I bought a book just 10 days after it was published. It was destined. A friend of mine says to me always: "Books find us..."
It was early morning around 4AM in Bangalore Int'l airport strolling through shops, this book found me. I did not know the author, but one of my dream projects was to publish something like this book. So when I saw the book and an overview of contents, I was surprised and when i read about the author Sanjay Sanyal and his bio, I thought this could be a good work...
The book is Land of the Seven Rivers. I actually prefer to call it by the quote "a brief history of India's geography".
I strongly urge everyone to read this book (especially Indians). In fact I might buy a few copies and gift it to my good friends. I have mentioned in my previous blogs that I had witnessed a type of pogram (anti-Brahminical) at the hands of DK/DMK folks during my childhood and a bit of scarred memories still remain.
It made me resolute, strong and a seeker. The history I hear from my parents and seniors in the family show and shine a valuable, rich and civilized Vedic Bharath, but why do i hear another version in the streets? How do I resolve this?
The dilemma is very simple, if we were indeed such an advanced civilisation, where is the place for low unethical things that I hear about Indians through DK (such as casteist/un-touchability etc. these are by the way still relevant topics). The point is, this childhood experience nurtured me to dream a project to research and understand the past in order to clarify this dilemma and write a book that would help others too... This book is not about this, however the author in his research for understanding India's geography has helped me clarify a lot of things. So in a way my dream project has been completed by Sanjay... (I have some more dreams too...)
A lot of nationalistic Indians keep talking about yester-year fame, technology like pushpak-vimanas (aeroplanes), medicinal advancements like plastic surgery, number systems, astronomy etc. However this book is not about such things and I don't intend to open up whats' in the book, anyway a few titbits:
1. Sanjay has also opened up some important questions about our weaknesses. e.g. why were ancient Indians not good at Maps? In fact to very this day, we have not been great at mapping our towns (Google is helping us). Do Indians' have a feeling of Nationhood? What do we do with slums?
2. My dad has always talked to me about Sarswati river and evoked a sense of mystery and purpose. Sanjay has done a wonderful and coherent narration, bringing archaeological and Vedic view together. The write-up is simple, not superfluous and that makes it much more powerful.
3. Instead of purely dwelling on history, the importance on geography has been put forward and a first of its kind (to my knowledge)... The book takes swiftly from Vedic period through Alexender, Maurya, Guptas, Cholas, Tuqlaks, Mughals, British, Marathas, Hampi, what not - covering 1000s of years in the lens of geography and in the absence of maps...
4. Do you ever know that Robert Clive did his thanksgiving at Krishna temple after the victory of Plassey and not to a church? After learning World's history, I felt ah, much better we were ruled by British not by other imperial powers... e.g. the Mexican and South american histories make me think that British may have done a few good things...
5. I didn't know that World's 2nd Mosque was built in India in a temple style, and there are so many such small things. He has also brought the South Indian aspects of geograhpy and resolved some of my longstanding questions.
6. Defining and reviewing ancient Indian geography is such a difficult challenge and Sanjay has done a great work - In fact I would compare him to the 'Sanjay' - the Charioteer who gave a live account to the blind kind Dirudrashtra and this Sanjay has definitely taken lot of time and efforts to produce this account to us who are blind about our own history...
Shortcomings:
1. An account of Krishnadeva raya and his rule could have been really helpful, as I remember well from my History and Geography classes about his reign - this is missing
2. He has traveled to a lot of places to write this book, why not take some pictures and add them in? The narration was never a let down, In fact when he writes about the proclamation from Queen Victoria, it was like a climax of a movie and I concur with him that British understood our civilization and hence they chose to share the proclamation at Allahabad not from Delhi, Kolkatta or Chennai... Hey but my point is he could have added some pictures and drawings to nourish...
3. His question on ancient Indian's not mapping their geography is interesting, In fact it didn't occur to me until he pointed out - we always talk proudly about our ancient knowledge, but mapping was never in the mix - was it? I can see the reasons: If Indians were so good at mapping night skies i.e. astronomy, would they not be interested in mapping earth? I guess the answer is in their approach to life i.e. the civilisation - they were interested in nationhood, but believed in living together - 'vasudeva kutambakam' (a favorite phrase 'world as a family'), hence they may not been that keen to map the earth!
I was thrown into a bad flu on Tuesday, my wife and this book nurtured me back to health... Thanks to Sanjay Sanwal. Now I am going to buy his first book The Indian Rennaisssance. I can see why India will rise after a 1000 year of decline... Indeed there is lesson from this book, Saraswati dried up, what if Cauvery dries up?
NB1: I wish I could make a Sunday prime-time TV show based on this book, may be I will... A good quality graphics with the same narration this could be the best thing that could happen to Indian TVs...
NB2: When I landed in US in 2001, I remember getting a tap on my head from my friend +Manoharan Duraisamy that i see the map and learn to use it - In fact I am very comfortable with maps these days...
NB3: Now I know the reason why UK schools instill the sense of map making for kids right from the very early days of schooling - I wonder if they know the reason consicously or is it just continued as a practise? anyway my little boy draws a lot of maps every day! I am sure he will rule the roost :)
It was early morning around 4AM in Bangalore Int'l airport strolling through shops, this book found me. I did not know the author, but one of my dream projects was to publish something like this book. So when I saw the book and an overview of contents, I was surprised and when i read about the author Sanjay Sanyal and his bio, I thought this could be a good work...
The book is Land of the Seven Rivers. I actually prefer to call it by the quote "a brief history of India's geography".
I strongly urge everyone to read this book (especially Indians). In fact I might buy a few copies and gift it to my good friends. I have mentioned in my previous blogs that I had witnessed a type of pogram (anti-Brahminical) at the hands of DK/DMK folks during my childhood and a bit of scarred memories still remain.
It made me resolute, strong and a seeker. The history I hear from my parents and seniors in the family show and shine a valuable, rich and civilized Vedic Bharath, but why do i hear another version in the streets? How do I resolve this?
The dilemma is very simple, if we were indeed such an advanced civilisation, where is the place for low unethical things that I hear about Indians through DK (such as casteist/un-touchability etc. these are by the way still relevant topics). The point is, this childhood experience nurtured me to dream a project to research and understand the past in order to clarify this dilemma and write a book that would help others too... This book is not about this, however the author in his research for understanding India's geography has helped me clarify a lot of things. So in a way my dream project has been completed by Sanjay... (I have some more dreams too...)
A lot of nationalistic Indians keep talking about yester-year fame, technology like pushpak-vimanas (aeroplanes), medicinal advancements like plastic surgery, number systems, astronomy etc. However this book is not about such things and I don't intend to open up whats' in the book, anyway a few titbits:
1. Sanjay has also opened up some important questions about our weaknesses. e.g. why were ancient Indians not good at Maps? In fact to very this day, we have not been great at mapping our towns (Google is helping us). Do Indians' have a feeling of Nationhood? What do we do with slums?
2. My dad has always talked to me about Sarswati river and evoked a sense of mystery and purpose. Sanjay has done a wonderful and coherent narration, bringing archaeological and Vedic view together. The write-up is simple, not superfluous and that makes it much more powerful.
3. Instead of purely dwelling on history, the importance on geography has been put forward and a first of its kind (to my knowledge)... The book takes swiftly from Vedic period through Alexender, Maurya, Guptas, Cholas, Tuqlaks, Mughals, British, Marathas, Hampi, what not - covering 1000s of years in the lens of geography and in the absence of maps...
4. Do you ever know that Robert Clive did his thanksgiving at Krishna temple after the victory of Plassey and not to a church? After learning World's history, I felt ah, much better we were ruled by British not by other imperial powers... e.g. the Mexican and South american histories make me think that British may have done a few good things...
5. I didn't know that World's 2nd Mosque was built in India in a temple style, and there are so many such small things. He has also brought the South Indian aspects of geograhpy and resolved some of my longstanding questions.
6. Defining and reviewing ancient Indian geography is such a difficult challenge and Sanjay has done a great work - In fact I would compare him to the 'Sanjay' - the Charioteer who gave a live account to the blind kind Dirudrashtra and this Sanjay has definitely taken lot of time and efforts to produce this account to us who are blind about our own history...
Shortcomings:
1. An account of Krishnadeva raya and his rule could have been really helpful, as I remember well from my History and Geography classes about his reign - this is missing
2. He has traveled to a lot of places to write this book, why not take some pictures and add them in? The narration was never a let down, In fact when he writes about the proclamation from Queen Victoria, it was like a climax of a movie and I concur with him that British understood our civilization and hence they chose to share the proclamation at Allahabad not from Delhi, Kolkatta or Chennai... Hey but my point is he could have added some pictures and drawings to nourish...
3. His question on ancient Indian's not mapping their geography is interesting, In fact it didn't occur to me until he pointed out - we always talk proudly about our ancient knowledge, but mapping was never in the mix - was it? I can see the reasons: If Indians were so good at mapping night skies i.e. astronomy, would they not be interested in mapping earth? I guess the answer is in their approach to life i.e. the civilisation - they were interested in nationhood, but believed in living together - 'vasudeva kutambakam' (a favorite phrase 'world as a family'), hence they may not been that keen to map the earth!
I was thrown into a bad flu on Tuesday, my wife and this book nurtured me back to health... Thanks to Sanjay Sanwal. Now I am going to buy his first book The Indian Rennaisssance. I can see why India will rise after a 1000 year of decline... Indeed there is lesson from this book, Saraswati dried up, what if Cauvery dries up?
NB1: I wish I could make a Sunday prime-time TV show based on this book, may be I will... A good quality graphics with the same narration this could be the best thing that could happen to Indian TVs...
NB2: When I landed in US in 2001, I remember getting a tap on my head from my friend +Manoharan Duraisamy that i see the map and learn to use it - In fact I am very comfortable with maps these days...
NB3: Now I know the reason why UK schools instill the sense of map making for kids right from the very early days of schooling - I wonder if they know the reason consicously or is it just continued as a practise? anyway my little boy draws a lot of maps every day! I am sure he will rule the roost :)
Thanks a lot for introducing this book; will certainly aim to read this.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, surprised that you had similar years of torment, in terms of quest for answers on identity, true history, separating wheat from chaff, growing up in rabid hostilty DK/DMK propaganda. It seemed that these vicious atmosphere prevailed mainly (only) in Chennai, Chengalpattu, North Arcot type districts. Sad to know it was as prevalent in southern TN too, though of course, one is aware these leaders come from Cauvery belt.
After initial years of self loathing, indignation, right wing influence etc, my views are quite different from the Sangh Parivar lament now (who see any non-Sanskrit origin for anything across India as an aberration at best or a curse, at worst). There is a lot of double-speak, triple-speak, quadruple-speak, .... indulged in by those clamouring for 'wholist' view of India - i.e. it must have all spring from one set of roots and in fact, all that's noticeable across the world, across civilisations must have been exported out of Bharatvarsh.
Haven't had the time to pen views in a choate manner so far; used to participate a lot in an internet forum called ForumHub (now renamed மன்ற மையம் with changes to format, compulsory log in etc) during 2000/01. Learnt a lot there and tansformed many of personal views/prejudices too.
Intellectual honesty was quite present within old Sanskrit, Tamil literatures. However, among 'intelligentsia' it somehow went subterranean, as Saraswati river itself ! That's been the main bane of India's discomfort in rendering a coherent historical narrative. People are loathe to admit that such and such views arise from their knowledge of history while the remaining bits of their belief stem from their own theism or aspects 'they want to believe in'. Result is erosion of credibility in ALL that they have to say. Al-Beruni laments some of these in his epic travelogue Tehrik Al-Hind, a thousand years back !
For instance, as much as the geographical history would hold clue to understanding our past, history of languages bring similar value to the table. But, those given to 'wholist' perspectives get extremely nervous to broach the subject. Theism would demand that Vedas were/are 'apaurusheya' (eternal) while man's quest for scientific history of languages would hold the view that Sanskrit just happens to be one of the, of course exquisitely more refine, offshoots of world's largest language family, which therefore, has a finite origin.
As for Saraswati, have something else to share..hopefully write soon again.
सत्यमेव जयते !
Wish blogger allowed edits to comments. Notice quite some embarrassing typos, grammatical errors! The small window to type long comments seems quite archaic by today's www2 standards, isn't it ? Thought WordPress lacked technical mojo without Google's famed engineers ! Should perhaps type long winded comments in Word and cut+paste here or preview each time without fail :-)
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