World History Ch. 4 Section 1 Notes

1. Ancient India and China Section 1

2. Ancient India and China Section 1
Early India
Preview
• Starting Points Map: Eastern Asia
• Main Idea / Reading Focus
• India’s Geography
• Indus Valley Civilization
• The Vedic Period
• Quick Facts: The Varnas

3. Ancient India and China Section 1
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4. Ancient India and China Section 1
Early India
Main Idea
1. Early civilization arose in the Indus River Valley, flourished,
and then mysteriously died out. Later India’s Vedic civilization
developed a culture based on old and new beliefs.
Reading Focus
• How did India’s geography affect the development of
civilization there?
• What were the defining features of the Indus Valley
Civilization?
• What do we know about life in India’s Vedic period?

5. Ancient India and China Section 1
India’s Geography
Indus River flows across northwest edge of Indian
subcontinent—large landmass, part of a continent
• Home of one of ancient world’s great river valley
civilizations
• Indian subcontinent includes three major geographic
zones
– Far north: Himalaya, Hindu Kush mountain systems, separating
India from rest of Asia
– South: Deccan Plateau, high plateau receiving less rain than
other parts of subcontinent
– Between mountains, plateau are Northern Plains, where society
first developed in India

6. Ancient India and China Section 1
Floods and Annual Rainfall
2. Monsoon Winds
• Summer, monsoon winds from
southwest bring warm air,
heavy rains from Indian Ocean;
most of annual rainfall at this
time
• Winter, northeast monsoons
blow cool, dry air from Central
Asia, drier months
Fertile Region
• Flood deposits from Indus,
Ganges, Brahmaputra rivers
enrich soil of Northern Plains,
make it very fertile
• Heavy rains also add to fertility
of plains
• Much of rain brought to India by
seasonal winds, monsoons

7. Ancient India and China Section 1
Water Critical Factor
The people of India’s first civilizations depended upon the monsoons
to bring the water that their crops needed.
Monsoon Rains
• Monsoon rains flooded rivers;
rivers deposited fertile silt in
which farmers could grow
crops
• With abundance of rainfall
came threat of devastation
Devastating Effects
• Monsoon rains too heavy—
crops, homes, lives could be
lost
• Monsoon rains too late, did
not last long enough—people
could not grow crops; famine
became danger

8. Ancient India and China Section 1
Describe
What problems could monsoons cause for
early Indians?
Answer(s): flooding or drought

9. Ancient India and China Section 1
Indus Valley Civilization
People have lived in the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent for
thousands of years. At first people lived as hunter-gatherers, but
slowly people began to settle down in farming communities.
First Civilization
• Farm communities
gave rise to India’s
first civilization
• Developed in valley
of Indus River
• Began 2500 BC,
when people first
developed writing
system
Cities, Settlements
• 1920s,remains of
two large cities first
ruins found
– Harappa
– Mohenjo Daro
• Civilization called
Harappan
• Other cities, towns
since uncovered
Indus Society
• Settlements well
planned, carefully
laid out
• Streets ran in grid
pattern; major
avenues twice as
wide as minor
streets

10. Ancient India and China Section 1
Life in Towns and Cities
• Water came from community wells, smaller wells in courtyards of homes
• Public drainage systems carried away wastewater
• Walled, elevated citadel—fortress—enclosed buildings like granaries,
warehouses
• Homes, workshops, shrines built outside citadel
• Uniformity suggests central authority in power
Economy
• Economy likely based on agriculture, trade
• Most probably farmed, herded livestock
• In cities, many specialized in crafts like pottery, metalwork, jewelry
• Indus traded goods with people nearby, distant civilizations
• Traders from Indus Valley brought goods to locations as distant as Central
Asia, Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia

11. Ancient India and China Section 1
Society
Few Details
• Archaeologists, historians not able to learn many details about Indus society
• Had writing system, but historians not able to read it
• Some say Indus civilization single society, rather than collection of city-states
Similarities
• People shared common tool designs, standard set of weights, measures
• Suggest single authority in control
• Civilization thrived from about 2500 BC to 2000 BC, then began to decline
Decline
• No one knows what led to decline, or if single cause
• Environmental damage suspected; flooding, disappearance of Sarasvati river
• Invasion, disease may also have helped end civilization

12. Ancient India and China Section 1
Analyze
Why do historians know relatively little about
Indus society?
Answer(s): have not deciphered Indus writing

13. Ancient India and China Section 1
The Vedic Period
3. Sometime after 2000 BC, a new people took control of India.
Historians often refer to this group as the Aryans, from a Sanskrit word
meaning “noble.” Eventually the Aryans ruled over most of India,
except for the far south.
Origin of Aryans
• Historians not sure when Aryans
arrived, where they came from
• Some assume they moved from
area between Caspian, Black seas
• Others argue Aryans developed in
northern India, did not move into
area
Archaeological Evidence
• Little archaeological evidence
remains to document early Aryan
period in India
• Most comes from sacred writings
called the Vedas
• Include many details about Aryan
history, society
This period in Indian history is often called the Vedic period.

14. Ancient India and China Section 1
Vedic Society
• According to the Vedas, people settled in villages smaller than cities
of Indus Valley
• Later groups of villages banded together under regional leaders
known as rajas
• Raja primarily war leader responsible for protecting people; received
payments of food, money in return
Social Structure
• According to oldest of the Vedas,
the Rigveda, Vedic society divided
into four social classes, varnas
• Each played particular role in
society
• People of four varnas created from
body of single being
Varnas
• Part of body from which each varna
created tied to its duties
• Brahmins came from mouth, source
of speech, wisdom; were priests
• Kshatriyas: warriors, rulers
• Vaisyas: common people, farmers
• Sudras: servants

15. Ancient India and China Section 1

16. Ancient India and China Section 1
Jobs and Privileges
Social Hierarchy
• Social hierarchy developed,
some castes had more
privileges than others
• Not everyone belonged to a
caste
• Untouchables had no protection
of caste law, could perform only
jobs that other castes did not
Castes
• Over centuries, four varnas of
Vedic period divided into
hundreds of smaller castes
• Membership in caste
determined what jobs one could
hold, whom one could marry

17. Ancient India and China Section 1
Vedic Religion
Vedic Religion
• Vedas consist mostly of hymns
in praise
• We know much about Vedic
religion as result
Fire Sacrifices
• People worshipped gods
through fire sacrifices, chanting
sacred hymns
• Priests offered food, drink by
placing on roaring fire
Prayer
• People prayed to many aspects
of single eternal spirit
• One aspect was Indra, who
ruled over heaven
Complex
• Rituals grew more complex
• Priests said order in universe
maintained only through rituals
• Brahmin varna gained more
influence in society

18. Ancient India and China Section 1
Summarize
How was Vedic society organized?
Answer(s): into four social classes called varnas