The ancient Indus Valley civilization arose around 2500 BC along the Indus River valley. Two major cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, exhibited sophisticated urban planning with standardized bricks, water and sewage systems. This civilization declined around 1700 BC for unknown reasons. Around 1500 BC, Indo-Aryan groups began migrating into northwestern India, blending with the local people and establishing the caste system that stratified society. Hinduism and Buddhism later emerged as major religions in India, influenced by geography and invasions.

1. Ancient India
Geography and Climate
Harappan Civilization
Origins of Hinduism and Buddhism

2. Earliest History
• About 2500 B.C.,
Indus Valley
civilization arose on
the banks of the
Indus River, in what
is now Pakistan and
western India. Indus River

3. Indus
Ganges
•Mohenjo-
Daro
•HarappaHindu Kush
Himalayas

7. India
India is considered a sub-continent
People of the first civilization in India built
cities on the banks of the Indus River.
Indian civilization began in the Indus
River Valley and spread through the
Ganges River Valley, then through the
Indian subcontinent. It continued with
little interruption because of its
geographic location.

8. Physical Geography and location were
dictated by physical barriers such as:
–The Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, and
the Indian Ocean made invasion more
difficult.
–Mountain passes in the Hindu Kush
provided migration routes into the
Indian subcontinent.
–The Indus and Ganges were the most
important rivers in the Indian
subcontinent

9. The Indus and Ganges River create a
fertile plain.

South Asia (modern India, Pakistan,
and Bangladesh) is separated from the
rest of Asia by tall mountains
(Himalayas, the Hindu Kush). Just
below the mountains are two large
plains that hold the Ganges and Indus
rivers.

These high mountains gave the
indigenous people safety from
invaders.

10. Geography presents challenges for the
Indus Valley

The rivers flooded each year and left soil
good for farming, but the floods did not
occur at the same time each year.

The region’s weather caused problems
also. Each winter, strong winds blew dry
air across the area. Each spring, the
winds brought heavy rains. These were
called monsoons

12. Early Indus Valley settlers developed
farming villages

Historians know that people were
farming along the rivers by about
3200BC.

Harappa and Mohenjo- Daro were
the 2 main cities

13. Capitals
• Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
–Might have been twin capitals
• Highly structured and well organized
• Traded with
Sumer

14. Harappa and Mohenjo- Daro
• These cities were large and carefully
planned
• Most houses were built with baked clay
bricks of a standard size, however mud and
unbaked bricks were found as well.
• Houses had a complex plumbing system,
with baths, drains, and water chutes that led
into sewers beneath the streets.
• Merchants used a uniform system of weights
and measures.

15. Archaeology
• Archaeologists have uncovered
many small stone seals, thought
to be signature seals, used to
“seal a deal.”

19. Bath at Mohenjo-
Daro

20. Planned plumbing and sewage
systems.

About 2500BC, while the Egyptians were
building pyramids, these people began
building their first cities.

In Mesopotamia, cities were a jumble of
streets laid down without thinking first.

In the Indus Valley, however, the builders
of cities followed a grid of streets. The
cities showed sophisticated careful
planning.

21. 
They built a strong area called a
citadel that was easy to defend
and held all the important
buildings. There were also
separate residential districts.

Buildings were constructed of
oven-baked bricks in standard
sizes, unlike the simpler, irregular
sun-dried bricks of the
Mesopotamians.

22. 
They also had sophisticated
systems for carrying water and
sewage. These systems could
rival any urban drainage system
built before the 19th century.

The uniformity in the cities’
planning and construction
suggests that the Indus peoples
had developed a strong central
government.

23. 
The Indus people valued personal
cleanliness and social sanitation.

They may have known that poor
sanitation could spread disease.

They realized that establishing a
citywide waste disposal system
would be more effective that
leaving waste disposal up to
individuals.

24. 
Proper sanitation was made
available to all classes, not
exclusively to the wealthy.

This may mean that the Indus
Valley people felt the
government had some
responsibility to provide
services for citizens.

25. Ruins reveal the character and trading patterns

The civilization of the Indus was
peaceful.

Few weapons have been found at the
sites of these ancient cities. This
suggests that warfare was not
common.

Because the houses were mostly like
one another, scholars think that the
Indus culture did not have sharp
differences between social classes.

26. Characteristics
• In the middle of the city was a large
hilltop structure, possibly a fortress.
• No temples, shrines or religious writings
have been found.

27. Characteristics
• Each city also contained a huge
warehouse which would have been
used to store grain.

28. What does all this
organization mean?

30. Likely had a well-
organized, strong
government

31. Disappearance
• Around 1700 BCE, the Harappan
civilization disappeared without a
trace.
• Order was replaced with sloppy work
and cities went into decline.
–Some have speculated that over
lumbering of the forests (fuel), volcanic
eruptions, or even a devastating
earthquake may have aided their
decline.

32. Aryan Invasion
• Indo-Aryan people invaded
sometime between 1500-1000 BCE
– In about 1750 BCE, tribes of Indo-European peoples
began to cross the Hindu Kush Mountains into
northwest India
• Information about
these peoples comes
from their writings, The
Vedas.

33. Indo-Aryan People

The Aryans, who spoke an early form
of Sanskrit, migrated through the
passes of the Hindu Kush mountains
and entered India.

Indo-Aryan People migrated into the
area, creating a rigidly structured
society (caste system) blended with
native beliefs.

Their sacred literature, the Vedas, left
a fairly reliable picture of Aryan life.

34. Vedas
• Language and writing of Indo-Aryans
– The language and writing of the Indo-Aryans was
called Sanskrit
• Vedas description of Aryans
–Nomadic herders
–Aryans loved to drink, eat, play music
and games…real party people
–Very warrior-like

36. Aryan Impact

The Aryans migrated into the
area, blended their beliefs with
those of the indigenous people,
and asserted their dominance

The Aryans were taller, lighter in
skin color, and spoke a different
language than the people they
found in India.

37. 
The Aryans were divided into
social classes: Brahmins (priests),
warriors, and peasants or traders.

Over time the Aryans made more
class restrictions. Varna, or skin
color, was a distinguishing feature
of this system.

This caste system influenced all
social interactions and choices of
occupations.

38. The Rise of Classical
Indian Civilization
• The merger between the older
Indus Valley civilization and the
Indo-Aryan culture produced the
Classical Indian Civilization.

39. The Rise of Classical
Indian Civilization
• It began in the Indus River Valley
and spread to the Ganges River
Valley, then through the Indian
Subcontinent. It continued with
little interruption because of its
geographic location.

40. Remember India looks
like a dripping ice cream
cone!!!

41. Geographic Location
• Himalayan Mountains, Hindu
Kush Mountains and the Indian
Ocean provided physical barriers
making invasion difficult.

42. Indian Ocean
Hindu Kush Himalaya

43. Geographic Location
• Mountain passes like the Khyber
Pass and the Bolan Pass
provided migration and invasion
routes into the Indian
subcontinent.

45. Geographic Location
• The Indus and Ganges Rivers
were the most important
rivers in the Indian
subcontinent.

46. Indus
Ganges

47. Caste System

48. Caste System
Due to this dominance, the
Aryans established a rigid
hereditary caste system, which
influenced all social interactions
and choices of occupations.

49. Caste System
–Brahmins – priests
–Kshatriyas – warriors
–Vaisyas – herders, farmers,
artisans and merchants
–Sudras – servants and landless
farmers

50. Caste System
–Untouchables – Dravidians, the
people the Aryans conquered;
forced to do the worst jobs
(garbage collectors, animal hide
tanners, collectors of the dead)

51. Religions
founded in India
Hinduism and Buddhism

52. 
Hinduism is an important contribution of
classical India and is still practiced today.

Hinduism influenced Indian society and
culture.
Hinduism

53. Hinduism
• Belief in many forms of one major God
(Polytheistic)
• Founded in India, no one founder,
spread along trade routes
• Holy Book: Vedas and Upanishads
– Sacred writings of Hinduism

54. Hinduism
• On the one hand, there is Brahman
– the unchanging, all-powerful
spiritual force that inhabits all beings
– Everything is an aspect, a facet, a piece
of Brahman; sort of the universal soul
• On the other hand, many Gods and
Goddesses
– Shiva, the Destroyer
– Vishnu, the Preserver

55. Hinduism
• Key Concepts
– Dharma: a person’s moral duty in life
– Karma: Knowledge that all thoughts and
actions result in future consequences
• Think Earl in “My Name is Earl”
– Reincarnation: Rebirth based on Karma
• The ultimate goal in Hinduism is Moksha - to stop the
endless cycle of rebirth and achieve final union with
Brahman.
• Caste system organized society into classes
– Class systems based on occupation and family lineage

56. Beliefs of Hinduism

Belief in many forms of one major God

Reincarnation: rebirth based on karma

Karma: Knowledge that all thoughts and
actions result in future consequences

Vedas and Upanishads: Sacred writings

Hinduism spread along major trade
routes

57. Buddhism

Founded by Siddhartha Gautama in a
part of India that is in present-day
Nepal.

Asoka, king of India’s Mauryan
Empire in 269 BC, sent his
missionaries throughout Asia
spreading Buddhism from India to
China and other parts of Asia.

It is because of Asoka that Buddhism
became a major faith.

59. Beliefs of Buddhism

Founder: Siddhartha Gautama
(Buddha- “enlightened one”)

Four Noble Truths (everything in life is
suffering, the cause is selfish desires,
to end suffering you must end desires,
overcome desires by the Eightfold
Path)

Eightfold Path to Enlightenment
(following this path leads to Nirvana, a
release from selfishness and pain)

60. Buddhism
• Founded in India by Siddhartha Gautama
(Buddha)
– Asoka’s missionaries and their writings spread of
Buddhism from India  China/Asia
• No Deity – The Buddha did not teach a deity
• Holy Book – no one book (writings like Perfection
of Wisdom Sutras)
• Basic Concept:
– Humans struggle to achieve virtuous life of Buddha.
– Persons achieve complete happiness (nirvana) by
eliminating their attachment to worldly things (personal
decisions).

61. Buddhism – 4 Noble Truths
Siddhartha taught 4
main ideas that
he had
understood in his
enlightenment - 4
Nobel Truths
1.Everything in
life is suffering
and sorrow

62. Buddhism
2. The cause of all suffering is
people’s selfish desire for
temporary pleasures of this world.

63. Buddhism
3. The way to
end all suffering
is to end all
desires.

64. Buddhism
4. The way to
overcome such
desires and
attain
enlightenment
is to follow the
Noble Eightfold
Path.

65. Buddhism
Eightfold Path to Enlightenment
Right Views
Right Intentions
Right Speech
Right Action/Conduct
Right Livelihood
Right Endeavor
Right Mindfulness
Right Mediation
Goal of Buddhism:
enlightenment

66. Mauryan Empire- Asoka
• Chandragupta gained power in the Ganges
Valley and then conquered northern India.
• His son and grandson later added much of
the Deccan area in the south to the empire.
• Chandragupta had specially trained women
warriors guard his palace.
• Chandragupta's grandson, Asoka, is the
most honored emperor.

67. Asoka
• Shortly after becoming emperor Asoka
fought a long, bloody war to conquer the
region of Kalinga.
• Horrified by the slaughter- more than
100,000 people died- Asoka no longer
wanted to fight or conquer other territories.
• He converted to Buddhism, rejected
violence, and ruled by moral example.
• Most importantly, he sent missionaries to
spread Buddhism across India and
throughout Asia, including China.

68. Contributions of the Mauryans
• Political unification of much of India
• Spread Buddhism
• Free hospitals
• Veterinary clinics
• Good roads

69. Gupta

During the reign of the first three
Guptas, India experienced a period
of great achievement called: The
Golden Age of classical Indian
Culture.

70. India's Golden Age - Gupta
During this time Indian people made
significant contributions to world
civilizations in the area of
~mathematics- concept of zero
~medical advancements- set bones
~astronomy- concept of earth as round
~new textiles
~literature.

71. Compare the Empires