Miss Sana Mughal

Indus River Valley

and
The Aryans
Pre-Aryan India:
Indus River Valley Civilization
The Indus River
Silt-enriched water from mountain ranges
Major society built by Dravidian peoples,
3000-2500 BCE
Cultivation of cotton before 5000 BCE, early
cultivation of poultry
Decline after 1900 BCE
Major cities:
Harrapa (Punjab region
Mohenjo-Daro (mouth of Indus River)
70 smaller sites excavated (total 1,500)
The Harappan Civilization
3300 BCE - 2400 BCE
Mohenjo-Daro
Aerial View of Mohenjo-Daro
Indus River Valley

http://www.harappa.com/index.html
ARYANS
 ARYANS
Who were the Aryans
&
Where did they come from?

Germans (Anglo-Saxons), Celts, Slavs (Russians.), Kurds,

Persians ("Iran" = "Aryan"), Afghans, Aryans of India, etc.
form an ethnic continuum within a language family which
anthropologists and linguists call Indo-Hittite, Hattian,
Indo-European, or simply ARYAN.
ARYANS

Aryan Migration
ARYANS
ARYANS
Group of nomadic tribes who had originally
inhabited Central Asia (There is a dispute on this)
Tall, fair haired, with clear cut features, they settled
in Punjab, in the Indus Valley River region.
Fought with the original people of Indus Valley
Civilization, who were dark skin and known as
Dasyus or Dravidians
The superiority of the Aryans resulted in the
Dravidian submission and retirement to the south.
The Aryan society was very well organized, ruled by
a Monarch
ARYANS

Practiced the four Vedas.

Caste system was introduced and
practiced, based on ones profession:
Brahmins: Priests, teachers, intellectuals
Khsatriyas: Warriors, soldiers
Vashya: Traders, merchants, peasants
Shudras: People in service of others
Varna (Social Hierarchy)

Brahmins

Kshatriyas

Vaishyas

Shudras

Pariahs [Harijan] Untouchables

 s t e
C a Brahmins

The
t em Kshatriyas

Sys
Vaishyas
The Head & Face
The Shoulders & arms
The Stomach
The feet. Shudras
 The Vedas
1200 BCE-600 BCE.
written in SANSKRIT.
Hindu core of
beliefs:
hymns and poems.
religious prayers.
magical spells.
lists of the gods
Rig Veda oldest work.
work and goddesses.
Sanskrit
writing
Cultural Impact of Aryans
The culture of the Aryan period exist today and
has been an integral pat of Hindus all over the
world.
All Hindus accept Vedas as their most sacred
scripture.
Hindu religion originated with Aryans
With the invasion of Persian kings Cyrus and
Darius in the 500 BC, there were significant
changes and commingling of Aryan and Persian
culture.
Aryan period ended At the end of 322BC.