Timeline

Historical Dictionary

First posted on June 4th 2004

Narratives : History of South Asia http://www.zum.de/whkmla/sat/texts/narrsasia.html

Early History The Indus Valley Civilization thrived parallel to those of Mesopotamia amd Egypt. Cities such as Mohenjo Daro and Harappa were larger in size than their counterparts in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Indus Valley Civilization had a script. In contrast to the early civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, historians so far have failed to decode that script. The Indus Valley Civilization cities also lack spectacular edifices of the kind of the Mesopotamian ziggurats and the Egyptian pyramids, and therefore failed to attract similar attention. The Indus Valley Civilization ceased to use writing in about 1900 B.C.; script was only reintroduced to the subcontinent when the Persians conquered the Indus valley in 513 B.C.; the time in-between is referred to as the Indian Dark Ages. Like in the similar case of Preclassical Greece, India had a rich oral literature which provides us with information, in the form of myths and legends, over Indian history in the latter half of the 2nd millennium B.C. German linguist Friedrich Max Müller suggested an Aryan invasion to have taken place sometime around 1500 B.C.; he suggested the invaders to have taken the Khyber Pass route, having entered the country in a long, ox-pulled waggon treck, bringing with them their families. The Aryans have been identified with the somewhat lighter skinned northern Indians; the earlier inhabitants of the subcontinent identified with darker skinned Indians, the so-called Dravidians. Recently the Aryan Invasion Theory has been criticized, based on the fact that we have no evidence for any such invasion ever to have taken place; the term Aryan Migration has been suggested in its place. India's old oral literature, memorized in the sacred Sanskrit language, forms the foundation for Brahmanism (which later was adapted into Hinduism). It was memorized and transfered from generation to generation, at times when the Sanskrit language no longer was spoken. This oral literature describes a society divided into four castes - priests, warriors, artisans and merchants and labourers - to which the outcastes (dalit) have to be added. This model, further diversified (to c. 1600 castes and subcastes) is an underlying structure of Indian history. Indian Antiquity In the sixth century B.C. two new religions appeared in India, Buddhism and Jainism, both pacifist, focussing on the moral perfection of the individual rather than on God. Buddhism had a stronger appeal on intellectuals, Jainism on merchants. With the Persian conquest of the Indus Valley in 513, contact between India and the Near East was established. Other invasions would follow (Alexander in 326, Menander c. 160-135). With them came the reintroduction of script, the introduction of coinage. In comparison with other historical regions, India has not developed historical writing. In order to reconstruct Indian history, historians to a considerable extent rely on foreign accounts, foreign travelogues - despite the fact that India developed a rich literature and despite numerous monuments having been preserved. During the short reign of Bactro-Greek King Menander over Gandhara, he was converted to Buddhism; under the Kushan Dynasty that followed, Buddhism began to spread into Central Asia. Buddhism flourished in India until the end of the Gupta Dynasty. Indian Middle Ages If this expression is to be used for India (the Renaissance Humanists who coined that phrase probably did not think of it as being applied in Indian history), it makes sense to use it for the period between the fall of the Gupta Dynasty (c.550) and the establishment of the Mughal Empire in 1526. This epoch best is subdivided into the periods c.550-998 and 998-1526; until 998, India was largely untouched by Islam; with Mahmud of Ghazni a long history of Muslimic dynasties attempting to subjugate India began. The Indian state of the middle ages was built around the ruler and his dynasty. States were amoebic in shape; empires rose and disintegrated quickly. The authority of the ruler was absolute. The states failed to establish stable institutions - except for the city of Delhi emerging as the capital of choice of a series of dynasties, and the city of choice to plunder for a succession of invaders, usually Muslims descending the Khyber pass. Islam did not recognize any castes and therefore was attractive to the underprivileged in Indian civilization. On the other hand, Muslimic iconoclasm and the per-capita-tax, collected from Hindus, caused resentment. The Indian Middle Ages conclude with the arrival of foreigners - Portuguese traders (1498); Portuguese conquistadores (Goa taken 1510) and Mughal invaders (1526). The Mughal Empire dominated Indian history for almost 200 years (1526-1707); formally it was abolished only in 1858. The person credited with placing Mughal rule on a solid footing was Akbar ; he abolished the per-capita-tax, treating Hindu and Muslim subjects alike. Among his generals were Hindu Rajputs. His attempt to introduce a synchretistic religion, kitab ul-illah, combining elements of Hinduism and Islam, did not survive his rule. Shah Jehan is best remembered for the construction of the Taj Mahal, regarded the world's most beautiful building. Under Aurangzeb the Mughal Empire reached its largest extension; but his reintroduction of the per-capita-tax caused the Maratha (Hindu) rebellion. After his death the Marathas, a federation of mostly Hindu princes, became the dominant force in India. British Rule The (British) East India Company was founded in 1600, but was of negligible importance until Bombay was acquired in 1661/1668. By that time other Europeans - the Portuguese, Dutch, Danes - were well established. The French arrived in 1674. In the early 18th century the French and British competed for dominance in the India trade; the E.I.C. won (Battle of Plassey 1757). In the early 19th century, the E.I.C. extended the Pax Britannica over the subcontinent, taking the economically more interesting regions under direct rule and controlling the remaining Indian principalities by indirect rule. The Sepoy Rebellion of 1857-1858 caused the E.I.C. to go bankrupt; she was succeeded by the British government; India became a crown colony. The British undertook some steps to develop India's infrastructure; the capital was moved from Calcutta to Delhi, railways were constructed. India was exploited, the British were interested in products such as Indian cotton, jute, indigo, tea and, temporarily, opium, all raw materials. The import of cloth woven in the textile factories of northern England (partially made of Indian cotton) caused the ruin of the Indian textile industry. When Rudyard Kipling phrased the expression of the "White Man's Burden", he emphasized the benefits colonial rule brought to India. The British, for instance, had suppressed the practice of burning suttees. Indians, in their own country, felt discriminated against, largely were denied career opportunities. In order to get a good education, the Indian elite studied at British universities. In 1913, Rabindranath Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. After World War I, Mohandas K. Gandhi, in his Satyagraha campaign, attracted the interest of the world press. These two may have been the first Indians since Aurangzeb educated Europeans knew by name. Gandhi and the Congress Party pursued a policy aiming at full independence for an undivided India. The British colonial administration, according to the divide and rule principle, supported the Muslim League in their demands (and, on Ceylon, leaned on Tamils in the state administration) in order to postpone independence as long as possible. Independence was granted in 1947 (India, Pakistan) and 1948 (Burma, Ceylon). The Subcontinent since Independence India today is the largest democracy on earth, a feat all the more impressive considering the many languages spoken in India, the many religions practised in the country, the high illiteracy rate and widespread poverty. This feat, to some part has to be credited to the British; Gandhi's campaign could succeed because of the coverage the British and international press provided, and because of the fairness of British courts (Gandhi, Jinnah etc. had studied law, in England). To a larger extent it has to be credited to the Indians; the British were very reluctant to introduce democratic institutions on the subcontinent. The Congress Party, founded in 1885, had a long experience in practicing democracy, long before it finally was introduced. The Muslim League, founded in 1906, served to a lesser extent as such a democratic forum, and the democratic experiment in Pakistan was less successful, interrupted twice by a military coup d'etat (1977, 1999). India and Pakistan were archenemies from the day they became independent. So far, they fought 3 wars against each other (1948, 1965, 1971); in 1998 they both officially became nuclear powers. Both countries have a low standard of living, high population growth (which Indira Gandhi failed to reduce, in India, in the 1970es) and a huge potential of economic growth. A rapprochement policy pursued by the governments of both countries in 2003-2004 may facilitate continuing strong economic growth in the area. The population of the Republic of India has passed 1 billion; India is expected to overtake China as the world'd most populous nation some time soon.

EXTERNAL FILES

REFERENCE

B.D. Metcalf and T.R. Metcalf, A Concise History of India, Cambridge : UP 2002, 321 pp., KMLA Lib.Sign. 954 M588c Vincent A. Smith, The Oxford History of India, (1919) Oxford : UP 2001, 945 pp., KMLA Lib.Sign. 954 S642b Gordon Johnson, Cultural Atlas of India, NY : Facts on File 1996, 240 pp., illustrated, KMLA Lib.Sign. 954 J66c H.S. Bhatta, Military History of British India (1607-1947), New Delhi : Deep & Deep 1977, 256 pp. [G] Ian Copland, The Princes of India in the Endgame of Empire, 1917-1947, Cambridge : UP, South Asian edition 1999, 302 pp. [G] Steward Gordon, The Marathas, 1600-1818, Cambridge : UP, South Asian edition 1998, 202 pp. [G] Burton Stein, Vijayanagara, Cambridge : UP (1993) Indian edition 1994, 156 pp. [G] M.N. Pearson, The Portuguese in India, Cambridge : UP (1987) South Asian edition 1990, 178 pp. [G] Francis Watson, India. A Concise History, London : Thames & Hudson (1974) 1996, 192 pp. [G]

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