INDIA is great country. Her civilization is vast and varied. Her history is full of events. She was known to outside world from early times. In the East, she received respect as as land of wisdom. In the West, she rose to fame as a land of wealth. Through ages, the glories of India found place in world history.
The original name of India is Bharatvarsha, or the land of Bharat. As mythological figure, Bharat was the son of King Dushyanta and Shakuntala, and was a mighty hero. The ancient Aryans gave name to their land after the name of the great monarch. According to another belief, Bharat was the son of Rushabha Deva and was a great king. The name Bharatvarsha was given after his name. This name was applied to the whole land from the Himalayas to the seas. It covers the entire geographical India. The People of the land were described as Bharata-Santati or descendants of Bharat.
The name India came from the name of the river Sindhu. The ancients Persians called that river ‘Hindu’. In course of time the name Hindu was applied to the people and the land was called Hind.
The ancient Greeks called the river Sindhu as Indu.Like the Persians, the Greeks and Romans called the land as Hind or India. Finally, from these words came the name ‘India, for the land. The people were called ‘Indians’.
As the people were known as Hindu, by middle ages, the land was called Hindustan.
The names India and Bharatvarsha have as great significance. They are the names for the whole land from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin and from Hindukush to Burma. When the ancient Greeks could not think of as small Greece as their motherland, the ancient Indians thought of a huge sub-continent as their mother country. They thought of this oneness long before their rulers attempted at political unity.
Geographical Situation of India
India occupies as favorable position in the Geography of the East. She is like the center of gravity of the Asian Continent. There is as chain of smaller States like Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey to her north-west. There is another chain of smaller states to her southeast such as Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. India thus commands as political advantage for her geographical position.
Geography has also given India as distinct existence. She is bounded only the north by the highest mountain ranges of the world, the Himalays.in the east, west and south, there are the seas and ocean. In the north-west, the Hindukush and Suleiman mountains separate India from Russia, Afghanistan and Iran. In the east, the Arakan Mountains separate her from Burma. Protected only all sides by natural frontiers, India maintains as clear identity of her own.
Though separated from other countries, India is not and isolated land. Over the seas, she maintained cultural and commercial contact with the outside world. Through the Khyber, Bolan and other passes in the North West, foreign races entered into India at different times.
Within India’s strong geographical walls, her people developed their own social, political and cultural life. Side by side, they kept their doors and windows open to external influences.
Natural Divisions of India
The geographical India is as vast sub-continent. In area, it is as large as Europe without Russia. More than four millions square kilometers make upon its territory.
India is divided into four broad natural divisions. First is the Himalayan Region, extending from the high mountains towards the swampy jungles down. Kashmir, Kangara, Tehri, Kumaun, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan are included in this region. The second is the great Northern plains from the Punjab to Bengal, called as the Indo-Gangetic Plain. The fertile valleys of the Indus and its tributaries, and alluvial lands watered by the Ganges, Yamuna and Brahmaputra, make this region the most productive and most populated. The third region is the Central Indian and Deccan Plateau. It is geologically the oldest part of India. The Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats stand only two sides of the Deccan. The fourth divisions contain the two long narrow coastal plains of South India between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea on one side, and between the Eastern Ghats and Bay of Bengal on the other.
In spite of natural divisions, India remains one Geographical unit. It is unfortunate; however, that the geographical India stands divided today into three political states, namely, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. This division has harmed every part. Because, geography offered climatic conditions, river systems, natural resources and economic productivity in as balanced way for the whole sub-continent. An unnatural partition has distributed the natural harmony of the land.
India lost about one-third of her Geographical area because of partition in 1947. Yet her size and population are large enough to make her a great country.
The People of India
Vast as India’s size is, vast too is her population. Long ago, in fifth century B.C., the Greek historian Herodotus said, “Of all the nations that whenever know, it is India which has the largest population”. To-day, the population of India is the second largest in the earth.
This population is made up of several ethnic groups. It is said that India contains as large variety of human types than any other country. These types are again divided into many casts and sub-castes. Besides, the people follow several major religions and many creeds. And, finally, there are about two hundred different languages and dialects through which the people speak.
From ethnic and linguistic consideration, the people of India can be divided into four major groups. The first group contains the earliest inhabitants of the soil. They are primitive dwellers of hills and mountains. Some of these people like the Todas, Ho and Santal are the descendants of the primitives of the new Stone Age. The Kolhas, Bhils and Mundas represent the prominent primitive’s tribes. They are dark in color, have flat nose and not tall in height. They speak languages, which came from the Austric group of languages. The second group contains the Mongloaid types. They are seen in Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal, in the hills of Assam and in the lower lands of Himalays.Gurkha, Bhutia and Khasi types of people being to this group. Their color is yellowish, face is broad and nose is flat.
The third groups contain the Dravidian people of the South. They speak the Dravidian group of languages such as Tamil, Telgu, Malayalam, Kanarese or Kannada. The fourth groups covered the Indo-Aryan types. They are spread over Kashmir, Rajsthan areas of Uttar Pradesh and other places. Their bodies are tall, complexion is fair, forehead is broad and nose is prominent. They speak the Indo-Aryan Languages are derived from Prakrit and Sanskrit. Their languages include Gujurati, Hindi, Bengali, Oriya and Marathi etc.
Through long ages, different people have got mixed up. The Dravidians and Aryans are so much mixed up that at many places it is difficult to know the differences. Because of such racial fusion the people of some areas are described as Aryo-Dravidian.
Besides these groups, some other races also came from outside and stayed only permanently. In earlier times, there came the Persians, Greeks, Scythians, Kushans, Sakas and the Huns. Most of these people got completely merged with the Indian people. Even the most terrible Huns lost their identity and got mixed upon with the Rajputs.Later only there came the Arabs, Turks, Afghans and Mughals. They also became indianised while following Islam as their religion.
Thus India contains as teeming population. With the above groups, regions and languages, they form the Indian nation.
Unity in Diversity
India is like as world miniature. It presents many climatic conditions. Its geographical features differ greatly. There are mountains peak under eternal snow, arid deserts, dense forests, plateaus, plains and river valleys. From extreme cold to extreme heat, from highest rainfalls to no rains, from densely populated areas to uninhabited wilderness, India presents the diversities of nature.
The Indian people, too, present enormous diversities. They differ among themselves in color, creed caste and customs. They differ in dresses, festivals and food habits. They speak different languages. There are primitive primes who still live in wild forests and hunt animals for food. There are most advanced city people who live ultra-modern life.
There are different religions too. From Brahmanical Hinduism there came out Jainism and Buddhism as two other great religions. Late in middle ages, Sikhism raised yet another religion. From outside came the Persian Zoroastrianism, Islam and Christianity. Thus, India is a home of seven religions. And, of course, many smaller faiths and creeds.
India thus appears as a land of diversities. But it is the story of unity which is the lesson of Indian history. Unity in diversity is the Indian way of life. There are many types of people, but one Indian nation. There are many religions, but the state of secular to promote and protect all religions. There are several regional cultures, but they represent various aspects of Indian civilization .In brief, Unity is more real than diversities.
The basic unity of India rests only the following factors:
Firstly, from a remote past, the geographical India has been thought of as one country. The ancient seers gave the name of Bharatvarsha to the whole land. All the people were described as Bharata-Santati or the children of Bharat.This created as mental unity among the people. The prophets, preachers, philosophers and poets always thought of India as one. This influenced people everywhere.
Secondly, the people were thought to respect their country as of faith. The Himalayas and the Vindyas were regarded sacred. The river Ganges was worshipped as “Mother Ganges”. The people had to remember the great rivers like Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Sarswati, Narmada, Sindhu and Kaberi almost as a daily duty. In his lifetime, every Indian hoped to been visit the four holy places at the farthest ends of India. They were Badrinath only Himalayas, Rameswar of Kumarika, and Dwaraka on the western coast and Puri only the eastern coast. Even after death bones of an Indian are deposited in the holy water of Ganges and Yamuna at Prayag- as central place of the sub-continent. Such systems made the people deeply attached to their motherland.
Thirdly, the rulers of ancient times aimed at the ideal of becoming as Chakravarti King. To become a Chakravarti, one was required to conquer “thousands yojanas of land that stretch from the Himalaya to the Sea”. Inspired by this ideal, great heroes tried to unite India politically. Chandragupta Maurya, Asoka, Samudragupta and Harsha attempted this in ancient times. As the tradition continued, Muslim rulers like Allaudin, Akbar and Aurangzeb and the Hindu Peshwa Baji Rao tried for the same medieval time. Finally, the British followed the legacy and united India in modern times. Thus India’s political unity remained as goal at all times.
Fourthly, there developed as linguistic unity from remote times. At first, Prakrit was like a lingua franca in India. In far corners, of the land Asoka’s inscriptions were written in Prakrit. Later on, Sanskrit became the all-India language among learned. As common language worked as a strong bond of unity.
Fifthly, the Indian religions were meant for all people of India .The Vedas, Purans and great Epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata dominated the Indian thought everywhere. Whether in Kashmir or at Kumarika, at Taxila or Tamil land, Gujarat or Assam the epics provided lessons to the learned and the common people all alike. The society thus derived certain basic values from as common source.
Sixthly, there grew as cultural unity among the people through common faiths, philosophies, literature and art. Many religious and social ceremonies took as common pattern. Art and architecture, with local differences served a common purpose. For example, places of worship or images could look different from place to place, but everywhere they served the same need. Thus, as common culture promoted unity.
Finally, the history of India provided as sense of unity to the people of India. People cherished the memories of India’s spiritual leader, political heroes and men of letters. The glories of the past worked as a source of pride. As the descendants of great ancestors, and heirs to splendid civilizations, the people developed their faith in oneness.
The Indian unity thus as result of fundamental causes. With and ability to synthesize things, India recognizes diversity for the sake of variety. And, variety adds vitality to unity.
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