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Indian History

Indus valley civilization

• The Indus people had significant maritime activities.
• Objects resembling scales and weights have been found (==> trade)
• Buildings were made of sun-dried bricks
• No direct evidence of use of currency.
• They had a cyclic concept of time. Indeed, Hinduism has the concept of the 4 yugas: Satya, Trata, Dvapara and Kali. After Kali is the pralaya (destruction) which leads back to Satya.
• Fertility rites were common.
• They believed in a connection between the productivity of land and humans. Accordingly one of their rites was to copulate on the field.
• We have found many phallic symbols, thought to represent proto-Shiva.
• Bronze statue of dancing girl in extrmenely provocative posture. (Remark: even today female statues/idols have enlarged mammaries and hips)
• They worshipped a mother-Goddess.
• Abandoned skeletons are found (?).
• Indus remains suggest 4 diffent ethnic backgrounds:
  • Caucasian
  • Proto-meditteranean
  • Mongoloid
  • Negroid
• Possible causes for decline
  • Floods
  • Deforestation
  • Tectonic movement
  • Malaria

• The earliest scripts that are known are the following
  • Harappan
  • Hitite
  • Sumerian
  • Egyptian
  • Chinese
  • Cretan
  • Ilamite

• The Harappan script alone has not been deciphered. It can be classified as pictography/logography/ideography
• Evolution of syllablic scripts lead to decrease in the number of characters.
• The H. script is found in seals, pot shards and bronzes.
• The Egyptian script was deciphered using bilingual stones. The other language in the stones was proto-Greek.
• The stratum in which the artifact is found gives clues about the date.
• Animals known to the Indus people: Bull, elephant, rhino, tiger, buffalo.
• Animals not known: horse, lion, camel.
• Since the script has not been deciphered, in practice it is prehistory even though we call it history.
• 4000 seals of the Indus civ have been found.
• 400-450 characters of the script have been identified.
• The average inscription has 5 chars. The longest has 26.
• The margins are to the right. We find cramped characters on the left.
• 83% of the time they wrote R to L. 7-8% of the time R to L followed by L to R.
• Boustrophedon mode of writing
• Brevity may indicate that inscriptions may refer to names of owners. Thus it might not teach us much about the civ even if the script is deciphered.

Vedic Cilvilization

Early Vedic

• Rig Vedic society was tribal in nature (Indus: Urban).
• Main occupation was cattle rearing
• Rajan: ruler
• Visvamitra was a prohita, a rajaguru
• Panchajana - the confederacy
• The Dasa or Dasyus
  • Were thought to be pre-vedic/pre-aryan people by earlier historians
  • They were dark complexioned, did not worship Vedic deities, spoke a non-sanskritic language, had woolly hair etc.
  • Some scholars contend the gap was cultural rather than racial and say that Dasyus were earlier Aryans
  • Vyasa had a fisherman background, and Agastya is descibed as being short.
• Casteism as we know it wsa not found in the early Vedic times.
• Gavishti - cattle rites.
• Prohit: advisor and religious head. Not a brahmin in the modern sense
• Senani: led the tribe in war.
• Entire tribe had a right to bear arms
• King often got a ceremonial gift - bali from the people
• The polity of the Rg Veda was none too complex
• Food. The Early Aryans ate meat.
• Cow is described as aghnya (that which cannot be killed)
• However, there is reference to goghnya (one whose job is to kill cows)
• Most likely explanation of the paradox: cows were a valuable resource, and were to be used sparingly.
• Irrefutable evidence in later vedic text of author, who was one the major saints of the Upanishads, enjoying tender calf.
• Vegetarianism became an important part of Brahminical tradition after Buddha.
• Shastras mention how to apportion meat of sacrifieced horse.
• No reference in Rg Veda of prayers for better crops, only better Pasu (cattle).
• Sidenote: D. N. Jha wrote a book about this subject and the VHP managed to prevent its publication by terrorizing the publisher.
• Wheat was not known. Godhma is referred to only in later Vedic texts.
• Gambling was a common pastime
• In the Rg veda there is the lament of a gambler
• Learning was by rote
• Students learning verses are compared in the literature of the period to croaking frogs.
• Poverty and plenty were both common
• Religion
• Worship of nature.
• Fear of the unknown and unfamiliar.
• The terrifying forces of nature were deified
• Dharma was supposed to be eternal and its practice ensured standing
• Great emphasis on social and moral conservativeness
• Fear of disharmony and chaos
• Deities: Indra, Varuna, Vayu, Surya, Mitra, Agni, Soma.
• Deities were not viewed as all-powerful
• Relationship between devotee and deity was one of transaction
• At any given point, one particular deity was superior to all others
• Each had a specific role
• rth - the cosmic order
• Mode of worship: sacrifices, chanting of verses
• They prayed for longeivity of life, plentiful procreation and cattle.
• No reference to moksha in the Rg.
• Visvamitra = friend of the Vis. hence he was probably not of Vedic origin.

Later Vedic

• Agriculture emerged as an important economic activity.
• More free time
• Artisans and craftsmen were more numerous
• Varna was more rigid, but not yet watertight
• Trade increased; was by and large barter
• No unanimous view on the existense of money
• The people had moved to a more congenial area, favorable climatic conditions, more rainfall and alluvial soil
• Small hamlets were established along the Gangetic valley
• Aryavarta the land acquired a sacred connotation
• All the sacred sites are found along the Gangetic valley
• Early ruler was called the Gopa (protector of cows), now becomes chakravrtin - possessor (protector ?) of land
• Importance of cattle rearing seems to have waned
• Janas fought among themselves and claimed the land
• Jana --> Janapathi
• Rashtra (state) occurs extensively in later literature
• Rituals, organization and ceremony become important
• Elaborate crowning/coronation rituals -- major social occasion
• The king symbolically tilled the land
• Various officers, in addition to the prohit and senani emerged
• Wars occur in order to acquire more land. (e.g Kurukshetra)
• Ruler who brings more land under his rule called himself Ekarat, Samrat, Chakravartin etc.
• Yagnyas: Vajapeya, Rajasuya, Asvamedha
• Much forest land had to be cleared
• however, the Brahmin received gifts in Go, not Bhu
• Land surveys, revenue, etc. are common
• Kshartiyas and Brahmanas did not contribute to the economy and had to be supported by the other classes
• Many rituals emerged to strengthen the alliance between these two groups
• Internal divisions became marked (?)
• Jaya - 8800 verses; Bharata - 24000 verses, Mahabharata - > 10^5 verses
• Social division exists but caste system had not fully emerged
• To strengthen their position, the Brahmanas proliferated a large number of sacrifices and increased their importance
• Improper performance of sacrifices/chanting of verses was supposed to bring ruin
• Vak, the goddess of learning became a deity in order to ensure the proper enunciation of verses
• Kshatriyas amassed wealth
• Yajamana - the one who commissioned the sacrifice (sponsor)
• Specialization of an extreme order developed among the Brahmanas
• Dana (gift) gave way to Dakshina (fee)
• Matsya Nyaya - smaller states being absorbed by bigger ones. (Matsya = fish; Nyaya = approx. rule; think smaller fish being eaten by bigger ones).
• Janapadas: 16 became Mahajanapadas
• The lot of the lower Varnas declined and became miserable (the literature is clear on this point)
• Dha (root of dharma) : firm, strong, unshakeable
• Less equitable distribution of wealth
• Rule of primogeniture was not well established
• Hereditary monarchy was emerging
• Rg mentions Gana, sabha, samiti, vidhata. Now becomes merely royal court. (==> Participation of people decreased)
• Women were given a distinctly lower status
• No child marriage
• Brahmacharya was exhorted but spinsters were frowned upon
• Concept of property and inheritance increases, therefore women's status decreases
• Priestly class put forth the concept that proper carrying out of yagnyas led to victory.
• Competition everywhere; survival of the fittest.
• Many were upset about the economic and social differences instead of the egalitarian values of the tribal society.
• Some wanted to opt out of the race
• These people meditated on the philosophical aspects of life; their musings are recorded in the Aranyakas of the Upanishads
• This was a natural response to transition and uncertainty.
• They looked for certitude of position
• Matsya nyaya evoked condemnation from these people. They scorned wealth
• The above information is based on socio-psychological analysis based on later vedic literature by contemporary scholars
• This was a protest movement. If it became widespread, economy and society would come to a grinding halt.
• Therefore the 4 ashramas: Brahmacharya, Grihasta, Vanaprasta and Sanyasa.
• Thus sanyasa is legitimized but placed at the fag end so that it does not affect the average citizen
• Karma and punarjanma - two important concepts.
• Karma = balance sheet of good and bad, punarjanma = afterlife/rebirth.
• Sidenote: compare the psychological response of emigrant Indians to unfamiliar territory. Some become ultraconservative, others become highly liberal. The former are the group that funds the Hindu fundamentalists/terrorists like VHP. The latter try hard to become assimilated into the new society.
• Karma makes you accept your failure and makes you feel responsible for it instead of attributing it to external forces
• Vedas were considered axiomatic. But starting from there they reasoned logically in the Upanishads.
• A true believer in Karma would not be a fatalist
• A call for action without getting too caught up in the outcome
• Moksha is freedom from good and bad, which are though to be subjective
• Reference: Romila Thapar - "Asceticism as a protest movement in Ancient India" in "Essays on early Indian history".