121–130 of 360 posts
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https://indianculture.gov.in/ebooks/daily-life-ancient-india... A book by a westerner.
It’s shocking how incongruent your views are with the text from the book (see sibling comment). Do you just selectively choose which parts of the book to believe or do you not believe peasants were any substantial part of the population and are therefore not worth caring about?
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https://indianculture.gov.in/ebooks/daily-life-ancient-india... A book by a westerner.
Very good. Page 68: > In ancient times, distinction was made between several different categories of farmers. There were those who cultivated their own land, those who had it cultivated by wage-earning laborers, and those who leased their land to 'metayers', farmers who paid rent in kind, in this case half the harvest and crop. There were few big landlords, and the largest estates nearly all belonged to the king, tha…
They sure as hell had it much worse after the invaders, looters and religious fanatics wreaked havoc in the region for 1000 years.
History is written by the upper class, especially in past times when only the upper caste could read or write. Even if what the author says is true about medieval upper caste people (I don't doubt it), I have trouble believing that peasants could afford the cost and time required of regular bathing. Water didn't come easily unless you happened to live next to a river or have a well next to your house. We've all seen…
> We've all seen women in third world countries carrying water for cooking and drinking on their heads, often long distances This aspect of 3rd world countries is commented upon again and again. But, what I find most amusing is that in modern times, water comes to your home, but you go to the gym to slog it out for an hour. Just waster your energy that you over ate the day before. Its true that women used to carry wa…
> Modern living in convenient, but not healthy. Is luxurious, but not cheap. Is plentiful, but not sustainable.
You’re very confused if you think the way people lived in India 1000 years ago was sustainable. Packing up the village when a well ran dry should hint at something for you. It was both sparse and unsustainable.
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This is blatantly false. A western trope resounding forever. Culturally India was a unified entity for millenia. As in, perhaps not having a unified government, but having the same cultural and literary background throughout the region. Ancient texts like Ramayana and Mahabharata talk about various places and practices across the length and breadth of India, which are remarkably similar and have a unified core. The g…
But surely by that definition Europe was also a unified entity in the medieval period.
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> I stopped reading here. But he's right; I don't know if I would call it colonialist, but you are applying your current perspective of how the poor lives to a culture extremely far removed from our own. I think our current situation of extremely disproportional wealth is a new phenomenon and we should be careful in blindly applying our current viewpoints backwards. India has always been an extremely fertile and arab…
The Old Norse word for Saturday, laugardagr, literally means "washing day". This custom still survives here in countryside Eastern Europe where many people routinely go to sauna (banya) every Saturday (or Sunday like my family). Before the 20th century, a lot of Eastern Europe (especially Russia) still lived like they lived in the middle ages: 95% of the country were serfs on feudal property living in traditional woo…
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I don’t think you’re aware of how much any capable person can procure for themselves and their peers, throughout almost all of global history. Peasants may not maintain secure access to everything, but historically it doesn’t take wealth to have a sturdy shelter, water, warmth, and food, and even some luxuries. It’s a little different in modern times, but those basics were mostly available to everyone just through la…
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He mostly seems to be making it up so I wouldn't assume you learned too much.
Sorry, making up what?
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At least here in Easter Europe we were still using wood "bath tubes" until recent times. Wood stuff does not preserve. Also there was no room for "bath", this bath-tubes are portable, so you get the out when you need them then store them away. Sorry for the bad quality of img, this are traditional fromRomania
https://adroa.top/ant/?header=Covat%C4%83+de+lemn+foarte+vec....
https://frankfurt.apollo.olxcdn.com/v1/files/13e2dt7g3zx82-R...
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>In ancient times, right until the attacks by Islamist marauders and "civilized" Britishers, none of what you have mentioned were an issue. My assumption, when applied to India, would be that it would be an issue for the untouchables caste? >If you are not aware, this was how most of the world lived. Lower class was the norm. We are now living in an age of disproportionate luxury. Even so it still seems unlikely that…
> My assumption, when applied to India, would be that it would be an issue for the untouchables caste? afaik untouchables as a concept was mostly enacted around (british) colonial rule (when they instituted the caste system we see even to today), so might not apply to the time period they are talking about... (happy to be corrected on this if i misunderstand)
This is revisionist nonsense. Ancient texts, both sacred and secular both describe a extant caste system.