The excavations taking place under Sir John Marshall, Daya Ram Sahni and Madho Sarup Vats at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro in 1921-1922 AD, revealed an immense amount of evidence which helped historians construct an understanding regarding the history of Ancient India. The evidence suggests that the people living in this region over four millennia ago were, in many ways, at a peak of civil development. Historians have sought to analyse the social makeup and the evolution of society through the periods of the Indus Valley Civilisation (2500-1600 BC) to the Vedic age (1500-1000 BC), the sophistication and the precociousness of the people of the Indus Valley, and the incoming cultural dynamics from the invading Aryans. This article is a brief account of an investigation which revolved around the major material evidence collected as a result of the excavations, the inferences gleaned from them, and insights into the evolution of the society from the Indus Valley Civilisation to the Vedic Age following the Aryan invasion.
Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) – Bronze Age
The seals found during the excavations reveal a great deal about the people living during the era of the IVC. An examination of the inscriptions on the seals indicates a developed script. The letters and notations being similar in most of the seals, suggest that they were probably part of the same language. Unfortunately these seals are indecipherable – it is difficult to understand what they mean, beyond conjecture. Consequently, they could also not be related to modern languages. In addition to a developed script, the seals indicate that the people of the IVC had a highly developed artistic and aesthetic sense: they were well-versed in the arts of sculpting and drawing.
In terms of architecture, the Indus Valley people were remarkably advanced in engineering, which is evident from the construction of houses, baths, granaries, the ramparts and the citadel which had a common style of construction in both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. The construction of granaries to store food for consumption in case of a natural calamity points to the foresight of those people. They constructed walls and fortresses to protect themselves from both the flooding waters of the Ravi and external human invasions. The similarity in construction in both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro shows both the regions to have had a similar approach when it came to administration and urban planning.
The IVC did not have any formal religion: a guess that is based on the fact that little has been uncovered in the way of divine scripture or a spot for worship. However, as shown by some evidence, the society seems to have had beliefs which were mythological rather than theological. A seal representing a unicorn and a person surrounded by tigers offers tantalising hints as to what their mythology would have entailed. It would seem that they feared or somewhat worshiped elements such as fire and water. There was also a great deal of veneration for the mother figure.
Indus Valley Civilisation sites such as Mohenjo-daro suggest that society may not have had hierarchies as stark as the later ages
Vedic Era – the Iron Age
Aryans migrating from the north-west (between the Caspian and the Black Sea), along with horses, brought their own social dynamics. They brought with them Books of Knowledge or Vedas (including the Mahabharata and the Ramayana), which archaeologists were able to find as evidence due to their preservation by bards of each tribe through a rigorous oral tradition. These are a great source for analysing the society of that time. The Rig Veda (Verses of Knowledge) provides a great source of literature which distinctly defines the norms and traditions of the society at that time in the form of poems (around 1017 Sanskrit poems). Mahabharata and Ramayana also add to a vivid imagery of that time, while also serving as concrete evidence for the development of kingship in India. The story of rivalry between the Pandavas and the Kauravas depicts, in allegorical form, the quest for throne and power between two main tribes or families amongst the Indo-Aryans. The battle between the daemons and Indra is another example leading us to believe that kingship had substantially developed in this region during the Vedic Age.
Unlike the IVC where animals were considered holy, according to the Vedas, the religion of the Indo-Aryans was sacrifice-based. They used to sacrifice animals or other valuable commodities like jewellery to divine figures. An example would be Shremedha, which was the name given to a horse sacrifice made to greet a new Raja in an event known as a Rajasuya.
The Vedas are a vital resource in studying the rise of the Iron Age in South Asia
During the time of the Aryans, Sanskrit had developed as a complete language. Friedrich Max Muller and Sir William Jones have drawn the classical connection between Sanskrit and the modern languages spoken in this region. According to Muller, originating from Proto Indo-Aryan, all modern languages evolved through time. Through this study, an evolutionary link can also be established amongst the various ethnic groups residing in the Indian Sub-continent today.
Unlike the IVC, Aryans lived in tribes known as Janapada and Mahajanapada. Devolution of power observed through archaeological evidence in case of the IVC was clearly not the case with the Indo-Aryans. They had a hierarchy started with the heads of tribes all the way up to the supreme and ultimate authority lying with the Raja. There was also a clear caste difference made on the basis of skin colour during the Vedic Age. And so there were the classical divisions between the Brahmins (white priests), the Kashtriya (red warriors), Veshiya (brown agriculturists) and the Shudras (black labour). The people of the Indus Valley civilisation were treated as slaves (Dasas).
The Indus script remains undecipherable for historians
The devolution of power observed through archaeological evidence in the Indus Valley Civilisation was clearly not the case with the Indo-Aryans
Education appears to have been of some significant importance in the Vedic Age. Students were taught the subjects of arithmetic, poetry, science, and grammar by Brahmacharis. Arithmetic was given special importance, evident by the Vedic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4,...) and the numeral 0.
The people living in the Indus Valley were sophisticated, well organised, and precocious, with a relatively simpler lifestyle. However, after the Aryan invasion, the blend of social dynamics from two different origins made society more complex. The advent of organised religion, castes, intermixing of different cultures and traditions and advanced languages began to give rise to the diverse tapestry that is South Asia today.
