PRE-HISTORIC ARCHITECTURE &

SETTLEMENT

PRESENTATION BY:
Ar.Nidhi
Asst.Prof.
ABIT-PMCA
Module1- PRE-HISTORIC ARCHITECTURE & SETTLEMENT:

Introduction to human settlement: People, their shelter, settlement (growth,

factors influencing the development of a settlement), burial systems, megaliths,
memorials.
(Structures: Different types of graves, Stonehenge; & Settlements – World:
Catal Hoyuk, Jericho; India: Mehrgarh etc.)
INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION (IVC) Indus - People, their shelter & civic
buildings (typology, planning, construction & aesthetics), settlement pattern &
citadel (Structures: Great Bath/Great Granary, simple Harappan house; &
Settlements – Mohen-jo-daro/ Harappa)
VEDIC: People, their shelter & buildings (typology, planning, construction &
aesthetics), settlement (typical village, planning, shelter types, materials)
(Structures – Vedic houses, Torana, railing around villages; & Settlements –
Patliputra)
Understanding the Subject
- Introduction to History of Architecture.

- Why is it needed?

- How is it important in our life?

- History Timeline (Prehistoric to contemporary and modernism)

Prehistoric Architecture

● Paleolithic (UPTO 9000 BC) - OLD

STONE AGE OR SAVAGE STAGE

● Neolithic (9000-3000 BC) - NEW

STONE AGE OR BARBARIAN AGE

● IRON OR BRONZE AGE

Prehistoric Architecture

● Paleolithic (UPTO 9000 BC) - OLD STONE AGE OR SAVAGE STAGE

- Lived in caves
- Nomadic existence
- Predatory character
- Oval huts
- Construction without mortar

● Neolithic (9000-3000 BC) - NEW STONE AGE OR BARBARIAN AGE

- Agriculture began
- Domestication of animals
- Pottery for storage
OLD STONE AGE : Before 9000 BC
● Where people used crude stone for their implements.
● Man was a hunter and a food gatherer
● Got their food through food gathering, hunting and fishing
● Constructed temporary shelters from perishable materials such as tree trunks and leaves.
● He also made use of natural and man-made caves both below and above ground as shelter.

NEW STONE AGE:

History of
Handmade
Architecture
Cave Dwellings shelters
began
Materials, Construction System & Technique
•More diversified construction materials
•Adobe (clay)and stone most popular materials

•Large stone was used for monuments

•Construction method also improved over time
•Significant improvement in Adobe construction
•Evidence of ability to quarry, shape, transport and join large stones to create monuments.

Dwellings and Settlements

•Became settled requiring permanent dwellings
•Required durable construction
•Improved dwellings and settlements to meet the needs
•Change in form of house, introduction of furniture and differentiation of space
•Improvement in village form including introduction of streets
•Improvement in construction technology.
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SETTLEMENT

1. RELIGION

2. CULTURE

3. POLITICAL

4. ECONOMY

5. AVAILABILITY OF SITE
Categories o f Prehistoric b u i l d i n g s
1 . Dw e l l i n gs and s e t t l e m e n t s :
• Established p e r m a n e n t d w e l l i n g s and s e t t l e m e n t s – Catal H u y u k ,
Jericho.
• I m p r o v e m e n t i n house f o r m i n c l u d i n g change t o r e c t a n g u l a r
rooms.
• I n t r o d u c t i o n o f m u l t i - r o o m houses.
• Introduction of non-residential b u i l d i n g s - f o r w o r k , s t o rage
& rituals.

2.Funerary and Religious b u i l d i n g s :

FUNERARY BUILDINGS
• Structures such as t o m b s used f o r r i t u a l s and b u r i a l f o r t h e dead.
• Example :To m b .
RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS
• Buildings used f o r r i t u a l s relat ed t o w o r s h i p and r e l i g i o n
• Example is f o u n d i n t h e shrines embedded w i t h i n Catal Huy uk

3.Ritual s t r u c t u r e s :
• Buildings whose f u n c t i o n s are not e n t i r e l y c ert ain.
• A c t i v i t i e s may be relat ed t o r e l i g i o n .
• Examples are t h e Great Bath, Carnac and t h e Stonehenge, England.
 Huts from vegetation

•Space inside is organized for

different uses

•The hut was used by a band of

people for limited hunting days

•It is left to collapse after use and

new huts built over by the next
years hunting season
Temporary Structures: The Tongus Hut –show
evidence of use of grass to
Hut at Terra Amata, France make huts
● Early stone people constructed temporary shelters using
available materials.
● One of earliest known example
● Discovered in 1966 at Terra Amata in France
● Dates back to 400,000 years
● Oval in shape and constructed of tree branches

HUTS
Bambuti Hut –huts show
evidence of use of leaves to
cover hut
Tents from
Animal Skin
The LappTent
The Lapp tent shows the use of animal skins
Mud Construction
•Improvement in technology led to mud construction and architecture
BURIAL SYSTEM
TOMBS:

• UNDERGROUND ROCKCUT GRAVES

• WITH BURIAL CHAMBERS

• APPROACH PASSAGE

• ROOFING BY STONE SLAB

STRUCTURES
1.MEGALITHS

-LITHOS-STONE, MEGAS- BIG

Megaliths were used for variety of purposes, ranging from serving boundary markers of territory
to a reminder of any past event and to being a part of the society’s religion.

Generally the large, often undressed stone that has been used in various pre-historic constructions.
2.MENHIRS: (astronomical monuments)
A single tall standing stone as a monument, especially of prehistoric times, whereas,
Megalith is a construction involving one or several roughly hewn stone slabs of great size.

3.Dolmen is a table-like structure comprising a large slab laid horizontally on two smaller stone
Supports.
STONEHENGE
• Neolithic architecture

• Post and lintel construction

• Megaliths are 21 to 24 feet tall, including height of Aerial view, Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain,
lintel, and buried four feet in the ground Wiltshire, England, c. 2550-1600 B.C.E.,
circle 97 feet in diameter, trilithons: 24
• Solar and lunar orientation feet high

• Stones dragged from far away to this site

• Circle of megaliths embrace structure, enclosing it

Interior of the sarsen circle and bluestones in the foreground, Stonehenge,

Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, c. 2550-1600 B.C.E.,
circle 97 feet in diameter, trilithons: 24 feet high
Functions of Stonehenge

• Cremation / burial site

• Astrological observatory

• Solar calendar

• Sacred site
Social, religious and political character or beliefs associated with the
Stonehenge

• Stonehenge was produced by a culture that left no written records.

• There is little or no direct evidence revealing the construction techniques used by the
Stonehenge builders.

• Over the years, various authors have suggested that supernatural

methods were used, usually asserting that the stones were impossible to move
otherwise due to their massive size.

• However, conventional techniques, using Neolithic technology have been

demonstrably
effective at moving and placing stones of a similar size.

• The most common theory of how prehistoric people moved megaliths has them
creating
a track of logs which the large stones were rolled along.
• Proposed functions for the site include usage as an astronomical observatory or as a
religious site.

• But due to a lot of graves in the area, it was also told that this was a burial ground.

The lintels (horizontal monoliths)

were fitted to one another using a
woodworking method, the “tongue-
and-groove joint”
CATAL HUYUK

Çatal Höyük after the first excavations by James Mellaart and his
team
INTRODUCTION
• Neolithic settlement in present day Turkey.

• Aged between 6300BC to 5400BC.

• 32 acre Neolithic site in South-Central

Turkey near modern city of Konya.
Position of catal huyuk in Turkey
• Located near the modern city of Konya in south central Turkey,
it was inhabited 9000 years ago by up to 8000 people who lived together in a large town.
• Çatalhöyük, across its history, witnesses the transition from exclusively hunting and
gathering subsistence to increasing skill in plant and animal domestication.
• Çatalhöyük, across its history, witnesses the transition from exclusively hunting and
gathering subsistence to increasing skill in plant and animal domestication.
• It is also a site at which we see art, both painting and sculpture, appear to play a newly
important role in the lives of settled people.
CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES
• Çatalhöyük had no streets or foot paths; the houses
were built right up against each other and the people
who lived in them traveled over the town’s rooftops
and entered their homes through holes in the roofs,
climbing down a ladder.
• Communal ovens were built above the homes of
Çatalhöyük and we can assume group activities
were performed in this elevated space as well.
• the deceased were placed under the floors or
platforms in houses.
• The burials at Çatalhöyük show no significant
variations, either based on wealth or gender; the
only bodies which were treated differently, decorated
with beads and covered with ochre, were those of
children.
Many figurines have been found at
the site, the most famous of which
illustrates a large woman seated on • The most remarkable
or between two large felines. art found at
Çatalhöyük, however,
are the installations of
animal remains and
among these the most
striking are the bull
bucrania.
• In many houses the
main room was
decorated with several
plastered skulls of
bulls set into the walls
(most common on
East or West walls) or
platforms, the pointed
horns thrust out into
the communal space.
• Often the bucrania
would be painted
ochre red.
 ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES
•In Catal Huyuk the houses were made of mud brick.
•Houses were built touching against each other.
•They did not have doors and houses were entered through the roofs.
•Presumably having entrances in the roofs was safer than having
them in the walls.
•Since houses were built touching each other the roofs must have
acted as streets.
•People must have walked across them.
•Inside houses were plastered and often had painted murals of people and Plan of catal huyuk
animals on the walls.
•In Catal Huyuk the dead were buried inside houses.
•People slept on platforms made over the buried dead.
•All the houses found at Ҫatalhöyük are different in shape and
size, yet most follow a general layout.
•Each central room had an oven below the stairs where people
carried out domestic tasks such as cooking.
•Side rooms were accessed off the central room providing
essential storage areas.
A reconstruction showing the use of space and the layout of a typical house.
 Reconstruction of Ҫatalhöyük showing the
importance of the roof spaces.

3D model of the entranceway to a house, showing the

position of the oven below the ladder.
Prehistoric Settlements of the India: Mehrgarh
• Mehrgarh is a large Neolithic site located
at the foot of the Bolan pass on the Kachi
plain of Baluchistan (also spelled
Balochistan), in modern day Pakistan.

• Continuously occupied between about

7000 to 2600 BC, Mehrgarh is the earliest
known Neolithic site in the northwest
Indian subcontinent, with early evidence of
farming (wheat and barley), herding
(cattle, sheep, and goats) and metallurgy.
Mehrgarh's importance to understand the Indus Valley is its nearly unparalleled preservation of pre-
Indus societies.

1. Aceramic Neolithic Period 7000 to 5500 BC

2. Neolithic Period II 5500 to 4800
3. Chalcolithic Period III 4800 to 3500
4. Chalcolithic Period IV, 3500 to 3250 BC
5. Chalcolithic V 3250 to 3000
6. Chalcolithic VI 3000 to 2800
7. Chalcolithic VII-Early Bronze Age 2800 to 2600

Aceramic Neolithic
• The earliest settled portion of Mehrgarh is found in an area called MR3, in the northeast corner
of the immense site.
• Mehrgarh was a small farming and pastoralist village between 7000-5500 BC, with mud brick
houses and granaries.
• The early residents used local copper ore, basket containers lined with bitumen, and an array of
bone tools.
Plant foods used during this period included wild six-rowed barley, domestic einkorn and
emmer wheat, and wild Indian jujube (Zizyphus spp) and date palms (Phoenix dactylifera).
• Sheep, goats, and cattle were herded at Mehrgarh beginning during this early period. Hunted animals include
gazelle, swamp deer, nilgai, blackbuck onager, chital, water buffalo, wild pig and elephant.
• The earliest residences at Mehrgarh were freestanding, multi-roomed rectangular houses built with long, cigar-
shaped and mortared mudbricks: these structures are very similar to Prepottery Neolithic (PPN) hunter-gatherers
in early 7th millennium Mesopotamia.
• Burials were placed in brick-lined tombs, accompanied by shell and turquoise beads.
• Even at this early date, the similarities of crafts, architecture, and agricultural and funerary practices indicate
some sort of connection between Mehrgarh and Mesopotamia.

Neolithic Period II 5500 to 4800

• By the sixth millennium, agriculture had become firmly established at Mehrgarh, based on mostly (~90 percent)
locally domesticated barley but also wheat from the near east.
• The earliest pottery was made by sequential slab construction, and the site contained circular fire pits filled with
burnt pebbles and large granaries, characteristics also of similarly dated Mesopotamian sites.
• Buildings made of sun-dried brick were large and rectangular, symmetrically divided into small square or
rectangular units.
• They were doorless and lack of residential remains, suggesting to researchers that at least some of they were
storage facilities for grains or other commodities which were communally shared.
• Other buildings are standardized rooms surrounded by large open work spaces where craft-working activities
took place, including the beginnings of the extensive bead-making characteristic of the Indus.
Chalcolithic Period III 4800 to 3500 and IV 3500 to 3250 BC
• By the Chalcolithic Period III at Mehrgarh, the community, now well over 100 hectares, consisted of
large spaces with groups of building divided into residences and storage units, but more elaborate,
with foundations of pebbles embedded in clay.
• The bricks were made with molds, and along with fine painted wheel-thrown pottery, and a variety of
agricultural and craft practices.
• Chalcolithic Period IV showed a continuity in pottery and crafts but progressive stylistic changes.
• During this period, the region split into small and medium sized compact settlements connected by
canals.
• Some of the settlements included blocks of houses with courtyards separated by small
passageways; and the presence of large storage jars in rooms and courtyards.

Dentistry at Mehrgarh
• A recent study at Mehrgarh showed that during Period III, people were using bead-making
techniques to experiment with dentistry: tooth decay in humans is a direct outgrowth of a reliance on
agriculture.
• Researchers examining burials in a cemetery discovered drill holes on at least eleven molars.
• Light microscopy showed the holes were conical, cylindrical or trapezoidal in shape.
• A few had concentric rings showing drill bit marks, and a few had some evidence for decay.
• No filling material was noted, but tooth wear on the drill marks indicate that each of these individuals
continued to live on after the drilling was completed.
Later Periods at Mehrgarh

• Later periods included craft activities such as bead production; and a significant level of metal-working,
particularly copper.
• The site was occupied continuously until about 2600 BC, when it was abandoned, about the time when the
Harappan periods of the Indus civilization began to flourish at Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro and Kot Diji, among
other sites.
• Mehrgarh was discovered and excavated by an international French archaeologist Jean-François Jarrige.
Indus valley civilization
 One of the 3 early civilizations (Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Indus Valley)
 Situated on the basins of what today is northwest Afganistan to Pakistan.

• It was situated on the basins of Indus river(today’s dried up Saraswati river)

coursed through northwest India and eastern Pakistan.

• It may have had a population of over 5million.

• Indus civilization, also called Indus valley civilization or Harappan civilization, the earliest known urban culture of the
Indian subcontinent. The nuclear dates of the civilization appear to be about 2500–1700 BCE.

• The Harappan civilization was located in the Indus River valley. Its two large cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, were located
in present-day Pakistan’s Punjab and Sindh provinces, respectively.

• The civilization was first identified in 1921 at Harappa in the Punjab region and then in 1922 at Mohenjo-
daro (Mohenjodaro), near the Indus River in the Sindh (Sind) region.

• The Indus civilization is known to have consisted of two large cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, and more
than 100 towns and villages, often of relatively small size.

• The civilization was literate, and its script, with some 250 to 500 characters, has been partly and tentatively deciphered; the
language has been indefinitely identified as Dravidian.

• The Indus civilization apparently evolved from the villages of neighbours or predecessors, using the Mesopotamian model of
irrigated agriculture with sufficient skill to reap the advantages of the spacious and fertile Indus River valley.

• The civilization subsisted primarily by farming, supplemented by an appreciable but often elusive commerce.

• Wheat and six-row barley were grown; field peas, mustard, sesame, as well as some of the earliest known traces of cotton.

• Domesticated animals included dogs and cats, humped and shorthorn cattle, domestic fowl, and possibly pigs, camels, and
buffalo. The Asian elephant probably was also domesticated, and its ivory tusks were freely used.
EXCAVATIONS
 Harappa was first site to be excavated in 1921.

 Excavation took place mainly in general regions of Indus river and Ghaggra Harakra rivers
and their main tributaries.

PHASES OF HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION

 Early Harappan civilization

 Mature Harappan civilization
 Late Harappan civilization
Town Planning System and General Development
Pattern of Indus Valley Cities

 The Town Planning System of Indus Valley Civilization was city based.

 The excellent drainage and sanitation systems are remarkable.

 The Indus civilization flourished around cities.

 A Sophisticated urban culture.

 The ruins of the cities show remarkable town planning, and excellent system
of drainage and sanitation of the Indus Valley Civilization.
 Division of Cities

Almost all the cities were divided into two parts –

1. A CITADEL, on Western Side
2. A LOWER TOWN, on Eastern Side.

 The CITADEL consisted of large structures which functioned as

Administrative Buildings.

 LOWER TOWN consisted of housing for people

HOUSING SYSTEM
 Town dwellers were divided into various social classes.

 The Rich and the Ruling class lived in the multi-roomed

spacious houses.

 Poorer section lived in small tenements.

 The public building and big houses were situated on the

streets.

 Encroachment on public roads or lanes by building houses

was not permitted.

 The modest houses were situated on

the lanes.
Buildings AndHousing
 Smaller houses had two rooms, while larger houses
had many rooms.

 They were plain, utilitarian and comfortable to live.

 Some of the buildings were probably multi storied

 Most of the houses had baths, wells and covered
drains connected with street drains.

 Ordinary buildings had little ventilation arrangements, as doors and

windows were rarely fixed in the outer walls.
 Doors of entrance were fixed not on the front wall but on the side walls.

 One could enter a house by the door facing the side lanes of the house.

 The doors were made of wood.

 Large buildings had spacious doors.

BUILDING MATERIALS
 No stone built house in the Indus cities.

 Most of the houses were built of burnt bricks.

 Unburnt sun-dried bricks were also used.

 That portion of the buildings where contamination with

water was possible, burnt bricks were used.

 For other parts sun-dried bricks were used.

 Most of the bricks were of equal size.

 The staircases of big buildings were solid; the roofs were

flat and were made of wood.

STREETS

 The streets were broad varying from 9 feet to 34 feet.

 They ran straight to a mile.

 They were suitable for wheeled traffic.

 Lanes were joined with the streets.

 Each lane had a public well.

 Street lamps were provided for

welfare of public.
 DRAINAGE SYSTEM
 The elaborate drainage system was a remarkable feature of the
civilization.

 No ancient civilization before, had such an advanced drainage and sanitation

system.
 Each house had horizontal and vertical drains.

 House drains emptied themselves into the main drains which ran

under the main streets and below many lanes.

 There were underground drains for the streets.

 These drains were covered by stone slabs.

 The soak pits were made of bricks.

 The house drains were connected with road drains.

THE GRANARY
 2 rows of 6 rooms and a Central Passageway about 7
meters wide, paved with Baked Bricks.

 Each room of 15.2 by 6.1 meters.

 Small triangular opening may have served as air ducts to

allow the flow of fresh air beneath the hollow floors.

THE GREAT BATH

• An impressive building, used as a public bath.

 The bathing pool is 39 feet by 23 feet with 8 feet depth.

 There is a system to fill and empty the water of the bathing pool

 There are galleries and rooms on all sides of the bathing pool.

 This public bath was attached to the Mohenjo- Daro fort where upper class people lived.
HARAPPA
MOHENJO-DARO
 EONOMIC LIFE OF INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

 AGRICULTURE & ANIMAL HUSBANDRY were backbone of economy.

 Flourished due to availability of plenty of WATER,FERTILE BASINS OF INDUS,PASTURE LANDS.

 EXTERNAL TRADE dominated URBAN CENTERS.

1.CRAFT CENTRES

CHAHUNDRA was a small settlement dedicated to bead making, shell making, metal cutting etc.
 2.SEALS

 SEALS were used for LONG DISTANCE TRANSPORTATION.

 SEALS were imprinted on a wet clay and that was attached to parcel.

 Exchanges were regulated by precise system of WEIGHTS.

 It had cubical shape, and made up of stone called chert.

3.TOYS

BULLOCK KART TOYS

TERACOTTA BULLOCK CART
BULLOCK CART

DICE AT
MOHENJADARO
4.ORNAMENTS
 Both women and men were found of ornaments
made up of gold, silver, copper etc.

 Ornaments were decorated with precious stone

like jade,carnelian,agate,lapis-lazuli
5.POTTERY
Probable Reasons for declination of IVC
The study of archaeologist suggest main probable 6 reasons for
declination of Indus valley Civilization:
1. The law of nature
2.Floods
3.Earthquake
4.Change of the course of Indus
5.Plague
6.Foreign Invasion
1.Law of nature
Renowned historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee has categorized the
decay of a culture as its final stage after a culture is born and grows
to its highest point of efficacy.

The Harappan culture was no exception to this general law of

nature.

Its decline set in around 1800 B.C. and in course of time came its
extinction.
2.Floods
 The massive floods in the Indus must
have been a potent cause for the
extinction of the Harappan culture.
The point is proved by the silt-clay that
covers the collapsed houses at
Mohenjo- Daro.
Repeated floods must have forced the
people to flee the inundated places and
set up permanent habitat elsewhere.
As a consequence came the decline
of Harappa.
 3.Earthquakes
The Harappan culture occupied an area that was
prone to earthquakes as it came under a
seismographic zone.
Repeated seismographic vibrations must have led to
erosion that brought down the buildings.
Earthquakes constitute an important reason for the
decline of Harappan culture.
4. Change of the course of the Indu
Some Historians attribute the decline
of the Harappan culture to the river
Indus changing its course frequently.
As such the Indus delta shifted away
from Mohenjo-Daro and water
became scarce.
Water scarcity must have led to the
exodus of the Harappan people to
other places.
5. Plague
Outbreak of the plague epidemic is shown as a
reason for the decline of Harappan civilization.
Skeletal remains from the main roads of Harappa
and Mohenjo-Daro as found out through
archaeological efforts tell a sad story.
When an epidemic like plague visits a human
habitation, it leaves its trail of death
everywhere.
The scattered skeletal remains therefore lead
some to attribute it to epidemic like plague,
though there is no concrete proof of outbreak of
plague in the region.
 6.Foreign Invasion
The Aryan invasion is one of proposed reason for the
decline of Harappan culture.
There is archaeological proof of genocide and skeletal
remains scattered everywhere in Mohenjo-Daro.
 An autopsy on these skeletons reveals damages that
must have been caused by sharp objects or weapons.
Knowledge and use of iron as weapons was known to
the Aryans, not to the Harappan people.
Defeat and death of the Harappan people must have
come at the hands of the invading Aryans.

Direction of Aryan invasion

VEDIC CIVILIZATION (1750-500 BCE)

The coming Of Indo Aryans:

The Indian civilization, being one of the most ancient in the world,
has survived many invasions and seen rise and fall of many empires.

The first people to inherit the legacies of the people of the Indus
Valley Civilization were the Aryans.

These Aryans originally lived in Central Asia and the region around
the Caspian Sea.

Forced by the shortage of food and fodder, many of them migrated to Europe, while many came into
northwest India through the Hindu Kush Pass in a series of waves between 2000 and 1500 B.C.

This culture race of light-skinned nomads came to be known as the Indo Aryans. The Civilization
developed during this period came to be known as the Vedic Civilization.
Early Settlements:

The Aryans occupied the whole of the north India in a gradual manner.

They first settled in the Sapt-Sindhu (the seven rivers) region and then moved forward along the
course of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna, gradually occupying the entire northern region.

This period of the Aryans settling down in the Gangetic valley is known as the later Vedic Age roughly
between 1,000 B.C to 600 B.C.

It was during this period that events related to the two great epics-The Mahabharata and The
Ramayana took place.
India is country which passes huge ancient knowledge in the form of Vedas. “Vedas” means
knowledge. They describes the study of basic meaning, type and form of our ancient knowledge and
wisdom.
There are four Vedas in ancient wisdom.

 Rig-Veda- Termed as stuti of gods.

 Samavda- Describes about how to pronounce mantras.

 Yujurveda- It describes how to perform Yagya.

 Arthaveda- It describes art of living..

Vedas are further divided in various branches and Vastu Shastra is one of them. It comes from
Sthapatya Veda- where stapthya means to establish and veda means knowledge therefore.

 “ Vastu can be defined as knowledge of establishment”

THE CASTE SYSTEM
There are lots of ancient texts related to different fields right from language, grammar, drama, play, poetry, art and
various branches of science, physics, chemistry, medical, engineering, vaastu, geology etc.

Cosmic: Related with creation of universe, heavenly bodies, sun, moon, stars, constellation also termed as
astronomy.

Astrology - Effect of cosmic bodies on human Geology

- It deals with character of soil.
Geography - It deals with basic physical structures of earth like hills,
rivers.
Sociology - It deals with social aspects of society.
Brahmins- Intellectual
Administrator-Kshtriyas Businessman-
Vaishyas Shudras-Servants
VARIOUS ASPECTS INVOLVED IN EVOLUTION OF VEDIC
CIVILIZATION
POWER AND ADMINISTRATION ASPECTS
 People around this area were more aggressive and had repeated invasions.
 Political leadership was the focal point.
 Insecurity in life increased the importance of religion- belief and looking towards the divine for

security.

SOCIAL ASPECTS
 The invasion led to social stratification – conqueror and the defeated.

 The defeated as captives and slaves were put into agricultural works and clustered around
religious centers.
 The conqueror were higher castes and not into agriculture
 One leader – political cum storage in charge – at some central location –
surrounded by higher caste people engaged in defense in administration
 Another leader – Religious leader – another central location-surrounded by priests and people
of higher castes.
ECONOMIC ASPECTS
 Economy was principally agricultural
 Agriculture is space extensive

 Granary and storage was important – This space needed protection hence was located
near the defense leader’s area at the centre.

TECHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS
 Hardly any industrial activity
 Impact of straight and parallel lines were derived by the terracing of agricultural land and the
dams which was the origin of the ziggurats.
 Transportation was on foot . Inter settlement transportation was on water.

 Level of water In the rivers change and hence special protection wall were needed.
 The river and the spine of transportation divided the settlement into two
parts.
The Vedas:
The Vedas are the sacred books of the Aryans.

Veda is a Sanskrit word which means knowledge.

The Vedas are a collection of hymn, prayers, charms, litanies and sacrificial formulae
over the years.
There are four Vedas
Namely:
1. The Rig-Veda (the oldest)
2. The Sama Veda
3. The Yajur Veda
4. The Atharva Veda
The Social Conditions:

1. The Village:
• The Aryans lived in well planned villages.
• A village consisted of a number of joint families and was called a gram.
• Most of the villages were rectangular in shape.
• There was usually a stockade around the village.
• There was one main entrance gate in a village.
• It had well laid out streets.
• The houses were constructed in a systematic way.
• These houses were made of wood, bamboo, straw and reeds .These were, in fact, thatched huts,
tied together by ropes, bars and pegs.
• The village community was made up of families.
• The Aryans attached great importance to family as a unit in social organization.
• The king interfered very little in village life .
• Every village had, what we today call, local self-government, or something similar to it.
2. The Family and status of women:

• The family was the primary unit of society.

• There was the joint family system.
• Often three generations lived together-the father, the grandfather and the grandchildren.
• The eldest male member was the head of the family and was called the grihapati.
• He had full authority over all the members of the joint family.
• It was also his duty to look after the family members.
• Thus, it was a patriarchal system of family, a system in which the male head held the final
authority.
• No religious ceremony could be performed unless the wife joined the husband.
• There was no purdah system and women did not have to cover their faces with a veil.
• Women of noble families were given education and training in fine arts.
• Women even composed Rigvedic hymns.
• Women could choose their own husband in a ceremony called Swayamvar by garlanding the
chosen groom.
3. Division of the society:
The Aryan society was divided into four classes:

(a) The Brahmins learned the Vedas and performed religious ceremonies and taught
the people.

(b) The Kshatriyas were the ruling and the warrior class. Their function was to
governed and defend their land.

(c) The Vaishyas followed the occupation of agriculture, cattlerearing and trade.

(d) The Shudras were the class who made their living by doing manual and other
unskilled jobs to serve the other three classes.
4. Food and food habits:

The Aryans ate simple but nutritious food.

• Wheat, maize and barley were their staple diet.

• They had milk and milk products such as butter, ghee, curd and cheese.

• They also consumed honey, fruits, vegetables, etc.

• They even served special food to special guests on special occasions.

• Among drinks, they had soma and sura juice, which were intoxicating strong drinks.

• The former drink was even offered to gods in religious ceremonies.

ECONOMIC LIFE
1. AGRICULTURE:
• The Aryans were primarily agriculturist.
• Their main occupation was the cultivation of land.
• Rain was the most important source of irrigation.
• Wells, canals and lakes were other important sources of irrigation.
• They carried on cultivation of land with the help of a pair of oxen.
• Wheat, barley, rice, cotton and oil seeds were the main products from their fields.
2. Domestication of animals:
• The Aryans were shepherds by occupation.
• Cattle- rearing was their favourite activity.
• The cattle was the measure of their wealth, property and status.
• The cow was the main and highly valued animal.
• The status of the family was judged from the number of cows it had.
• The cow was used even as the medium of exchange of goods.
• Injuring or killing of cows was prohibited.
• Besides cow, the Aryans reared bulls, oxen, horses, asses, sheep, goats and dogs.
3. Trade and commerce:

• Some Aryans engaged themselves in trade and commerce.

• Trade was done mainly through the barter system.
• The value of a thing was measured in terms of the cows.
• Thus the cow was the standard value.
• Of course, a sort of coin, known as NISHKA, was also in use during those days.
• Trade was carried mainly on land.

4. The use of Metals:

• The discovery of iron was a great contribution of this period.
• Being a harder and stronger metal than copper or bronze, the Aryans used iron for making
different types of tools for all trades, especially for their weapons.
• Thus iron proved very helpful in their economic life as also giving them superior armies,
equipped with better quality weapons like swords, arrow heads and spears.
• Copper, known as ayas, was also used the srenis of craftsman came into existence.
5. Other occupations:

• The Aryans made a lot of progress in different arts and crafts.

• The Rigveda mentions about the potters, weavers, carpenters, jewellers, iron and gold
smiths, leather workers, metal crafters, chariot makers.

• These were the other occupations of the Aryans.

• There are references of physicians also.

• But, one striking point was that no profession was regarded below dignity.

• People were free to choose their occupation and profession and change it.
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND PRACTICES:

• The Aryans were religious people.

• They worshipped many gods but believed that ultimately there was one god .
• Actually they saw many in one and one in many.
• The Aryans offered all worships in the open .
• They made no temple, shrines or idols for the purpose.
• Prayers were offered in the form of yajna, both individually and collectively.
• Often the priest or the Brahmin helped in performing the yajna.
• He was given a parting gift or “dakshina” after the yajna was performed.
• The Aryans were attracted towards nature, which they saw around them.
• So they worshipped the forces or powers of nature as gods.
• Varuna, the sky-god, was the sovereign of the universe .
• He had knowledge of everything and nothing could be hidden from him.
• Indra was the god of rain, thunder, war and prosperity.
POLITICAL LIFE:

1. THE KING.

2. MINISTERS ADVISERS AND OFFICIALS: The king was assisted by ministers, advisers and
officials in discharge of his duties. The chief among them was the Purohita, who advised the king
in religious matters, and those relating to moral conduct. Next to him was the Senani, who was
the head of the Army, equal to the modern Commander-in-chief of the forces. He led the forces in
times of war. Then there was the Gramani, the village headman who helped the king in looking
after the affairs of a village.

3. THE SABHA AND THE SAMITI: There were two assemblies, called the Sabha and the samiti.The
sabha was a small selected group of elders of the families, This could be called the council of the
elders of the village. The sabha was in direct and close contact with the king. The samiti, on the
other hand, consisted of all people of the tribe, where anybody could go and put forward his
views or give his suggestions.
THE IMPACT OF ARYAN CIVILIZATION:

The Aryans had left a great impact on the Indian society and culture:

 Sanskrit language, its grammar, phonetics and derivations developed during this age. Sanskrit
remained the unifying force the subcontinent for centuries together.
 The Philosophy of the Vedas, the Upanishads and the ideal set forth by the two Epics
(Ramayana and Mahabharata) are the foundations of present day Hindu religion and life.
 The gods of the later Vedic period like Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Rama and Krishna are
worshipped till today. Yajnas are performed in Hindu ceremonies.
 The teachings of Lord Krishna in the Bhagvad Gita continue to inspire people with its
philosophy of selfless action.
 Thus the later Vedic Period with its later Vedic literature and the value system contained in it,
has left great impact on present –day life and society.
VEDIC VILLAGE

• Primary Building Material: Earth and timber, The

surrounding forests provided ample building material
in the form of bamboo and mud.

• The aryan hut in its most basic shape was circular in

plan with a thatched roof over a network of bamboo
ribs.

• Cluster of these huts formed a courtyard.

• To protect themselves and their property from the

ravage of wild animals, they have surrounded their
collection of huts with a special kind of fence or
palisade.
• Huts were arranged in threes and fours around the
square courtyard
• Towards the middle of first millennium BC, the social
system expanded such town arose at certain imp
centers and were reproduced at larger scale and more
substantial form.
o Strongly fortified
o Surrounded by ramparts and wooden
palisades
o Buildings almost always of wood

• Era of Timber Construction TORAN

It is not surprising, therefore, that in later ages timber

construction techniques were employed even though the
material of construction was radically different - i.e. stone.

VEDIC VILLAGES WITH THE FENCE

 • Palisade encircling the village entrance were of a
particular kind.

o In course of time these peculiar railing became emblem

of protection, used not only to enclose the village, but
--Paling around fields
-Eventually anything sacred in nature.
VEDIC VILLAGE: Planning

The planning of the village was organic in the way that it

was planned according to the a User groups/varnas function
in the Society.

THE CITIES OF THE VEDIC PERIOD:

• RECTANGULAR IN PLAN
• DIVIDED INTO FOUR QUARTERS BY TWO MAIN
THOROUGHFARES INTERSECTING AT RIGHT ANGLES,
EACH LEADING TO A CITY GATE.
• ONE QUARTER HAD CITADEL & ROYAL APPARTMENT.