Pots of Gold in the Backyard!

Really, no joke! There was a time when gold coins minted in Rome were hoarded in South India. There was an active and prosperous trade going on with the Romans as early as 2^nd century BC and through to the 2^nd century AD. The Roman conquest of Egypt linked Alexandria, the famous port in Egypt to Rome and via Arabian Sea to the South Indian ports in the Indian peninsula.

Yavana traders, as the Indians called the Greek traders, had become active in South India. Arabs by the end of mid-first century AD had learned to use the monsoon winds to travel speedily across the mid-ocean rather than winding up the coasts.

Ships sailing from the southern end of Red Sea would wait for the South West Monsoon to pass its peak before they set sail for India, using the now less ferocious wind. The returning North East Monsoon from across India in the winter would bring these ships back. The seamen and traders from Egypt had to stay a short while in Indian coastal cities to wait for the favorable monsoon winds. Thus there sprang colonies of Yavanas in Indian coastal area.

Shipping was brisk and South Indians took up long distance voyagers to Red sea or South East Asia for trade. Pliny, the Roman author and naturalist, a naval and army commander of early Roman Empire, who lived in the first century AD, says that Indian ships were of 75 tons and some could even hold up to 700 passengers.

Indian traders sailed to South East Asia to obtain spices which were not readily available in India and traded it with the Roman traders. They sailed by sea to Java, Sumatra and Bali, earning immense profits as they resold these to the Alexandrian merchants in India. They went even to Myanmar and Cambodia.

An Indian Brahmin, Kaundinya, was said to have married a Cambodian princess and introduced Indian culture, especially Hinduism in Cambodia. Angkor Wat stands a testimony to this cultural exchange. For almost 5 centuries, starting from 5^th century to 15^th century AD, majority of Cambodian population were Hindus, until they were gradually converted into Buddhism after the decay and demise of the Indian kingdoms there.

It was a global trade even during 1^st Century AD. Unfortunately gradually Arab traders took over the Western coast commercial maritime initiative and replaced Indian traders as intermediaries. Indian traders became the suppliers and no more the carriers of goods to countries westward.  

Indian vessels brought rice, wheat, and textiles to Socotra in the Arabian Sea, now a part of Yemen. The imports to India were pearls, dyes, wine, dates, gold and specially trained slaves. Roman traders purchased spices from Indian traders, especially pepper, which was used in preservation and in medicine by the Roman world. Such spices were exchanged for Roman gold and silver coins, coral and wine.

Semi-precious stones, particularly beryl, jewels, textiles, pearls, sandalwood, ebony and teak were also exported from India. To amuse the rich patrons in Rome, they imported from India ivory and animals like apes, parrots and peacocks, in addition to textiles, jewels and spices.

Important ports on the eastern coast of India were Poompuhar or Kaveripattinam, Arikamedu and others. A Greek maritime geography of the 1^st Century AD, called Periplus, lists out a compendium of ports and routes along Red Sea and the Indian coast. Kodangallur or Cranganore near Kochi on the western coast of India was linked to the trade in pepper, spices and beryl. Rich pepper trade with Malabar Coast continued for centuries until the time of Portuguese.

There was a settlement of Yavanas in Arikmedu, in south east India from 1^st century BC. It seems textiles were manufactured locally, but to the specification of the Romans and shipped west to eventually reach Rome. What is it except outsourcing, as our textile factories and tailoring units are doing today in the 21^st century!

Roman merchants who traded in India were not necessarily Romans from Rome, but consisted of Egyptians Jews, Greeks from Alexandria and Eastern Mediterranean and also some from North Africa, from all parts of Roman Empire.  

Wine, Olive oil and fish sauce had come from the southern Italy and Greek islands for the use of the Yavana traders, who had settled in South India. Korkai, Alangankulam, Kodumanal, all had such contacts with the Romans. Pot shreds with the names of Indians inscribed on them, some in Tamil Brahmi and some in Prakrit languages have been recently excavated in the ports on the Red Sea, providing evidence of Indian’s extended seafaring activity to distance shores in search of profits in trade.

Most importantly, hoards of Roman imperial coins have been unearthed in some Buddhist sites in Deccan and deep in south India. These coins were of earlier Roman Emperors like Augustus and Tiberius. The debased coins of Nero were not thought worthy of hoarding. Excavations have also shown attempts by Indian rulers to imitate the portraits of Roman coins with substandard portraits of the local rulers.

Roman historian Pliny complained that the trade with the east was causing a serious drain on the income of Rome, to the extent of 550 million sesterces, every year, of which at least one fifth went to India. (Sesterce, a large brass coin of early Rome, has been calculated to be equivalent to $1.55 in 2015). Balance of trade seems to be very much in favor of India. Roman currency denarius was freely in circulation in South India.

Roman gold and silver coins have been found in South India, literally in hoards; even recently such pots full of Roman gold coins have been accidentally unearthed in people’s backyards, while digging for construction of a house or a well. What a find! Of course one has to unfortunately surrender such treasures to the government! These coins were used largely as bullion or as high values currency, leading it to be hoarded; it might have been used as an item of gift-exchange among the local chiefs or as potential capital for further exchange.

With all the brisk trade and pots full of Roman gold and silver coins made by the Indian traders, hardly any written account has been left by the Indians on the places they visited or traded with. Whereas Marco Polo, who visited India in 1288 and 1293, during Pandyan kingdom, has left such elaborate account of India, its rulers, people, their customs, etc. No such account by Indians is forthcoming. Why so?

May be Indians were so full of their own greatness, and arrogance that they are the best in the world, prevented them from taking an active interest in the countries around them! When they are the best, then where is the need to learn from the others! Within their own country, as Marco Polo observed, Indians will not pass on their knowledge to the others belonging to other castes, let alone to the foreigners. No exchange of knowledge took place. 

Well, at least they had hoarded pots of gold and silver coins, which we still keep surfacing! Wish the people who do unearth such hoards are lucky enough to keep it and not surrender it to the government. Ahh, how sad, we live in democratic republic! All exotic things belong to the government. Very unfair, of course.

First Experiment in Imperial Government in India

The first Empire in India, extending from Sind River to Ganges was established by the Mauryans. Chandragupta Maurya managed to win his Empire from the remnants of Nanda kingdom in 321 BC and established his throne securely in the Gangetic plain first. Gradually he turned his attention to north-west of India, where Seleucid kings were ruling.

In a fight against the Greek Seleucus Nicator in 305 BC, Chandragupta Maurya seemed to have won and a favorable treaty was signed in 303 BC. Areas of present East Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Makran were ceded to Maurya from Nicator’s domain, in return of 500 elephants, highly useful in wars in those days.

A marriage alliance was negotiated and the daughter of Nicator was given in marriage to Chandragupta. She came to live in Pataliputra, the capital of Maurya kingdom and along with her came many Greek maiden as her companions. Envoys were exchanged and Megasthenes from the court of Nicator came to live in Pataliputra, and left his impressions of India in a write up called Indica.

Chandragupta was of Shudra caste and not a kshatrya. His Prime Minister Kautilya, a Brahman, was the one who skillfully managed to win the throne of Nandas to Chandragupta. It was an interesting combination – a shrewd Brahman adviser and a Shudra man with muscles. Kautilya, also known as Chanakya, still stands in India for shrewdness or ‘Chanakya tantra.’ The book he wrote, Arthasastra bears witness to this fact.

At the end, Chandragupta became an ardent Jaina, abdicated in favor of his son Bindusara and retired to Sharavanabelgola in today’s Karnataka. He became an ascetic and in the orthodox traditions of Jain religion, he ended his life by regulated slow starvation - self euthanasia? Well, Jain religion permits the same.

Interestingly, the next ruler, Bindusara, asked and received as gifts from Greek King Antiochus I, sweet wine, dried figs and a sophist! On his death in 276 BC, after a period of scuffle with his brothers over the throne, Ashoka succeeded in enthroning himself as an Emperor in 272 BC. His empire extended from north-western India to the east and up to Karnataka in the south. Kalinga was outside his empire and he waged a war and won it.

In the southern peninsula, the Chera, Chola and Pandya kings were ruling and Ashoka seemed to have had friendly relations with them and also with the Sri Lankan king. He had contacts with Antiochus II Theos of Syria, (260-246 BC); Ptolomy II Philadelphus of Egypt (285-247 BC); Antigonus Gonatus of Macedonia (276-239 BC); Magas of Cyrene and Alexander of Epirus.

There were a lot of Greek influences on the Mauryan kings and the people and vice versa. Capitals of the Ashokan pillars are remarkably similar to those at Persepolis and the very idea of engraving on rocks by Ahoka could have come to him on hearing those of the King Darius. He made many Major and Minor Rock Edicts and later engraved on polished sandstone monolithic pillars with animals depicted as capitals, called Pillar Edicts.

Ashoka campaigned against Kalinga kingdom in 260 BC and won. But the destruction caused by the war filled him with deep remorse. 150,000 people were deported; 100,000 soldiers died fighting; and many more perished. The misery caused to the families and the survivors touched his heart. “This participation is all men in suffering weighs heavily on my mind,” he engraved in his Major Rock Edict XIII.

Gradually Ashoka became an ardent Buddhist and adopted non-violence as his principle. The Third Buddhist Council was held during his time at Pataliputra. Decision to spread Buddhism actively was taken during this council and proselytizing was taken up all over India and Asia. His own son Mahinda went to Sri Lanka to preach Buddhism.

It is of interest to note that Ashoka gifted a branch of the original Bodhi tree under which Buddha obtained enlightenment to Sri Lankan Prince and that had survived till today, whereas unfortunately the original tree in India itself was vandalized by anti-Buddhist elements and got destroyed completely.

Emperor Ashoka died in 232 BC and the empire broke up soon afterwards and it ended when the last Mauryan ruler was assassinated by his Commander-in- Chief, Pushyamitra, a Brahman. The usurper founded the Shunga dynasty; thus ended the first experiment in imperial government in India.

Many historians have blamed Ashoka’s non-violence policy, his emphasis on social ethics and his taking active part in propagating Buddhism which went against the grain of Vedic Brahmanism, as the causes for the Empire’s decline and demise. Not necessarily. The real causes may have to be looked at elsewhere.

Vast resources were required to maintain a great standing army, the payment of salary to the higher bureaucracy, the highly centralized administration, and such other costs of maintaining the Empire would have been a great strain on the treasury. The main tax revenue was land revenue, as it was very much an agrarian economy, through trade also flourished. Towards the end there seemed to have been a drought and decline in the fortunes of the empire.

Interesting facts about Ancient India

There is so much to know about ancient India that if volumes were written, it will not suffice. So I continue this incredulous journey of revisiting India in its ancient glory. We are now moving to 6^th century BC, when a second urbanization seemed to have taken place, the first one being in Indus Valley civilization of 2500 BC.

At this time in the north-east India, gana-sanghas have come to be, which were confederacy of clans governed through an assembly. They gave equal status to all people within their sangha (Assembly) and did not follow the Vedic rituals or varnas. Chiefdoms and kingdoms also arose, transition from chiefship to king not being very distant. Kingdoms had a centralized system of governance with the sovereign king at the center.

Earlier the kings were from Kshatrya caste, but very soon kings arose from shudra caste also. These required legitimization, which was done by the Brahman priests for gifts and money, conducting huge brahmanical rituals. Thus throne and priesthood were mutually supportive of each other, just as in would be in the later cases of Christendom and Islamic Caliphates.

Four rival states arose in northern India, three kingdoms of Kashi, Kosala and Magadha, and one gana-sangha, Vrijjis. Of these by 550 BC, Magadha will emerge prominent after overpowering the other states. Along with that administrative systems began, collection of land revenue, one sixth of the produce as belonging to the king and other trappings of power. Village was the basic unit and official assessment of the tax was made by the officials of the kingdom on the produce.  

Varna hierarchy became consolidated with Brahmans laying down the rules reinforced by their ritual powers; kshatryas, through rulers had to depend on Brahman priests to legitimize their sovereignty through Vedic rituals; next in importance came traders, the vaishyas, and then the shudras, who managed to get incorporated as Kshatryas when opportunities presented and also as traders and land owners.

Below all of them were the out castes or the untouchables, who were actually the forest dwellers in the margins of the settlements, which either pushed them deeper into the forests or eke out their living as marginalized people at the fringes of the settlements. They were forced to do manual jobs and the dirty jobs for the community and were accommodated as the lowest of the low in the caste system.

As landless and displaced people they had no voice. They were not allowed to have any weapons. The combination of hereditary status with economic deprivation and social disabilities ensured a permanent and subjugated labor force, for the rest of the community – a very convenient form of slavery, which continued for millennia, in some rural parts of India even today. It is nothing but a curse on Indian social ethos, which got ingrained into Indian social system as early as 600 BC.

Magadha Kingdom came into being with Bimbisara by 550 BC and his son Ajatashatru, who died in 461 BC. Their capital was Rajagriha; Pataliputra was an important town. As a means of conquest of the neighboring kingdoms and sanghas, they had to keep a standing army. They controlled the nodal points in Ganges river system, dominating the river trade. Land was fertile in the Ganges valley and the land tax and tax from trade kept their treasuries full.

This was followed by Shishunga dynasty which didn’t last very long and Nanda, a shudra, usurped and established his own Nanda dynasty. He would be the first of many non-Kshatrya kings. Nandas built canals for irrigation even up to Kalinga (Orissa). Mauryas usurped the Nanda throne in 321 BC.

In the north-western India, even more interesting things were happening. During 6^th century BC, north-western India was a part of Achaemenid Empire. In 530 BC Cyrus, Achaemenid Emperor of Persia crossed over Hindu Kush and received tribute from the kings of Kamboja and Gandhara. These became his provinces ruled by local satraps. It is the same Cyrus mentioned in the Bible, who permitted by an imperial order, the Jews living in exile in Babylon to return to their land, Palestine and helped them rebuild their Temple. Check out Ezra[1] in the Bible, the book starts with Cyrus the king of Persia!

Bible makes reference to the Persian king again in the Book of Esther, where it states that the King of Persia, Xerxes, ruled over 127 provinces, stretching from India to Cush (Upper Nile region).[2] Esther’s story happened around 483 BC, when Xerxes was the Emperor.

Herodotus, early historian of renown, names Gandhara as the most populous and wealthy satrapy in Achaemenid kingdom. It is understood from these writings that Indian provinces provided mercenaries for the Persian army to fight against the Greeks in 5^th century BC. Xerxes attacked Greece and won at Thermopylae in 481 BC, but got defeated at Salamis in 480 BC. Indian warriors were dressed in cotton clothes and carried red bows, spear and arrows tipped with iron. Wow, imagine that! Indians taking part in the battle of Thermopylae in Greece! World was quite small even then, I suppose!

There were other cities in north-western India, Tahshashila (Taxila) for example, which was described by Greeks as a cosmopolitan center, where Greek, Iranian and Indian knowledge and learning mingled. Persian coins were copied in India. Even the rock inscriptions of Ashoka, a later Mauryan Emperor, were influenced by the rock inscriptions of Persian King Darius. King Darius also is mentioned in the Bible as one of the Kings served by Daniel,[3] en exile from Israel, who rose to very high positions under Persian Emperors.  

The script used in north-western India around this time was Kharoshthi, derived from Aramaic, the official language of the Persian Acheamenid Empire. Recall, Jesus and his disciples spoke in Aramaic in the first century AD![4]

Acheamenid Empire was defeated by Alexander the Great from Macedonia in 330 BC. Alexander, wanting to conquer the farthest eastern provinces of Persian Empire, came to north-west India and campaigned for two years. As his soldiers refused to go any further, he traveled along the Indus river up to its delta and sent one part of his army back via Persian Gulf and the other took the coastal land route.

It is this latter part of his army that met stiff resistance from Indian kings, especially Porus (Puru), who fought Alexander’s forces at the Battle of Hydaspes (Jhelum River) and was vanquished, but maintained his dignity. Appreciating his valor, Alexander appointed him as his satrapy and left.

Alexander had brought along literate Greeks, who have left their impressions of India, both facts and fable. The invasion opened up routes along which trade and communication flourished. India established connections with Mesopotamia even, through Afghanistan and Iran/Persia.

There was cultural exchange between these countries, for Indian enlightened gurus, munis or sophists are said to have accompanied Alexander to Babylon. Indian thought definitely influenced those of Greek and Persian and in turn borrowed from them too, leading to enrichment all over. Greeks were called Yavana in Sanskrit and Yona in Prakrit.

Another interesting fact: early trade in India was facilitated by setthis, entrepreneurs of trade and finances. Where do you think our Shettys in Mangalore, Chettiars in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Shets from north India come from! From these ancient Setthis only. Talk about the ancient roots of castes in India!

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[1] The Book of Ezra, chapter 1, verse 1. (Ezra 1:1)

[2] The Book of Esther, 1:1

[3] Book of Daniel 9:1

[4] Gospel of Mark 5:41 reports Jesus called out to the girl who was dead, Talitha Koum, which meant ‘Little girl, I say to you, get up,’ and she arose! Then Mark reports in Mark 7:34, of Ephphatha, meaning ‘Be opened,’ which Jesus used while giving sight to a blind man; Jesus called his heavenly Father as Abba, meaning Father. Mark 14:34.

The Wonder that India was!

It is a long time since I read Indian history, especially the ancient history of India. So it was a pleasure to read the well researched latest book by Romila Thaper[1] on the subject.

We know that Indians were not very good at writing historical treaties. Anything in writing comes only from 300 BC onward. Having said that I must add quickly that the absence of such historical documents has well been compensated by other more reliable evidences like coins, inscriptions and archaeological findings.  

To start at the very beginning, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro in Indus valley have been excavated and it brought to the world’s notice that there was a flourishing civilization, an urban one at that, around 3000 to 2600 BC in India. It is amazing to find out that the Indus Valley civilization had contacts with their contemporary Mesopotamian civilization in the Fertile Crescent.

Harappa seals, beads and weights have been found there, confirming trade in those remote times between civilizations far apart. Coastal shipping from western India along Gulf to the Tigris- Euphrates delta has been evolving ever since. Contacts with Afghanistan and Iran were maintained through the mountain passes, in the North West of India.

In Harrapan civilization bead-making was an extensive industry, using gold, copper, shell, semi-precious stones, and ivory. Etched carnelian bead was its trade mark. The cities show a sophisticated sense of civic planning and organisation.

Harappans worshiped goddesses and fertility cult was prevalent as shown by female figurines. But there were no horses on seals or anywhere else as our present government sponsored historians would like to prove, for horse was not indigenous to India. It was around 2000 BC that Indo-Iranian borders show the arrival of horses, chariots and spiked wheel into India from north west India. 

The Hindu Kush Mountains in the northwest India were the route immigrants, traders and conquerors took from time immemorial to reach India. The Bolan and Khyber passes served as passages, the corridors of communication, through which missionaries from Persia, caravans of merchants from Iran, Central Asia, and Afghanistan and invading armies all found their way to India.

In the north east, Himalayan Mountains being at higher altitude and difficult terrain, not much traffic or trade was evidenced, but Central Asian Silk Route passed through it. Southern peninsula had Vindhaya Mountains to filter in the armies and immigrants, but trade did pass through. Central India was peopled by tribal societies and forest people.

The people speaking Indo-Aryan language poured into North West India through these passes in the Second millennium. By 1500 BC, they had become dominant, not necessarily due to military conquest, but mainly because they had advanced technology, including the swift horse, and claim to ritual authority. They spread in the Indus valley and slowly migrated towards the Gangetic valley in the east.

There is affinity in the language used in the Vedic corpus authored by these immigrants and the Iranian Avasta. Both have derived from Central Asian Indo-European group of languages.

The Vedic corpus, Mahabharata, Ramayana, the well known epics of Aryan settlers along with Puranas, began as oral traditions and was written down in the present textual form only in the early first millennium AD, after many centuries. Just imagine, the teachings of Jesus of 33 AD were written down within 30-40 years after his death and resurrection!

Rig Veda and its associated writings were primarily manuals of ritual and commentaries on these, composed by 1500 BC. Central Asia was the original habitat of these Indo-Aryan people, who migrated to Iran and into India. Avasta, the religious book of Zoroastrianism and Rig-Veda bear many similarities. Horses arrived with them. They disapproved fertility cult of the farmer inhabitants, but had their own fertility cult involving the wife of the ruler, the Queen and the horse of Ashwameda yagna sacrifice.

Worship of fire became central to the rituals as in Iran and India, and women were kept under control. The wife of a Kshatrya warrior went on to the funeral pyre of the husband. Wow, look at the deep roots of Sati! Why then some of the Rajasthan people are objecting to the depiction of mass immolation of the wives of the warriors, including the Queen, whose husbands faced Kilji and got defeated as portrayed in Padmavat, the recent movie?

Upanishads arrive around 800 BC, carrying with them the explanation for present day suffering as due of the past sins and repeated births and deaths, samsara, to pay off the penalty; Karma theory and a justification of the caste system, which by that time had developed into four familiar varnas and got entrenched in the psyche of Indians.

So caste is not a creation of the British as some would want us to think. It was developed in India since 500-800 BC.

How grateful should believers in Christ be, for their penalty was paid by Christ on the cross, and all that they had to do was to accept Christ and what he did on the cross. No karma theory or samsara entanglement for them.

The Golden Age of Vedic period was said  to be from 1200 to 600 BC by which time the corpus was completed. Sanskrit, the language of the Vedic corpus, had evolved by borrowing many elements of Dravidic and Austro-Asiatic languages which were prevalent in India that time. Very soon the India-Aryan language Sanskrit became the dominant language, reflecting the Aryan speaking people.

Panini wrote his grammar treatise Ashtadhyayi around fifth century BC. The upper castes were familiar with Sanskrit, but preferred use of Prakrit for general and routine matters.

Social codes like Dharmasutras came in by this time and the Brahmanical religion based on Vedic corpus, caste system, karma and samsara and varnashramadharma came to be the dominant cultural milieu in India by the second half of the last millennium, 500 BC.

Well, that is a great historical beginning. If you would like to know what happened from 600 BC onward in the Gangetic plain, where a second urbanization took place, with the emergence of small kingdoms and clans, you need to wait for my next blog.

Good bye till then.  

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[1] Romila Thapar, The Penguin History of Early India: From Origins to AD 1300, Penguin Books, India, 2003.

The Fate of Rohingyas

Another happening in the world around us that really bothered me and intrigued me was the problem of the fleeing Rohingyas refugees. They are not just fleeing, but it is a mass exodus, them fleeing in thousands and tens of thousands.

In 2015 there was a major episode and the Rohingyas fled from Myanmar, a mass migration, when they fled to the South East Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand by boats, giving them the nick name ‘the boat people.’ Around 25,000 of them fled and some 300 of them lost their lives in the waters, while crossing the Straits of Malacca and Andaman Sea.

Now again in October-December 2017, another mass exodus took place, almost 500,000 people left their homes to take shelter in the border town of Bangladesh, Cox Bazar on rickety boats and on foot.

Why is this happening? Why are they fleeing thus? Who is persecuting them and why? Such questions troubled me and I wanted to study the background of the whole matter. What I found was amazing. 

Rohingyas are a Muslim minority group living in the Buddhist majority state of Rakhine, formerly known as Arakan, in the North West Province of Myanmar, the former Burma. Since beginning Myanmar refused to acknowledge this ethnic group as their own. They were considered ‘stateless entities,’ people who had come as refugees from Bangladesh.

The Rohingyas had lived in Arakan area for almost 200 years, ever since British rule was established in Burma (now Myanmar). The British colonized Burma for almost hundred years, from 1824 to 1948. During that time, laborers from India were encouraged to migrate to Burma by the British to cultivate rice. Such migration happened just as any migration would occur depending on the availability of labor and livelihood. The British ruled Burma as a province of India. Such a migration was considered normal, rather encouraged.

British had promised a separate land to the Rohingyas, a Muslim National Area in exchange of their support for the World War II. While Rohingyas supported the British, the nationalists Burmese supported the Japanese, considered intruders by the British. After the war the Rohingyas were rewarded by the British with prestigious government posts, but were denied a free state. As elsewhere colonial politics played here too and even after hundreds of years a population is suffering due to that.  

However once Burma gained its independence from the British rule in 1948, close on heels of Indian independence, the Rohingyas demanded an autonomous province that was promised to them. But Myanmar, now independent, refused to acknowledge these people as their own and declared their migration to their land during British era as illegal. They were denied citizenship. By 1950s the army crushed all opposition from Rohingyas.

The Act of citizenship of Myanmar of 1948, and thereafter 1982, did not include Rohingyas as one of the 135 ethnic groups of the country that was listed. Ever since they had suffered discrimination, oppression, persecution and forceful eviction. After the military coup in 1962, troubles started. 1970s saw the first military crackdown on them, forcing them to flee.

The basic requirement of citizenship in Myanmar was that the concerned person should have the required proof that a family of theirs had been living in Myanmar prior to 1948. No such record was forthcoming for Rohingyas, because they were considered as migratory laborers and were never issued with any such citizenship.

When registration for citizenship was taken up in 1977, the army which was in power by that time, refused to enlist Rohingyas and they were declared as illegal immigrants. They were given identity cards as foreigners. Thus they were deprived of basic rights. They cannot vote, they had no free access to study, work or travel, marry, practice their religion, or to health services.  They cannot own property; restrictions were placed on them entering certain professions like medicine or law or run for office.

In 2012 fresh violence against Rohingyas started. The trigger was the alleged gang rape and killing of a Burmese woman by some Rohingyas and killing of 10 Burmese women by some Rakhines. Since then riots, burning of the villages of Rohingyas and blood shed have been the norm. The majority Rakhines also persecuted them. It was nothing but a virtual ethnic cleansing. Since 2012 Bangladesh had received some 200,000 Rohingyas as refugees who are living in Cox Bazar.

The recent violence against Rohingyas started in October 2017, when a few of Rohingya militants under the name Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked some of the army stations, a very stupid idea. They are a Muslim militant group and the army suspects that they are trained by ISI of Pakistan and aided with money from Saudi Arabia.

In the military backlash that followed the poor and innocent Rohingyas paid the price. Their houses were torched, youth killed and they were forced to flee the country.  5,00,000 refugees landed in Cox Bazar due to this  2017. They are living in squalor and unhygienic conditions despite the United Nation’s humane services to these poor and displaced people.

Aug San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, it’s elected leader of National League for Democracy, and the winner of Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, and the present State Counsellor, which is a post akin to that of a Prime Minister of the nation, has maintained a stoic silence in the matter of military oppression of Rohingyas, despite international criticism.

The fear of the Myanmar government seems to be that this Muslim minority, a foreign body with a separatist agenda, might swell in the future and overcome the Buddhist majority population, and the country could become a Muslim spot on the world map, brewing up terrorist activities.

May be the way today’s Britain or the West might fear that the Muslim population will overtake them in biological numbers. Or as Qaddafi, while he was alive, said to have assured his fellow religious men, not to resort to terrorism to win the West, but they can do so by sheer numbers very soon.

Or even as some in authority in India worried that Tamil Nadu might want to separate from Indian Union, if joined together with the Tamils in the north east Sri Lanka. I am sure they heaved a sigh of relief when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam of Sri Lanka lost and their leader Prabhakaran was killed in action.

Be that as it may, these are no justifications for a government to uproot and destroy an ethnic minority, especially the poor and the vulnerable who are caught in between. Any person born in a country has a claim to be counted as the citizen of that country, especially if parents were also born and lived in the country. To say that one has no citizenship even after generations of the family having lived in a country, is utter injustice. And this is what is happening to the Rohingyas in Myanmar.

International agencies and institutions will have to bring pressure on the government of Myanmar to be more humane and resolve this crisis in which the poor and the marginalized are bearing the brunt against an organized crime against humanity. A people cannot be treated as cattle, and neither could citizenship be denied to those who have lived in a country for generations. 

Catalonia, What Ails Thee?!

First of all, let me wish you all a very happy New Year, 2018. It has been almost two months and more since I wrote last! Apologies, here after I promise to be more regular!

I have always been intrigued why Catalonia wants to separate from Spain and become independent. Usually a people who are suppressed, oppressed and undergone human right violations would want to separate from such abusers. But what of Catalonia? It is a developed county, doing very well economically, a rich part of Spain, why would they want to separate?

So I dug deep into their history to learn reasons for these recent developments. I was amazed to discover they have a long history and many historical developments starting from 8^th century.

First, a few words about the place. Catalonia is situated in the north east border of Spain and France. It has a population of 75 million people and 95% of them are Catalan people. Theirs is a prosperous region with highly successful cities like Barcelona, which is also a port.

The Moors, the Muslims invaded and conquered Iberian Peninsula, consisting of today’s Spain and Portugal, in 711 AD. Christian reconquest along the north and eastern coastline began by Franks. Catalan county became the buffer zone between the Christian and Muslim territory known as Marpa Hispanica.

By 9^th century County of Barcelona, a teeming city in Catalan was formed by the efforts of Charlemagne to establish a buffer zone between his Frankish Empire and the Muslim ruled Spain.

In 1131 Ramon Berenguer IV, the Count of Barcelona married Queen Patroilla of Aragon, which united the county with the kingdom of Aragon, but Catalan kept its own trade rights and parliament assuring it’s self rule. Catalan flourished. In 1469 Ferdinand I of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile married uniting their kingdoms to form the Kingdom of Spain.

When Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas in 1492 and trade shifted from Mediterranean Sea to Atlantic Sea, Catalan’s fortunes dipped a little. In Reaper’s war in 1640-52, Catalan revolted against the tax policies of Philip IV, king of Spain and declared a republic, with French protection, but was reoccupied by the Spanish troops. So the problem started very much in 17^th century itself.

In the War of Succession of Spanish throne in 1704-14, Catalan supported the rival claimant to the crown, Archduke Charles of Austria of the House of Hapsburg, against King Philip V of the House of Bourbon. When Philip became the king, he took revenge and suppressed Catalan’s rights to independent parliament and trade liberties. Spanish language and laws were imposed on them.

In 1716, decrees were issued dismantling the separate Catalan legal system and bringing it under the direct rule of Madrid, Spain. The administrative use of Catalan language also was abolished.

Napoleon briefly occupied Catalan in 1812-13, and the first Carlist war took place in Catalan during 1808-1833. By the end of 19^th century Catalan speedily industrialized herself and became a rich county and started to experience a cultural renaissance within Spain. Catalan nationalism started to rise too.

In 1931 Spain became a republic and Catalan also was proclaimed as a republic. After negotiations Catalan accepted autonomy within the Spanish State and an autonomous Catalan regional government was created. Modern politics of Catalonia starts from this point onward.

Unfortunately in the Spanish civil war that ensued in 1936, General Francisco Franco came to power and he abolished Catalan autonomy. During his dictatorship extending up to his death in 1975, Catalan was suppressed culturally and administratively.

After 1975, Spain became a democracy and Catalan as granted autonomy, regional government and its own police force and control over its educational system. The political parties in Catalan concentrated on obtaining autonomy rather than independence. But, demands for full independence started to arise in Catalan very soon.

In 2006 the autonomy agreement granted Catalonia the status of a nation within Spain with tax raising powers.  From 2009 to 2011, 550 municipalities in Catalonia voted in favor of the referendum.

The Supreme Court in 2010 ruled that some of the articles of the 2006 Statute of Autonomy were unconstitutional. This sparked off fresh demands for independence and protest erupted all over Catalan region.

In snap elections held in 2012, a pro-independent party won majority and formed government. In 2013, Catalan sovereignty was declared and it was given the freedom to decide its own political future. In 2014 when Catalan government wanted to become independent and conduct a referendum, the Spanish government referred it to the Supreme Court, which turned it down as unconstitutional.

Thereafter the situation steadily declined. On 1 October 2017 a fresh referendum on independence was conducted and 90% of the people said yes to independence. 43% was the turn out. Spain in Madrid wouldn’t accept even conduct of this referendum and sent its police force to prevent it from happening. The excesses of police forces during this referendum tilted the scales. Even those who did not seek separation from Spain wanted to separate now.

On 27.10.2017, when Catalan declared independence, President Mariano Rajoy took direct control of Catalonia, as per Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution. Catalan leaders were arrested for sedition and its President, Carles Puigdemont fled to Belgium. Snap regional poles were ordered on 21.12.2018. The pro-independence parties won majority, albeit narrowly.

Whatever is the outcome of the present embroiligo, it is seen that Catalonia has had a long history of wrestling for independence and compromising for a regional autonomy within the country Spain. Now why is this so?

Apart from having their own language, customs, education, self-rule and such privileges, Catalonia is also a rich region. Economically, 25.6% of exports from Spain are contributed by Catalonia. It contributes to 19% of Spain’s GDP. It accounts for 20% of Spain’s foreign investment. It is a significant part of Spain and Spain cannot afford to lose it.

However, Catalan pays more tax to Madrid, than the other regions, and its riches go to subsidize the poorer regions in Spain. Catalans are tired of subsidizing practically the rest of Spain, while they hardly get equivalent budgetary support from Madrid. No major infrastructural projects have been taken in Catalonia in spite of need. Hence they want to manage their own finances and development, without financially supporting the country, Spain.

Unfortunately, Spain is also one of the few countries, along with Greece, Portugal and Ireland, heavily indebted to European Union, which has imposed heavy austerity measures on the country. Catalans also suffer under these austerity measures and they feel they can manage their affairs better without having to bear the burden of the whole country. In short they want to control their own economy.

Well, what will happen next? No one, especially in European Union wants Spain to be split up. It might trigger similar demands all over Europe.

May be Catalonia will settle down if more fiscal autonomy is granted within the Spanish Constitution, along with political autonomy.

Let’s hope for the best. 

The marvelous ‘Namma’ Metro Ride!

Ever since the Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit system, known popularly as ‘Namma’ Metro, Phase I was thrown open to the public, on June 18th, 2017, my friend and colleague Mrs. Shamim Banu and myself were planning gleefully to take an end to end, bumper to bumper ride on the Metro. 

After many postponements, similar to the inaugural date of the Metro, we finally hopped in on 14th October 2017, to see how Namma Metro is doing. Our plan was to get on one southernmost station in a line, the Green line, because that is closer to us and travel to the very end of that line. Then return to the central Kempe Gowda station and traverse the other line, the Pink one, from end to end.

We took a cab from home and got dropped at Jayanagar Metro station. There was a flight of steps leading to the station, where we were to buy the tickets. We did muse that Namma Metro might not be very ‘Elder-friendly,’ if at every station they must climb so many stairs. What about people in wheel chair? They shouldn’t even think of travelling by Metro, I suppose! 

The Jayanagar station was prim and proper, clean and neat, and quite ultramodern. From there we bought tickets, Rs.50 each to Nagasandra, the last station in the Green line. Within two minutes as announced, the train arrived as noiselessly as would a pussy cat and exactly at 10 AM we boarded the train. 

We got seats and giggling like school girls, we sat and arched our backs to see the scenaries outside. The train whizzed past South End circle, Lalbagh, and National college. It entered underground stations as it passed through KR. Market and Chickpet, when the crowd started picking up. We crossed the central Kempe Gowda, Majestic station. One lot got down but another of equal size got in. 

                                                                                                  Crowded escalators at Majestic 

The train emerged to glimpse the outside world after crossing Sampige Road station, Mantri squire station. By the time we crossed Mahakavi Kuvempu station and Rajajinagar, the crowd became less.  Then we were passing through lesser known stations like Mahalakshmi, Sandal Soap station and then of course the well-known Yeshwnathpur station. Goraguntepalya and Peenya stations quickly passed by and Peenya Industry, Jalahalli, Dasarahalli staions speeded by and finally we reached Nagasandra station, the endpoint of Green Line. 

It had taken us 41 minutes up till this point. The ride was smooth and no hassles. There was enough standing place inside the car and these were clean and of course new. We didn’t see any graffiti on the walls or anywhere else.  

Promptly we went to the ticket counter and bought tickets from Nagasandra to Majestic central station and there on to Byappanahalli, costing us Rs.58 each. It started at 11 am and we reached Majestic centre, where we got down and got up the escalators to climb two levels and then reach the point where the trains going to Byappanahalli, the Pink line, would come. 

    

As we waited for the train to come, we noticed arrow marks indicating where people have to stand in queue to get in and which blocks of area are to be left free for the people getting down. I was really surprised to see people standing in queue very tamely, one behind the other. People have learnt their manners at last! And what no one could enforce, Namma Metro had achieved, we exclaimed to each other. 

The train came, and there you go! The queue melted in a second and people just rushed to the doors. So much for our people learning any manners! One improvement, they left some passage for the disembarking people for a few seconds and then rushed in to close that also.  

We got into the train by 11.40 AM. Interesting stations were to come in this route. First was Sri. M. Visveswaraya station – Central college, then Vidhana Soudha, the heart of the city, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar station, and Cubbon park station, which were underground. So, missed viewing the glorious citadel of the city, the famed Vidhana Soudha, the seat of the power in the State.  

                                                                                    

                                                                                               Shamim at an escalator 

Eyes were rewarded as the train emerged into the open on Mahatma Gandhi Road station. I was eagerly trying to catch the sights of familiar places. But the train was so overcrowded, I didn’t even get a seat to sit. It was the second Saturday, a holiday for government offices, and what were people doing travelling in the Metro? Can’t they sit at home and relax? Shamim pointed out that private offices and companies might still be working. Hmm, bad luck for us!

We reached Baiyappanahalli after crossing Halasuru, Trinity, and Indiranagar stations. It was 12.01 PM. By now I was feeling a bit hungry, craving for a mid-morning snack. I had not packed anything thinking that we can buy something or the other at the stations. 

                                               

                                        Arrow markings, showing space on the platform

                                                     for disembarking people

Unfortunately, there were no stalls at all inside the stations. No coffee or tea even. Wonder why? If some are mad enough to want to travel in the Metro from end to end, as we did, should they not have some food to eat on the way, so that their energy level does not drop, while shifting from one line to the other? I think Namma Metro must think afresh on the matter and make some arrangements for sale of packed snacks and bottled drinks including iced coffee or tea. 

                                                                                                Shamim waiting in line

Also, there were no toilets at all at any station. These need not be at the station where trains come and go, but at least near the ticket booths or at the entry and exit points of the stations, such facilities need to be provided for. 

At Baiyappanahalli we tried one experiment. We now had to go to Mysore Road station, the end of the Pink line and then return to Majestic central station to switch to the Green line and reach our place Jayanagar. Can we travel without buying a ticket from Baiyappanahalli to Mysore Road? We tried and crossed over to the station, where train to Mysore Road was coming. We climbed down the stairs and joined the crowd. Voila! No checking!

  City near Mysore Road, 

            as seen from the Metro

We got on to the train and arrived at the Mysore Road station, the endpoint of the Pink line. Shamim was quite stricken by conscience by now and insisted we buy the tickets for our journey up to Majestic centre and then to Jayanagar. So, we got our tickets another Rs.45 each and reached Jayanagar by 1.25 PM.

We decided to give a miss to four stations after Jayanagar in the Green line, these being Rashtreeya Vidalaya Road, Banashankari, Jaya Prakash Nagar and the last station Yelachenahalli, as we were quite tired by this time. We hopped on to an autorickshaw and proceeded to Al Bek restaurant for a sumptuous lunch. As we sat and broke the butter naan, scooping out Nlli Nihari, we reminisced.  

                                                                                        

                                                                                     Tree tops full of flowers 

                                                                                                        seen from the Metro

Well, for one thing it was mission achieved. Second, we had a first-hand knowledge of Namma Metro and could recommend it to our friends and acquaintances. Third, I would hope that the present MD. Metro will read this and take pride their achievements and also take note of the suggestions we have made, we being their former senior colleagues!

Like the absence of escalators at the entrance to the stations; necessity of toilets and vending machines or snack bars inside the stations. At the same time, we are hoping the ticket-less travel we made at one line will either be ignored or overlooked!  

 Congratulations and long live Namma Metro!