Early Societies in South Asia

1
Chapter 4

• Early Societies in South Asia

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INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATIONAND EARLY ARYAN SOCIETY
3
WHERE IS IT?
4
THE GEOGRAPHIC SETTING

• Indian Subcontinent
• To North Impassable Himalayas
• To East Passable low hills
• To Northwest Passable Hindu Kush, Khyber Pass
• To West Arabian Sea
• Northern Plain of Indus, Ganges Rivers
• Southern Deccan
• High plateau, extremely dry
• Bordered on East and West by mountains
• Separated from north by river, low mountains
• The Monsoon Winds
• Off the land October to April Dry Season
• Off the Indian Ocean May to September Wet Season
  

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Harappan Society and Its Neighbors, ca. 2000
B.C.E.
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INDIA OR SOUTH ASIA

• INDIA OR INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT refers to
  pre-partition Indian sub-continent in these
  series of lectures.
• Modern South Asia has seven independent countries
  1) India 2) Pakistan 3) Bangladesh 4) Sri Lanka
  5) Nepal 6) Bhutan 7) Maldives.

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THREE GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS

• The Northern Mountains bounded by Hindu Kush
  mountains in the north west and Himalayas in
  north and north east.
• The Indo-Gangetic Plain which is bifurcated into
  river systems of the Indus and the Ganges.
  Lastly, the peninsular area lying south of
  Vindhyan mountains and Narmada river.

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THE EARLY BEGINNINGS

• Human inhabitation  on the Indian subcontinent
  can be traced back to the Paleolithic  and
  Neolithic periods. The Indus valley civilization
  dated from about 2500 to 1500 BCE is considered
  to be at par with the other civilizations of the
  world e.g Sumer, Eygpt, Mesopotamia and China.

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OTHER CIVILIZATIONS
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THE INDUS RIVERCIVILIZATION
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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)

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HARAPPAN SOCIETY

• The Indus River
• Runs through north India, sources at Hindu Kush,
  Himalayas
• Rich deposits, but less predictable than the Nile
  
• Wheat and barley were cultivated in Indus valley
• Complex society of Dravidians, 3000/2500 B.C.E.
• Harappa and Mohenjo-daro
• Possibly served as twin capitals
• Each city had a fortified citadel and a large
  granary
• Broad streets, market places, temples, public
  buildings
• Standardized weights, measures, architecture,
  bricks
• Specialized labor and trade
• Domestic trade, items inc. pottery, tools, metals
  
• Trading with Mesopotamians about 2300 to 1750
  B.C.E.

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Harappan Civilization
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HARAPPAN SOCIETY/CULTURE

• Social distinctions as seen from living styles
• Religious beliefs strongly emphasized fertility
• Many deities were feminine
• In later Hinduism, Dravidian gods are blue-faced
• Harappan society declined from 2000 B.C.E. onward
  
• Ecological degradation led to a subsistence
  crisis
• Natural catastrophes - floods or earthquakes
• Population began to abandon their cities by about
  1700 B.C.E.
• Almost entirely collapsed by about 1500 B.C.E
• Evidence of warfare, invasion

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Hydraulic Culture

• like Mesopotamia
• agriculture and flood-control
• significant industry and trade
• cities were very common

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Major Cities

• Harappa and Mohenjo-daro
• surrounded by smaller cities, towns, and villages

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INTERIORS OF MOHENJORAO
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GREAT BATH IN MOHENJODARO
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LOTHAL
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HARAPPA
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DHOLAVIRA
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KALIBANGAN
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TOWN PLANNING

• Geometrically designed the towns had
  fortifications (for protection against both
  intruders and floods). The citadal area had
  several distinct quarters, assembly halls,
  granaries and manufacturing units of various
  types  the bigger cities, also, had furnaces for
  the production of copper and bronze tools. While
  the houses were built on the lower level or quite
  far from the citadels.

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Mohenjo-daro
view of the Citadel
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TOWN PLANNING

• The towns had public baths (probably often part
  of the temples), private baths were found in most
  of the houses, sewerages were connected through
  underground drains. There was an efficient water
  management with numerous reservoirs and wells.
  The streets were built on grid pattern and cut
  each other on the right sides.

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TOWN PLANNING

• Mohenjo-daro, for instance, had over 700 wells,
  some of them fifteen metres deep, built with
  special trapezoid bricks (to prevent collapse by
  the pressure of the surrounding soil), and
  maintained for several centuries. Dholavira had
  separate drains to collect rain water and six or
  seven dams built across the nearby rivers.

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TOWN PLANNING

• The houses were almost always built with mud
  bricks (sometimes fired in kilns), which followed
  a standard ratio of 4 2 1, though the actual
  sizes varied  bricks for houses, for instance,
  might be 28 x 14 x 7 cm, while for fortification
  walls they could be 36 x 18 x 9 cm or even
  bigger.

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TOWN PLANNING

• Walls were seventy centimetres thick, and many
  houses two storeys high. A few houses, perhaps
  those of rulers or wealthy traders, were
  particularly large, with up to seven rooms, but
  they were found right next to a craftsmans
  modest house.

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LAYOUT OF THE CITY OF LOTHAL.

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WORKING PLATFORMS AT HARAPPA
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THE STREETS OF HARAPPA
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SIDE LANES OF HARAPPA
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THE WELL IN THE CITY OF HARAPPA.
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ACROPOLIS (LOTHAL).
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THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM (IN HARAPPA).
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REMAINS OF LOWER TOWN EXCAVATED IN LOTHAL.
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REMAINS OF WALL IN THE CITY OF LOTHAL.
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KITCHEN REMAINS FROM THE CITY OF LOTHAL.
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GRANARY IN HARAPPA
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SPECIAL STRUCTURES GREAT BATH IN MOHENJODARO
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SPECIAL STRUCTURES DOCKYARD IN LOTHAL
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Cities

• very densely populated
• houses two to three stories
• every house is laid out the same

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Culture and Society

• advanced agriculture
• surplus production
• textiles wool and cotton
• domesticated animals and fish

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AGRICULTURE

• The people of Indus valley prospered on the
  foundations of agriculture based system of
  irrigation and fertility which was maintained by
  the silt bearing floods (Indus River). They
  cultivated wheat, six rowed field of barley,
  melon seeds, oil crops like sesame, mustard,
  dates, and peas.

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AGRICULTURE

• The earliest traces of dyed cotton known anywhere
  in the world was found in the valley (the other
  example is from Jordan around 3000 BCE). Indus
  valley people cultivated rice (evidence from
  irrigated fields of Kalibangan, Rajasthan).

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ARTS AND INDUSTRIES

• The Harappans were also expert craftsmen. They
  made beads of carnelian, agate, amethyst,
  turquoise, lapis lazuli, etc. they manufactured
  bangles out of shells, glazed faience and
  terracotta  they carved ivory and worked shells
  into ornaments, bowls and ladles. They weilded
  bronze and copper for weapons, tools, domestic
  objects and statues.

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ARTS AND INDUSTRIES

• They also worked with silver and gold with great
  skill, specially for ornaments. Of course, they
  baked pottery in large quantities to the delight
  of archaeologists, since the different shapes,
  styles, and painted motifs are among the best
  guides in the evolution of any civilization.

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ARTS AND INDUSTRIES

• Harappans excelled at stone-carving, complex
  weaving and carpet-making, inlaid woodwork and
  decorative architecture. And, of course, they
  engraved with remarkable artistry their famous
  seals, mostly in steatite (or soapstone)  those
  seals, over 3,000 of which have been found, seem
  to have served various purposes  some
  commercial, to identify consignments to be
  shipped, and some for ritual or spiritual
  purposes to invoke the deities, maybe.

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ARTS AND INDUSTRIES

• This statute continues to be worshipped as a
  goddess and later on came to be known as consort
  of the god of the dance the natraja.

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ORNAMENTS

• The variety of ornaments made of silver, bronze
  and bone have been found on the site of the Indus
  Valley

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NECKLACE

• A necklace made of beads and bamboo sticks.

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BANGLES

• Bangles made of bone,copper and bronze found on
  different sites.

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BRACELET

• A beaded bracelet (modern looking ornament).

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POTS

• The terracotta pots found inside the graves.

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POTS
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WHISTLES

• Bone whistles.

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FACE MASK

• Made of terracotta.

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OTHER ARTS

• Dancing, painting, sculpture, and music (there is
  evidence of drums and of stringed instruments)
  were all part of their culture. Possibly drama
  and puppet shows too, judging from a number of
  masks. Statues found are not abundant, but are
  very refined, whether in stone, bronze or
  terracotta. An ancestor of the game of chess has
  been unearthed at Lothal, as well.

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DECIMAL SYSTEM

• The Harappans were the first to use the decimal
  system for measurement. Their town-planning,
  which makes much use of geometry, partly relied
  on this decimal system. The analysis of Harappan
  weights and measures also point to the use of
  decimal system because their ratios corresponds
  to 0.5,0.1,1,2,3 and so on and goes up to 500.

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SOME SPECIMENS
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TRADING LINKS

• The Harappans had a flourishing overseas trade
  with Oman, Bahrain, and Sumer  exchanges with
  the Sumerians went on for at least several
  centuries, and merchant colonies were established
  in Bahrain and the Euphrates-Tigris valley. These
  trading links shows their high skills in
  ship-making and sailing.

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TRADING LINKS

• Several representations of ships have been found
  on seals, while many massive stone anchors have
  come up at Lothal and other sites of Saurashtra,
  Gujarat. For navigation, compasses carved out of
  conch shells appear to have been used to measure
  angles between the stars.

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TRADING LINKS

• A voyage from Lothal to Mesopotamia to sell the
  prized Harappan carnelian beads, which the kings
  and queens of Ur were so fond of, meant at least
  2,500 kilometres of seafaring  of course there
  would have been halts along the shore on the way,
  but still, some 4,000 years ago this must have
  ranked among the best sailing abilities.

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SEALS

• Most distinct feature of the Indus valley
  civilization are the terracotta seals (burnt),
  used for trading. Maybe, they were used as
  documents or sale transactions.

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SEALS

• Different seals found in the excavated sites of
  Harappa.

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SEALS

• Engraved seals (most of the historians think that
  these are the business deals or administrative
  directives).

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SEALS

• Engraved seal found in Mohenjodaro.

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INDUS SCRIPT

• Indus script comes to us in the form of short
  inscriptions (4,000 in all) each about five
  characters on average). These are found mainly on
  stamp seals of various materials, seal
  impressions on clay, pottery, moulds, copper
  plates, scrawls on metal artefacts and pottery.
  The writing is usually from right to left, though
  second line sometimes run from left to right. It
  is a logo-syllabic

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INDUS SCRIPT

• script, very similar to Proto-Elamite script of
  southwestern Iran.
• The script has not been deciphered as yet, but
  the language seems to be official the one
  universally in use among the Indus ruling class,
  merchants and priests. From certain indications
  within the script such as frequent fish sign,
  it seems to belong to the family of Dravidian
  languages.

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STATE, SOCIETY AND RELIGION

• The town planning, maintenance of drainage
  system, granaries, uniformity of weights and
  measures and the script shows a remarkable
  administrative control over the large population
  in the rural as well as the urban areas. An Indus
  Empire could have been created but unfortunately,
  hardly anything can be said about the nature of
  the state because of lack of written evidence.

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PRIEST KING?

• The only surviving stone image of priest or a
  ruler?

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SOCIETY AND RELIGION

• Harappan society was highly differentiated
  houses, servant quarters, citadels, seal
  impressions etc.
• They worshipped natural forces like the trees
  (pipal tree found engraved on the seals), humped
  bull, mother goddesses and most probably, were
  ruled by a king priest.
• The evidence found on the burial sites suggests
  that they buried their dead with their belongings
  (their graves remained very sparse and basic in
  comparison to the Egyptians).

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MALE GRAVE NOT BURIED WITH HIS BELONGINGS
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FEMALE GRAVE SHE IS BURIED WITH HER INFANT AND
OTHER BELONGINGS
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BURIAL GROUND IN HARAPPA
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Decline in Harrappan Society
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Mysterious End of Harappan Civilization

• Reasons for disappearance unclear
• Excessive deforestation, loss of topsoil
• Earthquakes?
• Flooding?
• Evidence of unburied dead
• Disappearance by 1500 B.C.E.
• Harappan traditions survived agricultural
  practices, religious beliefs, and urban
  traditions

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DECLINE OR DISAPPEANCE?

• POSSIBLEFACTORS
• ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES FLOODS, DRAUGHTS AND
  DEFORESTATION
• MIGRATION TO GREENER PASTURES TOWARDS GANGETIC
  PLAINS
• OR ARYAN INVASION?

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INDO-EUROPEANS ARYANS

• Indo-Europeans
• Linguistic similarities among Europe, Persia, and
  India
• Indo-European family of languages
• Indo-Iranian including Aryans (India),
  Medes/Persians (SW Asia)
• Greek, Balto-Slavic, Germanic, Italic, Celtic
• Tocarian, possibly Shang of China
• Migrations as the key to explain linguistic
  similarities
• Indo-European origins
• North of Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Aral Sea
  Ukraine, Southern Russia
• Common origins established through key
  vocabulary, traditions, myths
• Indo-European migrations
• To Tarim Basin, fourth millennium B.C.E.
• Shang of China appear to have been Indo-Europeans
  
• To Anatolia (the Hittites), 3000 B.C.E.
• By 2nd millennium, established communities in
  Europe
• Around 1500 BCE, domesticated horse amongst
  Indo-Europeans
• Often called the Chariot Peoples introduced iron
  and horse technologies

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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

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Possible route of the Aryan invasions
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The Aryans

• not to be confused with Hitlers Aryans
• these Aryans speak an Indo-European dialect
• related to other languages like Greek and Latin

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The Aryans, cont

• they called themselves Aryans
• their land Aryavarta
• land of the Aryans

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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

85
ARYANS IN INDIA

• The early Aryans
• Depended heavily on a pastoral economy
• No writing system, but orally transmitted works
  called the Vedas
• Sacred language (Sanskrit) and daily-use language
  (Prakit)
• The Vedic Age 1500 to 500 B.C.E.
• A boisterous period, conflict with indigenous
  peoples
• Indra, the Aryans' war god and military hero
• Aryan migrations in India
• First settled in the Punjab, the upper Indus
  River valley
• Spread east and south from their base
• After 1000 B.C.E. settled between Himalayan
  foothills and Ganges
• Used iron tools and developed agriculture
• By 500 B.C.E. migrated as far south as the
  northern Deccan
• Lost tribal organizations but established
  regional kingdoms

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The Vedic Age

• Conflicts between Aryans and indigenous dasas
  (enemies, subjects)
• Aryans fighting Dravidians
• Also Aryans fighting each other
• Chiefdoms rajas
• Early concentration in Punjab, migrations further
  south
• Development of iron metallurgy
• Increasing reliance on agriculture
• Tribal connections evolve into political
  structures

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Krishna with Arjuna on the battlefield of
Kuruksketra
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Krishna reveals himself to Arjuna in his manifold
aspects
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The Vedas

• oral poetry
• come to have a sacred character
• provide some historical information

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Caste System, 1000 BC

• skin color
• ritual purity
• divine order of four castes

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THE CASTE SYSTEM

• Caste and varna
• Caste
• Hereditary, unchangeable social classes
• Sanskrit word varna, "color," referring to social
  classes
• Social distinctions based on racial skin colors
• Social distinctions in the late Vedic Age
• Four main varnas, recognized after 1000 B.C.E.
• brahmins (priests)
• kshatriyas (warriors and aristocrats rulers)
• vaishyas (cultivators, artisans, and merchants)
• shudras (landless peasants and serfs)
• Later, the category of the pariah (untouchables)
  was added
• Subcaste or jati
• Represents more elaborate social classification,
  developed after 6th c. B.C.E.
• Jati, or subcastes, were determined by
  occupations
• The elaborate rules of jati life
• Caste and social mobility
• Caste system was capable of accommodating social
  change

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RISE OF PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY

• Patriarchal, Patrilineal society
• Original Aryan Society women had rights, some
  were chiefs
• Changes occurred with change to sedentary
  civilization
• Men served as priests, warriors, and tribal
  chiefs
• Family lines based on male descendants (the
  patriline)
• Only males could inherit property
• Men learned the Vedas and received formal
  education
• Source The Lawbook of Manu
• Prepared by an anonymous sage, 1st century B.C.E.
  
• Dealt with moral behavior and social
  relationships
• Advised men to treat women with honor and respect
  
• Subjected women to the control and guidance of
  men
• Women's duties bear children, maintain the
  household
• Sati as a social custom

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ARYAN RELIGION

• The Aryan gods
• The war god, Indra
• The gods of the sun, sky, moon, fire, health,
  etc.
• The god Varuna - an ethical concern
• Ritual sacrifices
• Importance of ritual sacrifices
• Horse sacrifice originally
• Priests were specialists of the ritual sacrifices
  
• Ritual sacrifices for rewards from the divine
  power
• Spirituality
• Many Aryans dissatisfied with ritual sacrifices
  in late Vedic age
• A shift to spiritual contemplation
• Thoughtful individuals retreated to forests as
  hermits
• Dravidian notions were coopted
• Transmigration of soul
• Reincarnation (nirvana)

94
THE RISE OF HINDUISM

• The Upanishads
• Works of religious teachings, 800 to 400 B.C.E.
• The religious forums dialogues between disciples
  and sages
• Brahman the universal soul
• Brahman was the only genuine reality
• Highest goal to escape reincarnation and join
  with Brahman
• Atman The individual self-soul that is part of
  Brahman
• Teachings of the Upanishads
• Samsara An individual soul was born many times
• Dharma Caste duties
• Karma specific incarnations that a soul
  experienced
• Moksha permanent liberation from physical
  incarnation
• Religion and Vedic Society
• Samsara and karma reinforced social hierarchy
• Upanishads were also spiritual and intellectual
  contemplations
• Taught to observe high ethical standards
• Respect for all living things, a vegetarian diet