Article 12
Ancient Jewel
From early Greece to the modern civil rights movement, Indian thought and philosophy
have had a wide-ranging influence on Western culture.
T. R. (Joe) Sundaram
The very word India conjures up exotic images in one’s mind.
Yet this name for the south Asian subcontinent is of Western
making, mediated by the Persians and the Arabs. The name used
in ancient Sanskrit texts is Bharat (for the land of Bharatha, a
legendary king), which is also the official name of the modern
republic. Other familiar Western words such as Hindu, caste,
and curry are also totally foreign to India. The general knowl-
edge that exists in the West about India, its early history, philos-
ophy, and culture is, at best, superficial. Nevertheless, since it
would be impossible in a brief article to do justice to even one
of these topics, I shall provide a brief, accurate glimpse into
each.
India covers about 1.2 million square miles and is home to a
population of 895 million; in comparison, the United States
covers 3.6 million square miles and has 258 million residents.
Thus, the population density of India is nearly 10 times that of
the United States. (The size of classical India—which includes
modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and parts of Afghani-
stan—is about two-thirds that of the continental United States.)
But statistics about India can be misleading. For example,
while only about one-quarter of the population is “literate,” able
to read and write, this has to be viewed in light of the strong oral
traditions present in India since antiquity. Therefore, while a
“literate” American may often be unaware of the collective
name of the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, an “il-
literate” Indian peasant would be aware of the history of his an-
cestors from antiquity to the present day.
Not only is India one of the oldest civilizations in the world,
being more than 6,000 years old, but also it may be the oldest
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continuing civilization in existence; that is, one without any
major “gaps” in its history. As the renowned historian A. L.
Basham has pointed out,
Until the advent of archeologists, the peasant of Egypt
or Iraq had no knowledge of the culture of his forefa-
thers, and it is doubtful whether his Greek counterpart
had any but the vaguest ideas about the glory of Peri-
clean Athens. In each case there had been an almost
complete break with the past. On the other hand, the
earliest Europeans to visit India found a culture fully
conscious of its own antiquity.
India is a land of many ancient “living” cities, such as, for ex-
ample, Varanasi. Even at sites like Delhi, many successive
cities have been built over thousands of years. Among old
buried cities that have been unearthed in modern times by ar-
chaeologists are Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.
Of these cities, the renowned archaeologist Sir John Mar-
shall writes that they establish the existence
in the fourth and third millennium B.C., of a highly de-
veloped city life; and the presence in many houses, of
wells and bathrooms as well as an elaborate drainage
system, betoken a social condition of the citizens at
least equal to that found in Sumer, and superior to that
prevailing in contemporary Babylonia and Egypt.
Thus, India was the “jewel of the world” long before the
Greek and Roman civilizations.
Nor was classical India isolated from developing civiliza-
tions in other parts of the world. Clay seals from Mohenjo-Daro
have been found in Babylonia and vice versa. Ancient Indian ar-

Continuous civilization: Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa reveal well-planned towns and a sophisticated
urban culture dating back to 2500 B.C.
Crucible of Learning
• India’s may be the oldest continuing civilization in existence.
• To avoid misunderstanding India, it is essential to appreciate
three central tenets of Indian thinking: assimilating ideas
and experiences, a belief in cycles, and the coexistence of
opposites.
• India has made numerous contributions to contemporary
Western understanding of mathematics, science, and
philosophy.
tifacts such as beads and bangles have been found in many parts
of the Middle East and Africa. India and Indian culture were
known to the Greeks even before the time of Alexander the
Great. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote extensively about
India during the sixth century B.C. Also, during this period
many Greeks, including Pythagoras, are known to have traveled
to India.
Sixth century B.C. was a period of great religious and philo-
sophical upheaval in India. Hinduism was already an estab-
lished, “old” religion, and reform movements were beginning to
appear, such as one by a prince known as Siddhartha Gautama,
who later came to be known as the Buddha. The religion that
was founded based on his teachings spread not only throughout
Asia but also to many parts of the world, including Greece, and
it helped spread Indian culture in the process.
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Article 12. Ancient Jewel
Embassy of India
In Alexander the Great’s campaign to conquer the world, his
ultimate goal was India; he died without achieving that objec-
tive. When Seleucus Nicator, Alexander’s successor, tried to
follow in Alexander’s footsteps, he was soundly defeated by In-
dian emperor Chandragupta Maurya. A peace treaty was signed
between the two, and Seleucus sent an ambassador, Megas-
thenes, to the court of Chandragupta. Megasthenes sent glowing
reports back to Greece about India, and he pronounced Indian
culture to be equal or superior to his own, a high compliment in-
deed, since Greece was then near its zenith.
For the next 1,500 years or so, India—rich in material
wealth, scientific knowledge, and spiritual wisdom—enjoyed
the reputation of being at the pinnacle of world civilizations.
Arab writers of the Middle Ages routinely referred to mathe-
matics as hindsat, the “Indian science.”
And as is well known now, it was Columbus’ desire to reach
India that led to the discovery of America. Indeed, the explorer
died thinking that he had discovered a new sea route to India,
while he had merely landed on a Caribbean island. Columbus’
mistake also led to the mislabeling of the natives of the land as
“Indians,” a label that survived even after the mistake had been
discovered.
THE UPANISHADS
Indian philosophy is almost as old as Indian civilization, and its
zenith was reached nearly 3,000 years ago with the compilation,
ANNUAL EDITIONS
Embassy of India
A terra-cotta toy cow: Ancient Indian civilizations featured highly
talented artisans and craftsmen.
by unknown sages, of 108 ancient philosophical texts known as
the Upanishads. These texts reflect even older wisdom, which
was passed down from generation to generation through oral
transmission. A Western commentator has remarked that in the
Upanishads the Indian mind moved from cosmology to psy-
chology, and that while most other contemporary civilizations
were still asking the question “What am I?” the Indian mind was
already asking, “Who am I?”
When translations of the Upanishads first became available
in the West in the nineteenth century, the impact on European
philosophers such as Goethe and Schopenhauer and on Amer-
ican writers such as Emerson and Whitman was profound. “In
the whole world,” wrote Schopenhauer emotionally, “there is
no study as beneficial and as elevating as the Upanishads.” Em-
erson wrote poems based on the texts.
One of the principal underlying themes in the Upanishads is
the quest for a “personal reality.” This quest began with the con-
viction that the limitations of our sensory perceptions give us an
imperfect model to comprehend the real world around us; this is
known as the concept of maya. Since individual perceptions can
be different, different people can also have different “realities.”
For example, a happy event for one individual may be an un-
happy one for another. Recognition and perfection of our per-
sonal reality is the quintessential goal of Indian philosophy and
is also the basic principle behind yoga. Indeed, the literal
meaning of the Sanskrit word yoga is “union,” and the union
that is sought is not with any external entity but with one’s self.
This is, of course, also the principal tenet of modern psycho-
analysis.
From a Western perspective, to avoid misunderstanding
India in general, and Indian philosophy in particular, it is essen-
tial to appreciate three central tenets of the Indian way of
thinking. These are:
Assimilation. In the Indian way of thinking, new experi-
ences and ideas never replace old ones but are simply absorbed
into, and made a part of, old experiences. Although some have
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characterized such thinking as static, in reality such thinking is
both dynamic and conservative, since old experiences are pre-
served and new experiences are continually accumulated.
Belief in cycles. Another central tenet of the Indian character
is the belief that all changes in the world take place through cy-
cles, there being cycles superimposed on other cycles, cycles
within cycles, and so on. Inherent in the concept of cycles is al-
ternation, and the Upanishads speak of the two alternating states
of all things being “potentiality” and “expression.”
Acceptance of the coexistence of opposites. Early Western
readers of the Upanishads were puzzled by the apparent in-
herent ability of the Indian mind to accept the coexistence of
seemingly diametrically opposite concepts. Belief in, and ac-
ceptance of, contradictory ideas is a natural part of the Indian
way of life, and the logical complement to the tenets already
mentioned. It is an indisputable fact that birth (creation) must
necessarily be eventually followed by death (destruction). Cre-
ation and destruction are inseparable alternations. Even con-
cepts such as “good” and “evil” are complementary, as each of
us may have within us the most lofty and divine qualities and at
the same time the basest qualities. We ourselves and the whole
world can be whatever we want to make of them.
These three tenets are responsible for the amazing continuity
of the Indian civilization, its reverence for the elderly, and the
acceptance of the aging process without a morbid fear of death.
Ironically, the culture that taught of the need to renounce ma-
terialistic desires also produced some of the most pleasurable
things in life. The intricacies and highly developed nature of In-
dian art, music, dance, and cuisine are examples. And the Kama
Sutra is perhaps the oldest, and best known, manual on the plea-
sures of love and sex.
FROM PYTHAGORAS TO KING
Throughout history, India’s contributions to the Western world
have been considerable, albeit during the Middle Ages they
were often felt only indirectly, having been mediated by the
Middle Eastern cultures.
After the early contacts between Greece and India in the
sixth and fifth centuries B.C., many concepts that had been in
use in India centuries earlier made their appearance in Greek lit-
erature, although no source was ever acknowledged. For ex-
ample, consider the so-called Pythagorean theorem of a right
triangle and the Pythagorean school’s theory of the “transmi-
gration of souls”; the former was in use in India (for temple
construction) centuries earlier, and the latter is merely “reincar-
nation,” a concept of Vedic antiquity. There was also a flour-
ishing trade between the Roman Empire and the kingdoms in
southern India, through which not only Indian goods but also
ideas made their journey westward.
During the Middle Ages, the Arabs translated many classical
Indian works into Arabic, and the ideas contained in them even-
tually made their way to Europe. A principal mission of the
“House of Wisdom” that was established by the caliph in

Khorrum Omer/The World & I
Indian music has influenced Western artists, particularly in mod-
ern times. The beat of the tabla can be heard in pop music rang-
ing from the Beatles to Michael Jackson.
Baghdad in the eighth century was the translation of Indian
works.
Among the major Indian ideas that entered Europe through
the Arabs are the mathematical concept of zero (for which there
was no equivalent in Greek or Roman mathematics) and the
modern numerical system we use today. Until the twelfth cen-
tury, Europe was shackled by the unwieldy Roman numerals.
The famous French mathematician Laplace has written: “It is
India that gave us the ingenious method of expressing all num-
bers by ten symbols, each receiving a value of position as well
as an absolute value, a profound and important idea which ap-
pears so simple to us now that we ignore its true merit.”
India’s contributions to other areas of science and mathe-
matics were equally important. The seventh-century Syrian as-
tronomer Severus Sebokht wrote that “the subtle theories” of
Indian astronomers were “even more ingenious than those of
the Greeks and the Babylonians.”
The scientific approach permeated other aspects of Indian
life as well. For example, classical Indian music has a highly
mathematical structure, based on divisions of musical scales
into tones and microtones.
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Article 12. Ancient Jewel
In modern times, Indian music has had a considerable influ-
ence on Western music. Starting in the 1960s, the famous Indian
sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar popularized sitar music in the West,
and now the melodic strains of the sitar, as well as the beat of
the Indian drum known as tabla, can be heard in the works of
many pop-music artists, ranging from the Beatles to Michael
Jackson. The movies of the Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray have
also made a significant impact on the West.
The contributions of many modern Indian scientists have
been important to the overall development of Western science.
The mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan, who died in
1920, has been called “the greatest mathematician of the cen-
tury” and “the man who knew infinity.” The discovery by the
Nobel Prize-winning Indian physicist Chandrasekhara Venkata
Raman of the effect (which bears his name) by which light dif-
fusing through a transparent material changes in wavelength
has revolutionized laser technology. The theoretical predictions
by the Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist Subrahmanyan
Chandrasekhar on the life and death of white-dwarf stars led to
the concept of “black holes.”
In the literary area, the poetry of Nobel laureate Rabin-
dranath Tagore and the philosophical interpretations of the
scholar (and a former president of India) Sarvepalli
Radhakrishnan have inspired the West. Albert Einstein was one
of the admirers of the former and corresponded with him on the
meaning of “truth.”
In terms of our daily dietary habits, many vegetables such as
cucumber, eggplant, okra, squash, carrots, many types of beans,
and lentils were first domesticated in India. Rice, sugarcane,
and tea, as well as fruits such as bananas and oranges, are of In-
dian origin. The name orange is derived from the Sanskrit word
narangi. Chicken and cattle were also first domesticated in
India, albeit the latter for milk production and not for meat con-
sumption. Cotton was first domesticated in India. The process
of dying fabrics also was invented in India. Indian fabrics (both
cotton and silk) have been world renowned for their quality
since antiquity. The game of chess was invented in India, and
the name itself derives from the Sanskrit name Chaturanga.
India’s most popular modern exports have been yoga and
meditation. Hatha yoga, the exercise system that is a part of
yoga, is now taught widely in America, in institutions ranging
from colleges to hospitals. Many scientific studies on the bene-
ficial effects of yoga practice are now under way. A similar state
of affairs is true of Indian meditation techniques, which people
under stress use for mental relaxation.
Finally the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., repeatedly ac-
knowledged his debt to Mahatma Gandhi for the technique of
nonviolent civil disobedience, which he used in the civil rights
movement. For all India’s material contributions to the world, it
is its spiritual legacy that has had the widest impact. The ancient
sages who wrote the Upanishads would have been pleased.
ADDITIONAL READING
A. L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India, Grove Press, New York,
1959.
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Khorrum Omer/The World & I

Melodic inspiration: Performing traditional dance and music in Orissa.

——-, Ancient India: Land of Mystery, Time-Life Books, Alexandria,

Virginia, 1994. T. R. (Joe) Sundaram is the owner of an engineering research firm in
Will Durant, the Story of Civilization: Part I, Our Oriental Heritage, Columbia, Maryland, and has written extensively on Indian history,
Simon and Schuster, New York, 1954. culture, and science.

This article originally appeared in The World & I, October 1996, pp. 24-31. Reprinted by permission of The World & I, a publication of The
Washington Times Corporation. © 1996.