An eager inquisitive mind, a receptive soul, and limitless capacity to adapt and change are the hallmarks of a successful human being. It is equally true of societies. An ossified society averse to change and new learning stagnates and dies. No civilization on earth ever grew in isolation, cut off from other cultures and confined within four walls. All great civilizations were the outcomes of the mutual exchange of ideas and knowledge. If India gave to the world its pearls of knowledge and wisdom, it received many too. Humanity progresses only through collective efforts. Let us find out how India adopted customs and ideas from other cultures.

It is quite exciting to note that cultural exchange between the Indian subcontinent and the world began in prehistoric times. The first transmitters of the advancements in primitive technology were the nomadic tribes that would come every year to India, bring precious discoveries and inventions, and barter them in exchange for other priced assets. This is how tales, lores, symbols, ideas, technology and primitive sciences travelled. Any guess as to what these nomads are called today? They are called “Banjara” in India. 

Indian tiger-slaying heroes and Gilgamesh

In Indian folklore, it is customary to portray brave heroes as slayers of tigers. The first idea of a tiger-slaying hero seems to have come from Mesopotamia more than 4 thousand years ago. Its undeniable evidence is a seal of the Indus Valley period, representing an Indian version of Gilgamesh (a legendary king of Sumer who probably ruled sometime between 2500-2800 B.C.) and it reflects Indo-Mesopotamian contact. Sea trade between the two civilizations flourished during the Harappan period. The rare find of a prehistoric knife-handle (Gebel-el-Arak) in Egypt depicting an athlete strangling 2 lions also resembles the Gilgamesh seal. Such foreign motives in art clear indication that the seeds of the great civilization in India came from outside.

Gilgamesh Seal

The custom of narrating tales of the Deluge during Puja

Whoever would believe that the Puranic story of the great deluge (Pralay) that Hindus hear during Pujas and Hawans even today are patterned on the Sumerian-Babylonian and Biblical model. During the Indus Valley Civilization, the island of Bahrain was the great trade depot between Indus and Iraq in the Persian Gulf. The legendary deathless hero, Noah Ziusudda (the hero of the Biblical tale of Noah), lived there after surviving the deluge. Gilgamesh later sought him out in quest of the secret of immortality.

The Custom of Ashwamedha Yajna

“Asia” and “Ashwa” sound similar. The similarity might be suggestive of a long history. The world Asia came from “Aswiya” or “Assuwa” – Hittite names for Asia Minor or present-day Turkey. Over time, people started to call the entire continent “Asia”. Whatever the similarities might be, it is certain that “Ashwa” or horses came to India from somewhere around the steppes of Europe and Asia (Eurasia). With the arrival of horses began the development of a new art of warfare and a new religious custom – Ashwamedh Yajna, a horse sacrifice ritual used by ancient Indian kings to prove their imperial sovereignty.

Warfare and State

These horse-riding Indo-Iranians came with another discovery that altered the history of India and paved way for the thickly forested Gangetic Doab plains to be explored, cleared, and inhabited. Aryans came with iron swords, which initiated the Iron Age in India. The custom of Vishwakarma Puja is indicative of the time when iron and ironsmiths gained importance in India.  India, which hardly knew planned warfare, learnt the necessary art and technique from Indo-Iranian tribal warlords like Indra who became demigods. Soon, “Maha Janpadas” emerged, a term that Indian constitution uses till date.