First of all, we must remember that India is a sub-continent that hosted not one but many a great civilizations. India i.e., Bharat extended from Egypt, Turkey, Persia in the West to almost China Sea, encompassing all the lands and Islands of the Indian Ocean. Some research studies have indicated that the great epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata are traced to Egypt and Indonesia, Thailand, etc. In fact, the extent of the Kingdom of Sri Ramachandra was so vast that people play or enact the Chapters of Ramayana in far off places even today. The Nordic races are said to be the forerunners and Vedic scholars. Some may consider this an exaggeration, but facts are facts.
We have got a world map dated back to almost 50 000 years ( I have posted this earlier)! The ancient map of the world of the Archean Era (dated back to 235 million years) show a large northern land mass called Pangea and a large chunk of land that held South America, Africa, Deccan India, Australia together separated by a vast ocean (Sea of Tethys/ tethyas sagara).
It is only recently that climate change started from the previous Great Pleistocene Ice Age to an ensuing heat peak. The large scale melting of ice due to increasing temperatures led to submergence of the coastal shelf of many countries. Large masses of ice began to melt increasing the sea level thereby creating Islands of lands that were once continuous (connecting Australia with Asia)! There is also an account of rift and drift of large chunks of southern land masses such as Australia, the Deccan of India, Africa, and the South America.
J. A. Steers, an expert on Earthquakes, said in his book 'Unstable earth' that "No part of the earth is safe to live in". Prof. Huntington (a specialist in Human Geography) stated 150 years ago that man is the most delicate animal walking on two legs, delicately balancing, lifting one at a time, and prone to fall anytime anywhere!
As regards the unstable conditions on earth, there is always a periodic change in hot and cold climatic conditions. We started with a hot climate a million years years ago with peak hot conditions followed by cold peaks. The Great Ice ages is divided into Wurm, Riss, Mindel and Gunz. Each one of these lasted for about 250 000 years (of a Million years). Now we are entering a warm climatic regime, heading toward a hot peak! The melting of ice due to rise in temperature causes a rise in sea level that leads to submergence of lands.
The map of Continents and Oceans of today are different from the earlier ones! According to paleo-geographic studies, the present Mediterranean Sea (note medi and terra?) is a remnant of a large ocean that separated the Northern Pangea and the Southern Gondawana landmasses. The landmass of the Deccan (South of the Vindhyas and the Satpuras, the Narmada - Tapti Valley) are of ancient land massif dated back to Archean Era (235 million years old), whereas, the Folded Himalaya Mountains are just a million years old formed out of sediments brought by rivers, winds, sea waves, deposited and, later crushed into folds!
The ancient land of the Bharata Varsha, Bharata Khanda, was indeed once a part of the Eastern Africa (even now there is the Rift Valley of Africa) and Madagascar. The drifted part of Madagascar crossed the Equator and settled N. Lat. 8 Deg. and abutted to the Vindhyas! The present Ganga- Sindhu- Brahmaputra valleys are the ones that separated the Deccan from the Mongolia/Tibet Plateau. The Highest Table Land of Tibet is an example of the Upheavals of landmasses during the later periods of earth's history. Large scale earthquakes, volcanic eruptions have caused these upheavals and, rise and fall in sea levels. Australia was once connected to mainland Asia and the animals could easily move from Asia to Australia on land and the rise in the sea level due to large scale melting of ice (peak hot realm) caused the present Islands. Thus, Kangaroo jumping about with its baby in the pouch could roam about easily from Asia to Australia at one time; and, later disappeared from mainland Asia. It could survive and flourish, albeit, isolated due to the rise in sea level.
These studies are revealing and very interesting for those who want to know 'where we are and why we are like this'!
(to be contd..)
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