India’s First Civilizations

1. India’s First Civilizations Chapter 4-1 Page 239

2. Geography of India • Subcontinent – part of a continent that is separated from the rest of a continent • India • Himalaya – highest mountain range in the world, separates the Indian subcontinent from the rest of Asia

4. Himalaya, Tibetan Plateau

5. Mount Everest

6. Best place for civilizations ***Ganges River Valley ***Indus River Valley • Two river valleys fed from the melted snow of the Himalaya

7. Indus River

8. Deccan Plateau – Dry hilly plains south of the river valleys

10. Monsoons – strong wind • Winter monsoons: cold, dry air from the mountains • Summer monsoons: warm, wet air from the Arabian Sea and provides drenching rains ***Monsoon rains help the farmers

12. India’s first civilization • Began near the Indus River • 3000-1500 B.C. • Harappan civilization • The cities Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro helped scientists learn about India

14. The city of: Harappan • Large, about 35,000 people • Walls, fortresses • Wide streets, narrow lanes • Mud brick houses, courtyard in the middle • Wells • Drains, indoor bathrooms! • Garbage chutes • Granaries to store grain

16. Harappan society • Writing not decoded • Royal palace, temple • Farmers • Traded with Mesopotamians • Harappan city ruined by earthquake and floods ***Aryans settled on the land • They came from central Asia and raised and herded animals • Good warriors, horse riders and hunters

17. Cattle: prized possessions to the Aryans • What did they use cattle for? • Used as money • Meat • Milk • Butter • Wealth measured by how many cows a person owned

18. A cow free to roam the street.

19. Aryans make changes ***Improved farming • Invented the plow ***Brought the language of Sanskrit to India • Organized into tribes • Tribes led by a Raja (prince) ***Created the caste system (a social group that someone is born into and cannot leave)

22. Caste System Rules/Guidelines • Your social level in society • Dictates a person’s job • Dictates marriage • Dictates friends • Possibly started based on skin color • Thousands grouped together into four levels

23. Why was the caste system developed? • Aryans thought they were better • Color of skin • People in India outnumbered them • Kept groups separate • Set rules for behavior • Helped Aryans maintain control

24. Varnas - Classes • Brahmans – priests • Kshatriyas – warriors, rulers • Vaisyas – common people • Merchants, farmers • Sudras – unskilled workers, servants • Not Aryans, Indians • Had few rights

25. Rulers

26. Not even a varna… • Pariah – Untouchables ***Performed work other Indians would not do Examples: - Collecting trash - Handling dead bodies - No one wanted to come near a Pariah

28. Photograph by William Albert Allard • "Her fate scripted by Hindu law, an Untouchable girl can imagine little else than working along the Yamuna River in Delhi as a Dhobi. Members of this clothes-washing caste handle items 'polluted' by blood or human waste." • —From "India's Untouchables," June 2003, National Geographic magazine

29. Families • Family the center of life • Oldest male head of house • Guru – teacher for boys in top Varnas • Girls educated at home • Arranged marriages • Suttee – practice where wife leaped into the cremation flames of her dead husband

31. Mumbai

32. Taj Mahal