Chapter 6: Early India
Section 1: India’s First Civilizations
India looks like a
diamond hanging from
the bottom of Asia.
India is a subcontinent – landmass that’s part of a continent but
distinct from it. Even though India is part of Asia, huge mountains
make a barrier between India and the rest of Asia.
These mountains are the
Himalaya, the highest mountains
in the world.
Today there are 5 nations that occupy the Indian subcontinent: India,
Pakistan (in the northwest), Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh (in the
northeast).
and Sri Lanka
India has two very fertile river valleys. Both are fed by the mountains
in the north. When the snow in the Himalaya melts, water flows into
the Ganges River and the Indus River.
If the water is controlled, the
land near these rivers can be
used for farming.
The Ganges River runs south
of the Himilayas and flows
into the Bay of Bengal (Indian
Ocean). The Indus River
empties into the Arabian Sea.
South of the river valleys is the dry and hilly Deccan Plateau.
The eastern & western
coasts of India are lush,
fertile plains.
Monsoons are an important part of Indian climate. A monsoon
is a strong wind that blows one direction in winter and the
opposite direction in summer.
The winter monsoons
bring the cold, dry air
off the mountains.
The summer monsoon
brings warm, wet air
from the Arabian Sea,
which produces
drenching rains.
When the monsoon rains begin,
many farmers celebrate. If the
rains come on time and the
rainy season lasts long enough,
the crop will be good.
If the rains are delayed, a drought will occur. This extended period
without rain is disastrous for farmers. Few crops will be harvested and
many people will starve.
India’s First Civilization
In earlier chapters, you learned about civilizations that began in
river valleys. Indian civilization also began in a river valley.
India’s first civilization grew up near the Indus River. Farmers
used the rich soil from the floods (due to the monsoons) to grow
crops to feed their families. Eventually, they grew enough crops
to begin trading their surplus.
India’s first civilization in the Indus River valley began about
3000B.C. and lasted until 1500B.C.. More than a thousand villages
and towns were part of these civilizations, which stretched
from the Himalaya to the Arabian Sea. We know something
about the way these people lived from studying the ruins of
two major cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. The first
Indian civilization was called the Harappan or Indus
civilization.
Harappa & Mohenjodaro
were large cities for their
time. Walls surrounded
each neighborhood in
these well-planned
cities. Most had flat
roofs and were built
with mud bricks. Each
had a courtyard in the
middle and smaller
rooms around it.
These ancient cities had
surprising conveniences Because they left no written records, we
well water, indoor
don’t know a lot about their society or bathrooms, sewage pipes
government. We can tell there was a royal taking waste outside the
palace and a temple – revealing that religion walls of the city, and
and politics were closely connected.
garbage chutes.
Harappans were mostly farmers. City dwellers were artisians. Many
toys have been found among the remains of the ruins.
One item rarely found in the
ruins of Harappan cities was
weapons. This suggests that the
Harappans were not only
prosperous but also peaceful.
The Harappan
civilization collapsed
about 1500 B.C.
Historians think that
several earthquakes and
floods damaged the
In the years that followed, a group
cities. Then the Indus
of nomadic people called the
River changed its
Aryans began settling in the region.
course, killing many
They conquered the Harrapans and
people and forcing
most of India.
others to flee the area.
The Aryan civilization emerged
after the collapse of the
Harappan civilization.
The Aryans lived in
central Asia raising and
herding animals. They
were not a race or
ethnic group. They were
part of a larger group of
people historians refer
to as Indo-Europeans.
The Indo-Europeans
spoke similar languages
and migrated south to
India and Iran or west to
Europe. They were not a
race or ethnic group.
Cattle were prized possessions
because they provided meat, milk,
and butter. In fact,
they were so important that the
Aryans even used them as money.
Individual wealth was measured by
the number of cattle a person owned.
Aryans were good warriors. They were
expert horse riders and hunters. They
had metal-tipped spears and wooden
chariots, which they sometimes used
to invade nearby villages for food.
After 2000B.C., the
Aryans began leaving
their home territory
moving in waves. Some
crossed through the
mountain passes in the
Himalaya entering the
Indus River valley
around 1500B.C.
Around 1000B.C. the
Aryans began
expanding across the
Punjab and Ganges
Plains and south into
the Deccan Plateau.
Their civilization spread
to all of India except
the southern tip.
When the Aryans arrived in India, they no longer lived as
nomads. They became farmers but continued to raise cattle.
Eventually, the Aryans would declare that cattle were sacred
and forbid them to be used as food.
Because Aryans were skilled ironworkers, they improved
farming in India. They invented an iron plow to help clear India’s
many jungles and built canals to irrigate. They slowly turned
the Ganges River valley into good farmland.
India’s varied climate supported
many types of crops. In the north,
farmers grew grains. Rice was
grown in the river valleys. In the
south, there was a mix of crops,
including spices like pepper, ginger,
and cinnamon.
The Aryans also brought a new language to India.
As nomads, they had no written language, but in India
they developed a written language called Sanskrit.
(Look on page 199.)
The Aryans were organized into tribes. Each Aryan tribe was
led by a raja, or prince. The rajas ran their own small
kingdoms, which often fought among themselves. Rajas fought
over cattle and treasure and over women kidnapped from
other states. These small rival kingdoms existed in India for
about a thousand years.
One of the results of the Aryan arrival in India
was the development of a caste system.
A caste is a social group that someone is born
into and cannot change.
A caste dictates what job you will have, whom you can marry,
and with whom you can socialize. In India, the word for caste
is jati. Thousands of jati exist in India.
No one is sure why a caste system was created. Ideas about
skin color were probably part of it. They Aryans were a lightskinned people. They thought they were better than the darkskinned people they had encountered in India. This idea was
wrong, but the Aryans believed it.
Another reason the Aryans might have created the caste
system was because the people they encountered in India
outnumbered them. The caste system set the rules for
everyone’s behavior. This helped the Aryans stay in control.
The thousands of different jati in Indian society were grouped together
into four classes called varmas.
At the top (varma) were the Brahmans- priests – the
only people who could perform religious ceremonies.
The Kshatriyas were warriors who ran the
government and army.
The Vaisyas were commoners / farmers, merchants
The Sudras were manual laborers and
servants with few rights – most Indians
belong to the Sudra caste.
The one group that did not belong to
any varma were called Pariahs (or
Dalit), the Untouchables. They
performed work other Indians thought
was too dirty, like collecting trash,
skinning animals, or handling dead
bodies.
The Varna / Pariahs / Untouchables / Dalit was very hard.
They were forced to live apart from others. When
Untouchables traveled, they had to tap two sticks together so
that everyone would hear them coming and have time to
move away.
ROLES OF MEN & WOMEN
In ancient India, the family was the center of life. Grandparents,
parents, and children all lived together in an extended family. The
oldest man in the family was in charge.
In families at the top of Indian society a boy
Men had many
had a guru – teacher – until he went to the
more rights than
city for more education. Young men from
women. Unless
there were no sons these families could marry only when they
had finished 12 years of schooling.
in a family, only a
man could inherit
In India, parents arranged marriages for their
property. Only men children. Even today, parents arrange the
could go to school
majority of marriages in India.
or become priests.
Boys and girls were often married in their teens. Some were as
young as 13. Divorce was almost never allowed, but if a couple
could not have children, the husband could marry a second
wife.
One custom shows how the lives of Indian men were considered
more important than the lives of Indian women. In India, people
were cremated, or burned, when they died. When a man from a
prominent family died, his wife was expected to leap into the
flames. This practice called was called suttee. If the wife resisted
and did not kill herself, it was a great shame. Everyone would
avoid the woman from then on.
Section 2: Hinduism and Buddhism
Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world,
and today it is the third largest.
It began with the religion of the Aryans, who arrived in India
about 1500B.C. The Aryans believed in many gods and
goddesses who controlled the forces of nature. We know
about Aryan religion from their ancient hymns and poetry.
For centuries, the priests, or Brahmins, recited these works
and much later they were written down in Sanskrit. Over the
centuries, Aryan religion changed. It borrowed some
religious ideas from the people the Aryans conquered in
India. This mix of beliefs eventually became Hinduism.
Early Hinduism
Hinduism grew out of the religious customs of many people
over thousands of years. This might explain why Hinduism
has thousands of gods & goddesses. Hindus tend to think of
all gods and goddesses as different parts of one universal
spirit. This universal spirit is called Brahman.
The search for a universal spirit is
described in the ancient religious
writings known as the Upanishads.
Those writings say that every living
being has a soul that wants to be
reunited with Brahman and that
this happens when a person dies.
The Upanishads describe
how a person unites with
Brahman: A soul that
becomes one with Brahman
is like a lump of salt thrown
into water. The lump of salt
is gone, but the water
tastes salty. The salt has
become part of the water.
Hindus believe that a soul is not joined to the Brahman
immediately after a person dies. Instead, a person must
pass through many lives to be united with Brahman. On its
journey, a soul might be reborn into a higher varna or jati. If
a person lived a bad life, he or she might be reborn into a
lower varna or jati.
To earn the reward of a
The idea of passing through
better life in their next life,
many lives to reach the
Hindus believe they must
Brahman is called
perform their duty. Dharma
reincarnation. It is very
is the divine law. It requires
important in Hinduism and it
people to perform the duties
influences how Hindus live
of their jati. A farmer has
their daily lives. It even
different duties than a priest
affects how they treat
and men have different
animals because they
duties than women.
consider all life sacred.
The consequences of how a person
lives are known as karma. If Hindus
do their duty and live a good live,
they will have good karma. This will
move them closer to the Brahman in
their next life.
Brahma
Creator of the world
How did the belief in
reincarnation affect Indians?
For one thing, it made them
more accepting of the varna
and jati system. People
believed they had to be
happy with their role in life.
A dedicated Hindu believes
that the people in a higher
varna are superior and that
they are supposed to be on
top. The belief in
reincarnation gave hope to
everyone, even servants. If
servants did their duty, they
might be reborn into a
higher social class in their
next life.
Vishnu – preserver of the world
Goddess Siva –
destroyer of the world
Goddess Ganesha – lord of existing beings;
remover of obstacles
God Krishna – teacher of
the world
Goddess Lakshmi – goddess of light,
beauty, good fortune, and wealth
God Surya – god of the sun
God Indra – king of the gods;
ruler of the heavens and sky
Saraswati – goddess of knowledge
Parvati – universal mother
Buddhism
By 600 BC many Indians began to question Hindu ideas. The
Brahman
priests people
seemedwho
to care
only
about
their broken
temple
He saw beggars,
were
ill, and
people
ceremonies
of the
Ordinary
down by ageand
withnot
noabout
homethe
andneeds
nowhere
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go. For the
first
Hindushewanted
a simpler,
more
spiritual religion. Many would
time,
was truly
aware of
suffering.
find what they needed in Buddhism – a new religion founded by
Siddhartha Gautama.
Prince Siddhartha Gautama was born
around 563BC in a small kingdom
near the Himalaya (in what is today
southern Nepal). He seemed to have
it all. He was wealthy, handsome,
happily married, and had a fine new
son. Then one day he decided to
explore the kingdom beyond the
palace walls. As he travelled he
became very upset.
He spent
Then
and the
there,
restSiddhartha
of his life wandering
decided tothe
seek an answer to
this great riddle:
ocuntryside
and telling
Why did
people
people
what
suffer
he had
and how could their
suffering be cured?
discovered.
His lessons about life and the nature
ofHe
suffering
known
as Buddhism. To his
left hisbecame
family and
riches
followers,
hehis
became
and began
search.known
At firstas the Buddha, or
“Enlightened
he lived like One.”
a hermit, fasting
and sleeping on the hard
ground. Siddhartha nearly
starved, but he still had no
answer to his question.
Then he decided to meditate for
as long as it took to get the
answer. Legend tells us that
Siddhartha sat under a Bodhi
tree to meditate, and after 49
days he finally understood. It was
as if he had seen a great light.
Like any good Hindu, Siddhartha did not think that the normal,
everyday world was real. Trees, houses, animals, the sky, and the
oceans were just illusions. So were poverty and sickness, pain
and sorrow.
He believed that the only way to find the truth about the world
was to give up all desires. By giving up the desire for fame, the
desire for money, and the desire for all worldly things, pain and
sorrow would vanish.
If a person gave up all desires, he or she would reach Nirvana
– a state of wisdom. Nirvana comes from the Sanskrit word
for flowing out a candle flame.
The heart of Buddha’s teachings is contained in the Four Noble
Truths.
Four Noble Truths
1. Life is full of suffering.
2. People suffer because they desire worldly things and selfsatisfaction.
3. The way to end suffering its to stop desiring things.
4. The only way to stop desiring things is to follow the Eightfold Path.
Buddha’s Eightfold Path
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Know and understand the Four Noble Truths.
Give up all worldly things and don’t harm others.
Tell the truth, don’t gossip, and don’t speak badly of others.
Don’t commit evil acts, like killing, stealing, or living an
unclean life.
Do rewarding work.
Work for good and oppose evil.
Make sure your mind keeps your senses under control.
Practice meditation as a way of understanding reality.
One reason Buddha’s ideas were popular was that he did
not accept the varna and jati systems. He felt a person’s
place is life depended on the person. He did believe in
reincarnation, but with a difference – he said that you
could stop being reborn into new lives. You just had to
follow his Eightfold Path.
The Untouchables and Lower class Indians like
Buddha’s message. For the first time, these groups
heard that they, too, could reach enlightenment.
For more than 40 years, the Buddha preached his ideas.
Disciples fathered around him, and after his death, they
spread his message all over Asia.
As more and more people practiced Buddhism,
disagreements arose about the Buddha’s ideas. Finally,
Buddhists split into 2 groups –
Theravada Buddhism (“teachings of the elders.”) saw Buddha
as a great teacher, not a god
Buddhist teachers and merchants spread the ideas of Theravada
to the south and east. It was adopted in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
Theravada Buddhism also became popular in Myanmar,
Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos.
The second kind of Buddhism is called Mahayana Buddhism.
It teaches that the Buddha is a god who came to save people.
Mahayana Buddhists believe that following the Eightfold Path is too
hard for most people in this world. They believe that by worshiping
the Buddha instead, people will go to a heaven after they die.
There, they can follow the Eightfold Path and reach Nirvana.
Mahayana Buddhists also
have special affections for
the bodhisattvas –
enlightened people who
postpone going to heaven.
Bodhisattvas have decided
to stay on Earth to help
other and do good deeds.
Mahayana Buddhism spread northward into China and from
there to Korea and Japan.
A special kind of Mahayana Buddhism develop din central Asia
in the country of Tibet. There it mixed with Tibet’s traditional
religion and with Hinduism.
In Tibet, the Buddhist leaders, called lamas, also led the
government. When religious leaders head a government, it
is called a theocracy.
The Dalai Lama was the lama who headed the government, and
the Panchen Lama was the lama who led the religion. Both were
considered reincarnations of the Buddha.
Today, many Buddhists live in countries like Thailand, Cambodia,
and Sri Lanka, but few live in India where the Buddha first preached.
Section 3: India’s First Empires
India’s princes fought over their small kingdoms for centuries. Then two
big invasions taught the Indians a lesson. First, the Persians invaded the
Indus Valley in the 500s BC and made it part of the great Persian Empire.
Then Alexander the Great invaded India in 327 BC.
Although Alexander’s troops conquered northern India, he did not stay
long. His soldiers were homesick and tired and threatened to rebel
unless he turned back. The invasion did have one important effect – it
led to the first great Indian empire.
The Mauryan Dynasty (a series of rulers from the
same family) built India’s first great empire.
India’s first empire was founded
by Raja Chandragupta Mauray.
(chuhn–druh–GUP-tuh MAH-oor-yuh)
Chandragupta was an Indian prince who conquered a large
area in the Ganges River valley soon after Alexander invaded
western India. Alexander’s invasion weakened many of India’s
kingdoms. After he left, Chandragupta seized the opportunity
to conquer and unite almost all of northern India.
Chandragupta was the founder of the Mauryan dynasty in
about 321BC.. To run his empire, he set up a centralized
government (in which rulers run everything from a capital
city). Chandragupta’s capital city was Pataliputra. He had a
strong army, a good spy system, and he set up a postal system
for communications.
Many historians think the Mauryan dynasty’s greatest king
was Asoka - who ruled from 273-232BC. He was an unusual
ruler. After one bloody fight, he walked over the battlefield
and was horrified at the dead and wounded. He made a vow
to dedicate his life to peace and follow the teaching of the
Buddha. Asoka was history’s first great Buddhist king.
He built hospitals for people and
animals. He built new roads with
shelters and shade trees along them
so travelers could rest.
He sent Buddhist teachers
throughout India and the rest of
Asia to carry the religion to new
believers.
In India, laborers carved the
Buddha’s teaching on stone pillars
for people to read. These same
laborers built thousands of stupas –
Buddhist shrines that have a dome
or mound shape.
Although Asoka was Buddhist, he
allowed his Hindu subjects to
practice their religion. His tolerance
was unusual for the time.
With a good road system and
a strong ruler, the empire
prospered. India became the
center of a huge trade
network that stretched to the
Med. Sea.
Asoka died in 232BC and the
kings who followed him were
not very good leaders,
weakening the empire.
These kings made bad decisions
that turned the people against
them – taxing heavily and seizing
peasant crops for themselves.
Finally, in 183BC, the last
Mauryan ruler was killed by one
of his own generals.
The Gupta Empire
For 500 years, India had no strong ruler. So, once again, the smaller
kingdoms fought with one another making life miserable for their
subjects. Then, in AD320, one prince in the Ganges River valley grew
more powerful than the others. Like an earlier ruler, his name was
Chandragupta. This Chandragupta chose to rule from the old capital of
the Mauryan empire – Pataliputra.
Chandragupta founded the Gupta dynasty. When he died, his son,
Samadragupta took over the throne and expanded the Gupta empire in
northern India. Soon, the new kingdom dominated almost all of
northern India. The Guptas ruled for about 200 years. The empire was
smaller making it easier for the Gupta rulers to manage.
The Gupta empire grew wealthy form trade – salt, cloth, and iron. They
traded with China and with many kingdoms in southeast Asia and the
Mediterranean. The Gupta kings owned silver and god mines and large
estates.
Trade created jobs for people in India and made many people and cities
prosperous. Cities grew up along the trade routes, and many people
traveled. Some people, called pilgrims, often used the trade routes to
travel to a religious shrine or site. Indian cities that were famous for
their temples became wealthy from visiting pilgrims (tourism).
Asoka had converted to Buddhism,
but the Guptas were Hindus like
many of their subjects. They made
Hinduism the official religion and
gave money to support Hindu
scholars and Hindu shrines. The
shrines they built to Hindu gods and
goddesses inspired Hindus. They
often had brightly painted sculptures
of images from the Upanishads and
other sacred writings.
During the Gupta empire,
art and science also
began to develop. India,
like Greece, had a golden
age of art and learning
during the Gupta
empire.
The Vedas of India are ancient hymns and prayers for religious
ceremonies. No one is certain how old they are because for a long
time they were only recited, not written down. Once Aryan people
came to India and developed Sanskrit, then the Vedas could be
recorded.
Mahabharata
Later, other types of literature It is the longest poem in any
written language – about
were written down. Two
epics are very famous in India. 88,000 verses. It is believed
that different authors wrote
The Mahabharata and the
it around 100BC. It describes
Ramayana are long poems
telling about brave warriors a great war for control of an
Indian kingdom about 1,000
and their heroic deeds.
years earlier.
The best known section is the Bhagavad Gita or “Song of
the Lord.” It is very important to the Hindus. In it, the god
Krishna preaches a sermon before a battle. He tells his
listeners how noble it is to do one’s duty even when it is
difficult and painful.
Ramayana
This poem is also long. It tells of the great king Rama and his
queen Sita. Rama’s enemies have him banished from the
kingdom. He is forced to live as a hermit in the forest. Later, he
fights and defeats the demon Ravan, who had kidnapped Sita.
As in many Indian epics, they live happily ever after.
One of India’s best known authors was Kalidasa. He lived
during the Gupta dynasty. He wrote plays, poems, love stories,
and comedies. His poem The Cloud Messenger is one of the
most popular Sanskrit poems.
The Panchantantra is similar to Aesop’s fables. In these tales,
animal characters talk to present lessons about life. Most
Indian literature stresses the importance of dharma. Each
person, regardless of social status, must do his or her duty.
Indian Math & Science
Indian mathematicians, especially in the Gupta period, made
important contributions. Aryabhata (AHR yuh BUHT uh) was the
leading mathematician of the Gupta empire. He was one of the
first scientists known to have used algebra. Indian
mathematicians developed the idea of zero and a symbol to
represent it. They also explained the concept of infinitysomething without an end.
Gupta mathematicians created the symbols for the numbers 1 to
9 that we use today. These number symbols, or numerals were
adopted by Arab traders in the AD 700s. European traders
borrowed them from the Arabs. Use of these numbers spread
thru Europe replacing Roman numerals. Today, this system of
number symbols is known as the Hindu-Arabic numerical system.
Early Indians also invented mathematical algorithms. An
Algorithm is a series of steps that solve a problem.
If you follow these steps, you get the right answer.
Computer programmers today often use algorithms to
tell computers what to do.
The basic math algorithms are addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division.
Ancient Indians made important contributions in other
scientific fields, especially astronomy. They followed and
mapped movements of planets and stars. They understood
that the Earth was round and revolved around the sun. They
also seem to have understood gravity. They even came up
with the ideas of atoms before the Greeks in the West did!
In the field of medicine, Gupta doctors were advanced for
their time. They could set broken bones and perform
operations. They also invented many medical tools.
An Indian doctor named Shushruta (shoosh ROO tah) carried
out an early form of plastic surgery. He worked to restore
damaged noses. Indian doctors used herbs in treating
illnesses. They also believed it was important to remove the
causes of a disease and not just cure the disease itself.