If we had a time machine in hand how far behind in History can we ride to?- To interpret the journey History becomes an insufficient subject. A believer in scientific theories can imagine a journey to the days when the Universe was created. But what beyond that? Perhaps we will have to take the aid of theosophy or philosophy. Starting from Physics, we can watch the formation of universe, then the solar system, sun and the earth-The hot and dense universe which started expansion 13.7 billion years ago and the molecular cloud which collapsed forming sun and solar bodies around..
As earth cools down journey proceeds through geography and Chemistry, with chemical reactions explaining the formation of the first organic molecule. Simultaneously we must watch the drift of the land and locate the one from which our continent got separated- with strips from the two supercontinents Gondwanaland and Laurasia colliding and combining to form the continent of Asia.
With the advent of life, life science comes into play. Life is assumed to have been originated and terminated more than once. But we can trace our history to the microbes that were formed 3.5 billion years ago. Life then proceeds through prokaryotes and eukaryotes .With exterminations occurring in between the complex life proceeded up to Jurassic period which met with a termination 180 million years ago. With the complex animals having left, small mammals still continued their journey getting bigger with the extinction of giant sized sauropsids. Mammals which were of the size less than that of dogs during the dinosaur’s time grew in size up to 17 ton, with the prospect of consuming the food which dinosaurs once consumed. Herbivores grew large first with the plant eating dinosaurs having left. Largest carnivores were comparatively smaller in magnitude. The size of the mammals were gradually leveled off by the limitations in the surface area of the earth.
When we come to this point Jules Verne’s classic work- “A journey to the center of the earth” strikes us a sensible. Although it doesn’t appeal to logic it feeds imagination to think of the extinct animals still existing in an imaginary world underneath the earth’s crust , at least for children and for those adults with a child alive in their mind.
Origin of sex
To trace the origin of sex has always been a hard task before the evolutionists. And it is not without reason that some consider it as a historical accident. If it was an accident why was it maintained over so long a period? Asexual reproduction seems much more cost efficient than sexual reproduction requiring only a single parent without the need of complications associated with generation, maintenance and passing over of the gametes. The process is longer and consumes much more energy. To explain the need of sex evolutionists have suggested four different theories as:
(1.)The Lottery Principle; (2) the Tangled Bank Hypothesis; (3) the Red Queen Hypothesis; and (4) the DNA Repair Hypothesis.
The lottery principle says that organisms need genetic variety in order to enable genes to survive in changing or novel environments. But evolutionists go against this as the global distribution of sex reveals that where environments are stable (such as in the tropics), sexual reproduction is most common. In contrast, in areas where the environment is unstable (such as at high altitudes or in small bodies or water) asexual reproduction is common. According to tangled bank hypothesis sexual reproduction is to prepare the offspring for the complicated world around them. Thus the skills required to survive in different niches can be mixed and passed on. According to this theory it should be the organisms that produce a large number offspring’s and compete with each other, that should go for sexual reproduction. But sex is mostly associated with organisms that produce a few large offspring; whereas organisms producing small offspring frequently engage in parthenogenesis .The red queen hypothesis explains it as “running fast to stay still”. It points to the fact that the probability of organisms becoming extinct bears no relationship to how long they already may have survived. The DNA repair hypothesis explains it as to maintain the germ line even when the somatic cells age and die, ie old people giving birth to young babies. Again mixing of genes serves as a probable defense against mutation, those offspring’s that have inherited the mutated gene may be rejected by nature in due course.
But these theories try to explain the purpose of sex and not the origin of sex.Mark Ridley in his book , “The cooperative gene criticizes sexual reproduction as-“You only have to think of sex to see how absurd it is. The “sexual” method of reading a book would be to buy two copies, rip the pages out, and make a new copy by combining half the pages from one and half from the other, tossing a coin at each page to decide which original to take the page from and which to throw away”.
The primate lineage is thought to go back up to 65 million years ago. Human’s branched off from their ancestor’s from Africa about 5-7 million years ago and Homo sapiens evolved in Africa between 400,000 and 250,000 years ago. Going through chapters in Anthropology we finally reach the subject called History where the ages begin. Stone age began 2.5 million years ago followed by Bronze Age and Iron Age. Then we have the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Chinese, Indian and Maya civilizations each marked my human progress in social and cultural life. Agriculture began about 10000 years ago, and it started about 8000 years back in India.
The ancient Indian literature of Vedas dates back to the period between 1500-1000 BCE. The oldest parts of Ramayana and Mahabharata dates back to 400BCE . The origin of Hinduism can be traced back to the early Harappan period. But it was rather a collection of beliefs and people worshipped deities of their choice in the early days. It was only later that they started identifying the deities with the God’s of ancient literature and organized their customs accordingly. Unlike the polytheism propagated by Hinduism (and the cultures in Babylonia, Egypt, Greece and Rome) there was simultaneous monotheistic beliefs developing with Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Buddism Confusianism and Taosim was developing side by side. But Hinduism which carries the wisdom of enlightened saints surprises us with its foresight. The Hindu era consists of 4 yugas, Krita Yuga, Treta yuga, Dvapara yuga and Kali yuga. According to Hindu Philosophy life in the universe is created and destroyed once in every 4.1 to 8.2 billion years which is said to be a full day in the life of Brahma. Brahma’s life span is said to be 311 trillion years. A complete yuga cycle is caused by Solar system moving around another star. Although the precision of mathematical calculations can be doubted sure Hinduism which carries in it, the essence of pantheism was not contradicting science. Or to put it correctly modern day scientific discoveries rather support these ancient texts prepared with the power of enlightened minds.
Coming back to our journey through time scale Indian History is marked by immigrations- the most important being that of Aryan’s which is said to have taken place during late Bronze age. Then comes the dynasties of India starting from the Mauryan dynasty which ruled from 323-184BCE, marked by the presence of the only King in world history that gave up conquest after victory, Asoka the great. It was also marked by the presence of Chanakya. Mauryans were followed by the Kushans, then Gupta’s, Pallavas and Chalukyas, and the Vardhana dynasty. In the 10th century Muhammad Ghazzini became the first Muslim ruler to invade India. Followed by Ghori, Slave, Khilji, Tuglaq and Lodhi dynasties. During the Slave dynasty’s reign Delhi Sultanate had the first and last woman at its helm, Razia Begum. She was known to be a good administrator although unaware of the background tricks and games to gain power. The Mughal rule began with Babar defeating Ibrahim Lodhi.
But at this point a sudden realization strikes me, this is the History of North India, since my journey through time is from South India, it is not the Mauryan’s and Mughal’s that I will see but the Satavahana’s to Chola’s, Chera’s and Pandya’s.
What next? Tracing my lineage I should get narrower into my caste, Nair or Malayala Kshatriya. There comes a big list among them. Some who served as Travancore Kings, some warriers, some being secretaries to the Namboodiri land lords. I then try to find out to which of them I belongs….
But how futile it all seems-the knowledge that unfolds in an individual’s attempt to discover oneself. All these long strides of struggle to realize that external division’s and achievements mean nothing to a human being. And that the only responsibility that rests upon a human being is to live up to one’s fullness.Just as the contrasting subjects of Physics and History meets in an individual’s history, a journey from past to future reveals an invisible thread, a thread that connects the unmovable mountains with the flow of life, a thread that connects the living and non-living, a thread that connects the birds and animals, a thread that connects the humankind across the globe, a thread-the miracles of which is poetically called “God”.
My history is not complete without the History of the Universe, without that first microbe which was formed billions of years ago without that first set of apes that detached from their ancestors to develop into human beings. And sitting in India getting narrower is difficult as at each step in tracing our lineage we encounter a question of ethnicity, although it may be a matter of thousands of years.Then I think of my favorite author H.G. Wells. He travelled to future from Europe, meeting the Morlock’s and Eloi’s, the later being the descendants of aristocrats and the former their servants that starts feeding on them in the course of time. The imaginative author could move up to 802741AD from his country. Sure he could not have taken a step further from India.
In front of 2011 there is a future unfolding, a future which reminds us that the present is not a still state, evolution is still in progress, chemical reactions are taking place, continents are drifting, sun is getting hotter, universe is expanding and humankind is too busy to fill themselves with awe for being at this spot of time and space.
