INDIA

I.  GEOGRAPHY

2,000 miles north to south

huge Deccan plateau to south (Deccan means "south") where most rivers flow east

Ganges and Indus valleys to north

walled off by mountains (Himalayas) to north, but never a complete barrier

summer wet monsoon season in June to October, winds off water into mountains

by April, hot dry, parched, 110 degrees

II.  PREHISTORY

paleolithic and ice ages there

after 10,000 neolithic nomadic hunter‑gatherers

cultivation of plants about 7,000 bce

by 3,000 bce climactic conditions allowed development of Indus River valley, but then
decreasing rainfall destroyed it

Aryans (noble‑ones), cattle‑rearing nomads, were just the final straw

chakravartin, the ruler who tries to conquer the role (the Indian model)

III.  HARRAPA, 2500‑1500

          autnomous development 

     Indus River (pakistan)
          arose in 3rd millennium
                                   trade relation to mesopotamia (perhaps contact with Sumeria
                    provided model)
          great river complex to form indus
                              now much of the valley is an arid desert, but not 5000 years ago,
               by then agriculture of wheat and barley
                    centralized developments
                         first large‑scale organized government, but seems was not a military
               empire, but a priestly state
                         vanished around 1500 (key date in old times, about same time as fall of
               Hammurabi's dynasty)     
                              resembled Egypt!
               knew writing and bronze 
          no longer center of civ
          did it happen because of aryan nomadic invaders?
               nomads had no use of agriculture
               eventually settled down

               in 1850s discovered remains of city of Harrapa in valley to north
          not much remains, not much known
                                   archeological excavation has shed little light on the rise of these
                    cities (just suddenly they were there
                         writing not yet deciphered, mostly just have small, family seals surviving

     Mohenjo‑daro in south
          very great cities
                                   square grid pattern, not much change over hundreds of years
               city walls, kiln dried bricks
                                   very much planned, very logical checkerboard pattern of city (so
                    somebody laid them out!)
               large citadels and granaries
               house structures similar to each other

     cultivation of wheat, rye, peas, cotton, sesame (for oil)
     animals, fish and irrigation
     city as trade center
     bronze weapons only
     priest class dominant
          coordinate defense
          intermediaries to gods
                         mother goddess figures (how do you interpret such remains?
          some small art forms survive (mostly on seals), these bulls, and carts obsession
     with fertility?

     very slow demise
          evidence of short term floods
          shift in monsoon began desertification
          waves of aryan nomadic invaders
               there, is evidence of some violence

                         evidence of Horse‑raiding invaders in Baluchistan villages in 2000
                              slow conquest (Better weapons and use of horse)

                    cities broke down under strain

                    by 1600 collapse

IV.  VEDIC, or ARYAN, PERIOD, 1500‑500

     A.  Early Period, 1500‑900, composition of Rg veda

called themselves Aryas, root of Iran and Eire
Central Asian nomads, tall, fair and long‑haired
used horses and light chariots
migrated south, west and east, conquered villages as they went

gradually merged into near east and europe
big blank, 1500‑500, mostly village life

by 1000 vedic hymns collected, rig veda, oral tradition
but they tell us little about past India

is mention of Dasas, or dasyus, survivors of harrapan culture dark, bull‑lipped, snub‑
nosed
dasa later acquired meaning of slave
intermixing

tribes ruled by hereditary chiefs called raja (related to Latin rex)
tribal council, sabha or samite
chief priest and a chief general
king was a war leader, not divine at first

aryans had a class structure:  kshatra, the nobility, vis, ordinary tribesmen
eventually four classes emerged:  brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya (peasant) and shudra
(serf),
varna means colour

cows very important for economy

did have strong drinks (soma) and liked to gamble
highly skilled bronze tools and weapons

     B.  Late Period, 900‑500, brahmanas and Upanishids

Later vedic age
1000‑500!
aryans moved east down ganges
almost only source is still religious stexts

battle of Kurukshetra, near Delhi, formed basis of Mahabharata (dynastic dispute in the
Kuru tribe), but difficult to use as a historical document
an another kingdom set up in Banaras, where ranma lived, (Ramayana), but not even
certain that he was king of Kosala

little aryan kingdoms
councils diminished in importance in face of king and brahman

rise of the sacrifical cult

rice now, iron too
specialized artisans emerged
but no mention of coins or writing

          approximately 1500 bce
                              related to Iranians and Hyksos, 3 branches of same people,
               iranian, hyksos, aryan
          copper age, semi‑nomadic
               had domesticated the horse
                         overran the riverine civilization and conquered North India
     a linguistic term

          herders from caspian sea region, Black/Aral Sea region

                                   had to be a major climactic change to push them south (note that
                    they also moved west‑‑we are all part of the same family
     moved into indus and ganges plains
          eventually began to do agriculture too since so fertile

          A.  led to Vedic religion
          in some ways resembled Homeric religions
                              Note that Zoroastrianism became more and more monotheistic;
               Zaruthstra emerged as a prophet, very typical of Near Eastern
               religion

                         Vedic became more mysticism (goal was to become part of an ultimate
               being)
               evolutionary process from 1500 on

               vedas, simple polytheism

                         Aranyakas, "to rest" books, where people in isolated places could
               contemplate

                         veda, warrior hymns were only finally written down late in 6th century
                                   songs in praise of deities (vedas), though not very clear about the
                    different gods
          oral tradition
          written down into uniform version as the Rig Veda
          FIRST stage in the development of Indian religion

     B.  Literature followed religious evolution
          oldest texts are the Vedas
               a kind of early sanskrit
          1200‑900 bce, proper performance of sacrifice
          Vishnu, a minor god, Budhra, storm god
          how to appease and gain their benevolence
                         Rig veda is the oldest, and still used, which does begin to explain the
               Varna system

               warlike people in tribes
          Remember only highly fragmentary evidence

               Indra, god of war and lightning
          gods still described in human terms
               polytheists
               gods like ancient Greeks!
               sacrifice and ritual by priests
          huge pot belly, liked to drink

     Classes
          warriors, priests and commoners at first
          added slaves as a fourth
                         very rigid distinction between aryans who described themselves as light‑
               skinned and slaves
               marriages forbidden
               caste system?

     slowly four varnas emerged
          Dasa, dark skinned outcast?

     patrilineal, conquest, military prowess lauded
               after death (World of the fathers) while bad went to the (House of Clay)

               no defined civ by 1500 left, lot of small kingdoms gradually emerged

               thus, with disappearance of Harrapa, had to start all over again, did not pass on
          fundamental social and cultural things
     why disintegrate

V.  Post‑aryan arrival was NOT a heroic age like mycenae

     transfer of civ east to Ganges plain and use of iron
          after 800 stared clearing jungle
          by 600 seat of power
                         to do rice needed irrigation, to do irrigation needed kingdoms (Kosala and
               Magadha)

     slow emergence of caste system
          ceremonial purity
          aryan prejudice
          with earlier social guidelines
                         brahman theory that divine divided into four castes, sudras were non‑
               aryan
          became very complicated