When we speak of Hindus, it is not a narrow religious label but a civilisational shorthand for the people of this land. For millennia, through upheavals and invasions, this identity has remained unbroken-rooted in culture, memory, and continuity.

A Civilisation Older Than Recorded History

Archaeological evidence now pushes India’s civilisational timeline back to 9000 BC, with sites like Bhagor in Madhya Pradesh and Rakhigarhi in Haryana confirming an ancient continuity of culture. The so-called “Aryan Invasion” theory, once peddled by colonial historians, stands thoroughly discredited.

From the Atharva Veda’s Prithvi Sukta—perhaps the world’s oldest civilisational hymn—to the seals of the Indus Valley depicting Proto-Shiva in yogic postures, Swastikas, and Mother Goddess figurines, the thread of tradition runs unbroken. While Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Persia turned into museum pieces, India remains the world’s only ancient civilisation still alive.

Sustained by Ordinary People

Contrary to the colonial narrative of “Brahminical imposition,” inscriptions and archaeological records reveal something extraordinary: civilisation here was sustained by ordinary Hindus.

At the Sanchi Stupa, 631 inscriptions have been found—almost all donations by artisans, ivory carvers, and housewives, not kings. In Mathura, 99% of ritual tablets (Ayagapattas) were donated by women, often from humble households. The earliest Saraswati murti on record was commissioned not by royalty but by a blacksmith.

This was never a top-down civilisation. It was nourished by the devotion, labour, and participation of common people.

Invaders Before Islam Assimilated, Not Destroyed

Foreigners came before the 7th century too—Greeks, Shakas, Kushanas, Hunas. But they merged into the Indic fabric. They became Buddhists, Hindus, Jains. They left coins and inscriptions that showed pride in becoming part of this land.

The story changed drastically in 712 CE, when Mohammad bin Qasim invaded Sindh. For the first time, temples were desecrated, idols defiled with animal flesh, and resistance became a civilisational necessity.

The Resistance That Defined Us

Raja Dahir of Sindh refused to flee, declaring he would not abandon his land. His wives chose honour and sacrifice, urging warriors never to lay down arms. His son, forcibly converted, renounced Islam once the Arab armies withdrew and rejoined the Hindu fold to continue the fight.

For 400 years, Hindu Shahi rulers in Afghanistan defended Bharat’s frontiers. Kings like Jaipal, Anandpal, Trilochanpal, and Bhimpal sacrificed generation after generation until finally overwhelmed. Even then, resistance did not stop.

The Delhi Sultanate, established in 1206, could not expand for nearly a century, constantly besieged by Hindu revolts. This long history of resistance is rarely taught but forms the backbone of why India remains a living civilisation.

The Myth of “Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb”

Much is made of the so-called Ganga-Jamuni syncretic culture. But records show otherwise. For the first century of Islamic rule, no Indian Muslim or Hindu was allowed political power. Only under Akbar, out of necessity, were Rajputs and Indian Muslims included in the Mughal nobility.

Even Islamic scholars of the time wrote candidly: conversions would be delayed until numbers were strong enough. The Two-Nation Theory, later championed by Jinnah, was already being articulated centuries earlier by clerics like Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi, whose writings remain central to Islamic theology in the subcontinent.

Temples Can Be Broken, Faith Cannot

The Sun Temple of Multan—described by travellers from the 7th century to the 17th—was repeatedly attacked, its idols desecrated. Yet Hindus carried wooden idols away in times of invasion, brought them back after danger passed, and worship continued uninterrupted.

This resilience captures the essence of the Hindu spirit: temples may fall, but the sanctity of a site and the devotion of a people can never be erased.

A Civilisation That Refuses to Die

India’s story is not just one of invasions and victimhood-it is a story of survival.
It is the story of artisans who carved, women who donated, kings who resisted, and communities that preserved worship practices through millennia of violence.

Today, as new archaeological finds emerge and old inscriptions are re-read, the truth is surfacing. The lies of colonial and Marxist historians are collapsing.

India remains the world’s oldest living civilisation, unbroken from the Vedas to the present day. And that continuity is not just a matter of pride—it is our greatest strength.