Prof. Rekha Pande
Uniqueness of Indian Civilization
Every civilization evolves certain unique features of its own which, in their entirety and inter-relatedness, constitute its dominant configuration and differentiate it from other civilizations. Indian civilization is distinguished from other civilizations of the world in respect of its continuity and heterogeneity, its accommodating ethos and its composite character. Since the middle of the second millennium B.C. Indian civilization has played host to several streams of migrant groups and communities from different parts of the world.
Migrant groups and communities in India
The advent of the Aryans, the Tibeto-Burman speaking Mongoloid groups, the Kushans, the Sakas, the Greeks, the Huns, the Arabs, the Persians, the Turks and the Mongols at different points of time testifies to the pervasiveness of the migration process during the successive periods of Indian history.
The migrant groups and communities brought their respective traditions and behaviour patterns from their native lands. In the course of time, they lost contact with their places of origin and underwent an extensive process of indigenization. The process of adaptation and interaction among the various groups brought about, on the one hand, India’s characteristic diversity and, on the other, a composite cultural tradition.
The composite fabric of Indian culture
The composite fabric of Indian civilization has been woven with strands and shades of varying textures and colours. It is no exaggeration to say that since ancient times India has represented a melting-pot of races and cultures.
Indian civilization may be likened to an expansive river and the various cultural traditions within its confines to streams or tributaries which join the river at different points and thereby give it a distinctive character. A certain dialectic or complementary between pluralism and syncretism seems to pervade the fabric of Indian civilization.
Three interrelated themes can be seen in this (a) pan-Indian, (b) within the fold of Hinduism and Islam and (c) the regional context.
The pan-Indian, civilization dimension of cultural pluralism and syncretism encompasses all the three, racial diversity and admixture, linguistic heterogeneity as well as fusion, and variations as well as synthesis in customs, behavior patterns, beliefs and rituals.
Pluralism
Pluralism has been one of the quintessential features of Hinduism both at the metaphysical as well as socio-cultural level. At the metaphysical level, truth was considered pluralistic. For example, it is believed that if two Sruti traditions are in conflict, both of them are to be held as law. The inherently pluralistic ethos of Hinduism is reflected, on the one hand, in the wide and divergent range of beliefs and ideas and, on the other, in stratification, customs, traditions and behaviour patterns. Syncretism is conspicuously evidenced in the survival of non-Aryan deities, rituals and ceremonies in villages which have been the heartland of Aryan expansion.
The epic tradition, in both textual as well as folk forms, bears the imprint of pluralism. For instance, the Ramayana has several variants or versions. The process of acculturation and integration has been extensively at work at the regional level.
Though each group or community has a distinctive identity and ethos of its own, it does not exist in a social vacuum. Rather, it forms part of an extended and dynamic network. Often, interaction, exchange and integration characterize inter-community relations. The sharing of space, regional ethos and cultural traits cuts across religions and sectarian differences and binds the local people together.
Factors shaping the culture of India
The culture of India been shaped by the long history, its unique geography and the absorption of customs, traditions and ideas from both immigrants and invaders, while preserving its ancient heritage from the Indus Valley Civilization.
India’s great diversity of cultural practices, languages, customs, and traditions are examples of this unique co-mingling over the past five millinnea. India is also the birth place of several religious systems such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, which have had a great influence not only over India but also over the rest of the world.
From the twelfth century onwards, following the Islamic conquests and the subsequent European occupation, the culture of India was influenced by Persian, Arabic, Turkish and English cultures. creating the various religions and the multi-hued traditions of India that was created with those amalgamations.
Islam and Hinduism
As a religious cultural force Islam is in most respects the very antithesis of Hinduism. Hinduism is a large aggregate of beliefs, developed in the course of many centuries, evolving from the sacrificial hymns of the Vedas to the philosophical speculations of the Upanishads, the discipline of Yoga, the metaphysical subtleties of Vedanta and the passionate devotion of Bhakti.
Islam on the other hand is bound by an austere central discipline , revolving round Quran, the Hadith and whatever speculations it has evolved and borrowed from external sources has been more or less adjusted to these two primary sources of religious authority.
According to F.W. Thomas, psychologically Hinduism tends to be melancholy, sentimental and philosophical, Islam tends to be ardent and austere. Hindu genius flowers in the concrete and the iconographic, the Muslim mind is on the whole atomistic, abstract, geometrical and iconoclastic.
Foreign character of Islamic religion
Islamic civilization in its Arab, Persian and Turkish varities had developed in geographical environments very different from the subtropical forests of India, teeming with life and fertility exposed to the mortal challenges of natures exuberance, which affixed their stamp on the hindu mind and shaped the course of much of Hindu religion and mysticism. Islam in India continued to retain throughout the centuries despite secondary Indian environment and ethnic influences, its original foreign character.
Tara Chand states, While the Hindu mind was primarily concerned with what is true, the Muslim was exercised over what is right. The Hindu emphasized the private and personal aspect of religious experience the Muslim its incorporation in the collective body of the faithful. The Hindu was inclined to gloss over the short comings of the short comings of his social customs, the Muslim was annoyed with them.
On the other hand, the intolerance of the Muslim and the memory of the past distressed the Hindu. The Hindu felt no kinship with the Arab past which the Muslim hugged to his bosom. The Muslim did not feel at home in Vedic India.
Uniqueness of Islamic invasions
Evaluating the impact of Islam on the sub-continent, one must note that the sub-continent was never immune from invasions from the North West.
What does make the Islamic invasions different is that unlike their predecessors who assimilated into the prevalent social system – Islamic conquerors retained their Islamic identity and created new legal and administrative systems that challenged and usually superseded the existing systems of social conduct and ethics.
They also introduced new cultural mores that in some ways were very different from the existing cultural codes. While these were a source of friction and conflict, it should also be noted that there were also Islamic rulers who in much of their secular practice absorbed or accommodated local traditions.
Arrival of Muslims
Muslims arrived in India in three distinct movements.
- As traders and missionaries to India’s southern coasts,
- As expanding wave of the Ummayyad conquests as Arab invasion of Sindh
- As a more organized conquests cum immigration movement of central Asian Turks and Afghans.
Brahmanical Hinduism clearly discriminated against the Muslims as yavanas and mlechchas, as the outcaste from a society which had its foundation in caste structure. Muslims and Hindus lived in separate quarters in the same town. The Hindus maintained no social intercourse with the other community by way of inter marriage or interdinning. Yet over a period of time, we do find a lot of interaction between the two communities.
Collaboration between Islamic and Hindu rulers
There is also evidence of collaboration between Islamic and Hindu rulers such as between Ibrahim Shah Sharqi (1401-40) ruler of Jaunpur with Kirti Singh of Tirhut (although there is also evidence to suggest that often such collaborations were coerced).
The sultans of Jaunpur were frequently helped by the Hindu chiefs against their Muslim opponents, particularly the Lodis. Similarly, during the reign of Akbar, there was a functional alliance between the Rajput rulers and the Mughals – the alliance extending until the reign of Aurangzeb when the alliance began to weaken and gradually fall apart.
Not all Islamic rulers oppressive
Hence, it would be incorrect to paint the Islamic rulers with a broad brush. While some were decidedly oppressive towards the local population, vandalized temples and sculpture, and remained generally detached from the vernacular cultures, others like Ahmed Shah of Ahmedabad or Adil Shah of Bijapur maintained a relatively close connection with indigenous traditions.
While most Islamic rulers simply expropriated older Hindu or Jain monuments, and adapted them for their own purpose, a certain amount of fresh building activity also took place. Sher Shah Suri in his short reign played a particularly decisive role in creating several new urban centres.
Enlightened Islamic rulers
While some rulers stayed aloof from their subjects, and were strongly biased towards cultural practices imported from Turkey, Central Asia, Persia or Iraq – others preferred to study Sanskrit, encourage indigenous arts and employ Hindus in their administration without much discrimination.
Ahmed Shah incorporated Hindu and Jain architectural motifs into his buildings without inhibition.
Mughal rulers like Akbar and Jehangir tried to be eclectic in their tastes, and others like the Deccan rulers encouraged unique local-flavored styles.
Some of the more enlightened Islamic rulers (particularly those who were born and raised in India and were recent converts from Hinduism or Jainism) understood (or came to understand) Indian geographic and climatic conditions, and like their Hindu counterparts in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh or Tamil Nadu (and elsewhere), invested in vital water-works like canals, dams, artificial lakes, step-wells and underground water-channels.
Expansion of trade
It was in the expansion of trade where Islam’s impact was the greatest. One of the most significant aspects of the Islamic period in world history was the emergence of Islamic courts capable of imposing a common commercial and legal system that extended from Morocco in the West to Mongolia in the North East and Indonesia in the South East.
Although this was not of significant benefit to countries such as India that enjoyed a substantial trade surplus, it was probably of great significance to the people of the Arabian or Central Asian deserts whose oases depended heavily on trade.
Islam the new bonding force
As the old contractual obligations in society were weakened, Islam became the new binding force of these newly conquered societies.
In order to cement their rule, Islamic rulers initially promoted a system in which there was a revolving door between the clergy, the administrative nobility and the mercantile classes.
Islam created a compact under which political power, law and religion became fused in a manner so as to safeguard the interests of the mercantile class. This led world trade to expand to the maximum extent possible in the medieval world.
Manufacturing technology
With the growth of international trade also came the spread of manufacturing technology and a more advanced urban culture. Local inventions and regional technologies became more easily globalized.
On the other hand, for a nation like India which had had a rich intellectual tradition of its own, and was already a relatively advanced civilization, this may have been of lesser import.
The use of ceramic tiles in construction was inspired by architectural traditions prevalent in Iraq, Iran, and in Central Asia. Rajasthan’s blue pottery was an adaptation of Chinese pottery which was imported in large quantities by the Mughal rulers. There is also the example of Sultan Abidin (1420-70) sending Kashmiri artisans to Samarqand to learn book-binding and paper making.
Jezia
During the early period of Islamic conquest, many Islamic rulers resorted to the hated jaziya, or poll tax levied on non-believers – i.e. non-Muslims. In some instances, this pushed the poorest sections of the peasantry into slavery. In other instances this may have coerced some of the peasantry into converting, or else led to local uprisings and tax rebellions. But the consequences of failed rebellions were just as disastrous.
Secular subjects in Madarsas
The more liberal of the Islamic rulers like Akbar attempted to follow in these footsteps and keep the Madrasahs (Islamic Schools) in line by compiling regulations that required them to also include secular subjects in their curriculum.
Courses on ethics, mathematics, astronomy, agriculture, medicine, logic and government were recommended in addition to religious studies. The study of Sanskrit was prescribed including Vyakaran (Grammar) and Nyaya – (Rational Philosophy). During Akbar’s reign Hakim Shirazi (d. 1589) and his followers attempted to combine the study of mathematics and science with Islam at seminaries founded by them.
Perhapsas a consequence of his father’s open-mindedness, Emperor Jehangir was also encouraged to pay attention to secular matters and took an active interest in botany and zoology. But neither Akbar nor Jehangir were to have any significant impact on the outlook of the Madrasahs.
The actual practice of the Ulema – the clergy who ran the Madrasahs, remained theocratic, and they resisted Akbar’s modest attempts at secularizing the Islamic educational system. This was not entirely out of character because as early as the 11th C. the Central Asian scholar Al-Beruni had been jailed for his “heretic” beliefs, and for ‘challenging the supremacy of the knowledge contained in the Quran’.
Bhakti Movement
As a result of interaction between the two communities soon movements in Hinduism and Islam, arose, which aimed to spread the essential oneness of God, and calling for religious tolerance and peace.
For starters, the seeds of Bhakti movement were sown by Shankaracharya, who has preached pure monoism [Advaita], which was beyond the understanding of man. It was Ramanuja who gave his interpretation of Hinduism, the definition of Hinduism mainly as a means of salvation. He preached Vishishtadvaita or qualified monoism, meaning devotion to God. His followers came to be called as Vaishnavas. Ramananda, Chaitanya, Kabir Nanak and provided the necessary impetus to the movement Bhakti later in the day.
Sufi Movement
Sufi Saints also preached the essential oneness of God and that all men and women are equal in the eyes of God.
They practiced the exercises ascetics, contemplation, renunciation and self-denial. It is a philosophy of goodwill, faith in God and love of fellow humans.
Although Bhakti and Sufi movements could not eliminate the gap between Hindus and Muslims, they have certainly achieved the necessary harmony between different religious groups.
Indian Architecture
Indian Architecture took new shape with the advent of Islamic rule towards the end of the 12th century AD. Many new elements were introduced into the Indian architecture, such as, use of shapes (instead of natural forms), inscriptional art using decorative lettering or calligraphy, inlay decoration and use of coloured marble, painted plaster, brightly coloured glazed tiles.
Indo Islamic Architecture
The Islamic elements of architecture had already passed through different experimental phases in other countries like Egypt, Iran and Iraq before introduced in India.
Unlike most Islamic monuments in those countries—largely constructed in brick, plaster and rubble—the Indo-Islamic monuments typical took the form of mortar-masonry works formed of dressed stones.
The knowledge and skill possessed by the Indian craftsmen, who had mastered the art of stonework for centuries and used their experience while constructing Islamic monuments in India, greatly facilitated the development of the Indo-Islamic architecture.
Interaction in Deccan
With the interaction of Islam, no language nor faith limited intellectual exercise and adventure. On the one hand the Upanishads, ancient Hindu texts were translated into Urdu and on the other, Urdu literature itself gained tremendous popularity with the people of the Deccan.
The Urdu spoken in the Deccan is also deeply influenced by the local language, Telugu. The Qutb kings patronized that the famous poet Kshetrayya, whose compositions form the backbone of some classical dance forms even today. He composed more than 4500 verses of which 1500 were dedicated to Abdulla Qutb Shah of Golconda.
Abul Hasan
The process of acculturation reached dizzy heights during the reign of Abul Hasan, the last of the Qutb Shahis. The Deccani Architecture represented the tendency of interaction where mosques stood together with typically Hindu structures called mandapams. (A mandapam is the roof that tapers upwards to form a conical shape).
Unani system of Medicine
In India, Unani system of Medicine was introduced by Arabs and soon it took firm roots in the soil. When Mongols ravaged Persian and Central Asian cities like Shiraz, Tabrez and Galan, scholars and Physicians of Unani Medicine fled to India.
The Delhi Sultan, the Khiljis, the Tughlaqs and the Mughal Emperors provided state patronage to the scholars and even enrolled some as state employees and court physicians. During the 13th and 17th Century Unani Medicine had its hey-day in India. Among those who made valuable contributions to this system into period where Abu Bakr Bin Ali Usman Ksahani, Sadruddin Damashqui, Bahwa bin Khwas khan, Ali Geelani, Akbal Arzani and Mohammad Hashim Alvi Khan.
Constant flow of men and ideas
Caravans of men and streams of thought constantly moved and flowed between India and Central Asia, resulting in intimate cultural relations between these two regions.
Indian medical ideas, herbs and methods of treatment were also transmitted from Baghdad to distant parts of the Caliphate. Manaka who had cured Caliph Harun Al-Rashid, was appointed as an incharge of a bureau of translation for rendering Sanskrit works on medicine into Arabic. The earliest works on medicine by Charaka and Su’sruta are frequently referred to by Razi and Ibn Sina in their works.
Books on religious Science
The four great books on Traditions on which the Muslim religious sciences are based, came from Central Asia: The Sahih of Imam Muhammad bin Isma°il Bukhari (ca. 870),
- Kashshaf of Abul Qasim Mahmud bin °Umar al-Zamakhshari (ca. 1144),
- the Usul of Ali b. Muhammad Bazdavi (ca. 1089)
- the Hiddya of ‘Ali bin Abu Bakr Marghinani.
Throughout the medieval period these books were prescribed in the syllabus of Indian madrasas and formed the basis of intellectual activity, as the Indian °Ulama’ wrote commentaries, annotations, summaries on these works. Hence Islam had a lot of impact in every field in Indian Civilization.
(Prof. Rekha Pande is the Head Centre for Women’s Studies Faculty, Department of history University of Hyderabad)
