India

The most fantasizing thing about this country is its economic status in the past 500 years. It pretty much says everything- the reasons that it attracted the whole other world then its horrendous and sudden downfall in the nineteenth century. Let us start from the beginning. 3300 years before Christ or before common era- Indus valley civilization. When the whole other world was figuring out how to live in the caves except some of the more intelligent civilizations like Mesopotamia and Egypt, our original countrymen were discovering metals. They were the first people to invent trade, the backbone of any society, their own linguistics and the first science. Indus valley civilization inhabited the area near the river Indus and thus the name. When the explorers came the first time to this country i.e. the people of Mesopotamia, or Greece as we know better, they crossed the river Indus and found our natives. This was all some 3100 years BCE which is remarkable. This was the time when tzi, the famous cursed snowman, was trying to cross alps. Our country had one of the world s oldest civilization and the best part was that it preached peace and fairness. Unlike the other civilizations which were famous for having brutal kings even though they had the technology which still remains a mystery like the pyramids of Giza. Apart from all of this, Indus valley civilization which had the original inhabitants of this country were smart. They had well designed drainage systems , aweome pottery, tools and cutlery. Some of the historical documents suggest that they even had signs on the roads. Then came the tall and fair Aryans from Persia or what we better know as Iran in 1000 BCE. Before that, the people dwelling in the north western region of India were known as Dravidians. They were fairly short heighted people with dark skin. No wonder they were awed by such beauty and the Aryans (#$%$&^*) took advantage of the status quo and declared themselves as the first three upper classes of the indian society rajanya, purohita and the vai yas. The low caste or the dasyas was totally constituted of the Dravidians(no wonder). Hence, started the evil caste system in the indian society which still persists today and totally su**s. Inter caste marriages were strictly prohibited because the Aryans wanted to preserve their bloodline but ultimately some must have been brave enogh to do that cause we all turned out to be brown skinned. Aryans did not exactly turn out to be devils. In their time the society was flourishing with knowledge. Their principal literature was samhitas in which the major was the rigveda samhita . They did not believe in idol worship and only prayed to the Gods of nature. The women of the house had as much power as the man. Even though she was the one controlling the household work and the man went out to earn the family s bread, women were respected and given all the rights they deserved. Cruel and brutal customs like sati and infant marriages did not even exist but the priests had to do their jobs. As stupid as they can be, after some four hundred years more many unwanted practises started happening like sacrifice, sati and all the customs which involved feeding the priests and considering them as gods on earth and the ultimate knowledge possessors. The pseudo-supremacy of priesthood came in vogue and the priests grew fatter sucking the rest of the society. Two of the most complicated yet greatest novels of

all time took birth this time. They turned out so well that people considered them epics the ramayan and the mahabharata. Apart from this the growth of luxury also came about. The upper classes got more richer and the dravidians lost all their wealth. Then as they say, where there is evil, good shows up, till 300 BCE two of the best religions till date took birth- jainism and buddhism. They discouraged all the loopholes of the current society and prevented the ultimate climax of a savage indian society which succumbed to civil wars. The only thing bad about this religion was it preached peace to such an extent that the people forgot how to defend themselves. A young Greek, Alexander came and attacked this country, won most of the land on his expedition till he came to the western bank of the river. At this point something struck this arrogant man and he divided his army into two. He sent one back to Persia but god had other plans and the most of the army died in the journey due to the scorching heat of the sun and scarcity of water. God was not stupid to give the people dark skin afterall. Learning this alexander himself decided to return back but as they say ( actually einstein) god does not play dice this fellow who actually called himself the son of the greek God Zeus died while crossing a bridge in babylon. So sun shone bright when it was known that he was pretty mortal. Around this timeperiod one of my favourite personalities played his part in the historychanakya. The man was one hell of a thinker. He played the whole empire and changed the whole course of history on his little finger. This man, the greatest politicia ever existed, chose the youngest son of king nanda to become the future king of the whole empire, Chandragupta maurya. He saw in him the strength and brains of a great king and realised his potential. Chandragupta was the son of a low caste woman, Mura, and because of this there were many obstacles which had to be taken care of. Chanakya used every trick in his diary to make the impossible possible and so C handragupta maurya ended up being the ruler of the whole empire won by the greek invaders which stretched from the delta of the Ganges to Afghanistan. He became so powerful that the greek chief, Seleukos Nikator, which Alexander had left behind, agreed to give his daughter s, helen s, hand in marriage to chandragupta in return of 500 elephants. So India lost 500 elephants in exchange of a beautiful lady and the whole empire came under one ruler and peace prevailed again. The book indica written by the famous greek author Megasthenes gives us a vivid record of that time period. It was no doubt a flourishing period but the caste system persisted and the worst thing known to man(or maybe woman ) till date grew- ego of a man. Till now small kings had small greed to fill up b ut now our king, sitting in pataliputra, kept thinking of how to increase his empire once he had tasted how it feels to be called an emperor. He maintained a huge army and gave this destructive weapon to his grandson Asoka . Asoka was the son of Bindusara but nothing much is written about his father in the historical descriptures. Asoka ruled from 272 to 231 BCE a long period of 43 years. During this period the man fought many wars, so many that he got obsessed with winning. The Asokan empire always remained a topic of great dispute among historians mainly because the stories of this emperor extends from the city of Peshawar, the Nepalese frontier, the region of Himalayas, the shores of Bay of Bengal till the southern states of Mysore. It is proven by the way that he acquired more land than any of his successors or any of the rulers in India that ever followed until democracy dominated in the twentieth century i.e. . The war of Kalinga had an immense impact over the ruler and he realised that he could not bear bloodshed anymore. The Mr.

extreme guy was deeply affected by that warfield so he gave up wars for good and started preaching the peaceful religion of Buddhism. Here, I would really want to quote a line from the book, The History of India by E.W. Thompson. The author says- asoka writes with feeling that throbs even in the cold and hard stone- work I must for the public weal; and for what do I toil? For no other end than this that I may discharge my debt to living beings, and that, while I make some happy in this world, they may in the next world gain heaven. Not a very good display of the english grammar but the emperor had finally figured out the truth of life, which was amazing. Peace prevailed in my country once. Fast forward 2000 years and we are in the golden era of our country. The greatest king ever, Akbar realised the need of accepting the country as its own and under him India grew as fast as a 38 weeks old embryo(it s fastest growing time) . Akbar was thirteen when he succeeded to the throne. His mentors were smart and saved him from all the other dangers that success had led him into. His guardian , Bairam khan, taught him how to win battles and every skill he needed to succeed as a king. During this period, Mughal India was the second largest economy in the world. The gross domestic product of India in the 16th century was estimated at about 24.5% of the world economy, in comparison to Ming China's 25% share. An estimate of India's pre-colonial economy puts the annual revenue of Emperor Akbar's treasury in 1600 at 17.5 million, in contrast to the entire treasury of Great Britain in 1800, which totalled 16 million. The gross domestic product of Mughal India in 1600 was estimated at about 22.6% the world economy, in comparison to Ming china 's 29.2%share . By the commencement of the eighteenth century, the Mughal Empire expanded to almost 1,000 million acres (4,000,000 km 2), or 90 per cent of South Asia, and a uniform customs and tax administration system was enforced. Annual revenue reported by the Emperor Aurangzeb's exchequer exceeded 100 million in 1700 (twice that of Europe then). Thus, India emerged as the world's largest economy, followed by Manchu China and Western Europe. After the Mughal empire, nothing good actually ever happened to India. Many people may disagree with me saying that Britishers came and colonised us nevertheless with them brought a whole lot of modern day technology and infrastructure but the fact is that we could have done all that ourselves if given the chance. It is not true that the Britishers did any good to India. There is no silver lining, none at all. The day they set foot in our country the fall of the rupee began. During this period, the East India Company began tax administration reforms in a fast expanding empire spread over 250 million acres (1,000,000 km 2), or 35 per cent of Indian domain. Indirect rule was also established on protectorates and buffer states. China was the world's largest economy followed by India and France. The gross domestic product of India in 1800 was estimated at about 60 per cent that of China, not taking into account the falling price of Rupee. The Company treasury reported annual revenue of 111 million in circa 1800. This needs to be converted to Indian Rupees with the falling price of Rupee to assess the impact on Indian economy. Almost all of the Indian land revenues were diverted by the Company to help the British Crown defend herself in the Napoleonic Wars. During 1800-1825 China was the world's largest economy followed by India and France. The gross domestic product of India in 1825 was estimated at about 50 per cent that of China. British cotton exports reach 3 per cent of the Indian market by 1825. During 1825 to 1850 China was the world's largest economy followed by the UK and India. Read again, China then UK then India. Industrial revolution in the UK catapulted the nation to

the top league of Europe for the first time ever. During this period, British foreign and economic policies began treating India as an unequal partner for the first time. English replaced Persian as the official language of India. The gross domestic product of India in 1850 was estimated at about 40 per cent that of China. British cotton exports reach 30 per cent of the Indian market by 1850. No wonder Britain came second this time, it was sucking India s wealth. So, nothing good actually ever happened to India after the golden Mughal era. The freedom we got due to the various freedom fighters and Gandhiji merely brought us back to zero from negative. Since then India has come a long way but a higher place is still awaiting her.