A brief introduction to India

So I'm going to be honest. I don't know much about India at all. India has a rich history, a distinct culture, and I know about almost none of it. So hopefully two months from now, I'll know a lot more. So I'm going to spend this blog entry briefly describing India.

The Country
India is the world's second largest country and largest democracy, with a population of about 1.15 billion people (about 17% of the world population). It has 44 metropolitan areas with over 1 million people, including the largest, Mumbai (21 million), the capital territory and second largest, Delhi (18 million), and the eighth largest, Pune (5 million). The thing all of us were cautioned about was culture shock--specifically, the amount of people that are there. I guess when you think of that many large cities, it comes as no small surprise.

I mentioned that India is the world's largest democracy, and in fact just had the largest feat of democracy in world history, with approximately 400 million people voting in the latest election. India obtained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, due in no small part to the efforts of Gandhi. It has struggled to obtain the political strength to control a billion people, but to its credit, the Indian government has managed to stay the course and take a path to the same global stage China is emerging on. Only without cultural revolutions, restriction of freedoms, and authoritarianism. They represent two different ways towards modernization, and it will be interesting to see where India lies with respect to its modernization. My advantage here is that I will be seeing, in effect, the "real" India, not the facade that the Chinese government erected to showcase the Beijing Olympics with.

That is not to say that India is not without its political problems. The India-Pakistan border is frought with disputes, which has led to several armed conflicts, terrorism (such as last year's Mumbai bombings), and of course, two nuclear nations outside of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (the others are North Korea and probably Israel as well). The struggle dates back to the partition dividing India from Pakistan after relase from British control.

Indian history in a few words
Indian history begins with the Indus Valley civilizations over five thousand years ago. I won't go into too much detail here, in part because we simply don't know much, but the culture there put into place the first facets of Hinduism (making Hinduism perhaps the oldest major religious tradition in existence). This gradually shifted, giving rise to several other cultures and civilizations, including the Aryans and the Mahajanapadas.

Then came the arrival of the Persian Empire, which under Darius the Great controlled a large portion of the Indian subcontinent. After Alexander the Great conquered the Persians and moved east all the way to the Ganges River, the Greek and Persian cultures left an indelible mark on Indian civilization.

The tale of India after Alexander the Great left seems to be a story of the pull of Middle Eastern and Eastern influences converging on the Indian subcontinent. At some points, it looked like the the Eastern influence would win out, such as under the Gupta Empire (which, as a side note, seem to be the first ones to play what we now know as chess). At other points, Islam was on the move, and established the Delhi sultanate, followed by the Mughal Empire (the builders of the Taj Mahal, which, despite what Slumdog Millionaire says, is a mausoleum honoring Shah Jahan's late wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Apparently, Shah Jahan intended for there to be an identical, though black, mausoleum across the reflecting pool for himself. Apparently his successor didn't think that was a great idea, and so decided to let Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal rest in peace together in the single Taj Mahal).

And finally, the Maratha Empire took over from the Mughals, establishing a capital at Pune at one point, but slowly ceding control to the British East India Company, which, by the middle of the 19th century, had demonstrated their prowess in exceptional business, effectively controlling the vast majority of India as a crown dependency. In 1858, the control of India was passed from the British East India Company to Queen Victoria, creating the British Raj, and ultimately, making Queen Victoria Empress of India and becoming a key part of one of the most significant empires in world history. It was no lie when it was said that "the sun never sets on the British Empire." After all, the British owned land all over the globe.

But we digress. The first half of the twentieth century saw the British go from being at the top of the world to a war-torn, economically-distraught European nation. Slowly but surely, the British empire was torn apart, with India officially gaining its independence on August 15, 1947. Jawaharlal Nehru became the country's first prime minister, and worked for the first few years in establishing a constitution and a government.

In the half century after its indepence, India wasn't exactly the most stable state in the world, suffering political assassinations, food shortages, and other problems. However, a newer India has emerged--an India that doesn't yet know her own strength. In the past few years, India has had rapid economic expansion, not the least of which has occured in cities like Pune. This has been a result of economic liberalization and has resulted in a decrease in poverty and a boom in industry. That power is likely to tranfer India into a major player on the world state.

It is that India that I'm going to visit. It is an India that I'm sure will be fascinating.