Early Societies in S.

Asia 04/09/2007 15:30:00

Introductory story: Indra–rambunctious,few peers in fighting,feasting

Aryans
• Aryans – herding Indo-European who migrated to S. Asia in
1500BCe, Indra as chief diety
• War between god and demons: Gods picked Indra as leader, won
• Indra-rain, battle with dragon lived in sky, hoarded water, 1st slaked
thirst with soma(hallucinogenic potion) and attacked the dragon, 7
rivers of N. India
• Aryans put Indra as guide when fight Dravidians in India
• Faded into nothing
• India – 8000-5000BCE, cultivators built Neolithic west of Indus river
• 7000BCE, agriculture goes to Indus valley,
• 3000BCE, Dravidian people established Neolithic communites
o Wheat, Barley, Cotton, Cattle, sheep, goats
• Increased into cities
• Harappan-earliest urban society, declined from environmental
• 1500-1000BCE in turmoil, Aryan and Dracidian
Harappan Society: Named after Harappa(major city), valley of
river(Indus), 3000BCe involved into cities,
• Difficult to follow as physical remains are inaccessible, water raised,
earliest is 2500BCE, second, lack of deciphered records, since 1920
Foundations of Harappan Society
The Indus River: Draws water from Hindu Kush and
Himalayas
o Have enormous amounts of silt, rich soil, less predictable
o Early cultivators sowed wheat and barley in Sept. then
collected in spring
  Kept first flock of domesticated chicken
o Cultivated cotton before 5000BCE, dyed cloth dating b4 2000
o 3000-2500BCE, Dracidians built complex society
 Supported two cities, Harapa and Mohenjo-Daro
o 70 harappan settlements along Indus river.
 Much of Pakistan and N. India
Political Organization: No evidence, no king or central
authority
o Mohenjo-Daro-35-40K, harappa-smaller
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro: City walls, citadel, granary-
centers of authority
o Market place, temples, public buildings, residential districts,
broad streets in grids, MD had large pool
o Had standardized patterns, styles, sizes, weights
Specialized labor and trade: engaged in domestic and foreign
trade
o Pottery, tools, a. decorative items,
o Obtained gold,silver etc in Persia
o 2300-1750BCE traded with Mesopotamia
Harappan Society and Culture: 2500-2000-40K – MD
Social distinctions: No pyramids, palaces, or tombs, but wield
great power from citadels
o Poor – One-room tenements (barracks-style)
o Rich – 2, 3 Stories, courtyards, wells, bathrooms, sewage
o 3300BCE – earliest dated writing of Harappan, understand
several symbol but not enough
Fertility Cults: Strong religion for fertility
 o Mother goddess and horned fertility god, held trees and
animals sacred
Harappan Decline: 1900BCE, deforest->erosion->reduced
rainfall
o Indus valley became desert, faced crisis after 1900
o Might be flooding or earthquakes
o After 1700BCE, abandoned city, 1500 collapsed
The Indo-European Migrations and Early Aryan India: Foreigners
came and settled in valley during turmoil, pastural and nomadic, 1500BCE
went through Hindi Kush mountains to N.India, several centuries, no military
1500BCe, intermarried
The Aryans and India
The early Aryans: Aryans practiced little agriculture when
entering India, more pastoral economy(sheep, goats, horses,
cattle)
o Horses are rare in India, expense, need to import horses
 Used horses for carts/wagons/chariots
o Cattle became principal measure of wealth, ate dairy and
cattle(not sacred yet)
The Vedas: No writing but used poems and songs
o Preserved collections of religious and literay works by
memorizing them, tramitting orally in Sanskrit, sacred
o For everyday used Prakrit ->Hindi, Bengali, Urdu
o Vedas – Collections of hymns, songs, prayers and rituals
 Earliest – Rig Veda, 1028 hymns to gods, 1400-900
 Committed to writing around 600 with all 4
o Vedas-priestly perspective, veda(wisdom), shed light on early
Aryan history, 1500-500BCe Vedas Age
The Vedic Age: a boisterous society in which Aryans clashed
Dravidian
o Aryans and enemies(dasas”subject people”)
o Indra – war god and hero, Aryans clashed repeatedly,
attacking cities and wreaking the irrigation system
o Adpoted Dravidians techniques
o Aryans no state, hundreds of chiefdoms
 Leader known as a raja, governed with village elders
 Large amount of potential conflict
Aryan Migrations in India: Early centuries, Aryan groups
settled in Punjab, upper Indus that straddles India and
Pakistan
o Most prominent waves in Indo-European Migrations
 Spread E.S. and into India
o 1000BCE, settle between Himalayan and Ganges
 Made iron tools at same time
o 750BCE, established first cities in Ganges
o 500BCE, N. Deccan, 1500KM s. of Punjab
Changing Political Organization: relied on more agricultural
than herd
o Gradually lost tribal to councils of elders, directed affaris of
small republics – state governed by representatives of citizens
o 1000-500BCE,more chiefs worked from permanent capital
and demand professional admins
o Did not build large imperial states till 400BCE, reginal
government
Origins of the Caste System: well defined social order,
maintain stability, sharp hereditary distinctions.
o Caste – portuguse for casta – social class of hereditary,
unchangeable
Caste and Varna: Caste system developed gradually
o Varna – color to refer to social classes, different skin
Social Distinction in the late Verdic Age: 1000BCE four main
varnas
o Priest(Brahmins)
o Warriors(vaishyas)
o Aristocrats(kshatriyas)
o Peasants and serfs(shudras)
o Untouables – butcher, dirty skills, Rig Veda – 1000BCE, gods
created four varna and B and K best, enhanced their power
Subcastes and Jati: 600BCE described pretty well, no
specialized labor
o Over time, much elaborate social order
o Complicated hierarchy of subcastes known as jati, 1800 and
1900 CE, several thousand jati’s
o Ate with one another and intermarried, cared for each other
o Laws dictate how to communicate, violation of jati rules could
result in expulsion from the group
Caste and Social Mobility: not absolutey rigid, operate to
accodamate change
o V or S may turned to new lines of work and prospered, B and
K may lose positions, more group than individuals
o Moving or taking new line of work.
o Foreigners organized into caste too
o End Vedic age – caste served as foundation of stability
 More close with jati than city or state
The Development of Patriarchal Society
Strong patriarchal society, men already dominate when
moving in
The lawbook of Manu: Vedic society want to put women under
man
o 100BCE, Sage wrote book attributed to Manu, founder of
human race, about moral and social behaviors
o After Vedic but shows roots,
Sati: or Suttee, widow voluntarily threw herself into funeral
pyre of husband to join in death
Religion in the Vedic Age: Mobile a. violent society and then became
Hinduism
Aryan Religion
Aryan Gods: Chief deity is Indra, boisterous and violent war
god
o Wielder of thunderbolts, led Aryans to battle
o Also associated with weather, rain, showed instability and
turbulence
o Believed Varuna presided over sky and punished with death
 House of Clay/world of Fathers
Ritual Sacrifices: Rituals are important
o Complex and elaborate, slaughtered animals, as priests spoke
chant and took practice of soma (hallucinogenic concoction)
o Proper ritual called to have Brahmins perfom <5 sacrifices per
day
o Later, dissatisfied, 8000BCE, lived as hermits,
Blending if Aryan and Dravidian Values
The Upanishads: 800 to 400CE sitting in front of
o Gargi Vakaknavi women drove sage Yajnavalkya to
exasperation because he could not answer question
Brahman the Universal soul: participation in a larger cosmic
order and forms a small part of a universal soul
o Eternal, unchanging
Teaching of Upanishads: Samsara, goes to house of father
than back
o Karma, specific incarnation that souls experienced
o Brhadaranyaka Upanishad – Karma – pure by deeds
o Moksha – deep, dreamless sleep, liberation from incarnations
 Extremely simple lives and yoga
Religion and Vedic Society: Upanishads as to justify caste
system
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