|
The fall
of India
(This
article is not about some war India lost but its fall
from the pinnacle it had achieved thousands of years
ago. This article is about how the Indian values got
eroded, how the treasures of knowledge it had were
lost, how its philosophy, way of life, lost their
acceptance.)
It is not only the human
beings who are governed by their destinies or fates. A
society and a piece of land too have their own fates.
Human history is full of stories of rise and fall of
individuals as well as societies and countries. We
know of many lands that existed once, but now are lost
- some submerged under the great oceans on earth and
some entered the womb of earth. India, or Bharatvarsha
as it was known in the ancient times, too has seen its
glorious past and is presently seeing its fallen
status. Once it was known as "Golden Bird" and today
it is among the poorest of the nations. It was also
called "Jagadguru" (Guru of the world) and today its
status is for everyone to see.
It was India that
discovered zero, without which mathematics would not
have been possible. It was India, whose system of
medicine "Ayurveda" was followed by whole world. It
was in India that the whole system of Yoga, for
physical, psychological and spiritual well being, was
developed. "Dhyana", which became Zen in Japan is
India's contribution to the world. The concept of
"moksha" or liberation or enlightenment originated in
this country only. Astronomers who accurately measured
heavenly distances like that between Sun and the Earth
belonged to India. It was here that the game of chess
was invented. It was here that the concept of atom was
first conceived. It was here that the law of inertia,
which was rediscovered by the greatest scientist Sir
Isaac Newton and is known as First Law of Motion, was
first propounded. It was here that Architecture was
developed into a system. The measurement-system of
time was developed here. Much before Aristotle, who is
called father of modern logic, was born, a whole
system of logic called "Nyaya-Darshan" was developed
here.
The list is endless. In
short, it can be said that almost all that was known
to the ancient world was discovered, developed or
invented in India.
Why then, Bharatvarsha,
lost the status it enjoyed in the world? How this fall
came about? The questions are not very easy to answer.
It will take volumes to satisfactorily answer these
questions. In this article, one of the aspects is
presented.
The first world war,
that this earth has endured, was not fought in the
twentieth century. What we refer to as the first world
war was, in fact, the second one. The first world war
was fought in India, more than five thousand years
ago. It is known as The Mahabharata war. This
war changed the course of Indian History. It was a
catastrophic war not only for India but the whole
world. The story of Mahabharata war has been
described, in a great book of the same name, by
Maharshi Ved Vyasa. Due to the space constraint, let
us not talk about the war itself but only about its
ramifications.
In ancient India, the
society was classified into four distinct classes. The
most respected class was that of Brahmins. The people
belonging to this class were engaged in studies,
teaching, and research work. The next class was that
of Kshatriyas. These were the warrior people. Most of
the kings of that era belonged to this class. Next, in
the social order were Vaishyas or the businessmen. And
the last category of people were Shudras, who did all
the lowly and menial jobs of the society.
(Note:This division of
the society has been much maligned in the present
times. It is one of the main themes around which the
modern politics of India revolves. However, in spite
of the distortion this system acquired after
Mahabharata war, it is not very difficult to see that
originally this system was a very scientific one. In
fact, these divisions exist even in modern
times. Professors, teachers, scientists, research
scholars, reformers, thinkers, philosophers,
psychologists etc can be called Modern Brahmins. The
policemen and the soldiers can be said to be the
Kshatriyas. The next two classes are not very
difficult to identify.)
The most important
aspect of this system was the working relationship
between Brahmins and Kshatriyas. Brahmins did not do
any job or business for their living. They lived very
frugally. The sources of their livelihood were two.
First, almost all of them used to teach. There were no
fixed tuition fees for teaching. Each student paid as
per his own means. There used to be no demand from the
teachers for teaching. The students paid, what was
called "Guru-Dakshina", only after their studies were
complete. For day to day expenses of the school
(called Ashram), which were meager in any case, the
students, including princes and the progenies of rich
people, used to beg. Begging was not considered
unrespectable in those days since even the sages and
saints (Buddha and Mahavira also used to beg for their
living) used to beg for their living. Begging was not
the refuge of those who were the lowliest of the
society. For them there were the menial jobs. The
students were asked to beg mainly to teach them
humility. Arrogance and egoistic behavior were
considered the nature of uncivilized and anti-social
people. Scholars or Brahmins begged because they did
not take up any jobs or business. Their time was spent
in contemplation, Sadhana and studies. Other people,
considered it a virtue to give alms to these people.
The second source of
their livelihood was the grants given by the king. It
was the duty of the king to provide for the Brahmins.
The king could not shirk his responsibility towards
the Brahmins of his kingdom. Though the power to rule
was vested with the king, he used to rule in
accordance with the directives given by the Brahmins.
Those directives were binding upon the king. In case
of any confusion regarding his duties, the king used
to take guidance from those scholars. In matters of
Dharma too, Brahmins used to guide the king. Since the
king had no choice in providing for those wise men,
and also because they did not depend on the king for
their livelihood, the king could not influence those
learned men. As Brahmins had no vested interests in
the affairs of the kingdom and as they had no greed or
ambitions for themselves, they used to guide the king
selflessly. They were so respected by the people that
if any king dared to stray from the path of Dharma,
these Brahmins successfully led the people against the
king to overthrow him. So, the king knew that the real
power lied with them. As long as he ruled according to
the laid down rules, Brahmins never interfered with
the affairs of the state. In this way, the society was
governed as per the rules laid down by selfless
people, who were great scholars. The king could never
become a tyrant.
During the Mahabharata
war most of the kings were killed. The soldiers, who
returned home alive, established their rein over small
areas they could control. The whole social system got
disturbed. While earlier kings used to take care of
the Brahmins, the soldiers, who became kings by virtue
of their martial skills only and had no formal
training in Raj-Dharma (Code of the Rulers), stopped
the state patronage of Brahmins. People started
finding it difficult to make both ends meet due to the
collapse of the system of properly ruled states. They
stopped sending their wards to ashrams for studies.
Instead they preferred to train their kids in their
own profession themselves. Due to the greatly reduced
levels of income, people became reluctant to give
alms. This situation created a sort of crisis for
Brahmins. They could not take up any jobs, nor could
they set up any business. For their survival they
started inventing numerous rituals. They started
charging for imparting education and misinterpreted
Shastras (the sacred texts) to their own benefit.
General public saw these developments and thought that
Brahmins were becoming greedy. The respect for
Brahmins started diminishing. This created a sort of
vicious circle.
Earlier the caste system
was based on profession. A Kshatriyas child, if
inclined to wards intellectual pursuits, could become
a Brahman. Similarly, if a Brahmin's son wanted to
become a businessman, he was free to do so. The caste
system was fluid. People chose their professions as
per their interests, talents and temperaments. Since
people took up labor of love they excelled in their
profession. The society was prosperous and peaceful.
After Mahabharata war, things began to change.
Education system started to change for the worse. The
process of its commercialization started taking root.
While earlier every one interested in studies could
simply go to an ashram and study there for free, now
the question of affordability could not be ignored.
Naturally, it became much more prudent for parents to
train their children in their own vocation. From here,
parentage based caste system took root which hastened
the fall of India.
The most affected
people, by this loss of royalty due to the war, were
Brahmins. As mentioned earlier, since they had no
other means left for their livelihood, they started
distorting the meanings of Shastras in such a way that
it suited them. They tightened their grip on the
sacred texts making them unavailable for general
populace. Since it became difficult for people to
change their profession, the intellectual class
started losing talent pool from other classes. As it
is not necessary that a son will inherit all of his
father's talents, the Brahmins' intellect, as a class,
started losing its sheen. Many people, who were not
interested in their family profession, were forced to
remain in the same profession wasting their talents. A
businessman's son, who could have become a great
warrior, became a businessman. A Kshatriya's son, in
spite of having intellect of a great scholar, was
forced to train in martial arts making a poor warrior.
In this way, the rot slowly set in. With so much of
talent being wasted all around it was only a matter of
time before Indian society lost its strength,
knowledge and heritage.
(The reasons presented
above are certainly not the only reasons for this fall
of the great Indian society and its values. What is
indisputable is that the rot set in only after
Mahabharata War. Any war, of such magnitude, brings
about such an all round destruction that it becomes
extremely difficult to pin point a single reason or
two for the resultant changes in the affected
society. All the aspects are so inextricably
interlinked that it is well nigh impossible to isolate
a particular factor. So, the matter presented here is
only one aspect of the whole story.)
Share this with your friends:
Back To Musings
EMail This Article
|
.