National symbols of the Republic of India (Official)
National animal
National bird
National tree
National flower
National heritage animal
National aquatic marine mammal
National reptile
National heritage mammal
National fruit
National temple
National river
National mountain
Mae India yn wlad anferth sy'n ymestyn o'r Himalaya yn y gogledd i draethau trofannol Cefnfor India yn y de. Yn y gorllewin mae taleithiau Rajasthan a Gujarat yn anial iawn tra bod y taleithiau dwyreiniol a'r de eithaf yn nhiriogaethau is-drofannol. Mae gan y wlad arfordir hir iawn ar Fôr Arabia yn y gorllewin, Cefnfor India yn y de a Bae Bengal yn y dwyrain.
Cyrhaeddodd bodau dynol modern (Homo sapiens) isgyfandir India o Affrica ddim hwyrach na 55,000 o flynyddoedd yn ôl.[1] O ran amrywiaeth o geneteg dynol, gellir rhoi'r rhanbarth yn ail.[2]Daeth bywyd sefydlog i'r amlwg ar yr isgyfandir ar gyrion gorllewinol basn Afon Indus tua 9,000 o flynyddoedd yn ôl, gan esblygu'n raddol i Wareiddiad Dyffryn Indus yn y drydedd mileniwm CC.[3] Erbyn 1200 CC roedd ffurf hynafol o Sansgrit, iaith Indo-Ewropeaidd, wedi tryledu i India o'r gogledd-orllewin,[4] gan ddatblygu fel iaith y Rigveda a gyfansoddwyd yn ardal y Sapta Sindhu (gwlad "y Saith Afon"), sy'n cyfateb i ardal y Punjab ym Mhacistan a gogledd-orllewin India, rhwng 1500–1000 CC. Dyma gofnodi gwawr Hindŵaeth yn India.[5] Mewnosodwyd ieithoedd Dravidian India yn y rhanbarthau gogleddol a gorllewinol.[6]
Erbyn 400 CC roedd haenu cymdeithasol a gwahardd cymdeithasol (neu y drefn gastiau) wedi dod i'r amlwg o fewn Hindŵaeth,[7] ac roedd Bwdhaeth a Jainiaeth wedi codi, gan gyhoeddi gorchmynion cymdeithasol nad oeddent yn gysylltiedig ag etifeddiaeth.[8] Arweiniodd cydgrynhoadau gwleidyddol cynnar at Ymerodraethau rhydd Maurya a Gupta ym Masn y Ganga.[9] Nodweddir y cyfnod hwn o gydweithio â chreadigrwydd eang[10][11] a hefyd gydag ymgorffori anghyffyrddadwyedd (untouchability) i fewn i'w system gredo.[12] Yn Ne India, a'r teyrnasoedd Canol, allforiwyd ieithoewdd a sgriptiau Dravidian a'r diwylliannau crefyddol i deyrnasoedd De-ddwyrain Asia.[13]
Ehangodd Cwmni Prydeinig India'r Dwyrain drwy'r wlad gan droi India yn economi drefedigaethol, ond hefyd ei moldio'n un wlad sofran.[21] Dechreuodd rheolaeth Coron Lloegr (y Raj Prydeinig) ym 1858. Ond wedi peth amser rhoddwyd yr hawliau i Indiaid brodorol,[22] ond cyflwynwyd newidiadau technolegol, a gwreiddiodd syniadau addysg, moderniaeth a bywyd cyhoeddus.[23] Daeth mudiad cenedlaetholgar arloesol a dylanwadol i'r amlwg, a nodwyd am wrthwynebiad di-drais a daeth yn brif ffactor wrth ddod â rheolaeth Prydain i ben.[24] 'Tad y Wlad' ac un o brif arweinwyr dros India annibynnol oedd Mahatma Gandhi. Ym 1947 rhannwyd Ymerodraeth Indiaidd Prydain yn ddau ddominiwn annibynnol, Dominiwn mwyafrif Hindŵaidd India ac Arglwyddiaeth fwyafrif Mwslimaidd Pacistan. Collwyd miliynau o fywydau a gwelwyd mudo nas gwelwyd ei fath cyn hynny.[25][26]
Mae India wedi bod yn weriniaeth ffederal ers 1950, wedi'i llywodraethu drwy system seneddol ddemocrataidd. Yn wleidyddol, mae'n gymdeithas luosog, amlieithog ac aml-ethnig. Tyfodd poblogaeth India o 361 miliwn ym 1951 i 1.211 biliwn yn 2011.[27] Yn ystod yr un amser, cynyddodd ei hincwm enwol y pen o US $64 yn flynyddol i UD$ 1,498, a chynyddodd ei chyfradd llythrennedd o 16.6% i 74%. O fod yn wlad gymharol amddifad ym 1951,[28] mae India wedi tyfu'n economi fawr sy'n tyfu'n gyflym ac yn ganolbwynt ar wasanaethau technoleg gwybodaeth, gyda dosbarth canol sy'n ehangu'n sydyn.[29] Mae ganddi raglen ofod (ISRO) sydd wedi cwblhau sawl taith lwyddiannus i'r gofod.
Mae ffilmiau, cerddoriaeth a dysgeidiaeth ysbrydol Indiaidd (gw. ioga) yn chwarae rhan gynyddol mewn diwylliant byd-eang.[30] Lleihaodd ei chyfradd tlodi yn sylweddol yn 21g, ond ar gost o gynyddu anghydraddoldeb economaidd.[31] Mae gan India arfau niwclear, ac mae'n uchel mewn gwariant milwrol. Ceir anghydfod ynghylch Kashmir gyda'i chymdogion, Pacistan a Tsieina, anghydfod sydd heb ei ddatrys ers canol yr 20g. Ymhlith yr heriau economaidd-gymdeithasol y mae India yn eu hwynebu mae anghydraddoldeb rhwng y rhywiau, diffyg maeth plant,[32] a lefelau cynyddol o lygredd aer.[33] Mae tir India yn fioamrywiol, gyda phedwar ardal o fioamrywiaeth.[34] Gorchuddir 21.7% o'r wlad gan goed.[35] Mae bywyd gwyllt India, yn draddodiadol yn cael ei pharchu, a'i gweld yn rhan o ddiwylliant India,[36] a cheir llawer o gynefinoedd gwarchodedig.
(c)Fisher, Michael H. (2018), An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, p. 23, ISBN978-1-107-11162-2, https://books.google.com/books?id=kZVuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23, "Scholars estimate that the first successful expansion of the Homo sapiens range beyond Africa and across the Arabian Peninsula occurred from as early as 80,000 years ago to as late as 40,000 years ago, although there Mai have been prior unsuccessful emigrations. Some of their descendants extended the human range ever further in each generation, spreading into each habitable land they encountered. One human channel was along the warm and productive coastal lands of the Persian Gulf and northern Indian Ocean. Eventually, various bands entered India between 75,000 years ago and 35,000 years ago. (page 23)"
↑(a) Lowe, John J. (2015). Participles in Rigvedic Sanskrit: The syntax and semantics of adjectival verb forms. Oxford University Press. tt. 1–2. ISBN978-0-19-100505-3. (The Rigveda) consists of 1,028 hymns (suktas), highly crafted poetic compositions originally intended for recital during rituals and for the invocation of and communication with the Indo-Aryan gods. Modern scholarly opinion largely agrees that these hymns were composed between around 1500 BCE and 1200 BCE, during the eastward migration of the Indo-Aryan tribes from the mountains of what is today northern Afghanistan across the Punjab into north India.,
Witzel, Michael (2008). "Vedas and Upanisads". In Gavin Flood (gol.). The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. John Wiley & Sons. tt. 68–70. ISBN978-0-470-99868-7. It is known from internal evidence that the Vedic texts were orally composed in northern India, at first in the Greater Punjab and later on also in more eastern areas, including northern Bihar, between ca. 1500 BCE and ca. 500–400 BCE. The oldest text, the Rgveda, must have been more or less contemporary with the Mitanni texts of northern Syria/Iraq (1450–1350 BCE); ... The Vedic texts were orally composed and transmitted, without the use of script, in an unbroken line of transmission from teacher to student that was formalized early on. This ensured an impeccable textual transmission superior to the classical texts of other cultures; it is in fact something of a tape-recording of ca. 1500–500 BCE. Not just the actual words, but even the long-lost musical (tonal) accent (as in old Greek or in Japanese) has been preserved up to the present. (pp. 68–69) ... The RV text was composed before the introduction and massive use of iron, that is before ca. 1200–1000 BCE. (p. 70)
(d) Ludden, David (2013), India and South Asia: A Short History, Oneworld Publications, pp. 19, ISBN978-1-78074-108-6, https://books.google.com/books?id=EbFHAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA19, "In Punjab, a dry region with grasslands watered by five rivers (hence ‘panch’ and ‘ab’) draining the western Himalayas, one prehistoric culture left no material remains, but some of its ritual texts were preserved orally over the millennia. The culture is called Aryan, and evidence in its texts indicates that it spread slowly south-east, following the course of the Yamuna and Ganga Rivers. Its elite called itself Arya (pure) and distinguished themselves sharply from others. Aryans led kin groups organized as nomadic horse-herding tribes. Their ritual texts are called Vedas, composed in Sanskrit. Vedic Sanskrit is recorded only in hymns that were part of Vedic rituals to Aryan gods. To be Aryan apparently meant to belong to the elite among pastoral tribes. Texts that record Aryan culture are not precisely datable, but they seem to begin around 1200 BCE with four collections of Vedic hymns (Rg, Sama, Yajur, and Artharva)."
(e) Dyson, Tim (2018), A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, pp. 14–15, ISBN978-0-19-882905-8, https://books.google.com/books?id=3TRtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 Quote: "Although the collapse of the Indus valley civilization is no longer believed to have been due to an ‘Aryan invasion’ it is widely thought that, at roughly the same time, or perhaps a few centuries later, new Indo-Aryan-speaking people and influences began to enter the subcontinent from the north-west. Detailed evidence is lacking. Nevertheless, a predecessor of the language that would eventually be called Sanskrit was probably introduced into the north-west sometime between 3,900 and 3,000 years ago. This language was related to one then spoken in eastern Iran; and both of these languages belonged to the Indo-European language family. ... It seems likely that various small-scale migrations were involved in the gradual introduction of the predecessor language and associated cultural characteristics. However, there Mai not have been a tight relationship between movements of people on the one hand, and changes in language and culture on the other. Moreover, the process whereby a dynamic new force gradually arose—a people with a distinct ideology who eventually seem to have referred to themselves as ‘Arya’—was certainly two-way. That is, it involved a blending of new features which came from outside with other features—probably including some surviving Harappan influences—that were already present. Anyhow, it would be quite a few centuries before Sanskrit was written down. And the hymns and stories of the Arya people—especially the Vedas and the later Mahabharata and Ramayana epics—are poor guides as to historical events. Of course, the emerging Arya were to have a huge impact on the history of the subcontinent. Nevertheless, little is known about their early presence.";
(f) Robb, Peter (2011), A History of India, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 46–, ISBN978-0-230-34549-2, https://books.google.com/books?id=GQ-2VH1LO_EC&pg=PA46, "The expansion of Aryan culture is supposed to have begun around 1500 BCE. It should not be thought that this Aryan emergence (though it implies some migration) necessarily meant either a sudden invasion of new peoples, or a complete break with earlier traditions. It comprises a set of cultural ideas and practices, upheld by a Sanskrit-speaking elite, or Aryans. The features of this society are recorded in the Vedas."[dolen farw]
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(a) Jamison, Stephanie; Brereton, Joel (2020), The Rigveda, Oxford University Press, pp. 2, 4, ISBN978-0-19-063339-4, https://books.google.com/books?id=1LTRDwAAQBAJ, "The RgVeda is one of the four Vedas, which together constitute the oldest texts in Sanskrit and the earliest evidence for what will become Hinduism. (p. 2) Although Vedic religion is very different in many regards from what is known as Classical Hinduism, the seeds are there. Gods like Visnu and Siva (under the name Rudra), who will become so dominant later, are already present in the Rgveda, though in roles both lesser than and different from those they will later play, and the principal Rgvedic gods like Indra remain in later Hinduism, though in diminished capacity (p. 4).";
(b) Flood, Gavin (20 Awst 2020), "Introduction", in Gavin Flood, The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Practice: Hindu Practice, Oxford University Press, pp. 4–, ISBN978-0-19-105322-1, https://books.google.com/books?id=4yT3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA4, "I take the term ‘Hinduism to meaningfully denote a range and history of practice characterized by a number of features, particularly reference to Vedic textual and sacrificial origins, belonging to endogamous social units (jati/varna), participating in practices that involve making an offering to a deity and receiving a blessing (puja), and a first-level cultural polytheism (although many Hindus adhere to a second-level monotheism in which many gods are regarded as emanations or manifestations of the one, supreme being).";
(c) Michaels, Axel (2017). Patrick Olivelle, Donald R. Davis (gol.). The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Law: A New History of Dharmaśāstra. Oxford: Oxford University Press. tt. 86–97. ISBN978-0-19-100709-5. Almost all traditional Hindu families observe until today at least three samskaras (initiation, marriage, and death ritual). Most other rituals have lost their popularity, are combined with other rites of passage, or are drastically shortened. Although samskaras vary from region to region, from class (varna) to class, and from caste to caste, their core elements remain the same owing to the common source, the Veda, and a common priestly tradition preserved by the Brahmin priests. (p 86)
(d) Flood, Gavin D. (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge University Press. t. 35. ISBN978-0-521-43878-0. It is this Sansrit, vedic, tradition which has maintained a continuity into modern times and which has provided the most important resource and inspiration for Hindu traditions and individuals. The Veda is the foundation for most later developments in what is known as Hinduism.