Ancient_Indian_History

Ancient Indian History [Author’s Name] [Instructor’s Name] [Course Title] Date Ancient Indian History Early civilization of the Indian subcontinent was one of the largest in extent, that it made great advances in crafts and technology, in trade and agriculture, and that its social organization appears to have been one of the most efficient, methodical and trouble-free ever. A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture is evident in the Indus Valley civilization. The quality of municipal town planning suggests knowledge of urban planning and efficient municipal governments which placed a high priority on hygiene. The streets of major cities such as Mohenjo-daro or Harappa were laid out in a perfect grid pattern, comparable to that of present day New York. Houses were one or two stories high. They were almost always built with mud bricks sometimes fired in kilns. They were protected from noise, odors, and thieves. Most city dwellers appear to have been traders or artisans, who lived with others pursuing the same occupation in well-defined neighborhoods. Materials from distant regions were used in the cities for constructing seals, beads, and other objects. Seals are one of the most commonly found objects in Harappan cities. They are decorated with animal motifs such as elephants, water buffalo, tigers, and most commonly unicorns. There were very High Buildings. One of its most well-known structures is the Great Bath of Mohenjo Daro. Ancient India had marvelous craftsmen, skilled in pottery, weaving, and metal working. Dancing, painting, sculpture, and music were all part of their culture. Women wore jewelry of gold and precious stone, and even wore lipstick. After 700 years the Harappan cities began to decline. This is generally attributed to the invasion of a foreign people who were The Aryan. The Aryan's were a pantheistic people. They belong to the religion called Vaishnavism. The Aryan's migrated from the ancient home to Iran and from there to India and Greece and Europe. They are said to have entered India through the fabled Khyber Pass, around 1500 B.C. and were supposed to have destroyed many of the ancient cities right and this would account for the decline of the Indus civilization. From 1900-1300 B.C. the city was not being maintained and was getting crowded. This suggests that the rulers had been no longer able to control the daily functioning of the city. Aryan intermingled with the local populace, and assimilated them into the social framework. They adopted the settled agricultural lifestyle of their predecessors, and established small agrarian communities across the state of Punjab. They called themselves the "noble ones" or the "superior ones." They were believed to have brought with them the horse, developed the Sanskrit language and made significant inroads in to the religion of the times. They did not have a script, but they developed a rich tradition. A settled lifestyle brought in its wake more complex forms of government and social patterns. This period saw the evolution of the caste system, and the emergence of kingdoms and republics. They were divided into tribes which had settled in different regions of northwestern India. Tribal chief man ship gradually became hereditary, though the chief usually operated with the help of advice from either a committee or the entire tribe. With work specialization, the internal division of the Aryan society developed along caste lines. It was, in the beginning, a division of occupations, as such it was open and flexible. Much later, caste status and the corresponding occupation came to depend on birth, and change from one caste or occupation to another became far more difficult. So the foreign light-skinned people entered and took over and made their own culture. The Aryan's civilization was a new start in Indian culture. They built no cities, no states, no granaries, and used no writing. Instead they were a warlike people that organized themselves in individual tribal, kinship units, the jana. The jana was ruled over by a war-chief. This Aryan's civilization started to decay around 4000 B.C. which means they had been in existence for thousands of years before. By the time the oral tradition of the Aryan religion was committed to Sanskrit, however, some of the gods had already begun to lose their importance. The most ancient sacred literature of Hinduism is called the Vedas. The Vedas were considered as the most important holy books as they were believed to provide divine knowledge. The Vedas were brought to India by the Aryans. Therefore, the period of Brahmans comes. The people belonging to the religion Brahmanism are called Brahmans. Brahmanism is an early form of Hinduism which developed its worship and philosophy from the Vedas. Brahm, the highest god of Brahmanism, represents the All, or the abstract idea of being. He is conceived as a trinity which is called Trimurti, consisting of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. They brahmans believes that Brahma, the first-originated of all beings, the lord of all creatures, the father of all the universes, is the divine mind who is the beginning of all. He is called Aja, the not-born, because he has originated, but was not begotten. He is the creator of man. He is a representation of the impersonal brahman in a human form, usually with four faces facing the cardinal directions and four arms. As in the vedas brought by Aryans there gods were connected to the forces of nature In Brahmans there is not such case. They pray to only that single god out of three on which they believe. The evidence suggests that Jainism was known among the people of the Indus Valley around 3000-3500 B.C. So, there is nothing wonderful in my saying that Jainism was in existence long before the Veda because many scholars have supported that in earliest period of Indian history the traces of Jain's tradition was present. In the early history of India the violence was seen almost everywhere but with the passage of time and by adopting different religions, the concept of violence has been somehow reduced, which is another aspect of the progression of civilization. By the first century A.D., the Jain community evolved into two main divisions based on monastic discipline: the Digambara or "sky-clad" monks who wear no clothes, own nothing, and collect donated food in their hands, and the Svetambara or "white-clad" monks and nuns who wear white robes and carry bowls for donated food. The Digambara do not accept the possibility of women achieving liberation, while the Svetambara do. The downfall of the Buddhist was actually due to the growth of Hindu in India. The Hindu follow the religion named as Hinduism. The origin of the term Hindu also has historical connotations. The Persians pronounced the word Sindhu as Hindu, and named the Aryan's Hindus. Thus Hindu is only a mispelt form of Sindhu. The word Hindu was a geographic rather than a religious term but now it has turned out to be a loaded term as it is associated with a religion. The originators of this religion are the Persian settlers who were influenced by Aryan invaders. Hinduism was not found by any one person, or does not have only one core doctrine. There is also no definite time when it could be said to have begun. It does not require its adherents to accept any one idea, and thus is cultural; its Ideologies were developed into a history with the peoples with which it is associated. Hinduism is also known for an attitude, of accommodating other religious and cultural perspectives. Hinduism lacks any definitive beliefs or ideas. It is a phenomenon and forms a broad spectrum of beliefs and practices, which are paganism, pantheism and so on. It is concluded that by adopting the different religions having different beliefs have made the civilization of the Indians to progress. The Indians are fully concerned and have devoted their lives to their gods. The freedom or liberation of women has been increased gradually in India. Works Cited Shankar Goyal. Problems of Ancient Indian History. New Dehli: Book Enclave, 2002. Burjor Avari. India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Sub-Continent from c. 7000 BC to AD 1200. New York: Routledge, 2007. John Keay. India: A History. New York: Grove Press, 2001. Romila Tharper. Ancient Indian Social History. New York: Vantage Press, 1978. P.S. Joshi; M.R. Wadhwani; J.V. Pradhan. Ancient Indian History Civilization and Culture. New Dehli: S. Chand & Co., 1968. D. C., ed. Sircar. Journal of Ancient Indian History, Vol. I, Parts 1-2, 1967-68. Calcutta: Calcutta, 1968. G.P. Singh. Facets of Ancient Indian History and Culture. New Dehli: DK Print World Pvt.Ltd, 2003.