South Asia: Creating Dilemmas of Diversity - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 150

Chapter 6

South Asia: Creating
Dilemmas of Diversity

“What is here is nowhere else;
what is not hereis nowhere. ”

T HE M AHABHARA T A ( CA 1000 BC )

This chapter initiates the regional analysis that makes

such as the Vindhya range and the Narmada River. These
physical features have presented barriers to north-south
movements throughout Indian history . Further south is
the highly dissected Deccan bordered by the Western and
Eastern Ghats. The Deccan is cut by several rivers, most
notably the Godavari, Krishna, and Cauvery . The island
of Sri Lanka is located at the tip of peninsular India. It
too is a perplexing and troubled region. Y ou will learn
more about these regions in this and the following three
chapters.

up the rest of this text. In it we will set the historical
and geographical framework for subsequent discussions
of specific countries in South Asia. For an understanding
and appreciation of conditions, events, and swirling con-
troversies in South Asia, historical knowledge is indispen-
sable. Therefore, after a brief review of the physical setting,
we will focus on South Asia' s history up to and including
the creation of India and Pakistan in 1947.

The Physical Setting

Monsoon and Life Cycles

South Asia is a realm of spectacular highlands, vast
deserts, rugged plateaus, fertile lowlands, and magnifi-
cent coastlines. Here mountains and coastlines combine
to create one of the world' s most sharply defined physio-
graphic regions (Figure 6-1). Splaying southward from
the Himalayan wall to the north, the Indian subcontinent
is differentiated in the west by the Punjab, a region
through which flow the Indus River and its four major
tributaries: the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej. Punjab
means “five waters.” South of the Punjab is the Indus
River plain. This entire region is guarded by the Hindu
Kush and other mountain ranges to the north and west
and the Great Indian or Thar Desert to the east. Further
east, the North Indian Plain extends to include the sacred
Ganges River and the amazing Ganges and Brahmaputra
delta. Southward, the Central Indian Plateau is separated
from the Deccan plateau by mountains and waterways

As we noted in Chapter 2, a large part of life, includ-
ing harvesting and planting, corresponds with the
dry and wet monsoons. This is especially the case in
South Asia, where the landscape evolves in a never-
ending cycle of brown to green, sparse to lush, and
lethargic to energetic. For millions, these cyclical
events imitate the greater, overarching cycle of birth,
decay , and rebirth. For countless others, they reveal
the divine will of Allah or hand of God. Forgotten or
improper behaviors and rituals might trigger
drought or flood with disastrous consequences.
In northeastern Hindu India, the great festival
of Rathajatra at Puri celebrates the transition from
the season of drought to the season of rain. A
two-story-high vehicle, known as a juggernaut,

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