Origins of Civilization in India

Commonly when we refer to India we are describing the country as a political entity with distinct political boundaries from the rest of the Asian continent and the world. On the other hand if we consider Indian civilization it would be more in reference to the Indian sub-continent (which includes present day Pakista, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka) rather than to the political entity. It is in this light that we approach the origins of civilization in India.

Historians (and anthropologists?) consider writing, metalworking and settlement in cities as major elements of civilization. If it is along these lines that we define civilization, then it appears that urban culture emerged along these lines in India by about 3000 B.C. This literate urban culture is known as Indus Civilization, which is roughly the area where present-day Pakistan is.

Its three major urban centers (so far discovered) were: Kalibangan in modern Rajasthan; Harappa in what is now the Pakistani part of Punjab; and, Mohenjo Daro on the lower course of the Indus river. These cities were remarkable for their planned layouts as well as a water and sewage system that had no equivalent in the ancient world.

Their chief food crop was wheat and they were (perhaps) the earliest to weave cotton into cloth. However, towards the end of the third millenium B.C. Indus civilization began to decline most likely due to continued irrigation. This hurt their agricultural production base rapidly depleting the population.

The Aryans

The decline of Indus civilization made it easy for another group of people (the Aryans) to dominate India when they arrived after 1800 B.C.. The Aryans had superior martial technology and strength compared to the now weakened (and peaceful) Indus civilization so that by 1000 B.C. they had conquered most of India north of the Vindhya range. They were unable to cross southwards resulting to a clear north-south distinction in Indian culture that persists even today.

Aryan domination evolved a new culture that was a mixture of harappan, Aryan and other indigenous practices. Thus, the period between c. 1000 B.C. to c.500 B.C. is referred to as the Vedic Period Culture. It is during this period that major elements and details of Indian culture evolved and from which a highly sophisticated culture emerged.

Vedic culture was exceptional for the times. Their engagement in philosophy and metaphysics was ahead of its time and they had the most advanced knowledge in several fields including medicine, mathematics, as well as in iron and steel work.

Check out this post on EnFourSi for a some more details, especially on the geography and people of India. On the other hand, "Lost Civilization" (N4B) is a deeper look into the nature of Indus civilization and more detailed on the emergence of major cultural elements of Indian civilization.
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Initial Blog Ratings

Over the past few days, i have taken the time to look at your blogs and give my initial assessment. Each of the blogs has a post on the rating that i gave you as well as some comments explaining the rating. Check out the blog rubric in the sharebox if you need a guide for improving your blog.

Here are the initial ratings:

BSN4-A-methystians = 10 out of 20
N4B = 9-11 out of 20
EnFourSi = 10-11 out of 20

Again, you still have time to review your blogs so that you can improve your ratings. Read through the blog rubric in the sharebox (its downloadable) so that you will have some idea of how you can improve your blogs. You can also check out other blogs for some tips (and tricks).

So far, the most common pitfall across the blogs are very long posts that are entire copies of other web pages. Only N4C has a couple of posts that are good content-wise (click here to see what i mean).

So far the most difficult blog to navigate is EnFourSi. It's hard to get back to your "home" page without having to scroll to the bottom of the post where you will find a "home" link below the "post comments" link.

You all have good layouts but still have to take advantage of them by presenting more concise and interesting content that keeps the reader on your blog longer.
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Asian Studies Exhibit

Today i had the opportunity to talk to our Dean of College. I asked permission from him if we could do the "Asian Extravaganza" exhibit for our culminating activity.

HE HAS GIVEN US TENTATIVE PERMISSION!

This means that Dr. Lim agrees with the idea (in general) but we have to present him with a much more complete proposal/plan for the exhibit. We can hammer out the details during class "face time" and hopefully, you have ideas to share already by next week. If this project is going to happen, then you must work hard on it especially on the planning.

I have blogged on this and the two concerns i have about it. It seems one concern is already addressed; the second one is now up to you (i.e. are you up to the task of doing the exhibit?)

This does not mean, however, that there will no longer be a major exam after the midterms. There will be one more; we are having a pre-final examination that we will schedule several weeks before our exhibit schedule.
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