INDIA

• The Indian subcontinent is a large peninsula

• It is surrounded by the Arabian sea, Indian ocean
Bay of Bengal
• In the north, the Himalayan Mountain separates India from the rest
of Asia

1. Northern Plain 1. Indus

2. Deccan Plateau 2. Ganges
3. Coastal Plain 3. Brahmaputra
• The Northern Plain became the home of the first
Indian Civilization
• Vindhaya mountains - separate the plateau from the
northern plain
• Monsoon - a seasonal wind system from June until
September
- the chief feature of the Indian climate
• INDIAN GOD: Shiva
(creator and Detroyer, God of harvest,of the cycle of birth, life, death and
rebirth and also primal yogi)
• was a Bronze Age civilization (3300–1300 BCE; mature
period 2600–1900 BCE)
• The greater Indus region was home to the largest of
the four ancient urban civilizations .
• It was not discovered until the 1920's.
• Indus valley lacks any monumental temples or palaces,
even though excavated cities indicate that the society
possessed the requisite engineering knowledge.
• Had a close relationship to the river and its tributaries, a
situation very like that in Sumer and in Egypt.
• The indus is an “exotic river” that is one that originates in
a well-watered area.
 AGRICULTURE
• Agriculture had evolved much earlier than the
emergence of Indian Civilization, probably in a
number of widely separated places where the
development was independent including tropical
southeast Asia, Africa and by the first millennium
Central and South America.
• Agriculture is dependent on irrigation.
Inscriptions on Indus seals give details
about animals sacrificed and nature of
ceremony.

Some ceremonies were performed for

obtaining remission of sins and others
were for pleasing the souls of dead
ancestors. (Pithru Karma ceremony)
Indus script had remained deciphered for a long time.
There are many decipherments of Indus seal inscriptions, some are
based on Dravidian language and others are based on Aryan
language. But, none of the decipherer is able to prove anything
convincingly because there is no reference point.
• Objects from India
have been found in
Sumer and Sumerian
objects in India.
• Used primarily to
mark property or
goods for trade.
Dancing Girl

A bronze statuette
dubbed the "Dancing Girl",
10.5 centimetres (4.1 in)
high and some 4,500 years
old, was found in 'HR area'
of Mohenjo-daro in 1926.
Priest King
In 1927, a seated
male soapstone figure was
found in a building with
unusually ornamental
brickwork and a wall-niche.
Though there is no evidence
that priests or monarchs ruled
Mohenjo-daro, archeologists
dubbed this dignified figure a
"Priest-King.”.
Seven-stranded Mohenjo-daro
necklace
The necklace has an S-shaped
clasp with seven strands, each over
4ft long, of bronze-metal bead-like
nuggets connecting each arm of the
“S” in filigree. Each bead is less than
the size of a pepper-seed and has
many facets. Each strand has between
220 to 230 nuggets and there are
about 1600 nuggets in total. The
necklace weighs about 250 grams. It
is presently in a private collection in
India, possibly in Shimla.
• One of the most fascinating yet mysterious cultures of the
ancient world.
• Harappa and the city of Mohenjo-Daro were the greatest
achievements of the Indus valley civilization.
• The Harappan people were literate and used the Dravidian
language.
• was mainly urban and mercantile.
• This civilization was the first to cultivate cotton for the
production of cloth.
• This is one of the only sites where an entire sequence has been
recovered that spans the history of Indus cities.
The Harappan civilization experienced its height
around 2500 BC and began to decline about 2000
BC. The causes of its downfall are not certain. One
theory suggests that the Aryan people migrated into
this area. Aryan religious texts and human remains in
Mohenjo-Daro suggest that the Aryans may have
violently entered the area, killing its inhabitants and
burning the cities.
 The Harappan civilization had an elaborate sanitary and drainage
system.
The Authorities maintained a highly efficient drainage system. Each
and every house had a connection with the main drain. These even
had inspection holes for maintenance. The conduits to the main
drains running through the middle of the streets below pavement
level and covered with flat stones and sturdy tile bricks.

The covered drain was connected to the larger sewerage outlets

which finally led the dirty water outside the populated areas. The
urban plan found in these cities included the world's first urban
sanitation systems. The elaborate brick-lined drainage system for
the removal of rainwater is of unparalleled engineering skill.
Drainage System
 The Pipal Tree was used as a religious symbol.

They worshipped Pasupathi (Siva) and Mother

Goddess. Mother Goddess represented fertility.
There are no temple structures among the
remains. The Indus people believed in life after
death. They buried their dead in huge earthen
pots along with food and ornaments. The
articles used by them in then’ daily life were also
kept in those pots.
The Pipal Tree
• was abandoned in the 19th century BCE, and was not
rediscovered until 1922.
• Baked bricks buildings provide an impressive vista of
urban architecture, drains and wells, the ancient mounds
of Harappa are characterized by imposing erosion gullies,
piles of brick rubble and fragmentary walls.
• simply means Mound of the Dead in Sindhi
• Most were built of fired and mortared brick; some
incorporated sun-dried mud-brick and wooden
superstructures.
• Mohenjo-daro has a planned layout based on a street
grid of rectilinear buildings.
• The city is divided into two parts, the so-called Citadel
and the Lower City
a mud-brick mound around 12 metres (39 ft) high – is known to have
supported public baths, a large residential structure designed to house
about 5,000 citizens, and two large assembly halls.
The city had a central marketplace, with a large central well. Individual
households or groups of households obtained their water from smaller
wells. Waste water was channeled to covered drains that lined the major
streets. Some houses, presumably those of wealthier inhabitants, include
rooms that appear to have been set aside for bathing, and one building had
an underground furnace (known as a hypocaust), possibly for heated
bathing. Most houses had inner courtyards, with doors that opened onto
side-lanes. Some buildings had two stories
Lower City
• The vedas and epics are concerned with romantic adventure
involving Gods and Demons or with philosophical and
religious matters rather than with accounts of daily life.
• The Chinese acknowledge India as the home of the most
advanced knowledge and practice of medicine; of
mathematics; including the numbering system we still use.
(incorrectly called “Arabic”- the arabs got it from india and of
Iron and steel metalworking
• STEEL METALWORKING – was
transmitted to the west through
Arabs as “DAMASCUS” or “TOLEDO”.
• MEDICINE – Indian medicine is known
as “AYURVEDA” (Ayur – LONGEVITY;
Veda – KNOWLEDGE)
• Toward the end of the third millennium
BCE, The indus civilization began to
decay.
• There are evidence of violence at some
cities and unburied or headless
corpses,, victims perhaps bandit raids
now that the cities were so largely
defenseless against plunder.
In 1953, Sir Mortimer Wheeler proposed that the decline of the
Indus Civilization was caused by the invasion of an Indo-
European tribe from Central Asia called the "Aryans". As
evidence, he cited a group of 37 skeletons found in various parts
of Mohenjo-Daro, and passages in the Vedas referring to battles
and forts. However, scholars soon started to reject Wheeler's
theory, since the skeletons belonged to a period after the city's
abandonment and none were found near the citadel.
Subsequent examinations of the skeletons by Kenneth Kennedy in
1994 showed that the marks on the skulls were caused by
erosion, and not violent aggression. Today, many scholars believe
that the collapse of the Indus Civilization was caused by drought
and a decline in trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia. It has also
been suggested that immigration by new peoples, deforestation,
floods, or changes in the course of the river may have
contributed to the collapse of the IVC.
 The Aryans brought with them their MALE and WARLIKE
GODS and their male dominated culture which slowly
blended with the female goddess of India.

“ARYA” means noble or pure in Sanskrit; the same

rootword appears in the greek ARIOS which means “good
quality”
• The most basic division of the Indian society is of Aryans and
Dravidians. According to this division, nearly 72% of Indians are
Aryans and 28% are Dravidians. The north Indians are the
descendants of Aryans and the south Indians are Dravidians.
• The languages spoken in five states of south India are
considered Dravidian languages and most of the languages
spoken in the north are considered Aryan languages.
By 1500 BCE the Aryans migrated into the Indian subcontinent.
Coming from central Asia, this large group of nomadic cattle
herders crossed the Hindu Kush Mountains and came in contact
with the Indus Valley Civilization. This was a large migration and
used to be seen as an invasion, which was believed by some
scholars to be behind the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization;
this hypothesis is not unanimously accepted today.
(1) They were among the first to develop a system of uniform weights
and measures. Their building bricks were very uniform making city
planning easy.
(2) This was the first civilization to incorporate urban sanitation
systems. Personal hygiene seems to have been a high priority.
(3) Their art was highly advanced. Terracotta, steatite and bronze
human and animal figurines with anatomically correct proportions have
been found. Their jewelry was complex and considered beautiful by
today's standards. Long carnelian beads were a specialty.
(4) Transportation and trade were major goals of these people.
Their trade network ran from Mesopotamia to northern and central
India. Their empire was economic, not military.

(5) Indus Valley Civilization agriculture was based upon a highly

productive method of raising, storing and transporting domesticated
wheat and barley. Other crops were known.

(6) They had a written script, mostly used on inscribed seals. The
language and scripts are still being investigated and are
controversial.
(7) Formal religion was highly advanced and included burial and
cremation of human remains.

(8) Farming and forestry: Ancient Indians developed eco-friendly and

non-toxic fertilisers and pesticides to maximise agricultural produce and
storage systems that preserved the produce to see them through
drought years.

(9) This civilization was the first to cultivate cotton for the production of
cloth.