History of Flying Carpet - Prologue

I like to read History and Philosophy. Specifically, I like to learn history in general - Big Bang Theory, Evolution, Early history, Antiquity, Medieval Ages, Modern Era, World Wars, Cold war, to present day jasmine revolution..

In my quest to learn the anthropological and philosophical origin of India, my journey through available literature had been very fulfilling. I want to document a summary of my learning through a set of blog posts. I would like to present them as facts and exclude any opinions in them, for a historian should never blend facts with personal perspectives. Also, i find myself as a student, yearning to learn more about the world i live in and often perspectives/beliefs tend to segregate us. Lastly, Life is too short to quibble over opinions & beliefs.

Even though, I have named this series "History of Flying Carpet", as a parody on earlier occidental perception, quite a lot of our understanding on Oriental philosophies should be attributed to unbiased reports from western scholars. The use of Linguistic, Archeological and Scientific tools that these scholars have provided us, are immensely helpful in understanding the culture in all perspectives. For e.g- Archeological society of India was well-trained in the craft by British comrades who helped in ground breaking discoveries like Indus Valley Civilization, etc.

The present day learning in the western world has most of its origin from Greco-Roman principles which were well preserved by Moors of Iberian peninsula in Arabic texts after the end of Roman Empire, until Crusaders translated them back to Latin. The stability in the post-world war era has given us opportunity to stand up and look back on the orchestration of events that brought us to this point and help us choose our path ahead.

In the next post, i want to start my exploration of early philosophies of India. Ironically, even though these tenets are often attributed to Hinduism, they differ quite a lot from the current understanding on Hinduism. Evaluation of these offer better understanding on the evolution of Hinduism and transformation in India as a sub-continent, due to its influence.

Stay tuned for next post --- History of Flying Carpet - Origins :)