If you could witness any 5 events in history, what would they be and why?
Here , I would like to stop myself to the historical instances within a span of 4000 years and not Epochs or instances on Time , say the exact birth of Universe or formation of first RNA or DNA strand or the species wipeouts that happened in various timelines or the travails which humanity faced in Ice Age.
My answer informs the Identity I have , which is, a person who speaks in Tamil , has a known familial connect with the land I am part of (Tamizhagam or Tamil Nadu) and also the geographical spread am part of (Indian Sub-Continent) and the geo-political unit (India).
In my answer, I don’t specify an exact year but instances which could have taken long time to ferment and mature.
- The cultural continuum that existed between Mesopotamian and Indus Valley Civilization
It is said that, merchants of Indus Valley Civilization traded extensively with Mesopotamian and Egyptian Civilization. I wish to be a Trader who traveled from a City in Indus Valley Civilization and visit the hubs in these other two civilization. Observe how the traders talk and make a deal, the cross-pollination of ideas which happened due to these trade, draw insights on how the society was structured in Indus Valley and what innovations made them to create such sprawling cities and whether the downfall was brought upon themselves through indiscriminate usage of resources or due to Climate change or due to large scale immigration into these societies from regions affected by the climate change.
Most important of all, would try to know the basis of Harappan Language which is still not deciphered. In addition to that, am curious about the Assyrian Influence on Indus Valley Civilization as there is a Deva-Asura construct in the Indian psyche which is modelled by the Epics and stories that is prevalent in this region. (In Indian construct, Deva are Gods and Asur are Demons). While in Zend Avesta (The Zoroastrian Text, (Zoroastrian is a religious belief system which was prevalent in regions of Iran and Iraq) , the Daeva are Demons and Ashur is the God) . So I hope to find these answers by being a Trader during the times of Indus Valley Civilization.
2. Creation of Christianity as a Desert Cult and the Role of Jews, the exodus of Jews to Kerala, India.
Christianity as we know now is said to be a resultant of a continuum of Ideas which was prevalent in that specific region. I wish to witness the actual circumstances under which a people adopted this belief system and the role of Jews in Roman Empire then. Am sure to find ideas floating in that region, which in turn would emerge as Islam in later centuries. Here, I wish to know who was St. Thomas who supposedly travelled up to Chennai (Southern Part of India) to spread the gospel.
Here I would wait until 70 CE, for the destruction of Second Temple to happen and travel with hordes of Jews towards Kerala (Western Coast of India), where they established their first Jewish settlement, who in later stages became a prominent trading community called Anjuvannam. This also would throw light on the extent of Roman trade with Tamil Kingdoms then. In fact, the drain of gold from Roman Treasury was so massive that, Roman senators complained that their women used too many Indian spices and luxuries, which drained the Roman Empire of precious metal. Pliny the Elder, in 77 CE, called India “the sink of the world’s gold!”
3. Years of Kalabhras in Thamizhagam (India)
Thamizhagam is a region which was occupied by Tamil speaking people then. It extended from the foothills of Thirumala in Norther direction to the tip of Kanyakumari in the Southern Direction as informed by the ancient Tamil text named Tolkappiyam. This region was ruled by three clans named Chera, Chola , Pandyas along with a clan named Pallavas who seems to have come a different region and got assimilated. It is during this period, a ruling clan under the name of Kalabhras have defeated these existing clans and ruled the land. They were known to be belonging to Ajivika or Jain or Buddhist belief system and are known to have taken away the Land grants to Priest Class within the Tamil Society. It is for this reason, later when the history was written by Priest Class, there were said to be obvious omissions about this era. It is called as ‘Dark Era’ as there are no mention about the Ruling class. I wish to be in that Era and witness the actions of these rulers and understand what made them to completely transform the society as it was then. It is said that, to dislodge Kalabhras , a trinity of Pallavas , Pandyas and Chalukyas joined forces. The end of Kalabhras also marked the Revival of Hinduism, which is now called as Bhakthi Revolution.
4. Trade Journey of Zheng He
Zheng He, was a Chinese Explorer and Admiral who travelled with unprecedented sea fleet of his time to expand the maritime trade of Ming Dynasty. For a perspective, the size of the Chinese ships in his fleet was many times larger than the fleet of Vasco Da Gama, the Portuguese Explorer. His fleet travelled upto ports in Arabian World like Muscat, Aden and Mogadishu. His seven voyages from 1405 to 1433 is accurately charted and written. As part of this journey, he visited India every time and went to both East and West Coast (Calicut, Kayal Pattinam , Bengal). After his last expedition in 1433, because of Royal Order, the further expeditions were banned and China adopted to focus on the Internal Affairs rather than expand the trade through Maritime expeditions. The History would have been lot more different if Chinese had dominated the trade routes of Arabian Peninsula and Indian Peninsula for which they had lot of potential. For a perspective, Vasco Da Gama came to India in 1498 and that marked the arrival of Europeans to India.
These were the words of Zheng He
\\We have traversed more than 100,000 li of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising in the sky, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds day and night, continued their course [as rapidly] as a star, traversing those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare..\\
I can only leave it to imagination, what would have happened to World History if they had continued to explore the maritime trade routes after 1433 A.D.
5. Early days of Israel (The Geo-Political Unit created in 1948)
Israel, as we know now is because of Political Zionist movement that started in Europe which reinvigorated the thirst they had as a community to get back to their Motherland. It was possible because of the huge influence they had in the financial and political arena and the soft power they exuded in terms of accumulated knowledge. Though there are serious questions on whether the way they adopted was right or wrong, I have genuine fascination on how a population scattered across Europe and certain parts of Asia can realize their dream of having their motherland back. In addition to that, the early days of Israel was marked by a treacherous environment in Middle East which saw combined Arab Forces to vanquish Israel. But the chutzpah that they showed then, enabled them to make a place for themselves and create a vibrant economy, an orchard amidst a desert. Any nation with a certain grit that faces existential threat, under a towering leadership becomes a nation that mirrors that of Sparta. One example is Israel and other is Singapore.
