India Discovery Center is hosting its fifth seminar in the series “Let us explore the Cultural History of India” on November 3, Saturday, at Bemis Hall in Lincoln, Ma.  The full day seminar will consist of lectures, presentations, video and music covering different aspects of India during the period 500AD-1500AD.  Because of the substantial amount of Hindu monument construction, the period is labeled as “Hindu Period”. 

The history of India has been a neglected topic since no person of Indian descent ever took time to document the society in India, or to track its evolution.  India never needed it since people of India rarely moved to other countries to settle.  Various visitors made sporadic reports at different times of their visits. The colonizers later tried to tell a story to rationalize their control.  The magnificence of India’s creative achievements and her glorious past remained an untold story!

India produced the world’s first grammar and created the precision modes of human communication.  Secure in her borders, she probed the human mind, explored human speech and analyzed the elements in thought as a process. She created the fabric of poetry and music.  She developed astronomy from ground-based observations and revealed a theory of universe that all life is linked and that preserving the life in the universe is the duty of man.  She experimented on medicine, chemistry and metallurgy.  She played with the numbers to understand nature and happened to discover the decimal zero.  And, she maintained the largest economy in the world for more than a thousand years.  Declaration of human freedom and self-expression are India’s contribution to the world!

India Discovery Center explores India’s history through its seminars.  We will try to reconstruct India’s society and people by piecing together the writings and literature during the period 500AD-1500AD.  We discover that life was vibrant and the country was opulent.  There was trade to distant lands and there were massive construction projects.  The artists had the full support and were free to experiment new elements in architecture, silk, textiles, metal works and jewelry.  Indian products were sought after in the world.  There was wide propagation of India’s culture and customs.  

While India was the leader in Asia, Europe was mostly in the dark and laden in conflicts!   Then there were Islamic crusaders who were searching for food and money.  This part of the story is brutal and violent.  India succeeded in defending her borders for a long time but the Islamists finally won.  Temples were plundered and the natives were massacred.  A faith eschewing violence had come to the land of creative design.  India sheltered the intruders and lived under their rule.  They labeled Indians as “Hindu”, a label that has stuck through further occupation.

The story has more nuances.  Please help us explore.  We have the obligation to tell India’s story to our children and the world at large.  Life is an endowment, it comes with freedom and dignity.  Let all be empowered in creativity and free thinking.  Let there be new literature in the world of prosperity.  We invite you all to join us.  We have a nominal registration fee to defray the incidental expenses and food.  Please register via our website     http://www.indiadiscoverycenter.org  Please write to idccomments@gmail.com if you have questions or comments.

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