Fundamentals of Civilization |
Dr. Ravindra Kumar
Hundreds of thousands
of years have passed since man has lived along with the creatures of
different shape, size and kind. It is generally acknowledged that every
being has a soul. What is a Soul? Where does it live in a body? What is its
form? I leave these entire questions to you. You may decide to answer them
according to your belief. But I can specifically say that even though the
soul is embodied in everyone, the word civilized, the derivative of which is
civilization, is used for man only not for any other creature.
In his age preliminary
age, which has also been acknowledged and described as natural or unrefined
state, man like some other creatures lived on trees. He was bare bodied and
had no permanent place to live. It is also a fact that he did not live on a
particular tree and very often moved to another. In those days man was as
fierce as any other wild animal, was carnivorous and ate flesh after having
killed human beings. The raw meat, roots of fruit was usually his food. He
moved about in a group as many animals did and they do so even now. In spite
of it, man was different from other animals even then. The main reason of it
was not only the formation of his body structure, but also the presence of
the attributes of intellect and creativity in him. The intellect made him
capable of analyzing things and the creativity made him dynamic. This is why
man is very different from other animals. He learnt to make stone weapons at
a very early stage and maintained them. Besides he started collecting
foodstuff also.
By making stone
weapons man was able to achieve objectives according to his need at that
time. They were useful for his self-security, and hunting to satisfy his
hunger. In deed, the stone weapons proved useful to him to serve his
purpose. In this chain of events, if we proceed further, we find that man
later learnt to produce fire by rubbing two stones. The fire thus produced
served him in three ways: first to protect him from cold; secondly, to
defend him to some extent from wild animals, though he was equipped with the
stone weapons, but they were not sufficient enough to serve his purpose; and
thirdly to enable him to cook his food particularly meat.
But having qualities
of intellect and creativity and being different from other creatures, man
was not civilized in his early years. There was nothing in him then to prove
that he was superior in behaviour or actions to other creatures. To be
called civilized, it was necessary, even as it is now, to have good conduct
in which morality is foremost. Therefore, Confucius repeatedly emphasized
that “a civilized person should refrain from those activities that are
against the moral values”. It means that to be civilized one has not to
forsake morality.
In the earlier period,
during the course of his development, man could not make a significant
departure from his way of life to be regarded as civilized and which could
simultaneously lay the foundation of civilization. He was still making
efforts ‘to say alive’ and ‘maintain his existence.’ He did succeed a little
as has been mentioned above. I would like to reiterate here that it was the
intellect and the creativity that helped man to learn by his experiences and
he started making further progress. Thus his path to become civilized opened
out. In other words, we can infer that intellect and creativity played an
important and decisive role in making a man civilized and in the evolution
of civilization. I hope and believe that the scholar expressing their views
on the above subject and the exponent of the philosophy behind it would
completely or partially agree with the inference drawn above; it is another
matter that the language and the way of their expression might be different.
As an example, I quote here S. Radhakrishnan ad verbatim, “Civilization is a
matter of mind.”
II
Among all other beings
man only has the quality of intellect and creativity. It implies that there
is some power behind it, and that power is named God. There is no doubt that
man represents the finest creation of God and He, besides granting him these
qualities, endowed him with another excellent value also, the realization
and application of which gradually brought improvement in his behaviour and
development of moral values which eventually led him to become civilized. It
also indicates the beginning of civilization. It is natural that you may ask
what that value is or was. My only answer is that it was non-violence which
is the fundamental basis of any civilization. So the non-violence was the
first and natural basis, while the second basis in the context of civilized
and civilization was the morality. It is also a fact that where there is
non-violence morality is naturally present.
As I have mentioned
already, in his successive development, man discovered fire, which further
ensured his safety. He was also able to protect himself from cold and to
cook raw meat. In spite of this, he was not certain that it assured his
safety. Man was still worried about his existence. He still wavered mentally
and came out of this condition when an idea flashed in his mind as well as
of his fellow beings that “they should live collectively to re-enforce their
safety” and “living together, probably, became a necessity”. They gave the
idea a practical shape. They started living together in a group and stayed
longer at one place. It assured their safety. In steed of killing each
other, they were now able to defend themselves collectively against any
attack, particularly of wild animals.
Staying together
collectively symbolized co-operation. Co-operation enhances trust. Wherever
there is co-operation and trust, non-violence is certainly at the root of
it. In the atmosphere of violence, there is no possibility of co-operation.
Since non-violence is permanently in the nature of man, they thought of
living collectively, let it be for the sake of his safety came to his mind.
Contrary to it, if the non-violence had not been a permanent feature of his
nature, idea of living collectively would not have come to his mind. What
would have been the consequences if, in spite of his attributes of intellect
and creativity, he had applied his intellect negatively?
According to Gandhi,
man himself would have been cause of his own ruin long ago. But it did not
happen so. Man grew in number because non-violence is permanently present in
his nature. After having safeguarded his existence by living collectively,
and having non-violence in his nature, man applied his intellect and
creativity freely for his further development. On his way to become more
civilized, he fortified himself with other excellences of character by
setting up various systems, not forgetting to maintain morality. On his long
journey to progress, man discovered an environment conducive to him and made
efforts to achieve his goal. Whatever he has achieved so far is before us.
We should not forget
that at the elementary stage man learnt to live with other human beings
collectively and to stay at one place longer than before, he co-operated to
his safety or his efforts to achieve his goal. Co-operation does not mean
depending on others, but working together freely. Hence, the third
fundamental basis of the rise of a civilization after non-violence and
morality has been ‘equal freedom to all.’ John Locke, the philosopher of
17th century had different views about freedom. According to him, Freedom
means that I should be able to act according to my own free will in all
spheres of life so long the law does not prohibit it, and that I should not
remain subjected to anyone’s fickle uncertain, unknown despotic wishes.’ His
statement appears to be incomplete unless the above-mentioned wish of a
person foresees the same for others. Since time immemorial, the meaning of
freedom, in fact, has been that a man himself should be free and make sure
that others also are free like him.
Therefore,
Non-violence, Morality and Freedom are the three fundamental basis of
civilization. By depriving others of their freedom by violent means subduing
them by immoral ways, no civilization can be created nor can it be nurtured.
We have before us the history of thousands of years that tells us that
whatever efforts have been made to subject others becoming indifferent to
non-violence, which is the basis of peace, the civilizations had their
downfall. As opposed to it, whenever man has faith in the fundamental
basis/principles. As a case study, let us discuss in brief the rise and fall
of Egyptian and some centers of Mesopotamian Civilizations.
III
Rise and Fall of
Egyptian Civilization
Rich in minerals and
advanced in agriculture, the Egyptian civilization, like Indian and
Mesopotamian ones, was the most developed civilization of the world. About
four thousand years B.C., several communities called ‘Noams’ came to be
known for the progress they had made through co-operation with one another.
From these communities there emerged two states in the north and the south
for leadership, which the southern state overcame the northern one and Menus
set up a powerful kingdom in Egypt. As I mentioned before, Egypt was an
agricultural country. After Menus had set up the kingdom, many plans for
systematic cultivation of land were made. From the point of proper
administration, farmers were divided into several groups. The administration
of each group was in the hands of a high council. The council acted as a
go-between especially in connection with the collection of taxes from frames
and payments to the government.
In other fields also
administration was carried out in a systematic and planned way. The advisory
board was constituted inclusive of other Chief Advisor, Chief Treasury
Officer, the Chief Justice and other higher Officer to advice the King. It
was due to the good administration and implementation of necessary
conditions for an overall development and progress of civilization that
Egypt made an astounding progress. Its civilization became sky high. It was
the time when the wonder of then world, the pyramids were built. Even today
seventy pyramids are remained among which Khufu pyramid is the biggest. It
is 146.5 meters high and 2300000 stones were used to build it. It took
twenty years to complete it.
The Egyptian
civilization was sky high during this period and it was not possible for it
to rise further or maintain its current position. The people of Egypt became
indifferent to the basics of civilization. Noam communities started fighting
with each other and tried to undermine each other’s position. The result was
that the government at the centre became unstable and became weaker and
weaker. The unity of the country was shattered and the civilization met with
its downfall.
About two thousand
years B.C., Egypt was again united, but this time unit was not the same as
was achieved by Menus. Naturally, in spite of the extensive system of
irrigation, craft and expansion of commerce, the process of development
could not be maintained for long. There was resentment among masses because
of the partiality shown to certain communities by the administration. People
by large were dissatisfied and were unable to develop their civilization as
before. Like the unique progress made in the fields or writing,
architecture, arithmetic, science, astronomy, and medicine after the
unification of country by Menus could not be regained and because of
dissatisfaction of masses and their resentment, the mutual co-operation
continued waning and the distance among them growing. Taking advantage of
the conditions, an Asian tribe invaded Egypt and subjugated it.
Having remained
subjugated for a little less than two centuries, Egypt gained independence
under the leadership of Ahamose-First. After it, during the reigns of
Ahamose-First and Tuthmomis-Third it had also become a military might. The
then rulers mussed it in conquering the adjoining areas and some parts of
Asia, plundering them and exploiting them by making people slaves. The great
achievement of the then Egyptian Military might was the organization of Navy
and the induction of a variety of ships in it.
The Egyptian rulers
who were indulged in attacking and plundering could not stabilize the
internal administration. They could not share freedom with the people at
large. Under these conditions, Egypt could not make any progress further and
lagged much behind the earlier successes. The inner conflicts weakened the
nation and about one thousand two hundred years B.C., it was exposed to
foreign invasions and subjugation and the Egyptian civilization met with its
downfall.
IV
The world famous
Mesopotamian Civilization prospered in the Valleys of the rivers Tigris and
Euphrates [Dazala and Farat]. In the south of it, the Sumerian Tribes
developed a unique irrigation system, perhaps for the first time, by
constructing reservoirs, dams and canals and gave new dimensions to farming.
They had a well-developed system of cattle rearing and had methodically
separated the cattle required for agriculture. They had a system of taxation
and a very civilized way of living. About four thousand B.C. there was
twenty or twenty-five small kingdoms, which were ruled by priests. They were
called Patessi. It was during their reign that their civilization was
reckoned as one of the ancient civilization of the world. Later on, the two
powerful kingdoms, the Lagash and Umma, had a conflict just for the reason
that both wanted to bring the whole of the Southern Mesopotamian under their
rule. This sort of thinking was against the fundamental basis or the
principle of civilization. The above kingdoms fought with each other for a
long time. In such an environment full of strife, the further advancement
was not possible. Along with that, in an atmosphere of violence, there was
always a possibility of damage to whatever progress they had already made.
And it happened there. Also it affected the areas of the Southern
Mesopotamia. One of the ancient and renewed civilizations lagged behind. It
was about 2500 B.C. Sargaon-First, Who was the ruler of Akkadi tribes,
inhabiting the Central and North-Western Mesopotamia, vanquished the
Sumerians and ruled over them.
During the reign of
Hamurabi, which was between 1792 and 1750 B.C., Mesopotamia was integrated
once again. He was a great and an autocratic ruler who conquered the smaller
kingdom of Mesopotamia and brought them under one banner. Though he united
them by violent means, he ruled over them according to law. His Code of
Conduct containing 282 laws gives an insight to the social, political and
economic organization of the then Babylon. The city of Babylon became famous
all over the world as the center of casual, political, economic and cultural
set-up. During his time, religion, literature, culture and science all
progressed excellently. Not only this, there was development in other fields
also and the civilization that had earlier lost its brilliance flourished
once again. He achieved this goal by paying attention to the development of
other areas also like architecture, crafts, trade and commerce besides
agriculture. Many literary works of that period are still found. The most
famous among them is ‘Gilgamesh’ which depicts the story of deluge [Mahaparalaya].
Besides these achievements, mathematics, astronomy and others too were at
their peak. The ruins of Babylon tell the story of its once prosperous
civilization. During the reign of Hamurabi, the Babylon society achieved the
highest goal of its development and it is regarded as the golden period of
its history. It is an anomaly that it did not last long. Babylon had to face
many invasions, which caused the downfall of this great civilization.
In 18th century B.C.
the Assyrian kingdom emerged around Ashar, a city in Northern Mesopotamia.
During the reign of Tiglath Pilessar-Third [745-729 B.C.], who had conquered
Babylon, this kingdom started making progress and it continued further
during the reigns of the later kings chiefly, of Sargon-Second [722-705 B.C]
and Asaruhddin [680-669 B.C.]. Roads were systematically constructed, canals
were dug, many cities developed and there was international expansion of
trade. Consequently, it once again attained its glory and became a powerful
and prosperous centre of the world. But it is unfortunate that later on
because of mismanagement and mal-administration there was exploitation of
the general public and this kingdom also disintegrated and the great
civilization perished.
The development of a
civilization is not due to the efforts of an individual, but is the result
of the collective efforts of more or less every member of society. As
everyone in one-way or the other contributes to its development, the credit
of it should naturally be given to all. Everybody wants his personal freedom
and his peace should not be disturbed as one of the permanent partners of
civilization. But when someone chooses the course of his progress for his
own peace, development and prosperity by exploiting others, in that case the
civilization however great and prosperous it might be faces problems and
subsequently such civilization declines.
I have quoted above a
few examples from the Mesopotamian Civilization. The purpose of it is that
we should have a clear understanding of those factors, which are essential
for nurturing a civilization. In fact, they are the ones, which I have
discussed above in the beginning, and they are the fundamental principles.
Non-violence is the foremost among them; the others are morality and
freedom, which are related with it. All great civilizations of the world
whether of Greece, Egypt, China or India, they prospered on the basis of
these principles and any action antithetical of these principles causes
their down-fall from time to time. People deviated from the path of
non-violence, became immoral and deprived others of any civilization however
prosperous it might be if it is indifferent to non-violence, morality and
freedom to all. If we want to be recognized as civilized or are proud of our
civilization, it is necessary that we must be mentally inclined to
non-violence as our ancestors were. Even today, to have moral values and to
ascertain freedom for others is as essential as it was for the human beings
earlier.
V
There are many
chapters in history that describe the end of many civilizations caused by
indiscriminate foreign invasion. I would not like to mention any particular
state or nation; but would like to emphasize that by these barbaric
invasions where violence played havoc, the immorality crossed the limits and
the freedom of human beings was totally ignored, no invader has been able to
annihilate any civilization. India at least is the living example of it.
India has faced a number of barbaric invasions, but none of them could
destroy the civilization of this country, which is unique in its unity in
diversity. Of course, these invasions proved detrimental to its
civilization, from time to time, but the people passed the test successfully
and made it up in a short time. The fact is that a civilization has its
downfall when its own fosterers do not follow the fundamental principles of
civilization. It is the ultimate truth. *Dr. Ravindra Kumar is a universally renowned Gandhian scholar, Indologist and writer. He is the Former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Meerut [India], and the Editor-in-Chief of Global Peace International Journal. |