The wonder that was India by A.L.Basham
The Wonder that was India
by
A.L. Basham
Hindu civilization will, we
believe, retain its continuity. The Bhagavad Gita will not cease to inspire men
of action, and the Upanishads men of thought. The charm and graciousness of the
Indian way of life will continue, however much affected it may be by the
labour- saving devices of the West People will still love the tales of the
heroes of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, and of the loves of Dusyanta and
Sakuntala and Pururavas and Urvasi. The quiet and gentle happiness which has at
all times pervaded Indian life where oppression, disease and poverty have not
overclouded it will surely not vanish before the more hectic ways of the West.
Much that was useless in ancient Indian
culture has already perished. The extravagant and barbarous hecatombs of the
Vedic age have long since been forgotten, though animal sacrifice continues in
some sects. Widows have long ceased to be burnt on their husbands' pyres. Girls
may not by law be married in childhood. In buses and trains all over India
brahmans rub shoulders with the lower castes without consciousness of grave
pollution, and the temples are open to all by law. Caste is vanishing; the
process began long ago, but its pace is now so rapid that the more
objectionable features of caste may have disappeared within a generation or so.
The old family system is adapting itself to present-day conditions. In fact the
whole face of India altering, but the cultural tradition continues, and it will
never be lost.
The whole of South-East Asia received
most of its culture from India. Early in the 5th century B.C. colonists from
Western India settled in Ceylon, which was finally converted to Buddhism in the
reign of Ashoka. By this time a few Indian merchants had probably found their
way to Malaya, Sumatra, and other parts of South-East Asia. Gradually they
established permanent settlements, often, no doubt, marrying native women. They
were followed by brahmans and Buddhist monks, and Indian influence gradually
leavened the indigenous culture, until by the 4th century A.D. Sanskrit was the
official language of the region, and there arose great civilizations, capable
of organizing large maritime empires, and of building such wonderful memorials
as their greatness as the Buddhist stupa of Borobodur in Java, or the Saivite
temples of Angkor in Cambodia. Other cultural influences, from China and the
Islamic world, were felt in South-East Asia, but the primary impetus to
civilization came from India.
Indian historians, proud of
their country's past, often refer to this region as "Greater India",
and speak of Indian "colonies". In its usual modern sense the term
"colony" is hardly accurate, however. Vijaya, the legendary Aryan
conqueror of Ceylon, is said to have gained the island by the sword, but beyond
this we have no real evidence of any permanent Indian conquest outside the
bounds of India. The Indian "colonies" were peaceful ones, and the
Indianized kings of the region were indigenous chieftains who had learnt what
India had to teach them.
Northwards Indian cultural influence spread through Central Asia to China. Faint and weak contact between China and India was probably made in Mauryan times, if not before, but only when, some 2,000 years ago, the Han Empire began to drive its frontiers towards the Caspian did India and China really meet. Unlike South-East Asia, China did not assimilate Indian ideas in every aspect of her culture, but the whole of the Far East is in India's debt for Buddhism, which helped to mould the distinctive civilizations of China, Korea, Japan and Tibet.
As well as her special gifts to Asia,
India has conferred many practical blessings on the world at large; notably
rice, cotton, the sugarcane, many spices, the domestic fowl, the game of chess
and most important of all, the decimal system of numeral notation, the
invention of an unknown Indian mathematician early in the Christian era. The
extent of the spiritual influence of India on the ancient West is much
disputed. The heterodox Jewish sect of the Essenes, which probably influenced
early Christianity, followed monastic practices in some respects similar to
those of Buddhism. Parallels may be traced between a few passages in the New
Testament and the Pali scriptures. Similarities between the teachings of
western philosophers and mystics from Pythagoras to Plotinus and those of the
Upanisads have frequently been noticed. None of these similarities, however, is
close enough to give certainty, especially as we have no evidence that any
classical writer had a deep knowledge of Indian religion. We can only say that
there was always some contact between the Hellenic world and India, mediated
first by the Achaemenid Empire, then by that of the Seleucids, and finally,
under the Romans, by the traders of the Indian ocean. Christianity began to
spread at the time when this contact was closest. We know that Indian ascetics
occasionally visited the West, and that there was a colony of Indian merchants
at Alexandria. The possibility of Indian influence on Neo-platonism and early
Christianity cannot be ruled out.
Many authorities may doubt that Indian
thought had any effect on that of the ancient West, but there can be no doubt
of its direct and indirect influence on the thought of Europe and America in
the last century and a half, though this has not received adequate recognition.
This influence has not come by way of organized neo-Hindu missions. The last
eighty years have seen the foundation of the Theosophical Society, of various
Buddhist societies, and of societies in Europe and America looking for
inspiration to the saintly 19th-century Bengali mystic, Paramahamsa
Ramakrishna, and to his equally saintly disciple, Swami Vivekananda. Lesser
organizations and groups have been founded in the West by other Indian mystics
and their disciples, some of them noble, earnest and spiritual, others of more
dubious character. Here and there Westerners themselves, sometimes armed with a
working knowledge of Sanskrit and first-hand Indian experience, have tried to
convert the West to a streamlined Yoga or Vedanta. We would in no way disparage
these teachers or their followers, many of whom are of great intellectual and
spiritual caliber; but whatever we may think of the Western propagators of
Indian mysticism, we cannot claim that they have had any great effect on our
civilization. More subtle, but more powerful, has been the influence of Mahatma
Gandhi, through the many friends of India in the West who were impressed by his
burning sincerity and energy, and by the ultimate success of his policy of
non-violence in achieving India's independence. Greater than any of these
influences, however, has been the influence of ancient Indian religious
literature through philosophy.
The pioneers of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal quickly gained a small but enthusiastic following in Europe, and Goethe
and many other writers of the early 19th century read all they could of ancient
Indian literature in translation. We know that Goethe borrowed a device of
Indian dramaturgy for the prologue to "Faust" and who can say that
the triumphant final chorus of the second part of that work was not in part
inspired by the monism of Indian thought as he understood it? From Goethe
onwards most of the great German philosophers knew something of Indian
philosophy. Schopenhauer, whose influence on literature and psychology has been
so considerable, indeed openly admitted his debt, and his outlook was virtually
that of Buddhism. The monisms of Fichte and Hegel might never have taken the forms
they did if it had not been for Anquetil-Duperron's translation of the
Upanisads and the work of other pioneer Indologists. In the English-speaking
world the strongest Indian influence was felt in America, where Emerson,
Thoreau and other New England writers avidly studied much Indian religious
literature in translation, and exerted immense influence on their
contemporaries and successors, notably Walt Whitman. Through Carlyle and others
the German philosophers in their turn made their mark on England, as did the
Americans through many late 19th-century writers such as Richard Jeffries and
Edward Carpenter.
Though in the contemporary
philosophical schools of Europe and America the monistic and idealist
philosophies of the last century carry little weight, their influence has been
considerable, and all of them owe something at least to ancient India. The
sages who meditated in the jungles of the Ganges Valley six hundred years or
more before Christ are still forces in the world.
It is today something of an anachronism to speak of Western civilization or Indian civilization. Until very recently cultures were sharply divided, but now, when India is but a thirty hours' journey from London, cultural divisions are beginning to disappear. If a modus vivendi is reached between liberal democracy and communism, and civilization survives, the world of the future will have a single culture with, it is to be hoped, many local differences and variations. India's contribution to the world's cultural stock has already been very large, and it will continue and grow as her prestige and influence increases. For this reason if for no other we must take account of her ancient heritage in its successes and its failures, for it is no longer the heritage of India alone, but of all mankind.
Source: English Language
and Indian Culture; Madhya Pradesh Hindi Granth Academy, Bhopal
II. Multiple Choice Questions:
1. According to the author , the ..........civilization will retain its continuity .
a. Indian.
b. World .
c. Hindu
d. Aryan ..
Ans: c. Hindu
2. The old face of India...........
a. has already changed
fully.
b. is vanishing daily.
c. is changing fast.
d. is not likely to change
at all.
Ans: c. is changing fast.
3. ............... People will still love the tales of the heroes of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.
a. East.
b. West.
c. North
d. South.
4. The earliest influence of ancient Indian culture on South- East Asia can be traced back to...........
a. 4th Century A.D.
b. 5th Century B.C.
c. 1st Century A.D.
d. 9th Century B.C.
Ans: b. 5th Century B.C.
5. Vijaya, is said to be ..................
a. a king from North India.
b. an Aryan conqueror of India .
c. a king from epics.
d. a legendry Aryan conqueror of Ceylon.
Ans: a. a legendry Aryan conqueror of Ceylon.
6. Faint and weak contact between China and India was probably made in ............
a. Mauryan Times .
b. Gupta Times.
c. Mughal Empire.
d. the times of Buddha
Ans: a. Mauryan Times.
7. Ceylon finally converted to Buddhism............
a. in the reign of Ashoka
b. in the reign of Harsh
c. in the reign of
Chandragupta
d. in the reign of Bhoj
Ans: a. in the reign of
Ashoka.
8. India Merchants found their way to Malaya, Sumatra and other parts of South East Asia ........
a. in the reign of Ashoka
b. in the reign of Harsh
c. in the reign of Chandragupta
d. in the reign of Bhoj
Ans: a. in the reign of Ashoka.
9. Buddhist stupa of Borobudur is ............
a. in Malaya.
b. in Sumatra.
c. in Ceylon
d. in Java
Ans: d. in Java.
10. The Angkor is located........
a. in Malaya.
b. in Sumatra.
c. in Cambodia
d. in Java
Ans: c. in Cambodia.
11. Faust is a play by..........
a. Marlowe
b. Goethe
c. Schopenhauer
d. Hegel
Ans: b. Goethe.
12. Goethe, Schopenhauer and Hegel were............
a. American philosophers.
b. French philosophers
c. German philosophers
d. Indian philosophers
Ans: German philosophers.
13. Emerson and Thoreau,
Richard Jeffries, Edward Carpenter and Walt Whitman belong to.........
a. America
b. Russia
c. France
d. England
Ans: a. America
14. A.L. Basham is an eminent historian of.......
a. China
b. England
c. Germany
d. America
Ans: b. England
15. The disciple of Ramkrishna Paramhansa was ............
a. Mahatma Gandhi
b. Swami Vivekananda
c. Swami Dayananda
d. Hegel
Ans: b. Swami Vivekananda
16. A.L. Basham was born .........
a. in 1911
b. in 1912
c. in 1913
d. in 1914
Ans: d. in 1914.
17. A. L. Basham was born........
a. in Loughton,
England
b. in Lahore, Pakistan
c. in Allahabad, India
d. in London, England
Ans: a. in Loughton,
England
18. Basham died ...........
a. in 1986
b. in 1987
c. in 1988
d. in 1989
Ans: a. in 1986.
19. Sanskrit was the official language of South East Asia ...........
a. in 5th century
b. in 4th century.
c. in 6th century
d. in 7th century.
Ans: b. in 4th century.
20. When was The
wonder that was India written?
a. in 1956
b. in 1957
c. in 1958
d. in 1959
Ans: c. in 1958.
21. The Western
dissemination of Indian mysticism was:
a. highly influential
b. very demoralising
c. very rejuvenating
d. not very influential
Ans: d. not very
influential
22. The most important gift that India has conferred upon the world in ............
a. cotton
b. rice
c. chess
d. decimal system
Ans: d. decimal system
23. .............. is known as Greater India by Indian Historians.
a. South India
b. South East Asia
c. Tibet
d. North India
Ans: b. South East Asia
23. Hindu Emperors from India had their colonies in .....................
a. South India
b. South East Asia
c. Tibet
d. North India
Ans: b. South East Asia
III. Short Answer Questions:
Q.1. Who is Basham?
Ans: Basham is a noted British historian and Indologist.
Q.2. When was Basham born?
Ans: Basham was born 24 May 1914.
Q.3. Where was Basham born?
Ans: Basham was born in Loughton, Essex, England.
Q.4. When did Basham die?
Ans: Basham died in 1986.
Q.5. Where did Basham die?
Ans: Basham died in Calcutta, India.
Q.6. When was The Wonder that was India written?
Ans: The Wonder that was India was written in 1958.
Q.7. What is the most significant quality of Indian civilization?
Ans: The most significant quality of Indian civilization is that it will continue to inspire people of action and thoughts and never cease to exist.
Q.8. Mention the most important characteristic of the Indian way of life?
Ans: Simplicity is the the most important characteristic of the Indian way of life.
Q.9. When did Indian cultural influence begin in Ceylon?
Ans: Indian cultural influence began in Ceylon early in the 5th century B.C.
Q.10. Who were the first Indians to go to the South-East Asian Countries?
Ans: Few Indian merchants were the first Indians to go to the South-East Asian Countries.
Q.11. What is referred to by Indian historians as 'Greater India'?
Ans: South-East Asia is referred to by Indian historians as 'Greater India'.
Q.12. Who is said to have conquered Ceylon first?
Ans: Vijaya, the legendary king, is said to have conquered Ceylon first.
Q.13. When did the real contact between India and China begin?
Ans: Some 2000 years ago in the Han Empire, the real contact between India and China began.
Q.14. What aspect of Indian culture influenced the Far-East most significantly?
Ans: It is Buddhism of Indian culture that influenced the Far-East most significantly.
Q.15. Mention some practical blessings conferred on the world by India?
Ans: Some practical blessings conferred on the world by India are rice, cotton, the sugarcane, many spices, the domestic fowl, the game of chess and the decimal system of numeral notation.
Q.16. What shows that some Jewish sects were also influenced by India?
Ans: Monastic practice shows that some Jewish sects were also influenced by India.
Q.17. Which Indian(s) influenced Europe and America most?
Ans: Ram Krishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi were the Indians who influenced Europe and America most.
Q.18. Which quality of Mahatma Gandhi influenced the West most?
Ans: It was Mahatma Gandhi's non-violence that influenced the West most.
Q.19. In what way was Goethe indebted to India?
Ans: Goethe borrowed a device of Indian dramaturgy for the prologue to Faust, a play.
Q.20. Which American writers were influenced most by Indian thought?
Ans: American writers like Emerson, Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Richard Jeffries and Edward Carpenter were influenced most by Indian thought.
Q.21. What kind of world culture we may expect to emerge in future?
Ans: We may expect that in future, a single culture of the whole world with many local differences and variations may emerge.
Q.22. Why does author think that Hindu civilization will retain its continuity.?
Ans: The author thinks so because its continuity remained unbroken even after Islamic and British invasion and in the present age of science and technology its influence on the world has increased tremendously.
Q.23. Why will the Geeta not cease to inspire men of action.?
Ans: The Geeta will not cease to inspire men of action because it contains very important lessons for the men of action.
Q.24. Why will Upanishads not cease to inspire men of thought?
Ans: Upanishads will not cease to inspire men of thought because they contains very rich and invaluable thoughts and philosophy about God in relation to man.
Q.25. What is useless in the ancient Indian culture according to the author?
Ans: According to the author, the extravagant and barbarous hecatombs of the Vedic age are the useless in the ancient Indian culture.
Q.26. What happened to useless in the ancient Indian culture?
Ans: Much of the useless in the ancient Indian culture has already perished.
About A L Basham
Summary of the lesson The Wonder That was India
A.L Basham praises Hindu civilization and says that it will retain its continuity and The Geeta will not cease to inspire men of action and Upanishads men of thought. The tales and characters of the Ramayan will always remain attractive. The diseases and poverty would never overcloud the Indian way of life. Basham says that much of useless of ancient Indian culture has already perished. Reformation movement has greatly reformed Indian way of life.People of lower caste sit shoulder to shoulder with upper caste people.Widows are no more burnt on husband's pyre. The face of Indian society is altering completely.The whole of the south east Asia has received its culture from India. Western Indians settled in Ceylone in 5th century BC and later they converted to Buddhism. Some Indian merchants reached Malaya Sumatra and other parts of south east Asia and made permanent settlement.by marrying women there. They were followed by Buddhists and Brahmins. Thus it received major influence from India although Chinese and Islamic influence too were felt later. Indian historians call south east Asia as Greater India and speak of Indian colonies. The King Vijaya is said to have conquered Ceylon. The Northward influence of India spread through China and Central Asia. There were some faint and weak contacts between India and China in Mauryan Empire. Much of the Far East and China owes its culture India that is Buddhism. India has conferred many practical blessings on the world at large; notably rice, cotton, the sugarcane, many spices, the domestic fowl, the game of chess and most important of all, the decimal system of numeral notation. Although Indian influence on Christianity is much disputed yet there is great similarity between Upanishads and teachings of European philosophers. However there is no doubt that sages meditated in the plains of the Ganges much before Christianity. Many authorities may doubt any influence of India upon the West. But in the last and a half century, the Indian influence on the thought of Europe has been considerable. ram Krishna Paramhans and swami Viveka Nand have certainly made a lot of influence. later on it was enriched by Yoga, Vedanta and the Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi. Gothe is said to have borrowed a device of Indian dramaturgy for the prologue to "Faust" Since Europe is a thirty hour journey from India, the Indian influences are no doubt great now. If any future culture emerges from different cultures, the Indian influence shall be greatest.
IV. Vocabulary:
Match the words with their meanings:
1. Hectic - Leader of a clan or tribe.
2. Hecatomb - A
group of people united by religious beliefs and opinions.
3. Sect -
Native.
4. Leavened -
Connected with the sea or navigation.
5. Indigenous - Without
rest.
6. Maritime -
Quality or influence spreading in and changing something.
7. Impetus -
Driving force.
8. Chieftain - Great
public sacrifice.
Ans:
1. Hectic - Without rest.
2. Hecatomb -
Great public sacrifice.
3. Sect -
A group of people united by religious beliefs
and opinions.
4. Leavened -
Quality or influence spreading in and changing something.
5. Indigenous - Native.
6. Maritime -
Connected with the sea or navigation.
7. Impetus -
Driving force.
8. Chieftain -
Leader of a clan or tribe.
. Antonyms:
1. Poverty - Prosperity, luxury
2. Vanish - Appear
3. Long - Short
4. Rapid - Gradual
6. Assimilate -
Divide, Separate, divorce
7. Dubious - Trustworthy,
indubitable
8. Disparage - Admire
9. Insincerity - Sincerity
10. Adequate - Inadequate
11. Idealist - Realist
12. Continue -- discontinue
13. Considerable - Trivial
14. Subtle- Clear, explicit
15. Local - Foreign, alien
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