India in the Ancient World

Date: 8000 b.c.e.-700 c.e.

Locale: Subcontinent of South Asia

India in the Ancient World

The Indian subcontinent forms a cohesive territorial mass, protected by the lofty peaks of the Himalayas in the north, surrounded by the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean on the west, east, and south respectively. Because of the Himalayas, invasion of ancient India was sporadic, accomplished by small numbers of people hardy enough to venture through the mountain passes. This ensured the continuity of Indian civilization and the survival of its basic culture and religious traditions throughout history. Those who migrated, invaded, or sought refuge in India eventually assimilated into the mainstream while retaining parts of their distinctive cultures.

The early civilizations emerged along the banks of vast rivers such as the Indus and the Ganges, drawing from them water for consumption and irrigation as well as food and using them to navigate. The great oceans surrounding India enabled travelers and explorers to reach the country. Their presence ensured a lively cosmopolitanism and an openness to outside influences, characteristics that enriched the mainstream culture. Indians also traveled extensively, carrying their way of life to the islands of South and Southeast Asia and establishing outposts of Indian culture that still prevail in those societies.

India has always been prey to the vagaries of the monsoon, an air current that in summer blows from the sea to the land, bringing rainfall and bountiful crops. In the winter, the monsoon brings cool dry winds as it blows seaward from the land. The seasonal cycles of nature guided the activities of the people, and even in modern times, rural Indians are as close to these seasonal shifts of weather as were their ancestors millennia ago.

History

Knowledge of ancient India is gleaned from the work of archaeologists, from the study of ancient Indian writings, especially religious texts, and from the writings of foreigners who visited India. The chronology of Indian history provides particular challenges to any historian, for it is difficult to determine many dates with precision.

The history of ancient India evolves and changes continuously because archaeology is daily providing new clues to the mysteries of the past. Ancient India has provided grist for the mills of British imperial writers and Indian nationalists, each group seeking to transplant its own political agenda—justifying foreign rule or validating national aspirations—onto a study of ancient India. The student has therefore to be cautious about all sources and strive to be as objective as possible. Ancient Indian history is a work in progress, the story being rewritten as each generation draws inspiration from this era and seeks to find meaning in the present by reference to the distant past.

Archaeologists are daily pushing back the dates of the first emergence of humans in India, and different dates for the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic eras and beyond make it difficult to create an accurate historical time line. A profusion of artifacts discovered all over the country point to the probability of people at various stages of development coexisting in the subcontinent. Hence, sophisticated literate urbanites enjoyed all the amenities of city dwelling, while in other regions, forest dwellers endured a more primitive existence.

Indus Valley civilization (c. 3500-1700 b.c.e.)

The civilization that emerged in western India along the banks of various rivers including the Indus was remarkable in that it exhibited the first signs in the ancient world of advanced concepts of town planning. This civilization extended over an area far greater than ancient Egypt. Large cities like Mohenjo-Daro and Harappā served as commercial and manufacturing centers, exchanging goods with a number of neighboring civilizations.

These Indus Valley cities were mainly constructed of baked brick, with multistory houses laid out at regular intervals, vast public citadels, granaries, and shopping and recreation areas. The houses were designed to provide maximum comfort and privacy and were evenly spaced along wide streets. The architectural style of houses—rooms surrounding an indoor courtyard—was similar to that used in modern India, and houses featured indoor bathrooms. This civilization is noted for its elaborate plumbing system. Pipes carried waste to outside drains that were connected to a central drainage system running down the main streets. The drains, covered with stones, provided easy access for regular cleaning. Chutes carried garbage from the homes to outside receptacles. Historians assume that such an elaborate system was serviced by a corps of municipal employees who cleaned the drains and removed the garbage.

That this society valued creature comforts is evidenced by the vast array of jewelry, toys, art objects, gambling dice, and other luxuries found by archaeologists. People wore cotton garments. Carved and engraved seals of stone may have been used to identify goods sent abroad. A profusion of writing on many objects testifies to a high literacy rate. The Indus script has yet to be satisfactorily deciphered, although there have been many attempts by scholars. A standardized system of weights and measures facilitated commerce.

The demise of this civilization continues to puzzle historians, who have surmised that the peace-loving people of this advanced culture were massacred by immigrant hordes. Others theorize that an environmental disaster such as a drought or flood may have forced the people to move east to re-create their civilization in frontier areas of India that were then covered by forests.

Aryans and Dravidians

These two groups may well be the most prominent founders of Indian civilization. Their origins are shrouded in mystery, and historians have speculated about the probable homeland of both peoples. Theories abound about possible conflict between them, and about the impetus this provided to the spreading of civilization to the south of India. The Dravidians, who emerged as a leading political and cultural force in south India, were skilled in manufacturing and architecture, expert in maritime pursuits such as shipbuilding, trade, and commerce, and given to exploration of surrounding countries.

The emergence of the Aryans in Indian history has sparked a contentious debate among historians. In the first part of the twentieth century in Germany, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis identified with the ancient Aryans and politicized this ancient people to justify genocide against Jews, Gypsies, and numerous other groups, partly because they were not Aryan. Hitler’s fascist assumptions are now dismissed as myth and false, and the Aryans, their name formerly demeaned by association with modern genocide, have now reverted to their role as creators of significant aspects of ancient Indian civilization. However, controversy still surrounds the Aryans, specifically regarding their emergence in India, the location of their original homeland, whether they can be classified as a racial group, whether they felt and exercised notions of racial purity, and their alleged role in the demise of the Indus Valley civilization. No decisive answers have been found.

The ancient Aryans appear in Indian history about 1500-1000 b.c.e. They are perceived as initially nomadic and pastoral with a developed tribal structure that eventually developed into an agricultural, stable social system that was both rural and urban. Historians have not definitively decided whether the Aryans were foreign invaders or whether their homeland was always India. The issue is fiercely debated. Their contribution to Indian society is, however, not as contentious. The Aryans were notable for their keen sense of organization. From the amalgam of rituals and religious traditions existing among many peoples of India, the Aryans formulated the cohesive, if vast, body of philosophic thought later called Hinduism—the religion of the majority of modern India’s more than one billion people.

Hinduism

Hinduism is essentially a religion of personal experience in which salvation of each individual is governed by his or her actions, thoughts, and words. The aim of life is to seek the truth, and Hindus believe that there are innumerable routes to achieve that end. Therefore, all forms of thought must be tolerated, and none should be derided. Hindus do not convert others and would regard such action as inappropriate. There is one supreme divine power, but all manifestations of life share the magic of divinity and must therefore be respected. Hinduism appeals to the most mystic of philosophers but is equally alluring to those who prefer an established convention of ritual and worship. Although there are many sacred books such as the Vedas, there is no one work that must be accepted by all believers. Some Hindus believe that life consists of a cycle of birth and rebirth and that reincarnation occurs until the particular soul—called a divine spark—learns the ultimate lessons of life. Eventually, all divine sparks are saved, none are consigned to eternal damnation. A Hindu prayer states: “Lead me from the unreal to the real. Lead me from darkness to light. Lead me from death to immortality.”

Human life is divided into four stages akin to the four seasons, to facilitate the learning experience. The student in the spring of life absorbs all the knowledge that society has to offer; the householder, enjoying the summer of life, learns the joys and limitations of material life, marriage, and family; the retired person, experiencing the autumn of life, resumes his philosophic interests to understand the meaning and purpose of life; the pilgrim in the winter of life prepares to merge his soul into the universal concept and to become one with the divine and is beyond attachment to human matters.

Caste system

The ancient social system of caste, associated with Hinduism, is often assumed to be unique to India, but a comparison with Western Europe provides some interesting similarities. The four major divisions are priests (Brahmans), administrators and princes (Kṣatriya), traders and merchants (Vaiśya), and laborers (Śūdra). This corresponds almost precisely with the divisions of society in medieval Europe.

Caste in India is thought to have originally been a deliberate division of society based on occupation. The tribes that were taming the wilderness and building villages, towns, and ultimately cities felt the need to ensure that all the necessary occupations were filled in frontier societies. Hence the requirement for priests who also taught children, military men who governed and protected the people, traders to supply goods, and peasants and laborers to perform the physical work of planting and building. Initially, there was freedom to move between castes and to marry across caste lines. The children of such marriages formed new subcastes and several thousand subcastes exist to this day. It is important to remember that intellect, not wealth, was the ultimate social divide in ancient India. In the modern world, wealth determines status in most societies, especially in the West. The richest members of ancient Indian society were the Vaiśya—the traders—yet they were the third caste in ranking.

Caste groups provided a variety of services to their members, training the young in various trades as well as the rituals and traditions of the religion, providing troops to the ruler during war, supporting widows and orphans, lending money to entrepreneurial members, and providing advice to the king or chief. India also developed an elaborate system of craft and trade guilds that participated in somewhat similar activities.

Political instability and warfare caused by invasions from the north rigidified the caste system into a closed form of segregation that discriminated against outsiders. However, many of the invaders who assimilated into Indian society adopted both Hinduism and caste. The Brahmans, the highest caste, have been accused by historians of attempting to solidify their own superior status by devising endless regulations that separated the castes and forbade intermarriage and even dining together. It is not entirely clear when caste shifted from an occupational status to one based on birth. When that change became widespread, people could not change their caste, although they might change their occupation. For example, a Brahman could work as a cook.

Most horrifying of all was the plight of those who could not be included into caste because their occupations, such as cleaning sewers, rendered them outside the pale of this system. Eventually, over the centuries, such persons were deemed “untouchable,” and this discriminatory status was removed constitutionally only when India became free of British rule in 1947. All caste discrimination has been constitutionally outlawed in modern India.

Buddhism

During the sixth century b.c.e.—the era of the philosopher Confucius in China and the lawgiver Solon in Greece—Siddhārtha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was born a prince (c. 566 b.c.e.) and heir-apparent to the throne in a kingdom in northern India. He lived a life of luxury in the city of Kapilavastu, married, became a father, and appeared destined for a royal life. However, a keen humanitarian and introspective nature propelled him to wonder about the reason for human suffering. He renounced his princely existence, adopted a life of poverty, and embarked on a quest for enlightenment. After years of search, he finally found an answer and thereafter preached and taught Indians until his death (c. 486 b.c.e.).

Siddhārtha acquired the title of Buddha—the Enlightened One—and taught his followers that human life, subject to constant change, consists of a measure of suffering that is caused by craving and desire for pleasure. This source of unhappiness can be made to cease by following the Eightfold Path, which consists of right views, right resolve, right speech, right action, right work, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. The path is best followed by choosing the Middle Way, neither ascetic nor self-indulgent, devoted to the spiritual journey of achieving Nirvana or a state of liberation, peace, and joy. This gentle philosophy enjoyed immediate and extensive success in ancient India, particularly as it ignored the segregation of the caste system.

Buddhism became a serious challenge to the entrenched orthodoxy of Brahman priests, and the latter engaged Buddhist monks in spirited debates to woo public support. The adoption of Buddhist thinking by prominent Indian emperors such as Aśoka boosted the popularity of this philosophy in India and eventually over much of Asia.

Jainism

Although it is not as well known to non-Indians as Hinduism and Buddhism, the religion of Jainism has endured since ancient times and enjoys strong support and loyalty among its adherents. Founded by Vardhamāna (c. 599-527 b.c.e.), Jainism also arose during the sixth century b.c.e. and enjoyed considerable success among the emerging mercantile and trading classes of urban India. Jainism stresses the Three Jewels—right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct—and preaches the value of nonviolence as the central core of its thought.

Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainisn have bequeathed a rich cultural tradition in philosophical writings, art, sculpture, dance, drama, and music. Indian literature, mathematics, and science (for example, astronomy, botany, medicine, and ecology) have all benefited from the emphasis on intellectual pursuits encouraged by these religious traditions.

Mauryan Dynasty

The political unification of an area extending beyond the boundaries of present-day India was first undertaken during the Mauryan era (c. 321-185 b.c.e.). Chandragupta Maurya, assisted by the very able scholar Kauṭilya, founded the Mauryan Empire and provided India with administrative unification, a complex system of bureaucratic control, a unified legal and judicial system, and an effective form of taxation. The ample funds garnered were used to build an elaborate network of roads and bridges, encourage manufacturing, boost the production of mines, and maintain one of the largest armies in the ancient world. Mauryan rulers encouraged domestic and foreign trade, facilitated the travel of tourists across India, funded educational and religious institutions, built hospitals for people and animals, and passed laws to preserve various species of birds and animals.

This dynasty, so remarkably modern in the scope of its activities, also engaged in extensive diplomatic and commercial dealings with a variety of foreign countries. It gave India its greatest emperor, Aśoka (r. c. 265-238 b.c.e.), who propagated the idea of nonviolence and made it a principle of his government. Aśoka’s aim to provide a moral foundation for government and an ethical justification for its actions has inspired generations of Indian admirers.

Gupta Dynasty

The vicissitudes of political instability, foreign invasion, and civil conflict tended to erode the unity of the subcontinent achieved by the Mauryan emperors. However, unification remained a goal, and when this goal combined with the energy and power of great rulers, significant empires arose on Indian soil. Although the Gupta Empire (c. 320-540 c.e.) did not achieve the complete unification of India, its cultural achievements were so significant that many historians regard this period as India’s golden age. A veritable outpouring of literary works on every conceivable subject form the great legacy of this ancient dynasty.

One of the greatest rulers of this dynasty was Chandragupta II (r. c. 380-415 c.e.), who combined the princely pursuit of military expansion with a keen emphasis on efficient administration, religious toleration, economic betterment, and cultural development. Under the Guptas, Indian art, music, science, literature, and all intellectual pursuits flowered. Elegant poetry was written in Sanskrit, the language of intellectuals and of the literate. Kālidāsa (c. 340-c. 400 c.e.), the greatest dramatist of ancient India, has frequently been compared to playwright William Shakespeare because of the vividness of his descriptions and the sheer beauty of his poetry. Kālidāsa’s plays bring Gupta India to life.

The later Gupta rulers faced a severe threat from Huna invaders, tempted by the wealth of India. The Gupta Dynasty that had so enriched Indian civilization succumbed about two centuries after its foundation to a combination of external and internal pressures.

Post-Gupta Ancient India

Harṣa (r. c. 606-c. 647) sought to re-create the Gupta Empire territorially but ruled mainly in the north. He was noted for his liberality and royal patronage to educational and religious institutions. He was a poet and dramatist. He patronized both Hinduism and Buddhism and was a just and mild ruler. However, he left no heir, and his empire fell apart soon after his death.

Although India was frequently prey to foreign invasions, the overwhelming influence of the ancient Hindu-Buddhist-Jain religious and cultural tradition has survived intact. Despite enduring periods of political instability, India’s people have exhibited remarkable cultural resilience. Ancient India was the cradle of some of the best aspects of Indian tradition, the emphasis on tolerance, the principle of nonviolence, and the devotion to intellectual and cultural pursuits.

Bibliography

Feuerstein, Georg, et al. In Search of the Cradle of Civilization. Wheaton, Ill.: Quest Books, 1995.

Liu, Xinru. Ancient India and Ancient China. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Thapar, Romila. A History of India. Vol. 1. London: Penguin, 1990.

Wolpert, Stanley. A New History of India. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.