What Was It Like to Live in Ancient India?

Ancient India, the land of mystique and deep spiritual discovery. The Indian land has always lured Europeans with the promise of trade. Before the colonialists started taking over, the Indian subcontinent was renowned for its spices and jewels. And if we go further back, before the establishment of the Silk Road, these ancient lands existed in a world of their own, particularly India, where the Buddhists and Hindus lived harmoniously. It was a crowded world of multiple deities, lively rituals, and juxtaposed pilgrimage routes. Today, China and India are the two most highly populated countries in the world. It was not much different in the older days, as the population of the Indian subcontinent was quite healthy in comparison with the rest of the world. India has a rich tradition that tracks back to ancient histories and civilizations. These ancient customs and beliefs continue to shape life in the subcontinent today. At this point, it is important to note that, historically, India refers to the collective Indian land. Modern historians refer to it as the Indian subcontinent, and its territories included modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Some scholars also include Afghanistan. To understand life in ancient India, one cannot help but start with the Indus Valley Civilization. The Indus Valley Civilization was one of the earliest large civilizations in the history of man. Situated in modern-day Pakistan and northern India, the civilization was home to more than 1,400 towns and cities. The largest cities were Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, whose ruins still exist in Pakistan. The Indus River, which runs through the Pakistani region, served the same purpose that the rivers Tigris and Euphrates served for the ancient Mesopotamians. It begins in the Himalayas and runs for over 3,000 kilometers to the Arabian Sea, carving out a valley as it moves downstream. The Sarasvati River, which ran through modern-day India and Pakistan, provided the South Asian people with the safety and resources to build cities and consolidate their wealth. The Rig Veda, a major piece of ancient Indian literature, describes it as surpassing in majesty and might of all other rivers, pure in her course from the mountains to the ocean. Around 3,000 BCE, the river valley flourished with tall buildings, agriculture, and trade that stretched from modern-day Afghanistan to northern India. During the peak of the Indus-Sarasvati civilization around 4,000 years ago, as many as 5 million people may have lived in the valley. The most important feature of the Indus Valley is that it is a fertile piece of land adjacent to water. It was a good option for nomads and immigrants even before the cities appeared. As it attracted people, it became a permanent settlement. The people started cultivating sesame, rice, peas, dates, and sugarcane. They used cotton and hemp for textiles and created fire-baked clay bricks for buildings. The Harappans produced surplus food and promoted trade and permanent commutal living, while the farmers sowed and reaped two harvests every year. Most people lived in family groups and cultivated wheat, barley, cotton, and hemp, while often keeping several cows, sheep, and goats. The Neolithic revolution was well underway, and the people had shifted from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an agrarian one. The people started to produce miniature sculptures, artwork, religious texts, and commercial artifacts. They built homes, temples, and public buildings of brick. These ancient cities connected all of their structures with underground ducts to form a citywide drainage system. The Sarasvati people developed trade routes, devised shipbuilding methods, and studied navigation to visit far-off lands, including Mesopotamia and Egypt. This hints at a good commercial relationship with surrounding areas and local trade between local groups and cultures. The farmers of the Indus Valley thrived from about 7,000 BCE to 3,300 BCE. It would be naive to assume that there were no wars or skirmishes, but evidence suggests that peace prevailed, for the most part. At this time, it is also important to look at the Vedic mythology that gave humanity some of its oldest literary works. One day at sunrise, after his morning ablutions in the waters of the Sarasvati, Srila Vyasadeva sat down to meditate. The great sage saw certain anomalies in the fiber of the millennium. He foresaw that the life of everything material would be cut short for lack of virtue. From the Bhagavata Purana The ancient Indians believed that in primordial times, the Lord Vishnu, the preserver, slept in the ocean of milk with a giant many-headed serpent as his bed. While he slept, a lotus bloomed from his navel, concealing Brahma, the Lord of Creation. Brahma creates the world during the day and absorbs it back at night. When the time of destruction arrives, Shiva will wipe the world away. These ideas formed the basis of the four major Vedic texts. The Vedic religion was an important part of the Indian culture as far back as 6,000 years ago. These works were orally passed down the generations and were not written down until 1200 BCE. The four Vedas map out a fascinating history of India in which pseudo-humanistic gods visit Earth. They create, destroy, and participate in wars. These gods could inhabit three planes – the universe, the Earth, and the spaces in between the two. Many artifacts from this bygone era still exist. Archaeologists and linguists are continuously trying to decipher the strange lettering in language. By the 5th century BCE, the Vedic religion started shifting into a structure that more closely resembles Hinduism. The relationship and differences between the Vedic religion and Hinduism are complex. The former urges its adherents to honor the traditions of the past. The latter calls upon them to search for truth. This Vedic poem perfectly embodies the initial curiosity of meaning and truth. Who really knows and who can swear? How creation came, when, or where? Even gods came after creation's dead. Who really knows? Who can truly say? When and how did creation start? Did he do it or did he not? Only he, up there, knows, maybe, or perhaps, not even he. Rig Veda 10.129-1-7 As Hinduism still has around a billion followers worldwide, the Vedic values and lifestyle that are part of the Hindu religion remain a pillar of Indian history, culture, and identity. The Indus Valley Civilization declined around 1900 BCE, as did the Sarasvati River. Here comes one of those unsolved historical mysteries that perplex and fascinate the curious mind. As the people of Indus Valley abandoned their cities, probably due to earthquakes and floods, a nomadic people moved into the region, the Aryans. The Aryan theory is controversial, to say the least. Those who accept the thesis of ancient Indo-European speakers settling in ancient Iran and the northern Indian subcontinent believe that they moved in rather peacefully. They came to the Kush Mountains with their cattle, looking for a place where their animals could graze. Like the Harappan people before them, they liked the fertile land and continued further along the Indus and the Sarasvati. Over the next four millennia, they mingled with the residual communities of the land, the two cultures bonding to the point that they unified into a single, complex one. The Sarasvati people started to speak the Aryan language, and the Aryans adopted the pre-existing agricultural practices of India. When it is claimed that the Aryan theory is controversial, it is done so by looking at the evidence. There is no physical evidence of a hostile takeover, so if a migration took place, it was a fairly peaceful one, which seems unusual, even if not entirely unbelievable, for its time. Some scholars believe that the Aryans wrote the Vedic texts and put Hindu mythology into words. Another theory claims that the mixed influence of Harappans and Aryans came together to create the Vedas. No matter what you believe about this period of Indian history, be prepared to meet some enthusiastic advocates and adversaries in the Aryan debate. From some of the unique mysteries, let us dive into some of the most well-known historical events. The Conquest of Alexander Six thousand kilometers away from the Indian subcontinent sat a young Macedonian emperor who started to take over the world. The Greek culture started to spread towards the east. As Alexander concluded his successful campaign in Persia, he set his sights on the Indus Valley. At the time, India was ruled by a multitude of kingdoms and city-states. This made the job easier, as the Macedonian marched through one city after the other. However, internal problems with his army led to a retreat. The Greeks returned home, having left an indelible imprint on the Indian region. The Hellenistic influences are quite visible in the art of the Gandhara region. After the Greeks left, Chandragupta Maurya sought to unify the political factions into a centralized whole. Along with his mentor and patron, Vishnagupta Srinathya, he captured the Nanda Empire's capital city of Pataliputra in 322 BCE. By capturing Pataliputra, Chandragupta took the first important steps in forming the Maurya Empire. He then turned his attention to the remaining Macedonians and engaged in years of military campaigns to oust them from Punjab and the former kingdom of Porus. When General Seleucus returned to the Indus Valley, following his successful claim to rule Babylon, he expected to find fellow Macedonians. To his surprise, he was greeted by the Maurya Empire. He fought the Maurya Empire for two years before admitting defeat. Over 138 years, the Mauryan rule expanded the wealth of India by importing and exporting goods from China, Sumatra, Persia, Ceylon, and the Mediterranean. It was the era of the Silk Road, and the Mauryan people were able to sell tons of silks and spices. During this time, it is estimated that the South Asian population hovered around 15 to 30 million. The empire consisted of four provinces, allowing the entire region's hierarchy to fall into a somewhat neat organizational structure. The city-states ruled themselves, with the help of city councils. A city council included six committees or boards. The first one fixed wages and supervised provision of goods. The second welcomed foreign dignitaries and men of repute. The third made records. The fourth kept track of manufactured goods. The fifth regulated trade. And the sixth collected sales taxes. Around this time, an incredible transformation happened in a quiet little corner of the world. Siddhartha Gautama, a prince fallen from grace, found the apparent recipe to life's inner quest. He realized that change was the only constant and started to meditate to achieve a state of nirvana. However, he was not well-known. It was not until the reign of an emperor named Ashoka that Buddha became famous. Ashoka was so moved by the writings of Buddha, a man who had been dead for at least a couple of centuries, that he allocated enormous resources to spread his word. The Kalinga War, a war in which 150,000 Kalinga warriors and 100,000 Maurya soldiers were killed, had traumatized Emperor Ashoka. He vowed never to wage war again. He had seen enough misery, death, and destruction to last a few lifetimes. He developed an inclination towards dharma and eventually reached the teachings of Buddha. Even today, the word dharma encapsulates the ideals of Indian society. From Indian eyes, the word religion is a purely Western concept that exists as a way to evoke secularism. On the other hand, dharma, which is often wrongly translated as religion, is an all-encompassing way of life. In simple terms, religion serves as an aspect of life. Dharma serves as its all-encompassing guide. India seemed like a far-off land for the longest time, shrouded in mystery and spiritual abstraction. There are good reasons for this. Throughout ancient history, religion, or better yet, dharma, has served as a foundational pillar to all aspects of the Indian society. Living in ancient India would have meant juggling the various mythologies and acting out one's life in strict accordance with them. To learn more about what it was like to live in ancient India, check out our book, Ancient India, a captivating guide to ancient Indian history, starting from the beginning of the Indus Valley civilization through the invasion of Alexander the Great to the Mauryan Empire. It's available as an e-book, paperback, and audiobook. Also, grab your free mythology bundle e-book while they're still available. All links are in the description.