Glimpses of World History

by Jawaharlal Nehru

  But suddenly Angkor suffered a terrible catastrophe. About 1300 AC the mouth of the river Mekong became blocked by deposits of mud. The waters of the river could not flow through, and they backed up and flooded the entire region round the great city, turning fertile fields into a great area of useless marshlands. The large population of the city began to starve. It could not stay on, and was forced to leave the city and migrate. So “Angkor the Magnificent” was abandoned, and the jungle came and took possession of it, and its wonderful buildings housed wild animals for a while, till the jungle reduced the palaces to dust and reigned unchallenged.

  The Cambodian State could not survive this catastrophe for long. It collapsed gradually and became a province sometimes ruled by Siam, sometimes by Annam. But even now the ruins of the great temple of Angkor Vat tell us something of the days when a proud and splendid city stood near by, drawing merchants with their wares from distant lands, and sending out to other countries the fine goods that its citizens and artisans made.

  Across the sea, not very far from Indo-China, lay the island of Sumatra. Here also the Pallavas from South India had established their earliest colonies in the first or second century after Christ. These grew gradually. The Malay Peninsula early became part of the Sumatran State, and for long afterwards the histories of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula were closely allied. The capital of the State was the large city of Sri Vijaya, situated inland in the mountains of Sumatra, and having a port at the mouth of the Palembang river. About the fifth or sixth century Buddhism became the predominant religion of Sumatra. Indeed, Sumatra took the lead in carrying on active missionary work for Buddhism and ultimately succeeded in converting most of Hindu Malaysia to Buddhism. This Sumatran empire is therefore known as the Buddhist Empire of Sri Vijaya.

  Sri Vijaya went on growing bigger and bigger till it included not only Sumatra and Malay, but Borneo, Philippines, Celebes, half of Java, half of the island of Formosa (which belongs to Japan now), Ceylon, and even a port in the south of China near Canton. Probably it also included a port in the southern tip of India, facing Ceylon. You will thus see that it was a widespread empire, covering the whole of Malaysia. Commerce and trade and shipbuilding were the chief occupations of these Indian colonies. The Chinese and Arabian writers of the time give us long lists of ports and new colonies subject to the Sumatran State. These lists go on growing.

  The British Empire today is spread out all over the world and everywhere it has got seaports and good coaling-stations: Gibraltar, the Suez Canal (which is largely under British control), Aden, Colombo, Singapore, Hongkong and so on. The British have been a nation of traders during the last 300 years and their trade and strength have depended on sea power. They have thus required ports and coaling-stations at convenient distances all over the world. The Sri Vijaya Empire was also a sea Power based on trade. Hence you find that it had ports wherever it could get the smallest footing. Indeed, a remarkable feature of the settlements of the Sumatran State was their strategic value—that is to say, they were carefully located at places where they could command the surrounding seas. Often they were in pairs to help each other in maintaining this command.

  Thus Singapore, which is a great city now, was originally a settlement of the Sumatran colonists. The name, as you will notice, is a typical Indian name: Singhpur. The Sumatran people had another settlement just opposite the Straits, facing Singapore. Sometimes they would stretch an iron chain right across the Strait and so stop all ships from passing till they paid heavy tolls.

  So the Empire of Sri Vijaya was not unlike the British Empire, though of course it was much smaller. But it lasted longer than the British Empire is likely to last. Its period of highest development was in the eleventh century, just about the time when the Chola Empire flourished in South India. But it long outlived this Chola Empire. There were friendly relations between the two for a long time, but both were aggressive seafaring folk with strong navies and widespread trade connections. Early in the eleventh century they came into conflict and there was war. The Chola king, Rajendra I, sent an overseas expedition which humbled Sri Vijaya. But Sri Vijaya soon recovered from this shock.

  At the beginning of the eleventh century the Chinese Emperor sent a gift of a number of bronze bells to the Sumatran King. In return the latter sent pearls and ivory and Sanskrit books. There was also a letter inscribed on a golden plate in “Indian characters”, it is said.

  Sri Vijaya flourished for quite a long time, from its early beginnings about the second century to the fifth or sixth century, when it turned Buddhist, and then, gradual and continuous growth till the eleventh century. For another 300 years it remained a great empire controlling the trade and commerce of Malaysia. It was overthrown ultimately in 1377 AC by another of the old Pallava colonies.

  I have told you that the Sri Vijaya Empire spread from Ceylon to Canton in China. It included most of the islands in between. But one little bit it could not subdue. This was the eastern part of Java, which continued to remain an independent State and which also remained Hindu and refused to turn Buddhist. Thus while western Java was under Sri Vijaya, eastern Java was independent. This Hindu State of East Java was also a commercial State, and it depended for its prosperity on trade. It must have looked with envious eyes on Singapore, which, because of its fine position, had become a great trade centre. Thus there was rivalry between Sri Vijaya and East Java, and this developed into bitter enmity. From the twelfth century onwards the Javan State grew slowly at the expense of Sri Vijaya and, as I have said, in the fourteenth century—in 1377 AC—it defeated Sri Vijaya completely. It was a cruel war and there was great destruction. Both the cities of Sri Vijaya and Singapore were destroyed. Thus ended the second of the great empires of Malaysia—the Empire of Sri Vijaya— and over its ruins rose the third of these empires, that of Madjapahit.

  In spite of the cruelty and barbarity shown by the East Javans in their war with Sri Vijaya, it appears from the many books we still have of that period in Java that this Hindu State had attained a high degree of civilization. What it excelled in was building, and especially the building of temples. There were over 500 temples, and among these are said to be some of the world’s finest and most artistic specimens of stone architecture. Most of these great temples were built between the middle of the seventh and the middle of the tenth century—that is, between 650 and 950 AC. The Javanese must have brought large numbers of builders and master-craftsmen from India and other neighbouring countries to help them to build these mighty temples. We shall follow the fortunes of Java and Madjapahit in a subsequent letter.

  I might mention here that both Borneo and the Philippines learnt the art of writing from India, through these early Pallavan colonies. Unfortunately many of the old manuscripts in the Philippines were destroyed by the Spaniards.

  Remember also that the Arabs had their colonies all over these islands from the early days, long before Islam. They were great traders, and wherever trade was to be found, the Arabs went.

  47

  Rome Relapses into Darkness

  May 19, 1932

  I feel often enough that I am not at all a good guide for you through the maze of past history. I get lost myself. How, then, can I guide you aright? But again I think that perhaps I might be of a little help to you, and so I continue these letters. To me certainly they are of great help. As I write them and think of you, my dear, I forget that the temperature in the shade and where I sit is 112 degrees and the hot loo is blowing. And I forget even sometimes that I am in the District Gaol of Bareilly.

  My last letter carried you right up to the end of the fourteenth century in Malaysia. And yet in northern India we have not gone beyond King Harsha’s time—the seventh century; and in Europe we have still more time to make up. It is very difficult to keep to the same time-scale everywhere. I try to do so, but sometimes, as in the case of Angkor and Sri Vijaya, I shoot ahead a few hundred years, so that I might complete their story. But remember that while the Cambodian Empire and the
Sri Vijaya Empire flourished in the East, all manner of changes were taking place in India and in China and in Europe. Remember also that my last letter contains, in a few pages, the history of 1000 years of Indo-China and Malaysia. These countries are cut off from the main currents of Asiatic and European history, and therefore little attention is paid to them. But theirs is a rich and long history—rich in achievement, in trade, in art, in architecture especially—and it is well worthy of study. To Indians their story must be of particular interest, for they were almost a part of India; men and women from India crossing the eastern seas and carrying with them Indian culture and civilization and art and religion.

  So, although we have gone on ahead in Malaysia, we are really still in the seventh century. We have still to go to Arabia and consider the coming of Islam and the great changes that this brought in Europe and Asia. And we have to follow the course of events in Europe.

  Let us have another look at Europe and let us go back a little. You will remember that Constantine, the Roman Emperor, founded the city of Constantinople, where Byzantium was, on the shores of the Bosphorus. To this city, the New Rome, he shifted the capital of the Empire from the old Rome. Soon afterwards the Roman Empire split up into two: the Western with Rome for its capital and the Eastern Empire with its seat at Constantinople. The Eastern Empire had to face great difficulties and many enemies. And yet, strange to say, it managed to carry on century after century, for 1100 years, till the Turks put an end to it.

  The Western Empire had no such existence. In spite of the great prestige of the Roman name and the imperial city of Rome, which had for so long dominated the Western world, it collapsed with remarkable rapidity. It could not withstand the attacks of any of the northern tribes. Alaric, the Goth, marched down into Italy and captured Rome in 410 AC. Later came the Vandals, who also sacked Rome. The Vandals were a Germanic people who had crossed France and Spain, and, entering Africa, had established a kingdom on the ruins of Carthage. From old Carthage they crossed the seas and captured Rome. It seems almost as though it were a belated revenge for the Roman victory in the Punic Wars.

  About this time the Huns, who had originally come from Central Asia or Mongolia, became powerful. These people were nomads. They had settled down east of the Danube river and north and west of the Eastern Roman Empire. Under Attila, their leader, they became very aggressive, and the Constantinople Emperor and government lived in constant terror of them. Attila bullied them and made them pay large sums of money to him. Having humiliated the Eastern Empire sufficiently, Attila decided to attack the Western Empire. He invaded Gaul and destroyed many towns in southern France. The imperial forces would have been no match for him, but the Germanic tribes, the “barbarians” of the Romans, were frightened at this Hun invasion, and so the Franks and Goths joined the imperial army and together they fought the Huns under Attila at a great battle at Troyes. Over 150,000 people are said to have been killed at this battle, at which Attila was defeated and the Mongolian Huns repulsed. This was in 451 AC. But Attila, though defeated, was full of fight. He went down to Italy and burnt and looted many towns in the north. He died soon afterwards, leaving an enduring reputation for cruelty and ruthlessness. Attila the Hun is even today almost the embodiment of ruthless destruction. The Huns quietened down after his death and settled on the land and got mixed up with many other populations. You may remember that it was roughly about this time that the White Huns came to India.

  Forty years later a Goth, Theodoric, became King of Rome, and that was almost the end of the Western Empire. A successful attempt was made a little later by an Eastern Emperor, Justinian, to include Italy in his empire. He conquered both Italy and Sicily, but they broke away soon after, and the Eastern Empire had enough to do to protect itself.

  Is it not strange that Imperial Rome and her empire should have collapsed so quickly and so easily before almost every tribe that chose to attack it? One would think that Rome had gone to pieces, or that it was just a hollow shell. Probably this would be correct. The strength of Rome for a lengthy period lay in her prestige. Her past history had led other peoples to think of her as the leader of the world, and they treated her with respect and almost with superstitious fear. So Rome continued, outwardly as the powerful mistress of an empire, but in reality with no strength behind her. There was outward calm, and there were crowds in her theatres and stadiums and market-places. But inevitably she was heading for collapse, not merely because she was weak, but because she had built up a rich man’s civilization on the misery and slavery of the masses. I told you, in one of my letters, of the revolts and insurrections of the poor; also of a great slaves’ revolt which was ruthlessly put down. These revolts show us how rotten was the social structure of Rome. It was going to pieces of itself, and the coming of the northern tribes— the Goths and the others—helped this process, and therefore they met with little opposition. The Roman peasant was fed up with his miserable lot and welcomed any change. As for the poor labourer and the slave, they were far worse off.

  With the end of the Western Roman Empire we see the new peoples of the West coming to the front—the Goths and Franks and others with whose names I shall not trouble you. These peoples are the ancestors of the western Europeans of today—the Germans, French, etc. Slowly we see these countries taking shape in Europe. At the same time we find a very low type of civilization. The end of Imperial Rome had also been the end of the pomp and luxury of Rome, and the superficial civilization which had dragged on in Rome vanished almost in a day, its roots having long been sapped. Thus we see actually one of the strange instances of humanity visibly moving backwards. We have this in India, in Egypt, in China, in Greece and Rome and elsewhere. After knowledge and experience have been laboriously gathered and a culture and civilization built up, there is a stop. And not only a stop, but a going back. A veil seems to be cast over the past, and though we have occasional glimpses of it, the mountain of knowledge and experience has to be climbed afresh. Perhaps each time one goes a little higher and makes the next ascent easier. Just as expedition after expedition goes up Mount Everest, each subsequent expedition goes nearer to the summit, and it may be that the highest peak will be conquered before long.

  So we find darkness in Europe. The Dark Ages begin and life becomes rude and crude, and there is almost no education, and fighting seems to be the only occupation or amusement. The days of Socrates and Plato seem very far off indeed.

  So much for the West. Let us look at the Eastern Empire also. Constantine, you will remember, made Christianity the official religion. One of his successors, the Emperor Julian, refused to accept Christianity. He wanted to go back to the worship of the old gods and goddesses. But he could not succeed, for the old gods had had their day, and Christianity was too powerful for them. Julian was called Julian the Apostate by the Christians, and that is the title by which he is known in history.

  Soon after Julian came another Emperor who was very unlike him. His name was Theodosius, and he is called the Great, I suppose because he was great in destroying the old temples and the old statues of the gods and goddesses. He was not only strongly opposed to those who were not Christians: he was equally aggressive against Christians who were not orthodox according to his way of thinking. He would tolerate no opinion or religion of which he did not approve. Theodosius for a short while joined the Eastern and Western Empires and was Emperor of both. This was in 392 AC, before the barbarian invasions of Rome.

  Christianity continued to spread. Its struggles now were not against non-Christians. All the fighting was done by Christian sects against each other, and the amount of intolerance shown by them is amazing. All over northern Africa and western Asia, as well as in Europe, there were many battle-grounds where Christians sought to convince their brother-Christians of the true faith by means of blows and cudgels and such-like gentle measures of persuasion.

  From 527 to 565 AC Justinian was Emperor at Constantinople. As I have already told you, he turned out the Goths from Italy and for
some time Italy and Sicily were parts of the Eastern Empire. Later the Goths recovered Italy.

  Justinian built the beautiful cathedral of Sancta Sophia in Constantinople, which is still one of the finest of Byzantine churches. He also had all the existing laws brought together and arranged by able lawyers. Long before I knew anything of the Eastern Roman Empire and its emperors, I knew of Justinian’s name from this law-book, which is called the Institutes of Justinian, and which I had to read. But although Justinian founded a university at Constantinople, he closed the academy or the old schools of philosophy of Athens which had been founded by Plato and had lasted 1000 years. Philosophy is a dangerous thing for any dogmatic religion; it makes people think.

  And so we have arrived at the sixth century. We see Rome and Constantinople gradually drifting farther apart; Rome taken possession of by the Germanic tribes of the north; Constantinople becoming the centre of a Greek empire, although it was called Roman; Rome going to pieces and sinking to the low level of civilization of its conquerors, whom it used to call the “barbarians” in the days of its glory; Constantinople carrying on the old tradition in a way, but also going down in the scale of civilization; Christian sects fighting each other for mastery; and Eastern Christianity, which had spread right up to Turkestan and China and Abyssinia, becoming cut off from both Constantinople and Rome. The Dark Ages commence. Learning, so far, was classical learning—that is, Greek or old Latin, which derived its inspiration from Greek. But these old Greek books dealing with gods and goddesses and with philosophies were not considered to be fit literature for the pious and devout and intolerant Christians of those early days. So they were not encouraged, and learning suffered, as did also many forms of art.