Harappan Writing

Undecipherable to date.

Decline of Harappans

• Harappans used up their natural resources

• Cut down too many trees• Indus River Valley was invaded

Aryan Migration

pastoral depended on their cattle.

warriors horse-drawn chariots.

The Aryans

• Semi nomadic group of warriors

–Used chariots

–Immigrated into India over a period of hundreds of years

–Each tribe headed by chieftain and priest

–Cow was the standard of trade

The Vedas• The Vedas (“Wisdom”)

were collections of prayers and hymns of the Indo-European Aryans who migrated into India around 1500 B.C.

– Reflect the knowledge that priests needed to carry out their functions

Fanciful depiction of the Indo-Aryans entering India

The Vedas 1200 BCE-600 BCE.

written in SANSKRIT.

Hindu core of beliefs:

hymns and poems.

religious prayers.

magical spells.

lists of the gods and goddesses.

Rig Veda oldest work.Rig Veda oldest work.

Sanskrit

writing

• The Aryans developed a social structure with sharp distinctions between individuals and groups according to the occupations and roles in society

– These distinctions became the basis of the caste system

– Brahmins (priests) were at the top of the caste system

Aryan Social Order• The term caste comes from the

Portuguese word casta meaning a social class of hereditary and usually unchangeable status

–Coined by Portuguese merchants and mariners who visited India during the 16th Century

Varna (Social Hierarchy)

ShudrasShudras

VaishyasVaishyas

Kshatriyas Kshatriyas

Pariahs [Harijan] Untouchables

Pariahs [Harijan] Untouchables

BrahminsBrahmins

Varnas

• After about 1000 B.C., Aryans increasingly recognized four main castes.

–Brahmins (priests)

–Kshatriyas (warriors and aristocrats)

–Vaishyas (cultivators, artisans, and merchants)

–Shudras (landless peasants and serfs)

Untouchables

• Some centuries later, category of untouchables was added

• The untouchables performed dirty or unpleasant tasks such as butchering animals or handling dead bodies

• Such work made them become so polluted that their very touch could defile individuals of higher status Members of the untouchable class

dispose of corpses after the 2004 tsunami

Social Order• Individuals came to identify

themselves more closely with their jati than with their cities or states

• The caste system served as the principal foundation of social stability in India, doing what states and empires did to maintain public order elsewhere

Geographic Expansion• At first the caste system was confined to

northern India where the Aryans had first entered

• As commercial relationships pushed south, the caste system took hold there as well

• By the 11th Century the caste system was the principal basis of social organization in southern India

Caste in India Today• The preamble of India's constitution forbids

negative public discrimination on the basis of caste.

• In reality, caste ranking and caste-based interaction continue–More prominent in the countryside than in

urban settings and more in the realms of kinship and marriage than in less personal interactions

The Vedic Age

The foundations for Hinduism were

established!

Mauryan Civilization

• Had huge army and secret police

• Government owned all of the land

• Peasants had to pay taxes

Mauryan Civilization

• Commerce and industry flourished

• Artisans manufactured jewelry, perfumes, fine fabrics, leather work, pottery, and clothing.

• Swords and arrowhead were made

• Traded increased

Chandragupta Maurya• As he grew older, he became interested in

a religion called Jainism

• In Jainism, the true being was the jiva or eternal soul that lived inside the physical body

• They believed that every living thing has a soul and that killing any living thing is the greatest evil

The Caste System

The mouth?

The arms?

The legs?

The feet?

WHO IS…

What is a JATI?

Brahmins

Brahmins

Kshatriyas

Kshatriyas

Vaishyas

Vaishyas

ShudrasShudras