ITV - Legacy The Origins of Civilization (1991) Part 2 India Empire of the Spirit

Exploring the foundations of the modern world. Five thousand years ago there began the most momentous revolution in human history. Beginning first in Mesopotamia, now Iraq, city civilization emerged for the first time on earth, to be followed in Egypt, India, China and the Americas. In each place, civilization arose independently and each had its own distinctive vision of the goals of life. The ideals of these ancient civilizations still shape the lives of the majority of mankind. In this fascinating historical search, Michael Wood explores these ancient cultures, looking for their essential character and their continuing legacy. What is civilization? Did it mean the same to the Chinese, the Indians and the Greeks? What can the values of the ancient cultures teach us today? And do the ideals of the West–a latecomer to civilization–really have universal validity? Michael Wood's book and television series Legacy addresses these questions, affording fresh insights into the rise and decline of societies and the very nature of civilization. This absorbing investigation of ancient cultures provides us with the impetus to look anew at the way we regard history and its still profound and unpredictable influence on our lives at the end of the twentieth century. WHAT CAN THE PAST TEACH US ABOUT THE PRESENT? In this profound and provocative documentary, historian Michael Wood travels the globe to trace the origins of six great civilizations. These ancient cultures offer surprising perspectives on today’s most urgent questions What purpose does society serve? How can it survive–and thrive–within the limits of nature? Journey to Iraq, where humans built the first cities and faced the first environmental crisis; to India, where a culture of spirituality flourished; to China, where ritual and respect for ancestors reflected ideas of cosmic harmony; to Egypt, where monuments to the dead promised stability and eternal life; to Central America, where the Aztecs and Maya carved out bloody empires; and to Western Europe, where the individual became the center of society. In every locale, Legacy takes a fresh, strikingly relevant look at the roots of civilization. This breathtaking and thought provoking series explores the influence of ancient culture on our lives today. Host/writer Michael Wood visits the ancient cities and ports of India and China, the deserts of Egypt and Iraq, the Mexico of the Inca, Mayan and Aztec peoples, the Greek and Roman monuments of Europe and the jungles of Central America, searching for the living legacies of these once great civilizations. Beautifully filmed on location in fourteen countries and four continents.

Part 2 India Empire of the Spirit

Ancient India is with us today in the living tradition of the Hindu religion, the basis of Indian culture. The traditions that are honored by millions of Hindus in the present were born in the Indus valley 5,000 years ago. The “Land of the Seven Rivers” cultivated a tradition of nonviolence, renunciation of the material world, and a focus on humans' inner life. Today, these ideas survive in tension with the vestiges of Western colonialism. In this program, Michael Wood explores the cultural and spiritual legacy of India and how it significantly differs from the West. Episode examines the origins of Indian civilization and the long history of migrations and invasions of people and ideas that has formed the culturally and religiously diverse nation of India.

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