ANCIENT INDIA

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ANCIENT INDIA

• The Riddle of the Ancient Indus Valley
  Civilization
• Daily Life 3000-1500 BCE

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Aryan Civilization Daily LifeThe Vedic Epics
Periods 1500-500 BCE

• The Red Dot on Foreheads Have you ever wondered
  why Indian women place a red dot on their
  foreheads, between their eyes? We did, so we
  asked a few people what the red dot meant. Here
  are two replies!

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"This goes back to Aryan days! In ancient times,
a groom used to apply a spot of his blood on his
bride's forehead, in recognition of wedlock!
Today, married Indian women may choose to wear
this mark. A married woman does not have to do
this, but she can if she wants. However, if a
woman is single, divorced or a widow, she can not
wear this mark. It's a sign of marriage!"
(Sudheer Birodkar)
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Time Line
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Indus Valley Civilization

• We know very little about this civilization, but
  what we do know is fascinating! Over 4,000 years
  ago, in the Indus Valley, people built huge,
  planned cities, with straight streets, and brick
  homes with private baths! There was even indoor
  plumbing!!  Kids played with toys and women wore
  lipstick!

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• In 1922, archaeologists found something exciting!
  They found the remains of an ancient city called
  Harappa. They found another city, located 400
  miles southwest of Harappa, called Mohenjo-Daro.
  Other ancient cities from the same period,
  arranged in the same way, have been found since.
  Collectively, this civilization is referred to as
  the Indus Valley Civilization (sometimes, the
  Harappan civilization). This civilization existed
  from about 3000-2,500 BCE to about 1500 BCE,
  which means it existed at about the same time as
  the Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations.

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HARAPPA
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What was it like?

• Homes Houses were one or two stories high, made
  of baked brick, with flat roofs, and were just
  about identical. Each was built around a
  courtyard, with windows overlooking the
  courtyard. The outside walls had no windows. Each
  home had its own private drinking well and its
  own private bathroom. Clay pipes led from the
  bathrooms to sewers located under the streets.
  These sewers drained into nearly rivers and
  streams. This was a very advanced civilization!
• Clothing  Men and women dressed in colorful
  robes. Women wore jewelry of gold and precious
  stone, and even wore lipstick! Among the
  treasures found was a statue of a women wearing a
  bracelet. (Bracelets with similar designs are
  worn today in India.)

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Ancient bathing area
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• Entertainment A beautiful small bronze statue of
  a dancer was found, which tells us that they
  enjoyed dance and had great skill working with
  metals. In the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro,
  scientists have found the remains of a large
  central pool, with steps leading down at both
  ends. This could have been a public swimming
  pool, or perhaps have been used for religious
  ceremonies. Around this large central pool were
  smaller rooms, that might have dressing rooms,
  and smaller pools that might have been private
  baths.
• Food Dinner might have been warm tasty wheat
  bread served with barley or rice. It would appear
  they were very good farmers. They grew barley,
  peas, melons, wheat, and dates. Farms raised
  cotton and kept herds of sheep, pigs, zebus (a
  kind of cow), and water buffalo. Fish were caught
  in the river with fish hooks!  Each town had a
  large central storage building for grain. Crops
  were grown, and the harvest stored centrally, for
  all in the town to enjoy.   

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Ancient jewelry found at the site.
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• Toys  Some of the toys found were small carts,
  whistles shaped like birds, and toy monkeys which
  could slide down a string!
• Art  This ancient civilization must have had
  marvelous craftsmen, skilled in pottery, weaving,
  and metal working. The pottery that has been
  found is of very high quality, with unusually
  beautiful designs. Several small figures of
  animals, such as monkeys, have been found. These
  small figures could be objects of art or toys.
  There are also small statues of what they think
  are female gods. So far, scientists have found no
  large statues. They have found bowls made of
  bronze and silver, and many beads and ornaments.
  The metals used to make these things are not
  found in the Indus Valley. So, either the people
  who lived in this ancient civilization had to
  import all of these items from some other place,
  or more probably, had to import the metals they
  used to make these beautiful things from
  somewhere else.

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Ancient bead pot was found among the ruins
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• Transportation The people used camels, oxen and
  elephants to travel over land. They had carts
  with wooden wheels. They had ships, with one
  mast, probably used to sail around the Arabian
  Sea. Seals with a pictographic script, which has
  not as yet been deciphered, were found at the
  Indus Valley sites. Similar seals were found in
  Mesopotamia, which seems to indicate possible
  trade between these two civilizations.

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• The Riddle of the Indus What does it take to
  build a city with straight streets and well
  designed sewers? It takes smart engineers and a
  lot of planning! These well organized cities
  suggest a well organized government and probably
  a well-developed social life.
• What is amazing is that it appears the Harappan
  cities did not develop slowly, which suggests
  that whoever built these cities learned to do so
  in another place. As the Indus flooded, cities
  were rebuilt on top of each other. Archaeologists
  have discovered several different cities, one
  built over the other, each built a little less
  skillfully. The most skillful was on bottom. It
  would appear that builders grew less able or less
  interested in perfection over time. Still, each
  city is a marvel, and each greatly advanced for
  its time.

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• So far, scientists have found no wall carvings or
  tomb paintings to tell us about their life. We do
  know they had a written language, but only a few
  sentences, on pottery and amulets, have been
  found. We dont know what it says. Scholars have
  quite a few mysteries to solve about the ancient
  Indus civilization.  For one thing, the people
  who lived in these marvelous cities disappeared
  around 1500 BCE. Perhaps they ran out of wood to
  hold back flooding, or perhaps their soil gave
  out and no longer would grow crops. No one knows
  what happened these people, or where they went.
  Historians are very curious. It will be
  interesting to see what archaeologists "dig up"
  next!

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• UPDATE ON THE INDUS VALLEY! Thanks to modern
  technology and international rivalry, nearly
  1,400 Indus sites (towns!) have now been
  discovered. That is a very big civilization,
  large enough to be called an empire, only there
  is no evidence that these people were governed by
  emperors who lived in palaces or large estates.
  Rather, the opposite has been discovered. Some
  homes are a bit larger than others, but that
  might be due to a larger family unit.  

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• These people were incredible builders! Scientists
  have found what they think are giant reservoirs
  for fresh water. They have also found that even
  the smallest house at the edge of each town was
  linked to that town's central drainage system.
  (Is it possible that they not only drained waste
  water out, but also had a system to pump fresh
  water into their homes, similar to modern
  plumbing? What a neat thought! Who were these
  people? Remember-these systems were built over
  3,500 years ago!)

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• Although scientists can not yet read the
  language, they are beginning to believe these
  people had a common language! That's incredible!
  As well, scientists have found artifacts at
  different sites (towns) with the same or similar
  picture of a unicorn on them. India Today
  suggested humorously that perhaps it was a logo -
  like Pepsi and Coke, only this one was Unicorn!

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• What next? Scientists remain very curious about
  these people, who lived about the same time in
  history as the ancient Mesopotamians and the
  ancient Egyptians. Did these ancient
  civilizations know each other in ancient times?
• As scientists continue to unravel the riddle of
  the Indus, we may find we will have to rewrite
  history! Was it the ancient Mesopotamians who
  first invented the sailboat and the wheel, or was
  it perhaps the people in the Indus Valley? Where
  did these people come from, and where did they
  go? It's a fascinating riddle.

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• The Aryans came from Central Asia (modern day
  Russia). They entered the Indus Valley through
  the fabled Khyber pass. The Aryans were nomads.
  They raised livestock, rode chariots, and loved
  to gamble. They had no sophisticated government.
  They grouped in clans, and were ruled by warrior
  chiefs called rajas. Their history is one of
  constant war amongst themselves, between the
  various clans. We have little archaeological
  evidence, but have something else we can use to
  learn about them. The Aryans created marvelous
  stories, stories they told or sang for centuries.

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The VEDAS

• The Aryan beliefs and daily life are described in
  the four Vedas, a collection of poems and sacred
  hymns, composed in about 1500 BCE.  Veda means
  knowledge. The Vedas are composed of the Rig,
  Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. This is why the
  period from roughly 1500 BCE to 1000 BCE is
  called the Vedic Period.  It is named after the
  Vedas.

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• The Ramayana the Mahabharata  Around 1000 BCE,
  the Aryans started to create two marvelous epics.
  We know about daily life during this period from
  these famous epics, the Ramayana and the
  Mahabharata. These epics are stories about Aryans
  life, wars, and accomplishments. School kids in
  India, today, know these stories very well. The
  Ramayana tells a story in which the (good) aryan
  king Rama destroys the (evil) pre-aryan king
  Ravana. The other epic, Mahabharata, talks of
  Aryan wars amongst themselves, where two clans,
  the Pandavas and the Kauravas, battle it out, and
  the Pandavas emerge victorious. This is why the
  period from roughly 1000 BCE to 500 BCE is called
  the Epics Period. It is named after these two
  great epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

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