The Land of Five Rivers 

Indus River Valley Civilisation

Indus River Valley Civilisation

Indus River valley which is now in Pakistan is the place where India's first major civilisation flourished for 1000 years from around 2500 BC. A civilisation of great complexity developed in Mohenjodaro and Harappa, which were the great cities of Indus-Valley. The major city sites were only discovered during this century but other, lesser cities have been subsequently unearthed at sites like Lohtal, near Ahemedabad in India.

The traditional Hindu fear of pollution and the need for ritual washing is also reflected in the intricate system of drains found at Harappa. There is even evidence of an organised system of garbage collection! The origins of Hinduism goes back all the way to this early civilisation. Instead of the king, society was ruled by the priests, who interceded with the gods, dictated social modes and determined such issues as land tenure. Clay figurines have been found at these sites suggesting worship of a Mother Goddess (later personified as Kali ) and a male, three-faced god sitting in the attitude of a yogi attended by four animals ( the prehistoric Shiva), as well as black stone Pillars ( phallic worship associated with Shiva). Even at this time, certain animals were regarded as sacred; the most prominent being the humped bull (later, Shiva's mount ). Comparatively little is known about the development and eventual demise of this civilisation. Their script has still not been deciphered nor is it known why such an advanced civilisation collapsed so quickly following invasion by the Aryans.

Early Invasions & The Rise of Religions

The Aryan invaders swept south from central Asia between 1500 and 200 BC. They eventually controlled the whole of northern India as far as the Vindhya hills, and pushed the original inhabitants, the Dravidians, south. The invaders brought with them their nature gods, among whom the ones of fire and battle were predominant, as well as their cattle-raising and meat-eating traditions. Yet even by the 8th century BC, the priestly caste had succeeded in reasserting its supremacy and the nature gods were displaced or absorbed into the concept of a universal soul (Brahman) to which the aatman (individual soul ) was identical. These events are recorded in the literature of the time as the victory of Brahma over Indra (formerly the godess of food and the law but later of thunder and battle). Indra supposedly led a bizarre double life, being a woman for one phase of the moon and then changing over night into a man for the next phase. It was also during this period of transition (1500- 1200 BC ) that the Hindu sacred scriptures, the Vedas, were written.

The social order which reflected the assimilation of the Aryans and the supremacy of the priests became consolidated in the caste system, which survives to this day (despite efforts by the central government to enhance the status of those at the bottom).

Control over this social order was maintained by extremely strict rules designed to secure the position of the Brahmins (priests). Elaborate taboos were established concerning marriage, diet, travels, modes of eating and drinking and social intercourse. Within the system, each caste adopted its own unique set of rules with which to assert its superiority over those considered to be inferior. Anyone disregarding the rules would be outcast and driven away. Yet the priests could not have it all their own way. Despite the strictures concerning respect for the priests and for all animal life, the meat-eating traditions of the Aryans had to be accommodated. It's essentially from these times that the vague division between the meat-eating north and vegetarian south stems. During the period when the Aryans were consolidating their hold on northern India, the heartland narrowly missed two other invasions from the West. The first was by the Persian King, Darius (521-486 BC), who annexed the Punjab and Sindh but went no further. Alexander the great reached India in his epic march from Greece in 326 BC, but his troops refused to marched further than the Beas River, the eastern most extent of the Persian Empire he had conquered, and he turned back without extending his power into India itself. The most lasting reminder of his appearance in the East was the development of Gandharan art, that intriguing mixture of Grecian artistic ideals and the new religious beliefs of Buddhism

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