An Anthropologist Looks at History: An Enquiry into the Anomalies of Ancient Indian History and Culture

Abstract

There are altogether nine ancient civilizations in the world, viz. the Babylonian or Mesopotamian, the Indian and the Chinese (in Asia), the Egyptian (in Africa), the Greek, the Roman, and the Cretan (in Europe), the Mayan (in Mexico, North America), and the Inca (In Peru, South America). Of all the above, it's only the Indian and the Chinese civilizations are such that the elements of their ancient cultures and traditions could be found still perpetuating among the contemporary populations. And among the rest; it could to be found in their ruins only. The dimensions of ancient Indian civilization have been interpreted mostly by the historians; and primarily by the British ones. Such interpretations are found necessarily loaded with all sorts of biases. In the present paper, the author has attempted to point out some of the anomalies of ancient Indian history and culture generated by the biased interpretation of some eminent historians and Indologists. Such interpretations have done great injustice with the pre-eminence of Indian civilization on the one hand; and on the other, they have also given rise to the divisive forces in the society that still plagues the country.