Tough word right? It’s Sanskrit for ‘The world is one family’. These two words can be often found in Indian sacred text books like Bhagawadgita.
Did You know that India has almost 5000 years of history? 🙂
My mother was a history teacher. That didn’t help much, as I hardly passed history exams at school.
I really don’t remember what i ate for dinner last Monday, nor what i did this past weekend. Let alone remember important events in Indian history. Our life is so fast paced, that we don’t even remember things we did a few weeks ago.
My history knowledge sucks, but let me try to give You a short idea about the concept of Vasudeva Katakumba.
India was ruled by many a few dynasties during its past few thousand years of glory. Mostly by kings of Indian origin. Guptas, Ashoka, Pandyas, Rajputs etc. etc.
In the year 970 Turkish/ Persian empire invaded India, and took the northern part of Sindh(present day Pakistan). In a matter of 700 years, Islamic invaders took almost 3/4th of India. Hindu temples were destroyed. Delhi, and most other parts of India were under the Mughal Sultanate. Of course a lot of Indian people got killed. Muslim rulers would often take prisoners of wars as slaves, and women as prizes of war.
You know the building Taj Mahal right? It was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The most iconic monument in India. Epitome of love and dedication.
Then came the British in 1800’s. The next 145 years, we were under the British rule. They even named us The East India Company. One of the most embarrassing moment for India.
The biggest number of English speakers in the world live in India. The Brits along with Portuguese and French owned colonies in India, and would trade Indian products like pepper, spices, gold, silk and other raw materials with other European countries.
The Persians tried, Brits tried. So did the French and the Portuguese. But India as a country still exists on the world map. Even after 1000 years of foreign annexations, and plunders, India didn’t disappear from the World map.
I know there are a lot of stereotypes about Indians and India. Call centre workers, IT Programmers, seven Eleven employees. The famous Indian accent can instantly make any person laugh. Dirty streets, slums. Who can forget the Indian head shaking? 😀 The list is quite long.
Instead of all these negatives, I am still proud of the concept of Vasudeva Kutumbakam. We didn’t succumb to foreign invasions and pressures. Year 2019, and we are still on the world map. A tad bit different, but still functioning, and strong as ever.
The same with Poland. Poland was attacked by three different empires. Prussian, Russian and Austrian. At one point Poland was under the control of these three great empires. There was even a period, when Poland as a country ceased to exist on the world map. But You still had the courage to stand up and fight for Your freedom. Just like my forefathers in India.
Here is a short video clip explaining India’s history during the past 4800 years. Enjoy!
(Courtesy of YouTube. © Ollie Bye)