Perhaps we were taught a smattering of many things in school, but I have forgotten most of them. What remains in memory are the impressions reinforced by conversations with family and elders, and what we see regurgitated in the Indian media, incuding social media.
An oft-repeated theme is how great the Indian civilization is with no parallel in world history. That science, innovation and the arts grew only in India with the rest of the world in darkness. But as I read more widely now, I find that picture is simplistic.
Eridu - city of 4000 people in Mespotamia (present-day Iraq, mostly) 5000 years ago.
Image Author : Таис Гило; Image sourced from Wikipedia.
Why have we heard about the ancient indian civilization
only from our elders then ? Mesopotamia and the Egyptian civilizations are far
older the the Indus Valley and Harappan Civilizations.
The fertile river valleys of
the world where civilization first grew – Tigris-Euphrates, Nile, Yellow River,
Indus, would all be mighty rivers.. yet we speak of the Ganga as if it is
unique. In fact, the first civilization in South Asia grew around the Indus and Saraswati,
not the Ganges.
Pottery from Mesopotamia 6000 years old.
The Mesopotamian pottery above compares well with pottery from the Indus Valley civilization, 1500 years later. On left.
Image released by Los Angeles County Museum of Art and taken from Wikipedia.
Image released by Los Angeles County Museum of Art and taken from Wikipedia.
Uruk city is 5000 years old, also in Mesopotamia. And had some 65000 people living in the city at that time !
Temple on the right was meant to honour their goddess of fertility..
Image Author : Marcus Cyron; Image sourced from Wikipedia.
Temple on the right was meant to honour their goddess of fertility..
Image Author : Marcus Cyron; Image sourced from Wikipedia.
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