HIST2321 IDST2372

1
Early Societies in South Asia East Asia (3)

• Foundations of Harappan Society The Indus River

Harappan society its neighbors, ca. 2000
2
Early Societies in South Asia (3)

• Foundations of Harappan Society, Dravidian
  peoples, 3000-2500 BCE
• Political Organization
• Cultivation of cotton before 5000 BCE,
• Early cultivation of poultry
• Decline after 1900 BCE
• Harappa Mohenjo-Daro
• Layout, public purpose?
• Broad streets, citadel, pool, sewage
• Specialized Labor Trade

Granary / Palace? at Harappa
3
Early Societies in South Asia (3)

• Harappan Society
• Harappan Society Culture
• Social Distinctions
• Fertility Cults
• Harappan Decline
• Reasons for disappearance unclear
• Excessive deforestation, loss of topsoil
• Earthquakes?
• Flooding?
• Evidence of unburied dead
• Disappearance by 1500 BCE

Ancient Indus seals
4
Early Societies in South Asia (3)

• The Indo-European Migrations Early Aryan India
• Aryans, lighter-skinned invaders from the north
• Dravidians, darker-skinned sedentary inhabitants
  of Harappa
• Color Bias
• Socio-Economic Implications
• Difficulty of theory no evidence of large-scale
  military conquest

5
Early Aryan India

• The Aryans India
• Pastoral economy sheep, goats, horses, cattle
• Vegetarianism not widespread until many centuries
  later
• Religious and Literary works The Vedas
• Sanskrit sacred tongue
• Prakrit everyday language, evolved into Hindi,
  Urdu, Bengali
• Four Vedas, most important Rig Veda
• 1,028 hymns to gods
• The Vedic Age - Political Organization
• Chiefdoms Rajas
• Early concentration in Punjab, migrations further
  south
• Development of iron metallurgy
• Increasing reliance on agriculture
• Tribal connections evolve into political
  structures

6
Aryan India

• Origins of the Caste System - Varna
• Origins in Aryan domination of Dravidians
• Brahmin, Priest
• Kshatriya, Warrior
• Vaishya, Merchant
• Sudra, Commoner
• Harijan Untouchables Pariahs
• Jati subsystem of castes
• Related to urbanization, increasing social and
  economic complexity
• Castes Social Mobility
• The Development of Patriarchal Society
• The Lawbook of Manu
• Sati

7
Religion in the Vedic Age

• Major deity of Rig Veda Indra, war god
• Elaborate ritual sacrifices to gods

8
Teachings of the Upanishads

• Texts represent blend of Aryan Dravidian
  traditions
• Composed 800-400 BCE, some later collections
  until 13th century CE
• Brahman the Universal Soul
• Samsara reincarnation
• Karma accounting for incarnations
• Moksha mystical ecstasy
• Relationship to system of Varna

9
The Upanishads
That which is the subtle essence, in it all that
exists has its self. It is the True. It is the
Self, and you, Svetaketu, are it. - The
Upanishads
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The Rig Veda

• The Rig Veda on the Origin of the Castes

The brahmin was his mouth, of both his arms the
kshatriya made. His thighs became vaishya, from
his feet the shudra was produced. - The
Hymns of the Rigveda
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Early Society in East Asia China
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Political Organization in Early China

• Early Agricultural Society the Xia Dynasty
• The Yellow River
• 3000 Miles Tibet to the Yellow Sea
• Deposits fertile, light colored soil
• Periodic flooding Chinas sorrow
• Yangshao Society
• Banpo Village
• The Xia Dynasty

The Xia, Shang, Zhou dynasties, 2200-256 B.C.E.
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Early China

• Xia C. 2200 BCE
• Village networks
• Hereditary monarchy
• Flood control
• Shang
• 1766-1122 BCE
• Zhou
• 1122-256 BCE

The Xia, Shang, Zhou dynasties, 2200-256 B.C.E.
14
Political Organization in Early China

• The Shang Dynasty
• Bronze Metallurgy Horse-Drawn Chariots
• Shang Political Organization
• The Shang Capital at Ao
• The Shang Capital at Yin
• Beyond the Yellow River Valley

Shang Bronzes
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Political Organization in Early China

• The Zhou Dynasty
• The Rise of the Zhou
• The Mandate of Heaven
• Political Organization
• Weakening of the Zhou
• Iron Metallurgy

China during the Period of the Warring States,
403-221 B.C.E.
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Shang ritual vessels
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Cowries storage vessel with Yaks
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Society Family in Ancient China

• The Social Order
• Ruling Elites, Aristocracy, Merchants traders,
  Peasants
• Daily life
• Devotion to family, ancestor veneration
• Connection of spirit world to physical world
• Ritual sacrifices
• Father ritual head of family rites
• Earlier prominence of individual female
  leaders fades in later Shang, Zhou dynasties

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Early Society in East Asia

• Sources From the Past
• Peasants Protest

Large Rats! Large Rats!
Do not eat our
millet.
Three years have we had to do with
you. And you have not
been willing to show any regard for us
- The Book of Songs
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Early Society in East Asia

• Society Family in Ancient China
• Family Patriarchy
• Veneration of Ancestors

Loving union with wife and children Is like the
music of lutes. But it is the accord of
brothers That makes happiness and harmony
lasting. - Book of Songs
21
Early Society in East Asia

• Early Chinese Writing and Cultural Development
• Oracle Bones
• Oracle Bones
• Bronze Inscriptions

Shang Era Oracle bone Second Millennium B.C. E.
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Early Society in East Asia

• Early Chinese Writing Cultural Development
• Early Chinese Writing
• Oracle Bones
• Characters

The Evolution of Chinese Characters from the
Shang Dynasty to the Present
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Early Chinese Writing Cultural Development

• Thought Literature in Ancient China
• Zhou Literature
• Book of Changes
• Book of History
• Book of Etiquette (Book of Rites)
• Book of Songs
• Little survived
• Often written on perishable bamboo strips
• Many destroyed by Emperor of Qin dynasty in 221
  BCE
• The Book of Songs
• Destruction of Early
• Chinese Literature

• Eastern Zhou bell (Warring States Era)

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Nomadic Peoples of Central Asia

• Steppe nomads
• Poor lands for cultivation, extensive herding
  activities
• Horses domesticated c. 4000 BCE, bronze
  metallurgy in 2900 BCE
• Extensive trade with sedentary cultures in China
• Tensions frequent raiding
• The Southern Expansion of Chinese Society
• The Yangzi Valley
• The State of Chu

25
Key Words Terms (3)

• Samsara
• Karma
• Moksha
• Sati
• Lawbook of Manu
• Rig Veda
• Upanishads
• Dravidian
• Indo-European
• Aryans
• Caste
• Brahmins
• Kshatriyas
• Vaishyas
• Shudras
• Indra
• Varuna

• Xia Dynasty
• Mandate of Heaven
• Shang Bronze Age
• Book of Songs
• oracle bones
• Scholar-bureaucrat
• Warring States period
• Mandate of Heaven
• Yangzi River
• Zhou dynasty
• Oracle bones
• The State of Chu