Role of climate change in shaping or de-shaping of ancient Indian civilization The geography of India boasted of a unique terrain and diverse regional climate, spreading from snowy mountains to open plateaus. Historically geographical features of a region and climate are the primary drivers of how how a civi civili liza zati tion on sh shap apes es up. up. Indi India’ a’s s civi civili liza zati tion on was was driv driven en by the the Himalayan Mountains, separates India from the rest of sia! preventing hostile invading forces and immigration into the subcontinent. Moreover, "ang "anges es and and Indu Indus, s, the the two two rive rivers rs wer were the the foun founda dati tion ons s of Indi Indian an civilization along with the #hyber pass, the only traversable path between India and #abul. Monsoons and winds that mar$ the seasons also a%ected the formative period of the Indian civilization. The timings of these winds and monsoons were also critical since it a%ected the harvest of the season and in turn the produce, since the civilization was largely agrarian. &ometimes too much rainfall caused 'ooding along the ban$s of the rivers. The ideal area for thriving civilizations was the (eccan plateau with mild temperatures and optimum rainfall. The lost cities of Mohen)odaro and Harappa mar$ed mar$ed the earliest Indian civili civilizat zation ion along along the sid sides es of the Indus Indus river river.. Indus Indus valley valley civili civilizat zation ion,, thrived between *+++ and -++ /0, with an estimated population of about 123 million. However, after 4++ years of stability, the civilization declin declined ed becau because se of clima climate te change change 5drier 5drier and colder colder due to wea$ wea$er monsoons6 and by 7++ /0 cities were abandoned, with the population migrating to more fertile lands in the east around the "anges and 8amuna river. Impo Import rtan ance ce of Gree Greek k sailo sailor r Hippa Hippalu lus s jour journe ney y to India India and and the the interlinkage of monsoon and the spice trade route 9ocated at the center of the world, India became on the most important play player ers s in the the :rst :rst glob global al econ econom omy y. The The roots oots of trad trade e thou though gh wer were established by Hippalus 5"ree$ captain6 who is credited for discovering the direct route from ;ed &ea to India by plotting the scheme of the sea and the location of the ports coastline. His discovery through monsoons made the geographers realize the north2south direction of India’s west coast and that one could reach south India faster by crossing the Indian ury item2 from aroma induced baths to cuisines
sprin$led with oriental spices. efore, the rabs had control over the spice trade via sea with India. However, equipped with the $nowledge of the monsoons, the ;omans were successful in thwarting the monopoly of the rabs and thus prospered the Indian2roman spice trade. Silk route and the invasion of Kushans ?rom 1++ /0 to 3++ /0, eastern and western traders traded along the &il$ ;oad, a networ$ of trade routes that lin$ed ;ome in the @est and Aian in the 0ast. The name was derived from &il$, one of the most imported materials by the Mediterranean. dditionally, among the traded materials were gems, metals, horses, apricots, raisins. Moreover, the commerce also included e>change of technology, art and medicine. uddhism, an Indian culture was also spread through this &il$ ;oute when traders were accompanied by /hinese mon$s, who then advanced the doctrines and teachings of uddhism. The route eventually closed down with the upsurge of Mongolianism. The #ushans or Buen2/hi built their empire through the &il$ ;oute. They ruled in the Cost Mauryan era, around 14 ( under #anish$a, where its summer capital was Ceshawar and winter capital was Mathura. These mighty conquerors migrated from /entral sia and at their pea$ ruled from the ral &ea to the ay of engal. This era mar$ed the heights of economic development, accompanied with the introduction of the gold coins. "andharan art, the synthesis of western artists carvingDsculpting eastern sub)ects became famous in this era. Ender the #ushans, sea trade was at its helm, since they positioned themselves strategically at the center of the &il$ ;oad. This gave them unprecedented commercial power because they controlled the /entral sian commerce with the ;omans. The era of the #ushans was noticeable with spiritual, economic and artistic prosperity. The invasion of India y !ahmud of Ghazni initiated "hat is kno"n as the Great clash of civilization # the great religion of Islam meeting the incument religion of Hinduism in India$ %hat is the outcome of this clash& %hat role does the Su' saint play in this clash of civilization& Islam’s :rst contact with the Hindu hinterland came in around the 4th century (. However, the invasion of Tur$ish ruler Mahmud "hazni around +++ ( mar$ed the clash of Hinduism and Islam. etween +++ ( and +13 (, he invaded India 4 times, most important of which was the plundering of &omnath temple. Mahmud "hazni was a plunderer and a fanatic. His patronized art and literature and wanted to establish the glory
of Islam for which he ransac$ed temples and destroyed the idols of Hindu deities. (uring Mahmud’s time, the Hindu and Islam culture crossed each other for the :rst time. ccording to some, he was a renowned &u: and was heralded as a Fchampion of IslamG for having converted temples into mosques. He had a zeal for demolition and desecration of Hindu temples and idols. isted during the "haznavid era. esides the :rst e>tant of the &u: e>isted during this period. Ho" did the !ughals govern such a large empire& (id the )ritain learn some lessons of governance from the !ughals& Mughal empire 'ourished in India in the Jth and 4th century, with their empires spreading across now Ca$istan, fghanistan, angladesh and India. abar, the :rst Mughal ruler too$ over the empire by defeating the 9odhi’s of the (elhi &ultantate. Mughal 0mpire indicated an age of golden literature and architecture with $bar being the greatest of the Mughal rulers. They e>panded by winning wars across the subcontinent, because of technological might and s$illful deployment of cavalry and artillery, which was later followed by the ritish. The Mughals also ruled wisely and decisively, with a tolerance for the Hindu culture, though never allowing for any sort of uprisings It also promoted arts, literature and commerce which the population found resonance with most of the Mughal rulers. esides all the defeated rulers were incorporated as Kawabs who were entrusted with the administration of an area and were entitled to collect ta>es. part of this was remitted to the Mughal 0mpire. The law of the land though was of the Mughal 0mpire. ;oyal marriages also helped in maintaining alliances. ll this greatly helped the Mughals in their administration of such a large empire.
The ritish too in their dominion over India followed somewhat similar tactics. They were able to maintain their ;a) and win victories because of their greater military prowess and sophisticated technology. Their system of dividing areas into provinces, introduction of bureaucracy through a /ivil &ervices body, revenueDta> collection ocers, legislative and e>ecutive councils was fundamental to maintaining supervision. esides, nawabs and $ings were given nominal rule over their areas. esides, the ritish also followed non2intervention in religious matters and declared 0nglish as the ocial language of the ;a).
