Glimpses of World History

by Jawaharlal Nehru

  In the course of these letters I have often expressed my opinions rather aggressively. I hold to those opinions, but even as I was writing the letters my outlook on history changed gradually. Today if I had to re-write them, I would write differently or with a different emphasis. But I cannot tear up what I have written and start afresh.

  1 January 1934

  JAWAHARLAL NEHRU

  To Indira

  Indu

  Dates are not very attractive things. And yet they help in putting things in their right place, so that we may have an ordered sequence in our minds. A long list of dates is a most depressing affair. I have arranged some important dates in a different form, as you will see. Various parts of the world are represented by different columns so that you can have a very rough idea at a glance of what the world was like at a particular stage or date. Of course the idea will be very very rough. This chronology is meant to be used for reference purposes. Having finished with it I now feel that I could have made a better one! But this will have to do for the present. It represents a few days’ hard work.

  Dehra Dun Jail

  22 August 1933

  Papu

  A Chronology of World History

  For the very early periods of human history dates are sometimes pure guesswork. Sometimes they are so uncertain that experts differ about them by a thousand years. The earliest remains of human culture so far discovered take us back to beyond 5000 BC, that is to about 7000 years ago. Egyptian history is supposed to begin then. It was the end of the age of stone. Egypt was then split up into many small states. Archaeologists have also discovered the early remains of a civilization, dating from about 5000 BC, in Chaldea or Elam (Mesopotamia). The capital city of this was Susa. Most of the archaeological discoveries have been made in Egypt and in Mesopotamia because most of the digging has taken place there. Probably similar discoveries, of a like date, will be made in other countries also. This idea is strengthened by the next batch of archaeological finds, which dates from about 3500 BC. These discoveries take us right across Asia: from Egypt-Chaldea-Eastern Persia—Indus Valley in India— Western Turkestan—to the Yellow River or Hoang-Ho in China. In all these places a common stage of development is found. It is the end of the age of polished stone and copper is beginning to be used. There is agriculture, and domestic animals, and trade, and tools of the same type, and beautiful jewellery of gold and silver, and painted pottery with many similar designs. Writing had already appeared. It appears that a common civilization existed at this period, about 5500 years ago, from Egypt to North India and China. Because of the common pottery this has been called the ‘Painted Pottery Civilization’. This civilization is already so advanced, its culture and fine arts are so developed, that it has thousands of years of cultural growth behind it. This is the period of Mohenjo Daro in India with its fine houses and streets and artistic development. In Egypt the separate states now join together to form one state under the Pharaohs—the god-kings. In Chaldea two powerful states appear about this time—Sumer and Akkad—with a high degree of culture; and on the banks of the Euphrates stands the famous city of Ur—‘Ur of the Chaldees’ it is called in the Bible. From this common ‘Painted Pottery Civilization’ the four great eastern civilizations—Egyptian, Mesopotamian (including Persian or Iranian), Indian, and Chinese—diverge and develop separately. Thus we have:

  It is probable that contemporaneous with the Painted Pottery Civilization in the East, there existed a similar civilization in the eastern Mediterranean, in the Greek Islands and the western coasts of Asia Minor. This early Mediterranean civilization led to the high Minoan civilization of Knossos of about 2000–1500 BC, which gradually decayed and became the Mycenaean or Aegean civilization (of the Greek Islands) of about 1600–1100 BC. About this time (from c.1300 onwards) the Semitic Phoenicians, the great traders of the ancient western world, come into prominence and their settlements grow up all along the Mediterranean Coast. The city of Tyre in Asia Minor was the most important of these settlements. It was about this time also that the Aryans spread out in Europe. It was these Aryan Greeks, the Hellenes, that laid siege to Troy in the twelfth century BC. Hellenic civilization gradually developed and Hellenic colonies sprung up in Asia Minor, South Italy, Sicily, and the South of France. Homer wrote his epics in the eleventh century BC.

  Meanwhile much had happened in the older centres of civilization in the East. In Egypt and Chaldea empires had already flourished and decayed. In India the Aryans had established themselves in the north and were pushing down to the south. They seem to have come to India long before they appear in Greece. They found the civilized and cultured Dravidians already established in the country and they drove them towards South India. The Vedas were written in the early days of the Aryan invasion, and they were followed, long afterwards, by the epics. In China consolidation was taking place and a great State was growing up. Silk culture was already known.

  And now for our chart. But remember that the various names of civilizations and historic periods (such as Minoan, Mycenaean, Aegean, etc.), must not be taken as mutually exclusive or as indicating clearly defined periods. They are vague terms used by present-day archaeologists and historians to distinguish various civilizations and periods which often overlap and run into each other. Remember also that it is impossible to give the dates in the chart according to scale, that is, giving the same space to the same length of time. It would be far better and more accurate to have such a scale, for this would give a more correct idea of history. But such a chart would become enormously long for we have to deal with thousands of years in the early stages of history, and of course the pre-historic periods are vastly bigger. So that we have to give up the idea of the scale, and sometimes an inch will do duty for a thousand years or more, and in another place, it may represent a bare ten years or less.

  NOTE:—c. before a date means that the date is not exact but is approximate only. It is from the Latin circa—about.

  (Probably beginnings of ancient American civilizations in Mexico, Central America and Peru, about this time—sixth century BC.)

  A Birthday Letter

  FOR INDIRA PRIYADARSHINI

  ON HER THIRTEENTH BIRTHDAY

  Central Prison, Naini

  October 26,1 1930

  On your birthday you have been in the habit of receiving presents and good wishes. Good wishes you will still have in full measure, but what present can I send you from Naini Prison? My presents cannot be very material or solid. They can only be of the air and of the mind and spirit, such as a good fairy might have bestowed on you—things that even the high walls of prison cannot stop.

  You know, sweetheart, how I dislike sermonizing and doling out good advice. When I am tempted to do this I always think of the story of a “very wise man” I once read. Perhaps one day you will yourself read the book which contains this story. Thirteen hundred years ago there came a great traveller from China to India in search of wisdom and knowledge. His name was Hiuen Tsang, and over the deserts and mountains of the north he came, braving many dangers, facing and overcoming many obstacles, so great was his thirst for knowledge. And he spent many years in India learning himself and teaching others, especially at the great university of Nalanda, which existed then near the city that used to be called Pataliputra and is now known as Patna. Hiuen Tsang became very learned himself and he was given the title of “Master of the Law”—the Law of the Buddha—and he journeyed all over India and saw and studied the people that lived in this great country in those far-off days. Later he wrote a book of his travels, and it is this book which contains the story that comes to my mind. It is about a man from South India who came to Karnasuvarna, which was a city somewhere near modern Bhagalpur in Bihar; and this man, it is written, wore round his waist copper-plates, and on his head he carried a lighted torch. Staff in hand, with proud bearing and lofty steps, he wandered about in this strange attire. And when any one asked him the reason for his curious get-up, he told him that his wisdom was so great th
at he was afraid his belly would burst if he did not wear copper-plates round it; and because he was moved with pity for the ignorant people round about him, who lived in darkness, he carried the light on his head.

  Well, I am quite sure that there is no danger of my ever bursting with too much wisdom and so there is no need for me to wear copper-plates or armour. And in any event, I hope that my wisdom, such of it as I possess, does not live in my belly. Wherever it may reside, there is plenty of room still for more of it and there is no chance of there being no room left. If I am so limited in wisdom, how can I pose as a wise man and distribute good advice to others? And so I have always thought that the best way to find out what is right and what is not right, what should be done and what should not be done, is not by giving a sermon, but by talking and discussing, and out of discussion sometimes a little bit of the truth comes out. I have liked my talks with you and we have discussed many things, but the world is wide and beyond our world lie other wonderful and mysterious worlds, so none of us need ever be bored or imagine, like the very foolish and conceited person whose story Hiuen Tsang has told us, that we have learned everything worth learning and become very wise. And perhaps it is as well that we do not become very wise; for the very wise, if any such there are, must sometimes feel rather sad that there is nothing more to learn. They must miss the joy of discovery and of learning new things—the great adventure that all of us who care to may have.

  I must not therefore sermonize. But what am I to do, then? A letter can hardly take the place of a talk; at best it is a one-sided affair. So, if I say anything that sounds like good advice do not take it as if it were a bad pill to swallow. Imagine that I have made a suggestion to you for you to think over, as if we really were having a talk.

  In history we read of great periods in the life of nations, of great men and women and great deeds performed, and sometimes in our dreams and reveries we imagine ourselves back in those times and doing brave deeds like the heroes and heroines of old. Do you remember how fascinated you were when you first read the story of Jeanne d’Arc, and how your ambition was to be something like her? Ordinary men and women are not usually heroic. They think of their daily bread and butter, of their children, of their household worries and the like. But a time comes when a whole people become full of faith for a great cause, and then even simple, ordinary men and women become heroes, and history becomes stirring and epoch-making. Great leaders have something in them which inspires a whole people and makes them do great deeds.

  The year you were born in—1917—was one of the memorable years of history when a great leader, with a heart full of love and sympathy for the poor and suffering, made his people write a noble and never-to-be-forgotten chapter of history. In the very month in which you were born, Lenin started the great Revolution which has changed the face of Russia and Siberia. And today in India another great leader, also full of love for all who suffer and passionately eager to help them, has inspired our people to great endeavour and noble sacrifice, so that they may again be free and the starving and the poor and the oppressed may have their burdens removed from them. Bapuji2 lies in prison, but the magic of his message steals into the hearts of India’s millions, and men and women, and even little children, come out of their little shells and become India’s soldiers of freedom. In India today we are making history, and you and I are fortunate to see this happening before our eyes and to take some part ourselves in this great drama.

  How shall we bear ourselves in this great movement? What part shall we play in it? I cannot say what part will fall to our lot; but, whatever it may be, let us remember that we can do nothing which may bring discredit to our cause or dishonour to our people. If we are to be India’s soldiers we have India’s honour in our keeping, and that honour is a sacred trust. Often we may be in doubt as to what to do. It is no easy matter to decide what is right and what is not. One little test I shall ask you to apply whenever you are in doubt. It may help you. Never do anything in secret or anything that you would wish to hide. For the desire to hide anything means that you are afraid, and fear is a bad thing and unworthy of you. Be brave, and all the rest follows. If you are brave, you will not fear and will not do anything of which you are ashamed. You know that in our great Freedom Movement, under Bapuji’s leadership, there is no room for secrecy or hiding. We have nothing to hide. We are not afraid of what we do and what we say. We work in the sun and in the light. Even so in our private lives let us make friends with the sun and work in the light and do nothing secretly or furtively. Privacy, of course, we may have and should have, but that is a very different thing from secrecy. And if you do so, my dear, you will grow up a child of the light, unafraid and serene and unruffled, whatever may happen.

  I have written a very long letter to you. And yet there is so much I would like to tell you. How can a letter contain it?

  You are fortunate, I have said, in being a witness to this great struggle for freedom that is going on in our country. You are also very fortunate in having a very brave and wonderful little woman for your Mummie, and if you are ever in doubt or in trouble you cannot have a better friend.

  Good-bye, little one, and may you grow up into a brave soldier in India’s service.

  With all my love and good wishes.

  1

  A New Year’s Gift

  New Year’s Day, 1931

  Do you remember the letters I wrote to you, more than two years ago, when you were at Mussoorie and I was at Allahabad? You liked them, you told me then, and I have often wondered if I should not continue that series and try to tell you something more about this world of ours. But I have hesitated to do so. It is very interesting to think of the past story of the world and of the great men and women and of the great deeds that it contains. To read history is good, but even more interesting and fascinating is to help in making history. And you know that history is being made in our country today. The past of India is a long, long one, lost in the mists of antiquity; it has its sad and unhappy periods which make us feel ashamed and miserable, but on the whole it is a splendid past of which we may well be proud and think with pleasure. And yet today we have little leisure to think of the past. It is the future that fills our minds, the future that we are fashioning, and the present that absorbs all our time and energy.

  I have had time enough here in Naini Prison to read or write what I wanted to. But my mind wanders and I think of the great struggle that is going on outside; of what others are doing and what I would do if I were with them. I am too full of the present and the future to think of the past. And yet I have felt that this was wrong of me. When I cannot take part in the work outside, why should I worry?

  But the real reason—shall I whisper it to you?—why I put off writing was another one. I am beginning to doubt if I know enough to teach you! You are growing up so fast, and becoming such a wise little person, that all that I learnt at school and college and afterwards may not be enough for you, and at any rate may be rather stale. After some time, it may be that you will take up the role of teacher and teach me many new things! As I told you, in the letter I wrote to you on your last birthday, I am not at all like the Very Wise Man who went about with copper-plates round about him, so that he might not burst with excess of learning.

  When you were at Mussoorie it was easy enough for me to write about the early days of the world. For the knowledge that we have of those days is vague and indefinite. But as we come out of those very ancient times, history gradually begins, and man begins his curious career in various parts of the world. And to follow man in this career, sometimes wise, more often mad and foolish, is no easy matter. With the help of books one might make an attempt. But Naini Prison does not provide a library. So I am afraid it is not possible for me to give you any connected account of world history, much as I should have liked to have done so. I dislike very much boys and girls learning the history of just one country, and that, too, very often through learning by heart some dates and a few facts. But history is one conne
cted whole and you cannot understand even the history of any one country if you do not know what has happened in other parts of the world. I hope that you will not learn history in this narrow way, confining it to one or two countries, but will survey the whole world. Remember always that there is not so very much difference between various people as we seem to imagine. Maps and atlases show us countries in different colours. Undoubtedly people do differ from one another, but they resemble each other also a great deal, and it is well to keep this in mind and not be misled by the colours on the map or by national boundaries.

  I cannot write for you the history of my choice. You will have to go to other books for it. But I shall write to you from time to time something about the past and about the people who lived in the days gone by, and who played a big part on the world’s stage.

  I do not know if my letters will interest you or awaken your curiosity. Indeed, I do not know when you will see them, or if you will see them at all. Strange that we should be so near and yet so far away! In Mussoorie you were several hundred miles away from me. Yet I could write to you as often as I wished, and run up to you when the desire to see you became strong. But here we are on either side of the Jumna river—not far from each other, yet the high walls of Naini Prison keep us effectively apart. One letter a fortnight I may write, and one letter a fortnight I may receive, and once a fortnight I may have a twenty-minute interview. And yet these restrictions are good. We seldom value anything which we can get cheaply, and I am beginning to believe that a period in prison is a very desirable part of one’s education. Fortunately there are scores of thousands in our country who are having this course today!