HS 201 World Civilizations and Cultures

Lecture 001

Introduction to the Course

Contents and Policies

V.N. Prabhakar, IIT Gandhinagar

Course Modules

1. The Ancient World

2. The Medieval World

3. India and the World: The Ancient and the Medieval

Period

4. The Modern World

Course contents

1. The Ancient World

• Transition from hunter to gatherer; origin of earliest urban settlement; iron age in
India and urbanization in northern India in 6th century BCE

• Major civilizations of the world; Harappan, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek

Course contents

2. The Medieval World

Emergence of feudal state society in early medieval period

Mediterranean trade, conflicts and obstruction

Islam, conflict with Church and role of Crusades

Invention of gunpowder, resumption of Mediterranean trade; transition to

capitalist production practices

Struggle against monarchy and emergence of democratic state structures

Course contents

3. India and the World: The Ancient and the Medieval Periods

The Indo Roman trade network

The glories of India: Advancements in various fields

Emergence of Buddhism, Jainism and other religious texts

Spread of Buddhism and Hinduism beyond India

Invasions and mobility; Indo-Bactrians, Central Asians, Persians, the Mughals;

social and cultural impact

Technology and its advancements

Course contents

4. The Modern World

Geographical discoveries and expansion of European trade

Industrial Revolution in Great Britain and beginnings of factory production

Socialism, Marxism and Communist Revolution

Establishment of European colonies

European penetration into India and the establishment of British colonial rule

Major wars: Panipat, Plassey, First and Second World Wars

Learning outcomes

A broad perspective of the World Civilizations and Cultures right from the
sedentary lifestyles of humans

Understanding the important civilizations more closely and their interactions

between them.
The transitions, new set of regimes during the historical period, lifestyles,
customs and traditions, architectural styles
Discoveries, inventions and the spread of ideas into newer areas
The knowledge of the past helps in understanding the present
Evaluation Policy

Active Participation in the class: 15%

To be evaluated based on attendance and participation in discussions. <80%=0
marks; 80-90%=10 marks; >90%= 15%

Journal writing: 20%

Students are expected to write TWO mandatory Journals. Topics will be based on
the topics taught in the class and will be announced during Journal Writing Week.
FIRST Journal at 11 AM – 12 Noon on February 10 (Saturday); SECOND Journal at
11 AM – 12 Noon on April 21 (Sunday)
TAs specifically allocated for Journal Writing will be moderating and evaluating the
Journal.
Evaluation Policy
Journal Writing Explained
The Rubric for the evaluation of journal writing will be as follows:

Excellent – 9; Good – 7-8; Average – 5-6; Not Satisfactory - <5 (it may range between
1-5).

Criteria for the grading

Excellent is when you have relevant content presented with originality through an
introduction, a brief description of the matter, an analysis and a conclusion.

Good when your content, presentation originality and components' formatting are not done
satisfactorily.

Average is when your content is mostly irrelevant, the presentation lacks originality, and the
essay does not have the formatting components.

NS is when your essay does not have more than one of the above-mentioned components,
the content is completely irrelevant, and the essay has no originality in presentation.
Evaluation Policy

TWO Exams – during the examination period, the first carrying 30 marks and
the second carrying 35 marks (to be held during the examination period): 65%

First Exam: 20% Objective multiple choice; 10% multiple-choice based

on statements, True/False; Matching the correct answer: 30%

Second Exam: 15% Objective multiple choice; 20% comprehension-

based question and answer: 35%
Select readings
1. Kenoyer, J.M. 1998. Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. Oxford University
Press. Oxford. Oxford;
2. Trigger, B.G. 2003. Understanding Early Civilizations: A Comparative Study.
Cambridge University Press. Cambridge;
3. Trigger, B.G. 1993. Early Civilizations: Ancient Egypt in Context. The American
University in Cairo Press. Cairo;
4. Maisels, C.K. 1999. Early Civilizations of the Old World: The Formative Histories of
Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, India and China. Routledge. London;
5. Susan Wise Bauer, The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Account to
the Fall of Rome. W.W. Norton;
6. Susan Wise Bauer, The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the
Renaissance.
7. Susan Wise Bauer, The Modern Age.
8. Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India;
9. Satish Chandra, Medieval India, vols 1 & 2.
10. Bipan Chandra, India’s Struggle for Independence.
 The Beginnings

The transition from Hunter-Gatherer to

Farming Communities; the emergence of
urbanism and Iron Age in India
 The Meaning of Past
• Different cultures view their past differently, and
hence the question, what does the past mean to us?
• An Australian aborigine may attach a different
meaning to the fossil remains from native sites like
Lake Mungo or paintings from Kakadu National Park
than a non-indigenous Australian
Lake Mungo fossils • Different sets of meanings depend upon:
• What happened in the past?
• Why has it happened?
• Issues of meaning, significance and
interpretation
• How are interpretations made, and what lessons
are drawn from the past?
• Scope for subjective decisions depending upon
ideological and political issues
• The material world comes to us from the past and is
also relinquished by us to the future.
Rock paintings,
Kakadu National Park
• Personal, genealogical past, past is where we came.

Depiction of Saddam Hussein as a 6th c.
BCE Babylonia king Nebuchadnezzar, in a
modern setting and weaponry
Cultural Inheritance
• Cultural inheritance is rooted in a deeper past
• Origins of our language, faith and customs
• Archaeology plays an important role in defining the
national identity, too, for nations having no long-written
history.
• Young nations may take symbols from archaeological
contexts; Zimbabwe's name is derived from an
archaeological site.
• Wrong interpretations may also lead to conflict.
• England, when it occupied Sri Lanka in 1815, without
knowing its history, propagated the legend of an exiled
prince from North India named Vijaya, as mentioned in
Mahavamsa, and the Tamils had migrated only 200 years
earlier.
• This led to the armed conflict between the Sinhalese and
Tamils, the latter mainly present in northern parts.
• Archaeological investigations now reveal the occupation
of the northern part of Sri Lanka since 500 BCE, and
hence contacts with the Indian mainland

Amaravati Galley, British Museum
Who owns the past?
• Western countries and industrialised nations
considered their right to possess and own artefacts
and architectural remains from underdeveloped
countries.
• Large-scale transportation of cultural relics from
Egypt, West Asia and India to personal collections in
England, France, and Germany and later into their
museums
• Even now, the smuggling of artefacts reaches
auctioning centres like Sotheby's in England, as they
refuse to sign the treaty to prevent illegal
transportation.
• After World War II, countries became independent,
became more aware of their past and started to
reclaim their cultural past from other countries.
• From India, large-scale transportation of cultural
vestiges, including parts of buildings and
monuments, was transported to England, e.g. the
limestone panels from Amaravati stupa and
manuscripts like Padshah Namah.
Why to preserve the past?
• Only link to our cultural inheritance and past, helps in
defining our identity
• Archaeology helps in understanding each stage of
technological advancement, particularly helpful in
prehistoric past
• Prehistoric sites are flimsy, yet provide invaluable
information on our survival strategies without any
technological developments and hence important
• Unscrupulous development may cause irreversible
damage to archaeological sites beyond recognition
• Proper interpretation helps in dispelling false narratives, it
requires material remains to build such interpretations
• Destruction of cultural heritage is irreversible and
irretrievable
• Once removed from their original context, its spatio-
temporal context never understood
• Better understanding our past helps in planning for the
future; understand issues related to conflict situations in a
better manner; economic benefits due to tourism
 Periodizations of the Past
• BCE, CE and BP?
– Before Common Era and Common Era
– Previously BC (Before Christ) and AD (In the year of our Lord)
– Before Present (before 1950 CE)
• Palaeolithic
– Lower, Middle and Upper
• Mesolithic
• Neolithic
• Chalcolithic
• Proto-historic
• Early Historic
• Medieval
From stone tools to Bronze tools
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTQd
1RrL1sk
 Neolithic
• The initial domestication of plants and animals
• Semi-sedentary lifestyle
• Non-ceramic Neolithic or pre-pottery Neolithic
• Ceramic or Pottery Neolithic
• 7000 – 1000 BCE
 Chalcolithic
• Village based agriculture and pastoralism
• Stone, copper and bronze tools
• Extensive use of pottery
• Several craft technologies
• 5500 – 1000 BCE
 Protohistoric
• Urban systems and writing that is not deciphered so far
• Early stages of the Harappan Civilization
• Harappan Civilization
• Stone, copper, bronze tools and pyro-technologies
• Bronze Age
• Also, part of the Iron Age in India up to the Painted Grey Ware
Culture (2600 – 1000 / 800 BCE)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMK_FwQHpHQ
 Early Historic
• Complex state-level societies, including
complex chiefdoms, monarchies and republics

• The new writing system for trade and

administration

• Highly stratified societies

• Large-scale military campaigns

• Coins, epigraphs, historical records

• The emergence of artistic and architectural

styles indigenous to India; various branches of
sciences, including astronomy, mathematics,
and surgery, practised and written about
Painted Grey Ware / Associated Wares 1200 to 800 BCE (some say
600 BCE)

- over 650 PGW sites - Islamabad? to Tehri Garhwal, to Harappa?,

Sindh and Cholistan, possibly even Pirak, as far east as Sravasti,
and as far south as Ujjain

- fine grey ware ceramic (usually 10% to

15% of the entire ceramic assemblage)
and associated red fired wares
Painted Grey Ware pottery - finely
made (both hand formed, and wheel
made) and painted with black and
sometime with white paint
Major Mahajanapadas
Mauryan Settlement Hierarchy
• Mauryan period saw the first major
emergence of urbanism after
Harappan civilization
• Settlements graded into 6 categories:
• Grade 1: > 241 ha: Pataliputra
• Grade 2: 181-240 ha: Rajgir,
Kausambi and Vidisa
• Grade 3: 121-180 ha: Sravasti,
Ahichchhatra, Tosali
• Grade 4: 61-120 ha: Ujjain,
Jaugada, Pratisthana
• Grade 5: 31-60 ha: Kandahar,
Taxila, Sannathi, Dhanyakataka
• Grade 6: 16-30 ha: Kapilavastu,
Puskalavati
Nature of City Defenses

Burnt brick facing, Kausambi

Stone facing, Sisupalgarh

Nature of City Defenses
• Kautilya’s Arthasastra prescribed no city walls or
ramparts built of timber
• Pataliputra’s defences were made of timber, as
revealed from excavations and also from the
traveller’s accounts of Megasthenes
 Nature of Internal Divisions of a City
• Kautilya’s Arthasastra describes the
division of different parts of a fortified
city; different quarters for different
categories
• Location of shrines, temples, palaces,
markets, prescribed
• Not actually tested archaeologically
• Irrigation tanks should be created
around the periphery of the city
• Eg. Sisupalgarh (actual evidence),
Girnar (inscription mentioning the
presence of a huge lake)

Sisupalgarh
Location of Asokan Edicts Location of Buddhist and
Rock Cut Structures