4. History Ancient India I Flashcards
Indus Valley Civilisation
2600–1750 BCE
Along with Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt and early Chinese civilisation, the Indus Valley civilisation ranks as one of the earliest civilisations in history.
Discovered in 1921 by Sir John Marshall
* 1 million km2 of extension, up to 5 million people
* Numerous (1000) main sites (Harappa and Mohenjo Daro)
* Architecture: Uniformly planned walled towns and citadels with large “public buildings”
* Agriculture: Large-scale cultivation
* Complex (water) engineering (wells, elaborate drainage system, water supply)
* Standardized measures (weights, etc.)
* Burnt brick , elaborate pottery
* Sea commerce with Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf ;
* A “writing” system
mystery of collapse of Indus Civilisation
The “sudden and dramatic” disappearance of Indus Valley civilisation?
or
Gradual decline and gradual ‘localisation’, between 1800 and 1700 BC?
What are the causes?
1 - major climate change?
2 - an epidemic (leprosy)?
3 - end of commercial relations?
4 - an invasion by a warrying people?
5 - a combination of causes?
The Vedic Heritage
History, Texts, Society, Religion
“Bridging” The Gap, or the Quest for “Origins”
* Two ‘cultural monuments’ at the origin of the sub-continent’s culture
1. Indus Valley civilisation (ca 2600-1750 BC)
2. The poetic corpus of Ṛgveda (ca 1500-1000 BC)
- What is the relationship between these two ‘cultural artefacts’ (one ‘tangible’, the other ‘intangible’)?
- A. Absolute identity : two expressions of the same culture
- B. Difference:
expressions of two languages and two cultures
- B1. the most recent culture superseded and englobed the oldest one
- B2. the most recent culture gradually blended in with the late developments of the oldest one, which was in decline
The Indo-European hypothesis
A very close relationship with the ancient languages and cultures of Iran
Linguistic studies over the last two centuries have postulated the existence of a common prehistoric language (or group of languages) from which all the languages known as Indo-European (Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, Celtic, etc.) derived.
Aryan Migration Thesis (AMT) vs Out-of-India Thesis (Cultural Transformation Thesis)
Linguistics (Indo-European family) vs Archaeology (material culture)
“ārya” elements in the Veda (absent in Indus Valley Civilization)
- Horses and chariots - Iron
- Glossary for temperate flora and fauna
- No cities
AMT: An infiltration in successive waves (starting around 1500 BC) of a nomadic population who spoke an Indo-European language very close to the ancient languages of Iran (Avesta and inscriptions in Old Persian) and whose only real direct evidence is the collection of religious hymns known as the Veda.
The mysterious origins of the Indo-Aryan people
- Out of India Thesis (OIT): India itself
- Aryan Migration Thesis (AMT): The steppes of Central Asia
- In support of the AMT, Witzel explains how certain cultural features of the Indo- Iranians, which are not found in other Indo-European branches, stem from contact in the middle of the second millennium with the Oxus Civilization (between Turkmenistan and Tajikistan), also known as the BMAC (Bactria-Margianan Archaeological Complex).
- According to Witzel, it was this bronze culture that could have provided the ‘future Iranians’ and ‘Vedic Indians’ with many words for agriculture and architecture, as well as divine figures such as Indra, Śarva and the Gandharvas.
Veda: the source
The only source is a corpus of texts written in archaic Sanskrit (Vedic) by the Brahmans, centred around the ritual to be officiated by those very Brahmans.
-veda means “knowledge”
- The Veda is Śruti (“that which has been heard”, “Primary Revelation” to the ancient seers, the ṛṣis) “apauruṣeya” “without author”
“After” the Veda comes the Smṛti (“that which is remembered”, Memory, Tradition, “Secondary Revelation”) by human authors
Veda: the textual corpus
Composition and geography
The oldest Vedic “texts: composed in north-western India (or possibly already in the steppes of Central Asia, in Afghanistan)
From then on, the whole of northern India was gradually occupied and the centre of gravity of the Vedic world shifted from Punjab (pañjāb) to the Ganges basin.
Very approximate textual chronology (1500 BC - 0)
śruti:
1) The Four Vedas (Saṃhitā: ‘Collections’ of hymns) [1200 - 800 BC] 2) Brāhmaṇas (ritual and theological prose texts) [800 - 600 BC]
3) Āraṇyakas (Secret rituals in the ‘forest’; mystical, esoteric teachings), and
4) Upaniṣads (Philosophical reflections on the Self, the ātman) [600 - 0 BC]
smṛti:
5) Śrauta- and
6) Gṛhya-sūtras (Solemn and domestic ritual manuals) [800 - 0 BC]
7) Śulba-sūtras (ritual geometry texts) and 8) Dharma-sūtras (legal texts)
The four “collections” or “saṃhitā”
- Ṛg-veda à “Veda of strophes”, 1028 hymns (sūkta), divided into 10 books,
addressed to various deities (Indra, Agni, Soma) - Sāma-veda à “Veda of melodies” a collection of stanzas arranged for chanting,
1549 verses (including 75 new ones) - Yajur-veda à “Veda of formulas”, 1875 verses
àthe adhvaryu - Atharva-vedaàa collection that is partly magical and partly speculative
Geographical data provided by the texts
Period of the Ṛgveda
The rivers belong to the Indus basin (today’s Pañjāb “land of five rivers”) called in the Ṛgveda the “land of seven rivers”: the Indus (Sindhu), its five main tributaries and the Sarasvatī.
Historical data: the peoples
- Many (around 30) Aryan “tribes” are mentioned in the Ṛgveda
- The most important is the Bharata tribe
Non-Aryans [an-ārya / a-manuṣya]
- Cultural, not ethnic difference
Almost always as enemies, we find the dāsa (“slave”) and the dasyu (‘enemy’) à kṛṣṇa (‘black’ as demonic [non-ethnic])
akarman (‘without sacrificial action’) and anāsa (‘without nose’ or better ‘without mouth’)
Historical data: society
- Vedic society is nomadic and pastoral à A wealth of livestock!
Vedic religion
Social normativity of the Veda:
=> Initiation into Vedic ritual (upanayana), through which the status of ”twice-born” (dvija) is attained, is the basis for belonging to the Vedic ritual community / society.
=> A ritual religion: the central religious practice of the Vedic Āryas is sacrifice
The sacrifice combines a sacred formula and an offering, and a way of making contact with them through a ‘transfer of ownership’.
Purposes of the Vedic sacrifice:
* maintenance of the cosmos and well-being in the world (livestock, fertility)
* “Immortality” as a re-embodiment in a celestial or ancestral world
Veda and Hinduism
Continuities
* Many Hindu traditions accept the Veda as an “authoritative tradition»
* Rituals for the maintenance of the socio-cosmic order
* Life cycle rituals based on Vedic texts; performed by Brahmans
* A multitude of goddesses and gods who rule over certain areas of life
Discontinuities In the Vedas there are:
* No temples
* No icons
* No pilgrimage
* No devotion to a single deity
* No doctrine of karmic retribution, rebirth and liberation
