DISCOVERY OF INDIA

Culture may be defined as the way an individual and especially a group live, think, feel and organise themselves, celebrate and share life. In a deeper sense, it is the culture that produces the kind of literature, music, dance, sculpture, architecture and various other art forms as well as the many organisations and structures that make the functioning of the society smooth and well-ordered. The cultural life of a region is directly influenced by its historical and geographical conditions, India is no exception.

INDIA is known for its unique geography which includes vast stretches of the Himalayas (which spread from Hindukush in the north-west to Namcha Barwa in the east), Thar desert in the north-west, Deccan plateau in Central India, Eastern and the Western Ghats in the south.

River drainage system act as arteries of it, which includes holy rivers Indus, Ganga and Yamuna act as a lifeline in the northern plains and Mahanadi, Krishna and Godavari in central India and Kaveri and Periyar in the deep south.

Indus Valley Civilisation 

Proximity near river provides abundance of water, makes plains fertile and efficient water transport, creating a Goldilocks zone situation since ancient times for many culture and civilisation to flourish. Indus Valley Civilisation(near Indus river system), Magadhan empire(near Ganga), Chola empire (near Kaveri), Vijayanagara Empire(between Krishna and Tungabhadra doab) etc. are some crude examples.

Khybar and Bolan (in northwest), Thalghat and Bhorghat (in western side), Nathu la and Diphu (in the northeast) are the passes which act as the main entrance via ancient silk route to India, that plays major role in cultural exchange between Indian and other countries like Greek, Roman, Mesopotamia, Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, Oman etc in the west and north-west, Java, Sumatra, Indo-China in the south-east and China, Mongolia, Russia in north. Coming of these people led to the intermingling of their culture with indigenous which form new hybrid culture which reflects in their dressing, eating, religious practices. Languages like Sanskrit, Bengali, Urdu etc. come under Indo-European category. Iranian's text Avesta and Aryan's text Rigveda have very much similarity and likewise, Gandhar's Art has influenced of Greek and Roman Art (face resembles their God Apollo, wavy hair, broad earlobes).

Coming of Aryans brought with Puranic practices, caste system, the concept of sacrifices, racial superiority and discrimination, later reaction to these Brahmanic practices lead to the birth of Shraman movement (like Buddhism, Jainism, Lokayat) with directly challenged the authority of Vedas and significance of rituals. They advocate vegetarianism, refusal of animals sacrifices, atheism and try to give some scientific outlook.

Coming of Indo-Greek, Parthians, Kushans, Shakas leads to the introduction to punch marked coins, long suits, boots and other technically advanced warfare instruments and have a great role in art and architecture since Gandhar's Art and Mathura Art patronised by them.

Around 4th-3rd century BC birth of vast Mauryan Empire took place with the help of a brahmin called Chanakya. under which India first time acted as a single unit and gave an example of ideal monarchical government in which empire was divided into four provinces, which were governed by royal princes called Kumara further assisted by Mahamatya. Mauryan empire reached its zenith under the great ruler Ashoka. Initially known for its aggressive policy but after Kalinga war, he was deeply disheartened by seeing the grave situation, where thousands of widows, mother, sisters were mourning around their dear ones. He decided to abandon the policy of youdhakosh (victory by war) and adopt the policy of Dhammakosh (victory by Dhamma). All across the empire he inscribed edicts which were morals code of conduct for daily life, called Dhamma in heightening monolithic pillars. These ideals were highly influenced by Buddhism but mainly secular.

To be continued...