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It appears that most of the earth’s land mass was joined together a billion years ago in a supercontinent called Rodinia.
However, there is one remaining relic from the Pre-Cambrian period that is still very visible—the Aravalli range. It is arguably the oldest surviving geological feature anywhere in the world.
The Guru Shikhar peak at Mount Abu rises to 1722 metres above sea level.
It was on Pangea that the dinosaurs appeared 230 million years ago. However, the earth remained restless and Pangea began to break up around 175 million years ago during the Jurassic era. It first split into a northern continent called Laurasia (consisting of North America, Europe and Asia) and a southern continent called Gondwana (Africa, South America, Antarctica, Australia and India). Note that the name Gondwana is itself derived from the Gond tribe of central India.
The Ganga’s southward drift was arrested only when it nudged into the Vindhyas near Chunar (close to Varanasi). It is the only place in the plains where a hill commands such a view over the river, making Chunar fort a coveted strategic location.
Genetic studies show that the San tribe of the Kalahari (also called the ‘Bushmen’) are probably the oldest surviving population of humans.
Bhimbetka in central India is one of the most extensive sites in the world although it was only discovered in the 1950s. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The hilly terrain is littered with hundreds of caves and rock shelters that appear to have been inhabited almost continuously for over 30,000 years.
The paintings provide intriguing glimpses of the ancient origins of Indian civilization. As the BBC’s Michael Wood puts it, ‘Looking at the dancing deity at Bhimbetka with his bangles and trident, one can’t help but recall the image of the dancing Shiva’.
The first thing that should be clear from the outset is that there are no ‘pure’ races. With the possible exception of some tiny isolated groups, the vast majority of Indian tribes, castes and communities are a mixture of many genetic streams. This merely confirms what we can all see—that Indians come in all shapes, sizes and shades—and these can vary quite a lot even within the same family. Nevertheless, some patterns of genetic distribution are discernible.
India is not unique in having developed a caste system. Through history we have seen different versions of the caste system in Japan, Iran, and even in Classical Europe.
The Rig Veda is the oldest of the four and organized in ten sections. It is the oldest extant book in the world and remains in active use. Indeed, it is considered by most Hindus to be the most sacred of texts and one of its hymns, the Gayatri Mantra, is chanted daily by millions. It has been variously translated by scholars over the centuries. Here is my interpretation: ‘As you light up the Heavens and the Earth, O Radiant Sun, So light up my Mind’.
The Avesta, the oldest and most sacred text of the Zoroastrian religion, is written in a language that is almost identical to that of the Rig Veda.
India is the only country in the world where both lions and tigers co-exist.
This preference for dark skin appears to have survived well into the medieval period. Indeed, Marco Polo specifically mentions this in his comments about India: ‘For I assure you that the darkest man is here the most highly esteemed and considered better than others who are not so dark. Let me add that in very truth these people portray and depict their gods and their idols black and their devils white as snow.’18 One only needs to look at the idol of Lord Jagannath in Puri to see what Polo meant.
Over the next few centuries, hundreds of thousands of Indian slaves—particularly from West Punjab and Sindh—would be marched into Afghanistan and then sold in the bazaars of Central Asia and the Middle East. Unused to the extreme cold of the Afghan mountains, they died in such large number that the range would come to be known as the Hindukush meaning ‘Killer of Hindus’.
