Early Civilizations of Ancient India

1. Early Civilizations of Ancient India

2. Periods in Pre-Classical India • Ancient Harrapan Civilization • The Vedic Age • The Epic Age

3. Harappa & Mohenjo Daro • A prosperous river valley civilization emerged along the Indus River by 2500 BCE, of which the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro were a part. • Indus River peoples had trading contacts with Mesopotamia, but they developed their own distinctive culture. • Harappan civilization fell around 1500 BCE, and a new civilization arose in India, brought by nomadic Aryan invaders. • It was the Aryans who ushered in India’s formative (pre-classical) period, called the Vedic and Epic ages.

4. The Harappan Civilization 3300 BCE - 2400 BCE

5. Citadel Of Mohenjo-Daro

6. Aerial View of Mohenjo-Daro

7. Wide View, Mohenjo-Daro

8. The Great Bath, Mohenjo-Daro

9. Bath Area, Mohenjo-Daro

10. Well, Mohenjo-Daro

11. Granery, Mohenjo-Daro

12. A Horned-God Seal, Mohenjo-Daro

13. A Priest-King, Mohenjo-Daro

14. Drain, Harappa

15. Bull Figurine, Harappa

16. Elephant Figurine, Harappa

17. Male Skeleton, Harappa

18. Harappan Writing Undecipherable to date.

19. The Vedic Age 1500 BCE-500 BCE

20. Aryan Migration

21. Sanskrit writing

22. The Vedas • 1200 BCE-600 BCE. • written in SANSKRIT. • Hindu core of beliefs: • hymns and poems. • religious prayers. • magical spells. • lists of the gods and goddesses. Rig Veda oldest work.

23. The Caste System Most of what we know about the pre-classical period comes from the Vedas (written in Sanskrit). The Vedic Age takes its name from the Sanskrit word Veda, which means knowledge. The Rig-Veda, the first Aryan epic, attributed the rise of the caste system to the gods (The Aryans brought to India a religion of many gods and goddesses that would form the basis of the Hindu religion. It developed initially as a means of establishing relationships between the Aryan conquerors and the indigenous people, whom the Aryans regarded as inferior.

24. Varna = Aryan Social Classes Brahmins = Priestly class Kshatriyas = Warriors /governing class Vaishyas = traders/farmers Sudras = common laborers Pariahs Untouchables

25. The Caste system • Initially, the Kshatriyas (warriors) ranked highest, but during the Epic Age, the brahmins replaced them, signaling the importance of religion in Indian life. • The basic castes divided into smaller subgroups, called jati, each with distinctive occupations.

26. The epic age 1000 BCE-600 BCE

27. The epic age • The period is named for its literary developments. • India’s greatest epic poem, the Mahabharata, and the Ramayana were written during the Epic Age. • Both of these epics reflect a more settled agricultural society and better-organized political units than the Rig-Veda of the Vedic Age. • The Epic Age also witnessed the creation of the Upanishads, epic poems with a more mystical religious tone.

28. Works cited • Adas, M., Gilbert, M.J., Schwartz, S.B., & Stearns, P.N. (2007). World civilizations: The global experience. (5th ed.). New York: Pearson Education. • Images from Susan M. PojerHorace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY, http://www.pptpalooza.net/.