L'Inde Classique

Indian civilization flourished for some eighteen centuries between Buddha's nirvana and the Muslim invasions. Yet, no institution has managed to organize India, and no lasting government has been associated with its incredible growth, which nonetheless does not preclude some intense debate on the very concept of government. Strangely enough, beyond India's mere existence as a country, there really is an Indian civilization - possibly the only great civilization to be federated not by a government, but by a language: Sanskrit - the Brahmans' sacred language, which is also a cultural language. Similarly, no Church has attempted to institutionalize India's religions nor the formidable speculative enthusiasm of such truth seekers as the Buddha, the Jina, Patañjali, Samkara and many others who have turned to (or away from) the sacred Veda scriptures. They therefore began to reflect upon the vast concepts underlying spiritual life : of what value is the human action that we call karma ? How can we escape the cycle of death and rebirth -samsara ? Can we live by the principle of non-violence ? How can we justify the existence of evil ? What should we think of a social organization like the caste system, that is the essence of Hinduism ?Spiritual reflection was thus left to a minority of ascetics, the yogi, and the philosophers who wished to escape this world. But there were also those who wished to remain very much involved in the world and to be intensely alive. A golden age of Bharatanatya dances, raga music, sculpture and architecture and India's first miniatures had begun. This was also a time when, in the field of mathematics, India discovered the number zero, positional numeration, and how to precisely calculate the circumference of the earth.These glimpses of India will reveal to the reader a fertile, exuberant, and multifaceted civilization very different from the poverty-conscious and superstitious clichés that are the remnants of India's recent colonial past.Michel Angot, an expert in Sanskrit grammar, teaches at INALCO.