Here I am once again in front of you with a new topic, that is (MY INDIA). Friends India is a vast country and land of unity in diversity, where people of different castes, creeds, religions, colors, and statuses live in harmony and cooperate to form a single society. It’s the strength of India that despite such a large variation in every aspect, people live with love and peace. They participate in each other’s festivals, share their customs and traditions with others, and live a harmonious life.
Blend Of Various Cultures
This is how the people in the particular area or community are living. It also tells us about their dress, how they speak, the type of food they eat, the way they worship and their art, etc. Because of the diverse nature of India, you will find variety in it. The culture of India is a blend of various cultures belonging to diverse religions, castes, and regions. Each of them follows their own culture and everyone is free to do it according to their way of living.
FESTIVALS
There are different festivals celebrated in India. Different people celebrate different festivals as per their religion, caste, and culture. There are some National festivals also like, Independence day, Republic day, Gandhi Jayanti, etc which are celebrated with great enthusiasm in India. These festivals are celebrated by every person in India. That is why India is called,(UNITED NATION).
ONE OF THE OLDEST CULTURES
Indian culture is one of the oldest cultures in the world. India had urban civilization even during the Bronze age. The INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION and the HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION are the oldest civilizations in the world.
A SECULAR COUNTRY
The word secularism means equality, impartiality, and giving equal importance and opportunities to everyone. India is a secular country which means, equal treatment for all the citizens of the country.
LANGUAGES
India is a home of various languages, including SANSKRIT which is one of the oldest languages in the world. Other languages such as Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, etc. are also spoken in India, depending on the State. The most commonly used language which is widely used in India is HINDI. As many as 26 main languages are spoken in India.
TYPES OF MARRIAGES
In India, both love and arranged marriage systems prevail. Arranged marriage system prevails in Indian society for ages. With time, the number of love marriages is on rising these days. During the old-time arranged marriages were more prevalent in society and their success rate was also higher.
FAMILY SYSTEM
Our traditional way of the family system used to be a joint family system, where all the members including Grandfather, Grandmother, their sons, and daughters used to live under one roof and had a common kitchen. But the word modernization had not left it untouched and the result is that these days we find the nuclear family system more prevalent in our society.
HERITAGE SITES IN INDIA
Taj Mahal is one of the famous heritage sites found in India. Tourists flock from all over the world to have a glimpse of this wonderful symbol of love which was constructed in the 17th century. An earlier structure housed on the same site known as Humayun’s tomb is also a world heritage site. The other ones are The Great Himalayan National park, Agra fort, The Elephanta caves, The Western Ghats, etc. These are the sites which every one of us likes to visit at least once in our lifetime.
Short Description
I can’t explain the Heritage of India in one go that is why have given a short description of it. I invite especially the Foreigners to this great country to visit it at least once in their life. Hope if you visit Mother India once, you visit it again and again. A whole-hearted invitation to all of you.
HISTORY OF INDIA
Let us talk about pre-historic times, nearly 13.5 Arab years ago when according to BIG BANG theory, the earth was formed. The men appeared nearly 22,00,000 years ago. We generally divide history into two parts that are Paleolithic and Neolithic ages. The original history is Ancient history. Modern history is only 2 to 3% part of it. We only study the history of 2000 years because we assume that ancient history is boring. The actual history remains prehistory.
Different Ages
Paleolithic means the old stone age. Neolithic means the new stone age. The Neolithic age started 3000 years ago. We were hunter-gatherers before that time. The men who entered India were from outside India. They reached India while hunting animals. They entered India from South Africa. Slowly and steadily their brain started developing. The man knew how to make tools and how to do agriculture. This period is known to be the Neolithic revolution.
The Time When Iron Was Discovered
It is also the time when Iron was discovered. When we came to know about the uses of Iron, Kingdoms started to develop. The rights of people were snatched whereas equal rights used to be given before that to every person. People started to dwell near Sindhu ghati, which is why it is known to be the Sindhu ghati civilization. When we came to know that agriculture can be done. At that time civilizations started developing. It started with four civilizations. The oldest civilization is the Mesopotamian civilization, present-day Iraq, Persia, etc.
Next Civilizations
The next civilization was the Egyptian civilization in Africa, the Chinese civilization, and the Indus valley civilization. These civilizations originated almost at the same time. The common thing in all the civilizations was that they all originated around the banks of rivers. People started gathering there. This period is known to be the first period of urbanization. It is also known as the bronze age civilization. The civilizations were based on equality. There were no Kings. Indus valley civilization is too divided into two parts. The period of this civilization ranges from 2600 BC to 1900 BC. Mohenjo-Daro civilization came into being. They constructed very beautiful big cities. They even traded with their neighboring countries and also knew Mathematics.
Decline Of Civilization
This civilization declined in 1900 BC. The reason behind that is stated to be flooded. It is said that the flood washed away the whole civilization. After that, there was a dark period of 400 years. After that Vedic period started. Stone age, copper age, bronze age, and after that iron age started. The Vedic period started in 1500 BC. During this time Vedas started developing i.e. Rig Veda, Sam Veda, Yagur Veda, and Atharva Veda. The beginning of Vedic was very good but with time, it started to fade. These people were migrants who spoke Sanskrit. The Vedas mentioned above give a glimpse of the society at that time. They spread their culture in the major parts of India about 1000 BC and believed that happiness and salvation come because of a person’s morals.
Distribution Of Society
They distributed the whole society into three parts, Brahmins or priests, Kshatriyas as warriors, and Vaishyas and they were the first who sowed the seed of division in India. Chandra Gupta Maurya was the ruler under which this civilization flourished. The Mauryan empire established itself and started spreading. They made Patliputra their capital. They started building temples, buildings, and even a university. Their trade proved to be a great success. They maintained a remarkable government and a strong army. The grandson of Chandra Gupta had to fight a bloody struggle against the kingdom of Kalinga due to the emperor’s new Buddhist beliefs as they were the great followers of Buddha.
Advent Of Ashoka
Ashoka flourished in the Kingdom and spread its boundaries until the war of Kalinga took place. After that war, he became the disciple of Buddha and left violence and after Ashoka, Pushpa Mitra came to power. After his death, the Mauryan empire headed toward its decline. A variety of invaders took control of India. The Kushana Kingdom came into being. They traded with China and the Roman empire. They also followed Buddhism, they marked a new era, the Shaka era.
Beginning And Decline Of Many Dynasties
Many Kingdoms originated, fell, and fought with each other for supremacy. Cholas were an authority in the South. Gupta kingdom was another noticeable ruler, under whose rule the country remained united. This age is known to be the golden age in Northern India. This time is also known to be a rule of law and order as well as cultural flourish. They were great warriors but believed in expanding their territories using non-violence such as martial alliances. Despite their great success, the Gupta kingdom started declining in the 5th to 6th centuries. The next shake in the history of India came with a new religion “ISLAM”.
Muslim Invaders Started Invading India
These Muslim invaders started invading parts of India and invaded many parts of India including the Somnath temple. In such a situation, Rajputs stood as strong defenders but later were defeated by Muhammad Gauri. After the defeat of the Rajputs, Islam started flourishing in India. During this time Buddhism started declining. During the 13th century, an era of the Delhi Sultanate arouse. The founder of the Mughal dynasty was Kitbudin Aibak. In 1290 Khilji dynasty came to power. Jalal-u-din Khilji was the first ruler of that dynasty. Then came Tuglak’s dynasty. After Timur’s invasion, it became weak. In 1414 Saied’s dynasty ruled for 37 years. Because of rebellions, the dynasty fell from grace.
Beginning Of Lodi’s Rule
Then came the Lodi dynasty which lasted until the death of the ruler Ibrahim Khan Lodi. Lodi was killed during a battle in Panipat against Babur in 1526. Now Mughal dynasty came into power. They ruled India with great success and build many historical buildings in India. During the 17th century, repeated revolts from rebels and the East India Company shook the roots of the Mughal dynasty. Bahadur Shah Zafar was the last Mughal ruler in India. Then East India Company ruled India till 15th August 1947. After Independence, India became a democracy. That’s all.
Hope you will enjoy reading this article. Stay connected to read my next articles. Till then Bye! God bless you all.