History of the South Asian subcontinent: Is India Western or Asian?

Is India Western or Asian?

Printed From: History Community ~ All Empires
Category: Regional History or Period History
Forum Name: History of the South Asian subcontinent
Forum Discription: The Indian sub-continent and South Central Asia
URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=15302
Printed Date: 29-Apr-2024 at 03:04
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Topic: Is India Western or Asian?

Posted By: Guests
Subject: Is India Western or Asian?
Date Posted: 06-Oct-2006 at 23:22

Hi,

Yes, I know India is in Asia. However, I have always had the felling India is closer to the West than the rest of Asia. Why?

Because these reasons:

(1) Indians are Indo-european speaking peoples.

(2) Indians, like Persians, North Africans or Turks, have always beeing in contact with the Western civilization, and there are mutual influences between both regions, both in arts and sciences.

(3) There are many parallels in phylosophy and religion between both areas.

(4) There is even an ethnic relation because the peoples of these two regions.

I am not saying that the culture of India is identical to the West, but that is closer than the ones of China, Japan, Indonesia, Africa or the ancient Americas.

By comparisson, China seem quite a lot more distant and different.

What do you think about it?

Pinguin

Replies:

Posted By: Turkali
Date Posted: 07-Oct-2006 at 05:23

Southern asia and very diffrent with west culturally and basicaly totaly diffrent. I think they are close to african by appearance but culturally are something mix of east asia and central asia.

Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 07-Oct-2006 at 05:33

South Asia is the size of Europe. But, I would agree that it has closer links to its Western rather than eastern neighbours. This is especially true of Pakistan.

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Posted By: Scytho-Sarmatian
Date Posted: 07-Oct-2006 at 07:35

India is not a part of the "Western World" (known as the Occident to cultural anthropologists). It belongs to its own culture realm, known as Indic or South Asian civilization.

Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 07-Oct-2006 at 10:09

Yes. It does not "belongs" to the west, but has many similarities, parallels and common roots with the west. What I mean is, for westerners, Indic culture and literature look like a variations of western ideas.

For example, Indic and and Western religions have similarities in the temples, ways of pray, traditions like the procesions, etc. Hinduism has a rich literature similar to biblical writing. Budism has many similarities with Christianism, even in rituals. etc.

If we search into the past, certain ideas and customs of the "Aryan" look very similar to the ones of the "Barbarian" tribes of Northern Europe.

And we know that contact between India and the West has been continue since, at least, 4th century BC. It is also known that Greece arts, science and math influenced India and that at its time India teach the west its own inventions, and games like Chess.

By comparison, Taoism, tonal languages, ideographic writing and the relative skepticism of the East Asian people is completelly allien to the Westerners. East Asia seem to me a totally independent home grown civilization. India seems to be a parallel "brother" civilization of the west.

Pinguin