Indus River Valley/India Civilization

Indus River Valley/India Civilization By: Amy, Amanda, Madison, Francis, TJ, and Avery

The Caste System • Very rigid social structure • The system they had was referred to as the caste system. • Divided into four distinct groups • Brahmins (priests and the king) • Kshatriyas (warriors and aristocrats) • Vaishyas (cultivators, artisans, and merchants) • Shudras (peasants and serfs)

The Varna System • One was born into a certain social class that couldn’t be changed. • Married and died in the caste/class you were born in • This was meant to create and maintain order • Its values are still in use in modern day India

Dharma • Important part in Indian culture • Ethical guide in Buddhist religion • Considered vital in maintaining natural order • Ashoka, a renowned figure in Indian culture, was a strong advocate of Dharma and Buddist beliefs.

Karma • Ancient belief in Indian and Buddhist civilizations • Belief simplified life to a basic cause and effect concept • Belief was that blessings follow the good • Covered much more than everyday endeavors • Also served to explain and justify the caste system • Believed that the less fortunate/shudras were paying for mistakes in previous lives

Political Organization • Early Indian civilization placed least emphasis on politics than any other early civilization • Mainly due to the great diversity of Indian people and instead had widespread regionalism with autocratic kings in some places and emperors in others • Authority was very religious

Hinduism • Ancient religion with no founder or known date of origin • Wide variety of religious traditions • Worship one or more deities • Believe in reincarnation • Value practice of meditation • Celebrate festive holidays (Diwali and Holi) • 80% of India’s population

Polytheistic • Believing in more than one god • Trimurti is the triad of Hindu gods • Brahma • Vishnu • Shiva

Brahman • Ultimate goal and absolute of Hinduism is termed “Brahman” • Sanskirt verb “brh” meaning “to grow” • Nature of truth, knowledge, and infinity • Constitutes the essential building matter of all reality • Neither “he” nor “she” • Not “god”

Vishnu • Major god in Hinduism and Indian mythology • Thought as the preserver of the universe • The concept of Vishnu as the preserver came later in Hinduism • Came from two other beliefs (“men attain salvation by faithfully following predetermined paths of duty” and “power of good and evil are contention for domination over the world”) • Portrayed as blue or black shinned and has four arms

Shiva • Destroyer of the world • Aspect of regeneration • Appearing as a naked ascetic • Accompanied by demons, encircled with serpents, and necklaces of skulls • Depicted as white, with dark-blue throat with several arms and three eyes. • Carries a trident and rides a white bull

Reincarnation • Rebirth of a soul in a new body • Believe good karma will lead to a higher position in the caste system in future life • First three Hindu goals are karma, artha, and dharma (concern earthly pursuits like pleasure, power, or well being and virtue

Technology • City planning and sanitation technology • Closed gutters • Public baths • Learning center for scholars all across Asia • Seafaring technology • Sail boats and ship building • Construction and architecture • Vegetable dyes used in art and sculpture • Used of perfumes showed knowledge in chemistry, distillation, and purification • Used calculus centuries before newton • Invented numbers ranging from mahogham (1 followed by 62 zeros) all the way down to decimal and fractions • First recorded signs of nuclear physics • First to calculate velocity of light

Economy/Trade • Traded with people in the area • Gold and silver can from northern Afghanistan • Semiprecious stones from Persia and the Deccan Plataea were made into jewelry • Indus River made trading easy and provided a link to the sea • Land routes moved goods from Persia to the Caspian Sea • Harappanstraded with Mesopotamians • Seals were used by Indus merchants to identify goods that were found in Sumer • Ships that sailed along Persian gulf trade routes brought copper, lumber, precious stones, and other luxury goods to the Indus people

Vedas • Four collections of prayers, magical spells, and instructions for performing rituals • Rig Veda is the most important of all other collections • Has 1,028 hymns for the Aryan gods • Originally passed down orally by elders to younger people • Written down years later

Sanskirt • Form of writing developed in the Indus River civilization • Rig Veda is written in Sanskirt • Rig Veda is the oldest known document written in Sanskirt • One of twenty-two official languages of India • Means refined, consecrated, and sancitified • Considered a “high” language that is used mostly in religious and scientific purposes

Harappan • Indus River valley civilization • Advanced in architecture • Cities surrounded by massive walls and gateways (built to control trade and prevent flooding) • Walled sections of the city • Each section included a different building (public houses, markets, and craft workshops)

Streets • Based on grid system • Well organized drain system • Built another story on top of the drains to prevent floods • Raised level of the city and archaeologists • These high structures were then called “mounds”

Law Codes/Legal Systems

Indus River Valley • Good farming land • Very fertile soil • Soil was provided from irrigation canals that brought water to farms • Fertileness of land let to very big risk of diseases • Soil was fertile due to the yearly flooding of the Indus River • Indus River is about 1,800 miles long • Mountains around it are some of the highest in the world

Roll Of Women • Women were valued because of their abilities to produce and nurse offspring • 1700-1100 BCE • Polytheistic • Hinduism

Military • Fought many brutal wars against itself • Warfare was centered around the chariot • 16 to 100 kingdoms all fighting each other • First nation to use elephant in battle • Aryans brought a new language, and pantheon of gods • Aryans migrated from the homeland Iran to India • Aryans believed the world was perfect with no evil. (irony- they fought many battles between themselves)

sources • http://www.omniglot.com/writing/sanskrit.htm • http://www.ukindia.com/zip/zsan1.gif • http://www.gayathriashram.org/images/om.gif • http://www.pantheon.org/articles/v/vishnu.html • http://hinduism.about.com/od/basics/a/brahman.htm • http://www.pantheon.org/articles/s/shiva.html • http://people.howstuffworks.com/reincarnation1.htm • http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infoCentral/frameset/civilizations/india/geo/index.html • http://llen.goldenmap.com/Harappan_architecture

Indus River Valley/India Civilization