Ancient India

Ancient IndiaThe Empire SpiritReported by: Jaymie A. Lopez

INDIAThe Indian subcontinent is a large peninsulaIt is surrounded by the Arabian sea, Indian oceanBay of BengalIn the north, the Himalayan Mountain separates India from the rest of Asia

THREE MAJOR REGIONSTHREE GREAT RIVERS1. Northern Plain1. Indus2. Deccan Plateau2. Ganges3. Coastal Plain3. Brahmaputra

The Northern Plain became the home of the first Indian CivilizationVindhaya mountains - separate the plateau from the northern plainMonsoon - a seasonal wind system from June until September- the chief feature of the Indian climateINDIAN GOD: Shiva(creator and Detroyer, God of harvest,of the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth and also primal yogi)

WHATISCIVILIZATION?

Derived from a latin word civitas CityMens are no longer farmers 4

THE INDUS CIVILIZATION

LONGEST AND CONTINUES EXISTENCE5

Indus Valley Civilizationwas aBronze Agecivilization(33001300 BCE; mature period 26001900 BCE)The greater Indus region was home to the largest of thefour ancient urban civilizations. It was not discovered until the 1920's.Indus valley lacks any monumental temples or palaces, even though excavated cities indicate that the society possessed the requisite engineering knowledge.

Indus Valley CivilizationHad a close relationship to the river and its tributaries, a situation very like that in Sumer and in Egypt.The indus is an exotic river that is one that originates in a well-watered area.

S TIGRIS EUPHRATESE - NILE7

ORIGINS OF CIVILIZATION IN INDIA

LONGEST AND CONTINUES EXISTENCE8

AGRICULTUREAgriculture had evolved much earlier than the emergence of Indian Civilization, probably in a number of widely separated places where the development was independent including tropical southeast Asia, Africa and by the first millennium Central and South America.Agriculture is dependent on irrigation.

TROPICAL SOUTHEAST ASIA eastern turkey Syria and northern iraq9

Indus ScriptInscriptions on Indus seals give details about animals sacrificed and nature of ceremony.

Some ceremonies were performed for obtaining remission of sins and others were for pleasing the souls of dead ancestors. (Pithru Karma ceremony)

Indus ScriptIndus script had remained deciphered for a long time. There are many decipherments of Indus seal inscriptions, some are based on Dravidian language and others are based on Aryan language. But, none of the decipherer is able to prove anything convincingly because there is no reference point.Indus seals were tokens of evidence prepared to show the god of death that blood sacrifice had been made so that the dead mans soul can pass through the trial and accepted in heaven, which is similar to the religious ideas of ancient Egypt.

Seals

Objects from India have been found in Sumer and Sumerian objects in India.Used primarily to mark property or goods for trade.

Artifacts

ArtifactsDancing Girl

Abronzestatuette dubbed the "Dancing Girl", 10.5 centimetres (4.1in) highand some 4,500 years old, was found in 'HR area' of Mohenjo-daro in 1926.

ArtifactsPriest King

In 1927, a seated malesoapstonefigure was found in a building with unusually ornamental brickwork and a wall-niche. Though there is no evidence thatpriestsormonarchsruled Mohenjo-daro, archeologists dubbed this dignified figure a "Priest-King..

ArtifactsSeven-stranded Mohenjo-daro necklace

The necklace has an S-shaped clasp with seven strands, each over 4ft long, of bronze-metal bead-like nuggets connecting each arm of the S in filigree. Each bead is less than the size of a pepper-seed and has many facets. Each strand has between 220 to 230 nuggets and there are about 1600 nuggets in total. The necklace weighs about 250 grams. It is presently in a private collection in India, possibly in Shimla.

CHIEF URBAN CENTERS

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this civilization was the planned layout of its cities, including wells. PIPED WATER SUPPLY, bathrooms, and waste pipes or drains in nearly every house.19

KALIBANGANHARAPPAMOHENJODARO

Kalibangan is the third excavated city of Harappan sites and the earliest town destroyed by earthquake. Excavated between 1960-61 and 1968-69, this ancient city of Indus valley civilisation is located on the bank of the dry bed of the Ghaggar.

THE CITIES OF THE INDUS CIVILIZATION, WAS REMARKABLE BCAUSE OF ITS PLANNED LAY-OUT.

The Ghaggar-Hakra River is an intermittent river in India and Pakistan that flows only during the monsoon season.20

HarappaOne of the most fascinating yet mysterious cultures of the ancient world.Harappa and the city of Mohenjo-Daro were the greatest achievements of the Indus valley civilization.The Harappan people were literate and used the Dravidian language.was mainly urban and mercantile.This civilization was the first to cultivate cotton for the production of cloth.

HarappaThis is one of the only sites where an entire sequence has been recovered that spans the history of Indus cities.

Harappan Civilization

The Harappan civilization experienced its height around 2500 BC and began to decline about 2000 BC. The causes of its downfall are not certain. One theory suggests that theAryan people migrated into this area. Aryan religious texts and human remains in Mohenjo-Daro suggest that the Aryans may have violently entered the area, killing its inhabitants and burning the cities.

The Harappan civilization had an elaborate sanitary and drainage system.The Authorities maintained a highly efficient drainage system. Each and every house had a connection with the main drain. These even had inspection holes for maintenance. The conduits to the main drains running through the middle of the streets below pavement level and covered with flat stones and sturdy tile bricks.

The covered drain was connected to the larger sewerage outlets which finally led the dirty water outside the populated areas. The urban plan found in these cities included the world's first urban sanitation systems. The elaborate brick-lined drainage system for the removal of rainwater is of unparalleled engineering skill.

Drainage System

The Pipal Tree was used as a religious symbol.They worshipped Pasupathi (Siva) and Mother Goddess. Mother Goddess represented fertility. There are no temple structures among the remains. The Indus people believed in life after death. They buried their dead in huge earthen pots along with food and ornaments. The articles used by them in then daily life were also kept in those pots.

The Pipal Tree

Mohenjo-Darowas abandoned in the 19th century BCE, and was not rediscovered until 1922.Baked bricks buildings provide an impressive vista of urban architecture, drains and wells, the ancient mounds of Harappa are characterized by imposing erosion gullies, piles of brick rubble and fragmentary walls.simply meansMound of the DeadinSindhi

Mohenjo-DaroMost were built of fired and mortaredbrick; some incorporated sun-driedmud-brickand wooden superstructures.Mohenjo-daro has aplanned layoutbased on a street grid ofrectilinearbuildings.The city is divided into two parts, the so-called Citadel and the Lower City

Citadel:a mud-brick mound around 12 metres (39ft) high is known to have supported public baths, a large residential structure designed to house about 5,000 citizens, and two large assembly halls. The city had a central marketplace, with a large central well. Individual households or groups of households obtained their water from smaller wells. Waste water was channeled to covered drains that lined the major streets. Some houses, presumably those of wealthier inhabitants, include rooms that appear to have been set aside for bathing, and one building had an underground furnace (known as ahypocaust), possibly for heated bathing. Most houses had inner courtyards, with doors that opened onto side-lanes. Some buildings had two stories

Citadel

Citadel

Lower City

VEDIC AGEThe vedas and epics are concerned with romantic adventure involving Gods and Demons or with philosophical and religious matters rather than with accounts of daily life.The Chinese acknowledge India as the home of the most advanced knowledge and practice of medicine; of mathematics; including the numbering system we still use. (incorrectly called Arabic- the arabs got it from india and of Iron and steel metalworking

38

STEEL METALWORKING was transmitted to the west through Arabs as DAMASCUS or TOLEDO.MEDICINE Indian medicine is known as AYURVEDA (Ayur LONGEVITY; Veda KNOWLEDGE)

LONGEVITY - LIFE EXPECTANCY39

DECLINE AND FALL

Toward the end of the third millennium BCE, The indus civilization began to decay.There are evidence of violence at some cities and unburied or headless corpses,, victims perhaps bandit raids now that the cities were so largely defenseless against plunder.

Mortimer Wheeler

Kenneth Kennedy

In 1953, SirMortimer Wheelerproposed that the decline of the Indus Civilization was caused by the invasion of an Indo-European tribe from Central Asia called the "Aryans". As evidence, he cited a group of 37 skeletons found in various parts of Mohenjo-Daro, and passages in the Vedas referring to battles and forts. However, scholars soon started to reject Wheeler's theory, since the skeletons belonged to a period after the city's abandonment and none were found near the citadel.

Subsequent examinations of the skeletons byKenneth Kennedyin 1994 showed that the marks on the skulls were caused by erosion, and not violent aggression.Today, many scholars believe that the collapse of the Indus Civilization was caused by drought and a decline in trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia. It has also been suggested that immigration by new peoples, deforestation, floods, or changes in the course of the river may have contributed to the collapse of the IVC.

ARYANS

47

ARYANSARYA means noble or pure in Sanskrit; the same rootword appears in the greek ARIOS which means good quality The Aryans brought with them their MALE and WARLIKE GODS and their male dominated culture which slowly blended with the female goddess of India.

ARYANSThe most basic division of the Indian society is of Aryans and Dravidians. According to this division, nearly 72% of Indians are Aryans and 28% are Dravidians. The north Indians are the descendants of Aryans and the south Indians are Dravidians. The languages spoken in five states of south India are consideredDravidian languages and most of the languages spoken in the north are considered Aryan languages.

Slowly conquered the Vindhaya range, which divides the Deccan Plateau from the ganges and indus valleys of the north.Their language was never prevailed in the south, which still speaks mainly non indo-European language collectively known as DRAVIDIAN 49

ARYANSBy 1500 BCE the Aryans migrated into the Indian subcontinent. Coming from central Asia, this large group of nomadic cattle herders crossed theHinduKush Mountains and came in contact with the Indus Valley Civilization. This was a large migration and used to be seen as an invasion, which was believed by some scholars to be behind the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization; this hypothesis is not unanimously accepted today.

Slowly conquered the Vindhaya range, which divides the Deccan Plateau from the ganges and indus valleys of the north.Their language was never prevailed in the south, which still speaks mainly non indo-European language collectively known as DRAVIDIAN 50

CONTRIBUTIONS(1) They were among the first to develop a system of uniform weights and measures. Their building bricks were very uniform making city planning easy.

(2) This was the first civilization to incorporate urban sanitation systems. Personal hygiene seems to have been a high priority.

(3) Their art was highly advanced. Terracotta, steatite and bronze human and animal figurines with anatomically correct proportions have been found. Their jewelry was complex and considered beautiful by today's standards. Long carnelian beads were a specialty.

(4) Transportation and trade were major goals of these people. Their trade network ran from Mesopotamia to northern and central India. Their empire was economic, not military.

(5) Indus Valley Civilization agriculture was based upon a highly productive method of raising, storing and transporting domesticated wheat and barley. Other crops were known.

(6) They had a written script, mostly used on inscribed seals. The language and scripts are still being investigated and are controversial.

(7) Formal religion was highly advanced and included burial and cremation of human remains.

(8) Farming and forestry: Ancient Indians developed eco-friendly and non-toxic fertilisers and pesticides to maximise agricultural produce and storage systems that preserved the produce to see them through drought years.

(9) This civilization was the first to cultivate cotton for the production of cloth.

THE END