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Extending over an area of about 8,800 square miles the Coromandel coast of India was one of the places that Polo landed on his journey home. While here he encountered people said to have been clothed in only loin cloths with the king being distinguished with a diamond studded cloth. He also commented on seeing priests he says had magical powers and the ability to bless crops against animals. These priests were called Brahmins and it is unknown whether the Brahmins of Polo’s India were that of the lost Harappan civilization. Polo arrived on a standard sized merchant ship with around 300 crewmembers. A quote from Polo’s book The Travels tells of what he saw when he landed in India. ‘The king and his barons and everyone else all sit on the earth.’ And when he asks the king why they ‘do not seat themselves more honorably.’ The king replies, ‘To sit on the earth is honorable enough, because we were made from the earth and to the earth we must return.’ This is an insight of the life of the India Marco Polo saw when he went there. Around the time Polo was there he most likely saw a good deal of art and religious icons like a sculpture of Buddha shown along with a pot which would have been seen in a palace, possibly even the house of the very ruler Marco Polo visited. Although Marco Polo did not stay for long in India he showed the life of the rest of the world was so different from the regular European lifestyle he was not believed when he told his story to the people in his home, Italy.
India has not changed very much from the India that was visited by Marco Polo. Today Buddhism and Hinduism are still very much a part of life for the average person and the climate is still temperate with the monsoons still occurring yearly. That said the geography has not changed much either with the Utkal Plains to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Kaveri delta to the south, and the Eastern Ghats to the west. The main agricultural surpluses are rice, peanuts, cotton, sugar cane, pulse, and bananas. The main ports of call are also the same and remain about the same as they were when Polo visited. However a lot has happened politically for India as there have been many rulers who drove the country down and some who helped. An example of a memorable person born in India who also made a huge change in the way India worked and was seen. This person was named Mahatma Gandhi and he, although in a very different time, still followed the ideas of Buddhism and Hinduism like the rulers of India at the time of Marco Polo. During his time he was a very influential person and through following the same path as the priests seen by Marco Polo to enlightenment which Marco Polo saw a lot of during his brief stay in India.
Sources:
www.3quarksdaily.com
http://www.shunya.net/Text/Blog/MarcoPoloIndia.htm
http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/699-.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200504/the.explorer.marco.polo.htm
http://speedydeletion.wikia.com/wiki/Create_topic
India has not changed very much from the India that was visited by Marco Polo. Today Buddhism and Hinduism are still very much a part of life for the average person and the climate is still temperate with the monsoons still occurring yearly. That said the geography has not changed much either with the Utkal Plains to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Kaveri delta to the south, and the Eastern Ghats to the west. The main agricultural surpluses are rice, peanuts, cotton, sugar cane, pulse, and bananas. The main ports of call are also the same and remain about the same as they were when Polo visited. However a lot has happened politically for India as there have been many rulers who drove the country down and some who helped. An example of a memorable person born in India who also made a huge change in the way India worked and was seen. This person was named Mahatma Gandhi and he, although in a very different time, still followed the ideas of Buddhism and Hinduism like the rulers of India at the time of Marco Polo. During his time he was a very influential person and through following the same path as the priests seen by Marco Polo to enlightenment which Marco Polo saw a lot of during his brief stay in India.
Sources:
www.3quarksdaily.com
http://www.shunya.net/Text/Blog/MarcoPoloIndia.htm
http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/699-.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200504/the.explorer.marco.polo.htm
http://speedydeletion.wikia.com/wiki/Create_topic