Info Taken from:

Ms. Susan M. PojerHorace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY

Canal Winchester Local School District100 Washington Street

Canal Winchester, OH 43110

Info Taken from:

Ms. Susan M. PojerHorace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY

Canal Winchester Local School District100 Washington Street

Canal Winchester, OH 43110

The Indus River Valley The Indus River Valley CivilizationCivilization

• Over 2,000 years old!• 2,500 BC developed on the banks of the

Indus River Valley• Referred to as Dravidian Culture• Or Harappan Civilization

– After one of its major cities– Lasted until approx. 1,700 BC– Near present-day Pakistan

• Borders stretch from present-day Kabul, Afghanistan to Delhi, India

The Harappan Civilization

I. The Indus River Valley I. The Indus River Valley CivilizationCivilization

• Hundreds of towns and two major cities:– Harappa– Mohenjo-Daro

• Large city• Well-built homes• Public buildings• Canals• City walls

CitadelOf

Mohenjo-Daro

Aerial View of Mohenjo-Daro

I. The Indus River Valley I. The Indus River Valley CivilizationCivilization

– Mohenjo-Daro• Craft workers used clay for beautiful figurines and

communication• Streets in a grid design

– Expected a large population– roughly 30,000 citizens

• Wall around the city• Houses had brick/stone foundations

– Houses had as many as three floors.– Several rooms, toilets, wells, drainage system with

brick lined sewers in the streets– Citizens were conveniently able to dispose of their garbage

through a slit cut into their house which would then fall into containers lined up on the street below.

• Ditches and canals for irrigation• Public bathhouse• Buildings for storing grain and holding meetings

Wide View, Mohenjo-Daro

The Great Bath, Mohenjo-Daro

Mohenjo-Daro’s brick floored bathhouses were even designed to have dirty water drain through clay pipes into an

underground gutter system

Bath Area, Mohenjo-Daro

Well, Mohenjo-Daro

Granery, Mohenjo-Daro

pottery, Mohenjo-Daro

Necklace, Mohenjo-Daro

Drain, Harappa

Unicorn Seal, Harappa

Burial Pottery, Harappa

Male Skeleton, Harappa

Female Skeleton with Child, Harappa

Harappan Writing

Undecipherable to date.

II. The Aryan Influence on II. The Aryan Influence on South AsiaSouth Asia

• 1,700 BC—Aryans came to South Asia– Migrated through Russia and passes in the

Hindu Kush mountains• Suggests that Aryans played a role in the

end of the Harappan civilization• Aryan people and Indus River valley

civilization eventually blended into one culture

• This culture was concentrated in both the Indus River valley and the Ganges River valley

What Happened?– The Dravidian culture,

• a civilized peaceful matriarchal empire. • This is a very good thing, but not when another

culture wants to take over control. – The Dravidians were totally unprepared for

invasion by the barbaric patriarchal tribes of Aryans.

• However the Dravidian empire did hold out for several centuries before being taken over by the Aryans.

– When the Aryans took the empire, they imposed a harsh patriarchal control over the land.

• The Aryans divided the empire into four classes and the Dravidians were at the bottom of the barrel.

– The defeated Dravidians, » now called the Shudras, » were enslaved and their only right was to serve the

upper three classes of Aryans.

Aryan Migration

pastoral depended on their cattle.

warriors horse-drawn chariots.

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.Rig Veda oldest work.

Varna (Social Hierarchy)

ShudrasShudras

VaishyasVaishyas

Kshatriyas Kshatriyas

Pariahs [Harijan] Untouchables

Pariahs [Harijan] Untouchables

BrahminsBrahmins

The Caste System

The mouth?

The arms?

The legs?

The feet?

WHO IS…

What is a JATI?

BrahminsBrahmins

KshatriyasKshatriyas

VaishyasVaishyas

ShudrasShudras

The Vedic Age

The foundations for Hinduism were

established!