Indian HISTORY AncientIndia PRE-HISTORICPERIOD G The Mesolithic people lived on hunting, fishing and food-gathering. At a later G The recent reported artefacts from stage, they also domesticated animals. Bori in Maharashtra suggest the appearance of human beings in India G The people of the Palaeolithic and around 1.4 million years ago. The early Mesolithic ages practised painting. man in India used tools of stone, G Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh, is a roughly dressed by crude clipping. striking site of pre-historic painting. G This period is therefore, known as the Stone Age, which has been divided into The Neolithic Age The Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age (4000-1000 BC) The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age G The people of this age used tools and The Neolithic or New Stone Age implements of polished stone. They particularly used stone axes. The Palaeolithic Age G It is interesting that in Burzahom, (500000-9000 BC) domestic dogs were buried with their masters in their graves. G Palaeolithic men were hunters and food G First use of hand made pottery and gatherers. potter wheel appears during the G They had no knowledge of agriculture, Neolithic age. Neolithic men lived in fire or pottery; they used tools of caves and decorated their walls with unpolished, rough stones and lived in hunting and dancing scenes. cave rock shelters. G They are also called Quartzite men. The Chalcolithic Age G Homo Sapiens first appeared in the (4500-3500 BC) last phase of this period. The metal implements made by them G This age is divided into three phases were mostly the imitations of the stone according to the nature of the stone forms. Copper was the first metal used by tools used by the people and the men and the culture based on the use of change in the climate. stone and copper tools is called the The Mesolithic Age Chalcolithic Culture. (9000-4000 BC) G It intervened as a transitional phase Maharashtra Dead body in North-South between the Palaeolithic Age and the position Neolithic Age. South India Dead body in East-West G In this age, the climate became warm position and dry which brought about changes West India Complex, Extended burial in fauna and flora and made it possible East India Fractionalburial for human beings to move to new areas. 2 GENERAL KNOWLEDGE~ Indian History IndusValleyCivilisation G Indus Valley Civilisation is one of the TOWN-PLANNING four earliest civilisations of the world along with the civilisations of G Town-planning was not uniform. A Mesopotamia (Tigris and Euphrates), common feature was the grid system Egypt (Nile) and China (Hwang Ho). i.e., streets cutting across one another at right angles, dividing the G The Civilisation forms a part of the town into large rectangular blocks. proto-history of India and belongs to the Bronze age. G The towns were divided into two parts: the Upper part or Citadel and G The most accepted period is 2500- 1700 the Lower part. BC (derived by Carbon-14 dating). G Underground drainage system G Dayaram Sahni first discovered connected all houses to the street Harappa in 1921. RD Bannerjee drains, made of mortar, lime and discovered Mohenjodaro or ‘Mound of gypsum. They were covered with the Dead’ in 1922. either brick or stone slabs and It can be divided into the following sub-parts equipped with manholes. This shows a developed sense of health and ■ EarlyPhase –2900-2500BC sanitation. ■ Middle(mature)Phase – 2500-2000BC G The Great Bath (Mohenjodaro) It ■ LaterPhase –2000-1750BC was used for religious bathing. Steps at either end lead to the surface. With NOMENCLATURE inlet to the tank and outlet for drain water. There were changing rooms Indus Valley Civilisation as it flourished alongside. along the Indus river. G The Granaries (Harappa) Harappan Civilisation named by John 6 granaries in a row were found in the Marshall, after the first discovered site, Citadel at Harappa. Harappa. G Houses were made up of burnt bricks. Saraswati-Sindhu Civilisation, as most G Lamp-posts were erected at regular of the sites have been found at the intervals. It indicates the existence of Hakra-Ghaggar river. street lighting. City Province RiverBank Yearof Archaeologist Discovery Harappa PakistaniPunjab Ravi 1921 DRSahni Mohenjodaro Sind Indus 1922 RDBannerjee Chanhudaro Sind Indus 1931 MGMajumdar Sutkagandor Balochistan Dasht 1931 AurelStein Rangpur Gujarat Bhadur 1931 MSVats Ropar IndianPunjab Sutlej 1953 YDSharma Lothal Gujarat Bhogava 1957 SRRao Kalibangan Rajasthan Kutchh Ghaggar 1961 BB Lal Dholavira (Gujarat) Luni 1967 JP Joshi Banawali Haryana Ghaggar 1973 RSBisht Alamgirpur UttarPradesh Hindon 1974 YDSharma GENERAL KNOWLEDGE~ Indian History 3 G Terracotta Figurines Fire baked clay AGRICULTURE was used to make toys, objects of G Agriculture was the backbone of the worship, animals (monkey, dogs, sheep, civilisation. The soil was fertile due to cattle, humped and humpless bulls), inundation in the river Indus. cattle toys with movable head, toy-carts, G They used wooden plough share whistles shaped like birds, and both (ploughed field from Kalibangan) and male and female figurines. stone sickles for harvesting. G They played dice games. Gambling G Crops produced were wheat, barley, seems to be their favourite time pass. dates, peas, sesamum, mustard, millet, ragi, bajra and jowar. At Lothal and TRADE Rangpur, rice husks were found. G Agriculture, industry and forest G They were first to produce cotton in provided the basis for internal and the world, which Greeks called as external trade. Sindon derived from Sind. A fragment G Trade was based on barter system. of woven cotton cloth was found at Coins are not evident. Bullock carts and Mohenjodaro. boats were used for transportation. G Well-irrigation is evident from the, dams and irrigation canals found at Towns and Trade Dholavira. Sugarcane was not known to the Indus people. Daimabad Bronze industry. Lothal Factory for stone tools and Domestication of Animals metallic finished goods. G Animal rearing was practiced. They Balakot Pearl finished goods, domesticated buffaloes, oxens, sheep, bangle and shell industry. asses, goats, pigs, elephants, dogs, cats Chanhudaro Beads and Bangles factory. etc. G Camel bones are reported at G Weights and measures were made of Kalibangan and remains of horse are limestone, steatite etc. Generally in discovered from Surkotada. cubical shape and in multiples of 16. G Foreign trade flourished with ARTANDCRAFTS Mesopotamia or Sumeria (Iraq), Central Asia, Persia, Afghanistan and Bahrain. G Harappans used stone tools and implements and were well acquainted with bronze. Bronze was made by mixing copper (from Khetri) with tin. Imports From G Boat making, jewellery of gold, silver Gold Kolar (Karnataka), precious stone and bead making was Afghanistan, Persia (Iran) practiced. Cotton fabrics were used in Silver Afghanistan,Persia(Iran), summer and woollens in winter. South India G Pottery Both plain (red) or painted Copper Khetri(Rajasthan) (red and black) pottery was made. Balochistan, Arabia Pots were decorated with human Tin Afghanistan,Hazaribagh figures, plants, animals and (Jharkhand) geometrical patterns. Lapis Lazuli Badak-Shan (Afghanistan) G Metal Images Bronze image of a and Sapphire nude woman dancer (identified as Jade CentralAsia devdasi) and stone steatite image of a bearded man (were both obtained Steatite Shahr-i-Sokhta,KirtharHills from Mohenjodaro). Amethyst Maharashtra 4 GENERAL KNOWLEDGE~ Indian History RELIGIOUS DECLINEOFTHE PRACTICES CIVILISATION G Chief Female Diety A terracotta The Harappan culture flourished upto 1800 BC, figurine, where a plant is shown then it began to decline. There is no unanimity growing out of the embryo of a among historians regarding the reason for woman and represents the decline of this urban civilisation. There are mother Goddess (Goddess of many different theories by the thinkers, that Earth). shows the decline of the Indus culture. G Chief Male Diety Pashupati Mahadeva (Proto-Siva), represented in seals, sitting in a yogic posture on a throne and Views Thinkers having three faces and two horns. He is surrounded by an elephant, External Aggression Wheeler, Piggot and a tiger, a rhino and a buffalo, and Gordon-Childe two deers appear at his feet. Inundation MRSahni G Indus people believed in ghosts Epidemic KVRKennedy and evil forces and used amulets Tectonic Disturbances Marshall and Raikes for protection against them. Fire (e.g., Dholavira) altars are found at Lothal and Kalibangan. SuddenDecline Wheeler ClimaticChange RLSteinandANGhosh SCRIPT Deforestation, Scarcity Fairservis of Resources, Ecological G It was pictographic in nature. Imbalances Fish symbol is the most Flood (e.g., Marshall, SR Rao, represented. Overlapping of the Mohenjodaro) Maickey letters show that it was written from right to left in the first line. The Destruction due to GF Holes Change in course of The style is called River Ghaggar Boustrophedon. Site ArchaeologicalFinds Harappa Two rows of six granaries with brick platform, work men’s quarter, stone (Gateway city) symbol of lingam and yoni, virgin-Goddess (seal), clay figures of mother Goddess, wheat and barley in wooden mortar, copper scale and mirror, vanity box, dice. Sculpture Dog chasing a deer (bronze) nude male and nude dancing female (stone), sand stone male torso. Mohenjodaro The Great bath, the great granary (largest building), multipillared assembly (Mound of the hall, college, proto-Shiva seal, clay figures of mother Goddess, Dice. Dead) Sculpture Bronze dancing girl, steatite image of bearded man. Kalibangan Decorated bricks, bangle factory, wheels of a toy cart, wells from every (Black Bangle) house.Remains of a massive brick wall around both the citadel and lower town (lower town of Lothal is also fortified), bones of camel, tiled floor. Mother Goddess figurines are absent here. Chanhudaro Inkpot, lipstick carts with seated driver, ikkas of bronze, imprint of dog’s (Lancashire of India) paw on a brick. Only city without citadel. Daimabad Bronze images of Charioteer with chariot ox; elephants and rhinocerous.