Indian Subcontinent:
History and Culture
Map of South Asia
1. Multiple Races & Religion
2. British Colonization
3. Independence & Partition
4. Women’s Positions in India,
Iran and Afghanistan
1. Present Situations
2. Cultures
3. Next Week: “Gainda” & Salaam
BombayFall, 2017 Kate Liu Image source: Insight Guides

South Asia
LahoreShahjahanpur

KelaraSouth Asia and Middle East

What are your impressionsof India and Pakistan?
Diversity –culture, religions,people and languages,
multiple colonization

Recent Impressions …
 Films: Outsourced, Slumdog Millionnaire, 3 Idiots(2009) (Aamir Khan)– Australian convict to Mumbai: Shantaram 自傳小說《項塔蘭》– outsourcing --White Tiger (Aravind Adiga) Lisa Chang’s photos: -http://photo.xuite.net/kokopelli

 CEO’s from India ( 〈印度最自豪的出口〉全球財經週報／南亞 2011/08/21
 Rise in Economic Power, competing withChina? (印度經濟成長 傲視G20?)
 Rapes…; Sino-India border conflicts
 Service LearningNorthern India:Jaisalmer

HaveliActors making-up @ stage before
the dance

The main character in the Kathakali

Cochin1. Multiple Races & Religions
 Religious Periods:
1.Vedas 吠陀 or Brahmanism 婆羅門教
(1500B.C.-500B.C.)
2.Bhuddism (500 B.C.-11th.C.)佛教
3.Hinduism (4th C.-16th.C) 印度教
4.Mixture of Religions (14th.C-19th. C)
5.Recent Religious Reformation (18th C-)

1. Multiple Races & Religions(2) Now about 83 percent of the India people
are Hindus, and about 11 percent areMuslims(回教).
 The next largest religious groups, in order ofsize, are Christians, Sikhs(錫克教),
Buddhists, and Jains（耆納教）.

Religion:
an exampleof Hindu
practice
Bathing anddeath inGanges.
《窺視印度》 ～妹尾河童Muslim World(divided between Shia and Sunni)
 sourceReligions inIndia:
sourceOrange -- Hindu
Green—Muslim
Blue—ChristianRed—Sikh
Other – Brown

Two examples of sacred sites:
瓦拉那西 (Varanasi. which Ganges
passes thru’ )(India -- Ganges 3:40)
卡傑拉霍(Khajuraho; 42:00)
Tourist site: Taj Mahal (11:00)
Discovery Channel Spirit of India

1. Other factors of Diversity: Language (video: The Indian Accent (IndianEnglish))– 14 major languages and more than 1,000
minor languages and dialects.
– the official language -- Hindi. (Many speak
Hindi as a second language.)– English -- In 1965, English became an"associate" language. However, it is stillcommonly used by the government.

 Caste system of Hinduism: 3,000 castes and25,000 subcastes in India
 more than 20 political parties

Languages on their money

Caste system The main castes: (video: Is India's Caste SystemStill Alive)– Brahman (priest);– Kshatriya (ruler, warrior, landowner);– Vaishya (merchants);– Shudra (artisans, agriculturalists);– Harijan "outside" the caste system (onceknown as "untouchables") (source:
http://www.csuchico.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/asst001/spring98/india.htm )– * Musicians-- Harijans (god's children) whichused to be known as untouchables.” (reference)– (ref. [窺看印度] 妹尾河童眼中的種姓制度)

Caste system –Determined…

Ref.

– by race? “In a verse from the first millennium epic,
the Mahabharata (摩訶婆羅多), Brigu, the sage
explains: ‘The brahmins are fair, the kshatriyas are
reddish, the vaishyas yellow and the sudras are black.’[But] If different colours indicate different castes, thenall castes are mixed castes.“– by work: The Hindus also believe that a man's varna(caste) is determined by his profession and deeds andnot by his birth.
– Multiple meanings: it changes its meaning according
to the context it is used to denote “form, quality, class,category, race, merit or virtue.”– Practically, Varna (caste) came to signify an
endogamic (同族通婚) group, its members linked byheredity, marriage, custom and profession (source)

Caste system -- Today Seen illegal since 1947;
 Two Indias: the rich and the poor, not following
the caste lines

 In some villages, some lower caste people arestill marginalized, and inter-caste marriage isstill prohibited (e.g. The God of Small Things);
 In 1998, “sixty people were killed by the Ranvir
Sena, a self-styled armed militia of the uppercaste landed gentry, formed to crush themovements of Dalits (the untouchables) andagricultural laborers.” (source) Tsundur
massacres in Andhra Pradesh (source)Exceptions . . .?

Image course: A Life Less Ordinary --BabyHalder, as a maid to ananthropologist who encourages
her to write.
 Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail &Rubina Ali from Slumdog
Millionaire Hollywood/Bollywood dream?
As of March 5, 2011, however, Ali was homelessafter their shanty in Garib Nagar, an illegal slum innorth Mumbai burned down in a broader fire, thisdespite promises more than year before that thefamily would be rehoused in a proper, legal house.[8]Ali's father claimed that the sum offered by the Jai Ho
Trust founded by Danny Boyle was too little topurchase an apartment in an "acceptable area.“ (MoreExceptions . . .?
 Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail &Rubina Ali from Slumdog
Millionaire 
Hollywood/Bollywood dream?
As of March 5, 2011, however, Ali was homeless after
their shanty in Garib Nagar, an illegal slum in north
Mumbai burned down in a broader fire, this despite
promises more than year before that the family would
be rehoused in a proper, legal house.[8] Ali's father
claimed that the sum offered by the Jai Ho Trustfounded by Danny Boyle was too little to purchase anapartment in an "acceptable area.“ (Wikipedia)

British Colonization:
East India Company
Inequality between British
Imports and Indian Exports

British Colonization: EastIndia Company 貿易進出口關稅不公 1774 Warren Hastings of the British India
Company became the first governor-generalof India.
(“The export, import, and manufacture of goods
moved from the hands of independent Indian
merchants to intermediaries hired by theBritish East India Company”. source)(In the early 1800s imports of Indian cottonand silk goods faced duties of 70-80%.
British imports faced duties of 2-4%! Source )British Colonization:
Consequences Ref.
1. Machines replacing human labor: 使用機器，迫使
許多工匠無法發揮長處，
2. Lower income: 國民所得降低，導致暴亂。
3. Setting up of the Indian National Congress: 之後印
度成立國會。
 “. . .millions of ruined artisans and craftsmen,spinners, weavers, potters, smelters and smiths
were rendered jobless and had to become
landless agricultural workers.
 In the last half of 19th century, India's income fellby 50%. In the 190 years prior to independence,
the Indian economy was literally stagnant - itexperienced zero growth.
 1857 - 58 the Mutiny
 1885 The Indian National Congress Party wasset up. (Under mahatma Gandhi and jawaharlalNehru）

Example (1): Lagaan 榮耀之役
(2001)Ref.

 Setting: a small village of Champaner inNorth India in 1890s
 Protagonist: Bhuvan, Gauri, captain
Russell and his sister, Elizabeth

Example (2): bridge party in A
Passage to India

Ref.

 In the party, only a select few of theEnglish guests behave well toward theIndians. . . . Mrs. Moore scolds her son
for being impolite to the Indians, but
Ronny Heaslop feels that he is not in
India to be kind, for there are more
important things to do; this offends
her sense of Christian charity.

Example (2): bridge party in A Passageto India
 Indians
separatefrom theBrisish.

 Mrs. Moore
trying tosocialize

Ref.

A Passage to India

Ref.

 Mrs. Moore: This is one of the most unnatural affairs l have everattended.
 Ronny: Of course it's unnatural. Now you see.
 Mrs. Moore: l do not see why you all behave so unpleasantly tothese people.
 - We're not out here to be pleasant.
 Mrs. Moore: - Ronny, what do you mean?
 lndia isn't a drawing room. We're out here to do justice and tokeep the peace. l'm not a missionary or a sentimental socialist. l'm just a member of the civil service.
 Mrs. Moore: - As simple as that.
 What do you and Adela want me to do? Sacrifice my career?
Lose the power l have for doing good in this country?
 Mrs. Moore: Good? You're speaking about power. The whole ofthis entertainment is an exercise in power, and the subtle
pleasures of personal superiority. (band pIays ''God Save theKing'') God has put us on earth to love and help our fellow men.

Independence and Partition
 1947 8/14;8/15 Partition into India andPakistan; & Independence
 1948 India achieved sovereignty.
 1965 Indo-Pakistani war
 1971-East Pakistan separates from West
Pakistan and Bangladesh is born
 1975-1977 Indira Gandhi's Emergency
Rule – To solve the poverty problem, sheforced a lot of poor people to be neutered.
 1998 -- Nuclear race
 2008 -- Mumbai attacks
１﹚The border ceremony near Wagah.
2. Timeline at BBC

3. Independence,Partition& Women

Image source:
http://archive.abcnews.go.com/sec
tions/world/indiapak814/index.ht
mlPartition

Partition (2)Indo-Pakistani WarRef.

– First Kashmir War (1947-1948)– Second Kashmir War (1965)– Bengali War of Independence (1971)– Kashmir Border Conflict (1990?-Present)– Nuclear arms race (1974- 1998 - ) 1998年
5月，印度和巴基斯坦相繼進行了11次地下核子
試驗。
– 2001/12/13 Following the terrorist attack on India'sParliament, tensions between India and Pakistan
increased, with machine gun, mortar and artillery fire
across their border (called the Line of Control) in
disputed Kashmir.

Recent Situations
 2004 -- India refused to take foreign supports in
the recent South Asia tsunami, offering to help
the other affected areas instead.
 2004 -- Peace Talk resumed
 2008  Fundamentalist bombing attacks inMumbai and Kashmir 2010/4 --a high profile Pakistani cricketer,
Shoaib Malik married the Indian tennis star
Sania Mirza.
 2011/2/10-- India agreed to resume talks withPakistan
 2017 China-India border standoff

Women in Traditional IndianSociety, Iran and Afghanistan
1. Marriage:
widowhood, ChildMarriage
Sati

2. Purdah -(Hijab)

Women in Traditional PakistaniSocietyImpacts of Nationalism &Partition on women Ref.
• Nationalist movement was considered top

on the priority.
•Women were called to learn to be
independent, yet they were not given
suffrage nor seats in the National Congress.

 Deaths in the riots and 15 million
refugees Women and the "ghost trains"Ref.

Impacts of Nationalism on thewomen in Iran & Afghanistan•Iran:伊朗本是一個擁有衆多虔誠信徒的伊斯蘭國家，
可是1960年代以後，巴列維國王(Reza Shah Pahlavi)在伊朗進行大膽激進的西方式社會改革，引起了伊斯蘭勢力的強烈不滿。1977年開始，伊朗各地開始出現反政府運動，1978年下半年反政府運動達到高潮。1979年1月, 巴列維國王被迫出國，因反對國王而流亡國外的伊斯蘭精神領袖霍梅尼返回伊朗。 1979年4月霍梅尼宣佈成立伊朗伊斯蘭共和國，憲法規定伊斯蘭教義爲立國準則，建立起一個政教合一的伊斯蘭國家。 (source: 林思雲)

Afghanistan: Taliban rule (1996-2001)
聯合國人道關懷和媒體平台（IRIN）二○○七年的報導指出，阿富汗女性中八七％是文盲，七○％到八○％的女性婚
姻非自主，每三人即有一人遭受身體、心理或是性暴力。

Cultures (Others)
 Pop music Mutual influences of Hollywood andBollywood

Ref. Literary Examples (1) –Ref.
Tagore Over one thousand poems;
nearly two dozen plays andplay-lets; eight novels; eight ormore volumes of short stories;
more than two thousands songs,of which he wrote both thewords and the music; and amass of prose on literary, social,religious, political, and othertopics.
 Known in Taiwan for his poems
on nature and children.
 “Flute Music”: a migrant
worker’s life in a city

Ref. Tagore: “Flute Music” –Description of Poverty

Ref.

1. State of poverty: A man in a small room– Miserable living conditions• The room (stanzas 1-5; “Decaying walls, windows
crumbling to dust in places/Or strained withdamp.” )• description of the alley (4th stanza)– compared to a lizard
2. Influences of poverty –– Staying out to save the cost of light
Monsoon darkness(2nd stanza)
sticks in my damp roomrd– his girl -- (3 and last stanza)
Like an animal caught in adead trap,
Lifeless and numb.
day and night I feel strappedbodilyOn to a half-dead world.

Ref. The influences of flute
Ref.
music
 Kantababu – one of the Harijans?
 Companion: The sound of it comes in gusts
On the foul breeze of the alley Sometimes in the middle of the night,
Sometimes in the early morning twilight,
Sometimes in the afternoonWhen sun and shadows glitter.
Suddenly this evening
He starts to play runs in Sindhu-Baroya rag,
And the whole sky rings
With eternal pangs of separation.
 Takes him back to his village.

Literary Examples (2) – “What is
Worth Knowing”
Sujata Bhatt (b. 1956) –– grew up in Pune, India,– emigrated with her family to the United States in 1968.
– studied in the States receiving an MFA from the Universityof Iowa and went on to be writer-in-residence at theUniversity of Victoria, Canada.
– currently lives with her husband and daughter in Bremen,Germany. (source) Look for (1) the signs of Indian culture andcolonial influences; (2) the “Western” signs ofdisplacement; (3) knowledge of geology andclimate© Image by Frank Pusch source

Poems about/for Women Poems ("Purdah 1," "To Sylvia Plath")– Who are “she,” “you” and “we” in these
poems?
– Oppression of women in India and in theWest.
– Solutions?

Next Week
 Mira Nair: Salaam Bombay
 “Gainda”

References India-Pakistan border ceremony –BBC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC9NeJh1NhI&feature=fvst

 Changing face of modern India –BBC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I62hIImXok&feature=relmfu