Title: Chapter 4: Early Societies in South Asia
1Chapter 4 Early Societies in South Asia
- By Leon Zhou, Daniel Norwood, Jane Dong, Khashy
Hakamian, and Diane Bai
2Harappan Society
3Background
- Aryans Indo-European tribes who settled in
India after 1500 B.C.E. Settled near Indus River
Valley by 3000 B.C.E. - Early history hard to follow
- Physical remains remain largely inaccessible
- Written records lacking
- Writing not yet completely translated
4Foundation of Harappan Society
- Indus River
- Goes through north India and also into Hindu Kush
and the Himalayas - Not predictable, but rich in soil
- Grew wheat, barley, cotton
- Dravidian society 3000 B.C.E.
5A map of the Indus River
A cotton flower
6Foundation of Harappan Society
- Two Main Cities Harappa and Mohenjo-daro
- Cities had streets, markets, temples, gathering
places - Had standardized weights, measurements,
architectural styles, and brick sizes
A Harappan Temple
7Harappan Society and Culture
- Religious beliefs strongly emphasized fertility
- Society began to decline from 1900 B.C.E. onward
- Natural Disasters Floods and earthquakes
- Almost entirely collapsed by 1500 B.C.E
- Some cultural traditions remained
8If this is boring you, watch this for a while
If this is boring you, watch this for a while
9The Indo-European migrations and early Aryan
India
10The Early Aryans
- Practiced a limited amount of agriculture
depended mostly upon a pastoral economy - The early Aryans did not use written language,
but they did compose songs and poems - Sacred language called Sanskrit, less formal
language called Prakrit
Ancient Sanskrit
Ancient Prakrit
11An Aryan city
Spread of the Aryan society
An Aryan painting
12The Vedic Age
- Vedas Wisdom early collections of prayers
and hymns that provide information about Aryan
migrations into India around 1500 B.C.E. - During period of expansion, there were many
conflicts with indigenous people, or dasas, which
meant enemies or subject people - Worshipped Indra, the Aryans war god and
military hero - Used iron tools developed agriculture after
migrating to India
13The caste system
- Castes- a system of hereditary, largely
unchangeable social classes - Sanskrit word varna color evolved into word
for caste - The four main varnas
- brahmins (priests)
- kshatriyas (warriors and aristocrats)
- vaishyas (cultivators, artisans, merchants)
- shudras (landless peasants and serfs)
- A caste below even the shudras, the untouchables,
developed later - Social mobility was difficult, but foreigners
sometimes could find a place in the society of
the castes
14Jati
- Jati were subcastes determined by occupation
- Jati life had elaborate rules for eating,
communication, and behavior - Social deference took place between members of
different jatis in the same caste some
untouchables were even looked down upon by other
untouchables - Citizens associated more closely with their jati
than their caste-members, and even citizens of
the same city
15Patriarchal Society
- The Lawbook of Manu
- Prepared by an anonymous sage, first century
B.C.E. - Dealt with moral behavior and social
relationships - Advised men to treat women with honor and
respect, but subjected women to the control and
guidance of men - Womens duties to bear children and maintain the
household
16This has nothing to do with World History.
17Religion in the Vedic Age
18Gods
- Indra, the war god and king of all gods, was
often portrayed as a violent character, a wielder
of thunderbolts who led the people into battle
against their enemies - Aryans believed in gods of the sun, sky, moon,
fire, health, disease, dawn, and the underworld
The ancient war god, Indra
19Ritual sacrifices
- Involved the slaughter of dozens and sometimes
hundreds of specially prepared animals, including
cattle, sheep, goats, and horses - Believed gods visited the earth and joined
worshipers in rituals of eating and drinking - Proper honors for the gods required priests
households to hold no less than five sacrifices
per day- a very time-consuming and expensive
obligation
20Spirituality
- Many Aryans became dissatisfied with sacrifices,
as it seemed the priests were not genuinely
communicating with the gods - Upanishads Indian reflections and dialogues
that reflected basic Hindu concepts - Many believed in reincarnation on would depart
one body at death and become associated with
another body through a new birth through a
process called samsara - Animal bodies might well hold reincarnations of
the less virtuous, due to evil karma - The ultimate goal was moksha, in which ones soul
would be released from its earthly ties and
become one with Brahman
21Teachings
- Taught respect for all living things, animals and
humans, as well as honesty, self-control,
charity, and mercy - After all the evil behavior of the old tradition
of sacrificing animals, the people wished to not
cause any more additional suffering or harm to
animals (whom they believed, as you will recall,
were humans reincarnate) - Thus, a vegetarian diet became more common
- As can probably be seen, these beliefs eventually
became the basis for modern Hinduism