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| Since earliest period, India has been the setting for the flowering of the Aryan, Buddhist and Jainist cultures. Many cults and sects have flourished in India, besides Islamic Civilization, Saivite and Sikh congregation. The story of Indian Civilization and Culture is written in its temples, palaces, forts, monuments, stone pillars and inscriptions, cave paintings, literature, works of art and architecture etc. the first important landmark in the cultural history of India is the Vedic Age, including the periods of Upanishads. Rigveda is the oldest heritage of India marked by profound revelations of mystic nature. The second landmark is the classical Age beginning with the emergence of the Buddhism and Jainism and ending with Harsha. The Buddhism flourished throughout the South East Asia. The third landmark in the cultural history of India is the emergence of Rajput Culture. Arabs invaded India in the beginning of the 8th Century and a state of uncertainty, terror and repression continued for another 500 years or so, causing much harm to the institutions of learning, temples, monuments, chaityas and heritage building and Indian culture as a whole. When Hindu-Muslim synthesis began, the Arab races were astonished at the literary genius, scientific thought and superiority of the Indian Civilization and Culture. The fourth remarkable landmark in the culture history of India is the Modern Age, beginning with the impact of the West, when renaissance emerged and India identified her glorious past and rich culture in a big way. Through the ages, India’s vast rich literature, mythology and folklore, ritualism and cultural traditions have highly inspired the people living in cites and towns, in remotest villages, in the foothills, in the forests, alongside the banks of rivers following traditions and customs and patronizing their own religious beliefs, cults and cultural patterns. The six systems of Indian philosophy are still unique in the history of philosophies. Will Durant has rightly observed: "India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit, the mother of European languages, she was the mother of our philosophy, mother through the Buddha, of the ideas embodied in Christianity, mother, through the village community of self government and democracy. Mother India is many ways is the mother of us all." India's vast and rich Sanskrit literature attracted the attention of the European scholars and intellectuals as early as in 18th and 19th Century. Vedic literature, besice the Buddhist and Jaina canons influenced them for their deep thought. European scholars praised the Vedas and other religious texts and works of Indian learning as India's rich and oldest heritage and probably the richest cultural treasure of humanity. Our great epics are well known for lofty ideals. Master pieces of art and architecture as a source of inspiration. Max Muller said that Indian literature culture is one of the oldest cultures on earth. Since ancient days the Greeks, the Romans, the Chinese, and many leading races have been highly attracted towards Indian Heritage and Culture. Nodoubt a cultural synthesis began in India when the Mughal dynasty was established on Indian soil. This encyclopaedic work is of great reference value. Undoubtedly this serious endeavour will prove to be interesting to the readers wherever Indian Heritage and Culture is studied and appreciated in academic circles. |
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