M-2-(A&B)

Polity Society and Economy

in Ancient India.
 Importance of Ancient Indian History

The study of ancient Indian History is important

in various ways.
• It tells us how ,when and where people
developed earliest cultures in India.
• How they started agriculture and livestock and
started a settled life.
• It gives us an idea of progress of Cilvizations in
ancient India.
 Pre-historic cultures of India
• A)The Paleolithic Age
• B)Mesolithic Age
• C)Neolithic Age
The Paleolithic culture of India developed in
Pleistocene period(2.58 million to11,700 years
ago, the ice age ,it’s a geological time period that
includes the last ice age)Robert Bruce Foot was
the first to discover a Paleolithic stone in India, it
was in the year 1863.
• Mesolithic cultures: Mesolithic period was
considered as a period of transition from P-N-.
• Mesolithic people used microliths made up of
stone. The microliths were first discovered by
Carlyle in 1867 from vindhyan rock shelters.
The Neolithic age: The word Neolithic was first
coined by Sir John Lubbock in 1865.The Neolithic
settlers were cattle herders and agriculturalists.
 The Indus valley civilization
• The Indus valley civilization is also called by the
name Harappa Civilization.
• The Harappa civilization was first discovered in
1921 at the site of Harappa. (Sir .Jhon Marshall
in 1921.-Harappa,He was an British Officer,MD-
By an archaeologist R.D Banergy in 1922-23.)
• Why the name Indus civilization?-Most of its
important sites were initially discovered in the
plains of the river Indus and its tributaries.
 The term civilization
• The term civilization refers to distinctive
cultural patterns of fairly long
duration ,patterns, incorporating diverse groups
of people over large areas.
• In this study we will use two terms
• A)Mature Harappan-MH-Refers to sites which
co relate with Mohenjodaro and Harappa
• B)Early Indus (EI)-refers to areas stratified at
several sites .
Harappan Urbanism-Mohenjo-darao
• Mohenjo-daro is the most well –known site of
the Harappan civilization.
• Mohenjodaro literally means the mount of the
dead.
• Why MD is called as the Mount of dead?

During archaeological investigations the

archaeologist found /discovered several human
bones and skeleton remains on this mound .
 Urbanism-City
• In a cultural landscape a city is a node where
population choses to concentrate ,to creates a
settlement larger and more dense than most
other contemporary settlements not in order to
make production more efficient but because of
an engagement in non-subsistance activities such
as crafts or trade, administration or ritual
services. The excavations conducted @MD
brought to light the remains of a planned urban
Centre.
• The city is divided into two sections.

A-The Citadel

B-The lower Town Imp.

 A-The Citadel
• The Citadel is a small artificial platform.( The
dictionary definition of citadel is –A fortress or
castle near a city intended to keep the inhabitants
in subjection or to provide a final point of defense.
(p.107,Enquiries into the Political Organization of
Harappan Society)
• The citadel is built on the western side of the city
i.e. mainly at Harappa, MD, Kalibangan, Balkot.But
@Banavali,the citadel is found on the south-
western part of the mount.
• The citadel area is separated from the
habitation. The public buildings were erected
on the citadel area. These mainly includes,
• Ware house-granery is a massive structure
and the lower portion of the building was
made of bricks and the upper portion was
made of wood. The ware house may used to
store surplus food grains.
 The great bath
• The most important public structure located
within the citadel of Mohenjodaro is the great
bath. The great bath of Mahenjo-daro, the
unique structure of Indus Valley civilization
not only displays the cognitive knowledge of
the citizens of Mohenjo-Daro but also the
scientific knowledge of the people of the
same.(Invented by Wheeler 1950)
• It was a large rectangular tank in a courtyard
• It was surrounded by corridor on all four sides.
• The floor of the tank was made watertight by
using gypsum
• Several scholars suggested that the great bath
had a religious purpose/like ritual bathing
• It shows their engineering skill
 B. The lower town
• The Lower Town is organised on a grid system
with four avenues running from north to
south and four running from east to west.
The avenues are several metres wide and have
drains running down the middle or side of the
road. The avenues divide the Lower Town into
many blocks
• The lower town was situated on the eastern
side of the city.i.e just below the citadel
• The lower town was considered as a
residential area.
• The houses were arranged on the basis of grid
system
 The drainage system
• Harappan cities had the carefully planned
drainage system
• Roads and streets were laid out along an
approximate “grid” pattern,
intersecting at right angles.
• Streets with drains were laid out first and then
houses were built along
them.
• Drainages were made with burned bricks
• The drains were made of mortar, lime and
gypsum.
• They were covered with big bricks and stones
which could be lifted easily
to clean the drains.
vii. Lime stones were used as cesspits
 Subsistence strategies and Agricultural
technologies
• The Harappans ate wide range of plant
products.
• Their food include wide range of plant
products like wheat, barley, lentil etc.
• Millet are found from the sites of Gujarat and
rice and wheat from lothal.
• Agriculture was the main occupation of the
Harappan people.
• Cultivation of cotton was the remarkable
agricultural achievement of the Harappa
people.
• Canals were constructed for the purpose of
irrigation .
• Traces of canals have been found at the
Harappan site of Shortuhgai in Afghanistan.
• Water drawn from wells was also used for
irrigation-Water reservoirs eg.Dholavira were
used to store water.
 Social Differences
• The archaeologist find many social economic
disparities in the Harappan society.
The study of burials
In order to understand the social and economic
disparities, the archaeologists conducted
intensive studies on the burial practices of the
Harappa.
• Three forms of burials have been found at
Mohenjodaro,-
• A)Complete burials-Means the complete burial of
the whole body.
• B)Fractional burials-Represents a collection of
some bones after the exposure of the body to wild
beasts and birds.
• C)Post-cremation burials-have been inferred from
large wide mouthed urns containing a number of
smaller vessels, bones of animals like lambs,
goats,etc and of birds or fish, and a variety of small
objects such as beads,bangles,etc..
• The burials found at Harappan sites &Md
indicates that the dead were generally laid in
pits. Some times there were differences in the
making of burial pits.For.eg.in some burial pits
the hollowed out spaces were lined with
bricks. Burial pits made of bricks were
probably those of rich persons.
• Some graves contain pottery and
ornaments ,which indicates the belief in
afterlife(life after death)
 Things of Luxury
• Apart from the analysis of the burial practices ,the
archaeologist also deliberated about the artifacts to
identify the social differences.
• The archeologist classified the collected objects into two
categories.
• 1.Utilitarian
• 2.Luxuries.
• The utilitarian objects includes objects for daily use.
Ordinary materials like stone ,clay are included in this
category. Luxuries objects include rare objects or objects
made from costly non-local materials.eg.materials made
up of silica etc..
 Different types of dwellings
• Social disparities can also found through the
study of different types of dwellings.
• Big houses were meant for the---------?
• Single roomed cottages were used by?
 Trade and Commerce
• Trading network, both internal (within the
country) and external (foreign), was a
significant feature of the urban economy of
the Harappans. As the urban population had
to depend on the surrounding countryside for
the supply of food and many other necessary
products
• Various kinds of metals and precious stones
were needed by craftsmen to make goods, but
as these were not available locally they had to
be brought from outside. The presence of
such raw material found at sites away from
the place of its origin naturally indicates it
must have reached there through an exchange
activity.
• Rajasthan region is rich in copper deposits and
the Harappans acquired copper mainly from
the Khetri mines located here. Kolar gold fields
of Karnataka and the river-beds of the
Himalayan rivers might have supplied
the gold. The source of silver may have been
Jwar mines of Rajasthan. It is believed that it
must have also come from Mesopotamia in
exchange for the Harappan goods.
• Among the precious stones used for making beads,
the source of lapis-lazuli was located in Badakshan
mines in northeast Afghanistan. Turquoise and
Jade might have been brought from Central Asia.
Western India supplied agate,(gem stones)
chalcedony(Micro crystalline type of quarts) and
carnelian. The sea shells must have come from
Gujarat and neighboring coastal areas. Timber of
good quality and other forest products were perhaps
obtained from the northern regions such as Jammu.
• The Harappans were engaged in external trade
with Mesopotamia. It was largely through Oman
and Behrain in the Persian Gulf. It is confirmed by
the presence of Harappan artefacts such as
beads, seals, dice etc. in these regions. Though
the artefacts from those regions are rarely found
at the Harappan sites, a seal of West Asian or
Persian origin has been discovered at Lothal
which confirms this contact.
 Harappan Seal
• The seals include inscriptions in the form of pictograms
that unfortunately we cannot yet read; the Indus Valley
script is yet to be deciphered. Scholarship has been able
to determine, however, that most seals were likely
important components of trade. Clay sealing's (the
positive imprints of the seals) have revealed traces of
rope that suggest that they may have been used to
brand fastened bundles of merchandise. It has also been
theorized that the inscriptions on the seals indicate
ownership and that the animals are emblems that
referenced particular persons and merchant guilds.
Seal, 2500–2400 B.C.E., steatite, Mohenjodaro, Indus Valley
Civilization (National Museum Delhi)
• The figure has been described by scholars
variously as male, female, with multiple heads,
and not. It is also most frequently described as
the Pashupati seal, after an epithet for the
Hindu god Shiva that means “lord of beasts.”
The figure’s apparent mastery over wild
animals is thought to be implied by the type of
animals — that is, the buffalo, rhinoceros,
elephant, and the tiger — included in the seal.
 Harappan Script
• The Indus Script and Languages is the earliest
form of writing known on the Indian
subcontinent and was established by the Indus
Valley Civilization. The origin of this script is
unknown: there is no agreement on the
language it represents, no bilingual
documents have been discovered thus far, and
its link with Indian writing systems is unknown
• Generally, the Indus Script was written from right to left.
• This is true for the majority of the cases observed,
however, there are few exceptions where the writing
is bidirectional, which indicates that the direction of the
writing is one way on one line but the other direction on
the following line.
• Certain numerical values' representation has been
identified.
• A single unit was indicated by a downward stroke,
whereas units of 10 were represented by semicircles.
 Causes for the decline of Harappa
Civilization
• The Harappan Civilization lasted for about one
thousand years. Archaeological evidence shows
that many of the major cities of the Harappan
Civilization, like Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, and
Dholavira faced abandonment and decline during
the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium B.C. Many of
the distinctive features of the Harappan Civilization
like writing, standardized seals and weights, some
standardized aspects of town planning and other
traits of material culture also disappeared
A)The Aryan Invasion Theory (C. 1800-1500 BC)
• The rise of invasions of Indus Valley civilization has
created a path for several theories of its rise and
untimely extinction.
• According to British archaeologist Mortimer
Wheeler, the Indus River Valley was abruptly
overtaken and captured by a nomadic Indo-
European group known as the Aryan
Civilization. Wheeler was a Director-General of the
Archaeological Survey of India from 1944 to 1948,
he stated that huge unburied bodies lay in the
prime area of the Mohenjo-Daro archaeological
site.
• This theory also speaks about the use of horses
and progressive weapons that was quiet contrary
to the Harappan way of life. On the other hand,
the theory strengthens because the Aryans were
the amongst the first to make use of sophisticated
weapons and horses as means of transport.
• Many scholars have come to an understanding
that the Indo-Aryan Migration thesis, which
claims that the Harappan culture was integrated
when the Aryans invaded into northwest India, is
true.
Tectonic Phenomena Theory

• The mature Harappan civilization located in

Pakistan and India dates from 2600 to 1800
BCE. By combining seismic data, three-
dimensional elastic dislocation modeling, and
archaeological findings it is examined the role
that earthquakes played in the demise of
Harappan settlements.
The Climate Change Theory
• A new study suggests that climate change may have
led to the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization.
First, a wetter winter monsoon may have led to
urban Harappan society turning into a rural one, as
inhabitants migrated from a summer flood-deficient
river valley to the Himalayan plains. Later, a decline
in the winter monsoon could have played a role in
the demise of the rural late Harappans
Hydrological Change Theory
• Hydrological Change Theory
According to some archaeologists the changes in
river courses, might have contributed to the
decline. This theory states that there was an
increase in arid conditions by around 2000 BC.
This might have affected agricultural production,
and led to the decline
• IMP, Points
• The Indus Valley Civilization was first discovered by Sir John
Hubert Marshall during an excavation campaign in 1921-1922 at
Harappa.
• In India, Kalibangan in Rajasthan, Lothal, Dholavira, Rangpur,
Surkotda in Gujarat, Banawali in Haryana, and Ropar in Punjab
were found during the excavations.
• In Pakistan, Harappa on river Ravi, Mohenjodaro on the Indus
River in Sindh, and Chanhudaro in Sindh.
• Harappan ruins were discovered by Marshall, Rai Bahadur Daya
Ram Sahni, and Madho Sarup Vats.
• Mohenjodaro ruins were discovered for the first time by R.D.
Banerjee,(1919-20) E.J.H MacKay, and Marshall.
• Most of the sites have the same pattern, including two parts one
citadel and one lower Town.
 The Mahajanapadas
• The Mahajanapadas were a set of sixteen kingdoms that existed
in ancient India. It all began when the tribes (janas) of the late
Vedic period decided to form their own territorial communities,
which eventually gave rise to new and permanent areas of
settlements called ‘states’ or ‘janapadas.’ In the sixth century BC,
present-day Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh became centers of
political activities as the region was not only fertile but also closer
to the iron production centers. Iron production played a crucial
role in expanding the territorial states of the region. These
expansions helped some of these ‘janapadas’ turn into large
states or ‘mahajanapadas.’ Most of these ‘mahajanapadas’ were
monarchical in nature, while some of them were democratic
states.
• Many prominent ancient Buddhist texts make
frequent references to the ‘16 great kingdoms’
(mahajanapadas) that flourished between the
sixth and the fourth centuries BCE. These 16
kingdoms included kingdoms like Anga,
Gandhara, Kuru, and Panchala, which are
mentioned in the great Indian epic
‘Mahabharata.’
• The Janapadas were Vedic India's principal kingdoms.
This gave rise to the phrase Janapada, which means
"people" and "foot."
• There were probably 22 separate Janapadas by the
sixth century BCE.
• Socioeconomic improvements, particularly the
employment of iron implements in agriculture and
warfare, as well as religious and political
advancements, led to the formation of the
Mahajanapadas from tiny kingdoms or Janapadas.
• The inhabitants developed a deep attachment to the
land or Janapada to which they belonged rather than
the tribe or jana.