0:00:12 > 0:00:16INDIAN FUSION MUSIC PLAYS
0:00:19 > 0:00:20All societies in human history,
0:00:20 > 0:00:26I suppose, have imagined a golden age - a past time when people lived in peace and plenty,
0:00:26 > 0:00:33when the rulers were just and the division between sacred and profane time had not yet happened.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35DISTANT CHEERING
0:00:35 > 0:00:36But here in India,
0:00:36 > 0:00:44above all countries, that idea has been extraordinarily tenacious and powerful right down to today.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48But is there a history behind such dreams?
0:00:48 > 0:00:52This is a journey back to the golden age - real and imagined.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55DISTANT CHANTING
0:01:16 > 0:01:20INDIAN CYMBALS PLAY
0:01:21 > 0:01:23In The Story Of India,
0:01:23 > 0:01:27we've reached the year 400, the time of the fall of Rome and the Dark Ages in the West.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32But here in India, great kingdoms rose then in the north and the south,
0:01:32 > 0:01:36and in modern times, this has come to be seen as a golden age.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40INDIAN FUSION MUSIC PLAYS THROUGHOUT
0:01:49 > 0:01:53And if one story is at the centre of that idea,
0:01:53 > 0:01:57it's the tale of Rama, the God who came down to Earth as a king,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00who defeated evil and ruled with justice.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03It's a tale known and loved by all Indians.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12There are said to be 300 versions of the Rama story
0:02:12 > 0:02:15in more than 20 different Indian languages.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23MUSIC DROWNS CONVERSATION
0:02:33 > 0:02:36DISTANT CHATTER
0:02:39 > 0:02:43In the days of the Raj, the British called the Rama stories and plays
0:02:43 > 0:02:45"the bible of India".
0:02:45 > 0:02:47If you didn't know them, they said,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50you couldn't know the people.
0:02:50 > 0:02:55Nor would you understand the powerful, driving idea behind the epic tale,
0:02:55 > 0:03:01that whether king or commoner, you should live in virtue - "dharma".
0:03:01 > 0:03:05It's kind of wonderfully smoky and mysterious, isn't it?
0:03:05 > 0:03:08Gods in glittering costumes standing among the trees
0:03:08 > 0:03:10and a vast audience all sitting round.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16We're on the next to the last day of 31 days
0:03:16 > 0:03:19of performance of the plays of the story of Rama.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27And for most Indian people, it's simply the best story in the world.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29Sita!
0:03:29 > 0:03:31EVIL LAUGH
0:03:33 > 0:03:36Like the tale of Troy, it begins with the abduction
0:03:36 > 0:03:38of a beautiful queen.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43The wicked demon king seizes Sita,
0:03:43 > 0:03:48the faithful wife of Rama, the exiled king of Ayodhyay.
0:03:49 > 0:03:50Sita!
0:03:50 > 0:03:56The demon king takes Sita back to his island fortress...
0:03:56 > 0:03:59while the distraught Rama sets out to find her,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03helped by the faithful monkey, Hanuman.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08Eventually, with Hanuman's help,
0:04:08 > 0:04:13Rama crosses the sea and rescues Sita after a heroic battle.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS
0:04:22 > 0:04:24After his triumph,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Rama returns to reign in the city of Ayodhyay
0:04:27 > 0:04:29and brings in the Golden Age.
0:04:29 > 0:04:35The story has bequeathed to Indian culture the ideal of a just rule.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38In the modern freedom struggle against the British,
0:04:38 > 0:04:43Mahatma Gandhi himself invoked the return of the rule of Rama.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45THEY SING INDIAN HYMN
0:04:54 > 0:04:58In around the year 400, the epic tale told by the poets
0:04:58 > 0:05:04became fixed in a real place, and the myth became history.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11It was back in the early fifth century AD,
0:05:11 > 0:05:13the time of the fall of the Roman Empire in the West,
0:05:13 > 0:05:18that a powerful North Indian dynasty took the story of Rama and made it their own.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20They were called the "Guptas".
0:05:23 > 0:05:28And the Guptas took a conscious decision to locate the golden city of Rama
0:05:28 > 0:05:34in a real place from where they would rule and create their own golden time.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40So the old town of Saketa was given a new name and identity -
0:05:40 > 0:05:42Ayodhyay.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47That story is still told by the pilgrim guides
0:05:47 > 0:05:51on the river bank... with a few mythic embellishments!
0:05:54 > 0:05:55MAN SPEAKS IN HINDI
0:06:35 > 0:06:38So the myth became fact.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40The city of legend became a real place,
0:06:40 > 0:06:45and Rama was accepted as an incarnation of God on Earth,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48here on the banks of the Gogra River.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53But in recent times, the story has been fiercely contested,
0:06:53 > 0:06:57used by fundamentalists to assert Hindu supremacy
0:06:57 > 0:07:00in a country of many religions.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07And in the name of Rama, the God king,
0:07:07 > 0:07:10the ideal man, the epitome of justice,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13sectarian violence was unleashed across India.
0:07:24 > 0:07:31It's a far cry from the fairy-tale city of the Golden Age of Ayodhyay in the legend.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35But you have to remember that for all the pilgrims jamming these streets,
0:07:35 > 0:07:37this is the place where God came down to Earth.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44For hundreds of millions of ordinary Indians, this is a beloved story.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48It has the biggest ever book sales, the greatest ever TV audiences.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54No wonder the fundamentalists wanted to harness the power of the story.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25The soul of Ayodhyay is altogether ten "lakh" years old.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28- Ten lakh years old?!- Ten lakh years old. It has a very long history.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31- Wow! This is a million years?! - This is a million years.- OK.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33A millions years. Right.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35So, it's a different conception of history
0:08:35 > 0:08:38to the Western conception of history.
0:08:53 > 0:08:59So, the fight is not just about the present, but about the past.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02The issue at stake is the story of India itself -
0:09:02 > 0:09:05who does it belong to? Had there ever been one Indian identity?
0:09:05 > 0:09:08Or was the real history, as Nehru and Gandhi
0:09:08 > 0:09:15and the freedom fighters believed, one of multiple identities and multiple narratives?
0:09:15 > 0:09:20This wonderful place sums up the layers of history of Ayodhyay
0:09:20 > 0:09:25that go back long before the revival of the city under the Guptas.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32Hindu Ayodhyay, that great Muslim shrine underneath us...
0:09:32 > 0:09:35and below our feet, the Buddhist history.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41So, what was India like in the Gupta age?
0:09:41 > 0:09:46Let's go back now to the world at the time of the fall of the Roman Empire.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51The fifth century AD was an age of migrations and wars.
0:09:51 > 0:09:56The Huns swept out of Asia from the Great Wall of China to the Gates of Rome.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04This was the time when the Gupta kings created their empire.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11And by a lucky chance, there's an eyewitness to that time.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15A foreigner, who like many later visitors, came here
0:10:15 > 0:10:18seeking the wisdom of India.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22Thank you.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27Sun-dried, river...river mud.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31Biodegradable, goes back to the earth once you've finished your drink.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34HORN BLARES
0:10:40 > 0:10:42The eyewitness was Chinese,
0:10:42 > 0:10:45a Buddhist pilgrim whose name was Fa-Hsien.
0:10:47 > 0:10:52He'd come to visit the Buddhist monasteries of North India, and he describes the country,
0:10:52 > 0:10:56in the time of the great Gupta king, Chandragupta II.
0:11:01 > 0:11:07Foreigners' views of other civilisations are always very interesting and revealing.
0:11:07 > 0:11:13Fa-Hsien's portrait of India in around the year 400, about the time of the fall of the Roman Empire,
0:11:13 > 0:11:19opens a window onto the Gupta age that you could never have imagined from what survives.
0:11:19 > 0:11:25It's a portrait of a highly organised state with a very strong governing ethos.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28In fact, a great, late classical civilisation.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Fa-Hsien travelled down the Ganges plain.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42"This part is known as the Middle land," he says.
0:11:42 > 0:11:49"Climate is temperate. The cities and towns are the greatest in India.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52"The people are numerous and happy,
0:11:52 > 0:11:56"the inhabitants of the cities, rich and prosperous, vie with each other
0:11:56 > 0:12:01"in the practice of benevolence and righteousness.
0:12:03 > 0:12:08"The king governs without capital punishment, and throughout the country,
0:12:08 > 0:12:10"the people do not kill any living creature."
0:12:14 > 0:12:18Fa-Hsien depicts India as a pluralist and tolerant country,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22where Buddhism thrived along with the Hindu religions.
0:12:26 > 0:12:32What he doesn't mention are the extraordinary artistic productions of Gupta civilisation,
0:12:32 > 0:12:37like the gold coins of the kings, holding the golden bow of Rama...
0:12:43 > 0:12:48Or the wonderful sculpture created by Gupta artists for all religions.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04Nor does Fa-Hsien mention the Guptas' technological achievements.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10The most mysterious - a 35ft iron pillar...
0:13:11 > 0:13:14..which stands in Delhi today.
0:13:16 > 0:13:21And the inscription on it... dates it to about 400 AD,
0:13:21 > 0:13:25centuries before the Chinese developed their iron technology.
0:13:25 > 0:13:281,500 years nearly before the Industrial Revolution.
0:13:29 > 0:13:34If Chinese are considered to be the masters of ceramic, Indians were the masters of metal.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39There's no doubt about that. And particularly, the metal they were masters in was iron.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44It was done by a technique known as forge welding.
0:13:44 > 0:13:49- Forge welding?- Welding. What you do in this technique is you take lumps of iron,
0:13:49 > 0:13:55about 20kg in weight, and then you place them on top of each other in a hot condition
0:13:55 > 0:13:58and you hit with a hammer. Doing this,
0:13:58 > 0:14:02due to the forging action, you have joined the material.
0:14:02 > 0:14:08- So you have constructed a pillar which is about 6,000kg in weight. - That's unbelievable!
0:14:08 > 0:14:11So that is actually a very marvellous engineering feat.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14So this pillar should be considered
0:14:14 > 0:14:18- as a metallurgical wonder of the world!- Yes, yes, yeah!
0:14:18 > 0:14:20- Not just India - it belongs to humanity.- Yes.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26Do we know who made it and commissioned it?
0:14:26 > 0:14:30Based upon the inscription on the pillar, we know that it was commissioned
0:14:30 > 0:14:34by one Chandra. It doesn't tell anything more, it just talks about Chandra.
0:14:34 > 0:14:40We now know, based on the analysis of the Gupta gold coins, that this Chandra should be Chandragupta II.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46"Chandra," says the column, "his face beautiful like the full moon,
0:14:46 > 0:14:50"who won the sovereignty of the Earth and left the southern ocean
0:14:50 > 0:14:54"perfumed by the breeze of his bravery."
0:14:56 > 0:15:00What is it about them that makes them so creative? Can you explain that for us?
0:15:00 > 0:15:05As a metallurgist, I'm aware that if you look at the metallurgical objects which have come -
0:15:05 > 0:15:09iron, iron pillar, the gold coins, the variety of coins,
0:15:09 > 0:15:13and the beautiful bronze castings of Buddha from Mathura,
0:15:13 > 0:15:18it's very clear that during the Gupta period, the people were focused on high quality.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23And that was the time when Indian civilisation actually takes the next major leap.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34And the leap was in all fields. After defeating the Huns,
0:15:34 > 0:15:40the Gupta kings made their court a centre of high culture, drama and literature.
0:15:40 > 0:15:46But some of the most remarkable achievements of their age were in science. Just like today,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49the ancient Indians were brilliant mathematicians.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52Gupta scientists pioneered the use of zero,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55the foundation of all modern mathematics.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59It was a Gupta astronomer, in around 500 AD,
0:15:59 > 0:16:02who proved the Earth went round the sun.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05His name was Aryabhatta.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Aryabhatta was...one of the greatest Indian astronomers.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12He came up with the concept of Pi.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15That is a very significant contribution by him.
0:16:17 > 0:16:24And, of course, he was... In the field of astronomy also, he estimated the circumference of the Earth,
0:16:24 > 0:16:30which, at that time, he said was 5,000 "yojanas".
0:16:30 > 0:16:37That is...the unit of length. It turns out that the present value is very close to that value.
0:16:39 > 0:16:45That's almost exactly the Earth's true circumference of 24,900 miles.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50All this was part of wider speculation about the place of humanity in the cosmos,
0:16:50 > 0:16:54a cosmos imagined by ancient Indians in billions of years,
0:16:54 > 0:17:00way beyond what anybody came up with in the West, before the age of radio telescopes.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07And the ability to imagine like that has always been a mark of Indian civilisation.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12Unlike the West in the age of Galileo, India was not traumatised
0:17:12 > 0:17:17by the revelation that the universe is infinite and the human place in it, tiny.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23That all things, the Gods too,
0:17:23 > 0:17:29are subject to cycles of cosmic destruction over aeons of time,
0:17:29 > 0:17:34and that human life is a pool of light in an infinite darkness.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39Just as a man in a moving boat
0:17:39 > 0:17:44sees the stationary objects on shore move in the opposite direction,
0:17:44 > 0:17:50so a person standing on the equator would see the stationary stars
0:17:50 > 0:17:53move directly towards the West.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57DISTANT SINGING
0:18:00 > 0:18:03More than anybody else in the Gupta age,
0:18:03 > 0:18:10Aryabhatta gives us an idea of the incredible breadth of intellectual speculation going on here in India,
0:18:10 > 0:18:14at the time of the Barbarian Invasions and the fall of the Roman Empire in the West.
0:18:26 > 0:18:32And those speculations went from contemplation of the cosmos to the life of the mind.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39Indian thinkers of the Gupta age were especially interested
0:18:39 > 0:18:43in the psychology of human relationships and the art of sex...
0:18:45 > 0:18:51..an area that in western Christian civilisation was for so long associated with guilt.
0:18:52 > 0:18:58India has always been a guilt-free society as far as sex is concerned.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01- Obviously we are 1.2 billion people so... - HE LAUGHS
0:19:01 > 0:19:03There's no guilt here, you know?
0:19:03 > 0:19:08Sex is fun and it's good. Even when it's bad, it's all right.
0:19:08 > 0:19:09So just...
0:19:11 > 0:19:12Yeah, yeah.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16The most famous product of the Gupta age, at least in the West,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19is the Kama Sutra.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23The consciousness of being in an elevated situation
0:19:23 > 0:19:26when you're in love, or making love, is called "kama".
0:19:28 > 0:19:33It's how to describe it in English, but it's the sense of consciousness.
0:19:33 > 0:19:39Having all your sense organs elevated when you are in the very act making love is "kama".
0:19:41 > 0:19:44You need to have an element of fun. It's not all about positions
0:19:44 > 0:19:49and contortions, it's also about having fun and enjoying this.
0:19:50 > 0:19:56"The sound, "Him", a sound like thunder, the sounds "sut",
0:19:56 > 0:19:58""dut", gasps, moans..."
0:19:59 > 0:20:06"..and cries of "Stop!" "Harder!" "Go on!" "Don't kill me!" "No!" are the generic name of sitk..."
0:20:06 > 0:20:08Sit... What's this?
0:20:08 > 0:20:09- "Sitkrta".- Sitkrta.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15The Kama Sutra, contrary to many perceptions in the Western world,
0:20:15 > 0:20:19is not just about sex or about sexual positions, isn't it?
0:20:19 > 0:20:21It's more a kind of book of life, isn't it?
0:20:21 > 0:20:26All of Hindu philosophy talks of something called the "Purusharth" which are...
0:20:26 > 0:20:30Purusharth is what a man needs to do, right?
0:20:30 > 0:20:34Which is "dharma", the whole quality of being a righteous human being.
0:20:34 > 0:20:40You have "artha", which allows you to...which is gathering wealth.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44So, it could be just business, it could be governance...
0:20:44 > 0:20:46Then you have "kama", the idea of love.
0:20:46 > 0:20:52And the last of these that you need to do in life is seek "moksha", which is liberation.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57Hinduism extols every human being to actually explore all these aspects of life.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01It tells us important things about the Gupta age, doesn't it?
0:21:01 > 0:21:06We know who it was aimed at. I mean, are women intended as readership as well as men?
0:21:06 > 0:21:14Women were equal, and the Kama Sutra too encourages women to seek their own levels of satisfaction.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17Right? Because it recognises a very important thing,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20and this is the most important thing about the Kama Sutra,
0:21:20 > 0:21:25that it looks at relationships as a two-way...relationship,
0:21:25 > 0:21:27of give and take, of mutual loving.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31- It's a symbiotic relationship. - It's a very modern text... - It's a very modern text.
0:21:31 > 0:21:37It's a very modern text. It's not, "Oh, thank you, ma'am" and... No. That doesn't work.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41TABLA MUSIC PLAYS
0:21:43 > 0:21:44ANKLETS JINGLE
0:21:46 > 0:21:47In human relations,
0:21:47 > 0:21:51there's always a gap between ideal and reality.
0:21:53 > 0:21:58The Kama Sutra was written in the fifth century, but it was the product of an age
0:21:58 > 0:22:00where there was freedom of thought.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05And such an enquiry into love surely is the mark of a high civilisation.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10MUSIC: "San Sanana" by Anu Malik and Gulzar
0:22:10 > 0:22:15From Bollywood movies to the sublime passion of religious poetry,
0:22:15 > 0:22:20the transcendent moment of human love in Indian culture
0:22:20 > 0:22:22is a mirror of our relation with the gods.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30For all our failures to achieve the ideal,
0:22:30 > 0:22:34in love, so India teaches, we human beings are still touched
0:22:34 > 0:22:36by the divine.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50DISTANT HORN
0:22:57 > 0:23:02So the age of the Guptas shaped Indian civilisation in the north in the Middle Ages.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11Here in the south, in the 10th century, another great civilisation arose
0:23:11 > 0:23:15and created an empire that would rule across Southern India
0:23:15 > 0:23:18and the islands of the Indian Ocean.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22These were the "Cholans",
0:23:22 > 0:23:26and their heyday was from around 900 to 1300 AD.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Just as the Guptas had in the north,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40the Cholans reshaped the medieval world of the south.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46Their capital still stands today, Thanjore, in Tamil Nadu.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50At its heart, the temple of the creator of the empire...
0:23:50 > 0:23:53Raja Raja, the king of kings.
0:23:54 > 0:24:01Brilliant statesmen, builders and artists, the Cholans have been called the Athenians of India.
0:24:01 > 0:24:06And what's so extraordinary is that their civilisation is still alive today.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35The priests have been doing that ritual here every morning for the last thousand years,
0:24:35 > 0:24:41since Raja Raja The Great himself inaugurated this temple in 1010.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48The tallest building in India when it was built,
0:24:48 > 0:24:52the temple was dedicated to the great god of the Cholan royal family - Shiva.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56The temple, though, really,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59is a monument to Raja Raja himself.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03It's named after him, and the inscriptions all round the walls
0:25:03 > 0:25:07extol his deeds as king of kings, lion of the solar race,
0:25:07 > 0:25:09lord of the world.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16Like all empires, the Cholan state used violence.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20They conquered the whole of South India and sent their fleets to Indonesia.
0:25:23 > 0:25:28The temple carries inscriptions to 30 royal regiments, and on its walls,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31even the images of the gods are war-like.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42The king himself, though, is portrayed on a modest scale -
0:25:42 > 0:25:44as a philosopher prince.
0:25:52 > 0:25:57In the old palace of the "rajas" of Thanjore, there's another insight into the Cholan age.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02Here, in the former royal library, is a vast store
0:26:02 > 0:26:06of ancient Tamil literature going back to the Cholans and beyond.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09Grammar, poetry and philosophy...
0:26:11 > 0:26:14Many of the texts are preserved on fragile, palm-leaf manuscripts,
0:26:14 > 0:26:18which are now being carefully restored.
0:26:21 > 0:26:26And one fascinating and little-known aspect of their culture is that the Cholans
0:26:26 > 0:26:28also wrote their own history.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36What would be a manuscript book, a chronicle in Western Europe,
0:26:36 > 0:26:40say in the 10th and 11th century, here in the Cholan Empire,
0:26:40 > 0:26:42is copper plates.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47This is just one document from a temple treasury,
0:26:47 > 0:26:49about 15 copper plates.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53There's the seal of Rajendra,
0:26:53 > 0:26:58the son of Raja Raja the Great. The umbrella and the fish, the tiger...
0:26:58 > 0:26:59Weighs about 40 kilos!
0:26:59 > 0:27:05And there's thousands of these, most of them still kept by individual temples.
0:27:05 > 0:27:12These things were used for recording genealogies, royal pedigrees, land grants, but also history.
0:27:12 > 0:27:17And they include the history of how Raja Raja The Great came to the throne.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23And it's a dark story.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26A tale of palace intrigue and murder,
0:27:26 > 0:27:30of whisperings in corridors and shadowy deals.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34His brother, the heir, was assassinated.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36His father died of a broken heart,
0:27:36 > 0:27:41and his mother committed suicide, "Sati", on the funeral pyre.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44And then, his wicked uncle took the throne.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48But still Raja Raja did not desire the burden of kingship.
0:27:51 > 0:27:59But the astrologers had seen certain marks on his body that showed he was the God Vishnu on Earth.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04And so it was agreed that Raja Raja should be the next king.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13No, over there, please. Just here.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18Looking for a clue to the King's personality,
0:28:18 > 0:28:23I went to the present Raja of Thanjore, whose family lost their power in 1947...
0:28:23 > 0:28:25but not their palace.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31These medieval Indian kings seem to me men of strange contradictions.
0:28:31 > 0:28:38The mix of violence and beauty, blood and flowers... But today's prince just sees a real person
0:28:38 > 0:28:43living according to the kingly ideal of "dharma" - virtue.
0:28:43 > 0:28:49You're descended from the great Rajas of Thanjore. Your palace is still right here
0:28:49 > 0:28:53where the Cholan kings' palace was a thousand years ago.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56Have you ever thought what Raja Raja was like?
0:28:56 > 0:29:01Raja Raja...when we just think about him, our blood shoots up.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03He's such a great man!
0:29:03 > 0:29:04And you know, it...
0:29:04 > 0:29:09It makes you feel very proud, and also it makes you feel very small.
0:29:09 > 0:29:14If our ego shoots up, it makes it...come down.
0:29:14 > 0:29:19What do you think... What kind of people... What do you think Raja Raja was like as a person?
0:29:19 > 0:29:21- Have you any idea?- Yes.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24Er, he's...the greatest...
0:29:25 > 0:29:26..warrior,
0:29:26 > 0:29:30but at the same time, with the most human touch, I feel.
0:29:30 > 0:29:35So, he was with the people. Otherwise, just by command and force,
0:29:35 > 0:29:39he could not have built such a huge...temple
0:29:39 > 0:29:43or he could not have planned such a golden period for his subjects.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51There's nothing left of Raja Raja's palace here in Thanjore,
0:29:51 > 0:29:56but if you want to imagine what it might've looked like, just come to the Durbar Hall...
0:29:58 > 0:30:02..the reception hall of the later kings of Thanjore.
0:30:05 > 0:30:10We know it would've looked like this in Cholan times. Archaeologists have discovered the stone basis
0:30:10 > 0:30:15to the immense, wooden columns in the front of the reception hall.
0:30:15 > 0:30:20Raja Raja The Great would've sat on his throne here, surrounded by his queens and his minister,
0:30:20 > 0:30:28his concubines and his poets, with the court there assembled in front ready to receive the royal largesse.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36CHANTING IN HINDI
0:30:42 > 0:30:45In modern times, Raja Raja's reign
0:30:45 > 0:30:50has come to be seen as a Tamil golden age, celebrated in novels,
0:30:50 > 0:30:53plays and in movies. Indeed, in the civil war in Sri Lanka,
0:30:53 > 0:31:00the Tamil rebels have even modelled their oaths of loyalty on those of the Cholan army.
0:31:00 > 0:31:02INDIAN MUSIC PLAYS
0:31:10 > 0:31:16But Raja Raja himself deserves better to be remembered as a great ruler and patron...
0:31:16 > 0:31:20and an even more assiduous record keeper. Don't think for a moment
0:31:20 > 0:31:24that it was the British who brought bureaucracy into India.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29The reality of the Cholan state is revealed in an amazing series of records
0:31:29 > 0:31:33carved on the walls of the great temple in Thanjore.
0:31:34 > 0:31:39The temple's not only a monumental piece of self-advertisement,
0:31:39 > 0:31:43it's also a written record of the administration of the Cholan Empire.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46It even lists all the staff, hundreds of them,
0:31:46 > 0:31:50who were brought in to serve the emperor's new foundation.
0:31:50 > 0:31:55Craftsmen, artists, musicians, and 400 dancing girls.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59And they're listed by name, by house number and by street
0:31:59 > 0:32:04in the quarter that was specially built for them.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10For the historian, the detail is irresistible.
0:32:13 > 0:32:18For history, after all, is not just about kings. It's about ordinary people
0:32:18 > 0:32:20who are usually nameless, but not here.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26Who, for example, was the dancer Thirumala
0:32:26 > 0:32:30who lived here in Raja Raja's new royal city on South Street
0:32:30 > 0:32:32on the south side in house number 88?
0:32:36 > 0:32:39Where is the numbering of the street? Oh, I see! OK.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41Ah! Thank you. Yes, yes.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48There is a difference between old numbering and new numbering!
0:32:48 > 0:32:53Nobody's expecting the 11th century numbering to be quite the same as it is today.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56But counting the houses from the junction of the street,
0:32:56 > 0:33:03number 88, where a dancing girl called Thirumala lived, is somewhere...
0:33:05 > 0:33:06..here. Come on!
0:33:13 > 0:33:14Hello.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23This is the kind of courtyard that would've existed
0:33:23 > 0:33:26in the private houses in Cholan Thanjore.
0:33:26 > 0:33:28Every one would've had its own well
0:33:28 > 0:33:31and, er, little shrines.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33MAN SPEAKS IN INDIAN LANGUAGE
0:33:38 > 0:33:41So, is this a private temple? A private temple!
0:33:43 > 0:33:48- So, this is as old as the time of Raja Raja the Great? - Yes, a thousand years old.
0:33:48 > 0:33:53- This is "Aman" temple or Shiva? - Ambal, Ambal.- Ambal, Ambal.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59So, it's a little goddess shrine, a family shrine. Isn't that absolutely wonderful?
0:33:59 > 0:34:03I think, when you look at those documents for the dancers,
0:34:03 > 0:34:10that...Thirumala, the dancer who lived at number 88, lived in a place just like this,
0:34:10 > 0:34:14with a little shrine to the goddess, a yard where she cooked,
0:34:14 > 0:34:20and spent a life devoted to the service of Shiva in the great temple of Raja Raja.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23SINGING IN INDIAN LANGUAGE
0:34:25 > 0:34:28And the dance has survived until today.
0:34:35 > 0:34:40The style of dancing, Bharata Natyam, is another of the artistic traditions
0:34:40 > 0:34:43of South India that's come down to us in an unbroken line
0:34:43 > 0:34:46from the Cholan era a thousand years ago.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50Back in Raja Raja the Great's time, it was a religious dance.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53Those girls in the temple were dancing for God.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58And the poses of the dance still today
0:34:58 > 0:35:04are the 108 classic poses of that Shiva himself is said to have danced
0:35:04 > 0:35:06in his cosmic dance.
0:35:13 > 0:35:19In the Tamil countryside, you can still stumble on scenes straight out of the Cholan world.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22DRUMS AND PUNGI FLUTE PLAY
0:35:31 > 0:35:36This is Thiruvengadu, a centre for the arts in Raja Raja's day.
0:35:39 > 0:35:45The king made an official collection of the hundreds of popular songs to the god Shiva.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48And these are still sung today.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55When the king first heard them, he said they'd made his hair stand on end.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58HE SINGS IN INDIAN LANGUAGE
0:36:04 > 0:36:11In this and many other ways, the ritual and psychological order established in the Middle Ages
0:36:11 > 0:36:15defined the forms of Hinduism still practised today in the south.
0:36:15 > 0:36:17DRUMS AND PUNGI FLUTE PLAY
0:36:29 > 0:36:35But the Cholan age was also one of the greatest periods of Indian art.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50And this one, perhaps the most famous.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01Just come and look at this! About as close as we could possibly be
0:37:01 > 0:37:07to one of the greatest masterpieces in...metal casting in the world.
0:37:10 > 0:37:12It shows Shiva as the herdsman.
0:37:12 > 0:37:17He would've been leaning on his bull, Nandi, but the bull hasn't been found.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23Fantastic detail on the fingers, isn't it?
0:37:25 > 0:37:28A turban of snakes...
0:37:30 > 0:37:33And what a wonderful figure he's got, hasn't he?
0:37:33 > 0:37:36Rather lovely midriff! The...
0:37:38 > 0:37:40The girdle, the detail on the girdle here!
0:37:40 > 0:37:44And, of course, the consort of the god is always here as well.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48This is Parvati...Shiva's wife.
0:37:48 > 0:37:54And this is the classic image of Cholan beauty, South Indian beauty.
0:37:54 > 0:37:59In fact, it becomes the classic image of beauty in...in India altogether, you know?
0:37:59 > 0:38:03You see any of the classic historical Bollywood movies and they kind of look like this.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07Except the upper part of their bodies is dressed too!
0:38:17 > 0:38:23And one of the families of bronze casters who worked for Raja Raja still exists...
0:38:24 > 0:38:27..and they're still making bronzes today.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35So, how many generations of names back? 15 generations?
0:38:35 > 0:38:36- More.- More? 20? More?
0:38:36 > 0:38:41According to family tradition, their ancestors
0:38:41 > 0:38:45worked on the temple in Thanjore. And they still make the images in exactly the same way.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49- ...flexible, we put it in the water.- All right.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52MAN SPEAKS IN INDIAN LANGUAGE
0:38:54 > 0:38:56So, you don't... You don't use a ruler?!
0:38:56 > 0:38:59You don't use feet and inches?
0:39:05 > 0:39:07HE SPEAKS IN INDIAN LANGUAGE
0:39:07 > 0:39:08All right...
0:39:10 > 0:39:13- So, this is one face? - One face.- Quarter...quarter face?
0:39:13 > 0:39:16The measurement is by the face. Yeah.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19HE SPEAKS IN INDIAN LANGUAGE
0:39:20 > 0:39:21Chest.
0:39:23 > 0:39:25Abdomen. Yeah.
0:39:26 > 0:39:27Upper leg...
0:39:28 > 0:39:32Knee... Lower leg... Foot.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38The model is then made in beeswax.
0:39:43 > 0:39:44Just...
0:39:49 > 0:39:50Why beeswax?
0:39:54 > 0:39:58Every civilisation has its idea about how God should be represented.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02But this Tamil version of God is a dancer. This...
0:40:02 > 0:40:05is unique and, er...
0:40:06 > 0:40:09..wonderfully laden with symbols.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11The drum that beats...
0:40:13 > 0:40:16..creation into existence. The fire...
0:40:16 > 0:40:18which will destroy everything,
0:40:18 > 0:40:21destroying the demon of ignorance.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23Every part of the image,
0:40:23 > 0:40:25which the "Sthapathy" is constructing,
0:40:25 > 0:40:27is loaded with meaning.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34The casting of the bronze begins with a prayer...
0:40:34 > 0:40:39and then the mould is slowly heated to melt the wax inside.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42MEN SPEAK IN INDIAN LANGUAGE
0:41:00 > 0:41:03You have to do things the way that it was always done.
0:41:03 > 0:41:10You know, 21st century and... modernity, but you still do things the way that they were always done.
0:41:14 > 0:41:20This ancient craft is called the lost wax process.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22It's easy to see why.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51Then the mould is filled with a special mix of molten bronze.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55The exact composition? A secret of the bronze master.
0:42:06 > 0:42:11What a way to make...the most beautiful pieces of art!
0:42:14 > 0:42:16His job is simply to do the pouring!
0:42:16 > 0:42:20He hasn't been around all day, just came in to do the pouring!
0:42:21 > 0:42:25Everybody has their own role in the task.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31The bronze is left to cool for a day,
0:42:31 > 0:42:33and then the mould can be broken.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00This art was at its height 1,000 years ago
0:43:00 > 0:43:03in the hands of masters whose work has never been surpassed.
0:43:03 > 0:43:08But today's craftsmen still work in their line, crafting images
0:43:08 > 0:43:15in the 21st century that go back to the deepest layers of the Indian tradition.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21MAN SINGS IN INDIAN LANGUAGE
0:43:37 > 0:43:40This is a particularly precious image because it's one
0:43:40 > 0:43:44of only two that survived of the 66 bronzes that Raja Raja The Great
0:43:44 > 0:43:47commissioned for the opening of the temple here in Thanjore in 1010.
0:43:48 > 0:43:54And from this place, that image spread out over the whole of South India.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58Even today, it's synonymous with Tamil, South Indian culture.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01MEN SING IN INDIAN LANGUAGE
0:44:01 > 0:44:06Indeed, synonymous perhaps with all Indian culture.
0:44:10 > 0:44:15And a reminder too, that though we talk of golden ages,
0:44:15 > 0:44:19civilisation, in reality, is made by the toil of generations,
0:44:19 > 0:44:25of craftsmen and women, of workers and labourers in the fields.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34There's a last story about Raja Raja...
0:44:35 > 0:44:38Hello! How are you?
0:44:38 > 0:44:42'When he was young, though he had many queens, he lacked a son and heir.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44'So, he prayed to the god Shiva.
0:44:46 > 0:44:52'The son was born and reached manhood, and at the end of his own life, Raja Raja made him king.
0:44:52 > 0:44:56'And then, he came here to give thanks.'
0:44:56 > 0:45:00It's an extraordinary sort of story. It's one of the few places
0:45:00 > 0:45:04where you can actually stand where Raja Raja the Great came.
0:45:04 > 0:45:10Raja Raja's craftsmen had created a huge cow made out of gold.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14So you have to imagine the Cholan court in all their finery
0:45:14 > 0:45:16in 1012 coming...
0:45:16 > 0:45:20'The ceremony was called the "Ceremony of the Golden Air God"
0:45:20 > 0:45:25'with the golden wolves, a kind of renewal ceremony. The queen was passed through the mouth of the cow
0:45:25 > 0:45:30'and then the cow was broken to pieces and the gold given to the priests.'
0:45:30 > 0:45:32And the moustache!
0:45:32 > 0:45:34He's wearing a moustache!
0:45:34 > 0:45:35'And the king himself,
0:45:35 > 0:45:40'was weighed in gold.' ...the earrings of a woman and a headdress.
0:45:40 > 0:45:46But in that moment, the king was celebrating a long reign of prosperity,
0:45:46 > 0:45:51as his inscriptions say, when the goddess of victory,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54the goddess of...fortune...
0:45:54 > 0:45:59and the matchless goddess of fame had all become his wives.
0:46:04 > 0:46:11Within months, Raja Raja died. But he'd laid the foundations for the Tamils to dominate South India
0:46:11 > 0:46:14for nearly 300 years.
0:46:14 > 0:46:17MAN PRAYING IN INDIAN LANGUAGE
0:46:35 > 0:46:38HE SPEAKS IN INDIAN LANGUAGE
0:46:52 > 0:46:58Through the 11th century, the age of Byzantium and the Muslim Kahel-Fitr,
0:46:58 > 0:47:01the Cholans were one of the world's great powers,
0:47:01 > 0:47:06making colonies in Java, Sumatra and the islands of Indonesia.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16So, in the story of India, that's how civilisation
0:47:16 > 0:47:21flowered in the Middle Ages in the north and the south.
0:47:21 > 0:47:25The legacy of those centuries would be far-reaching in Indian history
0:47:25 > 0:47:29and down here in the south, where the tempo of change is slower,
0:47:29 > 0:47:35where later wars and invasions had less impact, the continuities can still be seen today.
0:47:39 > 0:47:45One is in that central concern of medieval government - irrigation.
0:47:46 > 0:47:48Like all the great ancient civilisations,
0:47:48 > 0:47:52The Cholan culture grew up on the banks of a river - the Kaveri.
0:47:52 > 0:47:58But at this point, the two great streams of the Kaveri almost touch each other.
0:47:58 > 0:48:02But the bed of that stream is about ten feet lower
0:48:02 > 0:48:04than the bed of that.
0:48:04 > 0:48:10The danger is that all the water will flow away that way towards the sea.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14What the Cholans did was create a great dam, the Anicut,
0:48:14 > 0:48:18a snaking brick structure more than 1,000ft long,
0:48:18 > 0:48:2260ft wide, 20ft high that diverted the waters
0:48:22 > 0:48:26of that stream of the Kaveri off into the delta
0:48:26 > 0:48:33where they could irrigate vast, new areas of rice fields that feed a booming population.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59So, the centuries of medieval rule bequeathed later generations
0:48:59 > 0:49:04and modern Indians one of the richest and most productive places on Earth.
0:49:09 > 0:49:14In the 18th century, British administrators described the rice fields of the south as
0:49:14 > 0:49:20"The most fertile lands they ruled anywhere in the world, giving three harvests a year."
0:49:25 > 0:49:30And they thought the people of the southern rice fields among the most moral and hard-working.
0:49:37 > 0:49:43And those people are still here, like the old agricultural caste
0:49:43 > 0:49:47who supervised the irrigation long ago under the Cholan kings,
0:49:47 > 0:49:51still maintaining the ancient rituals in the modern world.
0:50:11 > 0:50:13This is... You have family festivals in here?
0:50:21 > 0:50:22Right, right, right.
0:50:25 > 0:50:27Tell me about the community.
0:50:37 > 0:50:42- So, the job of your caste was to maintain irrigation... - Irrigation.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45- ..of the rice paddy fields and all this. This was a special job.- Yeah.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48MUSIC DROWNS CONVERSATION
0:50:48 > 0:50:53Like all their community, they believe in killing no living thing, even insects,
0:50:53 > 0:50:55and are strictly vegetarian.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01- This is our kitchen.- Oh, great!
0:51:02 > 0:51:04Vegetarian cooking, "the food of Shiva",
0:51:04 > 0:51:07as they call it here, is the great tradition.
0:51:07 > 0:51:09And the grinding stone...
0:51:14 > 0:51:20And here, cooking is tied to many important social rituals at the family hearth,
0:51:20 > 0:51:23especially for married couples.
0:51:37 > 0:51:41- So, it IS like a test for the new wife?- Yeah.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43Thank you.
0:51:54 > 0:51:56Yeah, yeah, thank you. This is daal and rice
0:51:56 > 0:52:01- from family fields or...? - Yeah.- Oh, right! Fantastic.
0:52:07 > 0:52:09Mm, it's lovely food.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16- And always, women... The women wait for the men to finish?- Yeah.
0:52:18 > 0:52:19- This is tradition?- Yeah.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32- Oh, really? Husband and wife share the same leaf?- Yeah!
0:52:34 > 0:52:39- This is what...one of the things that...which is what it means to be Tamil.- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:52:43 > 0:52:50One of the highlights of the year for traditional Tamil women is the festival of light - Karthigai.
0:53:16 > 0:53:18BELL RINGS
0:53:21 > 0:53:29Modern Indian women and yet still, bearers of an ancient civilisation.
0:53:35 > 0:53:39And at the time of the festival of light, just as they did in the Middle Ages,
0:53:39 > 0:53:41people go on pilgrimage.
0:53:48 > 0:53:53All these people are heading for a small town in the South Indian plain.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56The name of the place - Thiruvannamalai.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02Pilgrimage is another living legacy of the Middle Ages. It's one of those things
0:54:02 > 0:54:05that gave Indian people a sense of cultural identity,
0:54:05 > 0:54:08long before India achieved political unity.
0:54:09 > 0:54:14A sense of India as a holy land, from the Himalayas to the deep south.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17DISTANT CHATTER
0:54:18 > 0:54:20BABY CRIES
0:54:30 > 0:54:33It's all a bit like an Indian Canterbury Tales,
0:54:33 > 0:54:37and this is just one of thousands of sacred sites
0:54:37 > 0:54:38dotted across the south.
0:54:44 > 0:54:46All through the day, the more vigorous pilgrims
0:54:46 > 0:54:52scramble up to the top of the mountain, where a sacred fire will be lit after dark.
0:55:01 > 0:55:06Down below, inside the giant temple, the crowds gather and just wait...
0:55:06 > 0:55:11Wait for an ancient ceremony to greet the fire on the mountain,
0:55:11 > 0:55:17a ritual a thousand years old, and who knows, maybe much older.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS
0:55:21 > 0:55:24BACKGROUND NOISE DROWNS SPEECH
0:55:28 > 0:55:32What's gonna happen in about an hour, is that the bronze images
0:55:32 > 0:55:38of the gods Shiva, Parvati, Ganesh,
0:55:38 > 0:55:41will be brought out and put on these chariots here.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43- Then carried round?- Yeah.
0:55:44 > 0:55:46- All round the courtyard?- Yes.
0:55:58 > 0:56:03And now, everyone's waiting for the light...
0:56:03 > 0:56:07the light that will cut through the darkness. It's one of the oldest ideas of humanity.
0:56:09 > 0:56:14This has gotta be the only place in the world where you can get run over
0:56:14 > 0:56:16by Bronze Age priests!
0:56:19 > 0:56:24There's India, as it always does, stirring those ancient memories.
0:56:29 > 0:56:33So, the light has been lit on the top of the hill. They're all looking to see it.
0:56:36 > 0:56:38As for the idea of the golden age,
0:56:38 > 0:56:44it seemed to me that golden ages can only ever exist in the past.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47For they're the products of our imaginations,
0:56:47 > 0:56:52and we humans, after all, can only ever exist here,
0:56:52 > 0:56:54in the present.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59- So, Shanti, this is the first time you're here?- Yeah!
0:56:59 > 0:57:02- Yes, enjoying? - Enjoying, very much enjoying!
0:57:02 > 0:57:03- Yes?- I am lucky.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06I thought we would never see the "jyoti", but...
0:57:06 > 0:57:10- So, this is auspicious? - Yes.- Yeah?- Sure.
0:57:12 > 0:57:17In a world where the identities and traditions of the ancient civilisations
0:57:17 > 0:57:22have been wiped away in a few generations, here in India alone,
0:57:22 > 0:57:29they've kept touch with their deep past and indeed, one might say, with the past of all humanity.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33And that, perhaps, is the key to the story of India.
0:58:02 > 0:58:04Next in The Story Of India,
0:58:04 > 0:58:09the clash of civilisations that shaped our world...
0:58:09 > 0:58:13the fabulous tale of Indian Islam...
0:58:14 > 0:58:18..the dazzling culture of the Moguls...
0:58:19 > 0:58:24..and the extraordinary quest for one world religion.
0:58:51 > 0:58:53Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:53 > 0:58:55E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk