Linked to the geographical factor is the climate. All great civilizations were born in temperate or subtropical climates. On one hand, excessive cold does not allow for agriculture, and on the other hand, fighting the cold leaves no time or inclination to create culture.
As for the chronology with which these succeeded each other, it is clear that the first ones appeared near Africa, on the bridge between Africa, Asia and Europe. Humans who settled in the Tigris and Euphrates basins created culture before those who went on to colonize Asia and Europe.
For this reason, the last cultures are those of Central America, because it took many years before humans colonized all of Asia and then make the crossing of the Bering Strait to descend the American continent to Central America where they found a climate similar to that of the Fertile Crescent, where they could develop a culture based on the agriculture of maize. The Indians of cold North America never constituted a civilization that could match that of the Mayans and the Aztecs, so they remained primitive until the European settlers came along.
Origin and Discovery of the Indus Valley Civilization
They were probably nomads from the Fertile Crescent who have moved further east in search of living conditions similar to those of the Nile, Tiger and Euphrates and found the Indus Valley, in the area that now belongs to Pakistan, near the city of Karachi. The Indus River is the longest river in Pakistan; it originates in the Himalayas and travels 3,000 km to the Arabian Sea.
Developed some time after the Sumerian and the Egyptian civilizations, the Harappan civilization is practically contemporary with these two, between the years 3300 B.C. and 1900 B.C. Not much is known about this civilization yet, and some say it predates the Egyptian and the Mesopotamian ones. However, I think it makes no sense that humans coming from Africa built a civilization far from this continent, before building one closer, when the conditions were the same in terms of rivers and fertile lands.
The main cities or archaeological sites of this civilization are Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro, and Lothal. While Sumer was discovered in 1825, the archaeological sites of the Indus Valley civilization were discovered only very recently – Harappa in 1921 and Mohenjo-Daro in 1922.
Urban Planning
Before the excavation of these cities, it was thought that Indian civilization began in the Ganges River Basin, when Aryan immigrants from Persia and Central Asia settled in the region around 1250 B.C. The discovery of the Indus Valley civilization refuted this theory, giving the Indian culture a much earlier beginning.
At its peak, the Indus Valley civilization may have had a population of more than five million. The Indus cities are distinguished by their elaborate urban planning, which suggests the existence of a technical, political, and administrative process related to the rational use of land for agriculture and the design of the urban environment. The Harappans were among the first to develop a system of standardized weights and measures.
The houses were made of baked bricks, and all of the same size, which leads us to conclude that this was an egalitarian society without much social stratification. The cities had a sophisticated and elaborate drainage system, sewage, and water supply.
Each house had a water well, while wastewater was directed into covered canals in the main streets. Even the smallest houses on the outskirts of the city were connected to the system, thus supporting the idea that hygiene and sanitation were a matter of great importance to them.
They also had pools of water reserved for public baths that even then were used more for spiritual purification ritual than for bodily hygiene, something very characteristic of Indian society even today. In the image that illustrates this text we can see in the foreground one of these public baths in the city of Mohenjo-Daro.
Religion, Language, and Culture
Little is known about the Harappan religion and language. A collection of texts written on clay and stone tablets unearthed at Harappa, with a carbon dating of 3300-3200 B.C., contain vegetable and trident-shaped markings that appear to be written from right to left.
There is considerable debate as to whether it is a codified language or whether it is related to the Indo-European and South Indian families. The Indus Valley writing remains indecipherable, with no comparable symbols in existence, and is believed to have evolved independently of the writing in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. Researchers are using technological and computer advances to try to decipher it.
The Harappan religion also remains a subject of speculation. It has been widely suggested that Harappans worshipped a mother goddess who symbolized fertility. An idea that agrees with the early conception of the divine in prehistoric societies. In contrast to Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, the Indus Valley civilization does not seem to have had temples or palaces that clearly prove the existence of specific religious rites or deities.
Many of the symbols of Harappan writing appear on stamps and seals. A stamp has been found in which a man appears in a yoga position in meditation. He is surrounded by a buffalo, a rhinoceros, an elephant, and a tiger, with two deer at his feet. He is sitting under a Pipa tree and was called Pashupati. It is perhaps a representation of who would later be known in Hinduism as the god Shiva.
System of Government
Written records have given historians great insight into the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt; in contrast, very few written materials have been discovered in the Indus Valley. There are those who ponder that the system of government was centralized like that of Egypt by the standard measurements of bricks and other measures of weight and distance; just as there are those who understand that they were city-states like those of ancient Sumer.
We do not have enough data to lean towards one theory or the other, both are ancient forms of government, one more democratic, like the Sumerian society and even the Mayan society of Central America, and the other more dictatorial, like those of Egypt and the Aztecs in Central America.
Peaceful Society
It is widely believed that the Harappan civilization was peaceful and did not engage in any warfare, but there is no conclusive evidence to confirm this belief, and some archaeologists consider it a widespread myth. Some scholars argue that the Harappans were peaceful mainly because they had no natural enemies due to the geographical location of their large cities. Weapons have been found at archaeological sites, but it is debated whether they were used in conflict with other groups or as self-defense against wild animals.
Decline of the Indus Valley Civilization
The Indus Valley civilization collapsed around 1800 B.C. Scholars debate what factors brought on the death of this civilization. One theory suggests that a nomadic Indo-European tribe, the Aryans, invaded and conquered the Indus Valley civilization, although more recent evidence tends to contradict this claim. Most historians believe that the collapse of the Indus Valley civilization was caused by climate change. Some experts believe that the drought of the Saraswati River, which began around 1900 B.C., was the main cause for these changes in climate and living conditions.
In 1800 B.C., the climate of the Indus Valley became colder and drier, and a tectonic event may have diverted or disrupted the river systems, which were the lifelines of the Indus Valley civilization. The Harappans were forced to emigrate to the Ganges River Basin in the east, where they may have established villages and used the land for agriculture.
These small communities would not have been able to produce the same agricultural surplus to support the large cities. With the reduction in the production of goods, there would have been a decline in trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia. By 1700 B.C., most cities in the Indus Valley civilization had been abandoned.
Of those who went to the Ganges River Basin, around the year 800 B.C., some settled as hermits (the Vedas) in the forests of the Ganges River. Inspired by the Dravidian religion that originated from the Indus Valley, they worshipped natural spirits. These religions believed that souls acquired another physical form after the death of the body; thus, was born the theory of reincarnation, so popular in Hinduism.
The Vedas, a word meaning "knowledge", are the oldest texts of Hinduism. They are derived from the ancient Indo-Aryan culture of the Indian subcontinent and began as an oral tradition that was passed down through generations, before finally being written down in Vedic Sanskrit, between 1500 and 500 B.C.
Conclusion: Personal hygiene, sanitation, and ritual and spiritual purity, as well as urban organization and mathematical precision in weights and measures, suggest that this was an advanced society for its time, "democratic", egalitarian, and peaceful. It is a pity we have not yet deciphered the symbols they left behind for us to know more. The Indian worldview eventually influenced the thinking and life of all of South Asia.
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC
Thank you Father Jorge
ReplyDeleteTo learn how it all began.🙏❤️🙏