India's Defence : In Retrospect

CHAPTER 1

HISTORY OF INDIA’S DEFENCE

India’s geographic location has always been a significant contributing factor to her eventful history. Her plains have always provided her visitors a respite from the concatenation of high mountains that encompassed her north. In the ancient times when the sea was not yet conquered by man, the northern boundaries of India were the only gateway to the incredible land.

In the ancient times, India was invaded many a times by the people of the mountains. The driving force behind the invasions can be seen as a result of the limitation of natural resources in the native land of the invaders and also a belief of the mythical Indian riches. In all the ancient invasions in India, her northern boundaries provided the gateway which eventually led the invaders to the vast expanses of the northern Indian plains. The plains provided its natives with a bounty of natural resources, as the mighty rivers frequently flooded the plains rendering it fertile and conducive of cultivation. The natives practised cultivation to harvest enough food resources to nourish the population. Inspite of its relative opulence, the people of the plains could not build up a coherent society that proved to be of great disadvantage time and again during moments of crisis. The lack of proper and effective coordination in matters relating to defence against possible external hostile invasions has written the fate in the pages of history. The society and states remained fragmented and the perpetuating internal conflicts and tensions didn’t either do any good. The discrete natures of existence of states within the boundaries of this great Indian landmass naturally made were weak even as she was vulnerable to hostile invasions. The rulers were more occupied in expanding the boundaries of their native states. Even those who succeeded in doing so did not envision transcending their empires into a common Indian identity. These annexed territories, once occupied, were not considered to be a part of the greater land which needed nourishment and security, being under constant threat of similar invasions from outside. On the other side of the wall, we had these tough, battle hardened, ambitious and avaricious invaders for whom these very invasions were sine qua non for their very existence. For them, the numbers lost in struggles meant too little as compared to the tribes own existence. They had cohesion and were driven by the need to address the shortfall of resources back home.

History has stood in evidence to the fact that such invasions occurred across India’s northern boundaries which can be seen to be sponsored by the people of this land. Invasion although took place quite often within her boundaries with the ruler of one state invader his neighbour with the same purpose with which the foreigners invaded India. The reason why the pages in history doesnot show any record of Invasions out of India is as much complex and needs an understanding in its entirety. Simply the vastness of the Indian landmass coupled with its rather evenly distributed forms of natural resources met most of the needs of its local inhabitants in their respective states and also mitigated the need to explore greener pastures. In contrast, the people who invaded India, came from places which were harsh in sustenance of life and settlements were discrete. A resourceful India, across the mountains beckoned these people with all her life sustaining treasures.

A SAD STORY

Over the ages India has had an abysmal record in defending herself against internal as well as external aggressions. As an extenuation one might argue that India has always been a land which had never shut her doors to the outside world and that we should be proud of the land has been an assimilator of culture over the ages. However this logic, according to the author is nothing but a travesty of what is true. The fact of the matter is that we have failed to defend ourselves against external aggression and influence which later on have proved insidious to the nation’s interest. We have always kept our infatuation of universal brotherhood ahead of our national interest. For a nation to be successful in defending itself, pursuit of national interest is sine qua non. The insidious nature of internal contradictions within the social milieu of a nation state has never left its policy makers to effectively prioritize national interest in international diplomacy. One would need to keep his house in order before he can peep at the outside would. This has infact remained our weakness over the ages in that prior to the British occupation, we could not build up a coherence in a national sense. The political ideologies in practice in the pre-British era were divisive and self-destructive. A short-sighted rular would rather forge an alliance with the opportunistic invader to defeat his immediate neighbour than pose a united front to the invader. History has repeated itself and has stood in evidence of this tragedy. The well known policy of divide and rule was not a monopoly of the British. The Aryans, the arab mercenaries, the huns, the mughals and all others who invaded India managed to obtain rich dividends exercising this policy. What we should appreciate is that the concept of unity in diversity was only realised at the time of the British rule. India has always been a land of great diversity. In ancient India, amidst all these diversities the belting force that helped this land from fragmenting apart politically and socially was a common religion-hinduism.

Belief in the same God brought people together amidst all the forces of division. Though Hindiusm united India, it also led to division in society. A section of the society especially the privileged class used the religion for their own benefits. The interpretation of religion and the ensuing dictats spelled a doom for the underprivileged class. The caste division in society never allowed it congeal into a single mass. Thus it always remained fragmented more so by the inequalities in wealth which resulted out of a caste-ridden society. So the fact that these under privileged, oppressed of the majority in society did not deprecate anyone who challenged the ruling elite whom they believed to be the reason for their miseries. These poor people did not realise that it was not their religion that articulated all these wrong doing it was the perversive way in which it was interpreted by the ruling elite. Thus the idea and feeling of rejection grew insidiously in society and manifested itself at moments of crisis more so during external aggressions. The fact that foreign religions like Islam and Christanity could find a way into this land of caste ridden Hindus is a direct consequence of its inherent divisiveness. Though many of the subsequent religious conversions were not voluntary by any means, a belief of a better life outside Hinduism always helped. Thus through the ages the demography of an erstwhile Hindu India has changed.

The difference in social life style did not end here. The caste ridden Hindu society now had to face the challenge of coexistence with multi-religionism. It is regrettable that inspite of its uniqueness to assimilate different religious thoughts, Indian society has often shuddered due to religious intolerance. For some, narrow religious interests have been so compulsive that they have failed to accommodate tolerance within their strides in social life. Prior to the arrival of the British, many states of India had its rulers who were of the minority community in their respective states. The Nizam of Hyderabad, the Sultan of Mysore, the Nawab of Bengal and the maharaja of Kashmir to name a few.