Harappan Civilization’s Downfall
What caused agriculture to decline in the Harappan civilization?
Rainfall diminished
Around 1500 B.C., which group of people began crossing the Hindu Kush into India?
The Aryans.
Around 1000 B.C., what became known as Vedic civilization expanded in which directions?
South and east.
What type of gods did the Aryans worship?
Gods associated with nature, friendship, and moral authority.
Which group was at the top of the Aryan social class system?
Priests.
What natural disaster caused flooding and changed the course of rivers in the Harappan civilization?
Earthquakes.
What does the term “Aryans” mean?
Noble ones.
What activity did the people of Vedic civilization adopt as they settled down?
Agriculture
Who performed rituals to keep the gods happy?
Aryan priests, or Brahmans.
Which group followed the priests in the social hierarchy?
Warriors and nobles.
Which river no longer flowed near Harappan cities?
The Sarasvati River.
Where did the Aryans originally come from, according to many historians?
Central Asia.
What did the Aryans clear to cultivate crops?
Forests
What was the Aryan religion called?
Brahmanism.
What did the Aryan social hierarchy evolve into over time?
A rigid caste system.
What happened to the Harappan cities as food supplies declined?
People abandoned the cities.
What do some scholars believe about the Aryans instead of the invasion theory?
They believe the Aryans were descendants of earlier Indus civilizations.
Into what did villages group together during Vedic civilization?
Chiefdoms and then kingdoms.
What are the sacred texts of Brahmanism called?
The Vedas.
How was the caste system passed down?
It was hereditary and unchangeable.
By what year had a simple village way of life replaced the Harappan civilization?
By 1900 B.C.
What kind of lifestyle did the Aryans lead?
They were semi-nomadic herders of horses and cattle and fierce warriors.
What cultural impacts did the Aryans have as they mixed with native people
They influenced religion, class, and language.
What is the oldest of the Vedas, and how many hymns does it contain?
The Rig Veda, which contains 1,028 melodic hymns.
What aspects of life were dictated by the caste system?
The kind of work people did, whom they could marry, and what they could eat