Letterature di lingua inglese 2012-13

ATTIVITA' ACCADEMICA

PUBBLICAZIONI

PROGETTI DI RICERCA

CONVEGNI

CORSO

... DI CHI

 

History of India

 

Tapovan, Tagore scrive:


La civiltà occidentale contemporanea è fatta di mattoni e di legno. Affonda le sue radici nella città. La civiltà indiana, invece, si distingue per aver scelto la foresta, e non la città, come fonte di rigenerazione materiale e intellettuale. Le migliori idee indiane sono nate là dove l'uomo è in comunione con gli alberi e i fiumi e i laghi, lontano dalle grandi folle. La pace della foresta ha favorito lo sviluppo intellettuale dell'uomo. La cultura della foresta ha alimentato la cultura della società indiana. La cultura nata dalla foresta è stata influenzata dai diversi processi di rinnovamento della vita che nella foresta sono incessantemente in atto, diversi da specie a specie, da stagione a stagione, all'occhio, all'orecchio e all'olfatto [...11] pluralismo, perciò, è diventato il principio della civiltà indiana.
I pensatori indiani, liberi da gabbie di mattoni, legname e ferro, erano circondati dalla foresta e collegati al suo processo vitale. La foresta viva era per loro fonte di cibo. L'intima relazione tra vita umana e natura vivente divenne fonte di conoscenza. La natura non era morta e inerte in questo sistema cognitivo. Dall'esperienza di vita nella foresta appariva evidente che questa era fonte di luce e di aria, di cibo e di acqua.


Ancient India History

Two main cities have been discovered in 1920: Harappa and the city of Mohenjo-Daro.

'Indus Valley Civilization', or 'Saraswati Civilization'.

 

 

urban site
domestication of animals
development of agriculture
use of metal

 


The people in this tradition were the same basic ethnic groups as in India today, with their same basic types of languages.

 

 


Then came Aryans who composed these evocative hymns to nature and celebrated life exuberantly referred to themselves as Aryas usually anglicised as Aryan meaning 'noble'.

> 1900 BC - a tectonic plate shift



massive exodus of people towards the Ganga valley in east, whence arose the classical civilization of India.

>>>

Gangetic civilization of the first millennium BC, which is the classical civilization of ancient India

 

VEDA

 

2. Golden period of Indian History: 500 BC - 800 AD

the Persian kings Cyrus and Darius, pushing their empire eastward, conquered the ever-prized Indus Valley. The Persians were in turn conquered by the Greeks under Alexander the Great.
Alexander returned home, leaving behind garrisons to keep the trade routes open.


In the 5th century BC, Siddhartha Gautama founded the religion of Buddhism
Jainism was founded by Mahavira


As the overextended Hellenistic sphere declined, Chandragupta conquered his way well into Afghanistan. >>> India's greatest dynasties, the Maurya.

Pataliputra, near modern-day Patna, in Bihar.

Kautilya, Arthashastra

The most famous Maurya King Ashoka the Great ruled from 273 - 232 B.C over a large kingdom stretching from Kashmir and Peshawar in the North and Northwest to Mysore in the South and Orissa in the East.


Under his reign Buddhism spread to Syria, Egypt, Macedonia, Central Asia, Burma. For propagation of Buddhism, he started inscribing edicts on rocks and pillars at places where people could easily read them. These pillars and rocks are still found in India, spreading their message of love and peace for the last two thousand years.

 

The "Dharma Chakra" on the Ashoka Pillar adorns the National Flag.

 

 

 

 

“No one is superior (ajyesaso) or inferior (akanishtasha). All are brethren (bhrataraha). All should strive for the interest of all and should progress collectively (Sowbhagayanam va varidhulu).” Rig Veda Mandala 5, Sukta – 60, Mantra - 5.

 

“The yoke of the chariot of life is placed equally on the shoulders of all. All should live together with harmony supporting one another like the spokes of a wheel of the chariot connecting its rim and the hub.” (Atharvaveda – Samjuana Sukta)




Gupta age -


a wave of migrations by the Huns, a people who originally lived north of China.


Medieval India History

 

The Muslim Invasion

spread of Islam

The Muslim dominated Kabul, the Punjab, and Sind, before intruding in to India.


Multiple dynasties with good and bad rulers

The Rajputs, Jats, Marathas and Sikhs led this struggle in North India.
In the South this struggle was embodied in the Vijayanagar Empire.
This struggle culminated when the Marathas ended the Muslim domination of India.

715 A.D.

1555 A.D. > Akbar the Great (1556-1605). With the defeat of Hemu, the Mughals had established their sway over Delhi and Agra.

-------


Akbar followed a policy of reconciliation with the Rajputs and won their support by establishing matrimonial alliances.

Akbar conquered Bengal, Gujrat, Kashmir, Kabul by 1589 A.D. and Sind and Kandhar by 1595 A.D.


It is said that Akbar followed generally a tolerant policy towards Hindus.
He tried to establish a national religion called Din-i-illahi that was to be pleasing both the Hindus and Muslims. This was politically motivated and Din-i-illahi failed miserably.

In the south in the meanwhile many different kingdoms are founded.
1336 Vijaynagar Kingdom

 

Modern India History

Coming of the Europeans 1700 - 1947

The Battle of Plassey 1757

1800

Indian Mutiny 1857-59

1858

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

  • Civil Disobedience Movement
  • The 1930 Salt March

From Gandhiserve.org - youtube channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg_O5XHDSDU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixBF_USTZcg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqf0N9GDF4A&feature=channel

 

Mohammed Ali Jinnah

Muslim League vs Indian National Congress

Lord Mountbatten replaced Lord Wavell as Viceroy of India in 1947

 

Indian Independence Act - midnight on August 14-15, 1947

India Pakistan Partition BBC Special Presentation

 

1. Dominion of Pakistan created on 14 August 1947. Became world's first Islamic Republic in 1956. New city of Islamabad replaced Karachi as capital in the mid 1960s
2. British India was made up of provinces, princely states and state agencies. An independent Union of India was created on 15 August 1947 and renamed the Republic of India in 1950
3. Punjab was split in two. Majority Muslim western part became Pakistan's Punjab province; majority Sikh and Hindu eastern part became India's Punjab state
4. Bengal divided into Indian state of West Bengal and East Pakistan, which became East Bengal in 1956 and Bangladesh achieved independence after a civil war in 1971

 

1971 tensions between East and West Pakistan over Bengali >> civil war

1972 Bangladesh became an independent country

 

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