Decolonized Pagan

Bhaarat

Land of the Ancient

Also known as India, Hindustan or Bhaaratvarsh. The birth place of Sanatan Dharm. A land where Jews, Parsis (Zoroastrians), Bahais ,Ahmadiyyas found safe haven.

A land where atheists (Charvaka) too thrived. A land where Buddh’s agnostic teachings were accepted and revered by masses.

Accounts of various historians, pilgrims, philosophers, travelers and others about Bhaarat:

2nd century account of Bhaarat by Arrian:

Greek Arrian spoke about Bhaaratiya Self-Government and that NO Hindu was accused of Lying “Arrian (in the 2nd century, the pupil of Epictetus), when speaking of the public overseers or superintendents in Bhaarat, says: “They oversee what goes on in the country or towns, and report everything to the king, where the people have a king, and to the magistrates, where the people are self-governed, and it is against use and wont for these to give in a false report; but indeed no Hindu is accused of lying”.” Arrian noted, “This also is remarkable in Bhaarat, that all Hindus are free, and no Hindu at all is a slave. In this the Hindus agree with the Lacedaemonians. Yet the Lacedaemonians have Helots for slaves, who perform the duties of slaves; but the Hindus have no slaves at all, much less is any Hindu a slave.”

3rd century account of Bhaarat by Su We:

The earliest witness is Su-we, a relative of Fan-chen, king of Siam, who between 222 and 227 AD sailed round the whole of Bhaarat, till he reached the mouth of Sindhu, and then explored the country. After his return to Siam, he received four Yueh-chi horses, sent by a king of Bhaarat as a present to the king of Siam and his ambassador. At the time these horses arrived in Siam (it took them four years to travel), there was a staying at the court of Siam an ambassador of the Emperor of China,

Khang-thai, and this is the account he received of the kingdom of Bhaarat: “It is a kingdom in which the religion of Buddh flourishes. The inhabitants are straightforward and honest, and the soil is very fertile. The king is called Meu-lun, and his capital is surrounded by walls…

4th century account of Bhaarat by Megasthenes :

Megasthenes, for example, who visited the Maurya court at PaataliPutr in the 4th-century BC, noted: “All Hindus are free, and none of them is a slave… Hindus never invade other peoples, nor do other people invade Hindus… They fare happily, because of their simplicity and their frugality… Since they esteem beauty, they practice everything that can beautify their appearance. Further, they respect alike virtue and truth…

5th century account of Bhaarat by Ktesias:

Ktesias, the famous Greek physician of Artaxerxes Mnemon (present at the battle of Cunaxa, 404 BC), the first Greek writer who tells us anything about the character of the Hindu, such as he heard it described at the Persian court, has a special chapter “On the justice of the Hindus.

7th century account of Bhaarat by Hiouen Thsang

The Chinese, who come next in order of time, bear the same, believe, unanimous testimony in favor of the honesty and veracity of the Hindus. Let me quote Hiouen-thsang, the most famous of the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims, who visited Bhaarat in 7th-century: “Though the Hindus,” he writes, “are of a light temperament, they are distinguished by the straightforwardness and honesty of their character. With regard to riches, they never take anything unjustly; with regard to justice, they make even excessive concessions. Straightforwardness is the distinguishing feature of their administration.

11th century account of Bhaarat by Muslim Isrisi:

If we turn to the accounts given by the Mohammedan invaders of Bhaarat, we find Idrisi, in his Geography (written in the 11th century), summing up their opinion of the Hindus in the following words: The Hindus are naturally inclined to justice, and never depart from it in their actions. Their good faith, honesty, and fidelity to their engagements are well known, and they are so famous for these qualities that people flock to their country from every side.

11th century account of Bhaarat by Arab Andalusi:

In AD 1068, Andalusi, an Arab writer from Spain, wrote: The Hindus, among all nations, through many centuries and since antiquity, have been the source of wisdom, fairness and moderation. They are creators of sublime thoughts, universal fables, rare inventions and remarkable concepts.

13th century account of Bhaarat by Bedi ezr Zenan:

The Hindus are innumerable, like grains of sand, free from all deceit and violence. They fear neither death nor life.

13th century account of Bhaarat by Italian Marco Polo:

“You must know,” Marco Polo says, “that these Abraiaman (Braahman Hindu) are the best merchants in the world, and the most truthful, for they would not tell a lie for anything on earth”.

14th century account of Bhaarat by Friar Jordanus:

In the 14th century we have Friar Jordanus, who goes out of his way to tell us that the people of Lesser Bhaarat (South and Western India) are true in speech and eminent in justice.

15th century account of Bhaarat by Kamal-eddin Abd-errazak Samarkandi:

In the 15th century Kamal-eddin Abd-errazak Samarkandi (1413-82), who went as ambassador of the Khakan to the prince of Kalikut and to the king of Vidya Nagar (about 1440-45), bears testimony to the perfect security, which merchants enjoy in that country. He seems to have been one of the first to state that the Persian text of the Kalilah and Dimna was derived from the wise people of Bhaarat.

16th century account of Bhaarat by Abul Fazl:

In the 16th century, Abul Fazl, the minister ofthe Emperor Akbar, says in his Aayine Akbari:
Abul Fazl: The Hindus are religious, affable, cheerful, lovers of justice, given to retirement, able in business, admirers of truth, grateful and of unbounded fidelity; and their soldiers know not what it is to fly from the field of battle.

18th century account of Bhaarat by Warren Hastings:

Warren Hastings (1st Governor General): They (Hindus) are gentle and benevolent, more susceptible of gratitude for kindness shown to them, and less prompted to vengeance for wrongs inflicted than any people on the face of the earth; faithful, affectionate, submissive to legal authority.

18th century account of Bhaarat by German Christian Dohm:

When, going deeper, a few European thinkers began in the eighteenth century to try and fathom Bhaarat’s philosophy and religion, they were so struck by the wisdom, the ancientness, the richness they saw, that they soon declared Bhaarat to have been the “cradle of the human race” and the “birthplace of civilizations,” in the words of Christian Dohm, a German scholar, and described the Hindus as “the gentlest people”

18th century account of Bhaarat by French Voltaire:

Our European nations have mutually destroyed themselves in this land where we only go in search of money, while the first Greeks travelled to the same land (Bhaarat) only to instruct themselves.

18th century account of Bhaarat by William Macintosh:

“All history points to Bhaarat as the mother of science and art,” William Macintosh wrote. “This country was anciently so renowned for knowledge and wisdom that the philosophers of Greece did not disdain to travel thither for their improvement.”

18th century account of Bhaarat by French Pierre Sonnerat:

We find among the Hindus the vestiges of the most remote antiquity. … We know that all peoples came there to draw the elements of their knowledge. … Bhaarat, in her splendor, gave religions and laws to all the other peoples; Egypt and Greece owed to her both their fables and their wisdom.

19th century account of Bhaarat by German Friedrich Schlegel:

Everything without exception is of Hindu origin. Whether directly or indirectly, all nations are originally nothing but Indian colonies. … The oriental antiquity could, if we consented to deepen it, bring us back more safely towards the divine.

19th century account of Bhaarat by Alexander Hamilton:

When we read in the valuable production of those great Oriental scholars ~ those of a Jones, a Wilkins, a Colebrooke, or a Halhed ~ we uniformly discover in the Hindus a nation, whose polished manners are the result of a mild disposition and an extensive benevolence.

19th century account of Bhaarat by Max Muller:

And given in quite modern times the Mohammedans (Muslims) seem willing to admit that the Hindus, at all events in their dealings with Hindus, are more straightforward than Mohammedans in their dealings with Mohammedans.

19th century account of Bhaarat by Sir Thomas Munro:

If a good system of agriculture, unrivalled manufacturing skill, a capacity to produce whatever can contribute to either convenience or luxury, schools established in every village for teaching, reading, writing, and arithmetic, the general practice of hospitality and charity amongst each other, and above all, a treatment of the female sex full of confidence, respect, and delicacy, are among the signs which denote a civilized people – then the Hindus are not inferior to the nations of Europe, and if civilization is to become an article of trade between England and BhaaratVarsh, I am convinced that England will gain by the import cargo.

19th century account of Bhaarat by Professor Wilson:

The studies which engaged my leisure brought me into connection with the men of learning, and in them I found the similar merits of industry, intelligence, cheerfulness, frankness, with others peculiar to their avocation. A very common characteristic of these men and of the Hindus especially, was simplicity truly childish, and a total unacquaintance with the business and manners of life. Where that feature was lost, it was chiefly by those who had been long familiar with Europeans. Amongst the Pundits, or the learned Hindus, there prevailed great ignorance and great dread of the European character. There is indeed, very little intercourse between any class of Europeans and Hindu scholars, and it is not wonderful, therefore, that mutual misapprehension should prevail.

I lived, both from necessity and choice, very much amongst the Hindus, and had opportunities of becoming acquainted with them in a greater variety of situations than those in which they usually come under the observation of Europeans. In the Calcutta mint, for instance, I was in daily personal communication with a numerous body of artificers, mechanics, and laborers, and always found amongst them cheerful and unwearied industry, good-humored compliance with the will of their superiors, and a readiness to make whatever exertions were demanded from them: there was among them no drunkenness, no disorderly conduct, no insubordination. It would not be true to say that there was no dishonesty, but it was comparatively rare,invariably petty, and much less formidable than, I believe,  it is necessary to guard against in other mints in other countries. There was considerable skill and ready docility. So far from there being any servility, there was extreme frankness, and I should say that where there is confidence without fear, frankness is one of the most universal features in the Bhaaratiya character. Let the people feel sure of the temper and goodwill of their superiors, and there is an end of reserve and timidity, without the slightest departure from respect…

19th century account of Bhaarat by Bishop Heber:

The Hindus are brave, courteous, intelligent, most eager for knowledge and improvement; sober, industrious, dutiful to parents, affectionate to their children, uniformly gentle and patient, and more easily affected by kindness and attention to their wants and feelings than any people I ever met with.

19th century account of Bhaarat by British Elphinstone:

The Hindus are mild and gentle people, more merciful to prisoners than any other Asiatics. Their freedom from gross debauchery is the point in which they appear to most advantage; and their superiority in purity of manners is not flattering to our self-esteem.

19th century account of Bhaarat by Colonel Sleeman:

Colonel Sleeman saw Bhaarat, where alone the true Bhaarat can be seen, namely, in the village-communities… Now what Colonel Sleeman continually, insists on is that no one knows the Hindus who does not know them in their village-communities – what we shall now call their communes. It is that village- life which in Bhaarat has given its peculiar impress to the Hindu character, more so than in any other country we know. When in Hindu history we hear so much of kings and emperors, of rajahs and maharajahs, we are apt to think of Bhaarat as an Eastern monarchy, ruled by a central power, and without any trace of that self- government which forms the pride of England. But those who have most carefully studied the political life of Bhaarat tell you the very opposite. In their Panchaayats (village self-governance), Sleeman tells us, men adhere habitually and religiously to the truth, and “I have had before me hundreds of cases, ’ he says, ‘in which a man’s property, liberty, and life depended upon his telling a lie, and he has refused to tell it.” Could many an English judge say the same?