South Asian Ancient Sites of Development

Indus River

Ganges River

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

Indo-Gangetic Plains

Evidence

Aerial View

Citadel @ Mohenjo Daro

First Street

Narrow Street

Great Bath

College or Priestly Residence?

http://design-flute.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/stela-egypt.gif

Child’s Toy Cart

Early Bathrooms

Homes

Granaries

Drains

Seals

Harappan Civilization: What we know to be true?

Importance of ReligionPolytheistic, bull /bison important, burial, priestly class

Importance of WaterWell, drainage, baths

AgricultureSurplus, Grains, Cotton

Urban PlanningCitadel, grid-like streets, residential areas, common

areas

Writing SystemUndecipherable

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

Where does the historical record

begin?

The Vedic Age1700BCE – 500BCE

Vedic AgeVedic Age

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

Varna (Social Hierarchy)

ShudrasShudras

VaishyasVaishyas

Kshatriyas Kshatriyas

UntouchablesUntouchables

BrahminsBrahmins

Hindu Creation Story..

Purusha Myth

• creator of the basic elements of the world

• His body formed the castes of Indian Hindu society

How do we know?

Identifying Evidence…

History after 1700History after 1700BCEBCE

• 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 – world’s oldest religion

SanskritSanskrit

44thth Century BCE Century BCE~ Latin, as a basis of ~ Latin, as a basis of modern languagesmodern languages

Recorded after the Vedic Recorded after the Vedic Age!!Age!!

The Vedas date of origin?

(~1700BCE)

Hindu core of beliefs:

hymns and poems.

religious prayers.

magical spells.

lists of the gods and goddesses.

Hindu TextsHindu 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

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

“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

What about the Ramayana?

Frawley's ParadoxFrawley'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.

Competing Theories

From where did the Ganges River Valley people of the Vedic Age originate?What is their relationship to the Harappan People?

Conquerors from outside the Subcontinent

Indigenous people who adapted and reorganized as a result of changing ecological conditions

Aryan invasionEvidenceEvidence• 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 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.

Who were the Indo-Aryan Migrants?

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

Alternate TheoryAlternate 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.

How does alternate theory How does alternate theory address AIT evidenceaddress 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

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

World History, p14

Present Day India

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

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?

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.

What do you think?