INDIAS GLORIOU S PAST

An essay outlining Indias massive wealth and p ospe ity!

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Indias Glorious Past!

What comes to your mind when you think of India today? A poverty stricken country where more than one-thirds of the nation lives in slums and streets; a country where education has failed to reach through all nooks and corners and where people still struggle to meet their basic necessities? But, imagine India a few centuries ago It was the land of wealth and prosperity !he world"s best civili#ation has its roots in India And India"s riches were the envy of the world India was a group of several regional economies and most of them had trade relation with the rest of the world through the land and sea route $ow did India ac%uire so much wealth? &et"s take a trip down the history of India"s glorious heritage and understand the inherent richness of our history because only when history is understood, can it be recreated India in the 1500s !hough a settled country for a millennium, India had a population of only '(( million India was bestowed with fertile lands that had a vast diversity of crops, ample forests and a variety of mountains and deserts )wing to the less population, nature wasn"t disturbed for sustaining mankind India is the land of kings and mahara*as Its temples, courtyards, places speak volumes about the art and craftsmanship of the people It was this royal heritage and lu+ury that travelers referred to in their writings ,outh India had grown into a maritime trading region !he coastal regions of India saw merchants sailing in from -ome and .ersia and trading with India ,uch was the prosperity of our land ,outh India was well integrated into the ne+us of world trade with Archipelago and /hina on the east and westwards with 0ulf and -ed ,ea 1orth India on the other hand was essentially a part of /entral Asia and did the trading on the routes that connected 2urope and /entral Asia all the way to /hina, the silk route being the most famous e+ample !hough 1orth India had incidents of looting through the 3hyber and Bolund .ass, ,outh India was free of a such invasions Trade relations In '456, the .ortuguese arrived in India and thus started an era of Indian history which became a part of the global power system It was the maritime link that connected India to the rest of the world !he e+plorers were mainly looking for India and whenever they found new land, they described its inhabitants as Indians )n the western shores, the discovery of America by ,panish led to the discovery of rich land that was sparsely populated until the disease that 2uropeans brought decimated the locals

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!hey destroyed urban settlements that they found 7the Inca and the A#tec cultures and then proceeded to e+tract as much gold and silver that they found !he locals were plundered and looted until only a handful of them were left most of whom who worked in mines or transported as slaves !his land, over the ne+t half millennium came to be known as &atin America !he only link that connects it to India is the northern part of the region called West Indies and that the natives were then called 8Indians" 2urope and Asia were never separated by an ocean, thus forming a continuous trail of land over which caravans could travel till the interior parts of /hina !here was trade through the roads and by the sea right up to the 2gyptian ports on the -ed sea and the 0ulf What the 2uropeans did not know was the .acific route that led to Asia and conse%uently India !he race was on to discover the rich land of India and which was won by the .ortuguese India was discovered by 9asco-da-gama India discovered !he .ortuguese were in search of spices and thus travelled eastwards towards India !his led them towards india which they regarded as the land of spices and 0oa as somewhere in the Indies !he portugese aimed to ease away the capacity constraints on the 2ast-West trade With the discovery of India, they could now easily transport spices, te+tiles and other items from Asia to 2urope !his was achieved at a lower cost and with a few middlemen !his greatly benefited trade incomes India was linked to asia and 2urope through the Indian ocean and Arabian sea

9asco-da-gama !he northern frontiers of India were also well connected to /entral Asia and it was from this direction that Islam entered the region !he high mountain passes of $imalayas served as an
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entry point for the Arab, afghan and .ersian armies to enter !his led to the rise of Islam somewhere in the :th century !his was the route that was taken by the Aryans to enter India Also, Ale+ander the 0reat is supposed to have travelled to India via this route !he ;ongolians also used these passes to enter into India from /entral Asia !he Indus 9alley /ivili#ation is considered to be the best civili#ations of the world India was the homeland to this civili#ation .erfect e+ample of town planning,

!imur was the first to arrive but it was Babur who settled in India as one of the greatest ;ughals At that point of time, 1orth India was considered to be an integral part of /entral Asia and much of the trading was done through the ,ilk route and and thereby the /hinese and Western markets !he ,ilk route was an iconic passageway for trade deals -eading through the memoirs of Ibn Batuta, it is very clear that the Islamic world was tightly knit all the way from ;orocco to India to china ,outh India on the other hand was spared from attacks by the /entral Asian people It was in the '<th century when Akbar entered the fore Aurang#eb e+tended the ;ughal 2mpire borders further south in the ':th century But his hold didn"t last long $owever, ,outh India was culturally linked to its counterpart and 1orth India derived all its philosophical thinking from the ,outh

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Conclusion India"s history clearly depicts that it was indeed the richest nation in the world It was a land of cultures and heritages 0reat men were born in this land and their discovery and innovations continue to rule the world !he rich craftsmanship that was present in india contributed to the marvelous architectural wonders in our country !he !a* ;ahal, A*anta = 2llora /aves, >utub ;inar and the e+%uisite stretches of temples in ,outh India Bear testimony to this fact !he great kings of India like the /holas, 0uptas and ;auryas built an impressive empire and had a sound administration in place India flourished under their regime !he ;auryas had 3autilya who"s given the world Arthashastra- one of the finest books on economics and administration ?oreign visitors and travelers like ;egasthenes have written about these in their accounts which clearly depict our rich history It is from this history that we need to learn about our mistakes and reflect on our achievements India was an e+ample to the world a few centuries ago; it is from this history that we need to reconstruct a framework to build a glorious future !he need of the hour is to recreate the magic of our past in the future years to come )nly when we understand our heritage and culture, can we succeed in gaining our lost glory References: !he $eart of India by 1irad / /haudhari India by @ohn 3eay !he -ediscovery of India by ;eghnad Aesai