Bahubali and ancient India

The use of modern arts and engineering to rediscover the ancient arts and engineering.

What this epic story from SS Rajamouli has done for the Indian movie industry is nothing less then a revolution. In the process however, the seeds of a silent new revolution have now been sown — rediscovering the magnificent history of ourselves.

Chanakya - The author
of Arthashastra

Often we hear stories of India from its past, in which we proudly call her ‘The Golden Bird’. The era of massive empires which reigned over vast swathes of lands, massive palaces and forts, elegant temples and gardens, baths and rest houses, libraries and universities — each grander then the other, large armies, vastly complicated tax structures just as confusing as our present ones (just try reading the Arthashastra, I dare you), it seemed every aspect good or bad — was epic about India. It had to be considering her sheer size.

Then came the period of the British colonialism and something changed. Not that foreign rulers were a new phenomenon, one of the first invaders of the West, Alexander walked the lands of India as early as 326 B.C., numerous other foreign rulers ruled over whole or part of India but most of them could only successfully reign because they adapted themselves to India. The most famed Mughal Badshah Akbar echoes this mindset who believed, to truly rule over Hindustan, one must fully accept the Hindus and treat them as equal subjects. Perhaps the rulers after him did not like that idea and forcefully tried imposing their culture on India. Most of such kings and regimes failed, there is a reason Akbar is celebrated and not Humayun.

Akbar - A prime example of a foreign
power who Indianised himself

The British empire, the latest of the long list of foreign rulers also failed as it tried to impose it’s culture forcefully on us. Seventy years on, India is still recovering from it’s wounds. The British wounds were particularly hard on us because of how efficient the administration was at draining our resources for the empire’s benefit. In addition to a massive economic drain. Macaulay’s policy of liquidating Indian culture through a consciously planned substitution of the alien culture of the British via the education system even demolished our traditions, cultures and the thousands of years of literature which directly resulted in uprooting our previous educational system altogether. 

Lord Macaulay - The man
responsible for the modern
education system which
devastated our knowledge
about our own past

The effects of this Macaulayism are still seen today. We boast on internet forums about how ancient India was so developed but how many of us can mention even five scientists or mathematicians of the pre-British era? 

We boast on Facebook that the Mahabharata as an epic, is ten time the length of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey combined, but have we ever read it in our schools? Everyone has read about Carl Marx and Plato’s works in our history textbooks in great detail but do we even know of Chanakya and Shankaracharya’s works in philosophy?

But India is recovering now, fighting Macaulayism and rediscovering herself — faster than ever. Just in 2007, The famed Nalanda University reopened it’s gates for Indian and International students after it’s destruction by foreign invaders and 800 long years of subsequent neglect by the rulers of the lands! The Archeological Survey of India (ASI), now maintains 66 site museums dedicated to generating awareness of the historical importance of the place. Apart from Macaulayism, another major problem which pushes back this rediscovery of ancient India is the forced intrusion by some highly vocal minority groups fearing further religious marginalisation. The problems the ASI is facing in the now politicised Babri excavation is an example.

The old Nalanda

Bahubali has done a wonderful job in addressing my concerns. Steering far away from political and religious lines, It has managed to showcase the history, the architecture, the dressing, the courtrooms, the royal etiquette and manners — the Great Golden bird that India once was. If more and more movies stick to an Indian narrative rather than desperately trying to copy a western one and often laughably failing at that, us Indians will truly know our who we are — the daughters and  sons of the great Indian tradition of wisdom and wealth.

Sources:

Olivelle, Patrick (2013), King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=6MlgU0oQb4sC&redir_esc=y 

http://asi.nic.in/asi_cons_prev.asp

https://www.nalandauniv.edu.in/about-nalanda/history-and-revival/