Ancient Indian history:

This is an attempt to summarise the important events and dynasties throughout indian history. hope it's useful

Indus valley civilization/Harappa (2500-1750 bc)


vedic age
Early (1500-1000 bc)–rig veda

later (1000-600 bc)
- Sam veda – on musical hymns
- Yajur veda – on rituals of sacrifices
- Atharva veda – on charms and spells
- Brahmanas – commentaries on the Vedas
- Aranyakas – jungle book; theme : romanticsm
- Upanishadas or vedantas (108 in number) – theme : metaphysics. Most important – chandokya.
-aryans life : discovery of iron (1000 bc ±100 years), agriculture, settled life, yajnas
- gods: Prajapati, Vishnu



The mahajanapadas ( 600 bc) – 16 in number. After a prolonged struggle, 5 of them emerged as the most powerful ones –
1. Vajji
2.Magadha
3.Kashi
4.Koshala
5.Avanti
Magadha and Avanti emerged as the most powerful; they fought for about 100 years and the Magadha empire became the first established empire in india!

Magadha dynasties:



Haryankas (500 bc)
Bimbisara They were the first to

Ajatashatru introduce metallic
Punchmarked coins in india



Shishunag – founder : shishunaga


Nanda – founder: mahapadmananda

Events:

- Alexander (326-324 bc) invaded india through Khyber pass. The first king to oppose him was Porus (Punjab).
- Alexander brought two historians with him:
Aristoblus and anasecrates
- Alexander returned through Gujarat without attacking northern india. At that time, dhananand was the king of magadh dynasty.



Maurya – founder: Chandragupta maurya (321 – 298 bc)

Landmarks:

- c. maurya was helped by vishnugupta/kautilya/chanakya
- c. maurya defeated seleucas nicotar (alexander’s successor)
(c. maurya performed ‘sallekhan’? - a Buddhist ritual of giving up food & water forever)
- megasthenes (writer of indica) was the ambassador of seleucas.

Bindusara/ Amitraghata

Ashoka (273-232 bc)
-after the kalinga war, he took up the policy of ‘dharmaghosa’ replacing ‘bherighosa’
-ashokan edicts: 14 in number found in 8 different places, written in prakrit.



Shunga – founder: pushyamitra shunga



Kanva – founder: vasudev




Arrival of foreigners


-Indo-greeks/bactrians (200 bc)
-they introduced gold coins, dates and images of kings on coins, yawanika (curtain or purdah), all for the first time

Gandhar school of art/hellenisti art:
-Mostly of Buddha in standing position.
[note: the statues found in bamiyan, begram, hadda, heart, kandhar, (afg), taxila (pak) are of this style]




Sakas/saythians (central asian tribe)
-Greatest king: rudradaman (proof: junagarh inscription)



Parthians/pahalvas (from iran)
- first Christian missionary: Saint Thomas settled In kerala.





Kushans (yutchi tribe of central asia)

-kanishka (1st & 2nd Ad) introduced the saka era
-charak: kanishka’s great physician, wrote the book, ‘kerala samhita’ ( known as encyclopedia of Indian medicine)



Vatsa




Satvahanas/andhras (100 – 300 ad)

-minted coins in lead
They were the first to give land grants
Patronized Amravati school of art: statues made in narrative form.
-mathura school of art ( origin: 200 bc): buddha ( shaveless with a lock) statues made of red sandstone



Sangam age/literature: assembly of tamil poets
-tolkappiyam: book on tamil grammar
-depict the life of three kingdoms, mainly: pandyan, chola and cheras

Indo roman trade: silk route ( china to rome via afg)



Guptas (320 – 520 ad): golden era

- ramayana & mahabharat finally compiled in this period
Manusmriti written in post-mauryan period
-samudragupta: Indian napoleon, kaviraj. Info about him from ‘prayag prasati’ (on ashokan pillar) written in Sanskrit by harisena, his court poet
-coins with image of lakshmi
-chandragupta ii/vikramaditya
Great scientific and cultural development took place during his time
Great scholars and poets during his reign: kalidas, aryabhatta (wrote aryalshittika)-the first scientist in india who separated mathematics and astronomy), amar singh (wrote amarkosh: dictionary in Sanskrit), vishakhadutta (wrote mudrarakshasha & devienandraguptam), fa-hien.
Puranas (stories of gods & goddesses) written in future tense: 18 in number
Smritis (law book)
Temple art flourished:
Bhitalgaon temple:the first to be made of bricks, ajanta
Fresco painting style: paintings done on wet plaster; theme: jataka tales

Kumaragupta I
Largest inscription about him found
Nalanda Buddhist monastery built

Skandagupta
His famous inscription: junagarh
Defeated the hunas (cen asian tribe)

Vardhans/pushyabhuti dynasty:

Harshavardhana (606 – 647 ad)
-his dramas: ratnavali, priyadarshika and nagananda, kadambari
-harsha charita: first biography of any king in india
- hiuen tsang visited india during his time; studied at nalanda


[note: Mesopotamian (Iran) civilization (5300 BC) – THE OLDEST CIVILIZATION KNOWN!]

Lookin good now....make it better

Things look brighter with the sun scorchin back on Delhi! Let's only hope things become normal for us as well as the tourists comin in for the commonwealth games.... We should try to salvage our pride by showing them the best hospitability we got; after all that is something we Indians are known for! The need of the hour is to get our act together, not passing the buck. Hoping for a good show. Indeed, hope is sometimes a good thing if not the best....

Water water everywhere....

Can you help me out?

Can you let me a hand?

It's safe to say thatI'm stuck again

Trapped between this life and the light

I just can't figure out

How to make it right

A thousand times before

I've wondered if there's something more

Something more...

I feel it's gonna rain like this for days

So let it rain down and wash everything away

I hope that tomorrow the sun will shine

With every tomorrow comes another life

I feel it's gonna rain

For days and days

I feel it's gonna rain

I tried to figure out

I can understand

What it means to live on again

Trapped between the truth and the consequence

Nothings real

Nothings making sense

A thousand times before

I've wondered if there's something more

Something more...

I feel it's gonna rain like this for days

So let it rain down and wash everything away

I hope that tomorrow the sun will shine

I feel it's gonna rain like this

Rain like this

Rain like this

Fall down

Wash away my yesterdays

Fall down

So let the rain fall down on me

I feel it's gonna rain like this for days

Let it rain down and wash everything away

I hope that tomorrow the sun will shine
I feel it's gonna rain like this
Rain like this

Rain like this

I feel it's gonna rain like this

Rain like this

I feel it's gonna rain like this

I feel it's gonna rain...

Well, couldn't find anythin more appropriate for the current situation up here in North Delhi! The lyrics were as meant for this! Cool song though; new one from the comeback band - creed!With the Commonwealth Games already in messy mess, I don't have to dwell on it. Adding to its woes are the rains! And guess what, there is more comin with hardly 10 days to0 go before the Games start. The Yamuna is comin alive after long and parts of Delhi are gettin submerged what with water being released from the Hathinikund Barrage in Haryana. THis is something my place looked like when I woke up in the morning!

Social Networking Sites - a sham or an ingenuity?

Their reign over the web is undisputable! They have redefined the meaning of 'social identity'. If u and ur pics, scraps. videos n wat all u can imagine uploading, aren't there, ur existence in this world would be a farce! From the status of ur relationships to the last click of ur camera, u got to put up everything for everyone to see, which means unless u r often online, u miss the bus! No wonder, so many of us suffer from post-modem depression! Now that's somethin u develp wen u find urslf unable to access the internet for a considerable time period ( it differs from hours to days). Many out there would actually argue for these sites, stating that it helps them stay connected to their pals and to know about the happenings in each other's lives. Truly appreciable stuff and this was the very motive why Mark Zuckerberg & others developedthese sites. (In fact,the guy Orkut, set up the site to find his lost girlfriend and it actually helped him trace her!)But as we are becoming more vulnerable to the utilities of these sites, few of us are actually toeing the thin line separating a socialite from an exhibitionist! Everyhin under the sky has its good & bad side but it's imperative to maintain that balance. Introspection should be of prime concern here. Sending a message or a written note to someone has always had a greater impact , we must make sure we dont make a comment while thinking through that veil of vanity & braggery. While in public scrutiny, one needs to exercise some restraint on emotions....after all as tha sayin goes- admonish in ur frnd in private while praise him in public!

While we may have countless frnds in that virtual list n only gettin added with each day, expectin each of them to undestand and feel our real situation would b foolish. In the process of such parochial thinking, there is every chance of losing those real frnds, neare to us in the real world. No wonder why so many suffer from depressions of being lonely. Are some of us trying to find solace by interacting with this virtual world? Or is it partly because its an easy way of establishing a fake in the guise of artificial poses, which scream of duplicacy?

On the flipside, a lot of good things can be achieved via these sites. The way they link us to the world happenings, disasters, etc are unparalleled. Good social deeds can be materialised and opinions can be exchanged transcending borders. Join NGOs, mobilise people, remove misconceptions, spread awareness, urge sustainibility for the surroundings, arrange a poll or quiz to generate funds, donation programmes etc - the list is endless if only we will. But the question remains as to how many of us actually think of such innovative ways to contribute to our social responsibility cause? Being busy uploading mundane pics, songs etc. is one thing while standing apart from the crowd while inspiring the rest is another. We really need to grow up from futile aspirations and do something constructive in our own small way for this country, towards which we only export criticism. This way the image of the sites we are members of, would also reflect the contributions, of which everyone would be proud of! So, happy tweeting....

Heart Affairs!

Damn, it sure beats! yes, it does....everytime you talk to the person, for whom you have had harboured feelings for! Those who say it doesn't, lie. The harsh reality of life however shatters just about everything we dream of....at least its true in most cases. Those who sail through the storm are the real fortunate ones! Why brood? Why act dead when living? Lets just wish the magic moments stay in our memories and be enough for us to spend the endless quiet solitary evenings on our own! Amen....

Let's get together...

" I don't have prejudice against myself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white....." - BOB MARLEY.

So simply said and understood by the great Jamaican singer! Decades gone, yet these words are not so simply heard and followed.....India sowed the seeds of secularism long before independence but what we reaped is far from what was expected. True, democracy is a delicate plant, susceptible to many blights such as sectarian politics, political infighting, rigged polls, but we cannot expect much from the plant when the soil on which it thrives is itself diseased. Unproductivity ( read 'sub-nationalism'), absence of fertilizers (read 'illiteracy'), and most importantly absence of nutrients and water (read 'principles and poverty') are the preconditions for a failed harvest. We can't change history but we can, the perspectives. The platform on which secularism was based had been toxified by the bitterness and hatred that accompanied "the partition". Lakhs of people lost their lives and that too at a time when two countries were beginning a new journey. Much has been said and discussed about the parochialism of the leaders at that time and the sudden vacation of the British from the country, leading to a complete failure of law and order, something that was of utmost necessity while the largest ever human migration. Perhaps, if Viceroy Mountbatten had made Cyril Radcliffe's dividing line public atleast a fortnight earlier, much of the clashes and deaths could have been avoided. The result was that most of the people didn't know on which side of the border they actually belonged. Agitated mobs with survival instincts took to the streets with weapons killing anyone they found from the other community.

Perhaps these wounds in history resurfaces from time to time and still reminds us of the bitterness associated with the events and that which is ready to trigger an outburst whenever a sensitive issue related to religion is raised. Common sense would have us that leaders would do well to not give filip to such issues, given the fact that our literacy rates are still poor and the society is still grappling with the changes brought in my modernisation, add to it the superstious beliefs and religious fanatism accompanying it. The middle class is rising but with apprehensions which shows that the country is evolving and going thrugh the learning phases. It needs dynamic leaders, clean bureaucrats, proper social amenities - homes, hospitals, employment, educational institutions, industries, banks, roads, electricity etc.....all backed up by effective policies and their skillful implementation. India today, is seen as one of the prime leaders in the South Asian region leading a revivel for the ailing economy. But we must realise that being obsessed with GDP numbers and growth rate alone will not do. Neither would holding an Olympics Games!

So what then is the need of the hour?

Nationalistic attitude should repace the sub-nationalistic ones. The leaders need to reach out - they are the panacea to all social evils. I can't single out a leader who has so much of an unnerving nature to pull the masses out for a cause today. Except for political gimmicks, there is nothing new in them. Communal hatred is perhaps the worst evil vitiating the effects of secularism. The 'Ayodhya Ram Janambhumi Temple' verdict is on its way and its no wonder most of us are keeping fingers crossed fearing a clash between the two sides once the verdict is out. Not wanting to take any chances, troops - PAC, RAF etc. have been mobilised. Herein lies our problem. We never take measures when we should and when we can! Had the people in power gone nuts when this very issue of there being a Ram mandir in Ayodhya came up. Instead of taking effective measures then, the issue was politicised for narrow political gains just like we all know. It clearly shows the lack of dynamism and foresightedness in our leaders, two crucial components of leadership. Insted of bridging the gap between the two vulnerable communities, it was only ignited to its peak. This, however is not the time to refresh those bad memories and I would only do so if the verdict goes against the truth. For now, we should embrace peace and tolerance.... Just like Bob Marley said, who are we to differentiate between ourselves when we know we all were created by the same power!

Some other day....

A teacher's role...

Given an opportunity to take up the role of a teacher, I would be keen to make essential alterations which I believe will be pragmatically functional in helping our ailing education system to improve for the better. The teacher being the pillar of this foundation, it is imperative that he/she be completely devoted to the task of carrying out the desired changes. Only then can we embark upon the next level.So, with this assumption, I would like to highlight the points:

Vocational courses need to enter the arena in a large way. Hands-on experience to solve day to day problems should be stressed upon more. For instance, knowing the technical know hows regarding the repair of a blown-out fuse, dismantling a switch board, replacing a bulb holder, fixing the motor or the water faucet, some carpentry work, some practice of washing and cleaning the house etc. When a high school pass-out fumbles to write an application correctly, something is seriously wrong. Such problems reflect the need for separate sessions to draw out the creative side of the kid, to let them experiment and understand that the real world lies outside the books. Learning theory is one thing but without some real time applications, they just fade away.Students who show skills or interest in fields other than academics should be given the thrust. They should not be fed with the old home-grown fact of life that academics alone is the ticket to success. There should be a scope for development of one’s oral and communication skills. This can be done by arranging oral tests and allotting marks for them. Many a time good students suffer because they are judged on their answer presentation skills alone. This would also help the kid to overcome public speaking fears and do a world of good to his confidence.
Discussions on a variety of issues should be encouraged in the class though the onus lies with the teacher here. Such activities make everyone participate freely and most importantly help them in forming their own opinions and viewpoints.Regarding the curriculum, it is necessary to include the basics of financial education as compulsory. This would enable the student to know what and why to save. Sex education is screaming for attention and it’s high time we incorporated it. Today’s children are growing in a fast-paced world which calls for all-round development to tackle problems of all genres the society confronts them with.
Maths is a subject dreaded by many students. But its importance is undeniable. The way to teach maths at the school level needs a sea change. There should be math laboratories with all the necessary equipments. This would make learning maths fun. Besides universalization of education, focus should shift towards higher studies and improvement of infrastructure at the University level.
Last but not the least is the role of the parent/guardian. Home is where education begins and so it is the responsibility of the family to introduce the child to the right values and principles. They should refrain from pressurizing their wards to choose a particular subject or profession and let them blossom on their own under a certain balanced vigil. We should learn to respect every profession and stop interpreting any as being of lesser position in the social ladder. Because as long as the individual enjoys a passion for the work he takes up, it’ll take him places.