The Indus Valley Civilization

Transcription

1 University Press Scholarship Online You are looking at 1-10 of 12 items for: keywords : Indus civilization The Indus Valley Civilization Edwin Bryant in The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate Published in print: 2001 Published Online: November 2003 ISBN: eisbn: An examination is made of the relationship between the Indus Valley Civilization and Indo-Aryan origins, a topic that has received a tremendous amount of attention from Indian archaeologists and historians. The issue discussed is whether the Indo-Aryans preceded, succeeded, or co-existed with the inhabitants of the Indus Valley cities. The different sections of the chapter look at archaeological evidence on the religion of the Indus Valley, evidence on the decline of the river Sarasvatī (which is referred to many times in the Ŗgveda, the oldest of the Sanskrit Vedic texts), the absence of the horse from the Harappan record (although it played an important part in the Vedic-Aryan culture), evidence of the spoked-wheel chariot (which is fundamental to Aryan identification), the Indus script, and urbanization and the Ŗgveda. The Indus or Harappan Civilization acprof:oso/ Harappa and Mohenjodaro are both located in the Indus valley and because no site of this civilization was then known to exist outside the Indus valley, the civilization came to be called the Indus civilization. However, the extent of this civilization includes areas far beyond the Indus river valley, and number-wise, the most significant cluster of sites occurs in the Cholistan section of the Hakra plain in Pakistan. This Page 1 of 6

2 chapter discusses the origin, morphology of some major sites, and the general features of the Harappan civilization like seals and script, pottery, lithic industry, metallurgy, art and craft, trade, agriculture, economy, religion. The chronological framework, political and social framework, and decline and transformation of this civilization has also been analysed in detail. The Growth of Villages: From Baluchistan to Haryana and Gujarat acprof:oso/ This chapter outlines the archaeological evidence related to the growth of village occupation west of the Delhi-Aravalli-Cambay axis of Indian geography. The evidence shows growth of distinctly agricultural communities in the vast stretch of land between Baluchistan and Bannu on the one hand and the area near Delhi and Gujarat on the other. It discusses agricultural life, domestication, tools, pottery, and burial culture of sites in Baluchistan, Bannu, the Gomal Valley, Piedmont and Kohistan, the Potwar Plateau, Indus-Hakra Plain, and the Aravalli Belt. It is in the course of this development that the roots of the subsequent Indus civilization lie. Introduction acprof:oso/ This chapter begins with discussions of the importance of archaeological evidence in studying ancient India, and the development of archaeological research in the subcontinent establishment of the Asiatic Society, early 1830s, Alexander Cunningham and his successors, and the role of Indians as well as prominent Britishers like John Marshall and Mortimer Wheeler. It then sets out the purpose of the book, which Page 2 of 6

3 is to offer an archaeological history of the Indian subcontinent from prehistory to the early historical stage. The chapter introduces the land mass and some of the major geographical parameters and concepts affecting the study of its archaeology and ancient history. It then focuses on the growth of agricultural settlements beyond the distribution area of the Indus civilization, and argues that it was the interaction between this civilization, and the advanced hunter-gatherers and the marginal agricultural producers in the rest of the subcontinent, which led to the formation of an agricultural base in all the major agricultural areas and laid down the basis of the subsequent early historic urban growth in the Ganga plains and elsewhere. The chapter also discusses India in relation to Asia and Africa, the distinct geographical entity and identity of the Indian subcontinent, the recent approach of the Anthropological Survey of India and the classificatory system based on concept of race. War elephants Thomas R. Trautmann in Elephants and Kings: An Environmental History Published in print: 2015 Published Online: January 2016 ISBN: eisbn: Publisher: University of Chicago Press DOI: / chicago/ The ideal war elephant was a mature male, with large tusks, in the heightened hormonal state of combativeness called musth, having a driver on his neck bearing the two-pointed hook to restrain him, and warriors on his back. The kings of early civilizations (Egypt, Assyria, Mesopotamia, China, the Indus Civilization) were drawn to elephants in ways that caused their decline. That was reversed by the invention of the war elephant, in late Vedic period India, about 1000 BCE Afterword : Ideas and Discoveries in Indian Archaeology, acprof:oso/ This chapter attempts to put into their proper contexts the recent developments in Indian archaeology since this book was written in Page 3 of 6

4 It discusses the Hathnora fossil finds, early architecture, Indus civilization, India beyond the Indus civilization, and its early history. The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and The Indus Civilization Asko Parpola Published in print: 2015 Published Online: August 2015 ISBN: eisbn: Item type: book acprof:oso/ Hinduism has two major roots. The more familiar is the religion brought to South Asia in the second millennium BCE by speakers of Aryan or Indo-Iranian languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family. Another, more enigmatic, root is the Indus civilization of the third millennium BCE, which left behind thousands of short inscriptions in a forgotten pictographic script, difficult to decipher in the absence of bilinguals. The author of this book spent fifty years researching these roots. This book traces the Aryan migrations from their original homeland north of the Black Sea through the Eurasian steppes to Central, West, and South Asia. Among many other things, it discusses the profound impact of the invention of the horse-drawn chariot on Indo-Aryan religion, and presents new ideas on the origin and formation of Vedic literature and rites, and the great epics. Previously, it has been argued that the Indus people spoke a Dravidian language, and that the Indus script mentions God Murukan (Vedic Rudra and Hindu Skanda) and certain stars and planets with their Old Tamil names. These insights are developed here. But its main focus is on the West Asian pair of Mother Earth (lion) and Father Sky (bull), who, with their sacred marriage, were central in the Indus religion, too. This heritage lives on today in South Indian villages, and in Vedic and Tantric rites and myths, including that of Goddess Durgā and Mahiṣa. The Indus Civilization Asko Parpola in The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and The Indus Civilization Published in print: 2015 Published Online: August 2015 ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ The Indus civilization (c BCE) was discovered in the 1920s in the excavation of Mohenjo-daro, although the site of Harappa had been described in 1875 hence the alternative name Harappan Page 4 of 6

5 culture. Digs at Mehrgarh, Nausharo, Sibri, and Pirak have provided an unbroken sequence c BCE, enabling reconstruction of cultural evolution from Neolithic beginnings in the piedmonts to post- Harappan times. Early Harappan cultures (c BCE) initiated urbanization and settled the flood plains, and in their westward overland trade were in contact with Proto-Elamite culture. In the Mature Harappan phase (c BCE) all crafts were developed and administration (writing and standardized weights and measures) intensified, along with agriculture, animal husbandry, transport (water traffic), and trade (mineral acquisition and sea trade with West Asia). Multiple causes including climatic change, floods, diseases, and influx of new people are thought to have ended the urban civilization. India an Archaeological History: Palaeolithic Beginnings to Early Historic Dilip Chakrabarti Item type: book acprof:oso/ The increased pace of archaeological research in recent decades has provided a connected account of the history of prehistoric and early historic India primarily on the basis of archaeology. This book charts the flow of India's grassroots archaeological history in all its continuities and diversities from its Palaeolithic beginnings to ad 300 when early historic India assumed its basic form. Beginning with the first stone tools in the subcontinent, the book weaves India's archaeological history in all the areas and multiple strands of development till the early historic foundations. It also discusses the basic significance of Indian prehistoric studies, the variegated pattern of the beginning of village life, various issues related to Indus civilization and how the transition to, and consolidation of, the early historical India took place. The historical development of human natural resource interaction in the subcontinent is also reconstructed in a lucid style. The Vedic World View Balmiki Prasad Singh in Bahudhā and the Post 9/11 World Published in print: 2008 Published Online: ISBN: eisbn: acprof:oso/ Page 5 of 6

6 The longing for conflict-free and harmonious living is both an ancient and a continuing human aspiration. Multiplicity of tribes and beliefs has been a special feature of the Indian society since early times. The earliest known Indian civilization, the Indus Valley Civilization, was already quite advanced by about 2500 BC. It decayed in the middle of the second millennium BC, perhaps because of invasion by people who described themselves as Aryans. The most ancient works of the Vedic period are the four Vedas Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda. Each Veda contains four sections consisting of Samhita or collection of hymns, prayers, benedictions, sacrificial formulae and litanies; Brahmanas or prose treatises discussing the significance of sacrificial rites and ceremonies; Aranyakas or forest texts, which are partly included in the Brahmanas and partly considered as independent; and Upanishads. Page 6 of 6