South Asian Ancient Sites of Development

1. South Asian Ancient Sites of Development Indus River Ganges River

3. Discovery • British Engineers in 1830s used Harappan bricks for railway line • 1912 J. Fleet discovered Harappan seals • 1921-1922 discovery of Harappa by Sir John Marshall • 1940s Sir Mortimer Wheeler excavated Mohenjo Daro

4. Indo-Gangetic Plains

5. Evidence

6. Aerial View

7. Citadel @ Mohenjo Daro

8. First Street

9. Narrow Street

10. Great Bath

11. College or Priestly Residence?

14. Child’s Toy Cart

18. Early Bathrooms

19. Homes

20. Granaries

21. Drains

23. Seals

25. Harappan Civilization: What we know to be true? Importance of Religion Polytheistic, bull /bison important, burial, priestly class Importance of Water Well, drainage, baths Agriculture Surplus, Grains, Cotton Urban Planning Citadel, grid-like streets, residential areas, common areas Writing System Undecipherable

26. Harappan Civilization: What we speculate about or assume to be true? • Government must have been complex (autocratic or democratic?) • Water has religious significance – purity • Cattle/Bull has religious significance • Priestly class (social classes as evidenced by different home size) • Thriving merchant class (contact with Sumer) Grains, cotton, dyes • Highly urban – 4x size of Sumerian cities • Not as innovative as Sumer

27. Where does the historical record begin? The Vedic Age 1700BCE – 500BCE

28. Vedic Age

29. The Vedic Age • Political Development • Raja: tribal Chief • Jana: individual, tribal kinship units • Evolved into geographical region of control • Jana-rajyapadas: national kingdoms • Rigid social class structure • 4 main levels, or varna • Caste System: varnasubdivided (jati) into inflexible ranking system

30. Varna (Social Hierarchy) Brahmins Kshatriyas Vaishyas Shudras Untouchables

31. Hindu Creation Story.. Purusha Myth • creator of the basic elements of the world • His body formed the castes of Indian Hindu society

32. How do we know? Identifying Evidence…

33. History after 1700BCE • Rig VedicPeriod 1700-1000 BCE (approx) • Rig Veda – religious poems passed down orally by priestly class (Classical Sanskrit) • Pastoral nomadic people? • Overtime, settled Ganges River Valley • Jana-Rajyapadas – numerous rajas • Later Vedic Period 1000-500 BCE • Brahman (priestly class) dominance • Epic Age (numerous religious texts) • Hindu Roots – world’s oldest religion

34. Sanskrit4th Century BCE~ Latin, as a basis of modern languagesRecorded after the Vedic Age!!

35. The Vedas • date of origin? (~1700BCE) • Hindu core of beliefs: • hymns and poems. • religious prayers. • magical spells. • lists of the gods and goddesses.

36. Hindu Texts • 4 Vedas (Rig Veda – the oldest) • Upanishads • 800-400BCE • basic doctrine of Hinduism (Brahman, Karma, atman) • Puranas – Pantheon of Gods(Henoistic- Brahma) • Epics • Mahabharata(Bhagavad-Gita) • Ramayana

37. What insights into Aryan culture does this quote from the Mahabharata offer? “The warrior, he says, has a duty to fulfill. No matter what, he must fulfill his duty: For there is more joy in doing one’s duty badly than in doing another man’s duty well.” Mahabharata

38. What about the Ramayana? “First, when war is no more, a ruler should lay aside his weapons and forget former grudges. Second, when fearless warrior falls-even an enemy-it is proper to give that hero all due honor. Third, when even one citizen suffers, a compassionate king offers comfort. And fourth, when a monarch serves justice, he must not hesitate, even when dealing with a difficult situation.” Ramayana

39. Frawley's Paradox The Harappan people of the Indus Valley have left profuse archaeological records over a vast region, must have supported over 30 million people, and believed to have at one time lived an advanced civilization. …Yet, these people have left absolutely no literary records. The Vedic people of the Ganges and their successors on the other hand have left us a literature that is probably the largest and most profound in the world. … But,there is absolutely no archaeological record that they ever existed, either on the Indian soil or outside its boundaries.

40. Competing Theories • From where did the Ganges River Valley people of the Vedic Age originate? • What is their relationship to the Harappan People? Indigenous people who adapted and reorganized as a result of changing ecological conditions Conquerors from outside the Subcontinent

41. Evidence Vedic Literature refers to “Aryan People” Shared linguistic roots with other Indo-European Pastoral, nomadic and war-like people Eastward Movement Oral Vedic traditions form the root of Hindu beliefs Hypothesis Black Sea Origins Movement into subcontinent caused chaos and a reorganization of society Caste emerged from differences between invaders and indigenous people The roots of Hinduism, Caste and modern Indian culture emerged as an outgrowth of Aryan Movement into Subcontinent in ~1500BCE. Aryan invasion

42. Who were the Indo-Aryan Migrants?

45. objections to AIT Why did people start to Question this long-held theory • No Vedic references to… • history outside India, or invasion/massacre • Geographic Evidence • Saraswati River,often in Vedic literature, was also the site of Harappan cities • Evidence of horse remains exist at Harappa • Some argue that later Harappan script does have ties to Sanskrit • No such thing as an ‘Aryan Race’ • Arya defined good-natured, righteous person

46. Alternate Theory • The so-called Aryans were the original habitants of the townships along the Indus, Saraswati and other rivers of the vast northern region of the Indian subcontinent. • No invasion by nomadic hordes from outside India ever occurred and the civilization was not destroyed, but the population simply moved to other areas, and developed a new syncretic civilization and culture by mutual interaction and exchange of ideas.

48. How does alternate theory address AIT evidence • Saraswati river did dry up – natural disaster • Forced movement east and west • Indian influences diffuse into Iranian Plateau • Persian and Indian similarities in religion • Movement westward, not invasion into India, explain Indo European linguistic connections

49. Continued Understandings… • Indo -Gangetic Plain Origins • People of the Northern Plain are the foundation of Indian Culture, Hinduism & Caste • Natural Disasters ended “Harappan Period” • After the Harappan decline, chaos ensued • After about 1700BCE, the creation of a new civilization began, which would serve as the most direct contribution to modern India

50. So What? World History, p14 Present Day India