All Around the World with the Most Travelled Indian
By Nitin Gairola
This is the story of humankind with a focus on travel and exploration, since humans have always been on the move. The history of humanity can’t be delinked from the geography of Earth and the geographic location of man over time. I continue with this history & geography story and in this 3rd part, move from Arabia, Persia, Greece & Rome to the East & the rest of the world that was, before and during the BC-AD changeover 2000 years ago.
China
East was just as developed as the empires and kingdoms of Southern Europe and the Fertile Crescent (present day Middle East). The reason why we know a bit about their stories is also due to the fact that writing came about in China around 500 BC. The ancient Chinese wrote and painted on silk. They used brushes and ground up blocks of ink on stone with a little water.
Civilization in China began near the Yellow River with the Shang Kings ruling for 500 years till they were overrun by the Chou in 1,057 BC. From then till 221 BC, China was a collection of several rival states. During this time (551 BC to 479 BC), the life of the great thinker, Confucius was lived. Confucius is the person who quoted my favorite quote. He said “We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one” (I wish we all, including me, could really follow it.)
In 221 BC China was unified under Shin Huang Ti, a Ch’in emperor. This is when the 2,700 kilometer long Great Wall of China was built to keep the tribes from the west out from the ‘civilized’ east. Post the building of the wall, the great Han Dynasty started in 206 BC.
One amazing travel story from Chinese antiquity is that of Zhang Qian. In 138 BC, the Chinese perceived a threat from the Huns, which was a nomadic tribe roaming the vast plains of Central Asia. Chinese emperor Wudi, sent Zhang Qian (an official in his court), to seek alliances with the neighbouring Huns. However during his exploration of China to the west of Chang’an (the then capital), Zhang Qian was captured and imprisoned for a decade. Finally he was able to escape and when he returned to the Emperor with the tales of the land, Wudi was very interested to know more about the locals of western China. In 116 BC, Wudi sent him back to live among the people there and this time Qian’s expedition was a success. He documented his travels, made contacts and explored the trade routes that linked China to the west and even to the south towards India. This led to the opening of the Silk Road (actually roads) or the trade routes that found their way even upto the Roman Empire. This would be the life line of all trade between Asia and Europe for centuries to come, a very significant part of the human story. It joined the East and West and brought these two worlds (within one world), together.
India and other parts of the Ancient World
Besides the great powers of Southern Europe, Arabia and China, we had many other notable civilizations around the world, some of whom were nomadic, such as the Mongols and Scythians. Many of its explorers must have done great amount of travels during their lifetimes, but alas recorded none of it for future generations like us to study. This also holds true for the Celtic tribes of Northern Europe (built the Stonehenge in England in 1,500 BC and held Caesar at bay in 50 BC at Gaul), the Olmecs of Central America (built shrines on mounds in 600 BC & huge stone faces), the city-state of Teotihuacan (built the great pyramid in today’s Mexico City) and the early nomadic Native Americans in present day USA. In Africa there were the Kush and Axum kingdoms in modern day Sudan and Ethiopia and here in our India we had the Aryans who came to the north sometime in 1,500 BC and could also have been there earlier during the Indus Valley period. Either way, they would have travelled great distances.
The Aryans contributed to the composition of the poetic Vedas but they were warriors and nomads as well who rode the great plains of Northern India and possibly Central Asia before that. The ancient Vedas were religious texts written in Sanskrit, which formed the basis of all languages in the area – such as Hindi and Urdu. The religion of the Aryans turned into the ancient or Vedic Hinduism, the dominant religion in India up to the present day and is one of the oldest religions in the world (Hinduism is a coming together of different cultures and traditions with no single founder). As we know, Hinduism’s most iconic and lasting epic is the Ramayana (written by Valmiki) and is the extraordinary story of Lord Rama who travels across the length of India and all the way to Sri Lanka over a period of 14 years, crossing grassy plains, deserts, jungles, mountains, volcanic boulders and even the shallow Palk Strait (between India and Sri Lanka). Millions like me dream to walk this path one day or at least take the 8,000 kilometer and 18-day journey aboard the Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train, that covers many places associated with the life of Lord Rama (it’s also known as the Shri Ramayana Yatra)
And continuing with religion in India, from 560 BC to 480 BC, lived prince Siddhartha, who would later become The Buddha or the enlightened one. Buddhism would become popular across India and even the great emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan Dynasty would convert to Buddhism. Buddhism would later spread into both South East Asia and China. Buddha it can be said initially travelled on foot, asking life’s biggest questions, but later travelled more in the mind after receiving his personal answers. So, just as new religions were forming in the Fertile Crescent, they were in Southern Asia as well, particularly India.
Coming back to the Mauryan Dynasty, King Ashoka (who lived from 268 to 232 BC), created one of the most powerful empires in the history of India. It even defeated the Seleucid Empire and acquired territory west of the Indus River. As everyone knows, the Ashoka chakra or wheel is at the center of our national flag and is a symbol of pride for our nation. The 33 rock edicts of the emperor Ashoka are spread across the country and our own Uttarakhand has the 14th edict in the town of Khalsi. It is just 130 kilometers north-east of Dehradun.
Polynesia
Going further south and very far away from what was happening with the East-West land trade, the Mediterranean Sea trade, empire building and new religions, we had the Polynesians on the other side of the planet, in the Pacific. They may not have built empires but as sea explorers, they were comparable to any if not more. They sailed the torrid seas around the Equator to colonize the islands of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa by around 1000 BC. Later they even went to distant dots on the Pacific Ocean such as Tahiti and Easter Islands and much, much later arrived in New Zealand (around 1200-1300 AD). These greatest of navigators did all of this in their distinctive double canoe, basically two joint canoes forming one boat with a sail. The Polynesians navigated by observing changes in wind and currents, looking at wave patterns and following migrating birds besides relying on the sun and stars. Again no specific voyage or adventure has been captured in writing since recording was not part of their culture. And who are we to judge if that was good or bad, right or wrong. They lived in the moment I suppose.
The BC-AD Changeover
From the time of domesticated animals, chariots and the early ships, the transportation for man (and his limits) stayed essentially the same all the way up until the 1450’s when we had the great sea captains going into their ‘voyages of discovery’ (and later plunder). They also had far greater royal funding for exploration than any other time in world history. But the first millennia AD before that not only didn’t see much change in the way and where people travelled but also why they did so i.e. they still moved for trade and territorial expansion. However this long period of 1,400 years (between 0 – 1400 AD) did see the ‘global’ (ex-America/Australia) spread of two major world religions – Christianity and Islam. During this time Hinduism also reached South East Asia (Google ‘Angkor Wat’ of Cambodia) and Buddhism made it’s way north to China, Mongolia and Japan besides going east towards present day Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and all the way to the Vietnamese coast.
At the BC-AD changeover, the winds of change were not really blowing but man always did want to know what was going on in other parts of the planet and now also what was going on in the great beyond and the space within. The age of global religion had arrived but the scientific awakening was still some distance away in most parts of the world. Next week we travel deeper into the first millennium AD.
Nitin Gairola is from Dehradun and has travelled the natural world more than almost any Indian ever. He has set world travel records certified by India Book of Records, has written for Lonely Planet, and holds National Geographic conservation certifications. He is also a senior corporate executive in an MNC and in his early days, used to be a published poet as well. More than anything else, he loves his Himalayan home. Reach him at: www.facebook.com/MostTravelledIndian/ ; www.instagram.com/MostTravelled_Indian/
