Incarnations: Profiles of the Buddha; Mahavira Jain; Ashoka and Aryabhata

Rupa Jha introduces four portraits of eminent Indians by Professor Sunil Khilnani. The programme begins with a look at the life of the Buddha who has become an inspiration to modern Indians fighting against the caste system. He examines the legacy of Mahavira Jain whose one million or more followers believe that the way to liberations is to live a life of non violence and renunciation.

The Emperor Ashoka is the first subject in the second half of the programme, a once forgotten emperor whose ideas and beliefs have provided an inspiration in modern-day India. And then there is Aryabhata, the legendary mathematician and astronomer, many of whose ideas predate discoveries made in the West hundreds of years later.