The Indian Subcontinentand Ancient China

Geography of the Subcontinent• India as a landmass joined

Eurasia about 10 million years ago

• Today includes countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh

Geography Con’t• Physical features

– River systems• Indus• Ganges

– Himalayas– Northern Plain– Deccan Plateau– Eastern and Western

Ghats

• Phenomena– Monsoon Seasons

• Dry NE wind Sept-March• Wet SW/SE storm June-Sept

Indus Valley Civilization

• Emerged around Indus River c 2500 BC

• Two Main sits of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro

Indus Valley Civilization Con’t

• Archeological digs reveal well-planned cities laid out in grid pattern

• Houses had modern plumbing

• Merchants employed uniform weights and measures

• No written records, literature, very few historical accounts

Harappa street plan

Extent of Indus valley Civilization

Indus Script

Indus Valley Civilization Con’t

• Most people were farmers, growing mostly: wheat, barley, and dates

• First people to cultivate cotton and weave into cloth

• Traded with Civilizations as far away as Sumer

• Little known about their religion, venerated mother goddess figure

Decline and Aryan Invasion

• 1750 BC Aryan migration to subcontinent brings about decline of Indus Valley Civilization

• Scholars still not sure if invasion or slow cultural diffusion

• Originally Nomads

Aryan or Vedic Civilization• Civilization expands to

Ganges Valley and Northern Plain

• Displace original Indus Valley inhabitants called Dravidians

• Vedic Period lasts from 1500 BC - 500 BC

• Aryans compose the Vedas, oral and eventually written history and myths about Aryan Society

Vedic Caste System

• Society organized into Caste

• Caste is inherited at birth and is unchangeable

• Each caste performs a function for society

Hinduism

• Historically oldest religion

• Unbroken continuity of worship since before 3,000 BC

• Polytheistic in nature

• Two of many major texts– Mahabharata– Ramayana

Rama fighting Ravana

Scene form the Mahabharata