Natural Conditions

Natural conditions in ancient India were extremely varied due to the enormous size of the country. It is therefore best to divide the country into two parts—the northern (or the basin of the Ganges and Indus rivers) and the southern. Natural conditions in northern India were more or less uniform and similar to those of Egypt or Babylonia, in that the fertility of the soil depended to a large extent on the flooding of the Indus and the Ganges. The soil of southern India was less fertile, but this part of the country was well forested, and rich in precious metals and stones (gold, diamonds, etc.). An important feature of India was her geographic isolation: the country was cut off from the surrounding world by the high Himalaya mountains, and by the sea. The original tribes inhabiting the country are generally referred to as the Dravidians and the earliest period of Indian history is usually known as the Dravidian period.

Early Indian History

p The culture and level of development of the Dravidian tribes corresponds roughly to that of Sumero-Akkadian society. The population engaged in cultivation on irrigated lands and stockbreeding. The most common grain crops were wheat and barley, and domesticated animals included sheep, pigs and buffalo. Camels and elephants were also tamed from early on.

p During the Dravidian period there already existed important towns with broad straight streets and two-storied houses such as Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, discovered through excavation. The houses were built of burnt red brick. In Mohenjo-Daro remains 42 of water-supply and drainage systems were found and much evidence of it having been a major trading and craft centre.

The ruins of the large palaces in Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, which were obviously kings’ palaces, testify to the existence of state power in Dravidian society. However, at that time India was not a united kingdom but divided up into a series of small kingdoms and principalities. Judging by the quarters inhabited by the nobility and the poor quarters, social differences based on property and an embryonic form of class society had already emerged. The existence of writing also testifies to a fairly advanced level of development.

The Aryan Conquest

p During the first half of the 2nd millennium Aryan tribes invaded northern India from the Central Asian steppes.

p The Aryans were far less advanced economically and culturally than the Dravidians. There were nine Aryan tribes the most important of which was the Bharata tribe. The leader of each tribe was called a Rajah and a group of tribes was ruled over by a Maharajah.

p The Aryans were nomadic pastoralists. Their main source of wealth was their cattle, and cows were used as a means of exchange since money did not yet exist. However, the Aryans who invaded India soon assimilated the superior Dravidian culture and started to engage in settled agriculture. Some of the Dravidian population were wiped out and others were reduced to slavery or servitude and were treated with extreme cruelty and contempt.

p During the 1st millennium the Aryans penetrated as far as the southern regions of India, conquering the local population as they went. The strange relations existing between the native population and the conquering Aryans lie at the root of the caste system which then began to develop. The whole of the population of India was divided up into four castes. The highest caste was that of the priests, the Brahmins, then came the Kshatriya or warrior caste, the Vaisya—commune peasants, craftsmen and traders and lastly the Sudra—hired workmen, peasants and slaves. The barriers between the various castes were quite unsurmountable, for example, inter-caste marriage was forbidden or at least not regarded as legal: children from inter-caste marriages were regarded as unclean and relegated to the lower castes.

p The most privileged caste was that of the priests—Brahmins— who were freed from all types of taxation, conscription and corporal punishment. According to the laws of ancient India a nine- 43 year-old member of the Brahmin caste was considered as a father in relation to a ninety-year-old member of the Kshatriya. In peace-time the Kshatriya caste led a relatively undisturbed existence and received rich gifts and favours from the kings, but in time of war they were the only section of the population required to fight. The Vaisya caste had to pay taxes into the state treasury: commune peasants up to one-sixth of their harvest and merchants up to a fifth of their income. However, they were exempt from military service. Most wretched of all was the position of the Sudra caste. Members of this caste had no rights whatever, but merely obligations. Members of higher castes only had to pay a fine for the murder of a Sudra, the same as for killing a dog. The Sudra caste, however, was divided into various groups. The most unfortunate sub-group of all were the so-called pariahs, the descendants of the Dravidians, who were considered untouchable.

p Another distinctive feature of the ancient civilisation of India apart from the caste system was the unchanging nature of the village communes over many centuries. Although there existed family plots within the communes and therefore private landownership, in the main the communes were run as a natural economy. The structure of the communes and their self- government always followed one and the same pattern: each commune had its elder, clerks, who took charge of the farming, a 44 blacksmith, a carpenter, a potter, a barber and the indispensable Brahmin priest.

Slavery, although fairly widespread in India, was as a rule of a domestic, patriarchal variety. Aryans who fell into debt slavery were only bound temporarily and therefore even marriages were permitted between Aryan slaves and free men or women, provided of course that they were members of the same caste.

India in the Sixth-Third Centuries B.C.

p In the sixth century India was made up of several states, the largest of which were Magadha, situated on the central reaches of the Ganges, and Kosala to the north-west. The struggle between these two states came to an end in the fifth century with a decisive victory for the king of Magadha, making Magadha the most powerful state in India.

p In the fourth century B.C. the north-western part of the country was conquered by Alexander the Great (more details of this famous campaign will follow in a subsequent chapter) after which Greek and Macedonian garrisons were set up in a number of towns. Contact between the conquerors and the local population led to mutual influences in Greek and Indian culture.

p After Alexander’s withdrawal from India a liberation movement grew up under the leadership of Chandragupta Maurya (322-297), whose origins are veiled in legend. According to one version he belonged to the Kshatriya caste and according to another to the Sudra caste. Most probably he succeeded in gaining power as a result of a large-scale revolt or uprising.

p Chandragupta founded a powerful state, after waging war against one of Alexander’s military commanders and successors Seleucus Nicator, whom he compelled to surrender to him a large part of his territory (Aria, Arachosia, etc.). However, the state founded by Chandragupta was to become even greater during the reign of his grandson, Asoka (273-232 B.C.). After conquering the Kingdom of Kalinga he succeeded in uniting almost the whole of India under his rule. Asoka was also renowned for the extensive architectural projects he commissioned and his patronage of trade. He sought his main source of support among the Vaisya caste and opposed the Brahmins, dealing a severe blow to their domination and authority by making Buddhism the state religion.

Soon after the death of Asoka the Indian state again broke up and then in approximately 100 B.C. the Scythians or Sacae invaded India from the north and set up an Indo-Scythian state.

Ancient Religion and Culture in India

p The basic dogma lying at the foundation of Brahmanism was the belief in the three gods—Brahma, the creator of the world, Vishnu, the God of Good, and Shiva, the God of Evil, who together made up the great triad (trimurti). The development of this religion was closely linked up with the consolidation of the caste of Brahmin priests, who alone were entitled to interpret the holy books or Vedas. The ritual practices of the religion were very complicated and laid down such minute details as the required gait and length of hair for the faithful.

p In the sixth century B.C. another religious trend was to make its appearance—Buddhism. The founder of this school was Gautama Buddha or Shakya Muni who was opposed to the religious monopoly of the Brahmins and sought to abolish inequality based on caste, at least in so far as the individual’s spiritual life was concerned. Buddha also preached non-resistance to evil, abstinence and renunciation of all selfish desires as essential for attaining Nirvana, or loss of individuality by merging with the universal life. As we have already noted, Buddhism was declared the state religion under King Asoka in the third century B.C.

p India’s ancient civilisation was very advanced. As early as the third century B.C. there already existed several syllabic scripts. Outstanding works of epic poetry have survived, such as the famous Mahabharata (an account of the strife between the sons of Bharata) and the Ramayana (a description of the exploits of the legendary hero Rama). Ancient Indian architecture is also quite remarkable, for example the incredible Buddhist temples cut into rockfaces, works which abound in curved lines and geometrical patterns.

The ancient Indians were also familiar with the basic principles of mathematics, astronomy and medicine. A calendar was developed which divided the year into twelve months of thirty days, and allowing for an additional month at the end of every five years. Medical treatises have been preserved to this day which bear witness to a knowledge of the principles of anatomy and of the ability to make use of various medicinal herbs.