Indus Valley Civilization

■ a Primary Phase Culture

■ little or no continuity with the following
cultures
■ forgotten until the 19th Century
– rediscovered by the British, while building
railroads
Harappan society and its
neighbors, ca. 2000 B.C.E.
Harappan Culture
■ Indus valley
– not desert
– well-watered and heavily forested
■ 500 miles along the river valley
– 10-20 times larger than Mesopotamia or
Egypt
Foundations of Harappan Society
■ The Indus River
– Silt-enriched water from mountain ranges
■ Major society built by Dravidian
peoples, 3000-2500 BCE
– Cultivation of cotton before 5000 BCE, early
cultivation of poultry
– Decline after 1900 BCE
■ Major cities: Harrapa (Punjab region
and Mohenjo-Daro (mouth of Indus
River)
– 70 smaller sites excavated (total 1,500)
India
Harappan culture sites
Hydraulic Culture
■ like Egypt and Mesopotamia
■ agriculture and flood-control
■ significant industry and trade
■ cities very common
Lack of Sources
■ literate culture
– we cannot read the writing
– writing on bricks and seals
– did not use paper or clay tablets
“Unicorn” seal + writing
More seals
…and more seals...
Seated “yogi” : early Shiva?
Reasonable generalizations
■ rapid development: early 2,000s B.C.
■ roughly contemporary with Egypt and
Mesopotamia
■ early village culture
■ changing rapidly to urban civilization
Generalizations, con’t
■ cities dominated both economic and
political activity
■ origins of the people are unclear
– similar to the Mediterranean type
Major Cities
■ Harappa and Mohenjo-daro
– surrounded by smaller cities, towns, and
villages
■ one situated in the north
■ one situated in the south
Mohenjo-Daro Ruins
■ Population c. 40,000
■ Regional center
– Layout, architecture suggests public purpose
– Broad streets, citadel, pool, sewage
■ Standardized weights evident
throughout region
■ Specialized labor
■ Trade
Cities, con’t
■ uniform culture over a wide area
■ cities built on a common plan
– a grid: always NS and EW axes
• with twelve smaller grids
– kiln-dried brick
Grid map of
Mohenjo-daro
Mohenjo-daro : aerial view
Mohenjo-daro view
of the “Citadel”
The “Great Bath”
another view of the “Great Bath”
view of a small, side street
looks like a small
tower, but actually it
is a neighborhood
well
A bathroom on a private residence
A public well in Harappa, or perhaps
an ancient laundromat...
A large drain or sewer
Monumental architecture
■ very-large scale building
■ walled cites, with fortified citadels
■ always on the same scale
■ palaces, temples
Architecture, con’t
■ large grain storage facilities near
temples
■ a theocracy ??
■ planned economy
Harappan granary
Cities
■ very densely populated
■ houses: two to three stories
■ every house is laid out the same
Culture and Society
■ advanced agriculture
■ surplus production
■ textiles: wool and cotton
■ domesticated animals and fish
Bronze Age technology
■ no swords
■ spears and bows
■ stone arrow heads
Society
■ dominated by priests ?
■ from the fortified palaces and temples ?
■ power base: fertility ?
■ deities: male and female, both nude
■ bull worship and phallic symbols
A priest? A bull
Trade
■ with lower Mesopotamia
■ but gradually declined
Decline
■ domination of an indigenous people ?
– who rebelled ?
■ foreign invasion?
■ gradual decline ?
Combination of Changes
■ climate shift: the monsoon patterns
■ flooding
■ destruction of the forests
■ migrations of new peoples: the Aryans
The Aryan “Invasion”
■ Aryans, lighter-skinned invaders from
the north
■ Dravidians, darker-skinned sedentary
inhabitants of Harappa
■ Color Bias
■ Socio-Economic Implications
■ Difficulty of theory: no evidence of
large-scale military conquest
Possible route of the Aryan invasions
The Aryans
■ not to be confused with Hitler’s “Aryans”
■ these Aryans speak an Indo-European
dialect
■ related to other languages like Greek
and Latin
The Aryans, con’t
■ they called themselves “Aryans”
■ their land: “Aryavarta”
– land of the Aryans
The Early Aryans
■ Pastoral economy: sheep, goats,
horses, cattle
– Vegetarianism not widespread until many
centuries later
■ Religious and Literary works: The
Vedas
– Sanskrit: sacred tongue
– Prakrit: everyday language, evolved into
Hindi, Urdu, Bengali
– Four Vedas, most important Rig Veda
• 1,028 hymms to gods
Gradual settlement
■ over a long period of time
■ gradual infiltration
■ more primitive than the earlier culture
Settlement, con’t
■ new society by 1,200 B.C. or so
■ little evidence
■ not literate
■ no record system
Oral Tradition
■ passed down from priests and singers
■ written down in the 500’s
■

– “Veda” means “knowledge”

The Vedas
■ our primary source
– early Aryan tradition
– later Hindu religion
■ four “vedas”
– the is the oldest
Krishna with
Arjuna on the
battlefield of
Kuruksketra
Krishna reveals
himself to Arjuna
in his manifold
aspects
The Vedas
■ oral poetry
■ come to have a sacred character
■ provide some historical information
The Aryans
■ restless, warlike people
■ tall, blue-eyed, fair-skinned
■ describe the indigenous population as
– short, “black”, noseless, and slaves
The Aryans, con’t
■ villages and kingdoms constantly
fighting
■ warchiefs and kings
■ aristocrats and freemen
The Aryans, con’t
■ fond of fighting, drinking, chariot racing,
gambling chasing women and bragging
about their spears
– any modern comparisons ???
■ fond of taking
– a psychedelic drug
– probably psychotropic mushrooms
Aryans and Hindus
■ Aryans give rise to Hindu society
■ but different characteristics
– cows: they ate them
– classes, but no castes
– priests subordinate to the nobility
■ the Mahabharata
The Iron Age: new sources
■ : passed on orally
■ interpretations on the Vedas
■ interpretations and symbolic studies
– forerunners of later dissenting literature
Strain of change
■ Iron Age change causes strain on the
class system
■ blurring of lines between Aryans and
Daas
– answered with the
Caste System, 1000 BC
■ skin color
■ ritual purity
■ “Us--Them” feelings
■ divine order of four castes
Caste System (“Varnas”)
■ : the priests
■ : the warriors
■ : merchants and peasants
■ : non-Aryans
Caste system, con’t
■ produced by Brahmins
■ literature emphasized the divine order
■ hierarchical relationship
■ inheritance and marriage
Caste system in practice
■ warrior class did not always accept it
■ nor the other classes
■ the process of evolution is still going on
■ the most powerful organizer of Indian
society
– thousand of castes today
Castes
■ define a person’s social universe
■ define a person’s standard of conduct
■ define a person’s expectations
■ define a person’s future
■ define how a person deals with others
Books reffered
.
■ A.L. Basham. The Wonder That Was India.
■ Walter A. Fairservis. The Roots of Indian Tradition
■ Jonathana Mark Kenoyer. Ancient Cities of the Indus
Valley Civilization
■ Juan Mascaro, trans. The Upanishads
■ Stuart Piggott. Prehistoric India
■ Romila Thapar. A History of India
■ Romila Thapar. Recent Perspectives of Early Indian
History