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All societies in human history,
I suppose, have imagined a Golden Age,
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a past time when people lived
in peace and plenty,
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when the rulers were just
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and when the division
between sacred time and profane time
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had not yet happened.
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But here in India, above all countries,
that idea has been extraordinarily
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tenacious and powerful,
right down to today.
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But is there a history
behind such dreams?
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This is a journey back to
the Golden Age, real and imagined.
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WOOD: In The Story of India
we've reached the year 400,
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the time of the fall of Rome
and the Dark Ages in the West.
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But here in India, great kingdoms rose
then in the north and the south,
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and in modern times this has
come to be seen as a Golden Age.
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And if one story is at the centre of
that idea, it's the tale of Rama,
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the god who came down to Earth
as a king,
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who defeated evil
and ruled with justice.
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It's a tale known
and loved by all Indians.
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There are said to be 300 versions
of the Rama story
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in more than 20 different
Indian languages.
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In the days of the Raj, the British
called the Rama stories and plays
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the 'Bible of India'.
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If you didn't know them, they said,
you couldn't know the people.
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Nor would you understand the powerful
driving idea behind the epic tale.
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That whether king or commoner,
you should live in virtue.: dharma.
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It's kind of wonderfully smoky
and mysterious, isn't it?
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Gods in glittering costumes standing
among the trees
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and a vast audience all sitting round.
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We're on the next to the last day
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of 31 days of performance of the plays
of the story of Rama.
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WOOD: And for most Indian people,
it's simply the best story in the world.
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Like the tale of Troy, it begins
with the abduction of a beautiful queen.
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The wicked demon king seizes Sita,
the faithful wife of Rama,
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the exiled king of Ayodhya.
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The demon king takes Sita back
to his island fortress
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while the distraught Rama
sets out to find her,
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helped by the faithful monkey Hanuman.
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Eventually, with Hanuman's help,
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Rama crosses the sea
and rescues Sita after a heroic battle.
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After his triumph, Rama returns
to reign in the city of Ayodhya
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and brings in the Golden Age.
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The story has bequeathed to
Indian culture the ideal of a just rule.
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In the modern freedom struggle
against the British,
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Mahatma Gandhi himself
invoked the return of the rule of Rama.
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In around the year 400,
the epic tale told by the poets
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became fixed in a real place
and the myth became history.
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It was back in the early 5th century AD,
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the time of the fall
of the Roman Empire in the West,
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that a powerful North Indian dynasty
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took the story of Rama
and made it their own.
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They were called the Guptas.
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And the Guptas took a conscious decision
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to locate the golden city of Rama
in a real place,
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from where they would rule
and create their own golden time.
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So the old town of Saketa was given
a new name and identity.: Ayodhya.
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That story is still told
by the pilgrim guides on the river bank
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with a few mythic embellishments!
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WOOD: So myth became fact.
The city of legend became a real place.
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And Rama was accepted
as an incarnation of God on Earth,
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here on the banks of the Gogra River.
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But in recent times the story
has been fiercely contested,
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used by fundamentalists
to assert Hindu supremacy
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in a country of many religions.
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And in the name of Rama, the god king,
the ideal man, the epitome of justice,
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sectarian violence was unleashed
across India.
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It's a far cry from
the fairytale city of the Golden Age
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of Ayodhya in the legend.
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What you have to remember
is that for all the pilgrims
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who are jamming these streets,
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this is the place
where God came down to Earth.
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For hundreds of millions of ordinary
Indians, this is a beloved story.
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It has the biggest ever book sales,
the greatest ever TVaudiences.
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No wonder the fundamentalists wanted
to harness the power of the story.
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The soul of Ayodhya is
altogether 1 0 lakh years old.
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-1 0 lakh years old?
-1 0 lakh years old.
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It has a very long, long history.
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-This is a million years?
-This is a million years.
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Right, okay, a million years.
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WOOD: So it's a different
conception of history
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to the Western conception of history.
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WOOD: So the fight is not just about
the present but about the past.
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The issue at stake is the story
of India itself. Who does it belong to?
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Had there ever been one Indian identity?
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Or was the real history,
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as Nehru and Gandhi
and the freedom fighters believed,
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one of multiple identities
and multiple narratives?
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This wonderful place sums up
the layers of history of Ayodhya
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that go back long before the
revival of the city under the Guptas.
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Hindu Ayodhya,
the great Muslim shrine underneath us,
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and below our feet,
the Buddhist history.
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So what was India like in the Gupta Age?
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Let's go back now to the world at the
time of the fall of the Roman Empire.
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The 5th century AD was an age
of migrations and wars,
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the Huns swept out of Asia
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from the Great Wall of China
to the gates of Rome.
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This was the time when the Gupta kings
created their empire.
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And by a lucky chance
there's an eyewitness to that time,
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a foreigner who,
like many later visitors,
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came here seeking the wisdom of India.
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Thank you.
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Sun-dried river...river mud,
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biodegradable, goes back to the earth
once you've finished your drink.
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The eyewitness was Chinese, a Buddhist
pilgrim whose name was Fa-hsien.
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He'd come to visit the Buddhist
monasteries of North India
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and he describes the country
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in the time of the great Gupta king
Chandragupta II.
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Foreigners' views of other civilisations
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are always very interesting
and revealing, aren't they?
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Fa-hsien's portrait of India
in around the year 400,
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about the time
of the fall of the Roman Empire,
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opens a window onto the Gupta Age
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that you could never have imagined
from what survives.
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It's a portrait
of a highly organised state
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with a very strong governing ethos.
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In fact,
a great Late Classical civilisation.
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Fa-hsien travelled down
the Ganges plain.
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''This part is known as the Middle Land, ''
he says.
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''Climate is temperate.
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''The cities and towns are
the greatest in India.
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''The people are numerous and happy.
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''The inhabitants of the cities, rich
and prosperous, vie with each other
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''in the practice of benevolence
and righteousness.
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''The king governs without
capital punishment
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''and throughout the country the people
do not kill any living creature. ''
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Fa-hsien depicts India as a pluralist
and tolerant country
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where Buddhism thrived
along with the Hindu religions.
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What he doesn't mention
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are the extraordinary artistic
productions of Gupta civilisation,
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like the gold coins of the kings,
holding the golden bow of Rama.
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Or the wonderful sculpture created
by Gupta artists for all religions.
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Nor does Fa-hsien mention the Guptas'
technological achievements,
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the most mysterious a 35-foot
iron pillar which stands in Delhi today.
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And the inscription on it
dates it to about 400 AD,
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centuries before the Chinese developed
their iron technology,
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1 ,500 years, nearly,
before the Industrial Revolution.
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If Chinese are considered to be
the masters of ceramic,
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Indians were the masters of metal,
there's no doubt about that.
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And particularly, the metal
they were masters in was iron.
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It was done by a technique known as
forge welding.
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-WOOD: Forge welding?
-Welding.
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So what you do in this technique is
you take lumps of iron,
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about 20 kilograms in weight,
and then you place them
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on top of each other in a hot condition
and you hit with a hammer.
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Due to this forging action
you have joined the material.
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So you have constructed a pillar which
is about 6,000 kilograms in weight.
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So that is actually
a very marvellous engineering feat.
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So really speaking, this pillar
should be actually considered
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as a metallurgical wonder of the world.
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-Yes, yes, yeah.
-Not just India. It belongs to humanity.
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WOOD: Do we know who made it,
who commissioned it?
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Well, based upon inscription
which you see on the pillar,
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we know that it was commissioned
by one Chandra.
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It doesn't tell anything more,
it just talks about Chandra.
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But we now know, based upon analysis
of the Gupta gold coins,
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that this Chandra should be
Chandragupta Vikramaditya II.
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WOOD: ''Chandra, ''says the column,
''his face beautiful like the full moon
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''who won the sovereignty of the earth
and left the southern ocean
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''perfumed by the breeze of his bravery. ''
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What is it about them
that makes them so creative?
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Can you explain that for us?
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As a metallurgist, at least,
I am quite aware that, you know,
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if you look at the kind of metallurgical
objects which have come,
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iron, iron pillar, the gold coins,
the variety of coins,
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and the beautiful bronze castings
of Buddha from Mathura,
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it's very clear that the Gupta period,
the people were focused on high quality.
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And that was a time
when Indian civilisation
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actually takes a next major leap.
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WOOD: And the leap was in all fields.
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After defeating the Huns,
the Gupta kings made their court
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a centre of high culture,
drama and literature.
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But some of the most remarkable
achievements of their age
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were in science.
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Just like today, the ancient Indians
were brilliant mathematicians.
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Gupta scientists pioneered
the use of zero,
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the foundation
of all modern mathematics.
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It was a Gupta astronomer
in around 500 AD
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who proved the Earth went round the sun.
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His name was Aryabhatta.
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Aryabhatta was one of the greatest
Indian astronomers.
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He came up with the concept of Pi.
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That is a very significant contribution
by him.
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And, of course,
he was in the field of astronomy also.
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He came out an estimate of
the circumference of Earth,
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which at that time
he said it is 5,000 yojanas.
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That is a unit of length.
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Then it turns out that the present value
is very close to that value.
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WOOD: That's almost exactly the Earth's
true circumference of 24,900 miles.
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All this was part of wider speculation
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about the place of humanity
in the cosmos,
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a cosmos imagined
by ancient Indians in billions of years,
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way beyond what anybody came up with
in the West
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before the age of radio telescopes.
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And the ability to imagine like that
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has always been
a mark of Indian civilisation.
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Unlike the West in the age of Galileo,
India was not traumatised
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by the revelation that the universe is
infinite and the human place in it tiny.
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That all things, the gods too, are
subject to cycles of cosmic destruction,
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over aeons of time,
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and that human life is a pool of light
in an infinite darkness.
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Just as a man in a moving boat
sees the stationary objects on shore
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move in the opposite direction,
so a person standing on the Equator
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would see the stationary stars
move directly towards the West.
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More than anybody else in the Gupta Age,
Aryabhatta gives us an idea
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of the incredible breadth
of intellectual speculation
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going on here in India
at the time of the barbarian invasions
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and the fall of the Roman Empire
in the West.
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And their speculations went from
contemplation of the cosmos
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to the life of the mind.
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Indian thinkers of the Gupta Age
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were especially interested in
the psychology of human relationships
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and the art of sex,
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an area
that in Western Christian civilisation
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was for so long associated with guilt.
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India has always been
a guilt-free society
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as far as sex is concerned.
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Obviously we are
1 .2 billion people, so...
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...there's no guilt here, you know?
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Sex is fun and it's good
even when it's bad, it's all right.
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So, just...
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Yeah, yeah.
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WOOD: The most famous product
of the Gupta Age, at least in the West,
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is the Kama Sutra.
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The consciousness of being in an
elevated situation when you're in love,
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or making love, is called Kama.
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It's hard to describe it in English,
but it's the sense of consciousness
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of having all your sense organs elevated
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when you are in the very act
of making love, is Kama.
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You need to have an element of fun,
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it's not all about positions
and contortions,
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it's also about having fun
and enjoying this.
230
00:19:51,627 --> 00:19:55,256
''The sound 'Him', a sound like thunder.
231
00:19:55,347 --> 00:19:59,784
''The sound 'sut', 'dut',
gasps, moans...''
232
00:20:00,387 --> 00:20:04,824
''...and cries of 'Stop!' 'Harder!'
'Go on!' 'Don't kill me!' 'No!'
233
00:20:04,947 --> 00:20:07,302
''are the generic name of sitkrta. ''
234
00:20:07,467 --> 00:20:09,059
Sitkrta? What's this?
235
00:20:09,147 --> 00:20:10,819
-Sitkrta.
-WOOD: Sitkrta.
236
00:20:12,387 --> 00:20:16,858
The Kama Sutra, contrary to
many perceptions in the Western world,
237
00:20:16,947 --> 00:20:20,337
is not just about sex
or about sexual positions, isn't it?
238
00:20:20,427 --> 00:20:22,463
It's more of a kind of
book of life, isn't it?
239
00:20:22,547 --> 00:20:26,335
All of Hindu philosophy talks of
something called the purushartha,
240
00:20:26,427 --> 00:20:30,466
which are... Purushartha is
what a man needs to do, right?
241
00:20:30,867 --> 00:20:35,736
Which is dharma, the whole quality
of being a righteous human being,
242
00:20:35,867 --> 00:20:41,066
you have artha which allows you to,
which is gathering wealth,
243
00:20:41,547 --> 00:20:45,096
so it could be just business,
it could be governance.
244
00:20:45,427 --> 00:20:47,702
Then you have kama, the idea of love.
245
00:20:47,867 --> 00:20:50,779
And the last of these
that you need to do in life
246
00:20:50,867 --> 00:20:53,176
is seek moksha, which is liberation.
247
00:20:53,267 --> 00:20:56,304
Hinduism extols every human being
to actually explore
248
00:20:56,387 --> 00:20:57,979
all these aspects of life.
249
00:20:58,147 --> 00:21:01,298
It tells us important things
about the Gupta Age, doesn't it,
250
00:21:01,387 --> 00:21:04,299
if, you know, we know
who it was aimed at. I mean...
251
00:21:04,387 --> 00:21:07,106
are women intended as readership
as well as men?
252
00:21:07,227 --> 00:21:08,580
Women were equal.
253
00:21:08,947 --> 00:21:13,225
And the Kama Sutra too
encourages women to seek
254
00:21:13,387 --> 00:21:16,220
their own levels of satisfaction, right?
255
00:21:16,307 --> 00:21:18,298
Because it recognises
a very important thing,
256
00:21:18,387 --> 00:21:20,855
and this is really the most important
thing about the Kama Sutra,
257
00:21:21,107 --> 00:21:26,943
that it looks at relationships as a
two-way relationship of give and take,
258
00:21:27,027 --> 00:21:29,939
of mutual loving.
It's a symbiotic relationship.
259
00:21:30,227 --> 00:21:32,616
-It's a very modern text.
-It's a very modern text.
260
00:21:32,907 --> 00:21:36,183
It's a very modern text.
It's not, ''Oh, thank you, ma'am.''
261
00:21:36,547 --> 00:21:38,265
No, that doesn't work...
262
00:21:46,987 --> 00:21:48,579
WOOD: In human relations,
263
00:21:48,827 --> 00:21:52,137
there is always a gap between ideal
and reality.
264
00:21:54,907 --> 00:21:57,546
The Kama Sutra was written
in the 5th century
265
00:21:57,947 --> 00:22:01,337
but it was the product of an age
where there was freedom of thought.
266
00:22:01,587 --> 00:22:05,944
And such an inquiry into love surely
is the mark of a high civilisation.
267
00:22:11,907 --> 00:22:15,786
From Bollywood movies to the sublime
passion of religious poetry,
268
00:22:16,147 --> 00:22:19,935
the transcendent moment of human love
in Indian culture
269
00:22:20,067 --> 00:22:22,627
is a mirror of our relation
with the gods.
270
00:22:28,307 --> 00:22:33,256
And for all our failures to achieve
the ideal, in love, so India teaches,
271
00:22:33,427 --> 00:22:36,897
we human beings are still touched
by the divine.
272
00:22:58,227 --> 00:23:00,218
So the age of the Guptas shaped
273
00:23:00,307 --> 00:23:03,344
Indian civilisation in the north
in the Middle Ages.
274
00:23:08,227 --> 00:23:12,903
Here in the south, in the 1 0th century,
another great civilisation arose
275
00:23:12,987 --> 00:23:16,263
and created an empire that would rule
across Southern India
276
00:23:16,347 --> 00:23:18,303
and the islands of the Indian Ocean.
277
00:23:21,347 --> 00:23:22,826
These were the Cholans
278
00:23:23,467 --> 00:23:27,699
and their heyday was from around
900 to 1 300 AD.
279
00:23:35,547 --> 00:23:37,777
Just as the Guptas had in the North,
280
00:23:37,907 --> 00:23:41,502
the Cholans reshaped the medieval world
of the South.
281
00:23:43,427 --> 00:23:47,625
Their capital still stands today,
Tanjore, in Tamil Nadu.
282
00:23:47,987 --> 00:23:51,218
At its heart, the temple of the creator
of the empire,
283
00:23:51,467 --> 00:23:54,061
Rajaraja, the King of Kings.
284
00:23:55,707 --> 00:23:58,267
Brilliant statesmen,
builders and artists,
285
00:23:58,347 --> 00:24:01,225
the Cholans have been called
the Athenians of India.
286
00:24:02,027 --> 00:24:07,021
And what's so extraordinary is that
their civilisation is still alive today.
287
00:24:32,187 --> 00:24:34,940
The priests have been doing
that ritual here every morning
288
00:24:35,027 --> 00:24:39,066
for the last thousand years,
since Rajaraja the Great himself
289
00:24:39,147 --> 00:24:42,457
inaugurated this temple in 1 01 0.
290
00:24:45,587 --> 00:24:48,021
The tallest building in India
when it was built,
291
00:24:48,107 --> 00:24:53,306
the temple was dedicated to the great
God of the Cholan royal family, Shiva.
292
00:24:55,707 --> 00:25:00,258
The temple, though, really
is a monument to Rajaraja himself.
293
00:25:00,747 --> 00:25:04,103
It's named after him and
the inscriptions all round the walls
294
00:25:04,187 --> 00:25:07,020
extol his deeds as king of kings,
295
00:25:07,147 --> 00:25:10,503
lion of the solar race,
lord of the world.
296
00:25:14,187 --> 00:25:17,543
WOOD: Like all empires,
the Cholan state used violence.
297
00:25:17,867 --> 00:25:22,065
They conquered the whole of South India
and sent their fleets to Indonesia.
298
00:25:25,027 --> 00:25:28,656
The temple carries inscriptions
to 30 royal regiments.
299
00:25:29,147 --> 00:25:32,503
And on its walls, even the images of
the gods are warlike.
300
00:25:39,147 --> 00:25:42,822
The King himself, though,
is portrayed on a modest scale,
301
00:25:43,187 --> 00:25:44,779
as a philosopher prince.
302
00:25:53,747 --> 00:25:56,386
In the old palace
of the rajas of Tanjore,
303
00:25:56,707 --> 00:25:59,267
there's another insight into
the Cholan age.
304
00:25:59,867 --> 00:26:01,778
Here in the former royal library
305
00:26:02,027 --> 00:26:04,621
is a vast store
of ancient Tamil literature
306
00:26:04,707 --> 00:26:06,698
going back to the Cholans and beyond,
307
00:26:07,187 --> 00:26:09,621
grammar, poetry and philosophy.
308
00:26:11,947 --> 00:26:15,986
Many of the texts are preserved
on fragile palm leaf manuscripts,
309
00:26:16,707 --> 00:26:18,823
which are now being carefully restored.
310
00:26:22,067 --> 00:26:25,503
And one fascinating and little known
aspect of their culture
311
00:26:25,947 --> 00:26:29,223
is that the Cholans
also wrote their own history.
312
00:26:33,667 --> 00:26:37,501
What would be a manuscript book,
a chronicle in Western Europe,
313
00:26:37,587 --> 00:26:39,418
say, in the 1 0th and 1 1 th century,
314
00:26:39,707 --> 00:26:43,222
here in the Cholan Empire
is copper plates.
315
00:26:45,627 --> 00:26:50,496
This is just one document from a temple
treasury, about 1 5 copper plates.
316
00:26:50,627 --> 00:26:56,384
There's the seal of Rajendra,
the son of Rajaraja the Great,
317
00:26:56,627 --> 00:26:59,266
the umbrella and the fish, the tiger.
318
00:26:59,427 --> 00:27:02,897
Weighs about 40 kilos
and there's thousands of these,
319
00:27:03,107 --> 00:27:06,258
thousands of these, most of them still
kept by individual temples.
320
00:27:06,867 --> 00:27:09,859
These things were used
for recording genealogies,
321
00:27:09,947 --> 00:27:13,860
royal pedigrees, land grants,
but also history.
322
00:27:13,947 --> 00:27:18,862
And they include the history of how
Rajaraja the Great came to the throne.
323
00:27:22,707 --> 00:27:27,542
And it's a dark story,
a tale of palace intrigue and murder,
324
00:27:28,027 --> 00:27:31,019
of whisperings in corridors
and shadowy deals.
325
00:27:32,867 --> 00:27:37,383
His brother, the heir, was assassinated.
His father died of a broken heart.
326
00:27:37,787 --> 00:27:41,780
And his mother committed suicide, sati,
on the funeral pyre.
327
00:27:42,787 --> 00:27:44,937
And then his wicked uncle
took the throne.
328
00:27:45,827 --> 00:27:49,502
But still Rajaraja did not desire
the burden of kingship.
329
00:27:52,907 --> 00:27:56,104
But the astrologers had seen
certain marks on his body
330
00:27:56,427 --> 00:27:59,260
that showed he was
the god Vishnu on Earth.
331
00:28:00,787 --> 00:28:04,939
And so it was agreed
that Rajaraja should be the next king.
332
00:28:12,787 --> 00:28:14,425
No, over there, please. Just here.
333
00:28:16,227 --> 00:28:18,138
Looking for a clue to
the King's personality,
334
00:28:18,227 --> 00:28:20,695
I went to see the present
raja of Tanjore,
335
00:28:21,067 --> 00:28:25,777
whose family lost their power in 1 94 7
but not their palace.
336
00:28:27,867 --> 00:28:32,145
These Medieval Indian kings seemed to
me men of strange contradictions,
337
00:28:32,547 --> 00:28:35,937
the mix of violence and beauty,
blood and flowers.
338
00:28:36,747 --> 00:28:39,420
But today's prince
just sees a real person,
339
00:28:39,707 --> 00:28:43,416
living according to the kingly
ideal of Dharma.: virtue.
340
00:28:45,027 --> 00:28:48,144
WOOD: You're descended from
the great rajas of Tanjore,
341
00:28:48,227 --> 00:28:50,661
your palace is still right here,
342
00:28:50,987 --> 00:28:54,138
where the Cholan kings' palace was
a thousand years ago.
343
00:28:54,427 --> 00:28:56,816
Have you ever thought
what Rajaraja was like?
344
00:28:57,507 --> 00:29:02,376
Rajaraja, when we just think about him,
our blood shoots up.
345
00:29:02,707 --> 00:29:04,106
He's such a great man.
346
00:29:04,827 --> 00:29:08,217
And, you know, it makes you
to feel very proud
347
00:29:08,307 --> 00:29:10,537
and also it makes you
to feel very small.
348
00:29:10,867 --> 00:29:15,463
If your ego shoots up,
it makes it come down.
349
00:29:15,547 --> 00:29:17,742
What do you think...
What kind of people do you think...
350
00:29:17,827 --> 00:29:20,102
What do you think Rajaraja was like
as a person?
351
00:29:20,547 --> 00:29:21,696
Have you any idea?
352
00:29:21,787 --> 00:29:28,625
Yes, he's the greatest warrior
but at the same time
353
00:29:29,187 --> 00:29:33,146
with the most human touch, I feel.
So he was with the people.
354
00:29:33,827 --> 00:29:36,216
So otherwise just by command and force
355
00:29:36,307 --> 00:29:39,105
he could not have built
such a huge temple
356
00:29:39,187 --> 00:29:44,261
or he could not have planned
such a golden period to his subjects.
357
00:29:48,707 --> 00:29:51,779
There's nothing left
of Rajaraja's palace here in Tanjore,
358
00:29:51,867 --> 00:29:54,017
but if you want to imagine what it might
have looked like,
359
00:29:54,507 --> 00:29:57,658
just come here
to the Raja's Durbar Hall,
360
00:29:59,067 --> 00:30:01,661
the reception hall
of the later kings of Tanjore.
361
00:30:06,347 --> 00:30:08,781
We know it would have looked
like this in Cholan times.
362
00:30:08,867 --> 00:30:11,586
Archaeologists have discovered
the stone bases
363
00:30:11,707 --> 00:30:15,416
to the immense wooden columns
in the front of the reception hall.
364
00:30:16,787 --> 00:30:19,301
Rajaraja the Great would have sat
on his throne here,
365
00:30:19,507 --> 00:30:21,702
surrounded by his queens
and his ministers,
366
00:30:21,867 --> 00:30:25,257
his concubines and his poets,
with the court there,
367
00:30:25,387 --> 00:30:29,505
assembled in front,
ready to receive the royal largesse.
368
00:30:43,707 --> 00:30:45,777
In modern times Rajaraja's reign
369
00:30:45,867 --> 00:30:48,381
has come to be seen
as a Tamil Golden Age,
370
00:30:48,667 --> 00:30:51,704
celebrated in novels, plays
and in movies.
371
00:30:52,387 --> 00:30:54,378
Indeed in the civil war in Sri Lanka,
372
00:30:54,467 --> 00:30:57,857
the Tamil rebels have even modelled
their oaths of loyalty
373
00:30:57,987 --> 00:30:59,864
on those of the Cholan army.
374
00:31:11,827 --> 00:31:16,696
But Rajaraja himself deserves better to
be remembered as great ruler and patron
375
00:31:17,507 --> 00:31:20,385
and an even more assiduous
record keeper.
376
00:31:21,307 --> 00:31:23,298
Don't think for a moment that it was
the British
377
00:31:23,387 --> 00:31:25,503
who brought bureaucracy into India.
378
00:31:26,027 --> 00:31:30,179
The reality of the Cholan state is
revealed in an amazing series of records
379
00:31:30,387 --> 00:31:33,663
carved on the walls
of the great temple in Tanjore.
380
00:31:36,267 --> 00:31:40,226
The temple's not only a monumental
piece of self-advertisement,
381
00:31:40,307 --> 00:31:44,619
it's also a written record of
the administration of the Cholan Empire.
382
00:31:44,747 --> 00:31:47,625
It even lists all the staff,
hundreds of them,
383
00:31:47,787 --> 00:31:51,462
who were brought in to serve
the Emperor's new foundation.
384
00:31:51,787 --> 00:31:56,383
Craftsmen, artists, musicians
and 400 dancing girls,
385
00:31:56,867 --> 00:32:00,542
and they are listed by name,
by house number and by street
386
00:32:00,987 --> 00:32:03,660
in the quarter that was
specially built for them.
387
00:32:08,667 --> 00:32:11,659
For the historian,
the detail is irresistible.
388
00:32:14,307 --> 00:32:16,867
For history, after all,
is not just about kings,
389
00:32:17,147 --> 00:32:19,945
it's about ordinary people
who are usually nameless.
390
00:32:20,467 --> 00:32:21,741
But not here.
391
00:32:23,027 --> 00:32:26,224
Who, for example,
was the dancer Tirumahalam
392
00:32:26,427 --> 00:32:29,624
who lived here
in Rajaraja's new royal city
393
00:32:29,707 --> 00:32:34,098
on South Street, on the south side,
in house number 88?
394
00:32:37,267 --> 00:32:38,985
Where is numbering of street?
395
00:32:39,307 --> 00:32:42,424
Oh, I see! Okay. Thank you, yes.
396
00:32:44,867 --> 00:32:46,016
So, of course,
397
00:32:46,387 --> 00:32:48,981
there is a difference between
old numbering and new numbering.
398
00:32:49,147 --> 00:32:51,866
Nobody's expecting
the 1 1 th century numbering
399
00:32:51,947 --> 00:32:53,903
to be quite the same as it is today.
400
00:32:53,987 --> 00:32:59,220
But counting the houses from
the junction of the street, number 88,
401
00:32:59,667 --> 00:33:06,584
where a dancing girl called
Tirumahalam lived, is somewhere here.
402
00:33:14,427 --> 00:33:15,940
Hello.
403
00:33:22,107 --> 00:33:24,302
This is the kind of courtyard
that would have existed
404
00:33:24,387 --> 00:33:27,345
in the private houses in Cholan Tanjore.
405
00:33:27,427 --> 00:33:31,625
Every one would have had its own well,
and little shrines.
406
00:33:39,187 --> 00:33:40,905
So is this a private temple?
407
00:33:41,827 --> 00:33:43,055
Private temple.
408
00:33:44,867 --> 00:33:47,062
So this is as old as the time of
Rajaraja the Great?
409
00:33:47,147 --> 00:33:49,456
Yes, thousand years.
410
00:33:49,547 --> 00:33:51,617
This is Amal temple or Shiva?
411
00:33:51,787 --> 00:33:53,857
-Ambal. Ambal.
-Ambal.
412
00:33:54,107 --> 00:33:55,301
-Ambal.
-WOOD: Ambal.
413
00:33:55,987 --> 00:33:58,626
So it's a little goddess shrine,
family shrine.
414
00:33:59,027 --> 00:34:00,460
Isn't that absolutely wonderful?
415
00:34:00,667 --> 00:34:04,455
I think when you look at
those documents for the dancers,
416
00:34:04,667 --> 00:34:09,821
that Tirumahalam the dancer,
who lived at number 88,
417
00:34:10,267 --> 00:34:13,464
lived in a place just like this
with her little shrine to the goddess,
418
00:34:13,787 --> 00:34:15,186
a yard where she cooked
419
00:34:15,667 --> 00:34:19,546
and spent a life devoted
to the service of Shiva
420
00:34:19,627 --> 00:34:22,380
in the great temple of Rajaraja.
421
00:34:26,107 --> 00:34:28,701
And the dance has survived until today.
422
00:34:37,267 --> 00:34:39,497
This style of dancing, Bharatnatyam,
423
00:34:39,587 --> 00:34:42,579
is another of the artistic traditions
of South India
424
00:34:42,667 --> 00:34:44,703
that's come down to us
in an unbroken line
425
00:34:44,787 --> 00:34:47,381
from the Cholan era
a thousand years ago.
426
00:34:48,227 --> 00:34:51,822
Back in Rajaraja the Great's time,
it was a religious dance,
427
00:34:51,907 --> 00:34:54,865
those girls in the temple
were dancing for God.
428
00:34:57,427 --> 00:35:02,785
And the poses of the dance still today
are the 1 08 classic poses
429
00:35:02,867 --> 00:35:07,418
that Shiva himself is said
to have danced in his cosmic dance.
430
00:35:14,067 --> 00:35:17,855
In the Tamil countryside
you can still stumble on scenes
431
00:35:17,947 --> 00:35:19,585
straight out of the Cholan world.
432
00:35:32,307 --> 00:35:36,823
This is Tiruvengadu,
a centre for the arts in Rajaraja's day.
433
00:35:40,827 --> 00:35:42,658
The king made an official collection
434
00:35:42,747 --> 00:35:45,864
of the hundreds of popular songs
to the god Shiva,
435
00:35:46,667 --> 00:35:48,623
and these are still sung today.
436
00:35:52,027 --> 00:35:56,578
When the King first heard them he said
they'd made his hair stand on end.
437
00:36:05,627 --> 00:36:07,185
In this and many other ways,
438
00:36:07,347 --> 00:36:11,340
the ritual and psychological order
established in the Middle Ages
439
00:36:11,587 --> 00:36:15,421
defined the forms of Hinduism still
practised today in the south.
440
00:36:30,227 --> 00:36:35,221
But the Cholan Age was also one of
the greatest periods of Indian art.
441
00:36:48,027 --> 00:36:50,860
And this one, perhaps the most famous.
442
00:36:59,667 --> 00:37:02,977
Just come looks at this,
about as close as we could possibly be
443
00:37:03,067 --> 00:37:08,187
to one of the greatest masterpieces
in metal casting in the world.
444
00:37:11,547 --> 00:37:13,777
It shows Shiva as the herdsman.
445
00:37:13,867 --> 00:37:16,335
He would have been leaning on
his bull, Nandi, here,
446
00:37:16,427 --> 00:37:18,463
but the bull hasn't been found.
447
00:37:21,667 --> 00:37:23,623
Fantastic detail on the fingers,
isn't it?
448
00:37:27,067 --> 00:37:29,422
A turban of snakes
449
00:37:31,907 --> 00:37:34,546
and what a wonderful figure he's got,
hasn't he?
450
00:37:34,907 --> 00:37:36,579
Rather lovely midriff.
451
00:37:39,107 --> 00:37:41,462
The girdle,
the detail of the girdle here.
452
00:37:41,947 --> 00:37:46,737
And, of course, the consort of the God
is always here as well, this is Parvati,
453
00:37:47,427 --> 00:37:52,182
Shiva's wife,
and this is the classic image
454
00:37:52,267 --> 00:37:55,703
of Cholan beauty, South Indian beauty.
455
00:37:55,787 --> 00:38:00,065
In fact, it becomes the classic image
of beauty in India altogether.
456
00:38:00,147 --> 00:38:03,059
You know, you see any of the classic
Bollywood historical movies
457
00:38:03,147 --> 00:38:04,660
and they kind of look like this.
458
00:38:05,027 --> 00:38:07,905
Except the upper part of their bodies
is dressed, too.
459
00:38:19,027 --> 00:38:21,336
And one of the families
of bronze casters
460
00:38:21,467 --> 00:38:25,142
who worked for Rajaraja still exists
461
00:38:25,227 --> 00:38:27,866
and they're still making bronzes today.
462
00:38:33,067 --> 00:38:38,505
So how many generations of names back?
1 5 generations, more? 20, more?
463
00:38:39,187 --> 00:38:40,666
WOOD: According to family tradition,
464
00:38:40,747 --> 00:38:43,466
their ancestors
worked on the temple in Tanjore
465
00:38:44,027 --> 00:38:47,019
and they still make the images
in exactly the same way.
466
00:38:56,147 --> 00:39:00,345
So you don't use a ruler?
You don't use feet and inches?
467
00:39:11,587 --> 00:39:17,025
So this is one face, quarter face.
The measurement is by the face, yeah?
468
00:39:21,067 --> 00:39:22,056
Chest.
469
00:39:24,427 --> 00:39:25,416
Abdomen.
470
00:39:26,907 --> 00:39:27,896
Upper leg.
471
00:39:29,787 --> 00:39:34,019
Knee. Lower leg. Foot.
472
00:39:37,267 --> 00:39:39,701
The model is then made in beeswax.
473
00:39:50,187 --> 00:39:51,256
WOOD: Why beeswax?
474
00:39:55,227 --> 00:39:59,140
Every civilisation has its idea about
how God should be represented,
475
00:39:59,747 --> 00:40:05,105
but this Tamil version of God
as a dancer is unique
476
00:40:05,587 --> 00:40:09,865
and wonderfully laden with symbols.
477
00:40:10,547 --> 00:40:16,065
The drum that beats
creation into existence,
478
00:40:16,187 --> 00:40:18,985
the fire which will destroy everything
at the end,
479
00:40:19,787 --> 00:40:21,664
destroying the demon of ignorance.
480
00:40:21,987 --> 00:40:26,697
Every part of the image
which Sthapathy is constructing
481
00:40:26,827 --> 00:40:28,340
is loaded with meaning.
482
00:40:32,587 --> 00:40:35,181
The casting of the bronze
begins with a prayer.
483
00:40:35,947 --> 00:40:39,986
Then the mould is slowly heated
to melt the wax inside.
484
00:41:01,267 --> 00:41:03,542
You have to do things the way
that it was always done.
485
00:41:04,067 --> 00:41:06,217
You know, 21 st century
486
00:41:06,867 --> 00:41:10,382
and modernity, but you still do things
the way that they were always done.
487
00:41:15,907 --> 00:41:22,346
This ancient craft is called the
lost-wax process. It's easy to see why.
488
00:41:48,107 --> 00:41:52,020
Then the mould is filled
with a special mix of molten bronze.
489
00:41:52,467 --> 00:41:56,426
The exact composition?
The secret of the bronze master.
490
00:42:06,947 --> 00:42:11,862
What a way to make
the most beautiful pieces of art.
491
00:42:15,387 --> 00:42:17,423
His job is simply to do the pouring.
492
00:42:17,507 --> 00:42:21,182
He hasn't been around all day,
just came in to do the pouring.
493
00:42:22,827 --> 00:42:25,216
Everybody has their own role
in the task.
494
00:42:29,267 --> 00:42:33,704
The bronze is left to cool for a day,
and then the mould can be broken.
495
00:42:57,267 --> 00:43:00,657
WOOD: This art was at its height
a thousand years ago,
496
00:43:01,027 --> 00:43:04,417
in the hands of masters
whose work has never been surpassed.
497
00:43:04,787 --> 00:43:07,984
But today's craftsmen still work
in their line,
498
00:43:08,507 --> 00:43:11,260
crafting images in the 2 1 st century
499
00:43:11,667 --> 00:43:15,546
that go back to the deepest layers
of the Indian tradition.
500
00:43:38,467 --> 00:43:40,617
This is a particularly precious image
501
00:43:40,707 --> 00:43:44,336
because it's one of only two
that survive of the 66 bronzes
502
00:43:44,427 --> 00:43:47,021
that Rajaraja the Great commissioned
for the opening of the new temple
503
00:43:47,107 --> 00:43:48,825
here in Tanjore in 1 01 0.
504
00:43:49,947 --> 00:43:51,460
And from this place
505
00:43:51,547 --> 00:43:54,107
that image spread out
over the whole of South India.
506
00:43:55,307 --> 00:43:59,346
Even today it's synonymous
with Tamil South Indian culture.
507
00:44:02,907 --> 00:44:06,946
Indeed, synonymous, perhaps,
with all Indian culture.
508
00:44:12,627 --> 00:44:16,222
And a reminder, too,
that though we talk of Golden Ages,
509
00:44:16,427 --> 00:44:20,181
civilisation in reality
is made by the toil of generations,
510
00:44:20,467 --> 00:44:25,461
of craftsmen and women,
of workers and labourers in the fields.
511
00:44:32,587 --> 00:44:35,101
There's a last story about Rajaraja.
512
00:44:37,227 --> 00:44:39,138
Hello. How are you?
513
00:44:39,227 --> 00:44:43,140
When he was young, though he had many
queens, he lacked a son and heir.
514
00:44:43,987 --> 00:44:49,539
So he prayed to the god Shiva.
The son was born and reached manhood.
515
00:44:49,867 --> 00:44:53,303
And at the end of his own life,
Rajaraja made him king.
516
00:44:54,067 --> 00:44:56,945
And then he came here to give thanks.
517
00:44:57,707 --> 00:45:01,495
It's an extraordinary sort of story.
It's one of the few places
518
00:45:01,587 --> 00:45:05,296
where you can actually stand
where Rajaraja the Great came,
519
00:45:05,947 --> 00:45:11,226
Rajaraja's craftsmen had created
a huge cow made out of gold.
520
00:45:11,547 --> 00:45:14,903
You have to imagine the Cholan court
in all their finery
521
00:45:14,987 --> 00:45:18,024
in 1 01 2 coming...
522
00:45:18,107 --> 00:45:20,541
WOOD: The ceremony was called
the ceremony of the golden egg
523
00:45:20,627 --> 00:45:23,141
or of the golden womb,
a kind of renewal ceremony.
524
00:45:23,747 --> 00:45:26,500
The Queen was passed through
the mouth of the cow
525
00:45:28,067 --> 00:45:31,742
and then the cow was broken to pieces
and the gold given to the priests.
526
00:45:31,907 --> 00:45:34,740
And a moustache.
He's wearing a moustache!
527
00:45:35,387 --> 00:45:38,823
And the King himself
was weighed in gold.
528
00:45:41,547 --> 00:45:44,778
But in that moment,
the king was celebrating
529
00:45:45,427 --> 00:45:48,976
a long reign of great prosperity,
as his inscriptions say,
530
00:45:49,587 --> 00:45:54,707
when the Goddess of Victory,
the Goddess of Fortune
531
00:45:55,867 --> 00:46:00,065
and the matchless Goddess of Fame
had all become his wives.
532
00:46:05,667 --> 00:46:08,135
Within months Rajaraja died,
533
00:46:08,707 --> 00:46:12,666
but he'd laid the foundations for
the Tamils to dominate South India
534
00:46:12,867 --> 00:46:14,778
for nearly 300 years.
535
00:46:53,907 --> 00:46:58,901
Through the 1 1 th century, the age
of Byzantium and the Muslim Caliphate,
536
00:46:59,067 --> 00:47:01,627
the Cholans were one of the world's
great powers,
537
00:47:02,467 --> 00:47:07,257
making colonies in Java,
Sumatra and the islands of Indonesia.
538
00:47:13,907 --> 00:47:15,625
So in the story of India
539
00:47:15,867 --> 00:47:18,984
that's how civilisation flowered
in the Middle Ages
540
00:47:19,147 --> 00:47:20,865
in the north and the south.
541
00:47:22,107 --> 00:47:26,066
The legacy of those centuries would be
far-reaching in Indian history.
542
00:47:26,587 --> 00:47:30,660
And down here in the south
where the tempo of change is slower,
543
00:47:31,107 --> 00:47:33,780
where later wars
and invasions had less impact,
544
00:47:34,107 --> 00:47:37,065
the continuities can still
be seen today.
545
00:47:40,507 --> 00:47:45,183
One is in that central concern of
medieval government, irrigation.
546
00:47:47,507 --> 00:47:49,577
Like all the great
ancient civilisations,
547
00:47:49,787 --> 00:47:53,416
the Cholan culture grew up on the banks
of a river, the Kaveri.
548
00:47:54,067 --> 00:47:59,187
But at this point the two great streams
of the Kaveri almost touch each other.
549
00:47:59,827 --> 00:48:04,264
But the bed of that stream is about
1 0 feet lower than the bed of that.
550
00:48:05,147 --> 00:48:10,062
The danger is that all the water will
flow away that way towards the sea.
551
00:48:10,467 --> 00:48:15,143
So what the Cholans did
was create a great dam, the Anicut,
552
00:48:15,667 --> 00:48:19,455
a snaking brick structure more than
a thousand feet long,
553
00:48:19,547 --> 00:48:21,981
60 feet wide, 20 feet high
554
00:48:22,227 --> 00:48:27,620
that diverted the waters of that stream
of the Kaveri off into the delta
555
00:48:27,867 --> 00:48:32,065
where they could irrigate vast new areas
of rice fields
556
00:48:32,467 --> 00:48:34,742
and feed a booming population.
557
00:48:56,667 --> 00:48:58,897
So the centuries of Medieval rule
558
00:48:59,067 --> 00:49:02,218
bequeathed later generations
and modern Indians
559
00:49:02,467 --> 00:49:05,618
one of the richest
and most productive places on Earth.
560
00:49:10,667 --> 00:49:11,986
In the 1 8th century
561
00:49:12,227 --> 00:49:15,537
British administrators described
the rice fields of the south
562
00:49:15,627 --> 00:49:18,778
as the most fertile lands they ruled
anywhere in the world,
563
00:49:18,947 --> 00:49:20,858
giving three harvests a year.
564
00:49:26,507 --> 00:49:29,305
And they thought the people
of the southern rice fields
565
00:49:29,387 --> 00:49:31,582
among the most moral and hard-working.
566
00:49:39,267 --> 00:49:41,019
And those people are still here,
567
00:49:41,307 --> 00:49:45,858
like the old agricultural caste
who supervised the irrigation long ago
568
00:49:45,947 --> 00:49:47,426
under the Cholan kings,
569
00:49:48,467 --> 00:49:52,096
still maintaining the ancient rituals
in the modern world.
570
00:50:11,467 --> 00:50:14,777
This is where the, uh, you have family
festivals in here.
571
00:50:26,947 --> 00:50:28,778
WOOD: Tell me about the community.
572
00:50:38,467 --> 00:50:41,618
So the job of your caste was to maintain
573
00:50:41,867 --> 00:50:45,018
irrigation in the rice paddy fields
and all this,
574
00:50:45,107 --> 00:50:46,779
this was a special job.
575
00:50:46,907 --> 00:50:49,262
-What is this part of the house, here?
-This part is...
576
00:50:49,507 --> 00:50:50,860
WOOD: Like all their community,
577
00:50:50,987 --> 00:50:53,865
they believe in killing no living thing,
even insects,
578
00:50:54,307 --> 00:50:55,945
and are strictly vegetarian.
579
00:50:59,267 --> 00:51:01,417
-This is our kitchen.
-Oh, great.
580
00:51:03,307 --> 00:51:06,617
Vegetarian cooking, 'the food of Shiva',
as they call it here,
581
00:51:06,707 --> 00:51:08,345
is the great tradition in the south.
582
00:51:08,787 --> 00:51:10,425
-And the grinding stone.
-The grinding stone.
583
00:51:15,827 --> 00:51:18,819
And here cooking is tied to many
important social rituals
584
00:51:18,907 --> 00:51:22,536
at the family hearth,
especially for married couples.
585
00:51:38,987 --> 00:51:41,376
WOOD: So it is like a test
for the new wife.
586
00:51:43,187 --> 00:51:44,256
Thank you.
587
00:51:56,547 --> 00:51:59,015
So this is dhal and rice from family
fields or...
588
00:51:59,107 --> 00:52:00,096
-Yeah.
-Oh, right.
589
00:52:00,187 --> 00:52:02,337
-First starting.
-Fantastic.
590
00:52:08,307 --> 00:52:09,626
Mmm, it's lovely food.
591
00:52:13,027 --> 00:52:16,781
And, always, the women
wait for the men to finish?
592
00:52:16,907 --> 00:52:19,899
-Yeah.
-This is tradition.
593
00:52:30,147 --> 00:52:33,344
WOOD: Oh, really?
Husband and wife share the same leaf?
594
00:52:35,187 --> 00:52:39,021
This is what one of the things that,
which is what it means to be Tamil.
595
00:52:39,107 --> 00:52:40,096
Yeah.
596
00:52:45,067 --> 00:52:48,104
WOOD: One of the highlights of the year
for traditional Tamil women
597
00:52:48,307 --> 00:52:50,775
is the festival of light.: Karthigai.
598
00:53:23,227 --> 00:53:28,540
WOOD: Modern Indian women, and yet still
bearers of an ancient civilisation.
599
00:53:36,147 --> 00:53:38,297
And at the time
of the festival of light,
600
00:53:38,547 --> 00:53:42,062
just as they did in the Middle Ages,
people go on pilgrimage.
601
00:53:49,307 --> 00:53:51,946
All these people are heading
for a small town
602
00:53:52,027 --> 00:53:57,385
in the South Indian plain.
The name of the place: Tiruvannamalai.
603
00:53:59,027 --> 00:54:01,905
Pilgrimage is another living legacy of
the Middle Ages.
604
00:54:02,027 --> 00:54:04,097
It's one of those things
that gave Indian people
605
00:54:04,187 --> 00:54:06,257
a sense of cultural identity
606
00:54:06,627 --> 00:54:09,460
long before India
achieved political unity,
607
00:54:10,467 --> 00:54:15,336
a sense of India as a holy land
from the Himalayas to the deep south.
608
00:54:31,267 --> 00:54:33,827
It's all a bit like
an Indian Canterbury Tales
609
00:54:34,307 --> 00:54:38,778
and this is just one of thousands of
sacred sites dotted across the south.
610
00:54:44,947 --> 00:54:47,256
All through the day,
the more vigorous pilgrims
611
00:54:47,347 --> 00:54:49,577
scramble up to the top of the mountain,
612
00:54:49,907 --> 00:54:52,660
where a sacred fire
will be lit after dark.
613
00:55:02,667 --> 00:55:07,900
Down below, inside the giant temple,
the crowds gather and just wait,
614
00:55:08,467 --> 00:55:12,460
wait for an ancient ceremony to greet
the fire on the mountain,
615
00:55:13,027 --> 00:55:15,018
a ritual a thousand years old.
616
00:55:15,547 --> 00:55:17,981
And who knows? Maybe much older.
617
00:55:29,867 --> 00:55:34,736
What's going to happen in about an hour
is that the bronze images of the gods,
618
00:55:34,827 --> 00:55:38,456
Shiva, Parvati, Ganesh, Chandikeshwara,
619
00:55:39,267 --> 00:55:42,543
will be brought out
and put on these chariots here.
620
00:55:42,667 --> 00:55:47,297
Then carried round?
All round the courtyard?
621
00:55:59,827 --> 00:56:02,500
And now,
everyone's waiting for the light,
622
00:56:02,987 --> 00:56:05,581
the light that will cut
through the darkness.
623
00:56:06,467 --> 00:56:09,027
It's one of the oldest ideas
of humanity.
624
00:56:11,027 --> 00:56:12,983
This has got to be
the only place in the world
625
00:56:13,067 --> 00:56:15,945
where you can get run over
by Bronze Age priests!
626
00:56:20,587 --> 00:56:25,661
There's India, as it always does,
stirring those ancient memories.
627
00:56:30,307 --> 00:56:32,696
So the light has been lit on the top
of the hill.
628
00:56:32,947 --> 00:56:34,539
They're all looking to see it.
629
00:56:37,547 --> 00:56:39,663
As for the idea of the Golden Age,
630
00:56:39,947 --> 00:56:44,463
it seems to me that golden ages
can only ever exist in the past.
631
00:56:45,267 --> 00:56:47,906
For they are the products
of our imaginations
632
00:56:48,667 --> 00:56:53,104
and we humans, after all,
can only ever exist here,
633
00:56:53,747 --> 00:56:54,736
in the present.
634
00:56:57,387 --> 00:56:59,662
WOOD: So, Shanti, this is first time
you were here?
635
00:56:59,747 --> 00:57:01,180
-Yeah.
-Yes. Enjoy?
636
00:57:01,267 --> 00:57:03,622
-Enjoying, very much enjoying.
-Yes?
637
00:57:03,707 --> 00:57:04,696
I am lucky.
638
00:57:04,787 --> 00:57:08,985
I thought we would never see the jyothi.
So this is auspicious.
639
00:57:09,067 --> 00:57:10,659
Yes.
640
00:57:13,147 --> 00:57:17,982
In a world where the identities and
traditions of the ancient civilisations
641
00:57:18,147 --> 00:57:22,982
have been wiped away in a few
generations, here in India alone
642
00:57:23,627 --> 00:57:25,743
they've kept touch with their deep past
643
00:57:26,107 --> 00:57:29,782
and, indeed, one might say,
with the past of all humanity.
644
00:57:29,907 --> 00:57:33,502
And that part is the key
to the story of India.
645
00:58:04,027 --> 00:58:05,938
Next in the Story of India,
646
00:58:06,187 --> 00:58:09,384
the clash of civilisations
that shaped our world.
647
00:58:11,467 --> 00:58:15,904
The fabulous tale of Indian Islam.
648
00:58:15,987 --> 00:58:19,582
The dazzling culture of the Moghuls.
649
00:58:20,747 --> 00:58:24,422
And the extraordinary quest
for one world religion.