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Indian History

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Indus valley civilization

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  • The Indus people had significant maritime activities.
  • Objects resembling scales and weights have been found (==> trade)
  • Buildings were made of sun-dried bricks
  • No direct evidence of use of currency.
  • They had a cyclic concept of time. Indeed, Hinduism has the concept of the 4 yugas: Satya, Trata, Dvapara and Kali. After Kali is the pralaya (destruction) which leads back to Satya.
  • Fertility rites were common.
  • They believed in a connection between the productivity of land and humans. Accordingly one of their rites was to copulate on the field.
  • We have found many phallic symbols, thought to represent proto-Shiva.
  • Bronze statue of dancing girl in extrmenely provocative posture. (Remark: even today female statues/idols have enlarged mammaries and hips)
  • They worshipped a mother-Goddess.
  • Abandoned skeletons are found (?).
  • Indus remains suggest 4 diffent ethnic backgrounds:
    • Caucasian
    • Proto-meditteranean
    • Mongoloid
    • Negroid
  • Possible causes for decline
    • Floods
    • Deforestation
    • Tectonic movement
    • Malaria
  • The earliest scripts that are known are the following
    • Harappan
    • Hitite
    • Sumerian
    • Egyptian
    • Chinese
    • Cretan
    • Ilamite
  • The Harappan script alone has not been deciphered. It can be classified as pictography/logography/ideography
  • Evolution of syllablic scripts lead to decrease in the number of characters.
  • The H. script is found in seals, pot shards and bronzes.
  • The Egyptian script was deciphered using bilingual stones. The other language in the stones was proto-Greek.
  • The stratum in which the artifact is found gives clues about the date.
  • Animals known to the Indus people: Bull, elephant, rhino, tiger, buffalo.
  • Animals not known: horse, lion, camel.
  • Since the script has not been deciphered, in practice it is prehistory even though we call it history.
  • 4000 seals of the Indus civ have been found.
  • 400-450 characters of the script have been identified.
  • The average inscription has 5 chars. The longest has 26.
  • The margins are to the right. We find cramped characters on the left.
  • 83% of the time they wrote R to L. 7-8% of the time R to L followed by L to R.
  • Boustrophedon mode of writing
  • Brevity may indicate that inscriptions may refer to names of owners. Thus it might not teach us much about the civ even if the script is deciphered.

Vedic Cilvilization

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(Note: lots of Sanskrit words ahead. In italics.)

Early Vedic

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  • Rig Vedic society was tribal in nature (Indus: Urban).
  • Main occupation was cattle rearing
  • Rajan: ruler
  • Visvamitra was a prohita, a rajaguru
  • Panchajana - the confederacy
  • The Dasa or Dasyus
    • Were thought to be pre-vedic/pre-aryan people by earlier historians
    • They were dark complexioned, did not worship Vedic deities, spoke a non-sanskritic language, had woolly hair etc.
    • Some scholars contend the gap was cultural rather than racial and say that Dasyus were earlier Aryans
    • Vyasa had a fisherman background, and Agastya is descibed as being short.
  • Casteism as we know it wsa not found in the early Vedic times.
  • Gavishti - cattle rites.
  • Prohit: advisor and religious head. Not a brahmin in the modern sense
  • Senani: led the tribe in war.
  • Entire tribe had a right to bear arms
  • King often got a ceremonial gift - bali from the people
  • The polity of the Rg Veda was none too complex
  • Food. The Early Aryans ate meat.
  • Cow is described as aghnya (that which cannot be killed)
  • However, there is reference to goghnya (one whose job is to kill cows)
  • Most likely explanation of the paradox: cows were a valuable resource, and were to be used sparingly.
  • Irrefutable evidence in later vedic text of author, who was one the major saints of the Upanishads, enjoying tender calf.
  • Vegetarianism became an important part of Brahminical tradition after Buddha.
  • Shastras mention how to apportion meat of sacrifieced horse.
  • No reference in Rg Veda of prayers for better crops, only better Pasu (cattle).
  • Sidenote: D. N. Jha wrote a book about this subject and the VHP managed to prevent its publication by terrorizing the publisher.
  • Wheat was not known. Godhma is referred to only in later Vedic texts.
  • Gambling was a common pastime
  • In the Rg veda there is the lament of a gambler
  • Learning was by rote
  • Students learning verses are compared in the literature of the period to croaking frogs.
  • Poverty and plenty were both common
  • Religion
  • Worship of nature.
  • Fear of the unknown and unfamiliar.
  • The terrifying forces of nature were deified
  • Dharma was supposed to be eternal and its practice ensured standing
  • Great emphasis on social and moral conservativeness
  • Fear of disharmony and chaos
  • Deities: Indra, Varuna, Vayu, Surya, Mitra, Agni, Soma.
  • Deities were not viewed as all-powerful
  • Relationship between devotee and deity was one of transaction
  • At any given point, one particular deity was superior to all others
  • Each had a specific role
  • rth - the cosmic order
  • Mode of worship: sacrifices, chanting of verses
  • They prayed for longeivity of life, plentiful procreation and cattle.
  • No reference to moksha in the Rg.
  • Visvamitra = friend of the Vis. hence he was probably not of Vedic origin.

Later Vedic

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  • Agriculture emerged as an important economic activity.
  • More free time
  • Artisans and craftsmen were more numerous
  • Varna was more rigid, but not yet watertight
  • Trade increased; was by and large barter
  • No unanimous view on the existense of money
  • The people had moved to a more congenial area, favorable climatic conditions, more rainfall and alluvial soil
  • Small hamlets were established along the Gangetic valley
  • Aryavarta the land acquired a sacred connotation
  • All the sacred sites are found along the Gangetic valley
  • Early ruler was called the Gopa (protector of cows), now becomes chakravrtin - possessor (protector ?) of land
  • Importance of cattle rearing seems to have waned
  • Janas fought among themselves and claimed the land
  • Jana --> Janapathi
  • Rashtra (state) occurs extensively in later literature
  • Rituals, organization and ceremony become important
  • Elaborate crowning/coronation rituals -- major social occasion
  • The king symbolically tilled the land
  • Various officers, in addition to the prohit and senani emerged
  • Wars occur in order to acquire more land. (e.g Kurukshetra)
  • Ruler who brings more land under his rule called himself Ekarat, Samrat, Chakravartin etc.
  • Yagnyas: Vajapeya, Rajasuya, Asvamedha
  • Much forest land had to be cleared
  • however, the Brahmin received gifts in Go, not Bhu
  • Land surveys, revenue, etc. are common
  • Kshartiyas and Brahmanas did not contribute to the economy and had to be supported by the other classes
  • Many rituals emerged to strengthen the alliance between these two groups
  • Internal divisions became marked (?)
  • Jaya - 8800 verses; Bharata - 24000 verses, Mahabharata - > 10^5 verses
  • Social division exists but caste system had not fully emerged
  • To strengthen their position, the Brahmanas proliferated a large number of sacrifices and increased their importance
  • Improper performance of sacrifices/chanting of verses was supposed to bring ruin
  • Vak, the goddess of learning became a deity in order to ensure the proper enunciation of verses
  • Kshatriyas amassed wealth
  • Yajamana - the one who commissioned the sacrifice (sponsor)
  • Specialization of an extreme order developed among the Brahmanas
  • Dana (gift) gave way to Dakshina (fee)
  • Matsya Nyaya - smaller states being absorbed by bigger ones. (Matsya = fish; Nyaya = approx. rule; think smaller fish being eaten by bigger ones).
  • Janapadas: 16 became Mahajanapadas
  • The lot of the lower Varnas declined and became miserable (the literature is clear on this point)
  • Dha (root of dharma) : firm, strong, unshakeable
  • Less equitable distribution of wealth
  • Rule of primogeniture was not well established
  • Hereditary monarchy was emerging
  • Rg mentions Gana, sabha, samiti, vidhata. Now becomes merely royal court. (==> Participation of people decreased)
  • Women were given a distinctly lower status
  • No child marriage
  • Brahmacharya was exhorted but spinsters were frowned upon
  • Concept of property and inheritance increases, therefore women's status decreases
  • Priestly class put forth the concept that proper carrying out of yagnyas led to victory.
  • Competition everywhere; survival of the fittest.
  • Many were upset about the economic and social differences instead of the egalitarian values of the tribal society.
  • Some wanted to opt out of the race
  • These people meditated on the philosophical aspects of life; their musings are recorded in the Aranyakas of the Upanishads
  • This was a natural response to transition and uncertainty.
  • They looked for certitude of position
  • Matsya nyaya evoked condemnation from these people. They scorned wealth
  • The above information is based on socio-psychological analysis based on later vedic literature by contemporary scholars
  • This was a protest movement. If it became widespread, economy and society would come to a grinding halt.
  • Therefore the 4 ashramas: Brahmacharya, Grihasta, Vanaprasta and Sanyasa.
  • Thus sanyasa is legitimized but placed at the fag end so that it does not affect the average citizen
  • Karma and punarjanma - two important concepts.
  • Karma = balance sheet of good and bad, punarjanma = afterlife/rebirth.
  • Sidenote: compare the psychological response of emigrant Indians to unfamiliar territory. Some become ultraconservative, others become highly liberal. The former are the group that funds the Hindu fundamentalists/terrorists like VHP. The latter try hard to become assimilated into the new society.
  • Karma makes you accept your failure and makes you feel responsible for it instead of attributing it to external forces
  • Vedas were considered axiomatic. But starting from there they reasoned logically in the Upanishads.
  • A true believer in Karma would not be a fatalist
  • A call for action without getting too caught up in the outcome
  • Moksha is freedom from good and bad, which are though to be subjective
  • Reference: Romila Thapar - "Asceticism as a protest movement in Ancient India" in "Essays on early Indian history".