I think a lot of it is presentation. A good comparison is with China. In the west, ancient Chinese civilization is always shown as great and powerful, while Indian civilization which is infact older is not.
This is because the Chinese government is nationalistic and always promotes their civilization and culture, plus they didn't have an Islamic invasion or colonialism to the extent that India did. Infact British rule is largely responsible for the poor portrayl of ancient India, the British had a very good reason to show Indians as savages and primitive to justify their rule. Those 19th century theories like the AIT have continued.
But the British left 60 years ago, so they are not completely responsible for their continuation. Indian leftist's took over that job. The BJP was trying very hard to fix these mistakes. But, I think Hindus in the US and outside India will be pioneers in showing India as it truly was. In the last 5 years alone I have seen great progress in the way India and Hinduism is portrayed.
I think India's economic success will be the single most beneficial thing for our race and religion.
I believe that India was the earliest civilization in the world. I also think that India has had more influence in human culture than any other land. I also believe that there was a migration of people from India into the Middle East and Europe, and the so-called Indo-European languages are derived from that.
<!--QuoteBegin-ben_ami+May 7 2006, 09:45 PM-->QUOTE(ben_ami @ May 7 2006, 09:45 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->i think you are largely correct - specifically in 2 aspects
1) almost everything in india is dressed up in religious/spiritual terms. from purans- supposed to be a history text to kama sutra - on an entirely different subject, everything has some or the other religious/spiritual twist or connotation.
2) we did have records and texts explaining scientific achievements - but what was a scientific text of that day, cant be considered scientific enough today. in the west the scientific progress and thought has been a continuous process - but with us it all stopped circa 1000 AD thanks to the arrival of camel jockeys. so suddenly looking back from todays standards - whcih we have learn from the west, to our own ancient scientific standards, neither we nor westerners consider those t be scientific enough. exceptions being sutras and shastras in math
[right][snapback]50790[/snapback][/right]
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This is because the Chinese government is nationalistic and always promotes their civilization and culture, plus they didn't have an Islamic invasion or colonialism to the extent that India did. Infact British rule is largely responsible for the poor portrayl of ancient India, the British had a very good reason to show Indians as savages and primitive to justify their rule. Those 19th century theories like the AIT have continued.
But the British left 60 years ago, so they are not completely responsible for their continuation. Indian leftist's took over that job. The BJP was trying very hard to fix these mistakes. But, I think Hindus in the US and outside India will be pioneers in showing India as it truly was. In the last 5 years alone I have seen great progress in the way India and Hinduism is portrayed.
I think India's economic success will be the single most beneficial thing for our race and religion.
I believe that India was the earliest civilization in the world. I also think that India has had more influence in human culture than any other land. I also believe that there was a migration of people from India into the Middle East and Europe, and the so-called Indo-European languages are derived from that.
<!--QuoteBegin-ben_ami+May 7 2006, 09:45 PM-->QUOTE(ben_ami @ May 7 2006, 09:45 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->i think you are largely correct - specifically in 2 aspects
1) almost everything in india is dressed up in religious/spiritual terms. from purans- supposed to be a history text to kama sutra - on an entirely different subject, everything has some or the other religious/spiritual twist or connotation.
2) we did have records and texts explaining scientific achievements - but what was a scientific text of that day, cant be considered scientific enough today. in the west the scientific progress and thought has been a continuous process - but with us it all stopped circa 1000 AD thanks to the arrival of camel jockeys. so suddenly looking back from todays standards - whcih we have learn from the west, to our own ancient scientific standards, neither we nor westerners consider those t be scientific enough. exceptions being sutras and shastras in math
[right][snapback]50790[/snapback][/right]
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