quest, trade was essential to life of the empire, with numerous
trade routes extending as far as China and Africa. Th is activ-
ity brought the rise of a merchant class whose members used
their wealth to climb the social ladder by buying their way
into government. Government offi cials, like nobles, ranked
higher than ordinary members of society.ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
BY KIRK H. BEETZ
INDIA
Th e earliest-known civilization in India was that of the
Harappans, named by modern archaeologists for a place near
one of their major cities. Although the Harappans had a writ-
ten language, it survives mostly on seals, meaning that it is
in fragments, and it has not yet been translated. Th e ancient
Sumerians made only a few written references to the Harap-
pans. Th erefore, the social organization of the Harappans
must be deduced from their physical remains, which consist
of two or three cities and numerous towns and villages scat-
tered throughout the valley of the Indus River, with some far-
ther south and others farther west or north.
Mohenjo Daro seems to be the best preserved of the cit-
ies. Th e city was well planned, with a grid pattern for streets,
a well-maintained sewer system, and separate areas for
public gatherings and residences. Th e residential areas are
divided distinctly into sections with big houses with brick
walls that were laid in decorative, abstract patterns and sec-
tions with small houses with little or no fancy brickwork. To
some archaeologists, these divisions mean that the Harap-
pans had class distinctions between rich and poor. Archae-
ologists infer that those with small houses were oppressed by
those with big houses. Nevertheless, all residential areas had
the same sort of narrow streets and the same high-quality
sewers, with manholes giving access to sewer repair work-
ers in all areas. Th is evidence suggests that while there may
have been a diff erence in wealth among the Harappans, the
poorer Harappans had access to civic services equal to richer
Harappans. Further, public areas seem to have been acces-
sible to all.
Th ere was a large public swimming pool, perhaps for
ritual bathing. Th ere were large buildings that may have been
used for worship. Archaeologists have also discovered foun-
dations to a long building, with air ducts to keep its interior
dry, which was a huge facility for storing grain. Th e existence
of this structure implies that food was collectively owned by
the community, in turn implying that the land on which the
grain was grown was collectively owned by the community.
From this information, some archaeologists surmise that the
Harappans had a social elite who owned all the means of pro-
duction and that most people were slaves or serfs who worked
the land for the benefi t of the elite. Other archaeologists think
the evidence indicates that the grain was kept in public trust
and belonged to all.Exactly when the Harappan culture began is not known,
but it was thriving by 2600 b.c.e. and began to decline be-
tween 1900 and 1700 b.c.e.; it was eclipsed by Aryan invad-
ers by 1500 b.c.e. Th ese Aryans were nomadic cattle herders
from central Asia who overwhelmed the Harappans, who
had already been weakened by natural disasters. Th e era from
about 1500 to about 600 b.c.e. is known as the Vedic because
of t he Vedas, sacred work s of t he Hindus t hat bega n as a n ora l
tradition telling of the events of the Aryans’ migration into
northern India.
Th e Vedic peoples were slow to settle, preferring for hun-
dreds of years to move their herds across the land, especially
the grassy plains near the Ganges River, which ran northwest
to southeast across northern India. Th eir culture mingled
with the local cultures to become the Brahmanic social or-
der, the basis of Hinduism. Much of the history of India is
the story of the Vedic culture spreading ever southward over
thousands of years. Th e Vedic people brought with them the
caste system of social organization. A caste was a class based
on birth that restricted the professions, civil rights, and mar-
riage possibilities of people born into it. How many castes the
Vedic peoples originally had is not known, but by the fourth
century b.c.e., when the Vedas were written down, there
were four. Th e top caste was that of the Brahmans, followed
by Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. Aft er these came the
people without caste.
People born into the Brahman caste were priests and
were expected to be spiritual leaders. Th ey could not be
punished for many crimes and could not be put to death or
physically harmed. Even to annoy a Brahman was a crime.
Sometimes, however, even a Brahman could commit a crime
so vile that it had to be punished, in which case the knot of
hair on the head—which in Brahman tradition was tied at the
age of three years old—was cut off. Th is act made a Brahman
a nonperson. It cut off a Brahman from all family and friends
and denied a Brahman any social rights.
Many Brahmans lived off donations from members of
other castes. It was considered a social obligation for mem-
bers of lower castes to make gift s to Brahmans. Social cus-
toms and religious laws forbade someone to give his family’s
entire wealth to a Brahman, but Brahmans oft en received
houses, even whole villages, as gift s. Giving gift s to Brah-
mans was thought to improve a person’s karma, the spiritual
energy that governed how many times a person would have
to be reincarnated before becoming one with the universal
spirit. Many Brahmans worked at professions that were sup-
posed to be outside their caste. Brahmanic laws allowed them
to take such jobs if they were in distress, a rule that applied to
members of other castes as well.
Th e Kshatriyas were the caste of high government offi -
cials and warriors. Kings and nobles belonged to this caste.
Such was the power of India’s social organization that even at
the end of the ancient era, kings were bound by the rules of
their caste and usually followed the rules. Not to do so could
invalidate their right to rule, but if they followed the rulessocial organization: Asia and the Pacific 10230895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1023 1023 10/10/07 2:30:47 PM