Know India:

Geography of India is ideal for human settlements. It is well protected from north towards south wind, big rivers with perennial water source like mount Himalaya, seasonal rainfall, forests, clay supporting growth of food grains, year round bearable climate etc.
It has sea on 3 sides east-west Mountains on northern side and in central India. There is a range on west and east coast. This all make India as the destination for almost all races, people of all religions. This might be the reason why India has all races and religions found in the world. One may name a religion or race and that would be found in India. Thus India is a copy of the whole world.

Indian known history may not be more than 10000 years old. Scientists say the first human being was born in Africa. He moved towards north and then spread all over the world. Scientists also say geographic North Pole is shifting anti-clockwise as seen from Asia-Europe. Further scientists claim that one time India had been part of Africa but got separated and slowly moved towards Asia. It pushed all the time and the result had been birth of Himalayan ranges and peaks. Whatever may be the truth India is inhabited by human being for a long time, may be 100 000 years.

There is a great possibility that African human beings drifted with land are the aboriginals in India. People in south India have similarity of skin colour with Africans. African who travelled northwards might have returned to Middle East after finding the land in vicinity of North Pole is no good for habitation. From here some might have travelled to west (Europe), some settled in Middle East and some travelled to east. This might be the first settlement of human beings in India. Mostly they occupied northern region of India and the land was known as "Aryavat" meaning home land of "Aryans".
History shows that there were conflicts between southern and northern parts of India in early days.

"Ramayana" and "Mahabharata" are the two eternal epics and loved by every Indian irrespective of cast, religion or race. These epics not only give history of India during respective time but teach ethics to be followed by the king and the citizens. Ramayana shows a king who is totally dedicated for security of citizens and who respects thinking of every citizen irrespective of his/her position in the kingdom. Mahabharata explains ethical rules but at the same time teaches how to deal with people who have no faith in ethics. With time the ethic part is forgotten by people. The responsibility goes to Pastors who guide people in gaining comforts for themselves in an easier way. They started people preaching that if you donate a part to temples you could gain 100 000 times more. The god is kind, forgives and is pleased by donations to temples. This is not different than bribing the god. Every individual doesn't understand how it would help them but blindly believe in pastors. This is not a characteristic specifically of Indians alone but is found worldwide.

Earlier Indians believed in one god-one religion. The god was remembered by thousands of names and religion was considered as responsibilities of a member of society towards others. There had been no specific name for religion. No necessity arose for naming religion. It was just known as "Dharma" meaning religion. Definition of society had been a group of people leaving together with common aspirations. Basically the aspirations were security, food, and shelter. Even clothing was not given importance as people could live without special clothing due the climate in large portion of India. Words like "Pitri Dharma", "Matri Dharma", "Putra Dharma", "Putri Dharma", "Bhatri Dharma", "Neighbourhood Dharma", "Gram Dharma", were use. These words simply meant responsibilities of say father to children etc. Every member of society was expected to follow these. This avoided conflicts among members of society. Meaning of society meant group of people. In any house the family members was considered as a group. Outside house say a village was considered as a group. This theme was extended up the universe.

When Arabs visited India they came across the great river "Sindhu" They pronounced it as "Hindu" Thus this name was given to people residing in the subcontinent. This meant that religion of people in India is "Hindu" and name of country is "Hindustan". Europeans pronounced "Sindhu" as "Indus" and the country got another name i. e. "India". Apart from Arabs "shak", "Kushan", "Hoon" also came to India in earlier days of history. They accepted local culture and mixed with local people like sugar in milk. There had been no cultural or religious differences on account of these settlers. Persians (Now known as Iranians) came to India. They settled but followed their own culture and religion without creating any difference with locals. Like this many races and people with many religions came and settled down in India. The problem started when Muslims invaded India with sole aim of looting country and converting people to Islam. Muslim emperor Äkbar had been wise enough to understand that if he is to rule he can't exploit religious sentiments. He chose not to interfere in religion and stopped converting people against their wish. He also married a Hindu princess and assured that her eldest son shall be enthroned after him. His principle was followed by his son and grandson. However, his great grandson Aurangzeb [Hindustani emperor (1658-1707) who imposed Muslim orthodoxy and expanded the empire.] got himself in sever problem due to his thinking about religion.

Mughal emperor Aurangzeb was first time challenged by Chhatrapati Shivaji (the fist king in India ruled by foreign Muslims). Shivaji started from NIL. His father Shahaji had a wish to carve a kingdom of Indian King but did not succeed. He sent his son to a small Jahangir (a small group of villages given by a King or Emperor for services provided with an authority to collect revenue and keep a certain percentage and send remaining to the king/emperor). Shivaji with help of local people created an independent territory and ruled in a democratic way. His kingdom was later expanded and was known as "Maratha Empire". Later during 18th century Marathas were protectors of Mughal Empire. British, French, Portugal, Netherlands came to India and other parts of eastern Asia with view to expand trading. Later they established their kingdoms in India and other countries. British were the most successful amongst these. British ruled India for approximately 150 years.

Although, religion of Shivaji had been Hindu he was not a Hindu king but a Maratha King meaning king of people who were known as Maratha. His kingdom did not cover the whole country and was limited to a smaller area. The reason had been he established kingdom from nearly nothing except like minded people where he lived. He didn't destroy any religious place nor constructed any for any of the religions in vogue in the area of the kingdom. He did not like Aurangzeb ruling India because he (Aurangzeb) had been a foreign emperor. His army and personal guards were from Hindu and Muslims. He didn't believe in converting people from one religion in to other. He not only took this in theory but acted in practice too. One of his knights faced a problem while getting his son married as no one was prepared to give bride in marriage. (Because He readopted Hindu religion). Shivaji offered his daughter for giving in marriage to son of his knight and the wedding took place. His governance had been excellent and that continued even after his death. He ensured to lay down a good system so it continues for a long time.