Harappa / Indus Valley Civilisation & Vedic Period

Harappa / Indus Valley Civilisation

• Period of the Harappan/Indus Valley Civilization: 2500BC-1750BC (by carbon-14 dating).
• R.B. Dayaram Sahni first discovered Harappa in 1921.
• Rakhaldas Banerjee discovered Mohenjo-Daro in 1922.
• They were basically Dravidians.
• The Indus Valley Civilization belongs to proto-historic period that’s called Bronze Age.
• This civilization spread over Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, Gujarat, Rajasthan and some parts of western U.P.
• Port cities: Lothal, Sutkangedor.
• A huge public bath and a huge granary have been discovered in Mohenjodaro.
• People mainly grew wheat and barley in this civilization.
• Ploughed field surface has been discovered in Kalibangan.
• Bones of horses have been discovered in Surkotda.
• This civilization had systematic town-planning on the line of grid system and underground drainage system.
• In this Civilization the burnt brick is used for constructions.
• Iron was not known to people.
• The chief male deity was the pashupati Mahadeva i.e. lord of Animals, represented by a seal. He was surrounded by four animals (elephant, tiger, rhino & buffalo). Thus Shiva-Shakti worship, the oldest form of worship in India, appeared in this civilization.
• Script of this civilization was Pictographic. Main object of worship was the mother Goddess.
•  The Swastika symbol was originated in this civilization.

Sites of Harappan civilization

Site	River	Excavators	Year	Situated in
Harappa	Ravi	Daya Ram Sahni	1921	Montgomery district of Pakistan
Mohenjodaro	Indus	Rakhal Das Bannerji	1922	Larakana district of Pakistan
Chanhudaro	Indus	Gopal Mazumdar	1931	Pakistan
Kalibangan	Ghaggar	B.B. Lal & B.K. Thapar	1961	Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan
Rangapur	Madar	Ranganath Rao	1953-54	Kathiabadh district of Gujarat
Roper	Sutlez	Yaggadutta Sharma	1953-56	Roper district of Punjab
Lothal	Bhagava	Ranganath Rao	1955 &1962	Ahmadabad district of Gujarat
Dholavira	-----	R.S. Bist	1974	Hissar district of Haryana

Vedic Period

• Vedic period:1500-1000 BC
• Latter Vedic Period: 1000-600 BC
• Location: Punjab & Afghanistan-then called Sapta Sindhu i.e. region of Seven Rivers.
• According to Max Muller original home of Aryan was Central Asia.
• This Civilization was Rural.
• Boghazkai Inscription (1400 BC) which means Asia Minor is related to this period. Names of 4 Vedic God’s has been deciphered from this inscription which are Indra, Varuna, Mitra & Nastya (Ashwini Kumar).
• No of Upanishads-108
• No of Puranas-18
• No of Vedanga-6

Some Darshana & Their Founder

Darshana	Founder
Yoga	Patanjali
Sankhya	Kapila
Naya	Gautama
Purva Mimansha	Jaimini

• The Ramayana written by Valmiki, is known as ‘Adi Kavya’ (The oldest Epic of the World). It contains 7 khandas i.e. sections.
• The Mahabharta written by Vedabyas is the longest Epic of the World. Its oldest name is Jaisamhita.

Early Vedic Period (1500BC-1000BC)

• Rig Veda is the only source of knowledge for this period.
• According to the Rig Veda, the most mentioned river: Sindhu, the most pious river- Saraswati.
• Dasharajan war is described in 7th mandal of Rig-Veda. It was fought on the bank of Purushani (Rabi). The battle was fought between Sudas, the king of Bharata, and another 10 kings. Sudas got victory.

Some River & Their Vedic Name

Rig Vedic Name	Modern Name
Sindhu	Indus
Vitasta	Jhelum
Askini	Chenab
Vipas	Beas
Parushani	Ravi
Shatadru	Setlaz

•  Sura and Soma, were also consumed as alcolohilic drinks.
• Aryans were mainly agricultural in profession and peaceful also. They used to calculate their wealth in terms of cows.
•  Music, dancing, chariot-racing, and dicing were the things of entertainment.

Their God

• During the Rigvedic time people worshipped powers of Nature as God.
• There were nearly 33 gods.
• Indra, Agni and Varuna were the most popular deities of Rigvedic Aryans.

Indra or Purandara

Was considered the warlord and also played the role of rain God.

Agni

Considered to be the Intermediary between the gods and the people.

Varuna

Personified as the God of water

Surya(Sun)

God who used to drive daily across the sky in his chariot driven by seven horses.

Savitri (The God of light)

The famous Gayatri Mantra written by Biswamitra is addressed to her.

Mitra

A solar God.

Pushan

He was personified as the God of marriage or the God of wild animal.

Vishnu

• He is considered a God which covers earth in three steps.
• He is considered to be the sole custodian & Guardia of the world.

 Soma

The God of Tree.

Later Vedic Period (1000BC-600BC)

• During the later Vedic period, the Aryans settled in the whole of Northern India, Which was known as Aryavarta.
• The institution of Gotra appeared in later Vedic period.
• The earliest reference to the 4 Ashrams (the stage of time)-Brahmacharya, Girhastha, Vanprastha and Sanyasa-is found in the Jabala Upanishad.
• The Ashram system was formed to attain 4 purushutras (Dharma, Aartha, Karma & Moksha).
• In later Vedic Period the most important God was Prajapati.

Vedic Literature

Veda was written by Maharashi Krishana Daipayana Vedabyas.

Vedic Literature comprises literary productions

• The Samhitas
• The Brahamanas
• The Aranyakas.
• The Upanishads

There are 4 Vedas:

• Rig Veda,
• Sama Veda
• Yajur Veda and
• Atharva Veda
• The first three Vedas are jointly called Vedatrayi i.e. trio of Vedas

Rig Veda

• Of the four Vedas, Rig Veda (collection of lyrics) is the oldest text in the world.
• The Rig Veda contains 1028 hymns, divided into 10 mandalas.
• Six mandalas (2nd to 7th) are called Gotra/Vamsha Mandalas (kula Granth).
• The 10th mandala contains the famous Purushasukta, Which explains the 4 varnas: Brahamna, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra.
• The hymns of Rig Veda were recited by Hotri.

Yajur Veda

• It contains both verse and phrase.
• It is divided into two parts: Krishan Yajur Veda and Shukta Yajur Veda

Sama Veda

• It is called the father of music.

Atharva Veda

• The last one is a book of magical formulae.
• It contains charm and spells to protect against evils and diseases.
• For a very long time it was not included in the category of the Vedas.
• It said that sava and samiti are two daughter of prajapati.

Purana

• Indian History is sequentially described in Purana.
• It was written by Lomharsha and his son Ugrashrava.
• Its no. is 18.
• The most important are:
  1. Matsya Purana-Andhra Satbahana
  2. Vishnu Purana-Maurya Dynasty
  3. Vayu Purana-Gupta Dynasty
• Matsya Purana is the oldest one