Introduction

The BBC Documentary “Story of India” written and presented by Michael Wood spans from the
exploration of origin of human migration to India from Africa, the height of ancient Indian
civilization during the time of Indus Valley Civilization from 3300 to 1900 BC, the rise of
Buddhism, Alexander the Great’s foray into India, the rule of the Mauryas, the silk routes and the
spice trade during the Kushan era post their invasion, the decorated Cholan rule, the Muslim entry
into the Indian Subcontinent and finally the British Raj. In this article we try to sum up the
important facts covered in the documentary.

The Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization though was the epitome of Indian medieval history because
inhabiting 2 – 5 million residents ushered along the banks of river Indus in between 3300 BC and
1900 BC. The sites recovered in Mohenjo-daro and Harappa provide clear evidence of the vast
urban population that practiced then-sophisticated techniques like sculpting, trading, usage of
metals and drainage systems. The reason behind its gradual phasing out still remains
unsubstantiated but it has been majorly attributed to the shifting of the flow of river.

The climate change in the medieval era possibly could have shifted the civilization eastwards in
search of river banks, staking their survival. This climate change had a major role to play in shaping
the Indian civilization because had it not happened, the city would have flourished and possibly
might have continued on its technological advances, making India the sustained center of all global
trade.

Mauryan Empire

The Mauryan empire was established by Chandragupta Maurya and lasted around 300 BC to 200
BC. Chandragupta Maurya was influenced by Alexander the Great and set out building a massive
empire. The warrior he was, conquered more than three-fourths of ancient India. The next
significant Maurya was Chandragupta’s grandson Ashoka. Ashoka as suggested in the
documentary was initially a wielder of violence and a tyrannical ruler. Later after the Kalinga
battle he took to Buddhism and adopted peace. This is particularly important in shaping the ancient
Indian civilization because it was the first attempt at carving out India as a unified state.

Spice Route and the Silk Road

Hippalus discovered that India’s coast did not stretch from the west to the east but rather from
north to south and with this insight he was able to link it with the south west monsoon winds and
the north east monsoon winds. Earlier the trading used to go along the coast by setting up
temporary colonies and halts due to food requirements. Hippalus identified that the south west
monsoon winds from the red sea into the Indian ocean around the start of monsoon in western and
southern India helped the sailors to reach the south directly. Moreover they could return back after
the end of monsoons using the north east monsoon winds back into the Red Sea thereby mitigating
the ghastly waters of the Indian Ocean. This was how the spices in south India especially Kerala
on the west coast were traded and formed the spice route.

The silk road spanned a vast area connect north western India with China. The trading that
happened involved mainly silk but also included other items like ivory, gold, and even exotic
animals and plants. This trade was in a barter form and coincided with Han dynasty’s expanding
empire in central Asia. Basically, China traded their silk for Indian precious stones. India later
traded this silk with the Romans making India the middle point of trade and leading to growing
populations along the silk road. The importance of the silk route in the Indian civilizations context
is that it laid the foundation of the spreading Wings of Buddhism beyond Bodh Gaya and India in
China and beyond. As far as the local rules were concerned, in the first century BC the Kushans
invaded India and like the Mauryan Empire ruled a vast area albeit only in the north.

The Cholas

The Cholas, one among the Supreme Rulers of South India, have their Capital as Tanjore. The
massive Brihadeshwara temple in Tanjore(now Thanjavur) was built by them under RajaRaja
Chola. They controlled most of South India and had influences in Indonesia and neighboring areas
as well through trading routes. As the documentary says, RajaRaja Chola was one of the multiple
times when the gods walked the surface of the Earth. They are found to be the longest ruling
dynasty of South India with a rule that lasted from around 900 AD to 1300 AD, a span of around
400 years at the helm. However, the significance of the Chola Dynasty was that it was for the first-
time South India was unified.

The Mughals

The Mahmud of Ghazni was the first foray of the Muslim Mughals into India. It led to the first
confrontation of a Hindu State with the Mughals. Lured by the peace, non-unity and riches of India
he invaded India 17 times and plundered at will. He was most notorious at stealing gold form the
temples and razing them on his path to monetary basking in glory. He desecrated the holy statues
at the Somnath temple and completely destroyed the temple as well. He was despised throughout
the Hindu Heartland as he had pledged to plunder India at least once a year and the lack of
resistance to his multiple forays made it extremely easy for him to achieve his task. As the Cholas
were protecting the south, the lack of a protector in North was the key reason behind it. As is
evident even today, the violence coupled with the completely different religions of Islam and
Hinduism could not find compatibility.

The later Mughals landed in India through the Khyber Pass. The battle of Panipat in 1526 marked
the formal start to the Mughal reign in India as Babur claimed the throne to India. Akbar was a
key figure in the Mughal rule because he was tolerant to all religions. The uneducated ruler who
attained the throne to India only because his father died from falling from the footsteps of his
library. He was sharp and went about expanding his empire across India and ensuring that people
in his reign were happy. He even abolished the religious tax on Hindus and held surprise incognito
visits to the markets to check for hoarding and other malpractices. Their rule ended with the advent
of the British and they were finally punished for wasting valuable resources in capturing Deccan.
However, they ruled the subcontinent from 1526 to 1857 according to records and managed to
handle such a vast empire without much hassle due to the decentralization of power. The empire
was handled by the concept of Mansabdars. It was a hierarchical system and had a local ruler for
every area. Depending on the rank of the Mansabdar he would get a salary, status and military
might to guard his borders. They were also subject to criminal proceedings in case anybody
interfered with the system for his own benefit, basically taking care of the agency problem. They
were supposed to be in charge of collecting the taxes and sending it out to the Emperor in Delhi.

The British

The British landed in India in the 17th century and were traders initially but as time progressed
they built forts in India and increased their clout over the local inhabitants. The battle of Plassey
marked the formal entry of British. They did learn from the Mughals in the way of allowing the
locals to rule as they knew the agency problem though conflicts of interest could arise again. So,
they took control of the colonies themselves. The British East India Company was the first
multinational corporation of the world and is also accused of plundering the riches of India.
Initially they wanted cloth and other finished products from India but as Clive introduced the idea
of getting taxes from the Indians, they no longer required the bullion from the costly Spanish ports
in South America. They slowly started taxing India and fixed the taxes at the 1790 levels when the
production was at its peak. With the industrialization in Britain they shifted to getting raw materials
and sending it out to Britain to produce and sold almost 40% of all the produce back to India due
to an increase in cost in India owing to droughts and famines which lead to Indian local goods
being found comparatively costlier. With the first mutiny in 1857 the Indians united over the course
of time and the British disbanded the EIC and took control of India from London. They enslaved
a huge population and forced them to fight their wars mainly in the First and the Second World
wars even though India wasn’t even remotely involved in the conflict. They increased taxes and
disrespected human rights at will.

When Britain left India, Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the founded of Muslim League was adamant about
having a separate country and believed that Hindus and Muslims could not live together. Nehru
was a party to this and in order to be the first PM of free India he agreed by influencing his mentor
and the most powerful man in India back then Mahatma Gandhi. This led to fleeing of around 15
million people who turned refugees and close to 2 million people were killed in the religious
massacre.