India

1
India
2
Aryans (1500BC)

• Arrived from Eastern Europe (Russia)
• Came over the Hindu-Kush Mountains
• Moved into the Indus River Valley
• Kept conquering more land Ganges River
  Valley/Plain
• These river valleys were ideal for farming and
  they settled down

3
Daily Life in the Indus Valley Civilization

• Harappa Mohnejo-Daro 2 great cities
• Population at about 35,000 people each

4
Moo

• Cattle!
• Food (milk, butter, meat)
• Helped work the land
• Wealth was measured in number of cattle
• Ban on eating meat when cattle was scarce

5
Homes

• Made of baked brick, with flat roofs, and were
  just about identical.
• The outside walls had no windows.
• Each home had its own private drinking well and
  its own private bathroom.

• Clay pipes led from the bathrooms to sewers
  located under the streets.
• These sewers drained into near by rivers and
  streams

6
Clothing

• Both men and women dressed in colorful robes
• Gold jewelry, precious stones and even lipstick
• Bracelets

7
Money Doesnt Just Grow on Trees

• In ancient India, people used money trees to
  store their coins.
• It consisted of a flat piece of metal shaped like
  a tree with metal branches
• At the end of each branch was a round disk with a
  hole in the center.
• Each of these disks was an ancient Indian coin.
• When you needed money, you simply broke off a
  coin from your money tree.

8
Community

• Very community oriented
• Food was centrally stored for all to share
• Roads
• Public baths
• Skilled craftsmen
• Clay pipes led from the bathrooms to sewers
  located under the streets.
• These sewers drained into near by rivers and
  streams
• Well organized cities suggest a well organized
  government and probably a well-developed social
  life.

9
Varnas

• Social classes
• Brahmans priests- only people able to read and
  teach the Vedas
• Kshatriyas warriors, most honored at first
• Vaisyas merchants, artisans, and farmers
• Sudras unskilled laborers and servants

10
Pariahs

• Not included in the varnas.
• Majority of the people (p. 171).
• Often called Dalit
• Perform unclean tasks considered too low for a
  person of the varnas to perform

11
Jati

• By 500BC these were extremely rigid laws and each
  group was further divided into a Jati
• Formed according to occupations
• Each Jati had rules about diet, marriage and
  customs
• One did not mix socially with people of other
  Jati
• They usually lived in separate neighborhoods

12
Hindu Religion

• Derived from the Aryan religion
• Polytheistic
• Each god had power over a different aspect
• No one teacher or figure or book
• Reincarnation
• Rebirth of a soul in another body
• Determined by Karma
• Ahimsa belief in non-violence and treating all
  living things with respect and protection

Ganesh
13
Vedas

• Sanskrit oral language, not written
• Families of priests and warriors were responsible
  for preserving Vedas
• Hymns, poems, legends and religious rituals were
  recorded into these Books of Knowledge
• Important to understanding Indian civilization
  because they are the only source for this time
  period
• Rigveda oldest religious text still in use
• Dharma duties of individual in each varna

14
Brahma

• the creator, overall god
• Brahma has four heads, but used to have five.
• The four Veda's are said to have sprung from his
  heads.

15
Vishnu

• The preserver
• Protector of creation
• Creates balance of good and evil
• Usually depicted with some sort of weapon

16
Shiva

• Destroyer god
• Responsible for change both in the form of death
  and destruction and in the positive sense of the
  shedding of old habits
• Most essential goodness

17
Upanishads

• People grew discontented with Vedic rituals (too
  complex) by 800 BC and wrote the Upanishads
• Universal spirit present within all life
• a light that shines beyond all things on earth.
• Our bodies tie us to the material world- we must
  free our souls
• Must separate self from material world
• Fasting
• Yoga!