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| The Hindu Phenomenon |
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A UNIQUE PHENOMENON |
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unity was not ruptured by subsequent invasions by Scythians, Huns
and other groups from Central Asia till the arrival of Islam, first
in Sind in the early eighth century and, finally, in the Indo-Gangetic
plains in the eleventh century. The pre-Islamic invaders did not
generally penetrate the heartland of Indian civilization and the
Gangetic plains; entering through the north-west, they moved down
south-west via Rajasthan into Gujarat. Moreover, they were soon
absorbed into the Hindu or the Buddhist tradition, if they did not
bear the impress of these traditions already. Unlike in Europe where
they finally overwhelmed the Roman empire, they made no lasting
impact on India.
The cultural unity we have spoken of would obviously not have been possible in the absence of a common language of literary culture. Sanskrit fulfilled that role. Two views have been expressed about Sanskrit. First, that it was the language of an Aryan people who came to India as conquerors and/or migrants from Central Asia and successfully imposed it on the native peoples. Secondly, that it was a language which was developed within India itself as a result of the synthesis of the languages of various ethnic groups, who were themselves in the process of becoming merged into one people, and that this was the reason why there was no popular resistance to it at any stage.
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