Early Societies in South Asia: CHAPTER 4 LECTURE NOTES - TRADITIONS AND ENCOUNTERS 6TH EDITION - AP World History

FOUNDATIONS OF HARAPPAN SOCIETY

• The Indus River
• Silt-enriched water from mountain ranges
• Major society built by Dravidian people (3,000-2,500 BCE)
  • Cultivation of poultry 
    • Chickens, small birds, etc.
• Decline after 1,900 BCE
• Major cities include Harappa (Punjab region)/Mohanjo-Daro (mouth of the Indus River)
• Population: 40,000
  • Very large for the 1st time
• Regional center
  • part of the larger community, but center of trade/commerce
  • Layout, architecture suggests public purpose
    • Tall tower built on hills as lookout positions
    • School with plenty of tables
    • Broad streets, citadel, pool, sewage (very wide)
• Standardized weights evident throughout the region
• Specialized labor/trade

HARAPPAN SOCIETY/CULTURE

• Evidence of social stratification
  • Nobility/priest --> Merchants (wealthy) --> Peasants --> Slaves
  • Dwelling size decore
    • Lots of land/decor important/valuable
• Harappan civilization influences Indian culture
• Statues, figurines, and illustrations reflect a tradition of art/metallurgy
• Venerated a goddess of fertility

MYSTERIOUS END OF HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION

• Reasons for disappearance unclear
  • Excess deforestation/ loss of topsoil
    • Roots help keep topsoil in place, without it, the wind can blow it away
    • Nutrients for crops to sit/rest
  • Earthquakes/food
• Evidence of unburied dead
• Disappeared by 1,500 BCE
• Harappan traditions survived agricultural practices, religious beliefs, and urban traditions

EARLY ARYANS

• Pastoral economy, sheeps, goats, horses, cattle
  • Cattle not sacred to Aryans until many centuries later
• Religious/literact works: The Vedas
• Four Vedas/Wisdoms, most important is Rig Urda
  • 1,028 hymns to Aryan gods
    • Songs/stories to tell history, what they do, their jobs, etc. about Aryan gods

VEDIC AGE

• Conflicts between Aryans and indigenous dasas
  • Also Aryans fighting each other
• Chiefdoms = rajas
  • People moving into smaller groups to protect themselves/work together
• Early concentration in Punjab, migrations further south
  • Development of iron metallurgy
  • Increasing reliance on agriculture
• Tribal connections evolve into political structures

**NOTES**

Sanskrit = sacred tongue

Prakrit = everyday language evolved --> Hindu, Urdu, Bengali

Dasas = "enemies/subjects"

Varna = caste system

ORIGINS IN ARYAN DOMINATION OF DRAVIDIANS

1. Brahmin priest
2. Kshatriya, warrior
3. Vaishiya - merchant
4. Shudra, serf-->farmers
5. "Untouchables" --> people who change the sewage systems, collecting dead, etc.

• Jati system of subcastes
  • Related with urbanization, increasing social/economic complexity 

PATRIARCHY IN ANCIENT INDIAN SOCIETY

• Rule of the Father = the idea that men>women
  • Women's most important duties: bear children/maintain wholesome homes
  • Social order that stood alongside the caste system and varna hierarchy

ARYAN RELIGION

• Major deity of Rig Veda = Indra, war god
  • Becomes part of religion early on
• Elaborate ritual sacrifices to the gods
  • Role of the Brahmins (priests) is important
• (around 800 BCE) some movement away from sacrificial cults
  • Didn't kill animals to please gods
  • Mystical thought influenced by Dravidians

TEACHINGS OF THE UPANISHADS

• Texts that represent blending of Aryan/Dravidian traditions
• Composed 800-400 BCE, some later collections until 13th century
• Brahman: Universal soul
  • Everyone comes from this one universal soul
• Samsara: Reincarnation
  • Return to the universal soul
  • Born a different person, good/bad depending on the person's morals
• Karma: Accounting for incarnations
  • Good/bad karma = the more good actions you do, the more good karma you build up, vice versa
• Moksha = Mystical ecstasy 
  • Idea that a person will reach a level of happiness that seems "mystical", cannot be reached with simple ways
• Reinforced caste/social hierarchy