Author : Sanjeev Sanyal
Review:
Book Review : The OCEAN OF CHURN by Sanjeev Sanyal. It's an honour to start this year's review with this author. This is going to be a long review. I had raved about his earlier book "The Land of the Seven Rivers" and the trend continues. Most of the ancient Indian scriptures or texts give great importance to the religious, traditional and cultural outlook of our country. While this is a very vital, there are very few who documented the social, economic view in the ancient past. Hence it is a rarity to find any material about the history of ancient India, We have very little idea of our origin, how our ancestors lived or did for their occupation. This author has researched and collected most of the documents worldwide, published by the travelers who have visited/ stayed in India or interacted with Indians over a period of time. He deals with facts, historic evidences and also deductions and speculations from the folklore stories which are very prominent across India to this day.
Coming to the book itself, this is a continuation of his previous book “The Land of the seven rivers”. While the former dealt with the history of terrestrial India from the ancient ages, this book deals with all the countries on the Indian Ocean rim, with India being the pivotal country (maritime history). Albeit ,there are portions where he comes back to the rise and fall of the big empires of the terrestrial India. Some of the key features of this book.
Coming to the book itself, this is a continuation of his previous book “The Land of the seven rivers”. While the former dealt with the history of terrestrial India from the ancient ages, this book deals with all the countries on the Indian Ocean rim, with India being the pivotal country (maritime history). Albeit ,there are portions where he comes back to the rise and fall of the big empires of the terrestrial India. Some of the key features of this book.
1. The book starts with the continental drift and how India and other land masses made their way to the current geographic location on the map, the churn of immigrants into each of the land masses, their relation to the earliest human beings, the homo-sapiens. Their settlements, farming and cultivation of crops and spices ,and their venture into the Ocean again to discover the trade routes with people from other countries to exchange goods.
Narrowing to India itself, there are some very interesting points.
2. He argues that the Vedas were composed in the early Harappan period (around 2600 BC) before the decline of river Saraswati. This is because the Rig Veda is centred around Saraswati and describes it as one of the mighty rivers, contrary to the epics and later sacred texts which glorify Ganga. Saraswati was on the decline and dried up much before 2000 BC, and Yamuna turned its course to Ganga which became the main source of water supply in the later stages. Also the vedic description of the Saptha Sindhu matches with the map of the early Harappan settlements.
3. The Harappan settlement is one of the most sophisticated settlement and their use of copper was efficient in the Bronze Age. The South Indians are supposed to be the pioneers in the Iron technology and were aware of the use of Iron much before 2000 BC (In Bronze age itself)
4. Ashoka the not so Great- His evidences indicate that Ashoka had embraced Buddhism before the kalinga war .He is supposed to have been a brutal emperor till the end. He did not handle the state of affairs in his later stage, which brought about the fall of the Mauryan empire. However one of the very few rulers, who left a documented evidence of his rule with his Stupas, which symbolize his reign, and later became the part of our nation’s identity.
5. The golden era of Guptas has very little documentation available, but travelogues from a Chinese traveler explains the prosperity of India under their rule.
6. The ancient Indians, till 13th century AD engaged in lot of trade, the coastal cities were abuzz with trading ships. We had established trade links with Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Africans , south East Asians, and towards the later stages, the Chinese as well. There are evidences of Indian population and Indian influence in each of the above mentioned geographical locations.
7. The Land of the Seven Rivers deals primarily with the north , where as the current book gives an in-depth detail of the southern kindoms. The Cholas, the pallavas, the pandyas and the Vijayanagara empire. He also explains the reason why the Cholas launched the overseas attack on the Sri Vijaya kingdom in Sumatra and extended their empire beyond Indian boundary.
8. The temples served as financial institutions for the merchant guild and offered loans for the trading across the border.This explains why most of the temples in deep south were funded by wealthy merchants rather than the king himself.
9. Then came the brutal invasion by the Turks followed by the Mughals who sabotaged the soul of the country by destroying the temples, the scriptures, and eventually the libraries in Nalanda. He argues that it is quite possible that we lost a lot of historic evidence and documentation when Nalanda burnt.
10. Then Indians shut down and imposed rigity on themselves not to cross the sea.They closed inwards and imposed strict caste regulations on themselves, may be they feared that their identity will be ruined- as there was a push by the other religions for conversion.
11. There is a specific repeated mention in this book as well- that after the Turk and Mughal rule, the North India was plundered. They could not do much. But Central and South Indians could have taken the reins.The Marathas were instrumental in toppling down the Mughal rule. Their defence , both on the land and on the sea was sound, they were experts in guerilla warfare and had a powerful administrative system. He points out that the Marathas should have staked their claim on Delhi, expanded their kingdom and could have possibly put a check on the Colonial rule instead of internal feuds and containing themselves .
12. Similarly, it is not an acceptable excuse from the South to shut themselves down to the outside world because of few barbarian attacks. When the Chinese and Arabs, resumed themselves in trade despite similar attacks, why did the South India stop everything and give a free hand first to the Portugese, and later the EIC which was the key stepping stone to the British rule in our country.
To Summarize, his books are not an easy read, we need to go back and forth to understand the facts more clearly, there is a lot of data and information to digest. But this author is worth your time. A Salute to an author who is finally attempting to trace back the roots of our country and our civilization. Gear up for the magnificent ride with him as he takes you through the tour of ancient, medieval and modern India till the Indian independence.Take a bow Sanjeev Sanyal, keep writing !!!
Narrowing to India itself, there are some very interesting points.
2. He argues that the Vedas were composed in the early Harappan period (around 2600 BC) before the decline of river Saraswati. This is because the Rig Veda is centred around Saraswati and describes it as one of the mighty rivers, contrary to the epics and later sacred texts which glorify Ganga. Saraswati was on the decline and dried up much before 2000 BC, and Yamuna turned its course to Ganga which became the main source of water supply in the later stages. Also the vedic description of the Saptha Sindhu matches with the map of the early Harappan settlements.
3. The Harappan settlement is one of the most sophisticated settlement and their use of copper was efficient in the Bronze Age. The South Indians are supposed to be the pioneers in the Iron technology and were aware of the use of Iron much before 2000 BC (In Bronze age itself)
4. Ashoka the not so Great- His evidences indicate that Ashoka had embraced Buddhism before the kalinga war .He is supposed to have been a brutal emperor till the end. He did not handle the state of affairs in his later stage, which brought about the fall of the Mauryan empire. However one of the very few rulers, who left a documented evidence of his rule with his Stupas, which symbolize his reign, and later became the part of our nation’s identity.
5. The golden era of Guptas has very little documentation available, but travelogues from a Chinese traveler explains the prosperity of India under their rule.
6. The ancient Indians, till 13th century AD engaged in lot of trade, the coastal cities were abuzz with trading ships. We had established trade links with Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Africans , south East Asians, and towards the later stages, the Chinese as well. There are evidences of Indian population and Indian influence in each of the above mentioned geographical locations.
7. The Land of the Seven Rivers deals primarily with the north , where as the current book gives an in-depth detail of the southern kindoms. The Cholas, the pallavas, the pandyas and the Vijayanagara empire. He also explains the reason why the Cholas launched the overseas attack on the Sri Vijaya kingdom in Sumatra and extended their empire beyond Indian boundary.
8. The temples served as financial institutions for the merchant guild and offered loans for the trading across the border.This explains why most of the temples in deep south were funded by wealthy merchants rather than the king himself.
9. Then came the brutal invasion by the Turks followed by the Mughals who sabotaged the soul of the country by destroying the temples, the scriptures, and eventually the libraries in Nalanda. He argues that it is quite possible that we lost a lot of historic evidence and documentation when Nalanda burnt.
10. Then Indians shut down and imposed rigity on themselves not to cross the sea.They closed inwards and imposed strict caste regulations on themselves, may be they feared that their identity will be ruined- as there was a push by the other religions for conversion.
11. There is a specific repeated mention in this book as well- that after the Turk and Mughal rule, the North India was plundered. They could not do much. But Central and South Indians could have taken the reins.The Marathas were instrumental in toppling down the Mughal rule. Their defence , both on the land and on the sea was sound, they were experts in guerilla warfare and had a powerful administrative system. He points out that the Marathas should have staked their claim on Delhi, expanded their kingdom and could have possibly put a check on the Colonial rule instead of internal feuds and containing themselves .
12. Similarly, it is not an acceptable excuse from the South to shut themselves down to the outside world because of few barbarian attacks. When the Chinese and Arabs, resumed themselves in trade despite similar attacks, why did the South India stop everything and give a free hand first to the Portugese, and later the EIC which was the key stepping stone to the British rule in our country.
To Summarize, his books are not an easy read, we need to go back and forth to understand the facts more clearly, there is a lot of data and information to digest. But this author is worth your time. A Salute to an author who is finally attempting to trace back the roots of our country and our civilization. Gear up for the magnificent ride with him as he takes you through the tour of ancient, medieval and modern India till the Indian independence.Take a bow Sanjeev Sanyal, keep writing !!!
Recommended :👍👍
