Ancient Greece. Early Civilizations in Greece The Parthenon.
Early Civilizations of Ancient India
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Transcript of Early Civilizations of Ancient India
Periods in Pre-Classical India
• Ancient Harrapan Civilization• The Vedic Age• The Epic Age
Harappa & Mohenjo Daro
• A prosperous river valley civilization emerged along the Indus River by 2500 BCE, of which the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro were a part.
• Indus River peoples had trading contacts with Mesopotamia, but they developed their own distinctive culture.
• Harappan civilization fell around 1500 BCE, and a new civilization arose in India, brought by nomadic Aryan invaders.
• It was the Aryans who ushered in India’s formative (pre-classical) period, called the Vedic and Epic ages.
The Harappan Civilization
3300 BCE - 2400 BCE
CitadelOf
Mohenjo-Daro
Aerial View of Mohenjo-Daro
Wide View, Mohenjo-Daro
The Great Bath, Mohenjo-Daro
Bath Area, Mohenjo-Daro
Well, Mohenjo-Daro
Granery, Mohenjo-Daro
A Horned-God Seal, Mohenjo-Daro
A Priest-King, Mohenjo-Daro
Drain, Harappa
Bull Figurine, Harappa
Elephant Figurine, Harappa
Male Skeleton, Harappa
Harappan Writing
Undecipherable to date.
The Vedic Age1500 BCE-500 BCE
Aryan Migration
Sanskrit
writing
The Vedas 1200 BCE-600 BCE.
written in SANSKRIT.
Hindu core of beliefs: hymns and poems. religious prayers.
magical spells. lists of the gods and goddesses.
Rig Veda oldest work.
The Caste System• Most of what we know about the pre-classical
period comes from the Vedas (written in Sanskrit).
• The Vedic Age takes its name from the Sanskrit word Veda, which means knowledge.
• The Rig-Veda, the first Aryan epic, attributed the rise of the caste system to the gods (The Aryans brought to India a religion of many gods and goddesses that would form the basis of the Hindu religion.
• It developed initially as a means of establishing relationships between the Aryan conquerors and the indigenous people, whom the Aryans regarded as inferior.
Varna = Aryan Social Classes
Sudras = common laborers
Vaishyas = traders/farmers
Kshatriyas = Warriors /governing
class
Pariahs Untouchables
Brahmins = Priestly class
The Caste system• Initially, the Kshatriyas (warriors) ranked
highest, but during the Epic Age, the brahmins replaced them, signaling the importance of religion in Indian life.
• The basic castes divided into smaller subgroups, called jati, each with distinctive occupations.
The epic age1000 BCE-600 BCE
The epic age• The period is named for its literary
developments. • India’s greatest epic poem, the Mahabharata,
and the Ramayana were written during the Epic Age.
• Both of these epics reflect a more settled agricultural society and better-organized political units than the Rig-Veda of the Vedic Age.
• The Epic Age also witnessed the creation of the Upanishads, epic poems with a more mystical religious tone.
Works cited• Adas, M., Gilbert, M.J., Schwartz, S.B., &
Stearns, P.N. (2007). World civilizations: The global experience. (5th ed.). New York: Pearson Education.
• Images from Susan M. PojerHorace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY, http://www.pptpalooza.net/.