World History (हिन्दी)

During the time of the Mauryan Empire in India we see the rise of Qin Shi Huangdi in China after the period of Warring States. In Europe there were the Punic Wars that Roman Empire Won.

In India, Mauryan Empire saw further development of the second phase of Urbanisation that started in 6th century BC.

The Mauryan Economy was much ahead of much of rest of the world. They used currency had taxation and the state took it upon itself to build roads and infrastructure.

The products from India were seen in Egypt and Vietnam. All this was made possible due to the surplus agricultural wealth made possible by availability of Iron, furnaces and production of better quality Iron.

Administration of Mauryan Empire was complex. Megasthenes and Greek writers have called a it a centralised top down system. But this was probably not centralised when we use the term in the modern sense. It had 4 main administrative regions apart from the capital region. The military was well organised and there was a strong regulated bureaucracy. Senior officials were well paid. There were hierarchies but this also enabled a peaceful time for the people where agriculture, manufacturing and trade could flourish.

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The story of Ashoka the Great. The Emperor of the Mauryan Empire of India.

Among the 16 Janapadas, Magadha rose to the level of an empire. It started off as a small Janapada or a state in the southern banks of the mighty life giving Ganges river(Ganga). It had great dynasties like the Brihadratha, Haryanka(Bimbisara), Shishunaga and the Nandas. But it tasted true glory under the Mauryas, who expanded Magadhan Empire to much of modern day Indian subcontinent.

Chandra Gupta, the first ruler of Mauryan dynasty, was aided to power by the great strategic thinker Vishnugupta, also known as Chankaya and Kautilya. He was succeeded by Bindusara. Bindusara's death saw a four year long struggle for power that saw Ashoka rise to power.

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Hinduism has been a key identity marker, along with numerous others, of Indian Civilisation. Its more or less seen as a way of life. Its seen as old, ancient and evolving. It has numerous schools of thoughts without any rigid diktat. Different people have followed it in different ways across time and space.

How has India evolved?

Today its in a much better economic situation where most people get food to eat and have a place to live. Back in 1991, India opted for economic liberalisation under the leadership of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and Finance Minster Manmohan Singh. Dr Manmohan Singh bid farewell to the Parliament and Rajya Sabha today.

Emperor Ashoka had many children. He sent two of them to Sri Lanka to spread the message of non-violence, good governance and the message of Buddha.

These were son Mahendra and daughter Sanghamitra.

NOTE: Errors in this episode mentioned at the bottom of the description.

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Have we made progress compared to those who preceded us?

Are we better than them?

Materially, no doubt. We have iPhones, drive EVs, fly in hours to different places on the planet.

Socially?

The jury isn't out, yet.

So was the case for the Mauryan rulers of Magadha compared to other dynasties of Magadha. We could say similar things when we compare Magadha to the Age of Mahajanapadas, Early Vedic Age and the Indus Valley Civilisation.

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Corrigendum: Ashoka's children who went to Sri Lanka to spread Buddhism were Mahendra and Sanghamitra. Mahendra was incorrectly mentioned as Rahula. In history, Rahula was the son of Siddhartha Gautam(Buddha).

Alexander defeats Persians and reaches India and fights the Battle of Hydaspes/Jhelum in 326 BC. He leads a campaign along India's western lands along the Indus river and the regions to its west in modern day Balochistan. This weakened western India provides the right environment for Chanakya and Chandragupta to raise armies, capture lands and taste power. They would then train their arrows on the Nandas in the next episode and create the Mauryan Empire.

All about Achaemenid Empire, it rise and expansion and how they reached India, captured many kingdoms, washed their feet in the Indus river and left a mark

In this episode we talk about the rise of Achaemenids and how Kourosh/Cyrus II/Cyrus the Great escapes death and is on the verge of taking power.

This episode would be all about Persia but is part of the Ancient India series, as we are discussing this to understand the context in which the Achaemenids reach Indus Valley.

In the next episode we shall see Cyrus the Great take power in the territories of what had been the Median Empire

War in Indian History, India of Today and Magadh and the challenges ahead.

The gap between those on the field and those thinking and formulating the policy. Can it be narrowed down further?

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The second episode dedicated to Magadh/Magadha or may be even the third if we are to include one of the bonus, non-serialised, episodes.

The rule of the Shishunagas, Nandas and how Vishnu Gupta(Chanakya) enabled the end of the Nandas as a payback of the humiliation he received in the Nanda court of Dhananand.

In the melee of the sixteen(16) Mahajanapadas, four(4) emerged supreme: Magadh, Avanti, Kosala, Vatsa. These four competed for pre-eminence and Magadh emerged victorious under the leadership of Haryanka dynasty. Haryanka had great kings like Bimbisara, Ajatashatru and Udayin. The Haryankas were related to Vardhaman Mahavir, the 24rth Jain Tirthankara and were patrons of Buddhism.

Both Bimbisara and Ajatashatru had met Siddhartha Gautam, The Buddha, in their lifetime. Both were great military leaders and the father was perhaps better than his son, when it came to diplomacy. We shall cover it all in this episode

Chanakya, Mauryas, their strategies...

The rise and spread of Buddhism in India from the Birth of Buddha to the schisms within the religion.

#India #AncientIndia

In the intellectual melee of 6th century BC we see the rise of new ideas and beliefs. We have discussed Ajivikas in the previous episode. In this episode we shall talk about Janinism

In the 6th century BC we see the consolidation of the previously existing polities called Janapadas. We now have Mahajanapadas. There were 16 such Mahajanapadas. Some were republics(Ganasanghas) and others were monarchies (Samrajya).

This period saw rapid increse of agricultural output aided by iron ploughshare and canal based irrigation. This led to the second urbanisation in India (the Indus Valley Civilisation being the first urbanisation). Thus, the Mahajanapadas were proper states with centralised administration, bureaucracy, policing, taxation, sovereignty, army and a powerful King, who was aided by councils and brahmins.

We also note the rise of more than 62 new schools or heterodox belief systems. There were four major schools of thought such as Ajivikism, Materialist schools(Ajita Kesakamilin and Charvaka), Buddhism and Jainism. Of these Buddhism and Jainism, still exist in India and many other countries. The rest, they either disappeared or merged into something else or morphed into something rent. We discuss Ajivikas and the materialists in this episode. Buddhism and Jainism would be covered in the next episode.

Who were the Kalabhras? Where did they come from?

We are not clear or sure about the origins of Kalabhras. Their story/history is elusive and their rule has often been compared to a dark age.

While Mauryas, Shungas, Kanvas and Kushanas ruled northern India one after the other over several centuries. Deccan came under the rule of the Satavahanas(Andhras) from 1st century BC to 3rd century AD.

From 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD we see the rule of Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas in deep south of Indian Peninsula. But these dynasties were soon taken over by the Kalabhras, whose rule some historians have called a dark age. But soon we see a return of Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas. Were these the same or different?

The new Cholas expanded and built a massive empire with many subordinate kingdoms paying obeisance. They were thus called the Imperial Cholas who ruled a vast stretch of islands and land masses in the Indian Ocean stretching from modern day Maldives to Indonesia and even reached Phillipines where a Chola prince laid the foundation of the Kingdom of Cebu (Cebu Rajahnate). While the Imperial Cholas are said to have had their heydays from 850AD to 1279 AD. In 1279, the last Chola Emperor, Rajendra Chola III, was defeated by Kulasekara Pandyan I. Chola members and successors persisted for a few more centuries.

Post the Vedic period we see the rise of Mahajapanpadas. A smaller polity neighbouring the Mahajanapadas in the east, Magadha would end up dominating a significnt land mass of India. Modern India takes many of its symbols from this Magadha. Be it the Ashokan 4 lioned capital as the national emblem or naming India's national diplomatic enclave Chanakyapuri.

Modern India shares much more with Ancient India.

When the Aryans or a people came to India(what has been referred to as the subcontinent or Indian subcontinent), they mixed with the locals and created a composite culture. This had many of the local pre-existing element and probably some new elements. But during the British rule over India, orientalist historians presented/created/built the Aryan theory to demonstrate how they were the rightful rulers of India for, according to their words, the Aryans of India had digressed and had to be civilised by his Aryan brothers from Great Britain. This was probably an abuse of the word civilised and civilidsations. Post independence of India we see many marxist historians pitching their support for an Aryan invasion theory, later proven to be not even if not otherwise. Based on todays understanding we can say that some people probably migrated into India and added to the existing culture, this probably led to the Rigvedic civilisation. But it may not be correct to say that everything in it was foreign. Somethings might be.

Many Indians such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, author of Arctic home of the Aryans, also conceded that some peoples, groups might have come into the Indian geographical and cultural sphere and added to it.

Today, in west, when a foreigner joins their culture the term used is cultural enrichment. Can't such courtesy be extended to places they once ruled?

But what is the truth? Well, we would probably have a better picture in the coming days with newer innovations and scientific advancements and methods to discover the past, our pasts. Or shall we say "Pasts"

How I feel about friends and humans and how they matter. In our podcast we do not give enough credit to individuals but rather reserve those for major actors and historical forces. That could be seen as a flaw but this is how most of the podcast episodes have been designed with a mandate to focus on the major aspects and in the process we end up discounting some others. Parsimony, some might call it. The attempt is to showcase an aspect of history of the many aspects of history and in the process we do end up showcasing one history where there are many histories.

But such is the burden of your podcaster. Hope you forgive him for the flaws and appreciate the better aspects of the series. Do let me know how you feel about the episodes on timesofhistories@gmail.com

Happiness and and being content matters a lot. Especially in our times. History reading can at times have a calming effect. I personally found reading history very relaxing during my school days. And when I came across different nations, I often wondered how it would have been for the people there. How would they have seen or judged our present? Does it really matter? If Yes, then to what extent?

I woke up late today. The thoughts and memories of some of my friends engulfed my mind. So I wrote an email to one and sent messages to few others. I dedicate this episode to my friends*, the people I have had the fortune and honour of coming across in my life. They have been my most patient teachers.

~Jyoti Ranjan Pradhan

*(I couldn't write to them all, but I keep them in my memories)

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The Battle of Hydaspes took place on the southern banks of Jhelum river. The Greek world knew this river by the name of Hydaspes, hence the name of the battle.

In an earlier episode of the Ancient India series, the podcaster had erroneously mentioned that this battle took place on the banks of Ravi river. This is incorrect. In its stead the river mentioned should have been Jhelum. The mistake is regretted.

The later Vedic period saw the consolidation of Janas to Janapadas that had territory and the formation of Rashtra. We see iron being used and thus Vedic Civilisation/Culture was an Iron Age.

The role of agriculture in the lives of the peolple increased and with surplus wealth and resources we see the rise of different professions and an yearning for knowledge, philosophy and sciences.

The people now moved East and discovered many other tribes and groups and also more sources of Iron.

Rise of the Rig Vedic people and formation of early polity with Janas(tribes) in the Sapta-Sindhu region of Ancient India from 1500 BC to 1000 BC

After the Indus valley Civilisation came to an end or disappeared slowly or morphed into something else, who/what were the cultures that were still thriving in India?

These chalcolithic and iron age cultures appear to have coexisted with the IVC-Harappans and the Vedic Civilisation that would follow.

Indus Valley Civilisation and its inhabitants have left us many artefacts that tell us about them. These include bronze statues of the Dancing Girl and a Bull. Thus, giving it the title of a Bronze Age Civilisation. From the other remains we know what they grew, ate and wore. What kind of animals did they domesticate?

They used pots and exported many items to Central Asia and Middle East. They used boats and ships. But did they use horses for inland movement?

In this episode we discuss the major other Harappan sites: Harappa, Rakhigarhi, Lothal, Kalibangan, Dholavira, Ganweriwala

Men are increasingly losing their monopoly in one of the last bastions that were a preserve of men: land based warfare.

While historically we have seen many great women warriors, a majority of the enlisted have usually been men. Would this change and how would men react to it?

We have started a new podcast on Indian Constitution and Polity. It would later cover important aspects of Indian Politics once we are done with the Constitution. After that we would focus on political science, there.

This podcast would remain dedicated to World History and it is being made.

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The History of Ancient India from Paleolithic Age to the beginnings of Indian Valley Civilisation. Indus Valley Civilisation was a Bronze Age Civilisation and the third oldest known civilisation after Mesopotamian Civilisation and Ancient Egyptian Civilisation.

It has been referred to as a Chalcolithic civilisation owing to the large number of copper artefacts found in this civilisation.

In the coming episodes we would be covering Ancient Indian History

The three kingdoms of Goguryeo(Koguryo), Baekje(Paekche) and Silla(Shilla) dominated the Korean peninsula from 1st century BCE to 7th century CE. Silla lasted till 9th century.

They fought among themselves for domination, self preservation and sometimes to settle old feuds. The ruling dynasties of China often played a key role and Japan was never far.

BCE BC

CE AD

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3 more episodes in July