ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL & MODERN INDIAN HISTORY ANCIENT INDIA arrived. Such a culture is called Chalcolithic which means the stone-copper phase. PRE-HISTORY The Chalcolithic people used different types Recent reported artefacts from Bori in of pottery of which black and red pottery was Maharashtra suggest the appearance of most popular. It was wheel made and human beings in India around 1.4 million painted with white line design. years ago. They venerated the mother goddess and Their first appearance to around 3000 BC, worshiped the bull. humans used only stone tools for different purposes. This period is, therefore known as INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION the Stone Age. The Indus Valley Civilization was an ancient Has been divided into Paleolithic age, civilization thriving along the Indus River Mesolithic age and Neolithic age. and the Ghaggar-Hakra River in what is now Pakistan and north-western India. THE PALEOLITHIC AGE (Old Stone) Among other names for this civilization is (500,00 BC – 8000 BC) the Harappan Civilization, in reference to its In India it developed in the Pleistocene first excavated city of Harappa. period or the Ice Age. An alternative term for the culture is The people of this age were food gathering Saraswati-Sindhu Civilization, based on the people who lived on hunting and gathering fact that most of the Indus Valley sites have wild fruits and vegetables. been found at the Halkra-Ghaggar River. They mainly used hand axes, cleavers, R.B. Dayaram Sahni first discovered choppers, blades, scrapers and burin. Their Harappa (on Ravi) in 1921. R.D. Banerjee tools were made of hard rock called discovered Mohenjodaro or Mound of the „quartzite‟, hence Paleolithic men are also Dead‟ (on Indus) in 1922. called „Quartzite Men‟. Harappan Civilization forms part of the Homo sapiens first appeared in the last of proto history of India and belongs to the this phase bronze age. It has been pointed out that Paleolithic men According to radio-carbon dating, it spread belonged to the Negrito race. from the year 2500-1750 BC The sites are found in the valleys of Soan, Copper, bronze, silver, gold were known but Narmada and Tungabhadra rivers not iron. Tools have been found in AP, Karnataka, Specialized in 1. Town planning, Maharashtra, Bhopal and Chhota Nagpur Architecture, Craftsmanship. 2. Burnt brick plateau. building 3. Urban culture. Hunting & gathering GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT THE MESOLITHIC ERA (8000 BC – 6000 Major sites in Pakistan are Harappa (on Ravi BC) in W. Punjab) Mohenjodaro (on Indua), Hunting & fishing Chanhu-Daro (Sindh), etc. In India, major The characteristics tools of the Mesolithic sites are Lothal, Rangpur and Age are known as Microliths – pointed Surkotda(Gujarat), Kalibangan(Rajasthan), cresconic blades, scrapers, etc, all made of Banwali(Hissar), and Alamgirpur(Western stone. UP). Largest and the latest site in India is THE NEOLITHIC ERA (6000 BC – 1000 BC) Dholavira in Gujarat. Dr. J.P. Joshi and Dr. Neolithic men cultivated land and grew R.S. Bisht were involved in it. fruits and corn like ragi and horse gram. They domesticated cattle, sheep and goat. TOWN PLANNING They knew about making fire and making Elaborate town-planning. It followed the pottery, first by hand and then by potter‟s Grid System. Roads were well cut, dividing wheel. They also painted and decorated their the town into large rectangular or square pottery. blocks. Lamp posts at intervals indicate the existence of street lightning. CHALCOLITHIC PERIOD Used burnt bricks of good quality as the The end of the Neolithic Period saw the use building material. of metals of which copper was the first. A The towns were divided into 2 parts: Upper culture based on the use of stone and copper part or Citadel and Lower Part. Compiled by R Rex Christopher 1 ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL & MODERN INDIAN HISTORY ECONOMIC LIFE In Harappa, there is one place where AGRICULTURE evidence of coffin burial is there. Grew wheat, barley, rai, peas, sesamum, mustard, rice (in Lothal), cotton, dates, SCRIPT melon, etc. The Indus people were the first The script is not alphabetical but to produce cotton. pictographic (about 600 undeciphered Domesticated animals on large scale. pictographs). Besides the cattle, cats and dogs were The script has not been deciphered so far, domesticated. Horse wasn‟t in regular use but overlaps of letters show that it was but elephant was. written from right to left in the first line and left to right in the second line. This style is TRADE AND COMMERCE called „Boustrophedon‟. Well-knit external and internal trade. There was no metallic money in circulation and POLITICAL ORGANIZATION trade was carried through Barter System. There is no clear idea of the political 16 was the unit of measurement (16, 64, 160, organization of the Indus Valley people. 320). Perhaps they were more concerned with Raw materials for these came from different commerce and they were possibly ruled by a sources: gold from N. Karnataka, silver and class of merchants. lapis lazuli from Afghanistan and Iran, Also, there was an organization like a copper from Khetri and Baluchistan, etc. municipal corporation to look after the civic Bead making factory existed in Chanhudaro amenities of the people. and Lothal. They were items of export. The inland transport was done with bullock IMPORTANT HARAPPAN SITES carts. Harappa The standard Harappa seal was a square or Excavations at the site have led to following oblong plaque made of steatite stone. The specific findings: primary purpose of the seal was probably to i) two rows of six granaries with brick mark the ownership of property, but they platforms; 12 granaries together had the may have also served as amulets. same area as the Great Granary at Mohenjodaro ART AND CRAFT ii) evidence of coffin-burial and cemetery The Harappan culture belongs to the Bronze „H‟ culture (two antelopes and the Age. hunter) on a postherd from a cemetery Bronze was made by mixing tin and copper. have been discovered. Tools were mostly made of copper and iii) Single-room barrack bronze. For making bronze, copper was obtained from Khetri in Rajasthan and from Mohenjo-daro (Mound of the Dea) Baluchistan and tin from Afghanistan. Some of the specific finding during the excavations of Mohenjodaro include; The Harappans were also an expert bead i) a college, a multi-pillared assembly hall; makers. ii) the Great bath-(the most important Potter‟s wheel was in use. Their pottery was public place of the city); red or black pottery. Played dice games. iii) a large granary (the largest building of The most impressive of the figurines in Mohenjo-daro); perhaps the bronze image of the famous iv) evidence of direct trade contact with dancing girl (identified as devadasi), found Mesopotamia; at Mohenjodaro. v) a bronze dancing girl Harappan Seals made of terracotta vi) a bearded man; and vii) a seal with a picture suggesting RELIGIOUS LIFE Pashupati Mahadev Main object of worship was the Mother Goddess. But the upper classes preferred a Kalibangan god, nude with two horns, much similar to A ploughed field was the most important Pasupati Siva. discovery of the early excavations. Pashupatinath represented male deity. i) Bones of camel No temple has been found, though idolatry, was practiced. Lothal Compiled by R Rex Christopher 2 ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL & MODERN INDIAN HISTORY Lothal was an important trade centre of the planning was not always followed as in other Harappan culture. Each section was built on a wide Harappan sites. platform of unripe bricks. An inscription comprising 10 large sized i) remains of rice husk (the only other signs of the harappan script. Harappan city where the rice husk has been found is Rangpur, near Surkotada Ahmedabad); Situated in Kutch (Bhuj) district of Gujarat ii) an artificial dockyard; and excavated by J.P. Joshi in 1972, iii) evidence of horse from a doubtful Surkotada was an important fortified terracotta figurine. Harappan settlement. iv) Practice of fire culture The site is important particularly because it v) evidence of double burial (burying a has provided the first actual remains of male and a female in a single grave); horse bones. vi) evidence of a game similar to modern day chess; Suktagendor vii) Dhoravira – Terracotta replica of a Suktagendor, situated in Sindh (Pakistan), plough was an important coastal town of the Indus civilisation. Chanhu-daro Excavations at Chanhu-daro have revealed three different cultural layers from lowest at the top being Indus culture, the Jhukar culture and the Jhangar culture. The site is specially important for providing evidences about different Harappan factories. Bead makers shop Alamgirpur Alamgirpur is considered the eastern boundary of the Indus culture. Kot-Diji Kot Diji is known more as a pre-Harappan site. It gives the impression of a pre- Harappan fortified settlement. Amri A spectacular feature of Amri is that it gives the impression of existence of transitional culture between pre and post-harappan culture. Important findings at Amri include the actual remains of rhinoceros; traces of Jhangar culture in late or declining Harappan phase and fire altars. Ropar Buildings at Ropar were made mainly of stone and soil. Banwali Situated in Hissar district of Haryana, Banwali has provided two phases of culture during its excavations; the pre-Harappan (Phase I) and the Harappan (Phase II). Though Phase II belonged to the Harappan period, chess-board or grid pattern of town Compiled by R Rex Christopher 3 ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL & MODERN INDIAN HISTORY VEDIC PERIOD : THE ARYANS polyandry, levirate and widow-marriage. There are no examples of child-marriage. The Central Asian theory, given by Max Aryans were fond of soma, sura, food and Muller, is the most accepted one. dresses. It states that the Aryans were semi-nomadic Iron plough – Vedic period pastoral people and originated from area B.G.