Role of Climate Change

7/25/2019 Role of Climate Change

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Role of climate change in shaping or de-shaping of ancient Indian

civilization

The geography of India boasted of a unique terrain and diverse regional

climate, spreading from snowy mountains to open plateaus. Historically

geographical features of a region and climate are the primary drivers of

how a civilization shapes up. India’s civilization was driven by the

Himalayan Mountains, separates India from the rest of sia! preventing

hostile invading forces and immigration into the subcontinent. Moreover,

"anges and Indus, the two rivers were the foundations of Indian

civilization along with the #hyber pass, the only traversable path between

India and #abul.

Monsoons and winds that mar$ the seasons also a%ected the formative

period of the Indian civilization. The timings of these winds and monsoonswere also critical since it a%ected the harvest of the season and in turn

the produce, since the civilization was largely agrarian. &ometimes too

much rainfall caused 'ooding along the ban$s of the rivers. The ideal area

for thriving civilizations was the (eccan plateau with mild temperatures

and optimum rainfall.

The lost cities of Mohen)odaro and Harappa mar$ed the earliest Indian

civilization along the sides of the Indus river. Indus valley civilization,

thrived between *+++ and -++ /0, with an estimated population of

about 123 million. However, after 4++ years of stability, the civilizationdeclined because of climate change 5drier and colder due to wea$er

monsoons6 and by 7++ /0 cities were abandoned, with the population

migrating to more fertile lands in the east around the "anges and 8amuna

river.

Importance of Greek sailor Hippalus journey to India and the

interlinkage of monsoon and the spice trade route

9ocated at the center of the world, India became on the most important

players in the :rst global economy. The roots of trade though wereestablished by Hippalus 5"ree$ captain6 who is credited for discovering

the direct route from ;ed &ea to India by plotting the scheme of the sea

and the location of the ports coastline. His discovery through monsoons

made the geographers realize the north2south direction of India’s west

coast and that one could reach south India faster by crossing the Indian

<cean. This discovery and that the ships could sail to India in =+ days

established the prosperity of trade with the ;oman province of egyptus

from st century /0. /hief among the items traded were spices 5blac$

pepper and cinnamon6, since the ;ussians were great connoisseurs of spices and used it as a lu>ury item2 from aroma induced baths to cuisines



sprin$led with oriental spices. efore, the rabs had control over the spice

trade via sea with India. However, equipped with the $nowledge of the

monsoons, the ;omans were successful in thwarting the monopoly of the

rabs and thus prospered the Indian2roman spice trade.

Silk route and the invasion of Kushans

?rom 1++ /0 to 3++ /0, eastern and western traders traded along the

&il$ ;oad, a networ$ of trade routes that lin$ed ;ome in the @est and Aian

in the 0ast. The name was derived from &il$, one of the most imported

materials by the Mediterranean. dditionally, among the traded materials

were gems, metals, horses, apricots, raisins. Moreover, the commerce also

included e>change of technology, art and medicine. uddhism, an Indian

culture was also spread through this &il$ ;oute when traders were

accompanied by /hinese mon$s, who then advanced the doctrines andteachings of uddhism. The route eventually closed down with the

upsurge of Mongolianism.

The #ushans or Buen2/hi built their empire through the &il$ ;oute. They

ruled in the Cost Mauryan era, around 14 ( under #anish$a, where its

summer capital was Ceshawar and winter capital was Mathura. These

mighty conquerors migrated from /entral sia and at their pea$ ruled

from the ral &ea to the ay of engal. This era mar$ed the heights of

economic development, accompanied with the introduction of the gold

coins. "andharan art, the synthesis of western artists carvingDsculptingeastern sub)ects became famous in this era. Ender the #ushans, sea trade

was at its helm, since they positioned themselves strategically at the

center of the &il$ ;oad. This gave them unprecedented commercial power

because they controlled the /entral sian commerce with the ;omans.

The era of the #ushans was noticeable with spiritual, economic and artistic

prosperity.

The invasion of India y !ahmud of Ghazni initiated "hat is

kno"n as the Great clash of civilization # the great religion of

Islam meeting the incument religion of Hinduism in India$ %hat

is the outcome of this clash& %hat role does the Su' saint play in

this clash of civilization&

Islam’s :rst contact with the Hindu hinterland came in around the 4th

century (. However, the invasion of Tur$ish ruler Mahmud "hazni around

+++ ( mar$ed the clash of Hinduism and Islam. etween +++ ( and

+13 (, he invaded India 4 times, most important of which was the

plundering of &omnath temple. Mahmud "hazni was a plunderer and a

fanatic. His patronized art and literature and wanted to establish the glory



of Islam for which he ransac$ed temples and destroyed the idols of Hindu

deities.

(uring Mahmud’s time, the Hindu and Islam culture crossed each other for

the :rst time. ccording to some, he was a renowned &u: and was

heralded as a Fchampion of IslamG for having converted temples into

mosques. He had a zeal for demolition and desecration of Hindu temples

and idols. <ut of his rule, a clash between Hinduism and Islam, India was

left utterly ruined and its prosperity su%ered for times to come. lso the

;a)puts were shown to be wea$ and this paved the ground for further

Mughal conquests.

&u:s paved the way for Muslim Hindu cultural interaction. The linguistic

anity of the Muslim culture in India came through "hazni and u$hara.

The "haznavid conquest of 9ahore had instrumental cultural results whichfacilitated contact between the two civilizations. Cersian was adopted as a

language for literary conversations and continued its presence throughout

Mughal rule. ?amous scholars such as bu ;ayhan al2iruni whose Kitab

al-Hind was among the earliest literature about Indias religious and

philosophical traditions e>isted during the "haznavid era. esides the :rst

e>tant of the &u: e>isted during this period.

Ho" did the !ughals govern such a large empire& (id the )ritain

learn some lessons of governance from the !ughals&

Mughal empire 'ourished in India in the Jth and 4th century, with their

empires spreading across now Ca$istan, fghanistan, angladesh and

India. abar, the :rst Mughal ruler too$ over the empire by defeating the

9odhi’s of the (elhi &ultantate. Mughal 0mpire indicated an age of golden

literature and architecture with $bar being the greatest of the Mughal

rulers. They e>panded by winning wars across the subcontinent, because

of technological might and s$illful deployment of cavalry and artillery,

which was later followed by the ritish.

The Mughals also ruled wisely and decisively, with a tolerance for theHindu culture, though never allowing for any sort of uprisings It also

promoted arts, literature and commerce which the population found

resonance with most of the Mughal rulers. esides all the defeated rulers

were incorporated as Kawabs who were entrusted with the administration

of an area and were entitled to collect ta>es. part of this was remitted to

the Mughal 0mpire. The law of the land though was of the Mughal 0mpire.

;oyal marriages also helped in maintaining alliances. ll this greatly

helped the Mughals in their administration of such a large empire.



The ritish too in their dominion over India followed somewhat similar

tactics. They were able to maintain their ;a) and win victories because of

their greater military prowess and sophisticated technology. Their system

of dividing areas into provinces, introduction of bureaucracy through a

/ivil &ervices body, revenueDta> collection ocers, legislative ande>ecutive councils was fundamental to maintaining supervision. esides,

nawabs and $ings were given nominal rule over their areas. esides, the

ritish also followed non2intervention in religious matters and declared

0nglish as the ocial language of the ;a).

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Role of Climate Change