Was India poor before Islamic Invasions?

[Anirudh]

Namaste

There is an opinion that India (as a single nation ) never existed before Britishers united us under one flag. Few political outfits down south too voice this thought to get votes every five years. The chief of one such political outfit while in office as CM even wondered whether Sri Raama Chandra Prabhu ever lived on this earth? Keeping such intellectually motivating scientific derivation away from the scope of this discussion can members share their wisdom with me on the question I have raised?

I hope Indians too will share their opinion

Thanks ...

[Punit]

India and China were the worlds largest economies till the 17th century when British started looting India.
Check the first graph in this article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...rld-Jesus.html

[deafAncient]

What has happened is that technically adept brutes developed warfare and used it to their advantage to steal the technology and knowledge from India, and look at it now. Just shaking my head and wondering how this can be reversed. I would have liked to have seen how India's version of today's technology would have turned out, had they not been invaded...

[Anirudh]

Namaste D.A

Could you please explain your statement little bit.
I

Also do you think we should blame Kshatria and Vishyas for this? What is the role of Brahmins in this ?

What has happened is that

technically adept brutes

developed warfare and used it to their advantage to steal the technology and knowledge from India

PS. You needn't reply if you think I am deviating from the original question

[Anirudh]

India and China were the worlds largest economies till the 17th century when British started looting India.
Check the first graph in this article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...rld-Jesus.html

Thank you punith ...

Can you answer the questions I have asked deafAncient ji

[deafAncient]

Namaste D.A

Could you please explain your statement little bit.

Also do you think we should blame Kshatria and Vishyas for this? What is the role of Brahmins in this ?

Technically adept brutes = Europeans involved in the colonization of India and other countries. This means brutes who are materialistic barbarians who know how to use technology for the wrong reasons.

I'm not sure who to assign blame within varṇa/āśrama/jāti society just before and at the beginning of the foreign invasions. I think what happened was that civilization was very refined and elevated to the point that wars between kings were not conducted in a dirty way because you had to think about the karmic baggage of fighting dirty and at the same time be aware of apad dharma - doing what is necessary to safeguard dharma. However, this left them vulnerable to peoples whose armies did not care about karma and broke every rule in the rulebook of warfare, catching them off-guard. Eventually, Kśatriyas in general had to upgrade their weaponry and their military tactics to eventually route the invaders, but it was too late to defeat the far-superior navies of Europe and their Marines.

The lesson I would take from this is that you have to be eternally vigilant in guarding Dharma and never letting a people get out of hand with the ability to defeat you, otherwise look at it now. If the Muslims had never been successful, neither the Europeans in invading and colonizing India, what would India look like today, what would cars in India look like today and how would they be manufactured, what would our electronics be like today, what would the fabric of societies look like today around the world? I don't know if this question can be answered with any degree of accuracy because India was already more advanced than Europe in manufacturing, sciences, metallurgy, etc. at the time of the invasion. Inoculations in rural areas of India were already being carried out at the time the British saw this and put a stop to it. Essentially, Europeans put India's own technological development to a standstill as Europe took over from India's lead. This has changed forever.

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam: India is the only country on this planet where the majority has to fight and defend its rights.

Aum Namasivaya

[Believer]

Namaste,

India is the only country on this planet where the majority has to fight and defend it's rights.

And the people of the majority group who speak up for their rights are labeled 'Hindu Nationalists', 'Saffron Brigade' and worse. The universalists among the Hindus sit on the sidelines and cheer the accusers. What a disgusting scenario!

Pranam.

[devotee]

Namaste,

There is an opinion that India (as a single nation ) never existed before Britishers united us under one flag.

This is not true. The map at the time of Chandragupta Maurya shows that India he ruled included even today's Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, P:akistan and Afghanistan. Yes, sometimes when the ruler was weak, many kings used to declare their independence which was a norm at that time. In fact, this situation was there even when Ashoka ascended to the throne.

India started getting weaker when Buddhism was adopted as state policy by Ashoka and the money which could have been used for technological advancement and scientific research was spent on spreading the message of Buddha. As the centre was no longer that strong, it led to disintegration of states and made India easy prey to Islamic invaders.

OM

[Anirudh]

Namaste deafAncient

Thanks for elaborating and sharing your views on the probable reasons for invasion(s) and losses.

Do you think Indian philosophies especially the (pious) code of conduct limited Indians from saving their mother land. Then what is the use of them?

There are many instances in Mahabharatha and Ramayana where the code of conduct was compromised according to the need of the hour. Do you think while dealing with Invaders, Indians wouldn't have changed their methods as per the situation ?

I agree with your brutality of the invading force. But History says Invading forces made several attempts to capture India. Do you think India didn't get a MAN like chanakya after his death to unite Indian kings under one flag ?