Indus And Vedic Civilisation There is muc to be contrasted between the cultures of the Harappans and the Arya

ns. There are indeed a few points of similarities, but they are not of any signi ficance. Why the points of contrast are more is primarily because of geographic location, economic activity and the religious practices followed by both the cul tures. Far more important is the fact that the Aryans, with a plasticity of mind , made life vibrant; whereas, the Indus life looks more like stylized puppet sho w. The plasticity of the Aryan mind was shown in the language as well as the way in which they adapted agricultural and settled life. The seals of the Indus Valley show that the pictographs remained statis, whereas, the Aryan language in the R ig Veda at places rises to musical levels. The success with which the Aryan writ ings were composed reveals the ability of the Aryan mind to grasp the mulitiple dimensions of human life. And language which exhibits immense potentialities in its vocabulary reveals that the community is full of potentialities. On the othe r hand, out of nearly 400 characters known to the Harappans only a few were repe ated time and again. The other manifestation of Aryan civilization, that is, its capacity to change a nd adapt itself, has given a continuity to Indian Civilization despite the absen ce of mighty empires. On the other hand, the Indus Valley people reached a blind alley and the never learnt anything from other civilizations like the Sumerian. Adaptability or ability to respond to challenges is the hallmark of any youthfu l civilization. The Indus civilization reached its senilithy by 2000 B.C. wherea s the Aryan Civilization was full with creative dynamism. Archaeology is the only source of our knowledge of the Harappan civilization, bu t information concerning the Vedic Aryans depends almost entirely on literary te xts, which were handed down by the oral tradition. It is clear from the material remains that the Harappan civilization was in certain respects superior to that of the Aryans. In Particular it was a city civilization of a highly developed t ype, while by contrast city life was unfamiliar to the Aryans. The superiority o f the Aryans lay in the military field. In which their use of the light horse ch ariot played a prominent part, or in literary exuberation. Harappans were peace loving city-dwellers and good planners as is evident by gri d pattern towns, elaborate drainage system, street lights, kelp-burnt brick hous es, fortifications, granaries, baths and wells. The early Aryans were not city b uilders. Their way of life, nomad-pastoralists as theywere, was dominated by war like stock-breeding (they practiced a little agriculture) and migrations. City buildings etc. as a large-scale socio-economic activities is only much later men tioned in the later Vedic texts, epics and the Puranas. The Harrapa culture is located in the Indus Valley and western India and its urb anization is based on a chalcolithic system with and absence of iron. Later Vedi c society centering on the Ganges Valley from which the Harappan culture is larg ely absent owes its gradual urbanization to iron technology, the widespread dome stication of the horse and the extension and intensification of plough agricultu re. (Iron, horse and plough being nearly absent - some evidence in later Harappa n sites). The expansion and budding off of the Harappan system in the east as far as Alamg irpur (U.P.) and to the neighbouring areas was neither 'colonisation' nor was it 'political expansion' of any from, it was rather the expansion in terms of the permeations of the socio-economic and socio-cultural systems of Harappan society whereas, the Aryan advance towards eastern region - the Doab of the Ganges and Jamuna - was no doubt facilitated by their horse chariots and effective weapons and can be viewed as 'colonisation' or 'political expansion' though not all the

Aryan culture contacts and expansion need have been of a violent kind. The focal centers of the Harappan culture remained for a long time the twin citi es of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro and it is from these centers that Harappan cultur e budded off, whereas the focus of attention of the Rig Veda was the Punjab and in the later Vedic period it shifted to the Doab of the Ganges and Jamuna rivers . The Punjab seems gradually to fade into the background and was regarded even w ith disapproval. The Harappan society had a very complex social stratification, division of labou r and multiplicity of crafts and industries, urbanism was its marked feature wit h Harappans enjoying a settled and sedentary life, and in this society the pries t and the merchant played dominant roles perhaps constituting a 'ruling' elite. On the other hand, in the early period the Aryans were organized into a social o rganization which may be described as 'tribal' or rural' one with a minimal of d ivision of labour and sedentariness. It was sed fully with more pronounced and i ncreased division of labour when specialized trades and crafts appeared. But in this society it was not the priests and the merchants (Vaishyas) but the Priests and the Kshtriya who constituted the rule in elite (though with a tendency to r ivalry). In the Harappan society the Priestly class was of great importance as the centra l authority. Though there is little evidence in the Rig Veda of any special impo rtance of the priests, however in later Vedic society, the priests as a class as sumed a form of institutional authority. The institutions of slavery and prostit ution were common to both the societies. The entire Harappan civilization was the product of an available food surplus (w heat and barley), a fairly high level of craft industry, a script and most impor tant of active commercial intercourse by which it was able to obtain its differe nt and varied material from places far and near both in India (the sub-continent outside the Harappan sphere was not terra-incognita) and outside (i.e. Sumerian towns, Baluchistan and Central Asia). Both northern and southern India was conn ected in Harappan period by ties of brisk trade. But the early Aryans did not fu lly emerged out from the food-gathering and nomadic pastoral stage. They hated t he panis, i.e. those who indulged in trade. Though by the end of the Vedic age t rade contracts and commercial inter-course did not reach the Harappan level. It was only by the end of the Vedic period that the Aryans had some familiarity wit h the sub-continent. The religion of the Harappan differed widely from that of the Vedic people. The Harappan practiced the cults of Sakti (mother Goddess) and Pasupati (Proto-Shiva ) of animal-tree and stone worship and of Phallus and Yoni, i.e. fertility cult. The early Aryans condemned many of these cults. Harappans worshiped Mother Godd ess but the Female deities played a minor part in Vedic religion though the Arya ns provided spouses to their gods by later Vedic times. But the fear of the Phal lus worship was replaced in the Yajur veda by its recognition as an official rit ual. Siva also gained increased importance in the later Vedas. The Aryans anthro pomorphized most of the forces of nature and prayed to them as Indra, Varuna, Ag ni, Mitra, Rudra, Soma, Surya, and Asvins. The fire of sacrificial cult was comm on to both. Vedic Aryans worshipped the cow while the Harappans reserved their v eneration for bulls. The Harappans were iconic and the Aryans aniconic. Ascetic practices were known to both. That the Harappan had a ruling authority or elite and / or an administrative org anization cannot be doubted. Almost uniform planning of the cities and presence of sanitary system, standard weights and measures, assembly halls, huge granarie s and citadels point to the existence of an authority, but what it was like as t he later Vedic period the Aryan tribes had consolidated in little kingdoms with capitals and a sedimentary administrative system with important functionaries th

e Purohit and the twelve ratrins playing dominant role in support of the monarch y, the prevalent form of government. The food habits of the Harappans were almost identical with those of the later A ryans if not early Aryans. The Harappans unlike the Aryans, preferred indoor gam es of outdoor amusements (chariot racing and hunting) though dice was popular pa st time with both. Playing music, singing and dancing were common to both. But a bout the musical instrument of the Harappan little is known or not known while t he Aryans had the drum, lute and flute with cymbals and the harp as later additi ons. The Harappans buried their dead - the Aryans largely created their dead. Th e Harappans used a script, which remains undeciphered to date in spite of many c laims for its deco din, where as references to writing in Vedic society came at a much later stage. In art the Harappans made considerable progress. Their works of art add tour com prehension of their culture. In fact, the earliest artistic traditions belong to them. In sculpture (beareded man from Mohenjo-daro and two sand stone statuette s from Harappa), though a very few sculptures survive, in metal (bronze dancing girl) and ivory works, in terracotta's (small images and figures of animals, bir ds or human or animal and inscription a 9 Harappan script on them), and in their pottery (painted red and black, at times glazed), the Harappan show vigor, vari ety and ingenuity. On the other hand, Rig Vedic age is devoid of any tangible pr oof of Aryan achievements in these directions. In fact the Rig Veda says nothing of writing, art and architecture. The art of ceramics made Harappan, the Vedic pottery was a simple one. The Harappans lacked that plasticity and dynamism of mind which is very essentia l for further growth and survival and they refused to learn from others, on the other hand, the Aryans possessing what the Harappans lacked, were youthful enoug h to be receptive, adaptive and assimilative, transforming themselves into a com prehensive civilization which in due course of time became essentially composite in character. In the end we have to say that apart from the minor causative factors causing di fference like the close mindedness of the Harappans and contrasted to the Plasti city of the Aryan mind, formalized and ritualized religion of the Harappans as c ontrasted to the animals and the metaphysical traits of the Aryans and the geogr aphical locale were entirely different. The differences in socio-economic matric es between the two civilizations primarily account for the contrast between the two.FOREIGN RELATIONS OF ASOKA Diplomacy and geographical proximity primarily determined the foreign relations maintained by Asoka. Particularly, the century in which, Asoka lived was one of continued interactions between the Eastern Mediterranean and South Asia. That is why most of Asoka's contacts were with South Asia and the West. It appears that this interest was not one sided. A fair number of foreigners lived in Pataliput ra to necessitate a special committee under the municipal management to look aft er the needs of welfare of the visitors. Apart from these major factors determin ing the foreign relations of Asoka, one more parameter was the desire of Asoka t o spread his policy of dhamma to distant lands. To begin with, Asoka in his foreign relations was a realist defeat and annexatio n of Kalinga. Also his realism is to be seen in Asoka not annexing the southern kingdoms (Cholas, Pandvas, Satyaputras and Keralaputras) while being satisfied w ith theirac knowledgement of his suzerainty. He probably felt that it was not wo rth the trouble to annex the small territories too. In other foreign relations Asoka reveals as an idealist or a monarch who wore th e robes of a monk. He sent various missions, though not embassies, to various co untries. Their main purpose was to acquaint the countries they visited with his

policies, particularly that of dhamma. They may be compared to modern goodwill m issions helping to create an interest in the ideas and peoples of the country fr om which they came. Also, the fact that they are quite unheard of in contemporar y literature or in later sources would suggest that they made only a short-lived impression. In spite of the above reservations, the missions must have opened a number of ch annels for the flow of Indian ideas and goods. It is unlikely that Asoka expecte d all the kings who had received missions to put the policy of dhamma into pract ice, although he claims that his did happen. It is curious to observe that there is no reference to these missions in the last important public declaration of A soka, the seventh pillar edict. In this edict Asoka mentions the success he had with his welfare services and the widespread propagation of dhamma but all withi n the empire. The territory immediately adjoining the empire of Asoka on the West and that Ant iochus. There is ample evidence of contacts of similarity in cultures. The use o f Kharoshti in the Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra edicts in the north is evidence of strong contact with Iran. The fragmentary Aramaic inscription at Taxila and anot her of the same kind from Kashmir point to continue inter communication between the two areas. Apart from contacts with Iran, Asoka Empire was close to various Greek kingdoms. There are references to the Greeks in the rock edicts of Asoka. On certain occa sions the word used refers to the Greek settlements in the north-west and on oth ers to the Hellenic Kingdoms. Antiochus II these of Syria is more frequently men tioned. He other Hellenic Kings where missions were sent were Ptolemy-II Philade phus of Egypt, Magas of Cyrene, Antigonus gonatas of Messedonia, and Alexander o f Eorius. Apart from these western contacts, tradition maintains that Asoka visited Khotan . This cannot be substantiated. On the other hand, Asoka maintained close relati ons with modern Nepal. Tradition states that his daughter, Charumati was married to Devapala of Nepal. On the East, the Mauryan empire included the provice of Vanga, Since Tamralipti was the principal port of the area, Indian missions to and from Ceylon are said to have traveled via Tamaralipti. The extent of the influence of Asoka's power in South India is better documented than in north India. The edicts of Asoka are found at Gavimathi, Palkignuda, Br ahmagiri, Maski, yerragudi and Siddapur, Tamil poets also make references to the Mauryas. More Important were the contacts with Ceylon. Information is available in the Ce ylonese Chronicles on contacts between India and Ceylon. Coming of Mahindra to C eylon was not the first official contact. Earlier, Dhamma missions were sent. A Ceylonese king was so captivated by Asoka that the top called himself as Devanam piya. Asoka maintained close relations with Tissa, the ruler of Ceylon. Relation ship between Asoka and Tissa was based on mutual admiration for each other. What interests of the country or the aims of Asoka were served through his missi ons? Asoka primarily tried to propagate his dhamma and may be incidentally Buddh ims. He claimed that he made a spiritual conquest of all the territories specifi ed by him as well as a few more territories beyond them. This claim definitely a ppears to bean exaggeration. There is no historical evidence to show that Asoka missions did succeed in achieving their aim particularly when the dhamma happene d to be highly humanistic and ethical in nature. After all, Asoka was neither a Buddha nor a Christ to appeal to various people. Neither a St. Peter nor an Anan da to successful spread the message of their Masters. Not did he possess fightin

g men to spread his message just as the followers of prophet Mohammed. Thus, whe n there is no follow up action after the missions visited the various parts of t he world, it is understandable that no one paid any heed to his message. Evertheless, there is one intriguing point about the success of his foreign miss ions. In likelihood, the history of the Buddha and his message must have spread to the various parts. What did they need to? Although it is difficult to answer this question, it is of importance to observe that there are certain similaritie s between Christianity and Buddhism - suffering of man, Mara & Satan, Sangha Mon asteries with Bikshus and Monks, and the use of rosary by Buddhist and Christian 's monks. Asoka's Dhamma NEED OF DHARMA 1. There was considered intellectual ferment around 600 B.C. healthy rivalry was apparent among the number of sects such as the Charvaks, Jains and Ajivikas, wh ose doctrines ranged from bare materialism to determinism. This intellectual liv eliness was reflected in the elected interests of the Mauryan rulers. It was cla imed by the Jainas that Chandragupta was supporter and there is evidence that Bi ndusara favoured the Ajivikas. Thus, the Empire of Asoka was inhabited by peoples of many cultures who were at many levels of development. The range of customs, beliefs, affinities, antagonis ms, tensions and harmonies were galore. True, Magadha and the fringes of these a reas. The north was in close contact with the Hellenized culture of Afganisthan and Iran. The far south was on the threshold of a creative efflorescence of Tami l culture. The ruler of such as Empire required the perceptions were addressed t o the public at large. It is in these inscriptions that the king expounds his id eas on dhamma. It appears, Asoka aimed at creating an attitude of mind among his subjects in wh ich social behavior was accorded the highest place. The ideology of dhamma can b e viewed as a focus of loyalty and as a point of convergence for the then bewild ering diversities of the Empire. In a way, Asoka's dhamma was akin to the preamb le in the constitution of India. 2. A centralized monarchy demands oneness of feeling on the part of its people. The ethics of the dhamma was intended to generate such a feeling, comparable to the preamble of the Indian Constitution. 3. The Mauryan Society with its heterogeneous elements and and religious forces working against each other posed the Asoka, therefore, needed some binding factor to allow the proceed on an even keel and thereby ensure the security of with economic, social threat of disruption. economic activity to his state.

4. Also as the commercial classes gained economic importance and resented the in ferior social status as per the sanctions of the Brahmins, they want over to Bud dhism, which preached social equality. Their support to the Mauryan king was ver y vital for the peace and prosperity of the Empire. Asoka thought that he could attract them by the propagation of this dhamma by weaning them away from too clo sely identifying themselves with Buddhism. 5. Asoka felt that the aforesaid forces of contrary pulls would threaten the pea ce of the realm not in the general interest of his Empire. Asoka's dhamma theref ore, was intended to serve a practical purpose. The dhamma was not meant to be a religion but what behooves a man of right feeli ng to do, or what man of sense would do. Such being the nature of his dhamma, it is primarily an ethic of social conduct.

Asoka's Moral code is most concisely formulated in the second Minor Rock Edict. Thus saith His Majesty: 'Father and mother must be obeyed; similarly respect for living creatures must b e enforced, truth must be spoken. These are the virtues of the law of Duty (or " Peity". Dhamma) which must be practisd. Similarly, the teacher must be reverence d by the pupil, and proper courtesy must be shown to relations. This is the ancient standard of duty (or "Piety") - leads to length of days and according to this men must act. The three obligations - of showing reverence, respecting animal life, and tellin g the truth - are inculcated over and over again in the edicts. Besides, it was meant for all - Buddhists, brahmins, Jains and Ajivikas, In the way, it was the sara or the essence of the good principles of all religions. Als o, while pleading on behalf of his dhamma, Asoka passionately appealed for toler ation towards all religions and a reverence for each other. Had this dhamma got anything to do with Buddhist principles, Asoka would have op enly stated so in his edicts since he never southt to hid/his support for Buddhi sm. For that matter, Asoka did not incorporate any of the fundamental tenets of Buddhist faith such as the Four Noble Truths, the chain of casualty the sacred e ight-fold path, and the Nirvana. The omissions, also with repeated reference to the concept of svarga or heaven (a Hindu belief) show that his dhamma cannot be identified with Buddhism. Since Asoka's dhamma was not intended for the cause of Buddhims during his dhara ma-yatras, he not only visited various places of Buddhist importance, but also g ave gifts to sramanas and Brahmins. Most of all, even after entrusting the propa gation of dhamma to the Dharma Mahamatras, Asoka continued to style himself as t he beloved of the devas, a Hindu concept, since there were no Gods in Buddhism a t that time. SUCCESS OF HIS DHARMA Asoka specifically states that his missions were sent to various places (Ceylon and various Western countries) and maintains that they were all successful. It i s difficult to accept this claim because historical evidence shows that his offi cials overshot the mark. Definitely, there was resentment against their way of d oing things. It is known from evidence that Asoka presumed that not only he was a seeker of truth but also he did reach the truth. Such convictions are always h armful. Most of all, it is important to note that there is no authentic proof th at his missions were a success. Significantly, none of Asoka's successors contin ued the propagation of dhamma. Far worse is the fact that in the later ages, his pillar inscriptions came to be misunderstood as symbols of phallus.Geographical knowledge of the vedic period. The geographical evidence as to be found in the hymns of Vedas thros some light on the course of Indo-Aryan migration and the origin of Hinduism. Whether the In do-Aryans came from Central Asia or not depends largely on the interpretation of the geographical allusions in the Rig and Yajur Vedas. The hymns in praise of r ivers in the 10th blcok are interesting. The author while singing the greatness of the Sindhu enumerates at least 19 rivers including the Ganges. The fifth Stan za gives a list of 10 streams, small and great-Ganges, Yamuna, Saraswati, Satluj , Ravi, Chenab, Jhelum, Maruwardwan (in J&K), Sushoma (Rowalpindi District) and probably Kanshi in the same district. This system of rivers did not remain the S araswati. The existing delta of the Indus has been formed since the time of Alex ander the Great.

The Vedic hymns reveal the initial Aryan settlements in India : western tributar ies of the Indus, the Gomti (modern Gomal) the Krumu (modern Kurram) and the Kub ha (modern Kabul). The one river mentioned in the North of Kabul is Suvastu (mod ern swat). But the main focus of the Rig Vedic settlements was in the Punjab and the Delhi region. When the Rig-Vedic hymns were compiled the focus of Aryan settlement was the region between the Yamuna and the Sutlaj, south of modern Ambala and laong the upper course of river Saraswati. The most frequently mentioned rivers are th e Sindhu (Indus), the Sarasvati (modern Sarsuti), the Drishadvati (modern Chitan g), and the five streams of the Punjab. Regarding the other geographical features, the Vedic poets knew the Himalayas bu t not the land south of Yamuna, since they did not mention the Vindhayas, In the east also the Aryans did not expand beyond Yamuna; for the river Ganga is menti oned only once in one late hymn. And possibly, the Aryans had no knowledge of the oceans since the word 'samudra' in the Vedic period meant a pool of water. But the later Vedic knowledge shows that the Aryans knew the two seas, the Himalayas and the Vindhyan mountainas and generally the entire Indo-Gangetic plain. The Aryans used various kinds of pottery and the sites where the painted grey we re are found, confirm the Aryan settlements. The Vedic texts show that the Aryan s expanded from the Punjab over the whole of western Uttar Pradesh covered by th e Ganga-Yamuna Doab. The Bharatas and Purus known as Kuru people first lived bet ween Sarasvati and Drishadvati just on the fringe of the Doab. Soon the Kurus oc cupied Delhi and the Upper portion of the doab, that is the area called Kurukshe tra, After this event, the Kurus joined with the people called Panchalas who occ upied the middle portion of the Doab or the moder districts of bareilly Dadaun a nd Farrukabad. It was the Kuru-Panchalas who had set up their capital at Hastina pur situated in the district of Meerut. Later the Kauravas and the Pandavas belo nging to the same Kuru clan fougth out a battle which led to the extinction of t he Kuru clan. And by 600 B.C. the Aryans spread from the Doab further east to Kosala in Easter n U.P. and Vedeha in north Bihar. The former town is associated with the story o f Ramchandra, but it is not mentioned in Vedic literature.