Indus River Valley: 2500 BC

 The culture Harappa (named after the city Harappa) existed along the Indus River in what is present day Pakistan.  It flourished for 1,000 years then vanished without a trace until this century.

River Valley Life: The Positives Many Natural Resources

 Fresh water / Timber (Himalayans)  Cedar / Timber (in Valleys)  Gold, silver, semi-precious stones.

 Marine resources: Coastal settlements were involved in fishing and trading, using the monsoon winds to travel to Oman and the Persian Gulf region.

River Valley Life: The Negatives The Great Monsoon Balance

 Monsoons shaped Indian life.  If the monsoon was late, devastation occurred (famine, starvation)  If the monsoon was too heavy, rushing rivers would flood

Twin Capital Cities: Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa

 URBAN PLANNING: Well-known for impressive, organized layout. They were part of a unified government with extreme organization.

 INDOOR PLUMBING: Well laid out plumbing / drainage system, including indoor toilets.

Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa

Economy-Trade

 The civilization was mainly urban and mercantile.  Indus valley traded w/ Mesopotamia, S. India, Afghanistan, and Persia for gold, silver, copper, and turquoise.  Mesopotamia model of irrigated agriculture used along Indus River.

Other Civilization Uniqueness:

 Egalitarian (classless) / equitable distribution of wealth => socialism?

 First vaccination of smallpox  Cultivate cotton for production of cloth  Originated the concept of zero and decimal system of numbers

Harappan Astronomers?

 Language translation not complete, but indications they understood astronomy  Straight streets of the Indus cities are oriented towards cardinal directions.  The Vedic calendar created about the time the Indus civilization flourished.

Language

 Indus people used pictographic script  Script often contain realistic pictures of animals worshipped as sacred  This material is important to the investigation of the Harappan language and religion  Undeciphered writing system:

Comparing First Writing:

Four Theories of Collapse

 Archaeologists offer 4 explanations:  Three are based on ecological factors: intense flooding, decrease in precipitation, and desertification of the Sarasvati River.  The fourth hypothesis is that of the Aryan Invasion

Possible route of the Aryans

The Aryan “Invasion”

 Invaders from North  Restless, warlike people  Tall, blue-eyed, fair-skinned  Difficulty of theory: no evidence of large-scale military conquest. They just co-existed.

The Aryan “Invasion”, cont.

 Settled over a long period of time  More primitive than the earlier culture  New society by 1,200 B.C. or so  Little evidence  Not literate  No record system

The Early Aryans

 Pastoral economy: sheep, goats, horses, cattle  Religious and Literary work:  Four Vedas – songs  1,028 hymns / prayers to gods  Foundation for which religion?

The Caste System

 The Vedas: Our primary source of info about Aryans explained their caste system: 

Brahmins

: the priests 

Kshatriyas

: the warriors 

Vaisyas

: merchants and peasants  Untouchables

Stone Age Mature Harappan

History of South Asia

before 10000 BC Late Harappan + Aryans 2600 –1700 BC 1700 –1300 BC Iron Age Maurya Empire Middle Kingdoms Satavahana Gupta Empire Islamic Sultanates Mughal Empire Sikh Confederacy British India Modern States 1200 –300 BC • 321–184 BC 230 BC –1279 AD • 230 BC–220 BC • 280–550 AD 1206 –1596 1526 –1707 1716-1849 1858 –1947 since 1947

Arthur A. McDonnell once wrote, “Early India wrote no history because it never made any. The ancient Indians never went through a struggle for life like the Greeks, the Persians and the Romans. Secondly, the Brahmans early embraced the doctrine that all action and existence are a positive evil and could therefore have felt but little inclination to chronicle historical events.”