User:Arvindn/notes

Indus valley civilization

 * The Indus people had significant maritime activities.
 * Objects resembling scales and weights have been found (==> trade)
 * Buildings were made of sun-dried bricks
 * No direct evidence of use of currency.
 * They had a cyclic concept of time. Indeed, Hinduism has the concept of the 4 yugas: Satya, Trata, Dvapara and Kali. After Kali is the pralaya (destruction) which leads back to Satya.
 * Fertility rites were common.
 * They believed in a connection between the productivity of land and humans. Accordingly one of their rites was to copulate on the field.
 * We have found many phallic symbols, thought to represent proto-Shiva.
 * Bronze statue of dancing girl in extrmenely provocative posture. (Remark: even today female statues/idols have enlarged mammaries and hips)
 * They worshipped a mother-Goddess.
 * Abandoned skeletons are found (?).
 * Indus remains suggest 4 diffent ethnic backgrounds:
 * Caucasian
 * Proto-meditteranean
 * Mongoloid
 * Negroid
 * Possible causes for decline
 * Floods
 * Deforestation
 * Tectonic movement
 * Malaria


 * The earliest scripts that are known are the following
 * Harappan
 * Hitite
 * Sumerian
 * Egyptian
 * Chinese
 * Cretan
 * Ilamite


 * The Harappan script alone has not been deciphered. It can be classified as pictography/logography/ideography
 * Evolution of syllablic scripts lead to decrease in the number of characters.
 * The H. script is found in seals, pot shards and bronzes.
 * The Egyptian script was deciphered using bilingual stones. The other language in the stones was proto-Greek.
 * The stratum in which the artifact is found gives clues about the date.
 * Animals known to the Indus people: Bull, elephant, rhino, tiger, buffalo.
 * Animals not known: horse, lion, camel.
 * Since the script has not been deciphered, in practice it is prehistory even though we call it history.
 * 4000 seals of the Indus civ have been found.
 * 400-450 characters of the script have been identified.
 * The average inscription has 5 chars. The longest has 26.
 * The margins are to the right. We find cramped characters on the left.
 * 83% of the time they wrote R to L. 7-8% of the time R to L followed by L to R.
 * Boustrophedon mode of writing
 * Brevity may indicate that inscriptions may refer to names of owners. Thus it might not teach us much about the civ even if the script is deciphered.

Vedic Cilvilization
(Note: lots of Sanskrit words ahead. In italics.)

Early Vedic

 * Rig Vedic society was tribal in nature (Indus: Urban).
 * Main occupation was cattle rearing
 * Rajan: ruler
 * Visvamitra was a prohita, a rajaguru
 * Panchajana - the confederacy
 * The Dasa or Dasyus
 * Were thought to be pre-vedic/pre-aryan people by earlier historians
 * They were dark complexioned, did not worship Vedic deities, spoke a non-sanskritic language, had woolly hair etc.
 * Some scholars contend the gap was cultural rather than racial and say that Dasyus were earlier Aryans
 * Vyasa had a fisherman background, and Agastya is descibed as being short.
 * Casteism as we know it wsa not found in the early Vedic times.
 * Gavishti - cattle rites.
 * Prohit: advisor and religious head. Not a brahmin in the modern sense
 * Senani: led the tribe in war.
 * Entire tribe had a right to bear arms
 * King often got a ceremonial gift - bali from the people
 * The polity of the Rg Veda was none too complex
 * Food. The Early Aryans ate meat.
 * Cow is described as aghnya (that which cannot be killed)
 * However, there is reference to goghnya (one whose job is to kill cows)
 * Most likely explanation of the paradox: cows were a valuable resource, and were to be used sparingly.
 * Irrefutable evidence in later vedic text of author, who was one the major saints of the Upanishads, enjoying tender calf.
 * Vegetarianism became an important part of Brahminical tradition after Buddha.
 * Shastras mention how to apportion meat of sacrifieced horse.
 * No reference in Rg Veda of prayers for better crops, only better Pasu (cattle).
 * Sidenote: D. N. Jha wrote a book about this subject and the VHP managed to prevent its publication by terrorizing the publisher.
 * Wheat was not known. Godhma is referred to only in later Vedic texts.
 * Gambling was a common pastime
 * In the Rg veda there is the lament of a gambler
 * Learning was by rote
 * Students learning verses are compared in the literature of the period to croaking frogs.
 * Poverty and plenty were both common
 * Religion
 * Worship of nature.
 * Fear of the unknown and unfamiliar.
 * The terrifying forces of nature were deified
 * Dharma was supposed to be eternal and its practice ensured standing
 * Great emphasis on social and moral conservativeness
 * Fear of disharmony and chaos
 * Deities: Indra, Varuna, Vayu, Surya, Mitra, Agni, Soma.
 * Deities were not viewed as all-powerful
 * Relationship between devotee and deity was one of transaction
 * At any given point, one particular deity was superior to all others
 * Each had a specific role
 * rth - the cosmic order
 * Mode of worship: sacrifices, chanting of verses
 * They prayed for longeivity of life, plentiful procreation and cattle.
 * No reference to moksha in the Rg.
 * Visvamitra = friend of the Vis. hence he was probably not of Vedic origin.

Later Vedic

 * Agriculture emerged as an important economic activity.
 * More free time
 * Artisans and craftsmen were more numerous
 * Varna was more rigid, but not yet watertight
 * Trade increased; was by and large barter
 * No unanimous view on the existense of money
 * The people had moved to a more congenial area, favorable climatic conditions, more rainfall and alluvial soil
 * Small hamlets were established along the Gangetic valley
 * Aryavarta the land acquired a sacred connotation
 * All the sacred sites are found along the Gangetic valley
 * Early ruler was called the Gopa (protector of cows), now becomes chakravrtin - possessor (protector ?) of land
 * Importance of cattle rearing seems to have waned
 * Janas fought among themselves and claimed the land
 * Jana --> Janapathi
 * Rashtra (state) occurs extensively in later literature
 * Rituals, organization and ceremony become important
 * Elaborate crowning/coronation rituals -- major social occasion
 * The king symbolically tilled the land
 * Various officers, in addition to the prohit and senani emerged
 * Wars occur in order to acquire more land. (e.g Kurukshetra)
 * Ruler who brings more land under his rule called himself Ekarat, Samrat, Chakravartin etc.
 * Yagnyas: Vajapeya, Rajasuya, Asvamedha
 * Much forest land had to be cleared
 * however, the Brahmin received gifts in Go, not Bhu
 * Land surveys, revenue, etc. are common
 * Kshartiyas and Brahmanas did not contribute to the economy and had to be supported by the other classes
 * Many rituals emerged to strengthen the alliance between these two groups
 * Internal divisions became marked (?)
 * Jaya - 8800 verses; Bharata - 24000 verses, Mahabharata - > 10^5 verses
 * Social division exists but caste system had not fully emerged
 * To strengthen their position, the Brahmanas proliferated a large number of sacrifices and increased their importance
 * Improper performance of sacrifices/chanting of verses was supposed to bring ruin
 * Vak, the goddess of learning became a deity in order to ensure the proper enunciation of verses
 * Kshatriyas amassed wealth
 * Yajamana - the one who commissioned the sacrifice (sponsor)
 * Specialization of an extreme order developed among the Brahmanas
 * Dana (gift) gave way to Dakshina (fee)
 * Matsya Nyaya - smaller states being absorbed by bigger ones. (Matsya = fish; Nyaya = approx. rule; think smaller fish being eaten by bigger ones).
 * Janapadas: 16 became Mahajanapadas
 * The lot of the lower Varnas declined and became miserable (the literature is clear on this point)
 * Dha (root of dharma) : firm, strong, unshakeable
 * Less equitable distribution of wealth
 * Rule of primogeniture was not well established
 * Hereditary monarchy was emerging
 * Rg mentions Gana, sabha, samiti, vidhata. Now becomes merely royal court. (==> Participation of people decreased)
 * Women were given a distinctly lower status
 * No child marriage
 * Brahmacharya was exhorted but spinsters were frowned upon
 * Concept of property and inheritance increases, therefore women's status decreases
 * Priestly class put forth the concept that proper carrying out of yagnyas led to victory.
 * Competition everywhere; survival of the fittest.
 * Many were upset about the economic and social differences instead of the egalitarian values of the tribal society.
 * Some wanted to opt out of the race
 * These people meditated on the philosophical aspects of life; their musings are recorded in the Aranyakas of the Upanishads
 * This was a natural response to transition and uncertainty.
 * They looked for certitude of position
 * Matsya nyaya evoked condemnation from these people. They scorned wealth
 * The above information is based on socio-psychological analysis based on later vedic literature by contemporary scholars
 * This was a protest movement. If it became widespread, economy and society would come to a grinding halt.
 * Therefore the 4 ashramas: Brahmacharya, Grihasta, Vanaprasta and Sanyasa.
 * Thus sanyasa is legitimized but placed at the fag end so that it does not affect the average citizen
 * Karma and punarjanma - two important concepts.
 * Karma = balance sheet of good and bad, punarjanma = afterlife/rebirth.
 * Sidenote: compare the psychological response of emigrant Indians to unfamiliar territory. Some become ultraconservative, others become highly liberal. The former are the group that funds the Hindu fundamentalists/terrorists like VHP. The latter try hard to become assimilated into the new society.
 * Karma makes you accept your failure and makes you feel responsible for it instead of attributing it to external forces
 * Vedas were considered axiomatic. But starting from there they reasoned logically in the Upanishads.
 * A true believer in Karma would not be a fatalist
 * A call for action without getting too caught up in the outcome
 * Moksha is freedom from good and bad, which are though to be subjective
 * Reference: Romila Thapar - "Asceticism as a protest movement in Ancient India" in "Essays on early Indian history".