The role of geography and climate

The geographical environment in which Indian civilisation emerged and evolved is the Indian subcontinent or, in present-day terms, South Asia. This vast area, which is about the size of Europe, is now shared by several countries: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives; sometimes north-eastern Afghanistan which played an important role in the history of the subcontinent is also considered part of it (Map 9). It is separated from the rest of the Eurasian continent by natural frontiers: the 2,500-km stretch of the Himalayas to the north, the Hind Kush to the north-west, the extensive, almost impassable tropical forests to the northeast, and the Arakan Mountains. The peninsula is surrounded by seas: the Arabian Sea in the west, the Bay of Bengal in the east, and the Indian Ocean in the south. These geophysical features of the subcontinent provided for the distinct but not isolated development of the subcontinent. River valleys and high passes through the Himalayas, crossed by Tibetan ethnic groups, were a link with the Tibetan Plateau. In the northeast, the Manipur river valleys provided links to China, Burma (Myanmar) and Southeast Asia. In the west, the Bolan Pass opening on the Indus Valley on the edge of the desert mountainous region of Balochistan was used as a trade route and population movements also

took place there. But the most important link with the outside world was the Haibar (Khyber) Pass in the north-western corner of the subcontinent, in the Kabul River valley, the main transportation route for peoples and ethnic groups to the subcontinent, where most conquerors: Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Parthians, Scythians, Kushans, Afghans, Turks, Pathans entered Indian soil.

Map 9: The Indian subcontinent Source: Edited by ÁGNES VARGA

The Indian branch of the Silk Road, the main continental trade route beyond the subcontinent, which proved to be crucial not only for trade in commodities but also for the spread of ideas, also led there. This was the

direction of the spread of Buddhism to the north and with it, the authoritative forms of Buddhist art that had evolved in India.

The peninsula surrounded by seas has been involved in preserving relations with the outside world from prehistoric times through longitudinally passable beaches and maritime shipping and trade. The Indus Valley Civilisation had already established a maritime trade relationship with Mesopotamia by coastal shipping. The Indus Valley merchants transported their goods to Oman and Bahrain, from where they were transported by local merchants to the cities of Mesopotamia. Subsequently, there was regular traffic between the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire (primarily Egypt) and Indian ports. The emergence of early Southeast Asian kingdoms ‒ Suvannabhumi in today’s Myanmar, Mon Kingdom in southern Thailand, Funan and Chenla in Cambodia, Champa in Vietnam, Srivijaya in Sumatra and Java ‒ was largely facilitated by the development of maritime relations. Early connections were made from the port on the west coast, Bharukachcha (now Bharuch, Gujarat), and this role was later taken over by the ports on the east coast.

The interior of the subcontinent is divided by rivers and mountain ranges, and archaeology has shown that the main cultural regions have closely followed these natural geographical boundaries since prehistoric times. The northern region, bounded on the north by the Himalayas, to the south by the Narmada River and the Vindhya Range, covers the vast plains of the Indus and Ganges.

The Indus Basin was the cradle of the Indus Valley Civilisation, and then its upper stream region, the Punjab (“five rivers”), was the first settlement area of the Aryans arriving on the subcontinent. Historically, the alluvial plain of the Ganges and its tributary, the Yamuna, played a key role. This fertile river valley is India's most prolific region, creating favourable conditions for the emergence of large-scale states due to both its economic strength and the better accessibility to the lowlands. The central region is the difficult-to-cross mountainous forested area of the Deccan Plateau divided by ravines, stretching between the rivers Narmada and Krishna. It was a scene of strong regional kingdoms and prominent dynasties, where the political and cultural influence of the northern and southern regions prevailed to varying degrees, and the indigenous tribal culture survived until recently and even to this day, in closed spots. The region south of Krishna carries the typical South Indian cultural features that have established and still maintain the traditional distinction between North and South. Longitudinal zones have formed in the coastal strips have developed longitudinal zones, which are defined by the cultural features of the narrow coastal strips with the hinterland of the West and the East Ghat behind them.

In addition to the physical geography of the subcontinent, there is a sacred geography in Indian tradition where the hills of India are celebrated, primarily the

snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas (Sk. ‘the land of snow’), where Indian mythology places the heavenly abode of the gods.

The rivers that ensure the fertility of the earth are religiously honoured and personified by goddesses. Their water is also closely related to ritual purity, so immersion in rivers and scattering of the ashes of the dead into the river are among the best-known Hindu rites. The holiest river, the Ganges or Gangá, originates in the Himalayas and flows into the Bay of Bengal. Its course is accompanied by a chain of pilgrimage sites: Haridwar, where it leaves behind the Himalayas and enters the plains; Prayagraj, formerly known as Allahabad and still earlier as Prayag, where it meets the Yamuna, and where the great Kumbh Mela pilgrimage takes place at the confluence every 12 years (it is estimated that 120 million pilgrims attended it in 2013); and above all, Varanasi or Kashi, the holiest Hindu city, the centre of Hindu culture (Figure 29). To the conceptions of the sacred geography of the subcontinent, as old as the Hindu religion itself, a new one was added during the nineteenth-century independence movement, when the whole of India began to be regarded as the holy land of Hinduism and personified by the Hindu goddess Bharat Mata (Mother India). This symbol was fraught with political overtones and provoked protest from religious minorities due to the association of Indian land with the Hindu religion.

The subcontinent's climate is warmer than its geographical location would justify it, as the Himalayan mountain range hampers both northern winds and monsoon winds from the south-west. The monsoons drive heavy rain clouds over the subcontinent for three months. After months of scorching heat, people rejoice at the arrival of the much-awaited, life-giving rain. The lakes and ponds, now filled with water, are covered with lotuses, lands turn green, trees bloom, and intoxicating scents float in the air. Traditional topoi in poetry and painting:

screaming peacocks, the beautiful young lady hurrying in the rain or doing her make-up before meeting her beloved indicate that this is the season of love in India.

However, precipitation is not evenly distributed across the subcontinent.

Most of the rain falls on the southern side of the Himalayas and the coastal side of the Western Ghats and the heavy rainfall may cause devastating floods, while there is a tropical savannah inside the Deccan Plateau and hot desert climate prevails in the Thar Desert of the north-west. Due to the imbalance of climate and rain, a major duty of kings in the Indian civilisation was to ensure the fertility of the lands. In the royal capitals, artificial water reservoirs and the construction of dams on the rivers provided the necessary amount of water between monsoon periods. Their design and operation required a high level of technical knowledge and was among the fundamental achievements of civilisation. Wells served as an additional source of water. Most villages had a simple dug well from where

women carried the water. At the same time, large stepwells specific to Indian civilisation were built in the driest western parts of the Indian subcontinent. These multi-storey underground palaces provided access to groundwater throughout the year, cooling during the hot season, and the opportunity to thank the gods for all of this, so their socio-religious significance was not negligible either.

Figure 29: Morning rite on the Ganges in Varanasi

Source: Jorge Royan. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:India_-_Varanasi_

ba%C3%B1o_Ganges_-_0072.jpg

Routes across the subcontinent played a huge role in the settlement of the region, the development of Indian civilisation, trade and the spread of religions, especially Buddhism. The main trade route was the ‘northern road’ connecting the Ganges Valley with Gandhara and further with Silk Road in the north-west, with branches in the east to China and the old port of the Bay of Bengal, Tamra-lipti (now Tamluk, West Bengal). An important land route connected the royal capital Pataliputra (now Patna, Bihar) in the eastern Ganges basin, with the west coast port city, Bharukachcha, from where merchants headed to the Arabian and East African coasts.

Inside the peninsula, the “southern route” initially led through pre-Aryan areas. However, land roads could only be used during the dry season as they became impassable during the monsoon. The traveling monks sought shelter in

caves until the end of the rainy season. These were the places where the first rock-cut Buddhist caves were established and the shrines themselves the first manifestations of this form of sacred architecture so characteristic of Indian civilisation. There were many dangers to land trade, therefore, gaining control over trade routes and junctions was a major driving force behind the expansion ambitions of the kingdoms in the subcontinent.

The physical conditions of the subcontinent persisted, although this does not mean that there were no changes. In the last two and a half millennia, the rivers that irrigated the plains of the subcontinent, which are still unregulated, have changed their course from time to time, and have thereby profoundly influenced the existence of early cultures and state formations established on flood-based economy. Due to the deposition of large amounts of sediment, shifts have also occurred in the river estuaries. The significant change in the direction of the Indus and the desiccation of the Sarasvati River, coupled with the change in the direction of the monsoon wind, played a decisive role in the decline of the Indus Valley Civilisation. The eastern shift of the monsoon may have contributed to the gradual expansion of the Thar Desert and the drying up of the forests sur-rounding the lower Indus. The great Indian epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata testify that most of the subcontinent was once covered with dense forests. In ancient literary works, the forest, as an abode of hermits, forest animals and demons, as a scene of wars and battles, appears symbolically in contrast to the sacred world of cities and villages involved in civilisation.