or a god, lndra was a very rambunctious fellow. According to the stories told about him by the Aryans, lndra had few if any peers in fighting, feasting, or drinking. The Aryans were a herding people who spoke an Indo-European lan- guage and who migrated to south Asia in large numbers after 1500 e.c.E. In the early days of their migrations they took lndra as their chief deity. The Aryans told dozens of stories about lndra and sang hundreds of hymns in his honor. One favorite story described how lndra brought rain to the earth by killing a dragon who lived in the sky and hoarded water in the clouds. When the dragon fell to earth, its weight caused such turmoil in the atmosphere that it rained enough to fill seven rivers in northern India. Those rivers, in turn, brought life-giving waters to inhabitants of the region. A warrior such as lndra was a useful god for the Aryans, because as they migrated into south Asia they came into frequent conflict with Dravidian peoples already liv­ ing there. For a thousand years and more, Aryans looked on the rowdy, raucous war god as a ready source of inspiration as they sought to build a society in an already occupied land. In ancient China, heroic figures were quite different. Legends tell stories of he­ roes who invented agriculture, domesticated animals, taught people to marry and live in families, created music, introduced the calendar, and instructed people in the arts and crafts. Most dashing of those heroes was a sage-king named Yu, who helped lay the foundations of Chinese society by rescuing China from the devastat­ ing floodwaters of the Yellow River. Rather than dam the river as his predecessors had done, Yu dredged it and dug canals parallel to the river to allow the floodwaters to flow harmlessly out to sea. The legends say that Yu worked on the river for thirteen years without ever re­ turning home. Once, he passed by the gate to his home and heard his wife and children crying out of loneliness, but he continued on his way rather than interrupt his flood-control work. Because he tamed the Yellow River, Yu became a popular hero, and poets praised the man who protected fields and villages from deadly and destructive floods. By exalting Yu as an exemplar of virtue, Chinese moralists promoted the values of social harmony and selfless, dedicated work that the sage-king represented. < Sandstone bust Archaeological excavations show that China was a site of of a distinguished paleolithic communities as early as four hundred thousand years man, perhaps a ago. In south Asia, humans appeared at least two hundred priest-king, jram Mohenjo-da ra. thousand years ago, long before the Arya ns introduced lndra to south Asia . Yet, as in Mesopotamia and Egypt, population Yu (yoo) pressures in both east and south Asia induced human groups to begin experimenting with agriculture. By 7000 B.C.E. agriculture had taken SOUTH ASIA root in India's Indus River valley, and by 3000 8000-7000 B.C.E. Beginnings of agric~lture in south Asia B.C.E. it had spread throughout much of the In­ 2500-2000 B.C. E. High point of Harappan society dian subcontinent. In roughly the same period, 1900 B.C.E. Beginning of Harappan decline between 7000 and 5000 B.C.E., people in China's Yangzi River valley domesticated and became 1500 B.C.E. Beginning of Aryan migration to India dependent on rice, while people farther north in 1500-500 B.C.E. Vedic age the Yellow River valley learned to cultivate and 1400-900 B.C.E. Composition of the Rig Veda depend on millet. 1000 B.C.E. Early Aryan migrations into the Ganges River valley In both south and east Asia, agricultural surpluses encouraged the growth of complex 1000 B.C.E. Emergence of varna distinctions societies. Indeed, people in both locations de­ 1000-500 B.C.E. Formation of regional kingdoms in northern India veloped bustling cities. By 3000 B.C.E. people in 800-400 B.C.E. Composition of the principal Upanishads India's Indus River valley built south Asia's first 750 B.C.E. Establishment of first Aryan cities in the Ganges cities in what has come to be known as Harap­ valley pan society. Harappan society collapsed about 500 B.C.E. Aryan migrations to the Deccan Plateau 1500 B.C.E., just as Aryans moved into India in EAST ASIA large numbers, which created a period of turmoil 2200-1766 B.C.E. Xia dynasty and conflict. Eventually, however, Aryan peoples 1766-1122 B.C.E. Shang dynasty interacted and intermarried with the indigenous 1122-256 B.C.E. Zhou dynasty Dravidians, and that combination led to the 403-221 B.C.E. Period of the Warring States development of a distinctive society and a rich cultural tradition. In China, three dynastic states based in the Yellow River valley brought much of China under their authority during the second mil­ lennium B.C.E. In the proces& they forged many local communities into a larger Chinese society. At the same time, all three dynasties had frequent dealings with neighboring peoples to the west, who linked China to other societies and brought knowledge and technologies from afar. As in early Mesopotamia and Egypt, then, complex society in both south and east Asia promoted the development of distinc­ tive social and cultural traditions in the context of cross-cultural interaction and exchange. HARAPPAN SOCIETY Like societies in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the earliest urban society in south Asia was built by Dravidian peoples in the valley of a river, the Indus, whose waters were available for irrigation of crops. This society­ called Harappan society after one of its two chief cities-thrived between about 3000 B.C.E. and 1900 B.C.E. As it fell into decline over the next four hundred years, Indo-European migrants from the northwest began to settle in south Asia. Although Indo-Europeans initially clashed with the indigenous Dravidians, over time the two groups mixed and became indistinguishable from each other. In the process, they cre­ ated a unique social and religious order that helped shape south Asian society until modern times. Although scholars know that cities were evolving in the Indus region by 3000 B.C.E., it is impossible to follow the development of Harappan society in detail. One reason is that many of the earliest Harappan physical remains lie below the existing water table and thus are inaccessible to archaeologists. Another reason is the lack of deciphered written records, because scholars have so far been unable to understand Dravidian (drah-VIHD-een) Harappan (huh-RUHP-puhn) 48 PART I THE EARLY COMPLEX SOCIETIES , 3500 TO 500 e .c . E. the complex pictographic Harappan script. As a result, our understanding of Harappan society depends entirely on the study of accessible material remains. T H E IN 0 Us RIvER If the Greek historian Herodotus had known of Harappan society, he might have called it "the gift of the Indus." Like the Nile, the Indus draws its waters from rain and melting snow in towering mountains-in this case, the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas. As the waters reach the lowlands, the Indus deposits huge quantities of silt on its banks. Although the Indus periodically caused extensive destruction from flooding, it did make agricultural society possible in northern India. Early cultivators sowed their crops along its banks in September, after the flood receded, and harvested their crops the following spring. As in Mesopotamia and Egypt, agriculmral surpluses in Lndia vasdy increased d1e food supply, stimulated population growth, and supported the establishment f cities and spe­ cialized labor. Between 3000 and 2500 o.C.E., d1e agricultural surplus of rhe Indu valley fed two large cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, as weJI as subordinate cities an d a vase agricultural hinre.rland. Harappan society embraced much of modern-day Pakistan and a large part of northern India as well-a territory of about 1.3 million square kilometers (502,000 square miles)-and rhus was considerably larger than either Mesopotamian or Egyptian society. H A RAPPA AN o M o HEN ..J o ·OAR 0 No evidence survives concerning the Mohenjo-daro statue Harappan political ·ystem., alrhou.gh archaeological excavations do not uggesr a royal or of a bearded man www.mhhe.com/ imperial authority. However, both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had city ~alli, a forrifted bentleybrief2e citadel, and a large granary, uggesting tbat rhey served as center of poHtical aurhority and sites for the collection and redi r.ribucion of t<tX paid in the form of grain. The rwo cities represented a considerable investment of human labor and other resouxces: bod1 featmed marketplaces, temples, public buildings, extensive residential districts, and broad streets laid out on a carefully planned grid. The two cities clearly established the patterns that shaped the larger society: weights, measures, architectural styles, and even brick sizes were consistent throughout the land. This standardization no doubt reflects the prominence of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro as powerful and wealthy cities whose influence touched all parts ofHarappan society, as well as the degree to which the Indus River facilitated trade, travel, and communication among the far-flung regions ofHarappan society. S P E c I A L I z E o L A 8 o R A N 0 T R A 0 E Like other complex societies in ancient times, Harappa engaged in trade, both domestic and foreign.