Indian History--Know about India , Indian culture .,Indian religions .,-- Chapter 1

 Indian History & Geography  ( Chapter 1 )

 The geography of a rustic features a great effect on her history. Physical features like natural boundaries, mountains, plains, coast, deserts, rivers, climate, etc., exert an excellent influence on the life, habits and civilization of the people inhabiting that country. In fact, Geography is that the basis of all historical knowledge. So, first of all, it's necessary to ascertain how the physical features of India have influenced her history.

 Physical features of India influenced her history

 India are often divided into three main regions :

1. The Himalayas with their eastern and western offshoots

 2. The Plain of Northern India

3. The Plateau of the Deccan

A.. The influence of the Himalayas

(1) Shelter from the North. The Himalayas run along the northern boundary of India from Kashmir to Assam for a distance of nearly 2400 kilometres. they're so high that till very recently it had been almost impossible to cross them. For this reason, there are hardly any invasions from the north. (Only in 1962 India was invaded by China from the north). There are, however, a couple of passes in these mountains, and it had been through these passes that the Indian culture spread to northern countries.

(2) only a few Invasions from the East. The eastern offshoots of the Himalayas contains Garo, Khasi, Jaintia and Naga hills. they're not very high, but on account of heavy rains they're covered with dense forests which are almost impenetrable. Thus from the eastern side, too, there are only a few invasions, though people from those regions have come and settled in India.

(3) Mountain Passes, Gates of Invasion. The western offshoots of the Himalayas contains Safed Kob, the Sulaiman Range and therefore the Kirthar Range. they're not very high and aren't covered with any dense forests. But they contain the well-known passes of Khyber, Kurram, Tochi, Gomal, Bolan, etc. For this reason most the invaders (Aryans, Iranians, Greeks, Soythians, Kushans, Huns, Turks. Mongols, Afghans, etc.) entered India through these passes. Another effect of those passes has been that a number of the kings of India like Chandragupta Maurya, Kanishka and Akbar expanded their empire in Afghanistan also.

 (4) Isolation of India. The Himalayas with their eastern and western offshoots have almost isolated India from the remainder of the planet. This has enabled India not only to develop her own culture but also to possess continuity of her civilization. Even to-day our culture isn't much different from what it had been within the remote past. This is, in fact, the best contribution of the Himalayas.

 B.. The influence of the Northern Plain

(1) Attraction for Foreign Invaders. The plain of Northern India is one among the foremost fertile plains within the world. Its fertility and wealth have attracted foreign invaders. it's for this reason that nearly all the good empires flourished here, and Northern India played the foremost impor. tant part in history. Indian civilization developed here and it had been from here that our civilization cover the entire land.

 (2) Innumerable Invasions of India. the recent climate and therefore the immense wealth of the country made the people lazy and ease-loving in order that fairly often they were defeated by the foreign invaders. For this reason there are innumerable invasions of India.'

(3) Enough Leisure. On account of the fertility of the country the people had to not exerting to earn their livelihood. This gave them enough leisure and peace of mind which directed their attention to spirituality, religion and philosophy.

(4)No Desire for Conquests.  Another results of the immense wealth of the country and therefore the fondness of the people for spirituality and philosophy was that they never felt any desire to bring neighbouring countries under subjection. The Hindus did colonize foreign lands and spread their culture abroad, but they were never an imperial nation.

(5) Brunt Borne by N. W. India. the previous North-West Frontier Province and therefore the Punjab lay on the way of the foreign invaders. Life and property weren't safe there. Hence these provinces remained to an extended time behind other provinces in culture and education. But the people: here grew up to be hardy and warlike.

(6) Important Battles fought near Delhi.The old (pre partition) Punjab was bounded on the north by the mountains and on the south by the barren and waterless desert of Rajputana (now Rajasthan). Invaders had, therefore, to undergo Delhi on their thanks to the Ganga Valley. Delhi thus became the gateway of the fertile Ganga Valley. the very fact that it had been the capital of several empires added to its importance. Hence places near it-Panipat, Karnal, Tarain, Thaneswar-were scenes of important and even decisive battles.

(7) Rajasthan Retained its Civilization. The barren and waterless desert of Rajasthan has also played some part in the history of India. Foreign invaders found it difficult and even useless to occupy this region. Whenever a far off invader occupied some of this region, his empire was short-lived. Hence Rajputs established small independent states here which, though now an integral a part of India, still retain their old civilization,

c).. The Influence of the Deccan Plateau

 (1) Deccan Preserved its Culture. The Deccan is bounded on the north by the Vindhya and Satpura hills, which are overgrown with dense forests. it had been difficult to cross them. For this reason, the Deccan has remained break away Northern India, and has not played any important part within the history of India. It has, however, preserved Indian culture by giving it shelter. On a couple of occasions, the kings of Northern India conquered it, but they might not establish their authority there.

(2)ifferent Civilizations in North and South D. One results of this physical separation of the Deccan from Northern India has been that both these parts have developed different sorts of civilizations. The iife, manners and customs of the people inhabiting the northern plain and therefore the southern plateau are quite different from one another.

(3) Hardiness of Marathas. within the Deccan hills, it had been easy to create impregnable (that can't be taken by force) forts. The Marathas built such forts from which they successfully defied the mighty Mughal armies. Moreover, on account of the ruggedness of the country, the people of the Deccan, especially the Marathas, are hardy and brave.

(4) Trade with East and West. The Deccan is washed on its three sides by the Indian Ocean. So, from the earliest days, the south carried on trade with both the western and eastern countries. Moreover, the ocean enabled the Indians of the south to determine colonies within the Malay Archipelago, i.e. Java, Sumatra, Bali, etc

(5) Growth of Independent States. The mountains and rivers of India have divided the country into many small parts. The results of this has been that whenever the central power was weak, several petty states grew up, especially within the Deccan.

SOURCES OF EARLY INDIAN HISTORY

 The early history of India is neither certain nor continuous. the rationale is that there's a scarcity of historical books. Still there are some sources which help us to understand quite bargain about the first history of the country. These sources of early Indian History are often classified as follows:

1. Religions Books. The religious books of the Hindus, e.g. the Vedas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, the Upanishadas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Puranas, etc., and people of the Buddhists (Tripitakas) and Jains (Angas) throw sufficient light on the state of the country, form of government, and non secular thought in those days. The Vedas are a source of data about the traditional Aryan culture, while the Ramayana and therefore the Mahabharata describe the social and political conditions within the Epic period. The Buddhist and Jain books supply information about the amount when these religions flourished.

 2. Historical Books. Ancient Rajas were keen on having the events of their reigns recorded. an excellent many of such books are destroyed on account of the change of governments, or by white ants; still some are available and these tell us about historical events during the reigns of these kings. The Arthashastra of Chanakya gives a really clear account of the Mauryan administration. Mudra Rakshas of Vishakhadatta clearly describes the overthrow of the Nanda dynasty by Chandragupta Maurya. Harsha Charita of Bana describes the reign of Harsha, the Rajtarangini of Kalhan describes the history of Kashmir up to the 12th century, 

and Prithviraj Rasau of Chand Bardai describes the reign of Prithviraj Chauhan.

3. Inscriptions. Many many inscriptions ie., writings inscribed on rocks, stones and copper plates are available. Their contents are of various kinds. a number of them describe the important events during the reigns of particular kings. The inscriptions of Ashoka are the foremost famous and throw a flood of sunshine on his reign. An edict of Samudra Gupta has been discovered inscribed on a pillar within the Allahabad fort.

 4. Coins. Ancient coins that are discovered have helped an excellent deal in giving us some information about the historical events of these days. Besides giving us the names of several rulers and therefore the dynasties to which they belonged, they need been specially useful in settling doubtful dates. They also give us a clue to the financial condition of these times. These coins are perhaps our only source of data about the Bactrian and Indo-Greek dynasties. We also learn an honest deal about Samudra Gupta from his coins.

5. Ancient Ruins. Historical buildings, monuments, and architecture of past throw some light on the social and non secular conditions of these times. The excavations at Taxila have given us better knowledge of Kushan period, those at Pataliputra have added to our information about the Mauryan dynasty, the excavations at Sarnath have revealed many things connected with Buddhism, while the excavations at Mohenjo Daro and Harappa have thrown a flood of sunshine on the traditional civilization of the Indus valley ! a while back, Sir Aurel Stein discovered ancient ruins in central Asia which led to the conclusion that Indian civilization had found its way even outside India.

 6. Accounts of Foreigners. From time to time foreign travelers have visited India. They wrote accounts of what they saw or heard. Their books tell us much about several kings. Megasthenes wrote about the reign of Chandragupta Maurya, Fahien about the reign of Chandra Gupta Vikramaditya, and Hieun Tsang that of Harsha. Alberuni, a famous scholar of the time of Mahmud of Ghazni, wrote his "Tahqiq-i-Hind wherein he gives an account of India of his times.

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