14 DAY TRIAL // 1. India was one of the cradles of the civilization. Here emerged two religions of high philosophical and moral content: Buddhism and Brahmanism. Indian literature started over 3,000 years ago with the sacred books called Vedas and the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata; it was profoundly religious and poetic, and comprised various genera: theater, tales, novels, poetry. Kama Shutra was written 1,500 years ago by the Indian scholar Mallanaga Vatsyayana; its spiritual concept is based on Buddhism, with three sides of the perfection: the dharm (the peak of the religious merit), the artha (the earthly prosperity) and the kama (enjoying the pleasure). The kama is reached with the fullness of the couple relationship within matrimony. The book emphasizes the importance of knowing the singing, dance and philosophy as a way of enjoying life.
Indian art passes from the figurines made 5,000 years ago by the people of Mohendjo-Daro, the beautiful sculptures of the 4th century BC to 5th century AD showing the Greek influence brought by the armies of Alexander the Great, to the Brahmanic art of the 12th-14th centuries, the marble filigrees of Taj-Mahal, the tomb of the favorite wife of an 18th century rajah. Indian temples and palaces harbor many wooden, ivory and metal carvings. The 11th century edifices of Khajuraho are adorned with carvings representing elephants, horses, lions, crocodiles, bulls, boars, monkeys, snakes, or with hunting and battle scenes, also royal processions, elephant fights, gods and goddesses, dancers. But the most impressive representations are the erotic ones, depicting scenes of the Kama Shutra.
Still, we cannot talk about the history of one, single India, as the country was divided into many independent kingdoms along its history. Indian kings lived in glittery courts, had strong armies and dominated the lower classes oppressively. These armies employed elephants as shock elements.
2. The basis of the Indian economy was agriculture. Villages were made by 50-200 families, comprising 200-800 inhabitants. Houses were made of wood and clay, with the roof made of rice straws and branches or tiles. They used to have two rooms and an external covered gallery; behind the house, there was a small courtyard, where women cooked, children played and pigs and chickens were bred. Healthy people could have larger houses, with two levels, and larger courtyards. Still, the largest building in an Indian village was the Hindu temple.
3. Even if Buddhism originated in India, it did not manage to impose there, but it spread to China, Tiber, Mongolia, Japan and southeastern Asia, having over 350 million followers nowadays. The proper religion of India, Brahmanism (Hinduism) mixes philosophical concepts with magic rites and practices. One Hindu rite is the daily ablution in the purifying waters of the sacred river. The Hindu trinity is represented by the gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
4. The Indians are considered the result of the mix of at least three races. 10,000 years ago, India was inhabited just by Neolithic Black Asians, a black race that today survives mostly in New Guinea and the Melanesian islands of the Pacific. Unlike African Blacks, these people have abundant beards, a lot of hair on the body, are shorter, have slimmer lips, tilted (not cambered) foreheads, prominent eye ridges and aquiline noses. The hair is somewhat less kinky. Today, Black Asians survive in India as Vedda tribes from the mountain areas of southern India and Ceylon, but melano-Indians form large parts of the great mass of farmers and craftsmen. In northeastern India, in the Himalaya areas and Brahmaputra basin, large flows of Mongoloid people took place.
The other gene mix in India was brought by white people. Dravidian invasion took place around 10,000 years ago; these people came from the Middle East or Mediterranean area, and were dark haired. About 4,000 years, during the Indo-European migration, the light haired and light skinned Indo-Aryan tribes entered India coming from Central Asia via Afghanistan. Today, most ethnic groups of India present the Black Asian-Dravidian-Aryan mix, except northeastern, where the Mongoloid genes are visible as well.
5. The Indian woman wears a specific cotton or silk tunic, the sari. Her matrimony was transacted by her parents, when she was still a child, beyond her own will. If the woman remained widow, she lost her position within the society, as she could not return to her parents' house. Generally, the matrimonies were monogamous, but rich people also practiced polygamy. Even if devoid of rights, woman's talents and virtues played an important role in poetry.
6. A main trait of the Indian society is its division into castes. The castes represent groups of persons dedicated to the same occupation, originated in a remote common ancestor, generally considered a divine being, and connected between them through a complex of rights and duties. A person was born into a caste and belonged to it for all his/her life, without any variation; matrimony occurred only inside the same caste, and contact with individuals from lower castes was considered impure. The accomplishments of the multiple rules and duties of the caste system were observed by a kind of tribunal made of the most influent members of each caste; this tribunal imposed sanctions upon those breaking the rules. The superior caste was that of the brahmans, the priests. The second was kshatryias, having the mission to rule; this caste was that of the kings, nobles and warriors. The thirds caste was that of the vaisyas - the farmers and traders.
The large mass of the Indian people belong to the fourth caste, the sudras, which make the most humble manual works, and include numerous well differentiated classes, so that there are elevated groups which make services to the brahmans and kshatryias, like weavers, shavers, washers and teachers. The other groups are the "untouchable", which can cause impurity in superior castes if touched, like fishermen, hunters, potters, smiths, and others. But below the sudras, there are even inferior ones, like pariahs, who have no freedom and can be bought and sold and dedicate to the lowest farm works. The simple presence of a pariah contaminates with impurity, that's why they are forbidden to walk on the same paths with the superior caste individuals and to enter the temples of the brahmans, being forced to attend temples of their own.
7. 2,500 years ago, the Greeks were amazed to see the rich cotton fabrics of the Indian soldiers, as cotton originated there. Ancient Indians also knew bronze and iron metallurgy.