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Indian History

Indus valley civilization

• 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

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

Early Vedic

• 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

• 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".