Early History of India

  The Himalayas in the North of India have acted as deterrents to attackers for centuries. To the East the hilly region of Burma has done similar. To the North West there is dry mountainous country through which the Aryans migrated in 1500 BC. 

The famous Khyber Pass is located here. South India is usually considered to begin at the Tungabhadra River. There are about five or six linguistic families represented in the different regions of India. The country tended to be made up of disparate parts ruled by different rulers. The Universal Monarch Chakravartin managed to unite the North but not the extreme south.  

  India United 

India had been united bar the extreme south three times in history. The first was in the 3rd Century BC by Ashoka as part of the Mauryan Empire, the second time by Tughluk the Sultanate as part of the Turko-Afghan Empire and thirdly by the Moghul Aurangzeb.   Only the British were able to unite the country from the North to its most southern tip and even then about two fifths were still in the control of native rulers. English replaced the official language, which was Persian prior to that, itself imposed upon by a previous invasion. British rule led to a desire among the middle class population for western systems of democracy. 

The History of India 

Indian history was to some extent neglected and the only fact known was that Alexander the Great invaded the Indus in 326 B.C. However, the Hindu Sanskrit culture, uncovered more in the nineteenth century increased India’s cultural reputation in the eyes of Western scholars. There were three major strains of ethnicity that had first migrated and lived in India. 

The first was a Negrito strain, the second the Proto-Australoids, the third Mongoloids and the fourth Mediterranean. Today these comprise about 30 million of India’s 60 million population. 

Settled Communities 

The earliest of these communities can be found in the Highlands of Baluchistan developed in the 4th millennium BC. From 3000 BC the Indus plain becomes populated and the pottery found shows uniformity. Rivers were used as a form of communication and the agricultural surplus produced led to the development of two major cities; Mohenjo-Daro in the North and Harappa in the South. Approximately ten centuries of stable conditions are evidenced. All buildings were made of similar baked bricks, proving the existence of forests to burn for fuel in order to produce them. There are several stages of building for example there is a raised citadel and then an acropolis built in the West. 

Harrapan Culture 

Cities were built on a grid scale model, with network of lanes surrounding each block. Houses are hidden in courtyards and there is a labourer’s quarter. A granary of sufficient size suggests there was a centralized authority. The water supply and drainage system were excellently built; some even better than what exists today. 

This sophistication distinguishes this culture from contemporary ones in Sumer, Akkad and the Middle Kingdom in Egypt. Terracotta seals have been found that have images upon them of animals like an elephant, tiger, rhinoceros, the Indian humped backed bull, mythical beasts, figures and emblems. 

A possible Shiva prototype of a seal found engraved with a figure in a yogic posture and erect phallus was found. Nevertheless, there have been no religious institutions found or secular monuments. Clay figurines representing some kind of earth goddess suggests there was a fertility cult and in Mohenjo-Daro a stone bath was found which could have ritual significance. 

A Highly Organized Society 

Animals that were domesticated include cattle, buffaloes, goats, sheep, pigs and camels but not the horse. Cotton was used for clothing and wool. The main food crops were barley and wheat and both fish and meat were eaten. Copper was used for household implements. Adornments were made of gold and silver, ivory, jade, and lapis lazuli. 

Trade with Sumeria existed across the Iranian Plateau and by sea from a port near the Indus mouth. Sailors would hug the coastline to reach the Persian Gulf by the method of using a ‘compass bird’ which would fly to land. Sir Mortimer called this society ‘the vastest political experiment before the Roman Empire’. Indeed, the Aryans who followed were barbarians by comparison.