the story of India…
Watching the beautifully done documentary about India,“the story of India” by Michael Wood, who is so excited and informative at the same time. The website is also very very well done.
It started with the origins of civilization spreading out from africa all the way to South India, where it remained genetically unaltered for centuries. “In Tamil Nadu the latest DNA research takes him to a village where everyone still bears the genetic imprint of those first “beachcombing incomers”—the “first Indians” who went on to populate the rest of the world excluding Africa.”
The language (Sanskrit) is thought to be the origin of all languages and has strong similarities with latin and greek. People who bought it to India (Ariens) trace back all the way to Turkmekistan, which had been once thriving towns and cities that spread out over what is now mostly desert. And it is thought that the birthplace of our civilization is in Turkey.
In the second part (the Power of ideas) talks about the origins of Jainism, Buddhism and “we hear the dramatic story of the first great emperor who renounced his kingship and starved himself to death. Finally we meet his grandson (Ashoka), who after a cruel and violent opening to his reign, renounced warfare and introduced the dangerous idea of non-violence, which runs down through Indian history all the way to Mahatma Gandhi and the Freedom Movement.” Especially liked the story of Ashok, who used to be the most cruel king, but when he had a realization on the battlefield he became the greatest peacemaker of his time, reaching out to all countries around his empire for peace.
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