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Geography and Early Settlement of India
Major Rivers In northern India, the Brahmaputra, the Ganges, and the Indus rivers carry rich silt from the mountains to the plains. India’s early settlers farmed and later built walled settlements in the river valleys. This was the start of civilization in India.
Deccan Plateau In some parts of this raised area between two mountain ranges in southern India, rich black soil is good for growing cotton.
Mountain Ranges The Eastern and Western Ghats are near India’s coasts. Between them lies the Deccan Plateau. The Western Ghats are higher and wetter than the Eastern Ghats. The Himalayas along India’s northern border are the highest mountains in the world. The Hindu Kush range runs through present-day Pakistan. It provides access through the Khyber Pass to the Indian subcontinent.
Thar Desert This vast desert in northern India has huge sand dunes, little plant life, and extreme heat. Dust storms are common. Animals, such as lizards, snakes, gazelles, and a variety of birds, live here. Ancient literature provides some of the earliest written record of agriculture in India. Rigveda hymns, for example, describes plowing, fallowing, irrigation, fruit and vegetable cultivation. Other historical evidence suggests rice and cotton were cultivated in the Indus Valley, and plowing patterns from the Bronze Age have been excavated at Kalibangan in Rajasthan. Bhumivargaha, another ancient Indian sanskrit text, suggested to be 2500 years old, classifies agricultural land into twelve categories: urvara (fertile), ushara (barren), maru (desert), aprahata (fallow), shadvala (grassy), pankikala (muddy), jalaprayah (watery), kachchaha (land contiguous to water), sharkara (full of pebbles and pieces of limestone), sharkaravati (sandy), nadimatruka (land watered from a river), and devamatruka (rainfed).Some archaeologists believe rice was a domesticated crop along the banks of the Indian river ganges in the sixth millennium BC. So were species of winter cereals (barley, oats, and wheat) and legumes (lentil and chickpea) grown in Northwest India before the sixth millennium BC. Other crops cultivated in India 3000 to 6000 years ago, include sesame, linseed, safflower, mustards, castor, mung bean, black gram, horse gram, pigeonpea, field pea, grass pea (khesari), fenugreek, cotton, jujube, grapes, dates, jackfruit, mango, mulberry, and black plum. Indian peasants had also domesticated cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats, pigs and horses thousands of years ago. Some scientists claim agriculture in India was widespread in the Indian peninsula, some 3000–5000 years ago, well beyond the fertile plains of the north. For example, one study reports twelve sites in the southern Indian states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh providing clear evidence of agriculture of pulses (Vigna radiata and Macrotyloma uniflorum), millet-grasses (Brachiaria ramosa and Setaria verticillata), wheats (Triticum diococcum, Triticum durum/aestivum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), hyacinth bean (Lablab purpureus), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), finger millet (Eleusine coracana), cotton (Gossypium sp.), linseed (Linum sp.), as well as gathered fruits of Ziziphus and two Cucurbitaceae.
Some claim Indian agriculture began by 9000 BC as a result of early cultivation of plants, and domestication of crops and animals. Settled life soon followed with implements and techniques being developed for agriculture. Double monsoons led to two harvests being reaped in one year. Plants and animals—considered essential to their survival by the Indians—came to be worshiped and venerated
By the middle ages, India had developed irrigation channels that had reached a new level of sophistication and Indian crops affected the economies of other regions of the world thanks to Islamic patronage. These lands and Land and water management systems were developed with an aim of providing uniform growth.
Unlocking the Secrets of Mohenjodaro
Mohenjo-daro, is an archeological site situated in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Built around 2600 BC, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, and one of the world's earliest major urban settlements, existing at the same time as the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Crete. Mohenjo-daro was abandoned in the 19th century BC, and was not rediscovered until 1922.
Mohenjo-daro has a planned layout based on a street grid of rectilinear buildings. Most were built of fired and mortared brick; some incorporated sun-dried mud-brick and wooden superstructures. The sheer size of the city, and its provision of public buildings and facilities, suggests a high level of social organization. At its peak of development, Mohenjo-daro could have housed around 35,000 residents.
The city is divided into two parts, the so-called Citadel and the Lower City. The Citadel – a mud-brick mound around 12 metres (39 ft) high – is known to have supported public baths, a large residential structure designed to house 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 a hypocaust), possibly for heated bathing. Most houses had inner courtyards, with doors that opened onto side-lanes. Some buildings had two stories.In 1950, Sir Mortimer Wheeler identified one large building in Mohenjo-daro as a "Great Granary".
Certain wall-divisions in its massive wooden superstructure appeared to be grain storage-bays, complete with air-ducts to dry the grain. According to Wheeler, carts would have brought grain from the countryside and unloaded them directly into the bays. However, Jonathan Mark Kenoyer noted the complete lack of evidence for grain at the "granary", which, he argued, might therefore be better termed a "Great Hall" of uncertain function.[6]View of the site, showing an ordered urban layout.Close to the "Great Granary" is a large and elaborate public bath, sometimes called the Great Bath. From a colonnaded courtyard, steps lead down to the brick-built pool, which was waterproofed by a lining of bitumen. The pool measures 12m long, 7m wide and 2.4m deep. It may have been used for religious purification.
Other large buildings include a "Pillared Hall", thought to be an assembly hall of some kind, and the so-called "College Hall", a complex of buildings comprising 78 rooms, thought to have been a priestly residence.Mohenjo-daro had no circuit of city walls, but was otherwise well fortified, with guard towers to the west of the main settlement, and defensive fortifications to the south. Considering these fortifications and the structure of other major Indus valley cities like Harappa, it is postulated that Mohenjo-daro was an administrative center. Both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro share relatively the same architectural layout, and were generally not heavily fortified like other Indus Valley sites. It is obvious from the identical city layouts of all Indus sites, that there was some kind of political or administrative centrality, but the extent and functioning of an administrative center remains unclear.Mohenjo-daro was successively destroyed and rebuilt at least seven times. Each time, the new cities were built directly on top of the old ones.
Flooding by the Indus is thought to have been the cause of destruction.Mohenjo-daro was most likely one of the largest cities of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilization (after Harappa, another important IVC site, which is located to the north of Mohenjo-daro in Punjab, Pakistan). The prehistoric Indus culture gave rise to the Indus Valley Civilization around 3000 BC. The civilization spanned much of what is now Pakistan and North India, but suddenly went into decline around 1900 BC. Indus Civilization settlements spread as far west as the Iranian border, with an outpost in Bactria, and as far south as the Arabian Sea coast of western India in Gujarat. Among the settlements were the major urban centers of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, as well as Lothal. At its height, Mohenjo-daro was the most developed and advanced city in ancient South Asia, displaying remarkably sophisticated engineering and urban planning for its time.
Technologies of Ancient India
Weights and Scale The discovery of standard weights, a scale, and marked rods suggest that the ancient Indians had a uniform way to measure weight and length.
The Great Bath The remains of a brick pool, well, and drain system, lead archaeologists to believe that people may have bathed in and used the pool in religious rituals.
Statue, Beads, and Seals Other interesting artifacts include a small statue of a man, a variety of stone beads, and stone seals carved with pictographs.
Sewer System A sewer system carried waste away from the city’s buildings and into the Indus River. Both rich and poor people likely had homes with indoor bathrooms.
Homes Most people lived in the lower city in rows of 2-story houses made of mud bricks.These homes had between one and a dozen rooms.
Games As the discovery of game pieces and toys suggests, the people had time to play.Adults may have played an early form of chess.
Clay Models Archaeologists have found clay models that may have been toys. Some models reveal information about ways of farming and transporting goods to market.
Hinduism
The Origins of Hinduism
No single person founded Hinduism. It developed slowly, over a long period of time, growing out of centuries of older traditions.
In the second millennium B.C.E., nomadic people speaking Indo-European languages migrated into northern India. These nomads, sometimes called Aryans (AIR-ee-uhnz), brought to India their gods and rituals, some of which eventually became part of Hinduism. Other aspects of Hinduism drew on local traditions, which, over thousands of years, allowed a wide range of practices and beliefs to arise in different parts of India.
The oldest roots of Hinduism are found in Vedic religion, which is named for the earliest Indian texts. The Vedas (VAYduhz) are a collection of sacred texts, including verses, hymns, prayers, and teachings composed in Sanskrit (SAN-skrit). (Veda is Sanskrit for “knowledge.”) The earliest of the Vedas grew out of traditions brought into India by the Aryans. These traditions expanded over centuries in India, as the teachings of the Vedas were handed down orally from generation to generation, before India had a written form of Sanskrit.
Vedic rituals and sacrifices honored a number of deities (gods and goddesses) associated with nature and social order. Over time, these rituals became more complex.A class of priests and religious scholars, called Brahmins (BRAH-minz), grew increasingly important. They were responsible for correctly interpreting the Vedas and performing the required rituals. Brahmins eventually became the dominant class in India.Later Vedic religion is often called Brahmanism. The word Hinduism, the term for the traditions that grew out of later Vedic religion or Brahmanism, came much later.
Modern-day Hinduism is a very complex religion. Many beliefs, forms of worship, and deities exist side by side, and often differ from place to place. The Vedas, to which Hinduism traces its early roots, remain sacred to many Hindus today. Along with later sacred texts, the Vedas lay out some of the basic beliefs of Hinduism. As you will see, these beliefs have influenced every aspect of life in India.
Hindu Beliefs About Brahman
Brahman is the name of a supreme power, or a divine force, that some Hindus believe is greater than all other deities. To these Hindus, only Brahman exists forever. Everything else in the world changes, from the passing seasons to all living things that eventually die.
In many Indian traditions, including Hinduism, time moves forward in a circle, like a great wheel. The same events return, just as the sun rises each morning, and spring follows winter. Some Hindus see this cycle as the work of Brahman, who is constantly creating, destroying, and re-creating the universe. The cycle never ends.
According to Hindus following these traditions, everything in the world is a part of Brahman, including the human soul. Ancient Hindus called the soul atman. In certain traditions, Hindus view the soul as part of Brahman, just as a drop of water is part of the ocean. Through their souls, people are therefore connected to Brahman. In these traditions, the other deities worshipped in Hinduism are simply different forms of Brahman.Other Hindus have different beliefs about Hindu gods, such as Vishnu (VISH-noo) and Shiva (SHIH-vuh).
The Laxminarayan Temple, also called the Birla Temple, in Delhi, India, was built in 1622. The temple honors the Hindu god Vishnu. David Pedre/iStockphoto.comTo communicate with their deities, followers of the ancient Vedic religion and Brahmanism held their elaborate rites and sacrifices outdoors. In later Hindu times, as Indian civilization developed and cities grew, people began to build massive temples for worship.Today, many modern Hindu temples are modeled after the ancient principles used to design those early temples.
Many Hindu temples are magnificent in size and design. Their doors often face east, toward the rising sun. The buildings are covered with beautiful carvings and sculptures.These works of art usually show deities from Hindu sacred texts. The temple interiors usually contain a tower and a small shrine.
Hinduism and the Caste System
Brahmanism was more than a religion in ancient India. It was a way of life. It affected how Indians lived, what they believed, and even the way they organized their society. Many of those ideas live on in modern Hinduism.
Brahmanism taught that a well-organized society was divided into different social classes. Today, we call this practice of social organization, developed in India, the caste system. The Vedas describe four main social classes, or varnas:
• Brahmins (priests and religious scholars) • Kshatriyas (KSHA-tree-uhs) (rulers and warriors) • Vaishyas (VIESH-yuhs) (herders and merchants) • Shudras (SHOO-druhs) (servants, farmers, and laborers)
According to the Vedas, each class, or varna, had its own duties. For example, Brahmins had a duty to study and teach the Vedas. Warriors had a duty to become skilled with weapons. But the caste system meant that some people were favored much more than others. Brahmins held the highest place in society, while Shudras held the lowest.
Over the centuries, the caste system in India grew very complex. By medieval times, there were thousands of castes.The people in the lowest caste were known as Untouchables.Their descendants today often call themselves Dalits, from a word meaning “suppressed” or “crushed.” This group had jobs or ways of life that involved activities that high-caste Indians considered lowly or “dirty,” such as handling garbage and dead animals. Untouchables often had to live in their own villages or neighborhoods. They could not enter many temples or attend most schools.Other Hindus avoided touching, and in many cases, even looking at this group of people.Some of these rules separating the lowest caste remain today.
The caste system affected all aspects of people’s lives. Indians were born into a certain caste, and they could not change it. They could only marry within their own caste. Today, caste discrimination is outlawed in India. But despite the laws, caste status continues to affect many parts of Indian life.
This way of organizing society is just one example of how ancient religion affected daily life in India. Let’s look now at other aspects of Hinduism and how they helped shape Indian life and culture.
Hindu Beliefs About Deities
There are many deities in Hindu sacred texts and worship rituals. Over time, as we learned earlier, some Hindus came to believe that all the deities were different faces of a supreme force, Brahman. For these Hindus, each god represented a power or quality of Brahman.
Today, in some Hindu traditions, there are three important deities. They are Brahma (BRAH-mah) (not Brahman), Vishnu, and Shiva. Each deity controls one aspect of the universe. Brahma creates it, Vishnu preserves it, and Shiva destroys it. In other Indian traditions, another goddess named Devi (DAY-vee) embodies the female powers of the universe.
Ancient Hindu sacred texts often describe heroic deities battling evil. One famous story is found in the Ramayana. It tells of Rama’s fierce battle with Ravana, a demon (evil spirit).Such tales present in an entertaining way some of what later became Hindu beliefs. Many Hindu children have learned about their religion by listening to readings of the Ramayana, or in recent years, by seeing the stories dramatized on television.
Hindu families light candles, lamps, and sparklers to celebrate Divali, the festival of lights. The FinalMiracle /iStockphoto.comAncient literary texts like the Ramayana, which some Hindus view as sacred, have inspired many Hindu holidays and festivals. The Hindu New Year is celebrated at the Divali (dih-VAH-lee) festival. Divali means “row of lamps.” The lamps are symbols of good (light) winning over evil (darkness). They are often said to represent Rama’s triumph over the evil Ravana, and the start of the Hindu New Year.
Hindu Beliefs About Dharma
Dharma is an important belief in Hinduism and other Indian traditions. Dharma stands for law, obligation, and duty. To follow one’s dharma means to perform one’s duties and to live in an honorable way.
As you have already read, according to the Vedas, each social class, or varna, had its own duties. These duties usually involved a certain type of work. Duties might include studying religious texts, herding animals, trading goods, or serving as a warrior.Therefore, each class was seen as having its own dharma. In fact, early Hindus called their system of social classes varna dharma, or “the way of one’s kind.” Early Hindus believed that when everyone followed the dharma of their varna, society would be in harmony.
Brahmins, for example, were ancient Hindu society’s priests and religious scholars. Their duties included performing rituals and teaching the Vedas. This was quite an accomplishment, since ancient scholars had passed down this knowledge through word of mouth. To recite the Vedas orally, Brahmins had to memorize tens of thousands of verses!
An Indian groom (left) and bride (right) take part in preparations for a traditional Hindu wedding. Marriage is one form of dharma. thefinalmiracle/Shutterstock.comIn addition to following the dharma of their own varna, Hindus are expected to follow a common dharma, or set of values.This is often said to include the importance of marriage, sharing food with others, and caring for one’s soul.
Another basic value is nonviolence. Many Hindus, as well as followers of other Indian traditions, have a respect for life that stems from their belief that all life forms have a soul. In Hindu traditions, reverence for life is symbolized by the cow. Hindus were taught not to kill them, perhaps because cows provided people with things they needed, such as milk and butter. Even in death, cows provided hides that could be made into clothing.
Hindu Beliefs About Karma
The belief in dharma expresses much of what Hindus believe about the right way to live. Karma is another belief Hindus share with other Indian traditions. It explains the importance of living according to dharma.
In Hindu belief, the law of karma governs what happens to people’s souls after death. From ancient times, many Indians believed that souls had many lives. When a person died, his or her soul was reborn in a new body. The type of body the reborn soul received depended on the soul’s karma.
Karma was made up of all the good and evil that a person had done in past lives. If people lived good lives, they might be born into a higher social class in their next life. If they lived badly, they could expect to be reborn into a lower class. They might even be reborn as animals.
For Hindus, the law of karma meant that the universe was just, or fair. Souls were rewarded or punished for the good and evil they had done. Karma was also used to explain why people had a certain status in society. You may recall that in the caste system, people could not escape the social class of their birth. According to karma, this judgment was fair, because it was thought that people’s social class reflected what they had done in their past lives.
Over the centuries, many Indian scholars disapproved of the caste system. They thought that all people, including the Untouchables, should be treated equally. In the 20th century, the chief architect of India’s first constitution, B. R. Ambedkar, sharply criticized the caste system. He, himself, came from the Untouchable caste. Today, Indian law makes caste discrimination illegal, but caste ideas continue to affect daily life. Other ancient ideas, like karma and rebirth, which are tied to views of caste, also remain central to Indian beliefs.
Hindu Beliefs About Samsara
As you have learned, Hindus and many other Indians believe in a continuous cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. They call this cycle samsara. As long as people are part of samsara, they will know pain and death. Samsara ends when the soul escapes from the cycle of rebirth, the time when some Hindus believe that they are united with Brahman, the supreme force in the universe.
It takes many lifetimes before a person can be released from samsara. People escape the cycle of rebirth, or reincarnation, by following their dharma. They behave correctly and perform their social duties. They worship faithfully according to prescribed rules. In these ways, they balance their karma with good actions.
Hindus from all over the world travel to the Ganges River to bathe in its waters. steve estvanik/Shutterstock.comThe Indians of ancient times went on holy journeys calledpilgrimages. People would travel to sacred places like the Ganges River. Such pilgrims believed that the difficulty of the journey would cleanse them of their sins.
Faithful Hindus still make pilgrimages today. Pilgrims travel for days over difficult land, including mountains. At each holy site and temple they encounter, they often lie facedown in worship.The Ganges River is still one of the most holy places in India.Like the ancient Indians, modern Hindus bathe in its waters as an act of devotion and purification.