Aryan Migration To India

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The invaders of India called themselves Aryas, a word generally anglicized into Aryans. The name was also used by the ancient Persians, and survives in the word Iran.

Eire, the name of the most westerly land reached by Indo-European peoples in ancient times, is also cognate.

The origin of the Aryans is still an unsettled affair. Much heated controversy has raged around this question. The multiplicity of conflicting theories has created chaos in academic circles. Hence, we have discussed only those theories which seem most reasonable.

About 2000 B.C. the great steppes land which stretches from Poland to Central Asia was inhabited by semi-nomadic barbarians, who were tall, comparatively fair, and mostly long-headed.

They had tamed the horse, which they harnessed to light chariots with spoked wheels, of a much faster and better type than the lumbering ass drawn carts with four solid wheels which were the best means of transport known to contemporary Sumer.

They were whether from pressure of population, dessication of pasture lands, or from both causes, were on the move. They migrated in bands westwards, southwards and eastwards, conquering local populations, and inter-marrying with them to form a ruling class.

They brought with them their patrilinear tribal organization, their worship of sky gods, and their horses and chariots. In most of the lands in which they settled their original language gradually adapted itself to tongues of the conquered peoples.

The marauding tribesmen gradually merged with the older populations of the Middle East, and the ancient civilizations, invigorated by fresh blood and ideas, rose to new heights of material culture.

The Aryan invasion of India was not a single concerned action, but one covering centuries and involving many tribes, perhaps not all of the same race and language. The course of Aryan expansion cannot be plotted, owing to the paucity of material remains.

Evidently the invaders did not take to living in cities, and after the fall of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, the Punjab and Sind became a land of little villages, with buildings of wood and reed the remains of which have long since perished.

For over a thousand years from the fall of Harappa, India is almost an archaeological blank, which at present can only be filled by literary sources.

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Tags: ancient time, aryan migration, aryas, harappa, india, little village, Mohenjodaro

Story of Discovery of Mohenjodaro

By the beginning of the twentieth century, archaeologists and historians in India were becoming familiar with an ancient city located in the Indus Valley which was known as Harappa. However, people did not know who had built and lived in the city or when it had been built.

About 600 kilometres away from Harappa was the site of another ruined city. Local people knew of these ruins which were close to the modern town of Dokri. However, the site was not thought to be very old. Read more

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Tags: Archaeological Survey of India, archaeologists and historians, culture, discovery of mohenjodaro, harappa, india

Decline of Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley civilization entered its phase of decline in the second millennium B.C. and almost completely disintegrated about 1500 B.C. It is a very strange and striking that a mature and well developed civilization should have declined.

At Mohenjo-daro the archaeologists have noticed progressive deterioration in the construction of buildings nearer the surface. These were positively inferior to the type of buildings found in the lower layers erected earlier.

This indicates a decline in the fortunes of the city-a feature which can be partly explained in terms of annual Indus floods. The second factor accounting for the decline is the deforestation of the area owing to the continuous consumption of timber, over a long period of time, for the purpose of house building.

Mohenjo-daro was thus wearing out its landscape. Over the years it was dying long before the final blow.

That final blow came in the form of external attack by by the nomad Aryans between whom and the people of the Valley ensued a long and fierce struggle. This is further suggested by the group of huddled human skeletons discovered at Mohenjo-daro.

The new and more vigorous force represented by the Aryans won in the end over the age-old and culturally fast deteriorating force of Indus Valley.

There are further speculations that an earthquake might have caused it destruction or the Indus could have changed its course, rendering it unfertile.

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Tags: battle of harappa, Decline, earthquake, harappa, indus valley civilization, Mohenjodaro

Town Planning and Structure In Indus Valley Civilisation

The Indus Valley people, unlike the Aryans, were primarily urban people.

Harappa

Harappa is a ruined city situated in Montgomery district (Pakistan). It is about hundred miles from Lahore. This city is believed to have been bigger than Mohenjodaro. The houses found at Harappa are smaller in size, but its remains are otherwise similar to those found at Mohenjodaro.

Mohenjo-daro

It was first discovered in 1922 by R.D. Banerjee and is one of the most important ancient cities. It is situated 300 miles north of Karachi in the Larkana district of Sind. In pre-Aryan period of Indian history it was the chief centre of the social activity of the Indus Valley people. Mohenjo-daro literally means mound of the dead. It is about one square mile in area. Read more

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Tags: drainage system, great bath, harappa, house kitchen bath, Indus Valley Civilisation, Mohenjodaro, Town Planning