Video and Film Resources

See also review at SA Newsletter Spring 2000

Video Title: India invented: an exploration of culture and civilisation in historical outline

Author(s): Das, Arvind N. ; Ghosh, Avik. ; Sinha, Aradhana. ; Deshpande, Prachi. ; Chandavarkar, Bhaskar.
Publication: [New Delhi] :; Doordarshan :; Asia-Pacific Communication Associates, Year: 1999

Available through the University of Virginia's Center for South Asian Studies' Film and Video Lending Library or
at UVa's Clemons Library, Call Number: VIDEO .VHS10320

1. Exploring Indian history. Part 1 presents an overview of India's past with a suggestion that history is the account of long term change in the day-to-day lives of ordinary people.

2. Dawn of civilization. Part 2 covers the huge historical period from the Old Stone Age to the coming of the Aryans to the Indian Sub-continent. It also takes a look at the famous Harappan Civilisation.

3. Age of enlightenment. Part 3 looks at the Sixth Century B.C., when different schools of thought flowered and focuses on the two major philosophical orders that arose in this time: Jainism and Buddhism.

4. Age of iron. Part 4 centers around the Iron Age, an era that opened around 1000 B.C. and also carries out an analysis of the rule of the righteous Ashoka in this context.

5. The Buddha overtaken. Part 5 captures the historical context of the virtual disappearance of Buddhism from India for several centuries and examines the hypothesis that it was the changing nature of the economy that rendered organised Buddhism more or less redundant for a long period.

6. The spice of life. Part 6 describes the history of South India including the development of a distinct culture in this region, the building of huge temples, the extension of agriculture and the creation of irrigation systems.

7. The long twilight. Part 7 looks at feudalism in India, a feature that dominated much of the early Christian era in Indian history.

8. Pilgrims' progress. Part 8 covers the different forms of spirituality which developed in India, from pantheism and animism to organized religion and shows how the Indian culture has been formed by collective spiritual quests from the earliest times to the present.

9. Islam comes to Hindustan. Part 9 revolves around one of the largest influences that shaped medieval and modern Indian history: the coming of Muslims to the sub-continent.

10. West meets East. Part 10 looks at the coming of Europeans to India, beginning with early contacts with Portuguese, French, and British voyagers. It also captures the story of how trade led to colonization and finishes off with a look at the advent of British rule over India.

11. The age of empire. Part 11 covers the Mughul empire, the greatest and grandest of its time in the world. It takes a look at the economic and social structure of the Mughal rule and also carries out an analysis of the political and religious policies of the various Mughal rulers.

12. Colonial encounters. Part 12 centers around the consolidation of British rule in India, the policies of the British East India Company, the devastating economic impact of colonialism and the rise of nationalist forces in the country.

13. The nation comes of age. Part 13 looks at the several civilisational trends that have formed India over the centuries and attempts to reinforce the idea that runs through the series that Indian history lives on in its past.

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Video and Film Resources