In about 2500BC the Indus River region was inhabited by a people who built cities and created a system of pictographs in that area. Their civilization was lost in about 1500BC when the Aryan-speaking tribes invaded northern India through the passes of the Hindu Kush Mountains. Wile the Indus River people's writing remains undecifered while the Aryan invader's language is the ancestor of both Sanskrit and that of the Indo-European family of languages.
The traditional religion of India, is Hinduism. Judging by the design of a horned figure surrounded by animals (supposedly representing the Hindu god Shiva) on a seal found in the Indus River region, it is assumed that the worshiping of Shiva is the oldest worship on earth. Gautama, a prince from a small Kingdom in India, began to tell of a doctrine where renouncing desires as the key to human salvation. Gautama came to be known as Buddha, the Enlightened One, and founded Buddhism.
The oldest literary works in Sanskrit are the collection of sacred literature known as the Veda meaning "Knowledge" or "lore", written between 2000 and 800 BC. The Veda is a result of a slow accumulation of oral religious poetry that took over a thousand years and contains the traditional hymns and prayers of the Aryan-speaking tribes. The Rig Veda is the oldest and most sacred of the Vedas. The Veic Period of Sanskrit literature ended around 500 BC. Though Indian literature still has a lot to offer. There came a period of great Indian epics which include the Mahabharata ("War of the Descendants of Barata") and Ramayana ("Story of Rama"). Mahabharata is the oldest of the two and was probably written between 500 and 300 BC and involves the struggle between two branches of a ruling family over the succession to the throne and the kingdom. This particular epic is of an enormous size, coming to over 100,00 couplets and is the world's longest piece of literature.
The writings of India found new life under Chandragupta II (375-415 AD). This king of the Gupta dynasty was a patron of the arts. The ancients classics like Mahabharata were revived. Kalidasa, a great Sanskrit poet, wrote the verse play Shakuntala. Tragedy was not permitted in Indian drama. Hindu classics were translated from Sanskrit to the regional languages of India. This vitality in literature continued under Babur, founder of the Mongul dynasty, left a thoughtful account of his life in a masterpiece of autobiographies, called the Babur-nama ("Book of Babur").
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
India free write
India holds one of the world's largest democratic countries. The major religions practiced in India are Buddhism and Hinduism. The climate varies from mountains to jungle. In the mountains, it is cooler but in the jungle it is hot and humid.
India has its own bread of elephants, the Indian elephant is part of the Asian elephant family. Asian elephants tend to be smaller than African elephants. Their ears are smaller because they do not need to cool themselves as much as the African elephants. The large ears of African elephants help them to stay cool in the hot temperatures of the savannas. Indian elephants also tend to have a light colored spotted mask on their faces. I would guess that the Indian elephant makes up a majority of the tame elephants due to the amount that the Indian people tame and use to help Carry people, goods, and help with industry like hauling out timber that has been felled.
If I am not wrong, I believe that the story, The Jungle Book is based on an Indian boy, Mowgli, who gets lost in the jungle and is raised by a pack of wolves and is friends with a bear Balue, and a panther, Bagira. His sworn enemy (in the kid's story) is the tiger Shericaun.
India is one of the few places in the world where you will still find a wild tiger population. I think that the tigers most commonly found in India are Bangle Tigers as apposed to the Siberian Tigers who are more commonly found in parts of China, Russia, and the other Asian countries that are on the Eastern coast of Asia. Bangle Tigers are known man killers so it is probably not a coincident that the tiger Shericaun in The Jungle Book is trying to kill Mowgli (in the kid's) and attacks the settlement in a different version of the story.
The Indian people have a goddess, (I believe she is the goddess of destruction and havoc) who has many hands and arms. I once saw a movie where the captain of a ship was from India. His name was Captain Nemo. I saw him on the movie, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and according to my sister, all the characters in that movie were taken from real literature.
Indian women paint read dots on the middle of their foreheads which denote their marital status. I don't remember how the dot system works though. People in America, through stereotypes, tend to place Indian people behind the counter at a gas station or convenience store. This has spread due to the fact that the owner of the convenience store on the TV show The Simpson's is an Indian man, I think his name is Achoo, but I don't watch that show.
India has its own bread of elephants, the Indian elephant is part of the Asian elephant family. Asian elephants tend to be smaller than African elephants. Their ears are smaller because they do not need to cool themselves as much as the African elephants. The large ears of African elephants help them to stay cool in the hot temperatures of the savannas. Indian elephants also tend to have a light colored spotted mask on their faces. I would guess that the Indian elephant makes up a majority of the tame elephants due to the amount that the Indian people tame and use to help Carry people, goods, and help with industry like hauling out timber that has been felled.
If I am not wrong, I believe that the story, The Jungle Book is based on an Indian boy, Mowgli, who gets lost in the jungle and is raised by a pack of wolves and is friends with a bear Balue, and a panther, Bagira. His sworn enemy (in the kid's story) is the tiger Shericaun.
India is one of the few places in the world where you will still find a wild tiger population. I think that the tigers most commonly found in India are Bangle Tigers as apposed to the Siberian Tigers who are more commonly found in parts of China, Russia, and the other Asian countries that are on the Eastern coast of Asia. Bangle Tigers are known man killers so it is probably not a coincident that the tiger Shericaun in The Jungle Book is trying to kill Mowgli (in the kid's) and attacks the settlement in a different version of the story.
The Indian people have a goddess, (I believe she is the goddess of destruction and havoc) who has many hands and arms. I once saw a movie where the captain of a ship was from India. His name was Captain Nemo. I saw him on the movie, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and according to my sister, all the characters in that movie were taken from real literature.
Indian women paint read dots on the middle of their foreheads which denote their marital status. I don't remember how the dot system works though. People in America, through stereotypes, tend to place Indian people behind the counter at a gas station or convenience store. This has spread due to the fact that the owner of the convenience store on the TV show The Simpson's is an Indian man, I think his name is Achoo, but I don't watch that show.
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