Ancient India Test - 2

According to the ASI, Lothal had the world's earliest known dock, which connected the city to an ancient course of the Sabarmati river on the trade route between Harappan cities in Sindh and the peninsula of Saurashtra when the surrounding Kutch desert of today was a part of the Arabian Sea.

The Indus River Valley Civilisation, 3300-1300 BCE, also known as the Harappan Civilisation, extended from modern-day northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India. There was no stone built house in the Indus cities. Most of the houses were built of burnt bricks. The Harappans used burnt bricks because they provided defence against floods. The size of bricks remained the same everywhere. The ratio of brick size was 1 : 2 : 4.

The Indus Civilisation was spread over Sind, Baluchistan, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Western U.P., Jammu and Kashmir and Northern Maharashtra. Scholars generally believe that the Harappa-Ghaggar-Mohenjodaro axis represents the heartland of the Indus Civilisation.

The civilisation's cities were noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, clusters of large non-residential buildings, and new techniques in handicraft (carnelian products, seal carving) and metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, and tin).

The houses in Indus Valley Civilisation were brick houses. They were 2-3 storeyed and had well developed sewage system. The sewage system was all under the street and was made of bricks and mud. Apart from well-built houses and sewage system, there also existed wells to extract underground water. So, the houses of the civilisation had well-developed drainage system as well as water supply. Mohenjodaro and Harappa were the main cities of the civilisation, which at its peak, had population of above 5 million.

Indus Valley Civilisation started around 3300 BCE. It matured and flourished between 2600 and 1900 BCE. By 1800 BCE, the civilisation began to decline. So, the answer will be: 2500 - 1750 BC.

Rigveda is the oldest veda supposedly composed between 1700 and 1100 BCE. It is a collection of Sanskrit hymns and is part of Hindu religious texts. It consists of 1017 hymns intended for sacrificial rituals. it also describes some of the historical events like the struggle between the Aryans and Dasa. Vedas, as such, are religious texts which have its origin in ancient India and incorporate Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajuraveda and Atharvaveda.

Vedic religion, also called Vedism, was the religion of the ancient Indo-European-speaking people who entered India about 1500 BCE from the region of present-day Iran. It takes its name from the collections of sacred texts known as the Vedas. It was one of the major traditions that shaped Hinduism.

The mode of worship was the performance of sacrifices (Yajna) which included the chanting of Rigvedic verses, singing of Samans and 'mumbling' of sacrificial mantras (Yajus). Yajna involved sacrifice and sublimation of the havana sámagri (herbal preparations) in the fire accompanied by the chanting of the Vedic mantras.

The basis of class differentiation among Aryans was color.

The division of society into four varnas (classes) had its origin in the Rig Vedic period. Members of the priestly class were called Brahmins; those of the warrior class, kshatriyas; agriculturists and traders, vaishyas; and the menials, sudras. It is said that the caste system in the Rig Vedic times was based on occupations of the people and not on birth. Change of caste was common. A Brahmin child could become a kshatriya or a vaishya according to his choice and ability.

Varna in Sanskrit means colour and the caste system was probably used to distinguish the fair colored Aryans from the dark coloured natives. The people of higher castes (Brahmins, Khatriyas, and Vishyas) were Aryans. The dark skinned natives were the sudras, the lowest class in society, whose duty was to serve the higher classes.