The Coming of Man (In English) | Letters From a Father to His Daughter | Episode 6

In this letter, Nehru traces the evolution of life, focusing on how animals, including humans, have adapted to their environment over millions of years. He explains how simpler animals, such as fish, lay many eggs and do not care for their young, resulting in high wastage of life. In contrast, higher animals, like mammals, give birth to fewer offspring but take better care of them, with humans being the highest animals who show great affection for their children.

Nehru highlights how early humans likely evolved from apelike creatures, such as the Heidelberg Man, who lived during the Ice Age when glaciers covered much of Europe. Early humans faced great challenges, including harsh cold and threats from large animals. Over time, however, humans became more powerful not through physical strength but through intelligence. The letter emphasizes that the discovery of fire was one of the earliest and most significant achievements of humans. Fire provided warmth, protection from animals, and eventually became a tool humans could control. Nehru concludes by explaining that intelligence, particularly the ability to harness fire, allowed humans to gradually rise above other animals, marking the beginning of their dominance over the natural world. "We can trace this growth of intelligence from the earliest days of man to the present day. Indeed it is intelligence that separates man from the other animals. There is practically no difference between a man without any intelligence and an animal. The first great discovery that man probably made was that of fire."