JAWHAR YATRA SANGAM
History Of IndiaNearly five thousand years back flourished India's first major
civilisation along the Indus River valley. The twin cities of
Mohenjodaro and Harappa now in Pakistan were ruled by priests and held
the rudiments of Hinduism. These civilisations are known to possess a
sophisticated lifestyle, a highly developed sense of aesthetics, an
astonishing knowledge of town planning and an undecipherable script
language. The Indus civilization at one point of time extended nearly a
million square kilometres across the Indus river valley. It existed at
the same time as the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Sumer but far
outlasted them. Surviving for nearly a thousand years the Indus valley
civilisation fell to tectonic upheavals in about 1700 BC, which caused
a series of floods. |
 The
coming of the Aryans around 1500 BC, gave the final blow to the
collapsing Indus Valley civilisation. At the dawn of Vedic ages the
Aryans came in from the North and spread through large parts of India
bringing with them their culture and religious beliefs. The Four Vedas
or the important books of Hinduism were compiled in this period. |
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| In 567 B.C. the founder
of the Buddhist Religion Gautama Buddha was born. During this time
lived Mahavira, who founded the Jain Religion. The Indian subcontinent
is full of caves and monuments devoted to these religions and are worth
a visit. |
| Two hundred years later,
in the 4th century B.C., Emperor Ashoka, one of the greatest King of
Indian history, led the Mauryan Empire to take over almost all of what
is now modern India. This great leader embraced Buddhism and built the
group of monuments at Sanchi (a UNESCO world heritage site). The Ashoka
pillar at Sarnath has been adopted by India as its national emblem and
the Dharma Chakra on the Ashoka Pillar adorns the National Flag. |
| They were followed by
the Guptas in the north, while in the south part of India several
different Hindu empires, the Cholas, the Pandyas and the Cheras spread
and grew, trading with Europe and other parts of Asia till the end of
the 1100s. |
| Christianinty entered
India at about the same time from Europe. Legend has it that St. Thomas
the Apostle arrived in India in 52 A.D. Even earlier than that people
of the Jewish religion arrived on India's shores. |
| In approximately the 7th
century A.D. a group of Zoroastrians, or Parsees, landed in Gujarat and
became a part of the large mix of religions in India today, each of
which adds its important and distinctive flavour. |
| In the 15th century Guru Nanak laid the foundation of the Sikh religion in Punjab. |
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| In 1192, Mohammed of
Ghori, a ruler from Afghanistan, came into India and captured several
places in the north including Delhi. When he went home he left one of
his generals in charge who became the first Sultan of Delhi. During
this time Islam, was introduced into a major part of Northern India. It
may be mentioned that even before that, just after the period of the
prophet, Islam was brought to the western coast of India by Arab
traders and flourished in what is now Kerala. |
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The Dehli Sultanate gradually took control of more and more of North India over the next 200 years, till Timur, who was called "Timur the Lame" or "Tamberlane" came from Turkey in 1398 to attack India. He and his army stole all the valuables that they could carry and left again, and after that the Delhi Sultanate was never so strong again. Soon the Mughals, who were from Iran, came in and took control of the north. |
| In the meantime south , in 1336, the Hindu Vijayanagar empire was set up and became very strong. |
| The Europeans -
Portuguese, French, Dutch, Danish and British - started arriving in the
early 1600s. All of them held territories in India and made friends and
enemies among India's rulers as they got more and more involved, with
the Indian politics, but it was the British who eventually controlled
most of India and finally made it one of their colonies. |
| India got its
independence from Britain in 1947 after a long struggle led mostly by
Mahatma Gandhi. In the process of becoming independent, India became,
two countries instead of one. In the years since independence India has
made huge progress and coped with great problems, and has developed its
industry and its agriculture, and has maintained a system of government
which makes it the largest democracy in the world. |