Реферат: The Old Indian Civilization

Реферат: The Old Indian Civilization

Plan:

1. The “unknown land” of Asia – India.

2. Early Indian Civilization.

3. Key Features of Indian Society.

4. Religion and the Indian way of life.

5. Lack of Political Unity.

6. India’s literature represented by Mahabharata and Ramayana.

7. Customs in India – the practice of self-immolation by fire.

8. The role of muslims in India’s life.

9. Taj Mahal.

10. Art of India.

The “unknown lands” of Asia and Africa have fascinated Westerners for

centuries. The Orient, with her silks and her unique cultures, has attracted

travelers since early days. Despite the contacts, between Asia and Africa

remained virtually unaffected by Western influences until the twentieth

century.

India is a land of great diversity, in its topography (the physical features

of a land), climate, and population, it is a study in contrasts. This

triangular subcontinent extends from southern Asia into the Indian Ocean,

forming a giant Pennsylvania. It’s terrain varies from subtropical rain

forest to barren deserts, from low coastal plains to the highest mountain

range in the world, the Himalayas. Between the rugged mountain regions in the

north and the coastal plains and tropical plateaus of the south lie fertile

valleys watered by two great river systems, the Indus and the Ganges. Like

the Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures, the earliest Indian civilization

began along riverbanks. The first inhabitants of India settled in river

valleys along the Indus and Ganges rivers.

These people must have felt secure from invaders and foreign influences. They

were protected by tall mountain ranges in the north and by seas on the east

and west. But despite these natural barriers, India did not remain an

isolated land.

Throughout her history, merchants, foreign invaders and Wandering tribes

crossed the mountains along India’s northwestern border and settled in the

fertile river valleys. As a result, India became a land of diverse elements.

Within Indian Society, a unique culture developed.

Early Indian Civilization

India derives its name from the Indus River, along whose fertile banks the

earliest Indian civilization flourished (ca 2300 BC). Much of our limited

knowledge of this civilization has come from excavations of two of its

leading cities: Mohenjo – Daro and Harappa. These carefully planned cities

had wide, straight streets lined with brick houses. Evidence indicates that,

these cities had elaborate drainage and sewer systems, which were more

advanced than those in most, modern Indian Villages.

Although a great distance separates India and the Near East, the early

inhabitants of India carried on trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia. From

archeological evidence it is known that the Indus civilization ended suddenly

– perhaps by flood on by enemy invasion. It was at this time that a warlike

people called the Aryans migrated into the Indus Valley.

The Aryans were a fair-skinned people who came from central Asia sometime

after 1500 BC and subdued the non Aryan people of northwest India. Many

historians believe that the Aryans were related to tribes that were invading

the Near East Greece and Rome about the same time. The Aryans were herdsmen;

they kept large numbers of cows and horses. Although they left behind no

cities as the Indus civilization did, they did establish a new language in

India – Sanskrit.

Our knowledge of the Aryans and their influence on Indian society comes not

from archaeology, but from a collection of religious literature known as the

Vedas, meaning “knowledge”. Preserved in the Vedas are early traditions and

religious beliefs of the Indians, which were passed down orally from one

generation to the next. From Sanskrit literature, we gain insights into the

Aryan way of life, which became the basis of Indian culture and tradition.

Key Features of Indian Society

India has one of the oldest cultures in the modern world. The basic

characteristics of Indian society, described in the Vedas, have changed

little from ancient to modern days.

Joint-Family

The family has always been one of the most important social units in India.

The extended or Joint-Family included the children, grandchildren wives, and

close blood relatives of a common ancestor. The oldest male of the group was

the dominant authority over the family. When married, sons did not establish

their own homes; instead they remained in their father’s or grandfather’s

household. Each family member had his own duties and obligations. The

interests of the family came before those of the individual family members.

Parents chose the husbands or wives for their children in order to maintain

the family’s position and honor in society.

Caste

Imagine living in a country in which your status in life was determined the

moment you were born. India was such a country. Her population was divided

into rigid social groups called castes. The Indians formulated strict rules

governing the life of the members of each caste group: where they lived, what

they did (profession), what they wore, what and with whom they could eat, as

well as, whom they could marry.

India had between two and three thousand different castes and subcastes. Each

one fell into one of four broad “class” groups. The most important group was

the priests, called the Brahmans.

Next in rank were the rulers, and warriors, followed by the merchants and

traders. The lowest class group was the sudras – composed of servants and

serfs. Outside the caste system and at the bottom of the Indian social ladder

were the outcastes, or “untouchables”, for mere contact with them was thought

to bring defilement. While anyone could improve his status within his caste

system there was little change in the village and family life of India.

This fact explains in part why Indian society remained nearly the same for

thousands of years.

Religion and the Indian Way of Life

Religion has played a dominant role in shaping Indian culture. From India

came two pagan religions that have had a major impact on Asian culture:

Hinduism and Buddhism.

Hinduism

Hinduism is ingrained in the Indian way of life. It developed from the early

culture and traditions of India: her social structure, literature, arts and

customs. It has not only preserved the traditional elements of Indian’s past

but also served as a unifying influence in India’s diverse society.

Because Hinduism has no formal statement of doctrine, it was able to absorb

into its system of belief a wide variety of gods and religious concepts found

among the many of the people of India. The majority of people in India are

Hindus.

The basic tenets of Hinduism are found in the religions literature of ancient

India, namely the Vedas and the Upanishads. Hindus believe that a great god

called Brahman permeates everything in the universe. The Hindus acknowledge

many gods; all deities, however, are considered only manifestations of the

eternal, unchanging Brahman .

Since Brahman is not a personal being, he is often referred to as the great

soul or world soul. The ultimate purpose and goal of man according to the

Vedas, is to reunite his soul with the world soul. This reunification is

accomplished through the process of reincarnation, in which a man’s soul

passes through many states (or rebirths) before it escapes the physical world

and unites with Brahman. This cycle of rebirths is called the wheel of life.

The Hindu believes that a person’s deeds in this life determine his status in

the next. If he has lived a good life, then he will move to a higher caste in

the next life. The soul of an evil person may be reborn into a lower caste or

even into some form of animal life. By observing the religious ritual and

ceremonies prescribed by the Hindu priests and by fulfilling the duties and

obligations of his caste a Hindu believes that he can ultimately gain release

from the “wheel of life” and attain union with the world soul.

Buddhism.

India was also the birth of Buddhism. The founder of this new religion was

Siddhartha Gautama later know as Buddha, the Enlightened One”.

At the age of twenty-nine, Gautama became troubled over the world. He became

convinced that he should devote all his efforts to find the way of

deliverance from suffering. Therefore, he renounced his wife and child, and

set out to find peace and true happiness. After six frustrating years, living

as a hermit in self-sacrifice and meditation, Gautama was at the point of

despair. Sitting down under a tree, he vowed that he would not move until the

truth came to him. According to Gautama, he was pondering the questions of

life when he realized the truth and attained enlightenment. Central to

Buddha’s teaching are his Four Noble Truths: 1) suffering is part of all

existence; 2) suffering has a cause – selfish desires. As long as man has a

craving for pleasure, possessions, and power, he will have sorrow and misery;

3) suffering can be overcome by destroying selfish desires. 4) If man follows

the Eightfold Path, he will destroy selfish desires and end all suffering.

This pattern for living includes correct beliefs, intentions, speech,

conduct, livelihood, effort, thoughts, and meditations.

Buddhism is a religion built upon works and moral behavior. Buddhists believe

that man does not need the help of the gods or membership in a higher caste

in order to obtain freedom from suffering. Once a man has absolutely freed

himself from his selfish craving, he will no longer be reborn but will enter

into Nirvana – the state of absolute peace and happiness, where he loses

himself in the world soul.

Lack of Political Unity

While many aspects of Indian Society have remained the same for centuries,

the political history of India has been one of constant change. Through much

of her history India has been little more than a patchwork of small rival

kingdoms. Successive waves of foreign invaders have streamed into the Indian

Subcontinent. The powerful empires established by these invaders have

provided brief periods of Unity and stability for the Indian peoples.

Mauryan Empire

In 326 B.C. Alexander the Great threatened India. His armies crossed the

Indus River and conquered many small kingdoms in India’s northwestern region.

Alexander intended to advance further into India, but when his army refused

to continue, he had to turn back. According to traditional accounts, he met a

young man named Chandragupta Maurya while in India. As Alexander’s empire

began to disintegrate after his death, Chandragupta conquered the

disorganized and weak kingdoms in the north and created the first strong

empire of India – The Mauryan Empire.

The most famous of the Mauryan rulers was Chandragupta’s grandson Asoka. He

extended the Mauryan Empire to include all but the southern tip of India.

Sickened by the results of his own bloody conquests, Asoka renounced war and

became a convert to Buddhism. He spent much of his reign promoting the

Buddhist religion.

Asoca is created with building thousands of Buddhist shrines called steepas.

He also had Buddhist teaching inscribed on stone pillars still stand,

providing valuable information concerning Asoca’s reign.

One of his most far-reaching acts was the sending of Buddhist missionaries

abroad. Buddhism soon spread across much of Southeast Asia, where it became a

powerful force in other Asian cultures. It did not gain a wide following in

India, however.

Hindu priests viewed Buddhist teaching as dangerous to the caste system.

Fearing that they might lose their prestige and rank in society, they worked

against the acceptance of Buddhist beliefs.

Gupta Empire

China.

Even so, it was not until the fourth century A.D. with the rise of the Gupta

Empire, that India entered a new, and perhaps her greatest, era of prosperity

and achievement.

One historian has stated that “at the time India was perhaps the happiest and

most civilized region of the world”. The rulers of the Gupta dynasty reunited

northern India under a strong and effective government. Trade flourished and

the people prospered materially. India’s culture spread throughout Southeast

Asia. Her universities attracted students from all over the continent, and

she made great strides in the fields of textiles and finest periods of Indian

art, architecture, literature and science.

Gupta literature became renowned for its adventurous and imaginative fables

and fairy tales.

The foremost Indian poet and dramatist of this period was Kalidasa, whose

plays have earned him the title “the Indian Shakespeare”. The popularity of

various Indian Stories soon spread outside India, where many of them found

their way into the literature of other lands.

But Indian literature is represented by Mahabharata and Ramayana.

Mahabharata is one of the two great Sanscrit epics. It’s the story of the

Great Bharata War, a fratricidal war of succession between the Kaurava and

Pandava cousins (descendants of Bharata) in which nearly all the kings of

India joined on one side or the other. The Kauravas were destroyed and the

Pandavas attained sovereign power but in the end the eldest.

(Yo) Yudhishthira, renounced the throne and with his four brothers (heroes of

the war) and Daraypadi (the joint wife of all 5) parted for Mount Meru,

India’s heaven. Mahabharta is the longest poem in the World (2.20.000 lines).

It is perhaps 15 centuries old and is written in classical Sanscrit. It

consists of 18 books with a supplement, the Harivamsa – a poem of 16.375

verses written by different people in different times, and of a much later

date, which has nothing to do with the main theme.

Book III Ch.313

“The Mahabharata”

The following represents a selection of the questions and answers that passed

between the Spirit and Youdhishthira:

1) “What is greater than Earth? What is higher than heaven?” “Mother is

greater than Earth; father is higher than heaven.”

2) “In what one thing is all dharma summed up? What single thing

constitutes all fame? What sole means takes one to heaven?” “Skill in the

discharge of one’s duties sums up all dharma; giving sums up all fame;

truthfulness is the sole road to heaven and good conduct is the one means to

happiness”.

3) “What is the foremost wealth?” “Learning”.

4) “What is the best gain?” “Health”.

5) “What is the supreme happiness?” “Contentment”.

6) “What is superior to all other dharmas in the world?” “Benevolence”

7) “Whose control leads to absence of sorrow?” “The control of mind”.

8) “Which friendship ages not?” “That with good souls”.

9) “By abandoning what thing does man become rich?” “Desire”.

10)“By giving up what, does one become happy?” “Avarice”.

11) “What is penance?” “Penance is the observance of one’s own obtained duty.”

12) “What is self –control?” “Control of the mind”.

13) “What is forbearance?” “Putting up with opposites”. (pleasure and pain,

profit and loss)

14) “What is shame?” “Aversion to do reprehensible act is shame”.

15) “What is straight forwardness?” “Equanimity”.

16) “Who is the enemy hard to be won?” “Anger”.

17) “What is the endless disease?” “Avarice”.

18) “Who is said to be a good man?” “He who is benevolent to all things”.

19) “Who is a bad man?” “He who is barren of sympathy”.

20) “What is the best path?” “To cast away all mental dirt”.

21) “What is gift?” “Protection of life”.

22) “What is the wonder of the world?” “Every day live beings enter the abode

of death; those who remain think that they will survive; what greater wonder

is there than this?”

23) “What is the news of the world?” “With Earth as the pot, the firmament as

the covering lid, the sun as the fire, day and nights as faggots and the

seasons and months as the stirring ladle. Time cooks all beings; this is the

great news”.

Extract from Mahabharata

Romayana (adventures of Rama) is the earliest of the two great Sanscrit

epics, the incidents of which precede the Mahabharata by about 150 years.

Rama was a king before he became translated into a deity. In course of time,

his story and epic became sacred and the belief became established that

spiritual and other blessings would be conferred on its knowers ramayana

became popular in India in every Hindy home. The story is told in 7 books (96

000 lines).

At instigation of his second queen Dasaratha sends Rama, his eldest son, into

exile for 14 years. He is accompanied by Sita, his young Wife and Lakshmana,

his younger brother, when they are living happily in the forest, Sita is

abduced by Ravana (King of Lanka) Rama and Lakshmana go through many

adventures, battles, etc in their pursuit of Ravana, in which they’re

assisted by Sugriva, the monkey king and his general, Hanuman. Eventually,

Lanka is stormed and set fire to by Hanuman; Ravana is killed; Sita is

rescued and victorious party returns to Ayodhya, their capital city. Later

because her chastity is suspected (because she stayed in Ravana’s house),

Sita proves her innocence voluntarily undergoing an ordeal by fire.

Rama accepts her but for the same reason banishes her (again) the next time.

She goes away to Valmiki’s ashram, where her twin sons are born and brought

up. She prays to the earth goddess to take her away if she is innocent who

seated on her throne appears out of the earth and seating Sita on her lap

takes her away for good.

The epics Ramayana and Mahabharrata arose to supplement and reinforce the

teaching of the Vedas, particularly in respect of the moral, religious and

spiritual ideas of men and women. Since remote times, the two epics have been

the two eyes of the nation guiding it and holding up before it the ideas of

the truth and righteousness of Rama and Yudhishthira and of chastity and

wifely devotion of Sita, as also of the negative example of Ravana and other

characters who came to grief because of their lust, avarice and wickedness.

These epics were expected to fulfil the mission of placing before the people

examples of how virtue triumphed and vicefell.

This was also an age of advance in mathematics, science, and medicine. Our

so called Arabic numerals originally came from India. Indian mathematicians

were among the first to use negative numbers, the decimal, and the zero.

Centuries before Isaac Newton, Indian Scientist developed their own theories

of gravity. Indian astronomers knew that the earth was round and that it

rotated on its axis. If in need of medical attention, the people of the Gupta

Empire could go to free hospitals where Indian physicians were able to

perform many surgical procedures and mention 300 different operations and 20

instruments.

Customs in India

India has many customs. The practice of self-information by fire has a

strange and terrible place in the lore of India, and it brings to mind the

practice of suttee, widow burning. This barbaric survival of ancient customs

lasted in India to a late day.

In 1817 there were 706 cases of suttee in Bengal alone. This was at a time

when the British authorities were making efforts to stop the practice. They

were afraid to prohibit window burning entirely in the face of fanatical.

Hindu addiction to tradition, and resorted to intensive persuasion. No suttee

was permitted until the prospective, victim had been examined by a

magistrate, who made sure that she was proceeding of her own free will and

urged her to give up her ghastly intention.

The great source of information in that period is a massive volume “Hindu

Manners, Customs and ceremonies” by the Abbe Dubois, a French missionary who

spent years in India at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning

of the nineteenth. He writes:

The last king of Tanjore, who died in 1801, left behind him four lawful

victims. Thereupon all the spectators shouted aloud for joy.

During the sixth century the Gupta Empire collapsed under the repeated

attacks of the White Huns (perhaps related to the Huns who plagued the Roman

Empire during the fifth century) India again entered a period of political

disorder; the country became divided into small warring kingdoms. Waves of

foreign invaders again entered the land; but as in the past, Hinduism

absorbed these foreign elements into Indian society. However, the history of

India took a dramatic turn when northern India fell under the domination of

Muslims who brought with them a religion and culture as strong as Hinduism.

After years of constant raids, Muslim warriors conquered much of northern

India, where they established a Muslim kingdom in 1206 near the city of

Delhi. Almost immediately a conflict arose between the Muslim and Hindu

elements within Indian society. This was a struggle not only between two

religions, but between two distinct ways of line. The Hindus believed in many

gods, but the Muslims acknowledged only one.

The Hindus followed the rigid caste system while the Muslims believed in the

equality of all men before their god, Allah.

Although Muslim control of northern India ended at the close of the

fourteenth century, the hostilities between Hindus and Muslims in Indian

society have continued to the present.

Muslims contributed to the development of Indian culture. They left the

valuable monument of art, the great masterpiece – Taj Mahal.

Taj Mahal

Of the seven Wonders of the Ancient World, two were dedicated to sentiment in

marriage: the Mausoleum, monument of a wife’s devotion to the memory of her

husband; the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, erected by a husband for the

happiness of a favourite wife. Among the wonders of the modern world, one of

the most famous commemorates a husband’s devotion to a wife.

It is, of course, the incomparable Taj Mahal, the tomb that Shah Jehan

created for the beauteous Mumtaz Mahal, at the city of Agra, in India. The

French traveler Francois Bernier, who toured the East three centuries ago,

was in Agra during the 1660s, saw the building when it had been up for less

than twenty years, and wrote in his journal: “Possibly I have acquired an

Indian taste, but I am of the opinion that this monument has much more right

to be included among the wonders of the world than the pyramids of Egypt”.

Some critics have gone beyond him, declaring the Taj Mahal to be the most

beautiful edifice ever erected by man. Shah Jehan was one of the Mogul

emperors who reigned over India in golden splendour. A Moslem, he practiced

the polygamy ordained in the Koran, which permitted four wife not counting

the concubines whom it was customary for an Islamic potentate to have in his

harem. Mumtaz Mahal, young dainty, and beautiful, was the favourite wife. Taj

Mahal, therefore, is a monument to romantic sentiment in the harem, a

husband’s devotion in polygamous family life.

The Taj Mahal is the masterpieces of Mohammedan Art. That it arose on Indian

soil is explained by history. The Moglus came originally from Central Asia,

their name being a variant of the world “Mongol”. They were Moslems, and they

conquered India.

The founder of the Mogul Empire was one of the remarkable men of all time. In

martial ardor and ability to command, Baber may have been a typical

princeling of Iartary, but he was also a man of culture, the author of

perhaps best political memoirs ever written by a reigning monarch. In

December of 1525 he led his army into India. The battle took place on April

12, 1526, and proved to be one of the decisive conflicts of world history for

Baber won the victory, that gave him a permanent foothold in the land that

was to be ruled by this descendants.

Baber did not finish the work of integrating an imperial domain. But the

Moguls were lucky in the next representative of their dynasty Akbar, known to

history as Akbar The Great. He introduced a new system of government,

bringing ale the land under his direct authority naming his own viceroys,

setting up a comprehensive tax levy, keeping the provincial military forces

in the pay of the central treasury to prevent local rebellious before they

could get started.

At his death (1605) he left behind an empire so closely knit and organized

that it could continue in much the same form for another century. By

patronizing artists and architects he forwarded the development of style and

skill to the point where under his grand son, the miracle of the Taj Mahal

became possible. Akbar was succeeded by his son Sahangir, the potentate to

whom the title of “The Great Mogul” was first applied. The imagination of the

west was inflamed, by stories of the beauty, power, luxury and oriental

splendour of the Mogul Empire. Merchants, travellers, ambassadors,

missionaries – all helped to fill in the picture of the Great Mogul and his

kingdom.

Iahangir died in 1627 and the throne passed to his son, Shah Jehan. Under his

popular rule the Mogul Empire reached its height. His reign was remembered

for its order, security and justice. In 1612 he had married Argumand Banu a

cousin, and their wedded bliss until her death in 1631 constitutes one of the

great love stories of the world. It was not dimmed by the fact that Shah

Jehan, in Moslem fashion, had a harem of other wives. She was his favourite,

the one he called Mumtaz Mahal, or Ornament of the Palace”. A powerful

influence with him, she was largely responsible for his orthodox

Mohammedanism, for she held strictly to the tenets of Islam Mumtaz Mahal bore

her husband fourteen children, the last of which caused her death on June 17,

1631.

Shah Ielah reacted to the tragedy as did Artemisia on the death Mausolus. He

was so inconsolable that it was feared he would die of grief. In fact he

never recovered from the shock, although he did rouse himself because he

wanted to venerate the memory of his wife, with a suitable monument. The

greatest thing he did during the rest of his reign was to build the Taj

Mahal. As a site he chose a high bank of the Yumna River, one of the holy

rives of Hundustan, where it bends around at Agra. He summoned the finest

architects and craftsmen from all over his empire and had them submit plans

for the proposed buildings. The Portuquese Iesuists in Agra reported that the

man who won was a Venetian Geronimo Verroneo, and that this Westerner

actually erected the Taj. But that story has been rejected by some later

scholars on the grounds that the building shows no European influence. Other

accounts name a Turk or a Persian.

The basic material used was wite marble, with the wall and gates of red

sandstone, a colour scheme, that has the remarkable effect of showing

different tints at different times of the day. The building stands on a 186-

foot square with the angles cut to form on octagon. Beneath it is a raised

marble platform, extending all around and marked by delicate minarets at each

corner. Above swells the great dome, about two thirds of a sphere, surmounted

by a crescent and flanked by smaller domes, each of the walls is cut by

arches of a similar but not at all mono fonous pattern, rather, they

contribute to the unity of the whole, Light enters through marble screens.

There is an old saying that “The Moguls built like titans and finished like

jewelers”. The Taj Mahal proves the truth of the remark. Looked from a

distance, its appearance is indeed dreamlike, with a grare and balance that

make us wonder how human beings ever achieved so miraculous a result from

marble and sandstone.

After Shah Jehan the Mogul Empire had no place to go except downward. This

great ruler lived to see the first bitter fruits of failure, for his sons

rebelled against him, and the one who came out on top, Aurangzeb, deposed him

and threw him into prison.

Then Aurangzeb moved the capital of the Mogul Empire from Agra to Delhi. For

seven years Shah Jehan remained in a cell in the fort at Agra, protesting

against the unfilial behaviour of the new emperor, and spending much of his

time gazing across at the Taj Mahal where the symbol of his best days lay

Buried. Shah Iahan died in 1658 and finally left prison to lie by the side of

Mumtaz Mahal in her glorious tomb. Aurangzeb maintained his throne for fifty

years, the last Mogul of any consequence. On his death in 1767 fierce

fighting among his sons broke out. Final ruin came in 1739 when the powerful

king of Persia, Nadir Shah, invaded Hundustan. From then on the Mogul Empire

of Akbar, Yahangir, and Shah Jehan, was but a memory, but it had left behind

a colorful page of history climaxed by the enduring monument that attracts

and charms visitors to this day that wonder the modern world, the Taj Mahal.

But India is famous not only for this monument of art – It has other

wonderful masterpieces of architecture.

Art of India

Indian civilization was one of the oldest and most original in the East. Her

contribution to world culture was great. In the ancient times, India was

famed for her wonderful miracles, vast natural resources and craft works.

In the 3rd century b.c. almost the whole Hindostan peninsula and some

neighbouring countries, were united into one gigantic empire under the powerful

king, Ashoch (273).

Only stone edifies in that period have survived till nowadays: temples and

cells, stone-shrines. Shrines were erected of brick and stone in the form of

hemisphere, surrounding by the fence with 4 gates in it.

Stone statues served as adornments of architecture and more often were

created in the form of scenic relief. Motions, gestures and poses of the

people on the relief are extremely expressive and graceful. That was under

the influence of the dance art, widely spread and popular in India.

Religious architecture of the Ashoch period is represented by cave complexes and

temples. Such temples were usually carved in the picturesque and secluded

places out of the solid rock massif. Excavations in the North – West India

brought the discovery of the wonderful statues created in the 1st

century a.d.. These were mainly the statues of Buddha. Influence of the

Greco-Roman art was great here.

Figures of Buddha resemble much statues of the Roman emperors and some of the

Greek gods. They were made by Greek masters who lived in Indian and adopted

Indian religions. Later on the Indian apprentices of Greek masters started

sculpting Buddha according to the notion of the Indian people: sitting with his

legs crossed. Period of the blossoming Indian culture dates back to the 4

th –6th centuries a.d. Remarkable specimen of the ancient

Indian painting have survived in Buddhist temples and monasteries in Adjanta.

Walls, ceilings, pillars in these temples are painted with the scenes from

Buddhist legends and are decorated with statues and carving. Murals in Adjanta

are the visual encyclopaedia of life of the ancient Indian people.

Conclusion

The Indian civilization was one of the oldest and most original in the last.

Its contribution to the culture of human kind is immense. At a very early

stage, ancient India maintained close cultural contacts with many countries

of the ancient Orient and with the Greco-Roman World.

Ancient traditions are highly viable in India and it is therefore not

surprising that many achievements of the ancient Indian civilization long

outlived the epoch of antiquity becoming an important component of the

country’s modern culture and of world civilizations.

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18. Oxford Russian – English, English – Russian (Oxford)

19. English – Romanian, Romanian – English Dictionary by Andre Bantash