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FIGURE 3 Note familiar cities : Ahmadabad, Bihar, Lahore, Amritsar, Kabul. Fun fact: Lahore was founded as Lavapuri in ancient times (or the city of lava), by prince Lava or Loh son of Rama.
It’s interesting that Bombay was actually a province back then, and that Pakistan was known as Baluchistan. Also, Burma was a part of the British Raj. Even Southeast Asia was influenced by India due to many “Indianized Kingdoms” in the past.
I t is not until the end of the Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526) that we get to a unified India under Mughal Empire. This is around the same time the most familiar form of Hindi/Urdu language started (See Figure 3). The collapse of the Mughal Empire in 1858 brings us closer to the present day, with the assumption of total control by the British Empire. Their divide and conquer philosophy is reflected in the many states they
created (See Figure 4). Then finally, let’s all put on our thinking caps and visualize modern India and South Asia as we know it. It has become much more divided in the last 65 years. Voila, the Diaspora of Hindustan in 5000 years—scattered across South Asia. A tangible example of this can be seen in Asoka’s edicts. These pillars once covered a unified empire, but are now found in present day India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Parallels to this can be drawn with the Roman Empire in the West, where there are more than 250 amphitheatres erected across 25 countries. It’s interesting how borders change due to politics, religion and controversy. Back then it was so simple—rivers, mountains and forests. India’s diversity is fundamentally a product of its history—Akbar and Asoka were India’s two greatest emperors, and were responsible for creating the most unified empires before modern times. They were also of completely different religions (Muslim and Buddhist respectively), a testament to the plethora of diversity that constitutes the history of our motherland. India is truly the mix of all cultures, and whatever political boundaries it encompasses, it still tries to lead with the same honor Emperor Asoka fulfilled, “It is forbidden to decry other sects; the true believer gives honor to whatever in them is worthy of honor.” Now, let’s finish our tale, and take our parents immigrating to the US from their motherland. Alas, we have finished our place in the weave of diaspora. It’s always nice to step back and think about how we got where we are today. Remember, just as how you look up to your grandfather, he looked up to his, and the cycle rewinds…
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