Copyright (c) 2014 by Dimitry Bubis. All Rights Reserved

1. History of
Civilization
V. ANCIENT INDIA

2. TOPICS
Indus Valley
 The Harappan
Civilization
 Mohenjo-Daro
and other cities



Harappan Collapse and
the Migration of Aryans
Vedas and Emergence
of Hinduism

3. 3500
3000
2500
2000
Hatshepsut, Thutmose III
Late Harappan
Cemetery H
1500
1353 – 1323 BCE Amarna period
Suppiluliuma I dies
1322 BCE
1279 – 1213 BCE Ramses II
Hattusa destroyed
ca. 1200 BCE
1479 BCE
ca. 1531 BCE Mursili I sacks Babylon
Mature Harappan
Indus Valley Civilization
ca. 1700 BCE Hammurabi
ca. 1850 BCE Senusreth III
ca. 2100 BCE Epic of Gilgamesh
recorded
ca. 2240 BCE Sargon
Early Harappan
ca. 2500 BCE Troy founded
ca. 2580 BCE Khufu
Invention of writing
Mehrgarh
ca. 3200
before 3300 BCE: early Uruk in Sumer
ca. 3300 BCE the Flood ?
CHRONOLOGY
 Harappan
 Early: Regionalization
 Mature:
Integration
 Late:
Localization
Aryans
move in
Vedic
1000 BCE

4. MEHRGARH
Neolithic culture
 Farming  Sheep






Wheat
Barley


Goats
Cattle
Ornaments
Beads, Figurines
Pottery
Mud-brick
farming village
Periods:


Earliest proto-dentistry
Pre-cursor of
Indus Valley Civilization
I : Aceramic
7000 – 5500 BCE
II, III : Ceramic, chalcolithic
5500 – 3500 BCE
IV – VI
3500 – 3000 BCE

5. INDUS VALLEY: HARAPPAN CULTURE
सिन्धु
“Sim”+ “Dhu” →
Body of trembling(water)
(Sanskrit)
Sindhu
(Indus)



Indus Valley: a cradle of civilization larger than its contemporaries
High degree of uniformity across remote sites and multiple cities
Many finds since 1920s are unexcavated, the script is not deciphered

6. MERCHANT CITIES






Regular rectilinear layout
Standardized fired and
mortared bricks
Mud-brick and wooden
superstructures
Outstanding hydraulic
engineering: water supply,
wells, baths, drains
Some buildings had more
than one floor
Same weights and measures
used in all settlements
Dyer’s workshop in Mohenjo-Daro
Small weights, binary graduated

7. MOHENJO-DARO






One of the largest cities of
ancient Indus civilization
(est. ~40K inhabitants)
One of the earliest known
major urban centers of
Bronze Age
Site name means “Mound
of the Dead” (Sindhi)
Discovered in 1922
Stood above the flood plain
Parts: Citadel, Lower city
Periods:
Regionalization
3500 – 2600 BCE
Integration
2600 – 1900 BCE
Localization
1900 – 1600 BCE

8. HARAPPA



Urban center dominated
Upper Indus valley
Some 600 km from
Mohenjo-Daro, close to
Ravi river
Built layers became mounds



Excavated since 1920
~24K inhabitants on 100 ha
Great halls that might be or
might not be granaries

9. LOTHAL

Harappans created planned
town and port after the
earlier village was destroyed
by flood ca. 2350 BCE
 Acropolis, bead factory
World’s first known naval dock



Dockyard solved problems of
tides and river silt deposition
Advanced tools (saws, drills)
Refined copper

10. DHOLAVIRA


Inhabited between
2650 and 1450 BCE
Earliest found water
conservation system
Water reservoir with steps

“Dholavira Signboard”

11. COMMON FEATURES

Absence of clear social
stratification




Main urban dwellers:




No wealth concentration
No great disparity in burials
No palaces or houses of nobility
Tradesmen
Merchants
High level of urban planning
Clusters of large non-residential
 More questions than answers
buildings and sites

12. HARAPPAN ART
Burial pottery
Harappa, terracotta


Figurines, seals
Beads


Exported to Mesopotamia
Same technology as today
“Dancing girl”
Mohenjo-Daro,
bronze
“Priest-king”
Mohenjo-Daro,
soapstone

13. HARAPPAN RELIGION


Great Mother Goddess
Great Male Deity



Diversity


Procreator
Master of Animals
Lothal: Fire god, Sea goddess
Sacrifices


Animals
Trees
“Pashupathi
Seal”
Mohenjo-Daro,
steatite,
ca. 2600 – 1900 BCE
Pashu pathi →


Details uncertain
Probably not proto-Hinduism
पशपतिनाथ
ु
Animal Protector
(Sanskrit)

14. INDUS SCRIPT




More than 3700 seals and
hundreds of inscriptions
Earliest finds date around
3300 – 3200 BCE
Systematic use ceased after
1900 BCE
Possible evolution from
pictorial to some 400 abstract
signs

No reliable decipherment



Underlying language not
identified
Absence of documents per se
No bilingual inscription

15. THE MERCHANTS

Indus Valley exports:




Ebony
Lapis lazuli
Sesame oil
Transport



Pack animals
Boats
Carts
From coastal trade
to links between civilizations

Toy cart,
Nausharo,
ca. 2300 BCE
Multiple finds in
Mesopotamia:

Harappan weights, measures
Beads and luxuries


16. LATE HARAPPAN

From 1900 BCE – 1700 BCE
to ca. 1300 BCE: Decline
Ruins of Mohenjo-Daro

Cities abandoned


Most of the urban settlements
(probably hundreds of cities)
were in ruins by 1500 BCE
“Localization” meant
population continued in
farming villages

Possible causes





Draught
Climate change
Decline of trade
Foreign invasion
Urban decay

17. “CEMETERY H” CULTURE

Named after “Area H” in
archaeological digs in
Harappa

Geographical scope:
Eastward shift

Features




Distinct style of pottery
Cremation of deceased
Transition to rice farming
Red ware instead of faience
Overlapping the area of archaeological finds
with geography of rivers named in Rigveda

Aryans move in

Invasion or takeover?
Evidence of conflict?


18. INDOEUROPEAN
LANGUAGES
Centum & Satem
Contemporary map

19. PROTO-INDO-EUROPEANS

Indo-Europeans
Urheimat →

“The ultimate
homeland”
(German)


Proto-IndoEuropean language
and place of origin
“Out of India”?
Georges Dumézil
1898 – 1986
Nostratic language?

Schleicher’s fable (1868)
“h₂óuis h₁éḱuōs-kʷe”
̯
̯
Odin, Thor, Freyr
 Trifunctional division
Swastika seals from Indus valley
(British Museum)
 Sacral (sovereignty)
 Martial (military)
 Economic (productivity)

20. INDO-ARYAN MIGRATION

The oldest literature



Substrata in Vedic Sanskrit



Rigveda (1st wave, Indian)
Avesta (2nd wave, Iranian)
Harappan
Dravidian
Arya →
आर्य
Noble
(Sanskrit)
Kurgan →
Mound (Turkic)
Mittani connection:
Kurgan hypothesis
Mittani under
Shaushtatar

21. Rg veda →
RIGVEDA

ऋग्वेद
Knowledge of Praise
Sacred collection of
(Sanskrit)
Sanskrit hymns




The oldest of four canonical
Vedas of Hinduism
Oldest extant text in any
Indo-European language
Started in oral form between
1700 BCE and 1100 BCE
after Indo-Iranian separation
Extant version based on
collection ca. 1100 BCE,
ten mandalas structured as

Mandala / sukta / pada :
= book / hymn / stanza

Location: Punjab ?
 “No tigers, no rice, no cotton”

22. VEDIC DEITIES
Deva →
दे व
Deity (Sanskrit)
 Aditi (अदिति = "limitless ")



Infinite celestial source
Space and Speech
Synthesis of all things
Aditi
Aditi
Aditi
Aditi
is the sky
is the air
is all gods ...
is the Mother, the
Father, and Son
Aditi is whatever shall be born
Rig Veda, I.89.10

Asura →
असर
ु
Non-godly (deity),
= demon
7 sons, Adityas
perfect celestial deities:

 Mitra

 Aryaman

 Bhaga

Varuna
Anśa
Dhatri
Indra
Indra
289
Agni
218
Soma
123
Vishvadevas
70
the Aśvins
56
Varuna
46

23. INDRA
इन्र




Supreme ruler of the gods
God of thunder
Leader of devas
Chief hero, Slayer of Vritra
? Possible / disputed interpretation:
hero of the conquest of Indus
valley (and defeat of Harappans) ?
Indra on Airavata

24. VARUNA
वरुण






Oldest of Adityas
Twin brother of Mitra
Solar deity
Master of truth
Supreme keeper of order
Planet Venus
Rtam →
ऋिं
Order, Truth
Varuna on Makara

In Hinduism –


Varuna is less important
than Vishnu or Shiva
Focus is not on Rta but on
Satya, Dharma, and Karma

25. AGNI AND SOMA
Agni I laud, the high priest, god, minister of sacrifice,
The invoker, lavishest of wealth.


Fire and acceptor of sacrifices
Faces: Life and Immortality
िोम
अग्नि




Goddess, Plant, and
Energy Drink
Haoma in Avesta
Botanical identity unclear
Cf. Brave New World

26. ANGIRAS & RECOVERY OF STOLEN COWS

Sarama (dawn)




Panis (darkness)



Quick-footed and beloved,
traveler and seeker…
Knowing path of the Truth
Deva-shuni = Divine bitch
Demons and misers
Kidnapped the cows
(rays of light? rain clouds?)
Saptarishi (seven sages)


Hearers
Big dipper

Angiras


Rishi (sage) who heard
most of Atharva Veda
Ancestor of Humans

27. FOUR VEDAS
 Rig Veda – mantras
 Sama Veda – songs
 Yajur Veda – rituals
 Atharva Veda – spells

Society:





Pastoralist and egalitarian
Limited property
Some trade exchanges
Patriarchal community
War and slavery

Yajna ritual worships




More than 400 in Vedas
21 are compulsory
Chanting of mantras
Pouring of herbal oblations
into ritual fire

28. NON-RELIGIOUS VEDIC POEMS

Danastuti hymns



Songs of victory
Praise of generosity
Poetry of gratitude

Work song –
satire on human desires

Song of the Gambler




Penitence of sinner
Loss of happiness
Good life of others
Yearning for new beginning

Vedanga, “limbs of Veda”


Six auxiliary disciplines
Other texts from Vedic times


Anatomy and medicine
Numbers and math

29. EVOLUTION OF HINDUISM

Brahmanas are
commentaries on Vedas




Each Vedic school had own
Brahmana
Mantras are considered to have
infallible power
Brahman means real truth
Upanishad →
उपतिषि ्
“Sitting down near”
Brahman is real, world is unreal
Upanishads are texts
containing revealed truth


Product of later Vedic religion
Earliest emergence of canon
and central concepts of
Hinduism
Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva

30. EARLY MAHA JANAPADAS
 Later Vedic period:
1000 – 500 BCE
 Transition:






from semi-nomadic to
settled agriculture
from tribes to kingdoms
Emergence of hierarchy
Urbanization
Codification of Sanskrit
Panchala becomes focus
of tribal confederation
 Maha Jana Pada =
“Great Tribe Foothold”

31. END OF VEDIC PERIOD




Ascendance of king instead
of rajan and tribal council
Development of agriculture
Division into social groups
Use of iron implements
Rishikesh: Upper Ganges

Development of Hinduism

Birth of Mahavira
Birth of Siddhartha Gautama
Sanskrit grammar by Panini
Great Sanskrit epics composed:




Panchala: Rice fields

Mahabharata
Ramayana

32. SUMMARY



Indus valley was a cradle
of civilization claiming
multiple firsts in human
history
Indo-Aryan tribes migrated
into Northern India and
developed sacred texts of
Vedas
Vedic culture evolved and
became foundation of
Hindu tradition

33. IN THE NEXT CHAPTER:







Yellow River
Three Sovereigns and
Five Emperors
Bronze Age in Far East
Xia Dynasty
Shang Dynasty
Red River valley and
Ancient Vietnam
From Shang to Zhou

34. Thank You