I'm honestly very surprised by the Mughal Californian colony. But it makes sense. I'm pretty sure India is closer to California by sea than Europe. At least until the Panama Canal is finished.
I'm also surprised by the conversion of so many to Buddhism, but pleased. I think the egalitarian and practice-focused nature of Theravada will be a nice counterbalance to the caste system of the Hindus and the mysticism of Sufi-led Islam in India. It also should appeal to the dalits when it really spreads around.
Well it’s not really a Californian colony per se- it really is just a trading outpost in an independent state. For the moment, thé Indians are the only ones there apart from the Spanish and for continued access to California they’re dependant on island hopping from Java to the Phillipines to Japan and then across the Pacific.
What I’m trying to get a sense of here is that at the moment, India is going through a period of cultural uncertainty as the old paradigm is shifting. Populations displaced from their old homes, where previous hierarchies are being overturned in the name of capitalism and where the social order is decaying are drifting towards philosophies that are more and more skeptical. There is a rapidly growing number of really well off farmers who can now put capital into jagirs and receive shares, the population is rocketing, and the urban population is larger than that of Japans plus the British empires total population. For the moment, the growth in prosperity from the opening up of the economy and more liberal taxation has carried people through, but neither is such a massive urban population sustainable without proper infrastructure and neither is this bubble of growth going to last forever. After all, by this point most people don’t remember what it was like before the liberalisation and have lived their entire lives getting used to growth and growth and growth- how will they react do you think, if an economic recession sets in across the country?
Last edited: