A Brief History of Humanity: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century

Chapter 12 India and Indian Saints

India in the 6th century BC was not a unified country.It is politically divided into kingdoms, vassal states and aristocratic republics.Culturally, the descendants of the early Aryan invaders were not fully integrated with the native peoples of the conquered black races.Sharp caste boundaries split people into different social groups, hindered ethnic integration and prohibited intermarriage between different castes.

The lower classes across India spoke several different languages, while the educated upper classes were all familiar with Sanskrit, which was transformed from the ancient Aryan language. The Rigveda and later the Sanskrit holy books were revered religiously by priests and nobles.

[-]. Buddha and Buddhism

Discussion of Brahmanism Brahmanism or Hinduism is an ancient religion of the Aryans in India.We may call those natives who originally belonged to the Aryan race Indians.Many ancient Indians believed in Brahmanism and accepted its crude conception of gods, bloodthirsty priestly traditions and gloomy outlook on life that made people increasingly dissatisfied.The development of civilization has prompted a group of thoughtful people to question old ideas. India is like Greece and Rome in this regard.Some people try to devote themselves to religious meditation. They cut off all the luxuries and enjoyments of life in the world, and turn themselves into ascetics to seek salvation.And some people try to go further, they are not only willing to starve, but also torment their bodies with all kinds of pain and discomfort.So on this basis, many "reformers" and "sages" emerged, who created new teachings and promoted new methods to achieve peace of mind.

Gautama Buddha Prince Gautama is the most famous of the religious masters and the only one we need to remember.He lived in the 6th century BC and devoted his life to missionary work.Gautama was the son of a "raja" (nobility), and as a young nobleman he was destined to live a life of ease and pleasure.His domain was on the slopes of the Himalayan mountains, riches were provided by dark-skinned serfs who worked in his father's rice fields, and servants were at his beck and call.He can while away his time by galloping, hunting, racing, and satisfying every desire.But he saw the hard life of people with miserable fate, and he saw the dark side of life.When he saw an old and poor beggar, a sick man afflicted by a disease, or an unburied corpse, he realized the truth of life, that all human beings must suffer and die sooner or later. .

Stories about Gautama are widely circulated.Gautama was tossing and turning over these gloomy thoughts while his young and beautiful wife bore him a son, his only son.That night, a very joyous celebratory dance was held, but Gautama was still disturbed.When the whole family fell asleep, he got up from the bed, quietly walked into his wife's room, took one last look at their baby, and then secretly left home with the bright moon in midsummer.

He rode away that night. Like most of the Hindus of his time, he deeply agreed with this view that the only way to achieve peace of mind is to become an ascetic.He put on the tattered clothes of a beggar, and listened humbly and faithfully to the preaching of the Brahmin monks.But he was still not satisfied.He did not even eat or drink, and allowed his body to be weakened by hunger strikes, depriving him of all the enjoyment of life, but all this was in vain.

One day, while Gautama was enjoying the shade under a big tree, he meditated in his heart on how he had given up wealth, family, love and all the pleasures of life, and he suddenly felt that he saw everything more clearly.Full of joy he arose and told his friends that he had been revealed to the truth, and the crowd stood before him in great numbers to hear him preach.People piously praised Gautama as "Buddha" and "Great Enlightened One", and the soul teacher of truth.

He and his disciples wore yellow shirts and begged everywhere, wandering in the Ganges River Valley, spreading new teachings.Gautama became a Buddha at the age of 35 and began to preach Buddhism.Later, Buddhism became popular in most parts of India in different forms, and even entered Tibet and China across the majestic Himalayas, and spread across the sea to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Japan and the Malay Archipelago.

The teachings of the Buddha Buddha, like other religious lecturers of the era, used words as the main form of preaching (perhaps because there was no popular writing in India at that time), but his followers memorized the teachings from generation to generation very carefully, so His teachings were not expressed in writing until two or three generations after his death.

The essence of Buddhism can be summed up as "Four Noble Truths": life is full of sorrow and pain, this is one; sorrow and pain come from our desires, this is two; troubles can only be relieved through "Nirvana", This is the third; only through the "Eightfold Path" can Nirvana be achieved, and this is the fourth.

Nirvana is interpreted as tranquility, the undisturbed tranquility of the soul.To achieve Nirvana, one needs to eliminate all ambition, evil thoughts, pursuit of comfort and desire for the afterlife from one's mind, and even eliminate all desire, pride and ignorance in this life.

The theory of Nirvana is consistent with Brahmanism's belief in reincarnation, which means that a person's identity may change in the next life, because people's desires are not satisfied, which leads to a change in the physical form in the next reincarnation.It would also mean a painful afterlife.And only Nirvana can eliminate all desires and save people from rebirth.In other words, if a person fully believes in Buddhism and strives to achieve Nirvana, he can avoid rebirth.

The Buddha believed that Nirvana can only be achieved through the Noble Eightfold Path. The so-called Noble Eightfold Path is Right View, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Karma, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

The Buddha's Four Noble Truths are very similar to the Noble Eightfold Path and Stoic philosophy.They are noble indeed, and there is great wisdom in them.The Buddha's morality guides people to try to avoid harming others, to eradicate mistakes, to restrain passions, and to overcome ignorance.People who have been educated in Christian thought have a hard time understanding Nirvana correctly. They think that Nirvana seems to be as gloomy as a blown out lamp.

[-]. India’s contact with the Near East

Alexander's Invasion Two centuries after the Buddha proclaimed his Noble Eightfold Path, Alexander began his invasion of India.When Alexander invaded India from the Northwest, political power in India was dispersed and consisted of small Aryan (perhaps they should now be called Indian) vassal states; India mastered the alphabet from the Near East, probably through the The merchant passed in.Besides that, Indian civilization progressed slowly.

Fast forward to 327 BC, when Alexander's empire had successfully conquered Macedonia and attacked all of Persia with their spears, and his soldiers were battle-hardened, tanned, and brave.At this time, Alexander led his soldiers across the Hindu Kush Mountains, killed fiercely from the mountains, began to attack India violently, and finally succeeded in reaching the Indus River.At the beginning of the second year, Alexander the Great wanted to continue his campaign across the river. He ordered his phalanx military ships to build a pontoon bridge, march across the river, and invaded the part of the territory known today as the Punjab.Victory smiled at him as usual, but the exhausted soldiers refused to move forward, and the helpless Alexander was forced to withdraw.

Alexander let the Macedonian governor directly rule the place west of the Indus River, and made the king of the original vassal state as his deputy to govern the narrow and long territory conquered east of the river.Then he sailed into the sea along the Indus River, feeling a little sorry, and while the fleet was sailing along the coast, he landed with his army again and returned to Persia.

His invasion this time was short and limited in scope, touching only the northwestern edge of India.But it was the beginning of India's contact with the Greek world, which had far-reaching consequences.Since then, Hellenistic industrial products, fine arts and ideas have all been imported into India through the Indus River.Indian architecture began to use stone, and even Buddha statues began to be carved with stone; Hellenistic religious beliefs also infiltrated India.The same is true in politics, and the traces left by Alexander after he invaded India will be described later.The role of Alexander began to be played by the princes of India.

Chandragupta There was a king named Chandragupta in India who established the Mauryan Dynasty. Chandragupta was very familiar with Alexander's deeds.He was eager to imitate the great Macedonian and become a great conqueror.The peacock prince recruited the warlike barbarians into a mighty army and declared himself the leader of northern Central India.When the news reached Syria, one of Alexander's generals, Seleucus known as the "Conqueror", was very angry. He immediately led his army to the east, ready to destroy this arrogant upstart Chandragupta. .Unexpectedly, the Indian madman defeated Seleucus.Thus, Chandragupta not only won the Indus and the mountains west of the river as the undisputed master, but also married a white-skinned wife, the daughter of Seleucus.

In this aggressive war of the Maurya Empire, Chandragupta relied on a huge army composed of infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants to conquer most of the Ganges River Basin.According to records, there are more than 9000 elephants in these trained elephant herds.Therefore, he established the first great empire in Indian history. This empire implemented an absolute monarchy. Chandragupta declared himself emperor and ruled almost all of North India.

Chandragupta's new empire implemented a set of elaborate management systems. Officials collected rents from farmers, checked household registration, maintained canals, irrigated farmland, supervised markets, regulated the wine trade, and carried out various other orders issued by the emperor. Order.The emperor, on the other hand, lived an incomparably luxurious life, just like the barbarian chiefs, and built a capital on the banks of the Ganges, surrounding the city walls with wooden fences and moats.The emperor's palaces are all built with fine wood, and the beams and columns are wrapped with gold leaf and gold sheets, and the life is extremely luxurious.

Ashoka Chandragupta contributed a lot in his life, but the most important cause in his life was to lay a solid foundation for his grandson Ashoka's imperial achievements.In the history of India, Ashoka was a typical ancient autocratic emperor. He attacked neighboring countries for a long time and carried out military conquest wars. This is a recognized ruling method of autocratic empires.From 273 BC to 232 BC, Ashoka maintained the imperial rule by means of power.According to an inscription on a surviving stone tablet, Ashoka described his inner feelings after a war that is said to have killed 10 people and captured 15 civilians.Ashoka was deeply horrified when he discovered that a conquest war had caused such a huge massacre and death.

Ashoka, who was awakened, tried his best to avoid war from then on.At this time, he ruled most of the territory of India, only the southern tip of the Indian peninsula broke away from his rule, but he no longer attempted to use the sword to expand the territory.He believes that the real conquest is spiritual conquest, and because of this, Ashoka's achievements have always been commemorated by future generations.

Ashoka was also the first apologist emperor of Buddhism.Although he made some modifications to Buddhist rituals, he greatly promoted the development of Buddhism.He ordered people to engrave the emperor's decree on stones all over the country, telling his subjects not to lie, to obey and be filial to their parents, not to slaughter and harass all living animals, not to hunt and kill as a profession, and the master should be kind to the suffering slaves, the rich Give to the poor.He built many magnificent Buddhist temples in India and carved a large number of lifelike Buddha statues.He called on his subjects to learn from the teachings of the Buddha, to keep themselves safe, and to follow the precepts of Buddhism.Not only that, he also sent his younger siblings to lead a group of Buddhist missionary monks to the island of Ceylon to spread Buddhism, and successfully persuaded the residents of the island of Ceylon.Buddhists also introduced irrigation technology and stone carving skills to Ceylon. Until now, the whole country of Ceylon still believes in Buddhism.At the same time, Ashoka also sent missionaries to Burma, making Burma another place that still believes in Buddhism.

Other contacts Ashoka also sent Buddhist envoys to Persia, Egypt, Greece and other places to promote Buddhism, but they did not achieve as great success as Ceylon and Burma.But these are still of great significance to our researchers, because they can at least prove that India has established close contact with the Hellenistic world, and we can be sure that such contact obviously influenced the development of Indian Buddhism.Since then, Buddhists have turned Buddha's theoretical system into a real religion, and further worshiped Buddha images as gods. Therefore, Buddhism has become a religion with monks (or monks), temples and rituals.The Egyptians and Greeks also became familiar with Buddhism and believed that Buddhism had many similarities with the religion they worshiped.Statues of Buddha even hide traces of Greek fine art, and various Greek and Egyptian concepts of gods often appear in Buddhism.In this way, India was naturally introduced into the mainstream civilization.

The decline of the Maurya Empire Ashoka was very pious during his reign, and finally died, ending his imperial life.We only know that Ashoka sent his two grandsons to divide the empire, but we know very little about them and the empire's subsequent successors.In fact, the empire gradually declined under the rule of Prince Ashoka, and finally collapsed completely.Later, the Hellenistic adventurers established a small vassal state on the northwest border. For a period of time, they expanded their territory and infiltrated Hellenism into all parts of North India, which had a great influence.However, the invasion of the barbarians later led to the tragic end of subjugation.At some point in history, northwestern India was ruled by the Parthian kingdoms, but later more barbarians became the lords of northern India.

Trade with the Roman Empire Seeing the picture of barbarians ruling North India, we will inevitably feel a little monotonous and desolate, and this sketching technique is too simple.In fact, this picture originally had more colors.During this period, India not only had close trade relations with Syria, but also had frequent trade activities with Egypt.In the 1st century BC, the total number of ships traveling between India and Egypt exceeded a hundred every year.In the next century, the number of ships traveling between the two countries increased again, all thanks to Hippalus, a Greek navigator.He discovered that the Indian Ocean has a steady monsoon blowing across the sea every year.Ships can take advantage of the steady monsoon to cross the Arabian Sea directly to India.In this way, people no longer need to drive ships along the long coastline.According to this calculation, people can start from Egypt in July and reach India in September.Then return in November and arrive in Alexandria in February next year.People have also found Roman coins in India, which can fully prove that the Roman Empire had trade relations with the Middle East and Far East centuries ago.Rome imported cotton fabrics, pearls, emeralds, diamonds, ivory, rice, pepper and Chinese silk from India, and imported gold, silver, coins, copper, tin, lead, coral, glass, wine, linen and other items to India. There are specially trained singers and maids.

In this way, the Gupta Dynasty passed for several centuries. Around the 4th and 5th centuries AD, an Indian emperor established a new dynasty, which is the famous Gupta Dynasty.The Gupta Dynasty reunited the territories under Ashoka.India has entered the famous "Golden Age" that has been praised by the world in history.During the Gupta Dynasty, many very exquisite Indian sculptures appeared. The mural masterpieces of artists in the 5th century are called "the most beautiful art in history".At that time, India was committed to promoting the development of science, and subjects such as mathematics and astronomy gradually became familiar to people.India's achievements during this period were far more than that. Many famous poets also appeared and left many immortal poems.From the above aspects, India in this period deserves to be a classical era.

The revival of Sanskrit says that this period is the classical era of India, because the prosperity of Indian culture during this period, the revival of ancient Sanskrit, and the restoration of ancient Brahmanism in Hindu sects are closely related.But Buddhism, which originated in India, gradually lost people's belief and worship, gradually lost its foothold, and finally, gradually died out.However, in AD 67 (around this time), Buddhism was introduced to China and had a great influence in China.Buddhism also occupies an important position in Japan, Central Asia, West Asia, Myanmar, Ceylon and other countries and regions.It is also largely due to this that Buddhism has become one of the world's greatest religions.

[-]. The Dark Ages of India
The invaders and destroyers who posed the greatest threat to India were the Xiongnu, that is, the Turkic or Tatar tribes.The Huns once brought serious disasters to many regions in Asia and European countries.As early as the 2nd century BC, the Huns had dominated Central Asia.Not only that, in the middle of the 5th century AD, Attila, the most famous leader of the Huns, led an army to invade and occupy Europe, and the whole of Europe was ravaged.The Huns also have the difference between "white Huns" and "black Huns", but there are still doubts about the interpretation of these two terms.The invasion of the Huns made the great Gupta Empire in Indian history never recover from a fall.India's "golden age" gradually declined under the shadow of this.Finally, in the early 6th century AD, the rule of the Gupta Dynasty collapsed.

Geographically India was a vast land from the 6th century to the 14th century.Politically, it is divided into countless small kingdoms.Long wars have fragmented vast lands.This tragic historical era lasted for eight centuries and plunged the people living in this land into boundless darkness. It is called the "Dark Age" in Indian history.India looks rich, but defenseless against foreign invasion, in an abyss of misery and debility.It seems to be looking for opportunities and has been running on the road of history, but it has been repeatedly blocked by the hand of fate.Muslims entered fragmented India in the 14th century, became the masters of India, and conquered the whole of India.We will learn more about Muslims in later chapters.

(End of this chapter)