ancient india presentation
TRANSCRIPT
Ancient
India
Social StructureThe society was divided into separate castes. Castes
were unchanging groups.
Castes:
Brahmin –priests, teachers, and judges
Kshatriya- warriors
Vaisya -farmers and merchants
Sudras- craftworkers and laborers
Untouchables- outcasts, people beyond the caste
system
In beginning of civilization, the ancient Indian government was very simple in structure. A tribe chief was selected, and he chose helpers to look over the
functioning of the society.
The government had three major components in the hierarchy.
The chief head of the three departments was the King.
The government kept
tabs on what people
thought of the
administration by
having a secret group
of spies. The spies
roamed around in the
kingdom in disguise.
There were regular
updates of
population, birth rate,
death rate, etc.
Despite a huge
empire, administration
was controlled and
highly effective in
ancient India.
The caste system restricted people from changing their occupation and aspiring for an upper caste's lifestyle.
In towns and urban centers trade took place with coins but in villages barter was the main system of economic activities.
Products like muslin, calicos, shawls, textiles and handicrafts, pepper, cinnamon, opium and indigo were exported to Europe, Middle East and South East Asia in return for gold and silver.
Most of ancient
India’s
population
believed in
Hinduism.
Besides
Hinduism, other
main religions
during ancient
India were
Buddhism, and
Jainism.
Buddhism
Jainism
The first Indian script, developed in the Indus Valley
around 2600 B.C. Sadly, the Harappan writing is still
undeciphered. We do know that people were using
this writing to mark their property, so other people
couldn't steal it, and to keep track of things. The
writing was in pictographs, like Egyptian hieroglyphs.
The languages of ancient India are usually called Indo-
Aryan. There are multiple
Indo-Aryan or Indic
languages:
Sanskrit-Literary language
Prakrit – Spoken language
Pali - like Prakrit but used for
writing Buddhist texts
Apabhramsa –Spoken
language