The document provides information about early civilizations in India. It describes the Indus Valley Civilization which arose around 2500 BC in the Indus River valley and established well-planned cities like Harappa and Mohenjo Daro. This civilization declined around 2000 BC for unknown reasons. It then discusses the Vedic period in India after 2000 BC, when the Aryans gained control. Vedic society was divided into four social classes called varnas, with the Brahmins as priests at the top.

1. Ancient India and China Section 1

2. Ancient India and China Section 1
Early India
Preview
• Starting Points Map: Eastern Asia
• Main Idea / Reading Focus
• India’s Geography
• Indus Valley Civilization
• The Vedic Period
• Quick Facts: The Varnas

3. Ancient India and China Section 1
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4. Ancient India and China Section 1
Early India
Main Idea
1. Early civilization arose in the Indus River Valley, flourished,
and then mysteriously died out. Later India’s Vedic civilization
developed a culture based on old and new beliefs.
Reading Focus
• How did India’s geography affect the development of
civilization there?
• What were the defining features of the Indus Valley
Civilization?
• What do we know about life in India’s Vedic period?

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India’s Geography
Indus River flows across northwest edge of Indian
subcontinent—large landmass, part of a continent
• Home of one of ancient world’s great river valley
civilizations
• Indian subcontinent includes three major geographic
zones
– Far north: Himalaya, Hindu Kush mountain systems, separating
India from rest of Asia
– South: Deccan Plateau, high plateau receiving less rain than
other parts of subcontinent
– Between mountains, plateau are Northern Plains, where society
first developed in India

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Floods and Annual Rainfall
2. Monsoon Winds
• Summer, monsoon winds from
southwest bring warm air,
heavy rains from Indian Ocean;
most of annual rainfall at this
time
• Winter, northeast monsoons
blow cool, dry air from Central
Asia, drier months
Fertile Region
• Flood deposits from Indus,
Ganges, Brahmaputra rivers
enrich soil of Northern Plains,
make it very fertile
• Heavy rains also add to fertility
of plains
• Much of rain brought to India by
seasonal winds, monsoons

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Water Critical Factor
The people of India’s first civilizations depended upon the monsoons
to bring the water that their crops needed.
Monsoon Rains
• Monsoon rains flooded rivers;
rivers deposited fertile silt in
which farmers could grow
crops
• With abundance of rainfall
came threat of devastation
Devastating Effects
• Monsoon rains too heavy—
crops, homes, lives could be
lost
• Monsoon rains too late, did
not last long enough—people
could not grow crops; famine
became danger

8. Ancient India and China Section 1
Describe
What problems could monsoons cause for
early Indians?
Answer(s): flooding or drought

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Indus Valley Civilization
People have lived in the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent for
thousands of years. At first people lived as hunter-gatherers, but
slowly people began to settle down in farming communities.
First Civilization
• Farm communities
gave rise to India’s
first civilization
• Developed in valley
of Indus River
• Began 2500 BC,
when people first
developed writing
system
Cities, Settlements
• 1920s,remains of
two large cities first
ruins found
– Harappa
– Mohenjo Daro
• Civilization called
Harappan
• Other cities, towns
since uncovered
Indus Society
• Settlements well
planned, carefully
laid out
• Streets ran in grid
pattern; major
avenues twice as
wide as minor
streets

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Life in Towns and Cities
• Water came from community wells, smaller wells in courtyards of homes
• Public drainage systems carried away wastewater
• Walled, elevated citadel—fortress—enclosed buildings like granaries,
warehouses
• Homes, workshops, shrines built outside citadel
• Uniformity suggests central authority in power
Economy
• Economy likely based on agriculture, trade
• Most probably farmed, herded livestock
• In cities, many specialized in crafts like pottery, metalwork, jewelry
• Indus traded goods with people nearby, distant civilizations
• Traders from Indus Valley brought goods to locations as distant as Central
Asia, Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia

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Society
Few Details
• Archaeologists, historians not able to learn many details about Indus society
• Had writing system, but historians not able to read it
• Some say Indus civilization single society, rather than collection of city-states
Similarities
• People shared common tool designs, standard set of weights, measures
• Suggest single authority in control
• Civilization thrived from about 2500 BC to 2000 BC, then began to decline
Decline
• No one knows what led to decline, or if single cause
• Environmental damage suspected; flooding, disappearance of Sarasvati river
• Invasion, disease may also have helped end civilization

12. Ancient India and China Section 1
Analyze
Why do historians know relatively little about
Indus society?
Answer(s): have not deciphered Indus writing

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The Vedic Period
3. Sometime after 2000 BC, a new people took control of India.
Historians often refer to this group as the Aryans, from a Sanskrit word
meaning “noble.” Eventually the Aryans ruled over most of India,
except for the far south.
Origin of Aryans
• Historians not sure when Aryans
arrived, where they came from
• Some assume they moved from
area between Caspian, Black seas
• Others argue Aryans developed in
northern India, did not move into
area
Archaeological Evidence
• Little archaeological evidence
remains to document early Aryan
period in India
• Most comes from sacred writings
called the Vedas
• Include many details about Aryan
history, society
This period in Indian history is often called the Vedic period.

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Vedic Society
• According to the Vedas, people settled in villages smaller than cities
of Indus Valley
• Later groups of villages banded together under regional leaders
known as rajas
• Raja primarily war leader responsible for protecting people; received
payments of food, money in return
Social Structure
• According to oldest of the Vedas,
the Rigveda, Vedic society divided
into four social classes, varnas
• Each played particular role in
society
• People of four varnas created from
body of single being
Varnas
• Part of body from which each varna
created tied to its duties
• Brahmins came from mouth, source
of speech, wisdom; were priests
• Kshatriyas: warriors, rulers
• Vaisyas: common people, farmers
• Sudras: servants

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Jobs and Privileges
Social Hierarchy
• Social hierarchy developed,
some castes had more
privileges than others
• Not everyone belonged to a
caste
• Untouchables had no protection
of caste law, could perform only
jobs that other castes did not
Castes
• Over centuries, four varnas of
Vedic period divided into
hundreds of smaller castes
• Membership in caste
determined what jobs one could
hold, whom one could marry

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Vedic Religion
Vedic Religion
• Vedas consist mostly of hymns
in praise
• We know much about Vedic
religion as result
Fire Sacrifices
• People worshipped gods
through fire sacrifices, chanting
sacred hymns
• Priests offered food, drink by
placing on roaring fire
Prayer
• People prayed to many aspects
of single eternal spirit
• One aspect was Indra, who
ruled over heaven
Complex
• Rituals grew more complex
• Priests said order in universe
maintained only through rituals
• Brahmin varna gained more
influence in society

18. Ancient India and China Section 1
Summarize
How was Vedic society organized?
Answer(s): into four social classes called varnas