Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Episode:2. The Beginnings


Episode:2. The Beginnings
The Discovery of India, Bharat ek Khoj (भारत एक खोज)بھارت ایک کھوج
Director: Shyam Benegal
Based on the book by: Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

Bharat Ek Khoj - Episode 2 - The Beginnings - Part 1of5.


Bharat Ek Khoj - Episode 2 - The Beginnings - Part 2of5.


Bharat Ek Khoj - Episode 2 - The Beginnings - Part 3of5.


Bharat Ek Khoj - Episode 2 - The Beginnings - Part 4of5.


Bharat Ek Khoj - Episode 2 - The Beginnings - Part 5of5.



Six to seven thousand years ago began the Indus Valley civilization, one of the most glorious and modern civilizations that have ever existed on the Indian soil. The existence of such a civilization to have existed on the Indian soil was uncovered by the British in the course of the operation of laying the foundation of Indian railways. So it happened that for laying the railway sleepers, large amount of stones was needed and during some random excavation site with baked brocks were discovered which facilitated the British purpose of laying the tracks. Sir John Marshal, in charger of this British enterprise soon took a keen interest in the brick sites and later discovered these sites to be belonging to ancient times and some ancient civilization.
Nehru personally visited these sites twice and as they were neglected due to lack of funds and interest he was sorry due to the fact that rain and sand deposits had done much damage to the sites. By the time Nehru had written about these glorious civilizations much was not discovered but now we have tons of information about these cities.
The Indus Valley civilizations were modern in every aspect. The architecture of these cities is something to boost about. The cities flaunted broad streets cutting each other at right angle and houses were uniformly built. Properly baked bricks were the material used in the construction of the city and drainage was given a proper treatment. The great baths of the city are another significant aspect.
The social construction of the cities was most probably based on the job done by the person. Separate city quarters were allotted to people belonging to people of one trade. It is evident that traders, craftsmen warriors had different quarters. Traders too had an allotted place for their living. Though differences were found in the grandness of the houses of different people of the society i.e. the traders had grandly built houses and the craftsmen had small houses.
Social equality is something that this civilization can be proud of. Though economic inequality prevailed but the social equality was prominent.
Trade links of Indus Valley civilization have been traced up to Egypt, Persia and Mesopotamia.
The religion of he inhabitants of this civilization has been in dark. It is assumed that the people worshiped some ort of force which may be termed as nature. Mother Nature’s clay made idols have been found in excavations.
Why did the civilization vanish? The answer to this question is still a mind twisting one. Many reasons have been put forward with evidential proofs. Some argue that this happened due to the climatic changes which rendered this civilization unfertile. Other argument that is quite strong is that due to the invasions that this civilization faced from the Turks and other tribes. Aryans are also convicted of the same some times.

8 comments:

beyondtheriver said...

dude, sadly the episodes are being taken off by youtube. wud be great if u can upload the ones that are off now, coz iv recommended ur blog to several ppl n they all will be as disappointed as i was...now gng on to episode 3..lets hope tht works. all the best n thanks for the viewing pleasure i had so far!!

Sandeep said...

Nehru's point of view about 'Arya' seems to be influenced by European historians of that era. European historians used the concept of 'Aryan' race to divide India and to propagate their supremacy. Most historian today believe that 'Aryan invasion' was a myth. Also, the use of RigVeda's hymn about Indra freeing the river does not corroborate the fact that Aryan came from northern regions to Sindhu ghaati. Since, if people of Sindhu Ghaati had mad dams on the river then it would mean that Aryans were living in southern regions compared to them.

One more thing that disproves the Aryan invasion theory is that it is believed that 'Aryan' race was barbaric. It does not seem very likely that a barbaric race would suddenly become so civilized and spiritually and philosophically so elevated that they would create something like Rig Veda.

Indeed, 'Arya' mean noble. It was perhaps used like 'Gentleman' in English language. No doubt, there has been a lot of migration in current Northern India which used to be Madhya Desh during ancient times. But an invasion that wiped out early Indians is unlikely.

Unknown said...

Agree with Sandeep. The 'Aryans' breaking the dams to let the water run downstream didn't make sense as I was watching the episode. If the aggressors were from the North, they would have to *build* dams, hold enough water in the reservoirs and then break them to send a deluge of water to destroy the agriculture lands of the Indians living South of them. So yeah, no matter what exactly happened during those times, the film maker seems to have overlooked this aspect in representing that information even if this was purely an attempt to convey Nehru's ideas.

aquarian said...

Hey guys,I agree wid sandeep. aryans are not destructive..never. They have a lot of contribution to society and civilisation.We shud look into all factors before reaching a conclusion.bUt the creation of JLN is excellent.

P K said...

During early 90s Doordarshan came up with Bharat Ek Khoj TV serials which was based on the book Discovery of India as masterpiece on the history of India.Bharat Ek Khoj is a 53 episode television series that dramatically unfolds the 5000 year history of India is Now Full Dvd Set Available @ MYSTICAMUSIC.COM < Click Here

surinderkartar said...

its all good i really lide this types of stories

Anonymous said...

aryans were barbarians?from where u learnt this fact? dear sandeep...indeed they were barbarians..so wht!!1 they have written scripture like rigveda...only educated people can be more barbarian than an uneducatd one..they were educated ! local inhabitant indians (dravidians)were honest, simple and obviously uneducated!these people were killed brutally by aryans as they wanted to establish themselves nearby indus river..shyam benegal sir has only given the symbolic stories here..no dont get confused by north n south...rigveda is a literature which glorifies the barbaric activities of aryan in the indian regions, and in fact it was essential for them to get eastablish in the region...caste system is a living proof how aryans tried to exploit people of indian origin...n that still continues...one will have to be barbaric...when one tries to get establish oneself on the othere territories....this is the fact...aryan were the first n foremost attackers on indian subcontinent..nehruji is right!after that muslims and english ..

prince of light said...

I completely agree with rajan, aryans were invaders who came from northern territories in the search of vegetation and resources like water etc. The word aryan comes from persia(Iran).if u read or watch discovery of india,nehru has stated that aryans were people who invaded india.