India behind the bulk language
Two Chinese people from the north and south met and each spoke in dialect, although they could not understand what each other was saying, but they were speaking Chinese.
If two people from different regions meet in India, they have only a 36% chance of understanding by chatting with each other. Because they don't speak the same language.
In addition to the linguistic bulk, the history of India is more freewheeling. On this planet, only the continent has a history of letters that stretches for thousands of years.
And the history of India, especially the history of ancient India, if it weren't for the existence of foreign recorders like Master Xuanzang, modern people may not know what the Indians in history have done.
Because Indians have no history, the history of ancient times for a long time was only passed down by word of mouth. The reason why Indians do not write about history is that it is believed to be related to their religious concepts.
However, from a practical point of view, the influence of religious concepts may only be the result, and the reasons that are not historical should be related to the changes of countries in history.
A region that has been invaded by alien races
In world history, although the Indus Valley has always been regarded as one of the birthplaces of civilization, Marx in the 19th century clearly pointed out that India has no history, or no history that is known.
The main reason for this result is that there have been many civilizations on the continent of India from ancient times to the present, rather than the same civilization for 5,000 years like the continent.
From 2300 BC to around 1700 BC, the Indus Valley emerged in the form of civilizations and states, which modern people call the Harappan culture.
Modern archaeology has found that the Harappan culture is dominated by bronze, and even its writing is similar to the oracle bone inscriptions in continental history. But because India is not historical, modern people simply cannot decipher the message behind the words.
Moreover, the civilization disappeared around 1700 B.C., and the reason for its disappearance is unknown to modern people. This is the earliest known civilization in India, and it is also unknown to modern people whether this civilization was founded by the natives of the Indus Valley or by alien races entering this area.
It wasn't until the Aryans arrived around 1500 BC that it became clear that this was the first foreign civilization to settle in. The Aryans belonged to the Indo-European language family, and they came all the way to the Indus Valley from the northwest.
After a series of conquests, a series of states emerged in northern India, mainly in the Indus Valley, which is what modern people call the Vedic culture. It was during this period that the caste system, which had influenced Indians for thousands of years, gradually emerged.
To be sure, the Aryans were alien races who had placed their own ethnic group above the other ethnic groups in India through the caste system.
Although the boundaries between ethnic groups have become quite blurred over the centuries of integration, the caste system has preserved and flourished. Although the Vedic culture came to an end, the resulting forms of civilization have influenced India for thousands of years.
In this way, there have been successive attempts by foreign races to establish power in the Indus Valley, and the natives have accepted them one by one. Therefore, since the Vedic culture, different civilizations have appeared in this land in turn.
After the Vedas, the land of India experienced a period of nations similar to the Spring and Autumn Period of the Warring States Period on the mainland. During this time, a number of small states appeared on Indian soil, and Buddhism flourished during this period.
However, these nations did not develop towards unification as they did in continental history. After that, another wave of alien invasions followed.
In the 6th and 5th centuries B.C., the Persians came, and Darius I conquered the Indus Valley and established a foreign rule here. This is equivalent to the fact that there was no country in India itself, and the land was only conquered by the Achaemenid dynasty, the regime of Darius I.
The Persians were followed by Alexander the Great. Its conquest of the world is famous in history, with Alexander the Great reaching its peak by conquering the declining Persians and conquering the Indus Valley all the way east.
Modern people often say that Alexander the Great would have entered China's territory if it weren't for the Himalayas, but this view actually puts him too strong.
Because, after Alexander the Great entered the Indus Valley, he left almost no records. This proves from the side that the actual power of the regime did not extend to India because the conquered land spanned Asia and Europe was too large.
Imagine that Alexander the Great had only nominally occupied India, and even without the Himalayas, his sphere of influence would not have been able to reach further east.
After this, several regimes such as the Mauryan Empire were established in India, but unfortunately these dynasties did not last long, and they were always accompanied by foreign invasions. For example, some ethnic groups in Central Asia, such as the Otsutsuki people, have entered and ruled the northern part of India.
By the 11th century, Islamic civilization had begun to enter India, and various regimes were established due to the different ethnic groups that followed Islam. During this period, there were also sudden invasions by alien races such as the Mongols.
Before the advent of Western colonization, the last power in India was the Mughals. On the surface, the dynasty's rule penetrated further south of India, but in fact, the dynasty's internal language, cultural Xi, and concepts were all sorted.
This is why, when the British arrived in India, they were able to easily conquer the land with a limited number of men and gradually turn India into a colony.
To sum up, it is not difficult to see that many great regimes in India's history were established by invasions by foreign races. In the process, this land was baptized by different civilizations, and even a situation of multiple civilizations in the same period appeared.
In this way, it is impossible to form a unified and continuous historical narrative of India's history.
There are no history books, only dictation
Many important aspects of Indian history have either been passed down through oral instruction, or outsiders like Master Xuanzang have left a part of the history through recording.
Nowadays, many believe that Buddhism, which was born in the Vedic era, profoundly influenced the worldview of Indians, who did not focus on the present life and on the afterlife, and therefore did not interest in the record of history.
However, if we look at the dynasties established by different civilizations in the history of India, the real reason why this land is not written is because of the lack of historical foundation.
In the history of India, the first people who lived in this land did not form a unified language and script, and thus did not form the basis for writing history.
When the alien rulers take turns, it will be even more impossible to cultivate history.
First, these alien races who came into India in turn all spoke their own different languages, and even if the new rulers had the heart to sort out, organize and record the various things left over from the previous dynasty, they could not be carried out because of the language and writing.
Just as Alexander the Great conquered the Persians in history, the various ethnic groups of Central Asia later entered India and ended the Mauryan Empire, different invasions and rulers, they spoke very different words, and their cultural Xi was varied.
In contrast, although there have been dynastic changes in the history of the mainland, because of the unification of writing and language, after the end of the previous generation of regimes, new dynasties will write history, because the continuation of civilization is the same, and a large amount of history has been passed down from generation to generation.
And India has never had such a unified cultural gene, so there is no way to write history.
Second, the dynastic regimes in India's history have not completed the unification of the land of India in the true sense. Whether it was the previous Mauryan Dynasty or the later Mughal Dynasty, it seemed to be unified on the surface, but the influence of the regime actually did not sink to the grassroots level.
In this way, from the central to the local, it is hardly an organic whole, and when the ruling power is greatly weakened, the various dynasties have even less power to carry out the unification of writing, language, and even Xi.
It is precisely because secular dominance cannot achieve such an effect that religious influence is important. Although people across India speak different languages, this did not prevent Buddhism from flourishing in the land.
The spread of religion does not need to rely on the unity of language and writing, as long as it can produce gods that are directly aimed at people's hearts, it can produce the same effect in different ethnic groups.
The gradual deepening of the power of religion, in turn, will allow different rulers to strengthen it. After all, the ruler could not restrain the people with secular power and different languages, so he had to give religious functions to the latter, helping him to strengthen his rule.
Just as after the invasion of Islamic civilization into India, vigorously preventing Buddhism from promoting Islam is using the power of religion to increase its dominance. Due to the fragmentation of the social language and script in India, the effect of strong promotion is obvious.
On the contrary, because the mainland has always had its own civilization and unified language and writing, although other religions have also come one after another, the intensity and influence of their spread have always been somewhat unsuitable.
Cultural diversity has not only prevented India from forming a unified language and script in history, but also made the people at the bottom have not formed a sense of the country.
Because of this, when the historical British came to this land, the locals did little to no decent resistance. After all, there are many aliens from outside, and the British are only one of them.
Too scattered language
It was not until the 19th century that the Indian state was gradually formed. In the late 20th century, India broke away from the colonial system and founded the country, but due to the complex language, religion and cultural concepts in the country, it also experienced the partition of India and Pakistan, and Pakistan and Bangladesh established their own countries.
Although it is now said that it was the British who made India divide, but in essence, India is in a scattered situation, and there is no way to pinch people of different races and different ideas into one country.
Today, there are more than 100 ethnic groups in India, and the largest Hindustani ethnic group has a population of only 46.3%, so it does not constitute an absolute mainstream trend for other ethnic groups.
In terms of languages, there are 22 official languages, 216 local languages, 850 daily languages, and 1,600 dialects.
Scattered languages often make it difficult for people across India to communicate. For example, if one person is from West Bengal and the other is from Tamil Nadu, there is only a 1.6% chance that the two will be able to communicate normally.
Although the current Indian government has been promoting the assimilation of language and writing, it has no historical roots, and the implementation is very difficult and difficult.
epilogue
There is even an opinion that the language that cannot be unified will also affect the future development of India. Leaving aside whether this view is right or wrong, the linguistic disunity is only the consequence, not the cause.
The roots are still in the land of India, where there are too many different ethnic groups, and each of them still retains a large number. Historically, these different ethnic groups have not been unified in terms of cultural concepts and language, so the differences are very abrupt in the 21st century.
At least for some time to come, India will continue to be as bulk as such.
Resources:
"Uncovering What You Don't Know About Indian Civilization: Indians Don't Remember History," Guangming Daily, September 9, 2013
"Too Many Languages, Indian Passers-by Are Hard to Chat with When They Meet," Global Times, November 23, 2018
India's Regional Identity: History, Reality and Evolution, Indian Ocean Economic Studies, May 2023
"The Historical Evolution and Contemporary Challenges of the Concept of Community Building in India," Ethnic Studies, March 2023