Ancient Indian Culture and Civilisation

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This book project is intended to be a Mauritian contribution to encouraging adolescents to discover the gems of India's thought, culture and art. At the time she started on the project, decades ago, the author and I were young members of staff of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute and we shared both enthusiasm for and interest in India's past, its legacy and the continued relevance of its Thought to addressing contemporary issues.

Coincidence has brought me back to the MGI when Dr Ramdhony has completed her task. It is with pleasure that the MGI is collaborating with the High Commission of India for the publication of the book, Ancient Indian Culture and Civilisation, and to see the project brought to fruition in time for the Vishwa Hindi Sammelan, eleventh edition, being held in Mauritius in August 2018.

There must be a plethora of books and, in this digital age, of e-works on Indian civilization available and accessible to anyone. But there is always room for fresh approaches and interpretations. It is hoped that the pages of this book will find their way to the minds of young readers and will provide them with stimulating perspectives on the complex world of Indian civilization.

This book takes the reader on a historical journey through the complexity of Indian culture and civilisation through the ages. The reader is like on a train journey through time where he can be a wayfarer, wanderer and excursionist with glimpses into a rich, prodigious past. This publication describes a diasporic perspective of the ancient Indian Culture and Civilisation. The author wants this work to help bridge the gap between India and its children everywhere in the diaspora-referred to by many as "The Other India."

Dawning in the prehistoric Indus civilisation, which flourished over 4000 years ago, it gives glimpses of the Vedic culture which laid the spiritual foundation of India.

The struggle of peoples of the subcontinent to grapple with the fundamental problems of life and thought, through the ages, are all sketched through stories, myth and folklore which show the relevance of those endeavours as they apply to the modern world.

Our own itinerary is proof that communities and people of Indian descent, heirs to a composite culture that is quasi-incomparable in vastness and depth, cannot aspire to liberating self-knowledge without reintegrating their Aryan, Dravidian, Buddhist, Jain or Sikh heritage.

This text unravels the genius of Indian civilisation through the most significant productions in different areas: religious thought, philosophy, literature from the origins up to the medieval period, namely the pre-Indus civilisation period up to the Muslim invasion in India. Extracts from Kalidas, Shankaracharya, Hindu mythology, folk tales, legends and epics are presented through stories meant for children as well as adults. The wisdom genre has been adopted.

The composition of our multi-cultural society in Mauritius has been taken into consideration so as not to hurt any sensibilities. All the material has been collected from various sources, translated, adapted and such a presentation has been chosen for the material that it may be read well in a multicultural society like ours. One more thing that has been added is the selection of poems and tales by English and French writers that reveal Indianness, for instance Leconte de Lisle on Valmiki and on the Ramayana; the poems of William Blake about Songs of Innocence and Experience which can be directly linked to the Subala Upanishad describing the "childlike innocence of the sage and the sageliness of the child. "The various chapters about Epics and Scriptures present gems from Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita, Dhammapada and Thirukural.

Material has been classified along the arrow line of time, the emphasis being on the period between 4000 BCE to the tenth century CE. The table of contents follows the chronology: This is very important if one wants to get the whole picture. However, it should be recognized that authorities differ on the dates to which some of the earlier events are assigned.

Both Fountain Heads-the Indus Culture as well as the Dravidian stream are described in this book. The Greek and Persian influences on the Indian way of life are clearly shown. We can find in there eternal legends known in the countries of the Diaspora e.g. Savitri and Satyawan, Eklavya, Shrawan Kumar, Raja Harishchandra; the classical Jataka tales and stories from the Panchatantra; the role of the temple in Ancient India; the Sangam literature; the Buddhist heritage and the spread of Buddhist doctrines from India to China as described in the tre records of the Chinese pilgrims Faxian and Xuanzang as well as those of Megasthenes Alexander the Great. The book ends with the Arabs who introduced Islam in India, with tales from the Arabian Nights and folk tales from various parts of the country.

The plan is to come up with BOOK 2 about Delhi Sultanate, Mughals, Sikh Gurus, Shain Saints, Vaishnava saints, Christianity, Sufism. Islam and a BOOK 3 as well-about the coming of the British: socio-religious reform movements, freedom movement, partition and the pos independence period: the composite modern Indian Culture that reflects the western thous process together with continuity of Indian Culture: Indian Culture in Mauritius and its evolutin through 180 years. It will also give a comparative view of Indian Culture as it exists in India and abroad.

The intended audience are children of all ages. Insofar as possible, every effort has been made to keep it simple and easy to understand.

The author hopes that the book will spark an interest in history and will motivate students from all backgrounds to feel enthusiastic about other cultures as well. Children have an instinctive fascination with discovering their roots, We have an obligation to introduce them to their ancestral culture and traditions as these can give them a great sense of belonging. That is why it is so important to introduce them to India's literature, art, music, dance and other traditions. A culture based upbringing will enrich their lives and they will grow up to be proud of their heritage. Optimistically speaking, the book can guide them into building character and becoming good human beings. After all, that is the best investment for the future.

Today mythology and stories form an essential part of almost everything-from Education, to Media. The time has come when people of the Indian diaspora are joining together for the purpose of conserving and transmitting all these moral values to their respective societies as a shared wellspring of ever pertinent human values.

We would invite parents, children and teachers of course, to use this book at home and in classrooms to derive maximum benefit from it. It is really about sharing all this information It was a work of passion which we have undertaken in all humility as we are dealing with something very special-the golden age of Indian Civilisation- which produced saints, sages, seers, philosophers, poets and warriors, mathematics, Yoga and Ayurveda.

It will give to the youth an open mind, an understanding of the religious faith of others without abandoning one's own. This onus is on both- parents and the education system. This book will represent an important tool. Many have remained contented with practising their ancestral culture as it was handed down to them. Much ignorance exists there; one purpose of this book is to save children from the harm already done to them. At the same time, it will show an Indian Culture which is neither Hindu, Islamic, Christian nor any other wholly. It will present an Indian Culture as a fusion of all.