Indian History (Ancient India)

 

INDIAN HISTORY

ANCIENT INDIA

PRE- HISTORIC  PERIOD

·         The recent reported artefacts from Bori in Maharashtra suggest the appearance of human beings in India around 1.4 million years ago. The early man in India used tools of stone, roughly dressed by crude clipping.

·         This period is therefore, known as the Stone Age,

which has been divided into

The Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age

The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age

The Neolithic or New Stone Age

The Chalcolithic Ate

 

The Palaeolithic Age (500000-9000 BC)

·         Palaeolithic men were hunters and food gatherers.

·         They had no knowledge of agriculture, fire or pottery, they used tools of unpolished, rough stones and lived in cave rock shelters.

·         They are also called Quartzite men.

·         Homo Sapiens first appeared in the last phase of this period.

·         This age is divided into three phases according to the nature of the stone tools used by the people and the changes in the climate and environment.

 

The Mesolithic Age (9000-4000 BC)

·         It intervened as a transitional phase between the Palaeolithic Age and the Neolithic Age.

·         In this age, the climate became warm and dry which brought about changes in fauna and flora and made it possible for human beings to move to new areas.

·         The Mesolithic people lived on hunting, fishing and food-gathering. At a later stage, they also domesticated animals.

·         The people of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ages practised painting.

·         Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh, is a striking site of pre-historic painting of Mesolithic age.

The Neolithic Age (4000-1000 BC)

·         The people of this age used tools and implements of polished stone. They particularly used stone axes.

·         It is interesting that in Burzahom, domestic dogs were buried with their masters in their graves.

·         First use of handmade pottery and potter wheel appears during the Neolithic age. Neolithic men lived in caves and decorated their walls with hunting and dancing scenes.

 

The Chalcolithic Age (2800BC-700 BC)

 

·         The metal made by them were mostly the imitations of the stone forms.

·         Copper was the first metal used by men and the culture based on the use of stone and copper tools is called the Chalcolithic Culture.

Burial Practices

Maharashtra	Dead body in North-South position
South India	Dead body in East-West position
West India	Complex, extended burial
East India	Fractional burial

 

INDUS VALLEY CIVILISATION

·         Indus Valley Civilization is one of the four earliest civilizations of the world along with the civilizations of Mesopotamia (Tigris and Euphrates), Egypt (Nile) and China (Hwang Ho).

·         The Civilisation forms a part of the proto-history of India and belongs to the Bronze Age.

·         The most accepted period is 2500-1700 BC (derived by Carbon-14 dating).

·         Dayaram Sahni first discovered Harappa in 1921. RD. Bannerjee discovered Mohenjodaro or 'Mound of the Dead' in 1922.

It can be divided into the following sub-parts

Early Phase-   2900-2500 BC

Middle (mature) Phase-    2500-2000 BC

Later Phase-   2000-1750 BC

NOMENCLATURE

·         Indus Valley Civilisation, as it flourished along the Indus river.

·         Harappan Civilisation named by John Marshall, after the first discovered site, Harappa.

·         Saraswati-Sindhu Civilisation, as most of the sites have been found at the Hakra-Ghaggar river.

Indus Cities At a Glance

City	Province	River Bank	Year of Discovery	Archaeologist
Harappa	Pakistani Punjab	Ravi	1921	DR Sahni
Mohenjodaro	Sind	Indus	1922	RD Bannerjee
Chanhudaro	Sind	Indus	1931	MG Manjumdar
Sutkagendor	Balochistan	Dasht	1931	Aurel Stein
Rangpur	Gujarat	Meedar	1931	MS Vats
Ropar	Indian Punjab	Sutlej	1953	YD Sharma
Lothal	Gujarat	Bhogava	1957	SR Rao
Kalibangan	Rajasthan	Ghaggar	1961	BB Lal
Dholavira	Kachchh(Gujarat)	Luni	1967	JP Joshi
Banawali	Haryana	Ghaggar	1973	RS Bisht
Alamgirpur		Hindon	1974	YD Sharma

 

TOWN-PLANNING

·         Town-planning was not uniform. A common feature was the grid system i.e. streets cutting across one another at right angles, dividing the town into large rectangular blocks.

·         The towns were divided into two parts: the Upper part or Citadel and the Lower part.

·         Underground drainage system connected all houses to the street drains, made up of mortar, lime and gypsum. They were covered with either brick or stone slabs and equipped with manholes. This shows a developed sense of health and sanitation.

·         The Great Bath (Mohenjodaro) It was used for religious bathing. Steps at either end lead to the surface. With inlet to the tank and outlet for drain water. There were changing rooms alongside.

·         The Granaries (Harappa) 6 granaries in a row were found in the Citadel at Harappa.

·         Houses were made up of burnt bricks.

·         Lamp-posts were erected at regular intervals. It indicates the existence street lighting.

 

AGRICULTURE

·         Agriculture was the backbone of the civilisation. The soil was fertile due to inundation in the river Indus.

·         They used wooden plough share (ploughed field from Kalibangan) and stone sickles for harvesting.

·         Crops produced were wheat, barley, dates, peas, sesamum, mustard, millet, ragi, bajra and jowar. At Lothal and Rangpur, rice husks were found.

·         They were first to produce cotton in the world, which Greeks called as Sindon derived from Sind. A fragment of woven cotton cloth was found at Mohenjodaro.

·         Well irrigation is evident from the dams and irrigation canals found at Dholavira. Sugarcane was not known to the Indus people.

DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

·          Animal rearing was practised. They domesticated buffaloes, oxens, sheep, asses, goats, pigs, elephants, dogs, cats etc.

·          Camel bones are reported at Kalibangan and remains of horse are discovered from Surkotada.

ART AND CRAFTS

·         Harappans used stone tools and implements and were well acquainted with bronze. Bronze was made by mixing copper (from Khetri) with tin.

·         Boat making, jewellery of gold, silver precious stone and bead making was practised. Cotton fabrics were used in summer and woollens in winter.

·         Pottery Both plain or painted (red and black) pottery was made. Pots were decorated with human figures, plants, animals and geometrical patterns.

·         Metal Images Bronze image of a nude woman dancer (identified as devdasi) and stone steatite image of a bearded man were both obtained from Mohenjodaro.

·         Terracotta Figurines Fire baked clay was used to make toys, objects of worship, animals (monkey, dogs, sheep, cattle, humped and humpless bulls), cattle toys with movable head, toy-carts, whistles shaped like birds, and both male and female figurines.

·         They played dice games. Gambling seems to be their favourite time pass.

TRADE

·         Agriculture, industry and forest provided the basis for internal and external trade.

·         Trade was based on barter system. Coins are not evident. Bullock carts and boats were used for transportation.

Towns and Trade
Daimabad	Bronze industry
Lothal	Factory for stone tools and metallic finished goods.
Balakot	Pearl finished goods, bangle and shell industry
Chanhudaro	Beads and Bangles factory

 

·         Weights and measures were made of limestone, steatite etc. Generally in cubical shape and in multiples of 16.

·         Foreign trade flourished with Mesopotamia or Sumeria (Iraq), Central Asia, Persia, Afghanistan and Bahrain.

 

Major Imports

 

Imports	From
Gold	Kolar(Karnataka),Afghanistan, Persia(Iran)
Silver	Afghanistan, Persia(Iran), South India
Copper	Khetri(Rajasthan) Balochistan, Arabia
Tin	Afghanistan, Hazaribagh
Lapis Lazuli and Sapphire	Badak-Shan (Afghanistan)
Jade	Central Asia
Steatite	Shahr-i-Sokhta, Kirthar Hills
Amethyst	Maharashtra

 

 

RELIGIOUS PRACTICES

·         Chief Female Diety A terracotta figurine, where a plant is shown growing out of the embryo of a woman and represents the mother Goddess (Goddess of Earth).

·         Chief Male Diety Pashupati Mahadeva (Proto-Siva), represented in seals, sitting in a yogic posture on a throne and having three faces and two horns. He is surrounded by an elephant, a tiger, a rhino and a buffalo, and two deers appear at his feet.

·         Indus people believed in ghosts and evil forces and used amulets for protection against them. Fire altars are found at Lothal and Kalibangan.

SCRIPT

·         It was pictographic in nature. Fish symbol is the most represented. Overlapping of the letters show that it was written from right to left in the first line. The style is called Boustrophedon.

 

DECLINE OF THE CIVILISATION

 

·         The Harappan culture flourished upto 1800 BC, then it began to decline. There is no unanimity among historians regarding the reason for decline of this urban civilisation. There are many different theories by the thinkers, that shows the decline of the Indus culture.

 

Decline of Indus Civilisation Different Views

Views	Thinkers
External Aggression	Wheeler, Piggot and Gordon-Childe
Inundation	MR Sahni
Epidemic	KVR Kennedy
Tectonic Disturbances (e.g. Dholavira)	Marshall and Raikes
Sudden Decline	Wheeler
Climatic Change	RL Stein and AN Ghosh
Deforestation, Scarcity of  Resources, Ecological Imbalances	Fairservis
Flood (e.g. Mohenjodaro)	Marshall, SR Rao, Maickey
The Destruction due to Change in course of River Ghaggar	GF Holes

 

 

 

Important Harappan Sites

Site	Archaeological Finds
Harappa (Gateway city)	Two rows of six granaries with brick platform, work men's quarter, stone symbol of lingam and yoni, virgin-Goddess (seal), clay figures of mother Goddess wheat and barley in wooden mortar, copper scale and mirror, vanity box, dice. Sculpture dog chasing a deer (bronze) nude male and nude dancing female (stone), sand stone male torso.
Mohenjodaro (Mound of the Dead)	The great bath, the great granary (largest building), multipillared assembly hall, college, proto-Shiva seal, clay figures of mother Goddess, dice. Sculpture Bronze dancing girl, steatite image of bearded man.
Kalibangan (Black Bangle)	Decorated bricks, bangle factory, wheels of a toy cart, wells from every house. Remains of a massive brick wall around both the citadel and lower town (lower town of Lothal is also fortified), bones of camel, tiled floor. Mother Goddess figurines are absent here.
Chanhudaro (Lancashire of India)	Inkpot, lipstick carts with seated driver, ikkas of bronze, imprint of dog's paw on a brick. Only city without citadel.
Daimabad	Bronze images of Charioteer with chariot ox; elephants and rhinoceros.
Amri	Actual remains of rhinoceros.
Alamgirpur	Impression of cloth on a trough.
Lothal (Manchester of Indus Valley Civilisation)	Rice Husk, Fire altars, grinding machine, tusks of elephant, terracotta figure of horse and seal, dying rat, painted jar (bird and fox), teracotta ship, houses with entrance on main streets, impressions of cloth on some seals, modern day chess, instrument for measuring 180°, 90° and 45° angles.
Ropar	Buildings made of stone and soil. Dog buried with human. One inscribed steatite seal with typical Indus pictographs; oval pit burials.
Banawali	Oval shaped settlement, only city with radial streets, lack of systematic drainage pattern. Toy plough, largest number of barley grains.
Surkotada	Both Citadel and Lower Town fortified with stone wall. First actual remains of horse bones. Cemetry with four pot burials.
Dholavira	Only site to be divided into 3 parts. Giant water reservoir; unique water harnessing system; dams and embankments; a stadium; rock-cut architecture.
Sutkagendor	Two fold divisions of township-Citadel and Lower Town.