Indian Civilization: Indus Valley, Vedic Period and Caste System

This essay provides an in-depth examination of Indian civilization, beginning with the Indus Valley Civilization and its remarkable urban planning, trade networks, and early forms of social organization. It then transitions to the Vedic period, detailing the arrival of the Aryans, the development of the caste system (Varnas), and the rise of Vedic Hinduism. The essay explores the social structure, the roles of different Varnas (Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra), and the historical context surrounding their formation. It discusses the influence of the Vedas and other religious texts, as well as the evolution of the caste system from a vocational-based division to a birth-defined hierarchy. Additionally, it explores the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization and the rise of the Vedic Period. The essay also explores the Aryan civilization, their impact on the original inhabitants and the development of Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism). The essay draws upon archaeological findings, historical accounts, and scholarly interpretations to provide a comprehensive overview of these pivotal periods in Indian history, highlighting their cultural, social, and religious significance.

AN201 : Indian Civilization
Article

Note on Indus Valley Civilization ,Vedic period and Indian soc
system with emphasis on Caste.
Introduction
This paper has two aims- to elaborate on and lay out the Indian civilizations with specia
focus on indus valley civilization and vedic period . The second one is to lay out the
social system of India centering around the caste subject and to also point out the
manifestations of caste.
India would become one of the world's most prominent centres of ancient civilisation.
India has performed a critical role in world history. Its accomplishments may still be fel
profoundly today, in a modern day India and its expanding worldwide impact. Indian
civilizations flourished in a parallel with other ancient global civilizations. Early human
objects and relics, such as primitive tools, have been unearthed during archaeological
findings , implying an incredibly early origin for human presence and technology in the
region.
Whereas the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt have often received
acknowledgment for their accomplishments towards civilization, India has generally
been underestimated , particularly in the Orient, despite its vibrant heritage. The Indus
Valley Civilization (c. 7000-c. 600 BCE) was arguably one of the grandest civilizations o
the ancient world, encompassing more land than Egypt or Mesopotamia and
establishing a culture that was just as lively and sophisticated. Over the next
millennium, a group known as the Aryans, who spoke an Indo-European tongue,
migrated from Central Asia to the north of the Indian subcontinent . Later, they founde
clans and tribes and reigned over the indigenous Dravidian inhabitants they
encountered.
As recorded in the earliest Indian scriptures, the Vedas, this era of ancient Indian annal
is regarded as the Vedic age. It is precisely the epoch during which the majority of the
fundamental characteristics of traditional Indian culture were established. Vedic
Hinduism's rise as India's fundamental religion, as well as the social/religious
manifestations known as caste, are instances.
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Essay body( Reviews/ discussion )
Around the 4th millennium B.C, there existed sites scattered over present Pakistan, with vario
regions displaying increased diversity. Many of these breakthroughs, such as town walls and
aesthetic attributes of the indigenous cultures, have been categorised under the broad label o
"pre-Harappan," . At this phase, there is indication of broader locations with better organizatio
and more elaborate constructions than the previous, basic towns.
In the years 1920–22, two of Indus valley civilization's most prominent locations were
uncovered. Harappa, on the Ravi River, and Mohenjodaro, on the Indus River, were the two
settlements. D. R. Sahani explored the first, while R.D. Bannerji excavated the latter. Also
known as the 'Indus Valley civilization,' since the bulk of its towns were found in and around th
plains of the river Indus and its branches.
The Indus valley civilization was a remarkably new development that appeared around in the
form of a convergence of facets from these belief systems, culminating in a much more
homogeneously built heritage, so that Harappan sites can be conveniently ascertained. There
was a significant shift in interpersonal interactions, society and authority. According to Jansen
(1981) there are currently roughly 800 Harappan sites that may be regarded as mature.
With a total size of 1.25 million km, this civilization spans more territory than upper and lower
Egypt together, or the pretty much the entire area of Sumer, Akkad, and Assyria merged. The
area basically shaped a semicircle, with its core at the Indus River and expanding eastward
both in the south to the Deccan and in the north to present Delhi over the Punjab.
D. D. Kosambi book elaborates and in clear language charts out the notable aspects of the
civilisation. The city residences were multi-story, grandiose, firmly made of well brickwork, an
equipped with fine baths and restrooms. The quality of the pottery and ceramics was
exceptional, and it appeared in bulk . There are quantities of beads , ornaments and similar
artifacts, simple necklaces , mirrors, small metal figurines and plain metal vessels were
possessions of luxury class.
Nowhere else could such a sophisticated and outstanding civic structure be found so
meticulously designed at such an era. The Indus towns demonstrate truly extraordinary spatia
planning . A drain network for carrying along rainwater and waste disposal spots for
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discharging waste were also installed. additionally straight lanes connecting perpendicularly
Citadels generally contained massive brick platforms , often attached to drain systems beside
some connection with water and fire, which could suggest some ritual performances .Extreme
gradations from great baths to stone tubs, columned halls to simple buildings, from huge and
thick walled structures to residential dwellings.
Temple rituals, birthing rites, the use of livestock, possibly for sacrificial killing , and ceremoni
bathing in a large stone pool were all part of these civilizations' religion.
Tiles , ceramics or seals have been discovered with a script that has yet to be interpreted and
theological iconography of various types.
In the book of Kim Knott , there is inquiry into the religions and worship for Indus civilization.
There are conclusions drawn out of several signs and symbolism is found. A one horned seate
figure surrounded by animals found on a seal is interpreted as Shiva while female figurines
could be either fertility symbols or female goddesses . There is also a question of Indus script
being a relative of Sanskrit and Indo European language or perhaps a form of Dravidian and
indegenous language .
Sue Hamilton’s book talks about explorations in the Indus Valley in the course of the 20th
century and revealed traces of a previously unexplored, extremely archaic civilisation, implyin
that there was a quite early native Indian culture surviving centuries before the Aryans came.
There was trade, possibly by sea too .D D Kosambi speaks about the development of a
civilization adjacent to a river that flows through a place that resembles a desert , the region
being arid. Eventually , it became a viable mode of long-distance heavy delivery by boat. This
permits the basic society to thrive in the beginning. It denotes that the ancient civilization is
contained to a narrow strip of land beside the riverbank. The perks of the region include less
harm from potential predators including carnivores of the thick forests and suitable agricultura
area without the need to create space in the forest area. Almost every civilization of the world
originated near a water resource, primarily rivers.
The industry was of bronze age along with the presence of alloy of copper and tin . The tools ,
both household and otherwise, were finely made . Ivory and cotton textiles were also traded ,
an island of Bahrain in the Persian gulf was a depot for exchange between the Indus region an
civilization in Iraq.
Piggott (1950), for instance, contends for administrative organisation of commerce and
production in one of the key Harappan works. Enslavement, temples, and the redistribution
concept was also discussed. He regarded the government as "a state dominated by priests,
exercising dictatorial and totalitarian power from the principal seats of government."
A major settlement, such as Harappa, necessitates the presence of a sustaining region that
supplied sufficient additional stock. Typically, the presence of one or more urban centers
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indicates the existence of a state. Those who did not produce but could organize, manage, or
oversee activities had to generate a food excess, which was then stripped away by others wh
did not generate but could strategize, guide, or oversee operations. This explicitly says that in
the past, no settlements could survive without class separation and economic divide, premise
on the authority of a few over many.
Researchers relate to climate change as a plausible cause for the decline of Harappan , citing
evidence of famine and deluge of floods in the area. The Indus River is said to have started
flooding the area more often, devastating harvests and causing catastrophe. It's also probable
that the monsoon's course of action, which was crucial for watering crops, altered, and people
retreated to the south from cities in the north.
The Aryans crossed the Khyber Pass into India and blended with the native cultural practises,
taking with them their gods and the Sanskrit language, which they subsequently incorporated
to the region's existing religious system. It is still disputed who the Aryans were and what
impact they had on the original inhabitants, but it is widely agreed that the Harappan
civilisation began to deteriorate around the same time they arrived.
Kosambi analyses and probes into the Aryan race/people and asserts that the Aryans were
once a historic human conglomeration that included both the Achaemenid clan and the Persia
tribe. Whichever the cause for the cities' demise, the Vedic Period that succeeded the downfa
of the Indus Valley Civilization is distinguished for its bucolic lifestyle and devotion to the
sacred scriptures known as the Vedas.
This caste system which was brought in appeared to be just a representation of one's vocation
at first, but it was eventually considered to be defined by one's birth, and no one was permitte
to switch castes or marry into a caste other than one's own. This concept reinforced the belief
in a superior god who imposed an everlasting order on human life.
The population began to be categorised into 4 groups known as the Varnas, which consisted
the Brahmana at the apex (priests religious men and intellectuals), the Kshatriya following
(infantry and soldiers), the Vaishya (farm producers and businessmen), and the Shudra at the
bottom (enslaved people and workers) . The Dalits, or outcasts, were the lowest caste, dealing
with flesh and excrement, nevertheless there is substantial controversy about whether this
caste formed in those times.
Linguistic archaisms demonstrate chronological significance. In this sense, the Rigveda
emerges as the first, joined by the Yajurveda , the Sama-veda, and, much later, the
Atharva-veda, which focuses more on sorcery.
Apart from the Vedas, the Puranas' major religious and literary masterpieces, the Mahabharat
Bhagavad-Gita, and the Ramayana, all belong to this time period.
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As per archaeology, these Aryans were a rudimentary but swordsman race in the 2nd
millennium. Domestic livestock were their primary supply of nourishment and a sign of
prosperity, which they grass fed across enormous swaths of the land. The horse provided pace
and agility in strategic manoeuvring and battlefield prowess.
Music was confined to chanting for ceremonial purposes. Technology was generally relegated
to the building of chariots, tools, and military weapons, and it was attributed to the god
Tvashtri and his worshippers, both of whom appeared to be of Indus descent.
The Sabha which referred to both the tribal council and its main hall was at the core of men's
civic activity. Besides the tribal assembly sessions, the sabha was also utilised by males for
leisure. This communal house was where one of the tribe's favored pastimes, gambling, did
occur.
The Aryan society had a patriarchal arrangement, with the male as the leading authority and
proprietor of assets. The Aryan deities are majoritarily masculine as well, while some
goddesses were adopted from earlier eras or cultures.
Agni, the deity of fire, was the most revered Vedic god, with greater hymns attributed to him
than any other. Indra, who resembles a human warrior of the same ferocious, patriarchal
bronze-age invaders as the Aryans of the first wave, is next in prominence.
While the ritual ideologies that characterised the Vedic Period are believed to be much older,
was during this period that they were institutionalised as the religion of Sanatan Dharma
('Eternal Order,') which is now regarded as Hinduism .The core principle of Sanatan Dharma is
that the cosmos and human existence have an ordering and a meaning, and that embracing t
order and functioning in line with it will allow one to appreciate existence as it was meant to b
experienced.
Nonetheless, there was no caste or class distinction within the people during the Rigvedic
period , the artisans were most often autonomous individuals of the tribe, not reduced in cast
rank as they might eventually be when the tribes commenced to disintegrate later.
The religious position was not yet confined to any particular caste in the Rigveda, and that the
only category distinction was of complexion between light-skinned Aryans and their darker
adversaries.
The movement of Aryans to the eastward was not uniform. It seems to have been tough as
introducing more Aryans into India to overtake their forefathers was not simple. Multiple
locations had their own set of challenges and drawbacks. There was desert to the south, thick
forests along the Yamuna, and so on. As a consequence, after the Rig Vedic period, the Aryan
tribes were driven to disintegrate into relatively smaller groups.
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In terms of society, Hsiuan-tsang, a Chinese traveler- pilgrim , was astounded to observe a
significant settlement on the lower-middle Indus, still in the agricultural stage with basic triba
group-marriage practices, in the initial seventh century A.D.
Even a brief analysis reveals that bucolic life served as the foundation of Yajurvedic culture an
rites. Nonetheless, a prayer emphasises the expanding significance of farming and metals.
The Aryans barely experienced hardship approaching the Yamuna river, which was not very fa
away. The area's thinner woodland might be torched and cleared . But the problem lied
somewhere else . The societal arrangement required for "working out the lands burned by
blaze" was more complex for a simple tribe. The bottom most caste - among the tribe, had
evolved by then.
The three superior divisions, Kshatriya, Brahmana, and Vaisya, were officially acknowledged a
Aryans and genuine constituents of the tribe. The name Varna came to signify one of these fo
castes, which formed a hierarchical system within themselves, developed higher modes of
ownership rights, and engaged in sizable economic transactions. This was not the case for
every Aryan tribe; few remained undivided, whereas others simply merely had the Arya-Sudra
(independent v. bound ) separation.
Their culture shifted from tribal to caste organisation, and their governance shifted from tribe
controlled by appointed heads to small kingdoms ruled by semi divine rulers eventually to
greater dynastic empires. Romila Thapar, an Indian historian who has researched widely on th
time period, refers to it as the "transformation from lineage to state."
Cities began to arise during the later Vedic Age, both as governmental and economic centres.
With the usage of metal discovered in mines , iron technology became increasingly prominent
in the Middle Gangetic Valley. Iron and salt were frequently handled, and blacksmiths
frequented the countryside. Vast commercial circuits formed, connecting the major settlemen
(called Nagaras) that developed. The biggest towns were linked with areas that formed the
period's main empires, Mahajanapadas. Sixteen mahajanapadas appeared between the eighth
and sixth centuries. Each was located in a river valley, with the majority being in the Gangetic
Valley.
A new philosophy of reason and rationalism paved its way for a profound influence. It made
its mark in the thinking of Gautama Buddha , a prince , who left his home , practiced mysticism
and achieved enlightenment .
He pioneered an understanding of social reality and the causes of pain and despair, which led
to the creation of a new method of realistic schooling. The Buddha toured several places of
north India, where he influenced a wide spectrum of people, including the wealthy and
prominent. The rising prevalence of these new, non-brahmanical doctrines would gradually
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affect those political actors looking for a doctrine to enable them to unite the new state
institutions under their command.
The Jains, who are still strong in portions of western and southern India, and the Ajivikas were
two additional noteworthy sects among many that emerged. These, like Buddhism, were
particularly appealing to urban populations.
Kosala and Magadha seem to have been two of the most powerful empires in the middle and
eastern Gangetic Valley. These were successful in strengthening their dominance over other
mahajanapadas. Magadha became the most formidable and established the Mauryan Empire,
the first kingdom outside of the Indus Valley.
New ideas about the distribution of wealth, as well as political responsibility and power,
emerged as a result of this transformation. Wealth was not to be utilised for ritualistic
consumption or redistribution to fellow rulers and warriors; instead, it was to be used to keep
the state government and army running. Later, other monarchies and non-Vedic empires
formed, causing various social alterations.
Evaluations and observations
The Indian caste system is an intricate and complex social framework in which social duties
such as occupation have become 'hereditary,' culminating in social mobility restrictions and
entrenched status inequalities. Additionally, castes’ intrinsic quality of community identity wit
one's caste magnifies group association with one's caste. When communal rules are breached
highly acknowledged individuals of the group usually safeguard the group's reputation. Core
beliefs are closely linked with higher caste standards, whereas depravity is tied with inferior
caste norms. Manifestations of the castes are distinctly visible throughout the globe whereve
it is followed.
While the original inhabitants of the land had no such differences in their routine and nomadic
lifestyle, the Vedic beliefs and the idea of the 4 castes originating from different body parts of
Purusha , and the division created due the need to assort chores and economic activities to th
population has enabled this system to percolate down to generations who strictly patronise it
and have perceived it as their strongest identity factor.
The population in India continues to determine their self-identity based on the caste they
adhere to and the social group in which they are placed. As a result, caste membership is
deeply embedded in society and so caste, as a sort of social identity, is one of the most
important in India.
People draw an essential element of their identity from reinforcement of status in the group to
which they belong, according to social identity theory. People seek to bolster their pride by
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supporting and approving the prestige of the group they belong to as compared to
"out-groups," which they do not belong to. According to social identity theory of Tajfel and
Turner , people obtain an important part of their identity through validation of inclusion in the
group to which they adhere.
When contrasted to low caste persons, upper caste individuals had a better social position and
perceived themselves to have higher ethical standards and ideals. High caste people are seen
to have attributes like knowledge, intellect, integrity, discipline, and morality, whereas low
caste people are thought to have qualities like dullness, idiocy, wickedness, contamination, an
other undesirable traits.
Thus Marginalization has made its way into the casteist society where the status and caste of
person is attracted to the individual in whichever realm that necessitates one to dwell in. Both
subtly and obviously, one can decipher the unpleasant stigma and unwelcome scorn that is
faced. In spheres such as employment, education and all the sectors as well as households an
neighbourhoods , it prevails.
Debt bondage and slavery, socio economic disparities, access to education, property , politica
representation
And to correlate between the customs of the ancient eras and the present day.In specific
circumstances , the caste adherent members are infamous to ostracise unwelcome individua
(who disobeyed the norms) , to maintain the sanctity and morality of the social identity .
Conclusion
One statement that accounts well for the analysis of history and it’s mirroring of the present
that would fit well in the conclusion -
“A prehistoric record can be interpreted not as a more passive reflection of a past society but
a process of representation which acted to constitute as well as to reflect social relations.”
(Miller and Tilley 1984)
The past still stands as an attestation to the present . It is not merely a revelation or an
indication of the societal structures that formed, in this sense , it throws light upon how caste
and differentiation manifests itself in modern society.
The caste system in India is perhaps the world 's oldest hierarchical social structure. Caste is a
distinguishing element of Hinduism, and it refers to a complex system of social groupings
based on religious purity. A person is regarded as a component of the caste into which he or
she is born and stays a member of that group until death, albeit the status of that caste may
change through time and between locations. The religious idea of karma, which holds that
one's standing in life is predetermined by one's conduct in former lives, has long been used to
justify variations in rank.
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Thus we can see that social identity has always been playing an integral role in the way peopl
represent status
A disturbing reflection of the past always imprints itself in the present .
References
1. D. D Kosambi-The Culture and Civilisation of Ancient India in Historical Outline
2. Kim knott-Hinduism : A Very Short Introduction
3. Sue Hamilton- Indian philosophy : a very short introduction
4. Mohammad Rafique Mughal-the Early Harappan Period in the Greater Indus Valley
and Baluchistan
5. Stuart Piggott-Prehistoric India
6. Daniel miller-ideology and the Harappan civilization
7. Fasale M.K -A study of the early Vedic Age in Ancient India- Journal of Arts and
Culture-Volume 3, Issue 3, 2012
8. Michael Jansen-Mohenjo-Daro, city of the Indus Valley
9. Thomas Truatmann -Aryans and British India
10.Sindhuja Sankaran , Maciek Sekerdej , Ulrich Von Hecker-The Role of Indian Caste
Identity and Caste Inconsistent Norms on Status Representation- Front. Psychol., 31
March 2017.
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