Reaching Souls International Involvement:
We have been working in India since 1997. Open
air meetings are heavily discouraged, so our native missionaries
are forced to take a much more individual evangelistic
approach. The nation is 81% Hindu and 12% Muslim.
Reaching Souls International saw 455 salvations in India in 2003. Our next
Indian project is planned for November 2004.
Short Term Projects:
- Vadodora, 1997
- Baroda and Punjab, 2004
Population:
1,065,070,607
Life Expectancy: 64
Years
HIV Deaths: 310,000
per year
The Republic of India is
the second most populous country in the world, with a
population of over one billion, and is the seventh
largest country by geographical area. India has grown
significantly, both in population and in strategic
importance in the last two decades. The Indian economy
is the fourth largest in the world with respect to gross
domestic product (a measure of the amount of the
economic output), measured in terms of purchasing power
parity, and is one of the fastest growing economies in
the world. India, the world's largest liberal democracy,
has also emerged as an important regional power,
possessing one of the world's largest military forces
and a declared nuclear weapons capability.
Located in South Asia with a coastline of over seven
thousand kilometres, India constitutes most of the
Indian subcontinent, and straddles many important and
historic trade routes. It shares its borders with
Pakistan, the People's Republic of China, Myanmar,
Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Afghanistan1. Sri Lanka,
the Maldives, and Indonesia are the adjacent island
nations. India is home to some of the most ancient
civilizations and has given birth to four major world
religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. The
country was a part of the British Empire before gaining
independence in 1947.
Indus Valley Civilisation
The first known urban society in India was the Indus
Valley Civilization, also called the Harappan
civilization, which thrived between 2800 BCE and 1800
BCE. It was centered along the Indus River and its
tributaries, and extended into the Ganges-Yamuna Doab,
Gujarat, and northern Afghanistan. The civilization is
noted for its cities built of brick. The language spoken
by the Indus Valley people is not known; some scholars
speculate it may have been a Dravidian language, while
others argue that it was an Indo-Aryan language.
The story of Indus valley civilization, also known as
Harappa civilization, is a story of a people intricately
tied to their environment. The geography of India is one
of great extremes, encompassing desert, mountains,
forest, and jungle. All of these environments are
susceptible to unpredictable periods of flood, drought,
and monsoon. Although India may bear some of the most
extreme geological and climatic features, these
difficult conditions were also a great asset to the
development of its early civilizations. The Himalayas
provided a great deal of protection from nomadic and
military invasions from the north, and other mountain
ranges provided similar protection in the west and east.
The water ways of the Indus valley provided an excellent
resource for trade and commerce throughout India's
history, and were vital to the civilizations throughout
the Indus.
As is found with most state level societies, a rise in
the cultivation of agrarian resources (specifically
specialization), often leads to a surplus with an
eventual population increase (making state level
societies possible). The scenario of the Indus valley
follows much the same principle. Archaeological
resources suggest that the diverse geography of ancient
India was increasing in the amount and specialization of
faunal remains around the era of 2,400 and 1,000 BC.
This specialization suggests that the Indus valley
civilizations were dependent upon the lush alluvial soil
of the Indus River, which produced high yields of cereal
grains, and cultivated plant materials. By the time of
2,700 BC, the presence of a state level society is
evident, complete with hierarchical rule and large scale
public works (irrigation, etc.). Such large scale growth
in so small a period of time can be attributed to two
factors, an organized civilization which took direct
control of its environments, and the unique and rich
environmental resources India provided.
The Vedic Civilization is named for the Vedas, which are
the first known writings in Sanskrit. Whether the Vedic
peoples originated in India or invaded India from the
northwest, and their relation to the Indus Valley
Civilisation, are the subject of a considerable debate;
see Aryan Invasion Theory. Early Vedic society was
largely pastoral. Later Vedic society became
agricultural, and was organized around the four Varnas,
or castes.
In the 7th century BCE, a second wave of urbanisation
occurred across the Indian sub-continent, spreading from
Afghanistan to Bengal. A number of kingdoms and
republics emerged across the Indo-Gangetic plain and
southern India during this period.
Of the early kingdoms, Magadha, centered in modern-day
Bihar with its capital at Pataliputra (Patna),
eventually grew to dominate northern India. Much is
known about the Hindu Shishunaga dynasty of Magadha
thanks to the Puranas (voluminous Hindu texts), the
Buddhist Jatakas, and Jain texts. The emperors Bimbisara
and Ajatashatru are connected with the life of Gautama
Buddha. The Puranas assign it the period 684 BCE - 424
BCE.
The Shishunaga dynasty was followed by the Nanda dynasty
that ruled for 100 years.
This period saw the development of two of India's major
religions. Gautama Buddha (563 - 483 BCE) was the
founder of Buddhism, which later spread to East and
Southeast Asia. Mahavira (599 BCE) developed Jainism.
Chandragupta Maurya, a famed Hindu monarch, founded the
Mauryan dynasty of Magadha with the help of Chanakya (or
Kautilya) the author of the ancient Hindu text on
governance and political savvy known as the Arthashastra.
Ashoka, one of the greatest rulers of this dynasty,
embraced and preached Buddhism after experiencing an
epiphany on the bloody battlefield of Kalinga. The
mighty empire of the Mauryans began to decline after the
death of Ashoka.
South India's earliest monuments were those of a
megalithic culture, mostly centered in the Deccan
plateau. Since the 6th century BCE, several kingdoms
emerged in South India, building irrigation works that
allowed for wet-rice cultivation of the river valley
lowlands, and supported larger cities. The earliest of
these is the Pandya kingdom in southern Tamil Nadu, with
its capital at Madurai. Later, the Chola kingdom emerged
in northern Tamil Nadu, and the Chera kingdom in Kerala.
In the 1st century BCE the Sangam poems of the Pandya
kingdom were composed in Tamil. The ports of southern
India were involved in the Indian Ocean trade, chiefly
involving spices, with the Roman Empire to the west and
Southeast Asia to the east.
Between the Maurya and Gupta empires, northern India was
ruled by smaller kingdoms. Notable among them were the
Satavahanas, who ruled the northern Deccan and western
India. The Satavahanas built the rock-cut caves of
central India.
The Kushanas, who invaded northwestern India about the
middle of the 1st century CE, from Central Asia, and
founded an empire that eventually stretched from
Peshawar to the middle Ganges and, perhaps, as far as
the Bay of Bengal. It also included ancient Bactria (in
the north of modern Afghanistan and southern Tajikistan.
Their power also extnded into Turkestan and helped
spread Buddhism to China.
The Shungas, founded by Pushyamitra who ruled from 185
to 151 BCE, succeeded the Mauryas as rulers of
Pataliputra and dominated eastern India. The Shunga
period is known for its art and sculpture.
The political map of ancient and medieval India
comprised myriad kingdoms with fluctuating boundaries.
In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Gupta Dynasty unified
northern India. During this period, known as India's
Golden Age, Hindu culture, science and political
administration reached new heights.
After the collapse of the Gupta empire in the 6th
century, India was ruled by numerous regional kingdoms.
King Harsha of Kannauj succeeded in reuniting northern
India during his reign in the 7th century. His kingdom
collapsed after his death.
From the 7th to the 9th century, three dynasties
contested for control of northern India: the Pratiharas
of Malwa and later Kannauj; the Palas of Bengal, and the
Rashtrakutas of the Deccan.
The first recorded Rajput kingdoms emerged in Rajasthan
in the 6th century, and Rajput dynasties later ruled
much of northern India, including Gujarat (Solankis),
Malwa (Paramaras), Bundelkhand (Chandelas), and Haryana
(Tomaras).
The Pallava dynasty of Kanchipuram ruled southeastern
India from from 4th century to the 9th century.
The Chalukya Empire ruled parts of southern India from
550 to 750 and again from 970 to 1190.
The Cholas emerged as the most powerful empire in the
south in the 9th century and retained their preeminent
position until the 13th century.
The brothers Harihara and Bukka founded the Karnataka
Empire, also known as the Vijayanagara Empire, in 1336.
The Vijayanagara empire prospered during the reign of
Krishnadevaraya. It suffered a major defeat in 1565 but
continued for another century or so in an attenuated
form.
Islam spread across the subcontinent over a period of
1000 years. Prior to Turkish invasions, Muslim trading
communities flourished throughout coastal South India,
particularly in Kerala. In the 10th and 11th centuries,
Turks and Afghans invaded India and established the
Sultanate of Delhi at the beginning of the 13th century.
In the early 16th century, descendants of Genghis Khan
swept across the Khyber Pass and established the Mughal
(Mogul) Dynasty, which lasted for 200 years.
The Hindu Chola and Vijayanagar Dynasties came into
conflict with Islamic rule and the clashing of the two
systems - prevailing Hindu and the Muslim caused a
mingling that left lasting cultural influences on each
other. The Mughal rule also saw such influences with
Gujarat and Rajasthan contributing towards this.
See also: Islamic invasion of India, Islamic empires in
India, Decline of Buddhism in India
The Mughal Empire ruled most of the northern Indian
subcontinent from 1526; it went into a slow decline
after 1707 and was finally defeated during the War of
Independence of 1857.
The Maratha Kingdom was founded by Shivaji in 1674 when
he annexed a portion of the Bijapur Sultanate. By the
18th century, it had transformed itself into the Maratha
Confederacy under the rule of the Peshwa. By 1760, the
Empire had stretched across practically the entire
subcontinent. This expansion was brought to an end by
the Maratha's defeat by an Afghan army at the Third
Battle of Panipat in 1761. The last Peshwa, Baji Rao II,
was defeated by the British in the Third Anglo-Maratha
War.
Vasco da Gama's discovery of a new sea route to India in
1498 paved the way for European colonisation of India.
The British established their first outpost in South
Asia in 1619 at Surat on the northwestern coast of
India, arriving in the wake of Portuguese and Dutch
visitors. Later in the century, the British East India
Company opened permanent trading stations at Madras,
Bombay, and Calcutta, each under the protection of
native rulers.
The Portuguese set up bases in Goa, Daman, Diu and
Bombay. They remained the longest colonial rulers for
500 years till 1962.
The French set up base along with the British in the
17th century. They occupied large parts of southern
India. However subsequent wars with the British, led to
the loss of almost all their territory. They however
retained the colonies of Pondicherry -(Pondicherry,
Karaikal, Yanam, and Mahé.) and Chandernagore.
Pondicherry was ceded to India in 1950.
The Dutch did not have a major presence in India. The
towns of Travancore were ruled by the Dutch. However
they were more interested in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and
their prize of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).
They were responsible for training the military of the
princely state of Kerala.
In 1845, the Danish colony of Tranquebar was sold to
Britain.
The British expanded their influence from these
footholds until, by the 1850s, they controlled most of
the Indian sub-continent, which included present-day
Pakistan and Bangladesh. In 1857, a rebellion in
northern India led by mutinous Indian soldiers caused
the British Parliament to transfer all political power
from the East India Company to the Crown. Britain began
administering most of India directly, while controlling
the rest through treaties with local rulers. From 1830,
the defeat of the Thugs played a part in securing
establishing greater control of diverse Indian provinces
for the British.
In the late 19th century "British India" took its first
steps toward self-government with the appointment of
Indian councillors to advise the British viceroy and
with the establishment of provincial councils with
Indian members; the British subsequently widened
participation in legislative councils. Beginning in
1920, the Indian leader Mohandas K. Gandhi (also known
as Mahatma (Great Soul) Gandhi) transformed the Indian
National Congress party into a mass movement to campaign
against British colonial rule. The movement eventually
succeeded in bringing about independence by means of
parliamentary action, non-violent resistance and
non-cooperation.
On August 15, 1947, India became a dominion within the
Commonwealth of Nations under the leadership of Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Concurrently the Muslim
northwest and north east of British India was separated
into the nation of Pakistan. Violent clashes between
Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs followed this partition. The
area of Kashmir in the far north of the subcontinent
quickly became a source of controversy that erupted into
the First Indo-Pakistani War which lasted from 1947 to
1949. Eventually a cease fire was agreed to that left
India in control of two thirds of the contested region.
The Indian Constituent Assembly adopted India's
constitution, drafted by B. R. Ambedkar, on November 26,
1949. External link to the constitution (http://lawmin.nic.in/coi.htm)
India became a secular republic within the Commonwealth
after promulgating its constitution on January 26, 1950.
After independence, the Congress Party, the party of
Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, ruled India under
the influence first of Nehru and then of his daughter
Indira Gandhi and of his grandson Rajiv Gandhi, with the
exception of two brief periods in the 1970s and 1980s.
Prime Minister Nehru governed the nation until his death
in 1964. Under Nehru the country launched a policy of
industrial expansion based on heavy industries through a
number of five year plans. Nehru foreign policy
emphasized non-alignment and India was consequently a
central member of the Non-Aligned Movement. It started
tentative relations with the USSR in response to the
United States' burgeoning relationship with Pakistan.
In 1961, after continual petitions for a peaceful
handover, India invaded and annexed the Portuguese
colony of Goa on the west coast of India. In 1971 India
annexed the semi-independent principality of Sikkim.
In 1962 China and India engaged in the brief Sino-Indian
War over the border in the Himalayas. The war was a
complete rout for the Indians and led to a refocussing
on arms build-up and an improvement in relations with
the United States.
In 1965 in the Second Kashmir War India and Pakistan
again went to war, with India again remaining
victorious. In 1971, India intervened in a civil war
taking place in Pakistan's eastern Bengal half; the
clash resulted in the independence of East Pakistan,
which became known as Bangladesh.
In 1966, power passed to Nehru's daughter, Indira
Gandhi, who served as Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977.
Meanwhile trouble brewed up in the Indian protectorate
of Sikkim against the rule of the Chogyal. After a
referendum held, the people voted to make Sikkim India's
21st state. On 26 April 1975, Sikkim formally became a
part of India. In 1975, beset with deepening political
and economic problems as well as threats to her power,
Gandhi declared a state of emergency and suspended many
civil liberties, a controversial move that thrust India
into a two-year standstill. (See Indian Emergency.)
Seeking a mandate at the polls for her policies, she
called for elections in 1977, only to suffer electoral
defeat at the hands of Morarji Desai, who headed the
Janata Party, an amalgamation of five opposition
parties.
In 1979, Desai's Government crumbled. Charan Singh
formed an interim government, which was followed by
Gandhi's return to power in January 1980. On October 31,
1984, assassins killed Indira Gandhi, and the Congress
(I) - for "Indira" - Party chose her son Rajiv Gandhi to
take her place. His government fell in 1989 amidst
allegations of corruption. V.P. Singh and then Chandra
Shekhar in turn succeeded as Prime Minister.
After the 1989 elections, although Rajiv Gandhi and
Congress won a plurality of seats, he did not succeed in
forming a government with a clear majority. The Janata
Dal, a union of opposition parties, formed a government
with the help of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) on the right and of the communists on the
left. This loose coalition collapsed in November 1990,
and for a short period of time a breakaway Janata Dal
group supported by Congress (I) controlled the
government, with Chandra Shekhar as Prime Minister. That
alliance also collapsed, resulting in national elections
in June 1991.
On May 27, 1991, while Rajiv Gandhi campaigned in Tamil
Nadu on behalf of Congress (I), assassins, apparently
Sri Lankan Tamil extremists, killed him. In the
elections, Congress (I) won 213 parliamentary seats and
put together a coalition, returning to power under the
leadership of P.V. Narasimha Rao. This Congress-led
government, which served a full 5-year term, initiated a
gradual process of economic liberalisation and reform,
which has opened the Indian economy to global trade and
investment. India's domestic politics also took new
shape, as traditional alignments by caste, creed, and
ethnicity gave way to a plethora of small,
regionally-based political parties.
The final months of the Rao-led government in the spring
of 1996 suffered the effects of several major political
corruption scandals, which contributed to the worst
electoral performance by the Congress Party in its
history. The Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
emerged from the May 1996 national elections as the
single-largest party in the Lok Sabha but without enough
strength to prove a majority on the floor of that
Parliament. Under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee,
the BJP coalition lasted in power 13 days. With all
political parties wishing to avoid another round of
elections, a 14-party coalition led by the Janata Dal
emerged to form a government known as the United Front,
under the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, H.D. Deve
Gowda. His government lasted less than a year, as the
leader of the Congress Party withdrew his support in
March 1997. Inder Kumar Gujral replaced Deve Gowda as
the consensus choice for Prime Minister of a 16-party
United Front coalition.
In November 1997, the Congress Party again withdrew
support for the United Front. New elections in February
1998 brought the BJP the largest number of seats in
Parliament--182--but this fell far short of a majority.
On March 20, 1998, the President inaugurated a BJP-led
coalition government with Vajpayee again serving as
Prime Minister. On May 11 and 13, 1998, this government
conducted a series of underground nuclear tests,
prompting United States President Clinton and Japan to
impose economic sanctions on India pursuant to the 1994
Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act.
In April 1999, the BJP-led coalition government fell
apart, leading to fresh elections in September. The
National Democratic Alliance - a new coalition led by
the BJP - gained a majority to form a government with
Vajpayee as Prime Minister in October 1999.
In January 2004 Vajpayee recommended early dissolution
of the Lok Sabha and General elections. The Congress
Party-led alliance won a plurality of seats in election
held in May 2004, leading to Manmohan Singh becoming
Prime Minister.
