Indus River Valley

What We Will Learn Today:

How did geography effect the Indus River Valley civilization?

India’s Geographic Features

The Indian subcontinent is a large, wedge-shaped peninsula that extends southward into the Indian Ocean.

Subcontinent: A large region that is part of a continent, but is separated from the rest of the content in some way.

Identification of Geographic Features in India

Indus River

Ganges River

Peninsula and/or

Subcontinent

Himalayan Mountains

This peninsula is surrounded on the north and northwest by huge mountains, the Himalayan Mountains.

This has often limited India's contact with other cultures. This is known as cultural isolation.

You decide! How would isolation impact the people on Ancient Indus?

Seasonal winds known as monsoons bring rain every summer. India is dependent upon monsoons to grow their crops. Not

enough rain brings drought. When there is too much rain, rivers rise and cause deadly floods and destruction of crops.

Civilization in the Indus River Valley Begins

About 2500 BC, about the time when the pyramids were rising in Egypt, the first Indian civilizations were forming in the Indus River Valley.

Little is known about these civilizations, but Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were most likely twin capital cities.

Complexities of the Cities

The most historically striking feature of these two cities were the way in which they were both well planned.

Each city was laid out in a grid pattern, the blocks similar to those seen in modern cities.

The homes seem to have been built with bricks and in a pattern repeated throughout the city.

Plumbing In the Cities

In addition, these cities seem to contain houses with plumbing systems, including baths, drains and water pipes.

Trade with Sumer

Most of the people of the Indus valley were farmers. They were the first people to grow cotton and weave it into cloth.

There is early evidence of trade with other civilizations including Sumer.

Aryans Take over Indus Valley

Not much is known about the development of this region, not much is known about its decline.

For unknown reasons, around 1750 B.C. the Indus Valley began to decline. Then about 1500 B.C., nomadic warriors known as the Aryans conquered the Indus Valley.

The Vedic Period

The Aryans

- Around 2000 BC, a group called the Aryans take control of the Indus River Valley

- A book, called the Vedas, gives us most of what we know about this time period

The Varnas

Vedic society was broken up in to FOUR social classes; Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras

The Untouchables were the bottom rung of society and had ZERO rights

Over hundreds of years these divisions developed into castes

Cultural Connections

o Connections to Hinduism are clear, however unlike the Hindus, the Vedas did allow for caste members to marry from other castes as well as movement to and from each group.

o The priests were the most powerful group in Vedic Society, they performed sacred rituals that many believed kept civilization on order.

o Caste systems today have been outlawed and are considered a violation of basic civil rights

Hinduism

Hinduism has no single founder, but originated from the mixing of Harappan and Aryan cultures in ancient India around 1500 BCE.

Hindus believe in one unifying spirit, Brahman. Brahman can manifest in many, polytheistic, forms or in one, monotheistic.

Hinduism is based on the concept of reincarnation (Spirits return to earth many times in different forms trying to become one with Brahman). The soul moves up or down a hierarchy depending on their behavior in life.

A person moves closer to Brahman by obeying the law of karma. Karma is the sum of all your deeds, good and bad. Good deeds involve following your dharma, or duties dependent on your position, gender and occupation.

The caste system (outlawed since 1948) was an important part of Hinduism. Castes are social classes into which a person is born and lives their entire life. If a person has a good karma they may be reincarnated into a higher caste.

This life Next life

Born intoA caste

Good Karma

Bad Karma

Higher caste

Lower caste

The caste system separated Indian society into distinct social classes in which everyone knew their place and believed that if they followed the dharma of their caste, they would be reincarnated into a better caste.

Brahman

Kshatriya

Vaisya

Sudra

Untouchables

Over the centuries Hindu beliefs were recorded into a number of sacred texts including the Vedas and the Upanishads.

The Ramayana is a Hindu creation story.

Hindus believe the Ganges River is sacred and often wish to be cremated and have their ashes sprinkled in the river upon death.

Buddhism

Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama in northern India around 560 BCE.

Gautama was born into a wealthy Hindu family, but renounced his wealth to seek spiritual enlightenment.

Buddhism is neither monotheistic or polytheistic, instead a path is followed to reach Enlightenment

~Buddhism spread through cultural diffusion to eastern Asia, including China, Thailand, Korea and Japan.

~In other areas, Buddhism was adapted and took on new forms.

Buddhism is based on the Four Noble Truths.

1. All life is suffering.

2. Suffering is caused by desire for things that are illusions.

3. The way to eliminate suffering is to eliminate desire.

4. Following the Eightfold path will help people to overcome desire.

Buddhism like Hinduism:

Reincarnation

Karma

Dharma

But not

Caste system

Hindu gods

Hindu priesthood

Buddhism has much in common with Hinduism, but important differences.

                                       

Buddha did not record his teachings, but after he died, his followers collected them into the Tripitaka.

Today’s Tibetan Buddhists are led by the Dalai Lama, who advocates for freedom from China.