, mathamatcis and medicine. Chinese records indicate knowledge of a dozen books of Indian origin. Brahmagupta's Sidhanta as well as Charaka's and Susrata's Samhitas were translated int Arabic in the 9th or 10th centuries A.D. 

INDIAN IMPACT ON ANCIENT SOUTH-EAST ASIA

INDIAN IMPACT ON ANCIENT SOUTH-EAST ASIA

By the opening of the Christian are the civilization of India and begun to spread across the Bay of Bengal into both island and mainland south-east Asia, and by the fifth century A.D. Indianised states, that is to say states organized along the traditional lines of Indian political theory and following the Buddhists or Hindu religions, had established themselves in many regions of Burma, Thialand, Indo-China, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Some of these states were in time to grow into great empires dominating the zone between metropolitan India and the Chiense southern border, which has sometimes been dscribed as "Further India' or "Greater India", once rooted in South-East Again soil, Indian civilization evolved in part through the action of forces of South-East Asian origin, and in part through the influence of cultural and political changes in the Indian Subcontinent civilization in terms of a series of 'waves' and there are good reasons for considering that such "waves" are still breaking in south East Asian beaches today.

THE LINK BETWEEN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND SOUTH INDIA

THE LINK BETWEEN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND SOUTH INDIA

Indian historians have conducted a heated debate for many decades about the relative marits of different regions with regard to the spread of Indian influenced in southeast Asia. Now a days there seems to be a consensus that, at least as far as the early centuries AD are concerned, South India and specially Tamil Nadu-deserves the gerates credit for this achievement. In subsequent periods, however, several regional shifts as well as parallel influences emanaging from various centers can be noticed. The influence of Tamil Nadu was very strong as far as the earliest inscriptions in Southeast Asia are concerned, showing as they do the influence ofteh script prevalent in the Pallava kingdom. The oldest Buddhist sculputure in Southeast Asia- the famous Buddha of Celebes - shows the marks of the Buddhist sculptures of Amarvati (Coastal Andhra) of the third to the fifth centuries AD. Early Hindu sculptures of Western Java and of the Isthmus of Siam seem to have been guided by the Pallava style of the seventh and eighth centuries AD. Early southeast Asian temple architecture similarly shows the influence of the Pallavas and Chola styles, especially on Java and in Kampuchea.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE BUDDHIST MONKS

THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE BUDDHIST MONKS

Buddhist monks played an important role in spreading indian culture in south east asia. Two characteristic features of Buddhism enabled it to make a specific impact on southeast Asia, First Buddhist were imbued with a atrong missionary zeal, and second, they ignored the caste system and did not emphasize the idea of ritual purity. By his teaching as well as by the orginzation of his monastic order (Sangha) Gautama Buddha had given rise to this missionary zeal, which had then been fostered by Ashoka's dispatch of Buddhist missionaries to Western Asia, Greece, Central Asia, Sri lanka and Burma.

India's Impact on Southeast Asia

India's Impact on Southeast Asia

Causes and Consequences: The transmission of Indian culture of distant parts of Central Asia, China, Japan, and especially Southeast Asia is certainly one of the greatest achievements of Indian history or even of the history of mankind. None of the other great civilizations - not even the Hellenic - had been able to achieve a similar success without military conquest. In this brief survey of India's history, there is no room for an adequate discussion of the development of the 'Indianised' states of Southeast Asia which can boast of such magnificent temple cities as Pagan (Burma; constructed from 1044 to 1287 AD,) Angkor (Combodia; constructed from 889 to c. 1300 AD), and the Borobudur (Java, early ninth century AD). Though they were influenced by Indian culture, they are nevertheless part and parcel of the history of those respective countries. Here we will limit our observations to some fundamental problems oncerning the transmission of Indian culture to the vast region of Sotheast Asia.

Who Spread Indian Culture in Southeast Asia ? 
Historians have formulated several theories regarding the transmission of Indian culture of Southeast Asia :
    (1) the 'Kshatriya' theory; 
    (2) the 'Vaishya' theory;
    (3) the 'Brahmin' theory.

The Kshatriya theory states that Indian warriors colonized Southeast Asia; this proposition has now been rejected by most scholars although it was very prominent some time ago.