Public administration and Religious aspects in Indus Valley Civilization

Public administration and Religious aspects in Indus Valley Civilization

Public administration:

• There is no evidence and a dearth of material. D. D.Kaushambi hypothecated saying — Priests were rulers in Indus Valley Civilization. R.S.Sharma denies this hypothesis and postulated merchants were rulers in Indus Valley Civilization. 
• The administration was highly centralized, (Based on kind of city Planning, Sanitation etc.,) very powerful too. Bricks found were in the ratio of 4:2:1 standard / uniform that can conclude that administration was highly centralized.
• Uniform weights and measures were used (16 as the basic unit).

 Town-Planning:

• Uniformity in the plan, all cities have the same plan. Every city is divided into two parts i) Upper City (Western) ii) Lower City (Eastern). Upper City is called citadel and is protected by a fortified wall. Aristocrats used to live in the citadel. Lower City is for normal beings.
• Chanhudaro is a city without citadel.
• Dholovira is divided/ demarcated into three parts as Upper City, Middle City, and Lower City.
• All the cities were built in a grid pattern. Roads are built in a straight line without curves. Parallel roads run from N-S & E-W. Roads intersect exactly at 90 degrees and each block is of equal size.
• Banvali, Haryana where the grid pattern was not found. Roads are in a zig-zag manner.
• Good underground drainage system even with manholes. Banavali is an exception.

Society:

• Two important components of society were Stratification and Women.
• A matriarchal society is a hypothesis developed by John Marshall based on scanty evidence of Indus Valley Civilization.
• Indus Valley Civilization pantheon consists of both male & female deities. These people also worshiped bull (Agrarian Economy is the reason).

Religious:

• Indus Valley Civilization pantheon consists of
• Mother Goddess (Female deity - Prominently worshiped. Terracotta figurines of the goddess were found at every site).
• Pashupati Mahadeva (A seal found at Mohenjodaro depicts this god; Multi-headed god; only at one site this was found). In the course of time scholars identified this god as Lord Shiva.

• Linga (Phullic) - Stone Phullic were found at Mohenjodaro.
• Bull Worship
• Snake worship
• Tree worship
• A large number of amulets were found. This indicates the existence of demophobia, people believed in superstitious beliefs.
• Rituals - Animal sacrifice.
• Live after death - they believed (large no of grave goods along with skeleton was found. throughout the sites).

Related Posts: http://www.indianhistoryarticles.in/2016/04/economic-system-in-indus-valley-civilization.html

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Advent of Denmark and French(Part-1)

Advent of Denmark and French(Part-1)

Denmark:

• Danish were next to follow British were merchants of Denmark. These people were very insignificant just petty merchants.
• They came to India in 1616 and their first settlement in India was at 'Trancubar' in Tamil Nadu. Their headquarters was at Sarangpur, Bengal.
• In 1845, they left India selling their all settlements to British without revolting.

French:

• These were last Europeans who came to India for trade.
• In 1664 'French East India Co' was founded which was a public enterprise. (Man behind this was then Prime Minister Colbert and King was Louis. French kings at this point time were very sober and never initiative. Prime Ministers were almost defacto rulers).
• Their first settlement was at Surat in 1668. Other settlements were at. Machilipatnam, Chandranagar, Yanam (Andhra Pradesh), Mahe (Kerala), Karaikal (Tamil Nadu) and headquarters was at Pondicherry.
• In 1673 site of Pondicherry was acquired by a French officer 'Francois Martin' from a local Nawab. He developed the city from scratch. Francois Martin was governor of French in India.
• British and French fought many wars in India may be out of political reasons arose in India or sometimes outside India. These Anglo-French wars are known as Carnatic wars. These are named so because Carnatic has become venue/theater of these wars. Carnatic is a region in Tamil Nadu with capital at Arcot has declared independent after the death of Aurangzeb. Carnatic is derived from Coromandal.
• These wars reflected like wars between two nations, unlike two companies. [Rivalry between French and British was not only political but also national. There was mutual hatred between citizens of each nation. Hatred from grass root level. In the process of supreme power in the world, this hatred-ness has deepened more]. Total three Carnatic wars were fought and out of which two were extensions of war that fought outside India.

First Carnatic War:

• This was fought around 1746 to 1748. The root cause for this war was European politics. At this time, there was a war of succession in Austria as the King of Austria died. French were supporting one successor and British other so they were in the war. This Carnatic war was just extended the war in India. French governor `Dupleix' a powerful man, captured Madras and expelled British completely from that place.
• This war came to an end when the war in Europe came to an end with a truce called 'Treaty of Aix La Chappell'. One provision of this treaty was to maintain pre-war status quo i.e. all occupied  territories shall be returned into to the respective holder.

Related Posts: 

http://www.indianhistoryarticles.in/2016/04/advent-of-denmark-and-frenchpart-2.html

http://www.indianhistoryarticles.in/2016/03/advent-of-british.html

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Paramara or Pawar Dynasty and Solanki Dynasty

Paramara or Pawar Dynasty and Solanki Dynasty

Paramara or Pawar Dynasty 

• These ruled over MP with Dhar (ancient Dhara Nagari) as capital.
• Upendra founded this dynasty in 800 C.

Bhoja:

• Bhoja one great king of this dynasty - he was a great conqueror, administrator, warrior and a scholar indeed. He wrote almost 24 books in Sanskrit and took the title `Kaviraja'. Few of his books are 

1. Ayurvedasarvaswa (Book on medicine).
2. Samarangana Sutradhara (Book on principles of Architecture).
3. Rajamruganka (Book on Yoga).
4. Tatvaprakasha (Book on Shaivism and Philosophy).

• He also founded a city called Bhojpur in Madhya Pradesh. In Bhojpur, a Sanskrit college called Saraswati Kantabharana Vidyalaya' or simple 'Bhojashala' was established. He was a devotee of Saraswati (Vaagdevi).

Solanki Dynasty 

• These ruled over Gujarat for almost 350 years with Annihilwara (Siddhpur Patan) as the capital city. Solankis are a Hindu Agnivanshi Rajput clan of Gurjar.
• Mulraj Solanki (942-996) overthrew Samantsinh Chavda in 942 and set up what came to be known as the Solanki dynasty.

Bhima Dev I:

• 1025 - Mohammed Ghazini's invaded India for the 16th time and this time on Solanki dynasty. He attacked Somnatha temple and demolished it completely. (In olden days treasure and donations of various devotees were stored in the temple. So these were the major attractions for invaders for satisfying their zeal for wealth). Later this temple was reconstructed by Bhima Dev I.

• A Jain Minister Vimala was in his court. This man built a beautiful Jain temple at Dilwara on  Mt.Abu in Rajasthan. This temple is the finest temple of Jainism in India, White marble was used and magnificent carvings are done on the walls of the temple. This temple is also known as Vimalashahi temple.
• Shantacharya and Suracharya were two Jain saints during his reign.

Jayasimha Siddaraja and Kumarapala:

• Other Kings of this dynasty were Jayasimha Siddaraja and his son 'Kumarapala'.
• The court of both of the kings was adorned by a greatest Jain scholar called 'Hemachandra'. This scholar has a title called 'Kalikala Sarvagna' (Sarvagna — encyclopedia and Kali — The present age as per mythology). He wrote books in Sanskrit like

1.       Trisasti Shaiakapurusha (Trisasti means 63. In Jainism after Tirthankaras there were 63 monks called Shalakapurushas).

2.       Parisistaparvan

3.       Kumarapala charitha (Book on the king Kumarapala)

4.       Neminatha charitha (Neminatha, a Jain Tirthankara)

Bhima Dev II :

• He came to the throne around 1178. In the battle of Mt.Abu between Mohammed Ghori and Bhima,Ghori  was defeated.There were two Jain ministers in his court. These ministers built few temples at Dilwara.

- Vastupal

- Tejapal

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Indus Valley Civilization (2500-1500)

Indus-Valley Civilization (2500 BC - 1500 BC) 

• Sir John Marshall, appointed as director-general in 1920, was instrumental in identifying the ancient Indus Valley Civilization with the help of his deputies Daya Ram Sahni and R.D. Banerjee. 
• This civilization prospered in and around of Indus River. and its tributaries
• So far 1400 sites were excavated belonging to Indus Valley Civilization: 80 % of the sites found were outside the Indus valley, so the naming of culture is bit issue among the scholars. So traditionally. .this site is being known as Indus valley civilization but Scholars also name it variously. Harappa was the first site (type site) found in 1921. So this civilization is also known as Harappan Civilization. Also known as Bronze Age Civilization, cause bronze was first time used by Indus Valley people in India, Copper - mixed tin is called bronze.
• Protohistoric civilization: Though we have the available script it is not yet deciphered so this age does not come in historic neither prehistoric so a new transitional age was created by scholars and inserted this age into it called protohistoric. Paleographers failed to decipher the scripts because of the two reasons. No alphabets only pictures (pictographic), ideas were expressed in the form of pictures. Scripts were found on very seals which were very small in size and the pictographs were also limited to them (more than 4000 seals were excavated made of Steatite). Seals were rectangular or square not more than one centimeter or 1/2cm. This script is boustrophedon.
• Contemporary civilizations to Indus valley civilization outside India were

- Sumerian / Mesopotamian Civilization (Daob - Tigris River & Euphrates River). The script used by this people is known as cuneiform.

- Egyptian Civilization (At Nile River & its tributaries). The Script used by this people is known as hieroglyphic.

- Chinese Civilization (At Hwangho River Valley)

• Contemporary cultures of Indus valley civilization in India were

- Neolithic cultures of Kashmir and South India

- Aahar culture (chalcolithic culture)

- OCP culture of Indo Gangatic basin (Chalcolithic culture)

• Though these cultures had good trade and commerce relations with Indus valley people they did not adopt each other's culture. They were independent but at the same time, interdependent. This explains a lack of plasticity of mind and non-adoptability nature of the people. 
• There is no accurate information on beginning and termination of the civilization. So there is no consensus among the scholars regarding dating this civilization. VarioUs scholars proposed various dates like 'John Marshal' hypothetically dated this civilization belonging to the period of 3250 BC - 2750 BC. Later 'Martimum Wheeler' (DG in the year 1940) dated this between 2500 BC - 1500 BC initially and later corrected it to 1750 BC. Fair Service in his book called Prehistoric India dates this civilization to period between 2000 BC - 1500 BC. 'Dr. Agarwal' on the basis of C14 method confirms as 2300 BC - 1750 BC. So generally, this civilization is expected to flourish between 2500 BC - 1500 BC.
• As per the geographical extent is a concern this civilization is considered to be largest and biggest than any civilization in the world. The total area is 13000000 Sq. Km roughly. This is greater than present Pakistan. It is 20 times bigger than contemporary Egyptian civilization, 12 times bigger than combined are of Egyptian and Sumerian civilization. Its boundaries as of today are 

- Northern- farthest site found was at Manda (Chenab River,Tributary of Indus),J & K.

- Southern -- farthest site found was at Daimabad, Maharashtra, Pravara River (Tributary of Godavari). At Daimabad initially Indus civilization flourished than later chalcolithic cultures prospered. It means initially it experienced urbanization and later low culture.

- Eastern - farthest site found was at Alamgipur, UP, Hindon River (Tributary of Yamuna).

- Western — farthest site found was at Sutkejandaro, Pakistan, at the borders of Afghanistan-Iran (Afghan-Iranian Border).

• Indus Valley Civilization is a cosmopolitan culture, heterogeneous practices and cultures. 
• Four races have built this Indus Valley Civilization & identified as Mongoloids, Proto-Austrolids, Alpinoids, Meditterian (Dravidians). Meditterian were major contributors. This is a racial term, whereas a Dravidian is a linguistic term. 
• More than 300-400 cities have been excavated, so far. 

Related Posts: http://www.indianhistoryarticles.in/2016/04/public-administration-and-religious.html

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