Challenge: Consistently unified India, consistently divided China

The unspoken rule is that the new dynasty must do everything in its power to seize the relic, or else it can't officially proclaim a new dynasty.

So for instance if that system existed in China and Chiang Kai Shek took the relic to Taiwan, no People's Republic can be officially declared until the Communists take the relic. And because of the sacredness of the relic, no one will dare destroy it rather than hand it to a victor.
Biggest problem with this is every rebel dynasty needs the relic, so multiple copies will appear....
 
Absolutely.

Then of course there are the Five Confucian Classics, portions of which date from the Zhou at the earliest (the Zhou Odes, for instance, or the passage on the Mandate) to the mid/late Han.

The cycle of political justification goes from dynasty to dynasty.

Well, I guess that's true, but if there's the political justification going from dynasty to dynasty, doesn't this lay the roots for unification? There's maybe already a Shang dynasty myth (the one with Jie of Xia) that seems to have laid the groundwork for the Mandate of Heaven. I mean, I guess the Zhou could say "The Xia and Shang were precursors for our eternal Zhou Dynasty" but that seems like they'd have to believe in their eternal success from the very beginning.
 
I agree that the ideology would be important for switching the situations between India and China, but I believe that language is just as important as well.

The Chinese language was consistently written in characters, and the writing system is probably the only one in the world still in use that is not an alphabet. This also assisted with cultural assimilation, as invaders were required to learn the characters, which were also closely tied to Chinese culture, in order to create any records. On the other hand, Brahmi was the first Indian script, and although Sanskrit was the first widely spoken language, it eventually spilt into many over time, each with their own scripts, which in turn helped to create various entities.

Unless you're willing to create a POD in which the Indus Valley Civilization survives, allowing a logographic writing system to predominate, I think the best scenario would be to create one in which the Maurya lasts longer, and enforces a commonly spoken and written language, such as Sanskrit and Brahmi. This would help to consolidate the notion of a "united" India after the dynasty's fall, in which the written and spoken components would probably function similarly to that of Latin in Europe. The challenge would be to ensure that another unified dynasty would come to power and sets a precedent for others to follow, but I don't think it would be impossible. Meanwhile, you would have to ensure that at least one of the northern nomadic groups that invaded China during 300-500 adopts an alphabet, possibly taken from states further west, because they realize that writing is important for maintaining a separate identity.
 

PhilippeO

Banned
A sacred Hindu relic supposedly giving power to rule the world to its holder will do it. Because only one person can hold it, its symbolic value makes it a prized target for any rebel seeking power. A new dynasty is only proclaimed when the relic changes hands.

The unspoken rule is that the new dynasty must do everything in its power to seize the relic, or else it can't officially proclaim a new dynasty.


Biggest problem with this is every rebel dynasty needs the relic, so multiple copies will appear....

Instead of material item like relic, ritual could be used. ex: a king could not claimed Cakravartin until he wash his feet at the mouth of Ganges and wash his hair at the mouth of Indus.
 
A sacred Hindu relic supposedly giving power to rule the world to its holder will do it. Because only one person can hold it, its symbolic value makes it a prized target for any rebel seeking power. A new dynasty is only proclaimed when the relic changes hands.
.

But Hinduism isn't a unified religion in the same way as the Abrahamic religions are. Its pretty much a continuum of Local religions united by some elements of shared philosophy. Even Indian who aren't religiously Hindu are influenced by elements of their local Hinduisms but these might not be in anyway connected to Hindu practices in other regions.
 
Suppose Ashoka was not converted immediately after the battle of Kalinga. He would have turned his attention to the southern kingdoms of Chola, Pandya, Satyaputra and Keralaputra and would have completed the task of spreading the Mauryan authority to the tip of the Peninsula. If the conversion was carried out after the total unification and had he established the Dhamma as the official religion to be followed by all his subjects, the buddhism would have obtained a firm and secure foundation in India. If Ashoka had stronger successors who followed in his footsteps and Mauryan Empire had lasted for a few more centuries, India would have developed as a strong, unified, Buddhist nation.

But much of South India was Buddhist even without direct conquest by Asoka. Kerala was heavily Buddhist until the early 1st millennium AD. What more important is the idea of a unified Buddhism which can form some sort of cultural unifying framework even without the Emperor
 
But much of South India was Buddhist even without direct conquest by Asoka. Kerala was heavily Buddhist until the early 1st millennium AD. What more important is the idea of a unified Buddhism which can form some sort of cultural unifying framework even without the Emperor

I also had the idea of a unified Buddhism which could provide a unifying cultural framework even without an empire. Though Hinduism provide a general foundation for Indian culture, or more correctly Indian civilization, it has a very loose structure. Due to the presence of the caste system and the complex belief systems it cannot become a unifying force like Buddhism. Buddhism, especially the Theravadi sect, due to the simplicity of its belief system,can become a powerful base for a unified polity.
Srilanka is a significant example. Even though heavily influenced by Hinduism, the Buddhism in Srilanka has provided a very strong foundation for the Sinhala Nationalism. No wonder that the presence of Tamils has become such an irritant for them!
I think that the dissolution of the Mauryan Empire and the decline of the Buddhist religion were the greatest misfortunes that befell India.
 
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