The Origins Of The Harappan Civilization

Upon reading about the historical and religious background of Ancient India, one can clearly assume that the country was strongly influenced by three main religious teachings: Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. These three sects in religious thinking have many similarities as all recognize the life-cycle and the need of liberation, they worship one central deity that used to be a human who gained enlightenment and they all recognize the existence of the eternal soul and after-death re-incarnation. However, they also share a lot of differences that mark the underlying principles of practicing them. I will identify the scope of differences and similarities in these ancient religions in an attempt to understand why each attracted followers, why

Hindus were divided by their social status, called the caste system. This made Hindus fall under one of the varnas such as Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra and the Untouchables (Strayer, 150-168). Priests and teachers were classified as Brahmins, warriors and kings were Kshatriya, merchants and landowners were known as Vaishya, peasants and serfs were classified as Shudras, and those that didn’t have a place on the caste system were defined as the untouchables because they had no social status. Hindus were unable to change their position in the caste system, until after reincarnation (Strayer, 150-168). There are scriptures such as the sacred text, The Vedas, and it leads to the fact that Brahmins empowered and dominated the top of the caste system and played specific roles in the religious lives of the people even from the start of India’s influence. Hindus became adjusted with these scared texts and grew used to it. They learned to follow religious values and traditions to have a better after life.

Hinduism, Confucianism and Buddhism are three of the world’s most distinguished belief systems of the past and for some, still in the present. The guidelines they provided influenced the social, political and religious lives of people within the societies that followed them. Hinduism emerged when the Aryans arrived in ancient India and began to combine their ideas with those of the Dravidians, the native population. One major Hindu idea was the caste system, which influenced the social lives of its followers and provided the state with political stability. Confucianism first saw an emergence of numerous followers during the Warring States period, when many philosophers were developing ideas for how to return order to China in this era of chaos. It provided political stability to the state by promoting an ethical system with several virtues and the idea that education could allow for social mobility. Buddhism originated from classical India when many people started looking for a new belief system, as they began to reject the caste system imposed by Hinduism. Buddhism had a minimal political or social impact on its followers, but instead influenced their religious lives. There is no doubt that these three belief systems significantly impacted the lives of their followers, but the manner in which they did this varied for each. Socially, Hinduism had the greatest impact with their caste system. Politically, Confucianism had the greatest impact by promoting virtues and

During Classical period (600 B.C.E - 600 C.E), religion and beliefs had a big impact on society and culture development. They helped the societies create more special characteristics, and bring social order in the societies. Hinduism in India, and Confucianism in China, both did help to influence and improve the societies deeply. Both of them introduced their moral rules, and added classes system, but they both had differences on their goals of people’s individual responsibilities, and also individuals focus.

You should move to the Harappan Civilization because their people were treated fairly. It had all-around prosperity, success, and peacefulness. As well as how it was a very wealthy civilization.

In early India, there were many types of religions, two of which being Hinduism and Buddhism. Both Hinduism and Buddhism were extremely important religions in Early India. They shared some similarities and differences in qualities regarding their origins, sacred texts, and different beliefs. Hinduism believed in reincarnation and karma as it would help them in their coming life and will move them higher on the caste system, opposed to Buddhism which believed more in doing the right thing and not hurting anyone or anything because they believed that all deserve to be treated correctly. Buddhism was not about the caste system like Hinduism, it was more about being a good human being and that karma will return to you. The people that looked more in Buddhism were the people who were the rejects of the caste system.

In ancient India, there were multiple religions, but the two main ones were Buddhism and Hinduism. These two allowed the people to believe in specific philosophies, such as reincarnation in Hinduism, which persuaded people to believe that they could be born into another life. This level of hope made the citizens want to be more courteous and kind to others, so that they could be reborn higher on the scale. This additionally relates to karma in Hinduism, which is the idea that wrongful deeds lead to bad repercussions. During their daily lives, the Hindus had more motivation for life and had strong levels of optimism. In Buddhism, this is also seen through people wanting to achieve the state of Nirvana by performing good and respectable tasks in life. Each person wanted to act the best they could and have a high sense of the future, since they are the ones who are controlling

The caste system gave more power to priest and aristocrats and slowly developed sub castes, “jati”, which was determined by a person's occupation and was passed onto their children. Also, the caste system served as the foundation for social organization in India. 20. What are the similarities and differences between Buddhism and Hinduism?

Hinduism is a very broad term that encompasses a multitude of different backgrounds, traditions, beliefs, and practices. Hinduism, as we know it today, has gone through many changes. To fully understand how Hinduism became as it is currently, knowledge of its development over the course of history is essential. This paper will demonstrate the primary shifts of its central beliefs, practices, and goals between periods of Early Vedic, Late Vedic, and Classical Hinduism.

Men were usually in the category of priests and they were known as Brahmins and the only ones allowed to perform any ceremonies since they held the knowledge passed down over the centuries ("ARYANS AND EARLY INDIAN CULTURE | Facts and Details," n.d.). The Aryan people added Vedas, which was the addition of new gods, and writings that combined with Indian’s original gods are how the religion Hinduism was created ("Aryan Dynasty Indian History AP World History," n.d.). Aryan’s simplest political group was the grama, which was the “wagon train” then it was named the village once the Aryans settled in a settlement (Wallech et al., 2013, p. 79). Unfortunately a strong unity or political power was never formed and numerous dialects of individuals moved into the area and eventually the empire

Our text book tells us that Aryans became dominant in north India. In Sanskrit text the Indo-Aryan developed the caste and the Brahman religion. The Brahman religion developed into Hinduism. (Beck et al.) India’s caste system there is 4 caste or social levels of people. At the top there is the Bhramin which are the priests and teachers. Second is the Kshatryia which are the leaders and warriors. Third is the Vaishya which are the merchants and landowners. Fourth is the Sundra which are commoners, peasants, and servants. Not considered in the caste system is the untouchables which are the outcasts. They held the lowest valued jobs such as street sweepers, latrine cleaners, and slaughter house workers. The caste system in India forbids people from mingling with other levels of castes. What caste level you were born into you were required to stay at that level. There was no

Although we do not know the exact time that Hinduism began, it is believed to be over 4,000 years old. There have been overlapping civilizations in India that may have molded the religion into what it is now (Kinnard 1). Around 2,000 B.C.E., located near the great Indus River, the Indus Valley Civilization, who worshipped many goddesses, may have been the very beginning of the shaping of Hinduism. Near the end of the Indus Valley Civilization around 1,500 B.C.E., a new society surfaced in India. Believed to be brought by the central Asian Aryans, the Vedic religion began (Kinnard). The Aryans’ practices included the sacrifice of animals and other offerings to their gods into a sacred fire. The gods they worshipped were mainly gods of nature such as the fire god and the plant god (flood). This era was the time of the Vedas, which are scriptures describing rituals to please the gods (Kinnard). Later, around 1,000 B.C.E., priests called Brahmins began to reject the materialistic ways of the Vedic tradition and began to adopt practices

Hinduism originated in India over four thousand years ago. The India-based religion lacks an individual founder. In the beginning, the term “Sanatana Dharma” erupted; but Sanatana Dharma soon transformed to “Hindu” after Islamic invasions occurred: “the Muslim invaders pronounced H for I” (Patheos), thus, the inhabitants along the Indus River were called “Hindus” as a result. The primary goal Hindus hope to achieve is to become reincarnated – thus reaching closer and closer to the state of nirvana every Hindu is called to with each transformation after death.

Throughout history religion has been used as means to justify actions and to control people. The two earliest examples are Zoroastrianism and Hinduism. The time frames that will be discussed will be the reign of Cyrus, 521 to 486 BCE, and India from 1500 to 500 BCE, before the Persians had a direct effect on India. The Persian religion is thought to be Zoroastrianism or a derivative of it, called Achaemenian. (For this paper the Persian’s religion will be referred to as Zoroastrianism.) However, Cyrus did not strive to spread his religion he introduced his self into other religions as a divine figure. Hinduism is a religion whose origins are unknown but are speculated to have been initiated by the Aryan people. The development of the

‘Aryan’ is a linguistic term for ‘Indo-European’ (Robert & Westad 2014a). The Aryans brought to India no culture so advanced as that of Harappans (Robert & Westad 2014a). When the Aryans appear writing disappeared and does not come back until the middle of the first millennium BCE. Cities were reinvented by the Aryans, which lack the elaboration and order of the gridded pattern of Harappans (Robert & Westad 2014a). When the Aryans migrated into the Indus Valley they brought with them a culture that was very different from any other region (Breyer 2004). The invaders had two contributions to Indian history; it’s formal history and its social institutions (Robert & Westad 2014a). One of the biggest social institutions that the Aryans brought to India was the unique social structure; in their system every class had a duty to their society (Breyer 2004). Originally there were only three main classes or Varnas, but this changed to fit the civilisation in which they controlled (Breyer 2004). As religion and rituals were a major part of Indian life, it was only fitting that the priests and scholars were the highest class (Beyer 2004). They were called the Brahmans (Breyer 2004). Under the Brahmans were the ruling class or the Kshatriyas; this also included nobles and warriors (Breyer 2004). The third class was made up of the commoners they were called the Vaisyas. It was the fourth class that the servants and peasants made up, called Sudras. It was later on where another