Figure 1.-- Perhaps the most interesting aspect of ancient Indian clothing is that it is still widely worn in modern India. The clothing and garmnts of ancient India are the only styles from the ancient world still widely worn today. These boys are from Kerala and were photogarohed in the 1960s. Some boys wear modern shorts, but most boys wear traditional clothes.

Ancien India is less wll studied than the other great early civilizations. Settlement of the Indus Valley is believed to have begun before 4000 BC. Archeologists have divided the history of ancient India into three principal eras. The early Indus River civilization dominated India for a millenium and a half (3000-1500 BC). This civilization was notable for planned cities hich had straight streets. Cotton is known to have been grown in India as early as 3,000 BC, but was almost ceratinly grown much earlier. Ancient Indians are known to have worn brightly colored clothes. Ancient India was conquered by the Aryans about 1500 BC by the Aryans, a nomadic people from from Central Asia. They entered the Indus Valley through the Khyber pass--the traditional invasion route into the Southern Asian sub-continent. As in so many cases, the Aryans were a war-like hearing people that conquuered a more ophisticated settled agaraian civilization. The Aryans employed chariots and engaged in constant warfare. They did not have sophisticated governmental structures and were instead still organized in tribal clans and warrior chiefs called rajas. They left few structures that archeologists could study. They did leave a rich setof stories at first sung and told orally. The principal Aryan beliefs as well as descriptions of daily life were set down in the Vedic Scriptures, a collection of poems and sacred hymns, about 1500 BC. Veda meant simply knowledge and include four parts: the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. The ancient warriors caste, the Kashtriya, are described in the Vedic scriptures. The Aryan dominance gave way with the age of empire which began about 500 BC. There were numerous empires in different regions of India. The greatest of these empires was the The Gupta Empire (320 AD to about 500 AD). The Gupta Empire existed at about the same time as the final yearsof the Roman Empire in the the West. The Gupta Empire controlled northern India. The Gupta Empire brought law and order to northern India. Elephants were incorporated into the emperial army. Some call the Gupta period, the "Golden Age" of ancient India. There was religious freedom and the Empire promoted education, literature and art.

Geography and Climate

Civililization in India as in other early civilization was powerfully shaped by geography. The first civilization emerged as in other areas in a river valley--the Indus. Here even primastive technology could produce high crop yields. Another major factor was the Himalayan Mountains in the north which had the impact of isolating the Indus Valley and protecting it from invasion. It was of course not a perfect protection, but the Indus Valley civilization developed in far greater security than that of Mesopotamia. The Indus Valley civilization did not develop in total isolation because there were sea contacts with the Middle Eastern civilizations (Mesopotamia ad Egypt), but these contacts were limited. The monsoonal subtropical climate was another important influence.

Major Eras

Ancien India is less wll studied than the other great early civilizations. Settlement of the Indus Valley is believed to have begun before 4000 BC. Archeologists have divided the history of ancient India into three principal eras. Our information on ancient India is still very limited and we would be interested in any information insights readers may be able to offer.

Early Indus Valley Civilization (3000-1500 BC)

The Indus River is the site of one of the earliest appearances of civilization. The early Indus River civilization dominated India for a millenium and a half (3000-1500 BC). This civilization was notable for planned cities hich had straight streets. Cotton is known to have been grown in India as early as 3,000 BC, but was almost ceratinly grown much earlier. Ancient Indians are known to have worn brightly colored clothes. The early Indus River culture is the least studied of the five great river valley cultures. When we began looking at ancient India, we assumed that given HBC's primarily European focus, our lack of information was due to the fact that we were unfamiliar with work on India. We have since found that there have been relatively few archeological finds on the early Indus River civilization and much less scholarly work. It is not precisely known why there hve been relatvely few sites found. One facyor may be that it was smaller civilization in terms of people and thus sites. Another problem is that the humis climate and high water table has destroyed archeological evidence that in dry, arid Egypt and Mesopotamia has been preserved. Another possibility is that the Aryan invaders that conquered the Indus Valley people found their civilization abhorent and sought to destroy it. If the civilization had arelatively small population, this would have made it easier to destroy than a civilization with a larger population.

Aryans and Vedic culture (1500-500 BC)

A ncient India was conquered by the Aryans about 1500 BC by the Aryans, a nomadic people from from Central Asia. They entered the Indus Valley through the Khyber pass--the traditional invasion route into the Southern Asian sub-continent. As in so many cases, the Aryans were a war-like hearding people that conquuered a more sophisticated settled agaraian civilization. The Aryans employed chariots and engaged in constant warfare. They did not have sophisticated governmental structures and were instead still organized in tribal clans and warrior chiefs called rajas. They left few structures that archeologists could study. They did leave a rich set of stories at first sung and told orally. The principal Aryan beliefs as well as descriptions of daily life were set down in the Vedic Scriptures, a collection of poems and sacred hymns, about 1500 BC. Veda meant simply knowledge and include four parts: the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. The ancient warriors caste, the Kashtriya, are described in the Vedic scriptures. The theme of war between the powers of light and darkness is central to the ancient Aryan Vedic scriptures. Scholars see this as a literary expression of the conflict between light and dark skinned peoples. We have noted scholars questioning the standard Aryan invasion theory. [Frawley] We are not sure at this time if this is a rejection of the theory as it is not very politically correct or if there are well grounded reasons for revaluating this theory. It seems to us that DNA studies could provide some badly needed insights, but we do not know of any at this time.

Empires (500 BC-647 AD)

The Aryan dominance gave way with the age of empire which began about 500 BC. This was the India that Alexander the Great encountered. There were numerous empires in different regions of India. The greatest of these empires was the The Gupta Empire (320 AD to about 500 AD). The Gupta Empire existed at about the same time as the final yearsof the Roman Empire in the the West. The Gupta Empire controlled northern India. The Gupta Empire brought law and order to northern India. Elephants were incorporated into the emperial army. Some call the Gupta period, the "Golden Age" of ancient India. There was religious freedom and the Empire promoted education, literature and art.

Clothing

The clothing worn in ancint India was very diverse. This was due the long period of involved and the range of climatic conditionsfrom the temperate north to the tropical south. India has played a major role in the hisory of fahion and textile. It was in ancient India that cotton was first cultivated. Many Indian terms are important fashion and garment terms, including dungarees, khakis, pajamas, and may other terms. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of ancient Indian clothing is that it is still widely worn in modern India. The clothing and garmnts of ancient India are the only styles from the ancient world still widely worn today. Here it is probably the suitability for the limae and low cost and impliciy that are the key factors. It is the fashion of the Vedic era that have proved the most important. Clothing in the Vedic era was often extensively embroidered and embelished with precious metals and gold.

Manuscripts

India is believed to have the largest collection of old,i hand written manuscripts of any country in the world. Unfortunately they are scattered in temples and to a lesser extent mosques where they are poorly cared for and slowly deteriorating. Most of these manuscripts are unknown to scholars. The Government estimates that there are about 5 million manuscripts in hundreds of languages. The Indian Government launched the 5-year National Mission for Manuscripts -- NMM (2003-08). The Government has deployed 30,000 manuscript hunters including linguistic scholars and history students to find and catalog these manuscripts as well as to advise the holders how to properly care for old manuscripts. The NMM is also preparing a computer catalog to assist scholars. The oldest known manuscript in India is a 6th century AD Buddist text found in Kashmir during te 1940s. This seems a relatively recent find given India's long history. The NMM is reporting thousands of finds in classical Sandskrit and many related successor language. (Sandskrit is related to modern Indian languages as Latin is related to European Romance languages.) The NMM is also reporting important finds of Arabic treaties. Many od the manuscripts concern religion. There have been important finds related to India's Buddist past, a relatively poorly understood era of Indian history. The NMM has found manuscripts on many other subjects, including, art, architecture, astronomy, astrology, literature, mathemativs, philosophy, science, and other subjrcts.

Sources

Frawley, David. Gods, Sages and Kings: Vedic Secrets of Ancient Civilization.