The early civilizations of Ancient India & The rise of Aryan Civilization and Vedic Era (EPISODE-1)

 

 

 

 

The history and culture of India is dynamic, expanding at the beginning of human civilization. It started with a mysterious culture on the banks of the Indus River and among the farming community in southern India. The history of India is non-stop by permanently uniting people with diverse cultures around India. The readily available evidence proves that the use of iron, copper and other metals was fairly common in the early Indian subcontinent, indicating the progress that this part of the world has made. At the end of the fourth millennium BC, India emerged as a region of highly developed civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization

The History of India begins with the birth of the Indus Valley Civilization, more precisely known as Harappan Civilization.

The civilization developed in three stages: early Harappan phase (3300 BCE-2600 BCE), mature Harappan phase (2600 BCE-1900 BC) and late Harappan phase (1900 BCE-1300 BCE).

The inhabitants of the ancient Indus River Valley developed new techniques in carnelian products and seal carvings and handicrafts in metallurgy with copper, bronze, lead and tin.

1931, the Mohenjo-daro site was mostly excavated by Marshall and Sir Mortimer Wheeler. By 1999, there were more than 1,05 cities and settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization.

 

 

Map of the Indus Valley Civilization. The major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization.

 

The Indus Valley Civilization dates back to the early 3300-10000 BC and matures to the 20000-10000 BC. The region of this civilization was spread on the banks of the river Indus which today extends from northeastern Afghanistan to Pakistan and north-western India into ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia as well as the three most ancient civilizations of the ancient world. Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were considered to be the two great cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. Their discovery and excavations in the 19th and 20th centuries provided important archaeological information about ancient cultures. The lifespan of the Indus Valley Civilization is often separated into three phases: Early Harappan Phase (3300-2600 BCE), Mature Harappan Phase (2600-1900 BCE) and Late Harappan Phase (1900-1300 BCE).

 

On top of that, the Indus Valley Civilization may have a population of over five million. It is considered to be the society of the Bronze Age and the inhabitants of the ancient Indus River Valley invented new techniques in metallurgy - the science of working with copper, bronze, lead and tin. They also perform sophisticated handicrafts using products made with semi-precious gemstone carnelians, as well as cut patterns on the underside of the seals used for seal carving - stamping. Indus cities are famous for their urban planning, baked brick houses, extensive drainage systems, water supply systems and clusters of large, residential buildings.

 

The Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilization, was the first site excavated after Harappan in the 1960s, which was then the Punjab province of British India and is now in Pakistan. The discovery of Harappa through the establishment of the Archaeological Survey of India in the British Empire in 1861 and the location of its companion city of Mohenjo-Daro in the Indus were common names for British rule over the Indian subcontinent. From 1858 to 1947.

 

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro

 

Harappa was a fortified city in present-day Pakistan, with a population of about 23,500 people living in sculptural houses with flat roofs made of red sand and mud. The city was spread over 150 hectares (3,370 acres) and protected similar administrative and religious centers used in Mohenjo-daro. The modern village of Harappa, used as a railway station during the reign of the king, was six kilometers (3.7 miles) from the site of the ancient city, which was badly damaged during the British rule.

 

Mohenjo-daro is believed to have been built in the 26th century BC and has become not only the largest city in the Indus Valley Civilization, but also one of the oldest, major urban centers in the world. Located west of the Indus River in Larkana district, Mohenjo-daro was once one of the most sophisticated cities with state-of-the-art engineering and urban planning. Poultry fighting was believed to have religious and ritual significance, with domesticated chickens breeding for religion rather than food (although the city may be the main place for raising chickens worldwide). Mohenjo-daro was abandoned around 1900 BC due to the sudden decline of the Indus Valley Civilization.

 

 

Mohenjo-daro excavated ruins. The Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro, a city in the Indus Valley Civilization.

 

Charles Mason's account of the Harappan ruins was written in 1844 by Charles Mason in his book Narrative of the Journey to Burchistan, Afghanistan, Punjab and Kala. 17 In 1856, British engineers John and William Branton were handing over the lines of the connected East Indian Railway Company to the cities of Karachi and Lahore, when their crew discovered hard, burnt bricks in the area and inadvertently smashed them and used them for railroads. Ruins of the ancient city of Brahmanabad.

 

Excavations

In 1912, John Faithful Fleet, an English civil servant working in the Indian Civil Service, discovered several Harappan seals. It led to the 1921-1922 excavations by Sir John Hubert Marshall, Director General of the Department of Archaeological Survey, which resulted in the discovery of Harappa. By 1931, most of the Mohenjo-daro had been excavated, when Sir Mortimer Wheeler, the next director of the Archaeological Survey of India, led additional excavations. As a result of partition in 1949, Pakistan was divided into new countries. Most of the archeological finds were then inherited from Pakistan. By 1999, more than 1,056 towns and settlements had been found, of which 96 had been excavated.

 

 

Cities of Indus Valley Civilization

 

By 20,000 BC, small Harappan communities had become large urban centers. These cities include Harappa, Ganeriwala and Mohenjo-daro in modern Pakistan and Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rakhigari, Rupar and Lothal in modern India. A total of more than 1,052 towns and settlements have been found in the general areas of the Indus and its tributaries. The population of the Indus Valley Civilization may have exceeded five million at one time.

 

 

Indus valley civilization sites. This map shows a bunch of cities of the Indus Valley Civilization and excavations on the banks of the Indus River in Pakistan.

 

The remnants of the cities of the Indus civilization indicate significant organization; There were systematic arrangements for wastewater drainage and garbage collection, and even public granaries and baths. Most of the city dwellers were artisans and merchants were grouped together in separate neighborhoods. The standard of urban planning recommends efficient municipal governments that give the highest priority to hygiene or religious practice.

 

 

Infrastructure

 

Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and, more recently, partially excavated Rakhigari showcase the world's first known urban sanitation systems. The ancient Indus drainage and drainage Indus areas were developed and used in cities throughout the entire Indus region, were much more developed than the contemporary urban areas of the East and are more effective today than many areas in Pakistan and India. Individual houses fetched water from wells, wastewater was directed to the covered drains on the main road. While the houses were only open to the inner courtyard and more small alleys, even small houses on the outskirts of the city were believed to be connected to the system, further cleanliness supports the decision that cleanliness is a very important issue.

 

 

Architecture

 

The Harappans displayed advanced architecture with dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms and defensive walls. These huge walls probably protected the Harappans from floods and sparked military conflicts. Unlike Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization did not build large, monumental structures. The palace or temple (or even the king, the army or the priest) has no decision and the largest structure can be grainy. The town of Mohenjo-daro has the “Great Bath” which can be a huge, public bath and social area.

 

Sokhta Koh. Sokhta Koh, a coastal settlement in Harappan near Pasni in Pakistan, is pictured in a computer reconstruction. Sokhta Koh means “burnt hill” and has a resemblance to the brown earth due to the lots of pottery firing in the open pit oven.
 

  

Authority and Governance

 

Archaeological records do not provide an immediate answer to the question of the center of authority or the image of those in power in Harappan society. The remarkable unity of Harappan patterns is evidenced in pottery, seals, weights and standard sizes and weighted bricks that suggest some authority and governance.

 

Over time, three major theories have emerged regarding Harappan rule. The first is that there was a single state consisting of all the communities of civilization, with similarities in the arts, evidence of planned settlements, standard proportions of bricks, and settlement near the sources of raw materials. -Represents each city center, including Daro, Harappa and other communities. Finally, experts have given the theory that there was no ruler of the Indus civilization, because we understand them, everyone enjoys equal status.

 

 

Harappan Culture

 

The Indus Valley Civilization is the oldest culture in the Indian subcontinent, now known as "urban" (or large municipality-centric), and the largest of the four ancient civilizations, including Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China. The Indus Valley Society dates from the Bronze Age to 3300-10000 BC. It was located in modern-day India and Pakistan and covered large areas such as Western Europe.

 

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were two great cities of the Indus Valley Civilization around 2600 BC, along the Indus River Valley in the Indus and Punjab provinces of Pakistan. Their discoveries and excavations in the 19th and 20th centuries provided important archaeological information about the technology, industry, trade, transportation, writing, and religion of civilization.

 

 

Technology

 

The people of the Indus Valley, known as Harappan (the first city in the area found by Harappan archaeologists), made significant advances in technology, with great accuracy in their systems and equipment for measuring length and mass.

 

The Harappans were among the first to develop uniform weight and incremental measurement systems. The smallest section, about 1.6 mm, was identified on an ivory scale found in the Indus Valley town of Lothal in the modern Indian state of Gujarat. It stands as the youngest category recorded on the Bronze Age Scale. Another indication of the improved measurement system is the fact that the bricks used to build the Indus cities were identical in shape.

 

The Harappans displayed advanced architecture with dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms and defensive walls. The ancient Indus systems of drainage and drainage in the cities of the ancient region were much more developed than those of the contemporary cities of the Middle East and are more effective today than in many regions of Pakistan and India.

 

Harappans were thought to be skilled at engraving seals, cutting patterns on the underside of seals, and using individual seals for identification and clay stamps on business products. Seals were one of the most sought-after artefacts in the Indus Valley cities, adorned with images of animals such as elephants, tigers and water buffaloes.

 

Harappans also invented new techniques in metallurgy - the science of working with copper, bronze, lead and tin - and performed complex handicrafts using products made of semi-precious gemstones, carnelian.

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Sources

-Boundless World History

-knowindia.gov.in/culture-and-heritage