Readings in history (part I - long)

I am recently on a reading spree on history; some topics I am interested in are pre-history (way-back-when to around 1ooo BC), Indian especially South Indian history and history of languages.

If you share similar interests, here are some fascinating reads:
- The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond follows his popular award winning Guns Germs and Steel. If you haven't read Guns, Germs and Steel, you can give it a miss and go straight to this one. That is because the entire thesis of the former book is condensed conveniently into one chapter of this book - a discussion of why human civilization advanced more rapidly in Europe than say in Africa. Diamond says the key to advancement lies in domestication of animals (cattle, horses) and plants (for agriculture and mass production) and Europe offered some geographical advantages in this regard - an east-west orientation with similar climate/geography over a wide land mass, availability of animals and crops for domestication . I am super-simplifying here, but that I think is the gist.

Diamond's analysis on where the Proto Indo-European (or PIE) language originated is especially interesting. PIE is the hypothetical root of all Indo-Aryan languages including Sanskrit and its Indian derivatives and most of the major European languages (also called Aryan languages). Diamond's conjecture is that PIE originated somewhere in Central/East Europe. Of particular interest is how he arrives at this, read the book for the analysis - some heady stuff.

The chapters talking about the microcultures of Papua New Guinea are another compelling part of the book. Due to the peculiar geography of New Guinea, it sustained many tribes that lived within 10s of miles of each other without ever coming in contact with each other nor with any other developed society until the mid 1900s when European explorers discovered them. These tribes apparently speak wildly different languages with some resembling Chinese while others resemble European languages. The island is a dream "laboratory" for sociologists and anthropologists.

- An Illustrated History of South India by K.A. Nilakanda Sastri (Oxford press): I am half-way through this book. Nilakanda Sastri's book is now more than 60 years old and is considered the definitive compilation of South Indian history. The latest edition is probably the most readable one - I had got an earlier edition which was more dense that I gave up after a couple of chapters. The new paperback is an abridged edition with pictures that is more accessible to mere mortals.

The first part of the book focuses on the political history, i.e. the empires, the kings, the wars they waged and the territories they controlled - the stuff we all learnt growing up in India in History class; those text books were probably based on this book. The later part (which I haven't read yet) is about social & religious history.

Some highlights from the book so far: the dynastic enmity between Pallavas and Chalukyas (6th to 9th centuries AD) is one of the juicier bits of South Indian history. The Tamilnadu State Board history textbooks portrayed the Chalukyas in a somewhat negative light as compared to the beloved Pallavas who were not just great warriors but also great stalvarts of art and architecture (I am pretty sure Kannadigas are taught a somewhat different version). Kalki fed on this in his Sivakamiyin Sabatham which is loosely based on historical events, where he shows Pulakesin II, the Chalukyan king to be an outright villain . The enmity has enough twists and turns complete with sons avenging father's defeats.

Well, the history according to Sastri is almost as dramatic. First, Pulakesin II invades the Pallava kingdom and comes close to Kanchi before he gets stopped 15 miles away. He still annexes a lot of North Pallava territory from Mahendra Pallava. Mahendra's son, Narasimha Pallava exacts revenge by defeating Pulakesin II (Pualakesin dies in this battle) and plundering his capital Vatapi (now called Badami). A couple of generations later, a Chalukyan king returns the favor on Kanchi. And so on.

Other than his mixed results with the Pallavas (which Tamilians and Kannadigas should probably agree on as a draw), Pulakhesin II was a great king in his own right. There is no historical basis for his villainy. He was just as territorially ambitious as the next guy, I mean emperor. Don't forget that he stopped the north Indian emperor Harsha Vardhana dead on his tracks at the banks of Narmada and hence perhaps stopped another round of "Aryanization" from ever happening (now that is a juicy topic for another post). You see, the whole of India has been united under an empire only a couple of times (by my count) in history before the British - Ashoka & Aurangazeb. If Harsha had beaten Pulakhesin, that could have led to one more instance.*

None of this is to take away from the greatness of the Pallavas - you just need to visit Mahabalipuram if you have any doubts.

Enough for now, more later.

- Balaji

* The bit about the significance of Harsha's defeat at Pulakesin's hands is my amateur point, not Sastri's.

Brush with corruption

It has been 2 1/2 years in India and it is time that I had my first brush with corruption, if you ignore a minor funny traffic incident. I had to take two laptops with me to the US for a business trip. On my way out, the customs officer refused to record the fact that I was carrying two because I didn't have a letter from my company to that effect. After I reached the US, I arranged for such a letter to be sent to me and was armed with the said letter when I returned to Hyderabad.
When they scanned my carry-on bags at customs and found the 2 laptops, they duly sent me to a customs officer. I told him about why I couldn't get the export certificate on my way out and I produced the letter from my company. But that doesn't help now, the officer pointed out, I should have had the letter with me on my way out and got the export certificate then. After a few minutes of arguing I gave up and asked him what the duty was. He arrived at a depreciated value and assessed 30% duty on it and arrived at Rs. 7000. I didn't have that much cash on me and I asked him whether I could pay in some other way.
"How much do you have?"
"Rs. 3500"
"Okay, leave that here", pointing to the desk. Only then I realized what was happening, and I put the money on the desk. At that point, he became a little nervous and walked off the desk as if fleeing the crime scene. I was tired and sleepy and left in a huff, *&^?ed with the whole thing, wishing I had had the money and paid the whole sum to the govt instead of the guy. I also realized I didn't have a single rupee on me as I got into the cab to get home.