India
Environment
Babur, (1483-1530) the founder of the Mughal empire was “awestruck by a different world; its mountains, rivers, jungles and deserts, its towns, its cultivated lands, its animals and plants, its peoples and their tongues, its rains, and its winds, are all different.” (Johnson 1996: 13) India is a large part of the subcontinent South Asia and is bordered by Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bangledesh, Burma, the Arabian Sea, the India Ocean, and the Bay of Bengal.
Climate
Monsoons are the dominant climatic features of the whole of this tropical region. India particularly relies for its fertility upon the southwest monsoon, which blows from June to September. The monsoon is dire to India because it represents life. If the monsoon fails, as occasionally it does, starvation and famine follow. (Rawson 1977: 14) For example, in the Bihar famine of 1967, the failure of the monsoon decimated yields from winter rice, as well as severely reducing wheat production. (Johnson 1996: 28) Frequently, on the other hand, it produces vast floods in the areas it reaches, which cause widespread destruction and loss of life, as well as spreading fertile alluvial silt. (Rawson 1977: 14) Throughout the year, temperatures vary from 25°C to 40°C (68°F to 104F°). (Johnson 1996: 30) This climate makes for an extremely hot and humid land.
The Land Regions of India
The Himalayan Mountain Range
The Himalayan Mountain Range is among the coldest places in the world (Johnson1996: 29) stretching 2,500km from Pakistan to Brahmaputra, Assam. This mountain range shelters India from the cold winds of Tibet and plays a huge role in determining the climate of North India. The melting snows of this mountain surge into rivers, which carry detritus and rich sediment from the eroded mountain and deposits them in the valleys and plains of India. (Wolpert 1991: 18) The eastern region of India contains tropical forests while the western region of India house pine and coniferous woodlands. More plants found in the Himalayas are chir pine, pine nut, oak, maple, and ash. (India Site: Flora and Fauna) In the Alpine areas there are juniper and rhododendron. (Incredible India: Admire All Things Bright and Beautiful 2006) In the rain-soaked foothills are deciduous trees, shrubs, ferns and grasses. The Brahmaputra Valley has tea plantations and rice fields and slopes house mulberry trees on which silkworms are bred. (India Site: Flora and Fauna) Some animals that live in the Himalayas are sheep, musk deer, wild goats, brown bears, snow leopards, and jungle cats. (Incredible India: Admire All Things Bright and Beautiful 2006)
Indo-Gangetic Plain/Northern Plains
South of the Himalayan mountains is the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This plain is 300 km wide (N/S) and over 3,000 km in length (E/W). The Indo Gangetic Plain is a fertile alluvial plain making it a great place for agriculture. Further south, there is a series of hilly uplands with pocket of plains and river basins making this southern area difficult to penetrate. (Johnson 1996) However, this land is still relatively fertile. The upper Gangetic Plains have tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf deciduous forests. In the past this land supported rhinoceroses, Asian elephants, and wild water buffalo. Over time people have been clearing and cultivating the land so that over 95% was converted to agriculture and settlement areas. A few larger animals that may continue to live there are tigers, elephants, swamp deer. The wetlands here support waterfowl and many other migratory birds. (World Wildlife Fund: Upper Gangetic Plains 2001)
Northeast - Sunderbans
In the northeast there are the Sunderbans, which consists of dense mangrove forests and is referred to as a tidal swamp forest covering 2,500 km. This area is crisscrossed with distributaries and the land is saturated with salt. The nature there is extremely hostile and the weather fluctuates from humid to scorching hot. Bengal Tigers, porpoises, fishing cats, pangolins, rhinoceroses, Indian pythons, and crocodiles are a few animals that live there. (India Wildlife Tours: Wildlife in Sunderbans National Park)
Thar Desert
The Thar Desert is also known as the Great Indian Desert located in western India. Three major regions of the Thar Desert are the Sand Covered Thar, Plains, and Hills. This area is interspersed with hillocks, gravel, salt, marshes and some lakes. The Luni River is the only river crossing these sands. The desert region of India houses short and stout trees, stunted by the sun, cactus, reunjha, kheira, kanju, and ak. Vegetation in the desert is reduced to dry scrubland and drought-resistant plants. (India Site: Flora and Fauna) Tropical moist deciduous forests are mixed with tropical dry deciduous trees in this region. Trees like sal, teak, semul, laurel, rosewook, mahua, amla, khair, and common bamboo grow here. (India Online: Flora 2010)
Some animals of this desert are falcons, houbara bustards, Indian spiny-tailed lizards, chinkaras, blackbucks, desert foxes, and caracals. (World Wildlife Fund: Thar Desert 2001)
The Peninsula
The Vindhya Range divides the Indo-Gangetic Plain from the Peninsula. (Coutsoukins: India The Peninsula 1995) Peninsular India is almost entirely composed of the Deccan Plateau made of ancient bedrock (1996 Johnson) and has tropical and subtropical broadleaf foresets. (World Wildlife Fund: Central Deccan Plateau 2001) The land has black soil made from volcanic lavas making the Deccan a good place for farming. (1996 Johnson 33, 34) Within this plateau are a variety of hooved animals. 80% of the region, which used to be moist evergreen rain forests, are gone and replaced by dry-climate forests. (World Wildlife Fund: Central Deccan Plateau 2001) The Deccan plateau is sandwiched between two coastal ranges: the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats. These coastal ranges, during the monsoon season, are one of the wettest places on earth. The Western Ghats was estimated over 16,000 mm of precipitation from June to September. (Johnson 1996: 31).
The Coast
The northwestern coastal plain has tidal marshes, drowned valleys, and estuaries. The southwest coast of the Peninsula has lagoons canopied by coconut trees and the longest uninterrupted stretch of rainforests in the country. (India Site: Flora and Fauna) The south has lagoons, marshes, and beach ridges. The eastern coastal plains are wider than the west and have large river deltas. (Coutsoukins: India The Peninsula 1995) Flowing rivers continually reshape the coastline, depositing and shifting silt carried from inland. (Johnson 1996: 14) On these coasts palm trees, especially coconut palm trees are common.
Crops
Maize, barley, fruit, almonds, apricots and apples grow on higher slopes of the valleys of the Himalayas. In the drier upper Ganges and Indus Valley area the most important cereal crop that is grown is wheat. In the lower Gangetic plain rice, the most important crop, is grown. In the arid parts of the south gram, chick peas, lentils, millet, and cotton are produced. (Johnson 1996: 35)
Minerals and Resources
LanguageDuring the Mughal Empire many of the early people spoke the Chagatai language. The Chagatai language was a branch from the Turkic language family. It has many similar words and phrases associated with the Persian and Arabic languages. The language was written using the Perso-Arabic alphabet. The Chagatai language can be separated into three main time periods. The first time period began around 1400 until 1465 and is known as the Pre-classical Chagatai. Next was the Classical Chagatai between 1465 and 1600. The third time period was the Post-classical Chagatai from 1600 to 1921 (Wikipedia September 16, 2010).
The Mughal Empire
Mughal India was recognized for its remarkable accomplishments in poetry and a large variety of their Persian writing. Persian writing eventually symbolized Mughal triumph in India. The Mughals basically inherited a legacy and continued with the incredible writing. Many Persian writers went to India in search of better fortune. During this time there was religious and political persecution in the sectarian Safavid regime, therefore many of them were going to India. Mughal India became close with Iran culturally because the Iranians were able to flourish more in their writing talents rather than in their own country. As a result, Persian managed to keep its status as the first language of the Mughal king and his court. This ruler Akbar was not highly educated so he had his important books read out loud to him. He had a library of books and poetical works that were written in Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Greek, Kashmiri. In most situations, Akbar normally preferred the ones in Persian (Alam 2004: 122-6).
The people of India use music as another form of communication. They have written hymns to express their feelings, beliefs, and aspects of the Vedic religion. The hymns acknowledge the existence of a future life. In this future life rewards are acquired for the good deeds achieved on earth and the punishments are carried out for crimes committed (Oppert 1978: 530).
Old Persian Alphabet
The caste system of India separated people into many different classes. One that divided into 18 different classes is known as the Pariah caste. The people amongst the higher classes and lower classes are usually not on friendly terms with each other; therefore it was not common for them to speak to one another. They disagree on issues associated with taking sides with the right-hand and left-hand castes. The debates usually seemed to have issues relating to both national and religious issues. “According to one version Vyāsa induced the king to issue a proclamation, enacting that all those who sided with the king should be styled right-hand caste men, and all those who opposed him left-hand caste men.” (Oppert 1978: 57-8) In the caste system there are generally rules as to people talking to certain people in certain situations. Sometimes the people acknowledge each other in a friendly manner, typically when they are not engaged in hostilities. (Oppert 1978: 66)
Among certain tribes if an unmarried girl goes along side with an outsider of a lower caste then she would most likely have been expelled and rejected from her community. Women had lesser importance as compared to the men; therefore the upper caste would not acknowledge a woman in the lower class especially if she was rejected from her community. (Chauhan 1990: 42-3)
In the following You Tube video the people discuss the many languages and dialects that are presently spoken in India. One language that they emphasize is the Sanskrit language which was introduced during the ancient Vedic Period. Warlike tribes invaded India from the northwest and gradually spread to the east, then to the south, and almost throughout the entire country. These conquerors spoke the Sanskrit language and forced it on the aborigines. (Macdonell 1956: 12)
Media/Technology
The technology found in India was the foundation of the technology that we use today. The interesting point is that many of these techniques or tools were created by China.
When thinking about what Indians used for agriculture, an object that should sound familiar was used back in the 15th century. The plow was one of the more revolutionary items found in India. A product of China, India was able to grab a hold of it like the rest of Asia and use it for their farming. Over time, high powered officials began trying to use updated plows that would be more efficient; however, people using the plows were in a serious state of poverty and couldn’t afford the newest equipment (Gopal 1999: 319).
Though they are not something Indians invented, horses played an important role during the 15th century. If walking wasn’t fast enough, horses were used get from point A to point B. Not only were they useful in transportation, but they were used on the farm. For example, horses pulled the plow to help with the process of growing crops. Another interesting mode of transportation was a palkee. Women who had money or power were often carried around in these. Four men would lift up the woman who sat comfortably inside a very royal looking box, with shades and everything.
Paper was large form of communication in the 15th century, it was essentially the only way to communicate with another person besides physically talking to one another. During the battle of Atlakh, Chinese prisoners were brought back and introduced the idea of paper to India. Originially, they made paper with the linen they had, but eventually paper was being made out of flax and other different vegetable fibers (Rahman 1999: 264). They would use India ink, which is made out of fine soot called lampblack, then combined with water and a gelatin to keep everything together.
Though we may communicate with words majority of the time, music is something everyone can understand and interpret. Like the rest of the world India used different musical instruments to create a thought and share it with the people. The khol was used during the 15th century. As Dilip Barthakur explains in his book The Music and Musical Instruments of North Eastern India, the khol is a “two faced cylindrical instrument” that is played with the fingers (Barthakur 2003: 89). Something that everyone knows about is the great invention of gun powder. Another invention from the Chinese, gunpowder was seen because of the constant immigration seen during this time (Rahman 1999: 257). As history has shown the world, whoever has the most powerful weapon, is the country that holds the power. With this advancement in weaponry, India was able to create guns and cannons. The material they used for this items, were iron, brass, bronze, and steel (Mehrotra 1982).
These few items are only a small amount of what India had to offer to their culture. These ideas and tools were the first look at what technology would be like during this century.
Education/Child-Rearing
Imagine yourself as a boy in India. It is the year 1500 and you are being educated. Your teacher is a guru that orally lectures a rigorous curriculum, and your writing materials are bark and leaves. Your occupation is predetermined based off of what your father’s career is and your parents choose who you will love. Does that sound like a society that one would ideally want to partake in? Children in India did not have freedom of choice like so many of us are use to in America today. They were very dependent upon their parents who chose their marriage partner, their career and their form of education. “For girls, the stage of student hood coincides with that of householder, and the husband stands in place as the teacher” (www.indhistory.com). The man of the household was in charge of teaching raising his children and teaching his wife household duties. Boys are favored and believed to be reincarnated. “A strong preference for sons, resulting in the neglect of daughters has been documented in rural India” (Miller 1985:1). The males have a “ second birth, much like a present day confirmation or Bar Mitzvah where they wear a thread around their waist signifying they are born again and enter the stages of life” (www.indhistory.com). These four stages range from a boy being “born again” up until he decides to break apart from his village and wander, if he so chooses. Young males in childhood are encouraged to be respectful, celebite, and obedient to their parents wishes until they reach their second stage into adulthood. “When villagers speak of achievement, almost all think in terms of education and the kinds of occupations through education” (Verma 1970:101). Although the boy takes after his father in profession, (Father is a farmer, therefore son will be farmer) the culture believes in educating males to be extremely talented and intellectual in their career. “Childhood is the period of effective enculturation of the children, youth that of hard-work work and enjoyment of pleasures, and old age too of hard-work and exercising social control on the younger ones” (Ruhela 1984:30). While women do not receive the promising education that males receive, they are not devalued as children, just believed to have a different calling, such as household chores. The males are dependent upon their parents to raise them and they also have general duties that pay off the “three debts” to their ancestors to be able to get married and have children. The duties that they partake in involve sacrifices and household rituals.
Parents demand that their sons do not have any sexual relations with girls so that they can focus completely on their education. Parents plan their children’s marriage partner, and even provide a dowry as payment for a wife. Parents expect their children to have an infant within the first year of marriage, even though the parents-to-be are still children themselves. After the parents feel they have done their duty as a parent, in the fourth stage, they are given the choice of leaving behind everything in living in the forest as hermits, which entails leaving all of their possessions to their children.
GenderAs of 1450 in India, there were two main genders, male and female. As a child, children are allowed to play without being reprimanded. At the age of 4 or 5, boys are required to give up playing childish games and start learning the alphabet and to read. Based on what caste system the boys were in, they were then initiated into ritual instruction. Ritual instruction allows the boys to learn about doing rituals and allows them to perform the rituals. If the child was in the Brahman caste, they were initiated at the age of eight; if in the ksatriya caste, they were initiated at age eleven; if in the vaisya caste, they were initiated at age twelve. (Auboyer 1965) After the boys had completely initiation, they were then awarded with a sacred thread. It was placed over the boy’s left shoulder and under the right arm. The boys were bound to wear this for the rest of their lives and could now perform rituals.
Roles of Women:
In India, women were considered to be less superior to men. People also believed that women could not be trusted with any type of work that required responsibility. Women were also believed to not be fit for any type of independence. For example, the father took care of her during childhood; her husband protected her during youth; and sons protected her in old age. This allowed for not type of independence for women. Women also inherited very little. But in the event of inheritance, Muslim women received a more liberal treatment versus Hindu women. The main role for women was the caregiver to the children.(Rashid 1969)
Roles of Men:
The main roles of men in Indian society are to hunt, and gathered food, and were guild masters. (Dube 2001) Men became guild masters by hereditary succession or by election. Each guild had a unique seal made of bronze, copper, ivory, stone, or terracotta. The guild created sold bonds that extended over the surface of the entire kingdom on India. (Auboyer 1965: 102-6)
Gender Powers:
In India, the government it generally led by a King. In the event of rituals, these are always preformed by males. (Auboyer 1965)
Subsistence
In India not much is known of early crops and ways of farming due to the fact that the writings of these early civilizations have not been deciphered. This also makes it difficult to determine the conditions under which the early people of this region lived. This is a map of major farming systems in India. Where they grow rice is in the dark green color.
What we do know is that early Indians ate food that was easily available to them from nature. They ate things such as fruits, wild berries, meat, fish, etc. These were the main foods of nomadic dwellers and foragers. Later, when people began to farm - this led to the discovery of using crops to grow food for them. Now, food in ancient India was cultivated in the fertile river valleys and rice became their staple food that was eaten with cooked lentils, vegetables and meat. This gave their diet much more subsistence. Another popular crop was wheat. It was used to make flat breads known as "Chapatti", which looks much like a tortilla.
We think that in the early days a monsoon type crop , which includes, cotton, cane sugar and rice that were grown in the Indus Valley, was being raised in this area. They do not do this today though because of the climatic conditions. Anthropologists and historians believe that there is a possible climate change in the area between the early days and now. This is reaffirmed by Greek writings that suggest that there was more rainfall occurred then. In addition silt came down the Indus River in an annual flood. It is estimated that it was about twice the amount of silt which came down the Nile in Egypt, which is a tremendous amount. During this time cities controlled crop production and grain storage areas which is interesting because the size of the dams and other buildings suggests that it was quite a highly populated area for them to undertake such large projects.
Ancient Indians used techniques like dams and drainage systems to regulate the water being let on to their crops. Another farming technique was terracing, which is when a farmer cuts step like indentions into the side of a hill to plant their crops. This was very affective in growing rice. As farming grew they began to have standards of weights and measures - this crop large scale crop production is estimated to be established about 3000 B.C
This picture is an example of a terraced landscape used for growing rice.
Exchange
The most common monetary unit in India is the rupee. The first recognizable rupees date back to the 1540s and were spend on everything from day-to-day goods to dowries. These dowries and settlements regulated the exchange of women as marriage partners among the elite. Along with dowries, gifts played a central role in the emotional economy (Finn 203-231). They were vital in political relations as well as maternal ones. Gifts were often given during large ceremonial gatherings called durbars. These durbars were fantastic events for the whole family. It was a privilege to go to the market.
India has a huge textile industry that spans from southeast Asia all the way to western Europe. Indian cloth, as well as other high-quality artisan products such as gems, steel, and hardwood were quite the attraction to foreigners (Washbrook 87-111).
British Imperialism led to an economic decline around 1750. Their implementation of exchange banks was key to their colonial success (McGuire 143-163)
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