Early People, Indus Valley and the Vedic Age

History in the primary EVS classroom begins with a simple question: how did people live long ago? This course covers the history, polity, society and culture units of EVS Social Studies, plus social studies methodology. This first lesson covers early people, nomadic life, the Belum Caves, rock paintings, the move towards settled life, the Indus Valley civilisation, and the Vedic period and its literature.

Early people and settled life

Why people became settled: once they grew crops such as wheat, barley and rice and kept animals such as sheep, goats and cattle, they had to stay near their fields. Settled life led to permanent houses, storage of grain, crafts and, later, villages and towns. Mehrgarh (in present-day Pakistan) is one of the earliest farming villages of the subcontinent.

Rock paintings in caves and rock shelters show animals, hunting scenes and dances, drawn with natural colours. Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with thousands of such paintings; Andhra Pradesh has rock paintings at Ketavaram (Kurnool district).

Belum Caves (now in Nandyal district, earlier Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh) are among the longest caves in the Indian subcontinent. Pottery and other remains show their use by people in early times, and later by Buddhist and Jain monks.

The Indus Valley (Harappan) civilisation

The Harappan civilisation flourished about 4,700 years ago in the Indus river valley and nearby areas. Harappa was excavated first (1921), followed by Mohenjo-daro.

Features:

• Planned cities with streets at right angles, a raised citadel and a lower town;
• houses of baked bricks, many with wells and bathrooms;
• covered drains along the streets;
• seals with animals (such as the “unicorn”) and signs; the Harappan script has not yet been deciphered;
• crafts in copper, bronze, beads and pottery; among the earliest people to grow cotton;
• trade with distant lands, including Mesopotamia.

No large palaces or temples have been found. The cities declined after about 3,900 years ago, possibly due to drying rivers, floods or deforestation.

The Vedic period and literature

The Vedas are among the oldest texts in the world, composed in Sanskrit and passed on orally for centuries.

Later Vedic literature includes the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads (philosophical discussions about the soul and the universe). The epics Ramayana (Valmiki) and Mahabharata (Vyasa) were composed later.

Exam focus

• Neolithic = farming, domestication, settled life.
• Bhimbetka rock shelters (MP); Belum Caves in Andhra Pradesh.
• Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro; dockyard at Lothal; Dholavira UNESCO 2021.
• The Indus script is undeciphered.
• Rig Veda is the oldest; sabha and samiti were Vedic assemblies.

Example

Mrs Sunitha’s Class 5 makes “stone tools” from pebbles, grinds grain on a flat stone and tries to “paint” animals with turmeric and charcoal on brown paper. They then compare their efforts with pictures from Bhimbetka and discuss how life changed once people began farming.

Key takeaways

• Early people were nomadic hunter-gatherers; farming in the Neolithic age led to settled villages.
• Rock paintings at Bhimbetka and Ketavaram, and the Belum Caves, are evidence of early life.
• The Harappan civilisation had planned cities, covered drains, the Great Bath, seals and trade.
• Its script is still undeciphered.
• The four Vedas, with the Rig Veda oldest, are the main sources for the Vedic period.
• Early Vedic people were pastoral, with sabha and samiti assemblies; later Vedic people farmed.

Practice

1. Farming and domestication of animals began in the:
   • (A) Palaeolithic age
   • (B) Mesolithic age
   • (C) Neolithic age
   • (D) Iron Age
2. The Belum Caves are located in:
   • (A) Andhra Pradesh
   • (B) Madhya Pradesh
   • (C) Maharashtra
   • (D) Odisha
3. The rock shelters famous for prehistoric paintings and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site are at:
   • (A) Ajanta
   • (B) Ellora
   • (C) Elephanta
   • (D) Bhimbetka
4. The Great Bath was found at:
   • (A) Harappa
   • (B) Mohenjo-daro
   • (C) Lothal
   • (D) Kalibangan
5. Which Harappan site had a dockyard?
   • (A) Mohenjo-daro
   • (B) Lothal
   • (C) Harappa
   • (D) Kalibangan
6. The oldest of the four Vedas is the:
   • (A) Sama Veda
   • (B) Yajur Veda
   • (C) Atharva Veda
   • (D) Rig Veda
7. The script of the Harappan civilisation:
   • (A) has not yet been deciphered
   • (B) is Brahmi
   • (C) is Sanskrit
   • (D) is the same as modern Tamil
8. The assemblies of the early Vedic period were called:
   • (A) panchayat and zilla
   • (B) diwan and wazir
   • (C) sabha and samiti
   • (D) mahajanapada and gana