- The Story of India
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The Story of India 
The Story of India series title cardGenre Documentary Presented by Michael Wood Composer(s) Howard Davidson Country of origin United Kingdom Language(s) English No. of episodes 6 Production Executive producer(s) Martin Davidson Producer(s) Rebecca Dobbs Running time ~60 minutes per episode Broadcast Original channel BBC Two Picture format HDTV: 1080i Audio format Stereophonic Original run 24 August 2007 – 28 September 2007 External links Website The Story of India is a BBC TV documentary series, written and presented by historian Michael Wood, about the 10,000-year history of the Indian subcontinent in six episodes. It was originally aired on the BBC in six episodes in August and September 2007 as part of the BBC season "India and Pakistan 07", which marked the 60 years independence of India and Pakistan. In the United States, PBS broadcast the series on three Mondays, January 5, 12 and 19, 2009, from 9 to 11 PM. In Australia, this series was broadcast on ABC1 each Sunday at 7:30pm from 29 March until 3 May, 2009. An accompanying text was published by BBC Books.
As in most of his documentaries, Wood explains historical events by travelling to the places where they took place, examining archeological and historical evidence at first hand and interviewing historians and archaeologists, as well as chatting with local people.
Contents
Episodes
Rig Veda, One of the oldest holy scripture in Hinduism
Episode 1 - "Beginnings"
See also: Indus Valley CivilizationMichael Wood travels throughout the subcontinent, tracing the richness and diversity of its peoples, cultures and landscapes. Through ancient manuscripts and oral tales Wood charts the first human migrations out of Africa. He travels from the tropical backwaters of South India through lost ancient cities in Pakistan to the vibrant landscapes of the Ganges plain. Archaeological discoveries in the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex in Turkmenistan by Soviet archeologist Viktor Sarianidi, including horse drawn carts (mentioned in the Rig Veda), cast new light on India’s past. Wood also attempts to re-create soma, an ancient drink recorded in the Rig Veda.
Episode 2 - "The Power of Ideas"
The second episode in Michael Wood’s series moves on to the revolutionary years after 500BC - the Age of the Buddha and Mahavira. Travelling by rail to the ancient cities of the Ganges plain, by army convoy through Northern Iraq, and down Pakistan's Khyber Pass, he shows how Alexander the Great’s invasion of India inspired her first major empire in the form of the Mauryan Empire, ruled by Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka.
Meenakshi Temple at MaduraiEpisode 3 - "Spice Routes and Silk Roads"
In this episode he traces India in the days of the Roman Empire; the Greco-Roman navigator Hippalus discovered monsoons for the Romans. In Kerala the spice trade opened India to the world, whilst gold and silk bazaars in the ancient city of Madurai were a delight for visiting Greek traders. From the deserts of Turkmenistan Michael travels down the Khyber Pass to Pakistan to discover a forgotten empire, the (Kushan Empire) of Northern India that opened up the Silk Route and at Peshawar built a lost Wonder of the World. The Wonder is nowadays known to people as the "Bare Raja Ka Tila". Also offers an interesting theory about the death of Emperor Kanishka at Mathura.
Episode 4 - "Ages of Gold"
The achievements of the country’s golden age, including how India discovered zero, calculated the circumference of the Earth and wrote the world’s first sex guide, the Kama Sutra. In the south, the giant temple of Tanjore built by emperor Rajaraja Chola and traditional bronze casters, working as their ancestors did 1,000 years ago are shown. Michael Wood calls Tamil Nadu, "The only surviving 'Classical Civilization' in the world.[1]
In an interview to The Hindu Michael Wood said "One that’s 2,000 years old like ancient Greece or Rome. Tamil is the last living classical Indian language. The first surviving work in Tamil, a 300 B.C book on linguistics, refers to an already existing culture. Tamil is older than any modern European language. I wanted to remind Western-centric audiences, who implicitly assume the superiority of Western modes of thought, that Tamil is one of 23 official Indian languages, with a literature comparable to any in the West. It makes viewers sit up and question their assumptions".[1]
The Taj Mahal, Built by the Mughals, one of the wonders of the worldEpisode 5 - "The Meeting of Two Oceans"
The documentary series about the history of India charts the coming of Islam to the subcontinent and one of the greatest ages of world civilisation: the Mughals. Mahmud of Ghazni leads an expedition to Somnath and destroys the temple of Shiva and all idols there. Michael Wood visits Sufi shrines in Old Delhi, desert fortresses in Rajasthan and the cities of Lahore and Agra, where he offers a new theory on the design of the Taj Mahal. He also looks at the life of Akbar, a Muslim emperor who decreed that no one religion could hold the ultimate truth, but whose dream of unity ended in civil war.
Episode 6 - "Freedom and Liberation"
This episode examines the British Raj and India’s struggle for freedom. Wood reveals how in South India a global corporation came to control much of the subcontinent, and explores the magical culture of Lucknow, discovering the enigmatic Briton who helped found the freedom movement. He traces the Amritsar massacre, the rise of Gandhi and Nehru, and the events that led to the Partition of India in 1947.
Merchandise
The Story of India DVD cover- A 2-disc Region 2 DVD was released by 2 Entertain on 5 November 2007 (BBCDVD2375), featuring all six full-length episodes.
- A 2-disc Region 1 DVD was released by PBS Home Video on 10 March 2009.
- A 2-disc Region A Blu-ray Disc was released by PBS Home Video on 14 April 2009.
- A 2-disc Region 4 DVD and Blu-ray Disc was released by ABC DVD/Village Roadshow on 1 July 2009.
- An accompanying hardback book and audio book has been published by BBC Books on 16 August 2007, titled Michael Wood: The Story of India (ISBN 9780563539155).
Notes
- ^ a b Patel, Vibuthi "A journey called India ", The Hindu, March 8, 2009.
External links
- Michael Wood: The Story of India at BBC Programmes
- The Story of India at PBS
- The story of India and me
- The Story of India at the Internet Movie Database
- The Hindu : Magazine : "A journey called India" - Interview with the creator Michael Wood
Categories:- 2000s British television series
- 2007 television series debuts
- 2007 television series endings
- BBC television documentaries
- BBC television documentaries on history
- History of Pakistan
- History of India
- History of Bangladesh
- Indian history in popular culture
- Television series about the history of India
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