Elephanta or Gharipuri, which in Sanskrit translates to “the city of purification”. The complex of rock-cut temples is officially believed to date back to the 7th century, but in their texts, the Brahmins attribute an age of 374,000 years to Elephanta. According to the Mahabharata, it was built by the sons of Pandu who participated in the war between the dynasties of the Sun and the Moon.
India, with its rich cultural and spiritual heritage, is an inexhaustible treasure trove of knowledge and wisdom that has magnetically attracted and inspired scientists, artists, and especially those with spiritual inclinations in their search for truth… Countless books have been written about India, documentaries have been filmed, many of its secrets have been revealed, but it still captivates as much today as it did in the time of its first explorers.
RECORDED BEGINNINGS OF INDIAN CULTURE
The etymological name of India comes from the Latin word “indus,” derived from the Old Persian “hindu,” and from the Sanskrit “sindhu” – the name of the Indus River. The first urban cultures recorded In the area of the valley of this river, Dravidians are considered to be the dominant group. One major difficulty in understanding them is still the unsolved Proto-Indic script, but even based on partial archaeological remains, we can say that they had advanced cultures. This is evidenced by organized cities with multi-story houses made of baked standardized bricks, intricate layouts of wide streets, a complex network of sewage and water supply systems, ritual bathing pools and bathrooms in houses, well-structured river docks for boats, granaries with ventilation systems, and traces of symbols such as lotus, swastika, and spinning wheel, which were already found in the region of India. The most famous cities are Harappa, Lothal, and Mohenjo-Daro, and what is surprising is their connection with neighboring peoples and the development of trade routes. Interestingly, nothing resembling money has been found.
Key dates in the chronology:
12,000 BCE – Painted caves
3,300 BCE – Indus Valley Civilizations
1,500 BCE – Arrival of the Aryans
540 BCE – [missing content] Kingdom of Magadha
327 BC – Alexander the Great in India
262 BC – Ashoka, king of the Maurya dynasty, adopts Buddhism
1st to 3rd century – Kushan Empire
3rd to 6th century – Gupta Kingdom – “golden age of art”
8th century – Muslim sultanates and empires
1498 – First European sea voyage to India (Vasco da Gama)
1526 – 1857 – Mughal Empire
1757 – 1947 – English colonialism
1877 – Queen Victoria proclaimed Empress of India
1947 – Republic of India established
Anthropological findings indicate Mediterranean, Proto-Australoid, and Mongoloid ethnic types, suggesting continuous racial mixing. Around 1700 BC, the power of the Dravidian civilization begins to decline, and spiritual remnants of their culture will be preserved in the foundations of later Jainism. Dravidians are gradually suppressed by the Aryans from around 1500 BC, who bring with them a new civilizational impulse, introduce Vedic Sanskrit, and from around 1000 BC, we record finds of iron objects.
Bhimbetka Cave Paintings: In the Madhya Pradesh area, there are around seven hundred archaeological sites with painted caves dating back to 12,000 years. Among the most famous is Bhimbetka, named after the mythological association with Bhima, one of the Pandavas from the epic Mahabharata. The Bhimbetka cave is adorned with motifs of hunting, dancing, childbirth, the sun, horses, elephants, cattle, snakes, peacocks, bisons, leopards, and geometric abstract symbols. This cave wouldn’t be as unique if it didn’t share certain elements with European cave cultures. N. Kameswara Rao from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore connects his research from 2005 with the discoveries made by European scientists, such as Michael A. Rappenglueck. Rappenglueck used modern research methods to link the drawings on the ceilings of the Lascaux Cave (17,000 years old, Magdalenian culture) with depictions of the sky during the spring equinox, summer solstice, and so far. The oldest recorded depictions of the Moon passing through constellations during its 28-day cycle are still to be confirmed in the years to come, and the results that will be obtained are sure to change our understanding of the connections and interactions between so-called primitive prehistoric cultures.
King Bimbisara established the kingdom of Magadha with a strong administration, planned economy, and developed road infrastructure in the 6th century BC. This first Aryan kingdom extended from the Bay of Bengal inland to the area of present-day Bihar state. In the 3rd century BC, King Ashoka from the Maurya dynasty, a fervent advocate of Buddhism, united most of the Indian subcontinent, leaving a legacy of wisdom, compassion, tolerance, as well as economic, political, and cultural advancement. According to the records of Pliny the Elder, Ashoka hosted ambassadors from the Egyptian ruler Ptolemy II at his court.
The depiction of the sacred bo tree leaf or Mohenjo-Daro’s remains, under which, according to legend, thousands of years later Siddhartha Gautama would become the Buddha or the Enlightened One, can be found equally in the oldest preserved cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, as well as in more recent Indian history. In the picture, there is an imprint of a peepal leaf found in ancient Harappa.
The Golden Age of Indian culture is usually considered to be the period of the Gupta dynasty (320 – 510 AD), during which art, science, philosophy, maritime trade with neighboring countries, and craftsmanship flourished. Their empire is now considered a model of classical Indian civilization. However, in the 5th century, Hun attacks began, along with the fragmentation of the empire into smaller states, and this political, economic, and military disintegration will facilitate the invasion of Muslims. Starting from the 8th century, they gradually spread throughout India, reaching their peak during the reign of the Mughal emperors (1526 – 1857). The Mughal Empire occupied most of the Indian subcontinent, and its end marked the arrival of British colonizers.
The remains of Mohenjo-Daro.
From the Ajanta Caves to the Stone Lace of Dilwara
In India, we find monuments of knowledge and skill of Indian builders almost everywhere we go. Although it is difficult to distinguish the basic elements of each style, we can highlight that the oldest Hindu temples are often carved from a single piece of rock, while later ones are pyramidal or gently tapering and richly adorned with figures of deities and scenes from their lives. For Buddhist architecture, the most significant are stupas and viharas (monasteries), as well as the Ashoka pillars adorned with capitals. Jain temples revive elements of the ancient Dravidian style and are adorned with marble and Jain idols.
HOLY TEXTS
The cultural heritage of Indian holy texts is immensely rich – there are 40,000 texts on palm leaves alone in the Sarasvati Mahal library in Thanjavur, and thousands more are yet to be translated. According to the words of ancient Brahmins, many texts are hidden from the eyes of Westerners, and the keys to almost all of them have long been lost. Multiple interpretations!
Seals of Mohenjo Daro: There are several astronomical interpretations of the seals, and although the basic idea is the same, each scientist develops it in their own way. The seal with the marking M-304 (in the picture) is considered to represent Prajapati Brahma or the Lord of the Year, surrounded by four animals that represent the most important celestial points: the elephant (autumn equinox), the cow (spring equinox), the tiger (summer solstice), and the rhinoceros or boar (winter solstice).
The main collection of texts consists of the Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda, and Atharvaveda. The Upanishads are often highlighted as independent texts in this enumeration, but they are also part of the Vedic literary corpus.
Alexander the Great – a link between East and West
In the 6th century BC, Darius began the two-century Persian conquest of India, which was interrupted by Alexander the Great’s advance in 327 BC, opening the way for Hellenistic cultural influences. Numerous Greek settlements were established, and the ancient Indian city of Gandhara became an important center of trade and cultural exchange with the Mediterranean. The image shows the influence of Hellenism on Indian art.
Among other Indian literary treasures, we can mention the great epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. The Mahabharata is a compilation in which, in addition to the moral and psychological story of the battle of Kurukshetra between the Pandava and Kaurava armies, we find knowledge of astronomy, teachings about yugas and generations, and stories of gods. The most famous of these is certainly the Bhagavad- The Bhagavad Gita or the Song of the Sublime is a text in which Krishna imparts to the young Arjuna the basic teachings of Indian philosophy on life and death, the cycle of samsara and liberation from it, the illusory nature of the material world, reincarnation and eternal life, as well as the castes and their duties. The Ramayana is an epic about Prince Rama who, after exile and numerous misfortunes, manages to regain his kingdom.
“The true yoga excludes all suffering, all pain, and such union can only be achieved by one who is always moderate in sleep and in eating, in entertainment and in rest; one who does everything in the right measure. When he has conquered his thoughts and gathered himself within… then it can be said of him: he is harmonious – united with yoga.”
Bhagavad Gita
From the sacred texts of the Buddhist canon, fragments remain of a collection of works called the Tipitaka or Three Baskets, so named because it consists of three main parts: the Vinayapitaka (Basket of Monastic Discipline), the Sotrapitaka (Basket of Discourses), and the Abhidharmapitaka (Basket of Philosophy), whose and famous Dhammapada.
King Ashoka
In Indian Buddhist literature, there are many legends about King Ashoka. One of them says that the king, realizing what he had done in one of his bloody military campaigns, decided to permanently change his way of ruling and renounced conquests and converted to Buddhism. He sent Buddhist missionaries outside of India to spread Buddha’s teachings, and throughout the empire, he had around 84,000 carved pillars built, with a height of up to 20 meters, usually crowned with lion capitals. The text on the pillars usually began with the words: “The king close to the gods proclaims to the ministers of the city administration.”
Ashoka’s proclamations were written in the Prakrit language: “Respect for mother and father is good; generosity towards friends, acquaintances, relatives, Brahmins, and ascetics is good; not killing living beings is good; moderation in spending and moderation in saving is good.”… “Doing good is difficult. Indeed, it is easy to do evil.”… “One who celebrates their own religion, but curses the religion of others, does not truly uphold their own religion.” “Foreign … only causes harm to her. That is why contact (between religions) is good. We should listen to and respect the teachings that others witness.”
THOUSAND-YEAR-OLD UNIVERSITIES AND THEIR STUDENTS
Among the most famous preserved remains of Indian university cities are Taxila and Nalanda. The doors of these universities were open to everyone regardless of age, gender, religion, or social class. The only requirement was knowledge of Sanskrit and passing an oral entrance exam!
The cave temples of Ajanta, carved into the rock, are best known for frescoes depicting scenes from the life of Buddha. They are dated to the 2nd century, although traditional texts mention a much older age. The image depicts a Bodhisattva holding a lotus in his hand. According to Buddhist philosophy, a Bodhisattva is a being that will become the Great Buddha in one or several incarnations. Instead of choosing the deserved rest of nirvana, the Bodhisattva returns to the samsaric cycle of life and death to help all beings who suffer, until the very end. Traditional The texts mention numerous underground tunnels and labyrinths connecting the temples. So far, a total of 1200 rock temples have been recorded, and all we can say is that we do not know for certain who built them and how.
The remains of the university in Nalanda, near Patna, the capital city of the Indian state of Bihar, which borders Nepal.
“The wise say that the power lies in the senses, but that the power of the spirit is even stronger in a person, and from this power of the spirit, the power of wakefulness is even stronger. Whoever is stronger than all that is supreme above all! … you must tame yourself with yourself!”
Bhagavad-Gita
In Nalanda and Taxila, sacred texts, yoga, medicine, astronomy, astrology, grammar, logic, mathematics, physics, biological and other sciences were studied.
The Dilwara Jain temples in Rajasthan date back to the 11th to 13th centuries and are known for their beautifully carved white marble. Jainism developed in India at the same time as Buddhism, in the 6th century BC, as a reaction to the distortion of the original teachings. nja brahmanism. The main characteristic of Jainism is the striving for liberation from the cycle of birth and death through the practice of virtues, primarily compassion for all living beings and non-violence towards other beings (ahimsa).
Nalanda, or in translation “Place that bestows the lotus,” for 1700 years, from the 5th century BC to the 12th century, received both teachers and students from distant places such as Japan, Tibet, Korea, Sumatra, and Europe. At its peak, it had 10,000 students and 1,500 teachers. For example, the Chinese court scholar Xuanzang spent five years studying Buddhism and Brahmanism in Nalanda at the request of Emperor Taizong, and on his return to China, he carried with him a hundred Sanskrit works that he translated into Chinese during his lifetime. Taxila was also founded in the 5th century BC, but this university was open to students for “only” seven centuries. In the West, it is known for the fact that Alexander the Great stayed there in 326 BC, partially acquainting himself with the teachings. It is also believed that the students of this university were among those who later spread the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism in Tibet, which gradually developed into Tibetan Lamaism. From Nalanda, Taxila, and other universities, future rulers like Ashoka and their political advisors like Kautilya, as well as physicians, astronomers like Aryabhata, architects, and many known and unknown individuals who created breathtaking works, originated.
The name of the god Shiva, translated from Sanskrit, means “gentle” and “merciful”. Along with Brahma and Vishnu, he is the third member of the trinity – the destroyer of the world and the destroyer of ignorance. The one who destroys old worn-out forms in order to make space for new ones.
In the Mahabharata, King Yudhishthira and the god of death, Yama, are having a conversation. Yama asks the king:
“What do you gain when you give up, everyone loves you?
What do you gain when you give up, you have no regrets?
What do you gain when you give up, you become rich?
What do you gain when you give up, you become happy?”
And the king replies: “When you give up pride, everyone loves you. When you give up anger, you have no regrets.
When you give up desires, you become rich. When you give up, you become happy.” “When you abandon greed, you become happy.”
Ganesha, one of the most worshipped and easily recognizable Indian deities. He is the god of beginnings, obstacles and overcoming them, as well as later becoming the god of wisdom and the patron of arts and sciences. Like the Greek muses, he is invoked before undertaking any task. Ganesha appeared as a deity during the Gupta period. Many temples and festivals are dedicated to him.
It is generally accepted today that India is the mother of several mathematical concepts – including zero, the decimal system, algebra, algorithms, square root, the so-called Pythagorean theorem, and trigonometry. The oldest astronomical data can be found in the Vedas. It is known that the Indians calculated solar and lunar eclipses, developed theories about the force of gravity, understood the heliocentric system, and accurately determined the arrangement of the planets in the solar system. They considered the Sun as a star and defined a year as 365.25635656 days.
Agni is the god of Fire. He represents the divine essence or celestial fire present in every atom of the universe. In Hindu temples, sacrifices were offered twice daily, before sunrise and after sunset, in the form of milk, oil, and oatmeal porridge.
Indians had a good understanding of the body and the energies that permeate it and connect it to the entire universe. They were familiar with the concept of atomic particles. The medical work compiled by Charaka, gathering most of the existing knowledge in physiology, embryology, immunology, and medicine, was translated into foreign languages, including Latin and Arabic, and for over two thousand years served as a basic medical textbook.
Krishna is the eighth of the ten incarnations of the god Vishnu. He is most famous as the divine advisor to the young warrior Arjuna in the poem Bhagavad Gita. He is a beloved figure in Indian medieval epic and lyrical poetry, where he appears as the protector of people.
BUDDHA – THE LIGHT OF THE EAST
Buddhism emerged in India in the 6th century BC and almost completely disappeared with the arrival of Muslim conquerors and the destruction of Buddhist universities.
During his lifetime, Buddha established a monastic community, sangha, which lived according to the rules outlined in Vinayapitaka. He taught his disciples the Middle Noble Path, or the path of moderation, which emphasized spiritual discipline, morality, and moderation. He believed that one should avoid extremes, as neither excessive asceticism nor boundless bodily pleasures lead to liberation from suffering. Buddha advised those who choose the spiritual path to steer clear of two extremes: a life dedicated to excessive indulgence, as it is ignoble and useless, and a life plagued by excessive suffering, as it is unworthy of a human being and equally useless on the path to liberation from suffering.
Surya, the sun god and witness of human karma, the giver of life. All ancient pantheons had a deity associated with the sun, but the revered spiritual power or being of the sun transcended its physical form. In India, several temples are dedicated to Surya, such as… (rest of the text is missing)
The most famous temple is Konark in the city of Konark on the coast of the Bay of Bengal.
“Just as a lotus flower can grow amidst a pile of garbage by blooming and spreading its pure fragrance that delights the soul, so too among the blind masses shines the pure light of wisdom of the disciple who follows Buddha, the one who is truly awakened.”
Dhammapada
Yama, the king and judge of the deceased in the Rigveda, is most often depicted riding a buffalo in red and green clothing. He is the guardian of records of human actions, thoughts, and emotions during life. He corresponds to the Greek Hades and the Roman Pluto.
Vishnu, the second member of the Brahmanic Trinity Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva, is the sustainer of the universe, the embodiment of mercy and goodness. His symbol is the chakra (circle, wheel). Vishnu is the source of the chain of ten incarnations or avatars: Matsya (Fish), Kurma (Turtle), Varaha (Boar), Narasimha (Man-lion), Vamana (Dwarf), Parasurama (Rama’s hero with an axe), Rama Chandra (hero from Ramayana), Krishna, Gautama Buddha, and finally Kalki, the avatar who will. There will come a time at the end of our age, which the Indians call the Kali Yuga. According to Krishna, avatars appear when injustice prevails in the world in order to restore justice and order, and to convey to humanity a message of unity, love, and wisdom.
The story of the oil lamp
Buddha often liked to speak at night. On such occasions, people would bring oil lamps and place them before the teacher. Over time, they began to compete to bring larger, more beautiful, and more luxurious oil lamps. On one occasion, Buddha was scheduled to give his night speech in a village. People eagerly prepared for this grand moment. Among them, there was an old woman. She was so poor that she did not have an oil lamp, and no one wanted to give her one. Therefore, she decided to sell the only valuable thing she had – an amulet she had received from her mother. With the money she received, she could buy a very small oil lamp and a little oil. Despite this, the old woman happily lit it and placed it among the others, large, decorated, and luxurious ones. Her The light in that crowd barely even noticed. But when Buddha began to speak, a fierce wind arose and a storm began, and the crowd scattered. All the lights went out except one – the old woman’s. When the storm subsided and the people returned, Buddha said to them: “All your lamps are fueled by ordinary oil and that is why they went out. Only this little lamp is fueled by the power of love and sacrifice that this woman has poured into it. As long as this love lasts, as long as the sacrifice lasts, the flame will burn and no storm will extinguish it. And as long as there is even one person like this in the world, hope is not lost.” Stories from Buddhism.
The Dharma wheel (in Sanskrit: “wheel of teaching”) is a symbol of Buddha’s teachings, and it is depicted as a wheel with eight spokes representing the noble eightfold path.