South Asian Ancient Sites of Development

1
South Asian Ancient Sites of Development

• Indus River
• Ganges River

2
(No Transcript)
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 _at_ Mohenjo Daro
8
First Street
9

• Narrow Street

10
Great Bath
11
College or Priestly Residence?
12
(No Transcript)
13
(No Transcript)
14
Childs Toy Cart
15
(No Transcript)
16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
Early Bathrooms
19
Homes
20
Granaries
21
Drains
22
(No Transcript)
23
Seals
24
(No Transcript)
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 varna subdivided (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 Vedic Period 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 worlds 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 ones duty badly than in
  doing another mans 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
Aryan invasion

• 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.

42
Who were the Indo-Aryan Migrants?
43
(No Transcript)
44
(No Transcript)
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.

47
(No Transcript)
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
51
Controversies Implications of AIT

• It artificially divides India into a northern
  Aryan - Indo-European - and southern Dravidian
  culture which were made hostile to each other by
  various interested parties
• AIT created and introduced to India as a product
  of 19th Century European Nationalism as a
  justification and tool of Colonization

52
A new Chronology???

• 7000-4000 BC Vedic Age
• 3750 BC End of Rig Vedic Age
• 3000 BC End of Ramayana - Mahabharata
  Period
• 3000-2000 BC Indus Civilization develops
• 2200-1900 BC Decline of Indus Civilization
• 2000-1500 BC Period of chaos and migration
• 1400 - 250 BC Period of evolution of syncretic
  Hindu culture
• How would these dates change our understanding of
  World History in its entirety?

53
What do you think?

• Should textbooks be changed?
• How should this be taught?

Mission Advise Prentice Hall as to the most
appropriate way to teach the development of
Ancient History in the Indian Subcontinent.
54
What do you think?