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T hey trek to Southern Asia from

all parts of the globe. They brave
extreme weather and travel long
distances over rough terrain. They dig and
dig and may search for years before finding
what they seek. Who are these people—
adventurers? explorers? treasure hunters?
They’re archaeologists, scientists who are
working to uncover the secrets of India’s past,
secrets of rich complex cultures lost in antiquity.
Archaeology has given us a window into
the world of ancient Indian life, primarily in the
Indus River Valley. And new discoveries are
happening all the time. In 2002 an ancient
underwater city was found off the coast of
southeastern India. Local fishermen led
divers to the site, which may have been
described long ago in the Indian legend of
the Seven Pagodas.
The story of the ancient Indians and
their world unfolds slowly but surely as
archaeologists continue their work all across
the Indian subcontinent.

Front cover: Dagli Orti/Muse Guimet Paris/The Art Archive

Spine: Heather Lewis/Shutterstock
Back cover: Background image: gds/zefa/Corbis;
Figure: Jean-Louis Nou/akg-images

Front cover: Detail of a sculpture of Vishnu,

from Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh
Back cover: Sculpture of a prince killing a lion, from the
platform of the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple
S T i G AT E S
ATiONAL
:) GRAPH
S*>J
Ancient

India
Archaeology Unlocks the
Secrets of India’s Past
 Ancient

Archaeology ly
i^ecrets of India
By Afiita Dalai
-v^
«>»
D

*?3Bj!i«gay
ANCIENT INDIA
 Contents
Message From the Consultant 8

Map of Important Indian Archaeological Sites 9

Four Major Eras of Ancient India 10-11

Timeline of Indian Flistory 10-11

A Land of Stories 12-17

What is India? • An ancient past • A great survey •

Outside influences

The Valley of the Indus r 18-27

The water’s fine • Zooarchaeology • The mound of the

dead • Clues from the seals • Reading the signs •
Perfect penpals • Marshall goes to work • Digging the
cities • A widespread culture • Clues from the West •
Oh my, Oman • Back in time • A remarkable site • The
end of the Harappans

After the Harappans 28-33

A language mystery • You sound like a fossil! • The written

record • A pottery key

In a God’s Footsteps 34-39

A remarkable find • Bringing it all together •
Buddha’s life • An urban world •

< This image from a temple in Somnathpur in southern India shows Saravasti, wife of
the Hindu god Brahma, in an illustration from the ancient poem, the Mahabarata.

5
 / r

A Changing World , f 40-45

Pillars of wisdom • Western ideas • Archaeology and

war • The Bactrian gold • Meeting point

The Age of the Guptas 46-53

Forgotten treasures • A king’s boasts • Spreading the . .

word • Gaps in the record • The rrilghty Guptas * ^ | ^
Outposts of Buddhism • The lion-shaped rock • Meet an ^ i ^ ' '-j /
archaeologist '
■ -— -----w,
■
^1 ■
■
■ ■
__
■-^ .. - -
. .
J. -
■■■
-U -
_

The Living Past 54-57

Archaeology and nations • A famous city • A disaster

reveals treasure

The Years Ahead 58

Glossary 59

Bibliography 60

Further Reading 60

On the Web 60

Index 61-62

About the Author and Consultant 63

Credits 64

< Seventh-century a.d. Hindu temples at Mahabalipuram. Recent underwater explorations

nearby have discovered the ruins of a city submerged beneath the ocean.
 MESSAGE

From the Consultant

A ncient India and modern
India are both fascinating
I have been fortunate to work in
the Indian subcontinent for nearly
places for the archaeologist. twenty years on excavations, surveys,
Today, the Asian subcontinent is and mapping projects. I have found
home to several nations, including that people everywhere, from
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, shopkeepers to government officials,
Nepal, and India. And in the past as are all interested in the past as a
well, there were many different foundation for the present.
cultures, languages, and religious Everywhere you go in India, you can
traditions that were developed over see living heritage in the form of
many thousands of years. Some of the temples, tombs, and archaeological
earliest civilizations in the world can sites. There is also a profound respect
be found here, with some of the first for learning about the past.
writing and the first cities. In ancient Archaeological news is often on the
times, India was the home of two of front page of the newspaper, and
the world’s major religions, Hinduism museums and archaeological sites are
and Buddhism; along with Islam, a favorite place for families to visit on
which was introduced later, they their vacations.
inspired some of the world’s most Being able to work with scholars
famous architecture. and students in India has been a
wonderful experience both on a
personal and on a scholarly level. The
Indian subcontinent is increasingly
visible today because of its vibrant
economy and technological skills, and
I encourage each of you to learn and
read more about the archaeological
heritage of this beautiful part of the
world.

Monica L. Smith
Los Angeles, 2007

8
 Map of Important Indian Archaeological Sites

\nci

IRAN

^ > B ALU CHJ.

Bay of
Bengal

200 400 kilometers

Civilizations of South Asia INDIAN

□ Indus Valley Civilization c.2600-1900 B.C, OCEAN
* Vedic India c.1800-600 B.C.
□ Mauryan Empire c.230 B.C.
^ Kushan Empire 200 B.C.-A.D. 200
^ Gupta Empire c.A.D. 500
Present-day boundaries are shown.

Selected Archaeological Sites

■ Buddhist site
■ Indus Valley site
B Mauryan site
□ Vedic site
O other site

9
 FOUR MAJOR ERAS OF

Ancient India
The Indus Valley The Vedic Period
Gvilization
ca 2600 B.C.-1900 B.C. ca 1800 B.C.-600 B.C

Beginning in about 7000 After the abandonment of

B.C., settlements emerged the great Indus Valley cities,
in northern India and farming peoples lived in
what is now Pakistan. By smaller settlements in the
the 3rd millennium, Indus and Ganges Valleys.
people were living in brick They merged with people
homes in large, planned who arrived from farther
cities such as Harappa and west in Asia. Storytellers
Mohenjodaro, with created vedas, poems,
advanced plumbing and hymns that later
systems. The people became the basis of the
farmed and traded as far Hindu religion. At the end
away as Mesopotamia, in of the period, this area was
what is now Iraq. again a highly urban and
They used a wealthy state.
system of writing
that has not
yet been
deciphered. The
cities were
abandoned
around 1900 b.c.,
probably when
rivers changed
course and < A seal from
disrupted farming. Mohenjodaro with a
figure and a form of
writing at the top

ca 6th-5th centuries B.c. 1st century B.c.

ca 1300 B.c.
Buddha lives in northern India Kushans overthrow
Indus Valley The first parts of
Civilization Rigveda are created the Parthians
2600-1900 B.c. 326 B.c. Alexander the Great
reaches South Asia

Vedic Period ca 1800-600 b.c.

Mauryan Empire
ca 322-185 B.C.
10
j The Mauryan The Gupta
Empire Empire
ca 322-185 B.c. ca 320-497 A.D.

The greatest of the The Guptas were a Hindu

Mauryan rulers, Ashoka, dynasty who brought South
converted to Buddhism. Asia to a golden age of
The new faith, which had peace and profitable trade.
originated in the 5th to 5th Their achievements were
centuries B.c., had become echoed by outstanding
popular. Ashoka used its sculpture anckarchitecture,
teachings to promote social painting, and literature,
welfare along India's and also by scientific
extensive trade routes. He achievement.
sent out missionaries that In the south, the Gupta
carried Buddhism to Sri dominance was
Lanka, where it survived echoed by that of
long after it declined in the Va kata ka
India itself. dynasty at the
< A model of an ox same time.
cart from Harappa. It
may have been used as
a toy.

> A Gupta statue of

Avalokiteshvara, a divine being
who Buddhists believed would
help them achieve Enlightenment.

2000 A.D.
ca 300 A.D.
Main period 477 A.D. Kasyapa I 26 A.D. 1947 A.D. \
builds Sigiraya in 1206 A.D.The Delhi I'lUghal Creation of
of temple
Sri Lanka Sultanate brings northern dynasty comes independent India
uilding begins
India under Islamic rule to power and Pakistan
at Ajanta
1858 A.D. Start
1498 A.D. Europeans 1971 A.D. Creation
of formal British
arrive in India of Bangladesh
Gupta Empire rule in India
ca 320-497 A.D.
A Land of
Stories
How do we learn what we
know about the past?

south
have entertained listeners with tales of

gods and heroes. The adventures are as

exciting as if they had just happened, but the stories

are thousands of years old. They were passed on by

word of mouth for centuries before they were

written down. The stories are the basis of Indian

religion and legends. They also hold clues about

India’s long past. South Asia was one of the first

places where people started living together in cities,

growing food, and using writing. Experts see these

as key steps in the development of civilization.

An actor is made up as the monkey god Hanuyaman for a play based on

the Ramayana, one of India’s most popular stories. Ancient tales are still part of
everyday life for over a billion Indians.
 r-^^^^---- ... .-^^^"V,

ANCIENT INDIA
> ■ ■ - '- ■ - ■ ■ - ■ - ....: ■ —' 1 • • •''

The same step forward happened mean little on their own. But for nearly
at about the same time in India, 200 years experts have been trying to
China, and Mesopotamia. Just why put ancient evidence together to
civilizations emerged at this particular understand India’s past. Archaeologists
time, no one knows. are history’s detectives. They take a
Today, stories are not the only few finds—some bricks, broken pottery,
clues to India’s past. There are also unknown writing—and try to create a
archaeological sites, sculptures, and picture of how a whole group of people
artifacts such as seals that were used once lived. The pictures change as new
to print designs in soft clay. They finds turn up.
The story of India
that has emerged is
remarkable. Not only was
India a cradle of
civilization, it was also the
home of great religions. A
series of ancient cultures
had risen and fallen over
many centuries.

What is India?
India has had its current
shape only since 1947. It
used to be much larger.
When it is used to discuss
the ancient world, “India”
refers to the whole Asian
subcontinent, a large
peninsula bordered on
two sides by ocean. Today
the region is home to
India, Pakistan, Nepal,
Bangladesh, and the
island of Sri Lanka in the
Indian Ocean. These

< A storyteller and his monkey

before a performance. The history
passed on in old tales may be a
clue to real events.

14
 A LAND OF STORIES

countries have political

differences, particularly
India and Pakistan. Both
were created in 1947 by
the split, or Partition, of
the former India.
Pakistan was originally
split into two halves. The
eastern part became
Bangladesh in 1971.
Since Partition, India and
Pakistan have fought a
series of wars.

An ancient past
In this book you will
learn what archaeologists
have discovered about the
societies that lived in
ancient India. During the

> Past and present: Modern

Buddhist monks light candles
during a festival at a seventh-
century temple in Bodh Gaya.

V The physical evidence: This

model of oxen pulling a cart was
made nearly 4,500 years ago and
shows us how goods were
transported in ancient India.
 ANCIENT INDIA

< This stone relief

from about the first
century b.c. shows
dancers following
the rhythm of two
drummers. Dance
has always been
popular in India,
and it is depicted
in many ancient
temple sculptures.

18th and 19th centuries, the breakthroughs followed years of work,

subcontinent was part of the British but others were accidental. In chapter 6,
Empire. Much early archaeological for example, you will see how a hunting
work in India was done by British expedition led not to tigers but to a far
officials and military men who were greater treasure.
interested in the region’s past. In Today’s political divisions affect
chapters 3 and 4, you will see how archaeology, even though the region
they found key clues to parts of shared a common past. Some Indian
history that had been forgotten. Some and Pakistani experts dispute findings

16
 A LAND OF STORIES

A Great Survey
of years. But Afghanistan has been
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was set unsafe for archaeologists since 1978,
up by the British government in the 19th century when three decades of civil war,
to record India’s ancient sites. The ASI brought extremist governments, and foreign
professional experts to India and coordinated military invasion began. In chapter 5
their work. At times, the ASI was neglected by you’ll read the remarkable story of
the government. In the 1930s one director even golden treasure found just weeks
arrived to find wild monkeys had taken over before fighting broke out there—
his office. But the ASI has overseen most treasure that everyone thought was
excavations in India for more than 150 years. lost forever.
You will see its work throughout
this book. Since Indian
independence in 1947, the ASI—
like its equivalents in Bangladesh,
Pakistan, and Sri Lanka—has been
wholly staffed by local experts.

that suggest that one

country is superior to the
other in any way. In
chapter 7 you will learn
how the study of the past
in India has led to great
controversy.

Outside influences
Modern politics sometimes
makes it difficult to trace
how influences arrived in
India from other places.
Afghanistan was the
pathway into the
subcontinent, through the
Himalaya, for thousands

^ Ancient Buddhist religious texts

like these in a monastery in the
Himalaya may still hold secrets
about India’s past.

17
The Valley
of the Indus
Who built India’s first
great cities?

hings sometimes look clearer from the air.

That was what Michael Jansen decided

when he became head of the German

Research Project at Mohenjodaro in 1979. Instead of

digging, as archaeologists often do, Jansen used

another approach, which let him see more of the site.

He mounted cameras on balloons to take bird’s-eye

photographs of brick ruins of what was once one of

 Zooarchaeology
Jansen’s work confirmed what
archaeologists already knew; About : One way archaeologists try to understand
4,500 years ago, Mohenjodaro was one ; such ancient peoples as those who lived at
of the world’s largest cities—with some ; Mohenjodaro is through zooarchaeology—the
35,000 citizens—and one of the I study of animal bones. Bones turn up in many
cleanest. Its citizens were expert ; places on ancient sites, but especially in places
plumbers. Up to 700 wells brought I where people threw their household garbage.
underground water to the surface. I We can tell from the size and shape of the bone
Most homes had brick platforms used : whether an animal was wild or domesticated.
for bathing, and some even had ; By excavating layers of occupation, we can
bathrooms. Chutes carried used water ; learn when people changed from being hunter-
into the streets, where brick-lined ; gatherers to living as farmers. We can also
drains carried it away. ; learn about the nearby natural environment
from the kinds of amphibians, reptiles, or birds
The water’s fine whose remains are found at a site.
In the heart of the city stood a vast
water tank 39 feet (11.8 m) long, 23 feet
(7 m) wide, and 8 feet (2.4 m) deep. The walls of the tank, or Great Bath, were
made of close-fitting bricks waterproofed
V So much care was taken in building the Great
Bath in Mohenjodaro that experts believe that water with a layer of tar, called bitumen. The
must have had a religious meaning for the people. pool was surrounded by a complex of

20
walls and passages, so it may have been A Water still plays a key role in Indian religions.
Here Hindu pilgrims bathe in a waterfall near the
part of a group of buildings.
source of the holy Narmada River.
It seemed that the people at
Mohenjodaro placed great importance dead” in the local Sindhi language—
on water. They may have used it in referred to a dome-shaped Buddhist
religious rituals. Cleansing with water monument, called a stupa. But beneath
is still an important part of religion in and around the stupa, Banerji could
India today. The plumbing and sewers see the brick remains of a large, much
of Mohenjodaro were remarkable. older, city.
When they were built around 2600 Banerji dug some pits down into
the city was one of the most
B.C., the ruins. The layers of remains
advanced in the world. It was a busy showed that the city had been occupied
center for about a thousand years. in four different stages. In the most
recent stage, near the surface, he
The mound of the dead found coins from the third century A.D.
Mohenjodaro was discovered in the This meant that the bottom layers
1920s by R. D. Banerji of the AST were much older. At the lowest level,
Banerji came across the site while he Banerji was excited to find three small
was exploring the lower valley of the squares of soft stone carved with
Indus River (now in Pakistan), which images and lettering. He recognized
is today a dry and barren region. The them as seals. People once pressed the
name Mohenjodaro—“mound of the seals into soft clay as a mark to
 Reading the Signs

identify themselves, just as we might

use a signature today. In the late 20th century, scholars began to
decode the marks on the Harappa and
Clues from the seals Mohenjodaro seals. They identified more than
Someone else would also he excited 400 different signs. That was too many for an
about the seals. Banerji’s colleague at alphabet, where letters are combined to make
the ASI, Sir John Marshall, was words. But it was too few for a language in
digging at a site named Harappa some which each word has a pictogram, or sign. That
350 miles (565 km) north in the Indus takes thousands of signs. The experts guessed
Valley. He had not found much. But that the writing on the seals combined letters
Banerji remembered that a dig there in and pictograms. They also figured that it gave
the 1870s had found a single square the name and occupation of the owner of the
seal. It had been carved with an image seal. Scholars do not agree how the script
of a bull and some strange lettering. It might be related to modern languages.
seemed to Banerji that the seals might The experts worked out that the
link the two cities in time. pictograms might group people into clans. They
John Marshall agreed that the often showed animals or heavenly bodies, so
seals had been created by the same perhaps there was an elephant clan or a moon
clan. The “letter” symbols likely were the name
V Mohenjodaro has been explored for over 90
years—but the ruins cover a huge area, and there of the individual.
may be more secrets to discover.

22
 THE VALLEY OF THE INDUS

< Archaeologist
Jonathan Mark
Kenoyer (left)
examines pottery
made by local
craft workers at
Harappa that
imitates ancient
styles.

people. But the writing looked so

different from local Sanskrit that he
wondered whether those people were
from India at all. Perhaps the seals
were clues to the existence of a
civilization that had been forgotten.

Perfect penpals
Marshall solved the mystery in a way
that was common at the time. He sent A Seals from Indus Valley sites feature animals
such as bulls, along with markings that are not yet
drawings of the seals to a magazine,
understood but may be proper names.
the Illustrated London News, which
published them. His request for That find dated from 2300 B.c.
information soon paid off. One scholar
contacted him to say that the seals Marshall goes to work
were of a type common in ancient Not only did Marshall now have a date
Mesopotamia, in what is now Iraq. for his cities, he also had possible
Then another wrote to say that he evidence that the people who lived in
had actually found just such a seal the Indus River Valley had traded
buried beneath a temple in a across Asia with the Mesopotamians.
Mesopotamian kingdom named Kish. He knew little else about them, so he

23
 ordered extensive excavations at both enabled the archaeologists to shed light
Harappa and Mohenjodaro. on a previously unknown civilization.
Harappa had been badly damaged
over the years. Millions of bricks had Digging the cities
been removed by laborers to build a The 1920s excavations showed that
railroad. But Mohenjodaro was in Mohenjodaro and Harappa were
better condition. Work there was on a similar—and highly sophisticated. The
vast scale—six archaeologists and 800 people lived in brick houses at least
laborers worked for six years. The two stories high that surrounded
massive effort provided a lot of courtyards. Mohenjodaro seemed to be
information about the sites, which arranged in zones. The city had a
raised area that might have been a
defensive citadel, although it did not
seem to have fortified walls.
Near the water tank at the center
of the city was another large structure
that the original diggers linked with
food storage. They named it the
Granary. Later archaeologists say that
there is no evidence that it was used to
store grain. They call it the Great Hall.
The same kinds of pottery and jewelry
were found in both cities, showing that
the people made similar crafts.

A widespread culture
The peoples of the cities were
given the name Harappans, after
the first city to be discovered. As
the 20th century went on,
archaeologists found more than
a thousand Harappan sites.
Harappan influence had spread
throughout the Indus Valley
and much of South Asia and

< Experts think that stone figures like

this must have had a religious meaning
because they were so carefully made.
This small figure may show a priest.

24
 THE VALLEY OF THE INDUS

around the northern coast of the far to the west. At Lothal in India,
Arabian Sea. Covering 250,000 square archaeologists in the 1950s found
miles (648,000 sq km), the Indus evidence of trade across the Persian
Valley civilization was the most Gulf, on the other side of the Arabian
extensive of all ancient civilizations. Sea. There, at Dilmun in Oman,
excavators found seals and sets of
Clues from the west traders’ weights identical to those
More evidence about the Harappans found in India.
came from Mesopotamia. The people Lothal had been a busy, noisy
there referred to the Indus region as place. Indian archaeologist S. R. Rao
Meluhha. A seal found in Mesopotamia found workshops with signs of bead¬
describes a person as “the translator of making and metal-working. Experts
the Meluhhan language.” Experts reason that materials such as precious
believe that this probably means that stones or shells were gathered across a
some of the traders who went back wide area. They were then brought to
and forth between the two civilizations
were bilingual. V This painting reconstructs a Harappan
house based on archaeological evidence.
Oh my, Oman The flat roof is used for preparing food.
Downstairs, a servant helps his master
Evidence kept appearing of the links wash. The dirty water runs out from the
between the Harappans and cultures house into a drain in the street.

25
 centers like Lethal to be made into further back in time to learn about the
goods for sale or export. very beginnings of settled life.

Back in time A remarkable site

A discovery in 1955 by the Pakistan In 1974 French and Pakistani teams
Department of Archaeology finally began digging at Mehrgarh, in the dry,
made the roots of the Indus Valley hilly region of Baluchistan (in what is
civilization clearer. At Kot Diji, about now Pakistan). A river had changed
25 miles (40 km) from Mohenjodaro, course and created a cliff that exposed
Fazal Ahmed Khan dug through three layers of remains. They found a series
layers of Harappan culture. The fourth of settlements that had been
layer dated from 2950 B.C., before abandoned and rebuilt, a little farther
Harappa had become a major city. south each time. Experts used a
Khan found pottery there that used technique called radiocarbon dating to
designs familiar from later pottery. find out how old the site was.
The town itself was laid out in All living things contain the
Harappan style, with neat streets of chemical carbon. When
brick homes inside a stone wall. they die, the carbon
Kot Diji and other sites begins to decay at a
showed that the Harappan steady rate. Measuring
culture was the result of a how much carbon has
long period of local decayed reveals the
development. Other age of the original
discoveries enabled object. Charcoal
archaeologists to go even from the lowest
layer at Mehrgarh
came from around
> This clay model of a boat was
7000 B.c.
discovered at Lothal,
which was a center Work at
for shipping. The Mehrgarh is still
town may have had
going on, over
the earliest harbor
in the world. 30 years since
it began. It is
unusual for

26
 THE VALLEY OF THE INDUS

> These stone weights

from Lothal were used
in trade across the
Indian Ocean—identical
weights have been
found in ancient
Mesopotamia.

archaeologists to be able to work on villages, great cities arose as the

the same site for so long. It is also Harappans expanded throughout the
unusual to be able to uncover so many Indus Valley.
layers of occupation. That makes For several hundred years, those
Mehrgarh a remarkable site in the cities grew and traded over a large
story of ancient India. area. But by 1900 B.c. they faced
In the 1980s, studies of bones problems that can still be seen in
showed that, in about 6000 B.C., the cities today, such as overcrowding and
inhabitants of Mehrgarh had switched shortages of food and water. Then a
from hunting to raising sheep, goats, crisis hit the cities in the shape of an
and cattle. They grew crops, too. Some earthquake or some other geological
buildings had small compartments for activity that made some of the rivers
storing wheat and barley. The shapes dry up. Archaeologists have found
of the grains could still be seen, many Harappan sites that are now in
pressed into the mud bricks. By the areas of desert, and satellite images
late 4000s B.C., the citizens of show that ancient river courses
Mehrgarh were living in two-story shifted dramatically. When the rivers
homes and making pots on wheels. shifted, many people who lived near
them may have moved to cities that
The end of the Harappans were not affected. But their arrival
Mehrgarh showed how the cultures of may have doomed the very cities that
the Indus Valley grew. From such took them in.

27
After the
Harappans
Who took the place of

I
the Harappans?
n 1981 archaeologist S. R. Rao began exploring

a ruined city on the seabed off the coast of

Gujarat. Rao, an adviser to the Marine

Archaeology Unit of India’s National Institute of

Oceanography, used four divers with scuba gear to

survey the site, which stretched more than half a

mile (0.8 km) from the coast. About 3,500 years ago,

the city had stood beside a river. Then it was

submerged as the coast was worn away. Rao’s team

found strong defensive walls—and many interesting

< The carvings on a 13th-century Hindu temple at Somnathpur illustrate scenes

from the Mahabarata, a long poem created in the Vedic period.

THE VEDIC PERIOD

ca 1800 B.c. - 600 B.c.
\/

Mil
1
1 1 1 1 1 I 1
3000 2000 1000 BX. 0 A.D.
 artifacts. These included a seal carved The second reason for excitement
with the image of a three-headed was that both the seal and the triangular
animal, pottery with inscriptions in anchors had been mentioned in the
the writing of the Indus Valley Mahabarata, one of India’s ancient
civilization, and triangular anchors epic poems. Although the poem was
made of iron. first written down in about the 6th or
The discovery was thrilling for two 5th century B.C., it may already have
reasons. First, it showed that cities been hundreds of years old by then. It
still existed in India soon after the fall describes a city named Dwarka, which
of the Indus Valley culture. Scholars had once been ruled by Sri Krishna,
had once believed that no real cities who later became a Hindu god. The
had existed until much later, about city had been submerged in a great flood.
600 B.c. Instead, it seemed that the No one knew whether the lost city
descendants of the Harappans had was real or not, although some experts
lived not only in small villages but also had begun searching for it in the
in larger settlements. 1930s. Now Rao anounced that he had
found it—and that archaeology had
V A Hindu reads the Ramayana in Sanskrit. Many
styles of writing may be used to write Sanskrit: This shown the Mahabarata to be
script is called Devanagari. It has been used in India historically accurate.
since the 12th century.

30
3? ' AFTER THE HARAPPANS

A language mystery
Many archaeologists would not go as
far as Rao. The ties between the
underwater site and the poem might
be a coincidence. But experts had long
thought that the ancient poems and
hymns of India might contain some
clues about the past.
Much of the early work in
understanding the people who created
these works was done in the 18th
century by an unusual detective
named William Jones. Jones was a
British judge who was sent to work in
the province of Bengal in the 1780s.
Jones loved India; he helped start the

You Sound Like a Fossil!

When William Jones realized that Sanskrit was

related to ancient Greek and Latin, it was not
just a breakthrough in the study of India’s
history. It was also the start of a new kind of
archaeology, called linguistic paleontology.
A A Hindu scholar studies one of the Vedas, the
Paleontology is the study of fossils. Jones’s basis of the Hindu faith; the Vedic period in India is
approach was like studying the “fossils” of sometimes called the Indo-Aryan period.

language—^the parts of modern languages that

began in much earlier languages. Linguists look
Asiatic Society of Bengal to coordinate
for aspects—such as specific words or the
study of its history and monuments.
order of words in a sentence—^that are similar
He also set out to learn Sanskrit, the
in different languages. That helps them group
holy language of India’s ancient
languages that share a common origin, which
religion, Hinduism.
are said to belong to a family. The Indo-
In the 1790s, Jones made a
European family includes English, Russian, and
startling claim. He had noticed that
Italian, as well as many languages of India and
many Sanskrit words resembled
Iran, such as Farsi, Hindi, and Bengali. Dozens
similar words in ancient Greek and
of languages came from the same root.
Latin. The grammar of the languages
also seemed similar.

31
 ANCIENT INDIA
■ aIa y't

A Many Indian farmers still follow a lifestyle that that can still easily be read today.
would have been familiar to ancient people, using
There are four Vedas, or books of
cattle or bullocks to pull carts. India has more cattle
than any other country: about 200 million head. hymns, and two long poems, named
the Ramayana and the Mahabarata.
The oldest work is the Rigveda, whose
Sanskrit was clearly related to the earliest parts may date to around
languages of Western Asia and Europe, 1300 B.c. The Vedic poems contain the
showing that the subcontinent had roots of Indian civilization as we know
been in contact with other regions over it today, but some of the themes are
a long period. The languages likely surprising. Alongside descriptions of
originated in areas of West Asia where cattle raising, the hymns and poems
farming first began. Experts know that also contain details of warfare and
domesticated plants and animals raids. There is little physical evidence
spread out from West Asia. People may that the Vedic period was particularly
have migrated in a similar way, violent, however.
bringing their languages with them. The Vedas and poems describe a
Later experts named the family of number of destructive gods. They also
languages Indo-European. describe how people settled on the
river plains, herding livestock and
The written record growing grain. We know from the
The ancient ritual songs and poems of stories that people used copper and
India are invaluable to historians. bronze weapons, had horses, and held
They are some of the oldest written their chiefs in high regard. Feasting
works from anywhere in the world was an important part of their social life.

32
A pottery key descendants of the Harappans. It
In the 1950s, B. B. Lai of the ASI seemed that, although the great cities
used the Mahabarata to locate more had disappeared, the culture itself
than 30 ancient sites, where he found survived. Smaller settlements spread
copper tools and horse bones across northern India as people learned
associated with the Vedic way of life. new ways of farming. In the Ganges
Another clue about patterns of Valley, meanwhile, hunter-gatherers
culture was found in a simple t3^e of were also influenced by these changes.
artifact: pottery. They began to farm and settle in villages.
Painted Gray Ware turned up all
over the northern region of Punjab—
V This 17th-century painting of a scene from the
now divided between India and Ramayana shows the monkey hero Hanuyaman
Pakistan—and central northern India. meeting Rama’s wife, Sita. Hanuyaman is portrayed
as a great general—but there is little physical
Experts concluded that the decorated evidence that warfare was particularly important in
pottery must have been made by the ancient India.

33
 In a God’s
Footsteps
CHAPTER

Where did the Buddha

O
walk in India?
n his first big dig, Indian archaeologist

S. N. Chowdhary faced a huge challenge.

He had only a month to get results

before the site was destroyed by builders working

on a nearby dam. Chowdhary was studying for an

advanced degree when he found a mound of bricks

about 40 feet (12 m) hi^han a hemote pa^^^ ,.

Gujarat in 1957. He guessed the domed structure

was a stupa, a monument that often stood above the

remains of devout Buddhists.

^ This 4o-foot-high (12 m) golden statue of Buddha was created in the 17th
century in a monastery at Ladakh high in the Himalaya in northern India.

A"
THE VEDIC PERIOD
ca 1800 B.C.-600 b.c.

I { I I I I I I I I
A '

t)

35
 ANCIENT INDIA

A young monk studies an ancient text in a

monastery in the Himalaya. The works contain
detailed information about the history of Buddhism.

The dam builders wanted to use

the mound as a source of brick. The
authorities did not want to hold up the
work. Chowdhary’s supervisor gave
him a month to prove that he was
right. Otherwise the dam would go
ahead—and Chowdhary would be
thrown out of school.
The young man started digging—
fast. He got lucky. Within days, he
found a statue of the Buddha. He had
made his point—and saved the stupa.

A remarkable find
It took three years of slower work to
reach the heart of the stupa, which
held a small round stone casket. A
Sanskrit inscription on the vessel
recorded that the stupa had been
built in the middle of the fourth
V A carving from the stupa at Sanchi shows a
century a.d. But it also made a more
scene. ...JYfrom the Buddha’s life in which Prince
Siddharfha rides in a chariot before giving up his astonishing claim: “This is the abode
throne to become a religious leader. of the relics of Dashabala.” Dashabala

36
 IN A GOD’S FOOTSTEPS

was an alternate name for the founder Bringing it aii together

of Buddhism. The golden glohe inside Although Buddhism had disappeared
the casket—^now kept at Baroda in India, on its borders the faith was
University—may hold the ashes of the still practiced on the island of Sri
Buddha himself. We will never know Lanka and in the mountains of Nepal
for sure. and Tibet. Monastery libraries held
Buddha or “the Enlightened One” ancient stories of the Buddha’s life. In
was a name given to Siddhartha the thousand or so years that the faith
Gautama, a sixth-century b.c. Indian dominated India, the region had been
prince. He preached that people could a popular destination for travelers,
achieve a state called Nirvana, which who described it in ancient Greek,
was free of desire or suffering. Unlike Latin, and Chinese records.
Vedic religions. Buddhism did not rely The man who brought the literary
on priests to instruct worshipers. sources together with the physical
Buddhists could meditate to achieve ruins was Alexander Cunningham, a
Nirvana. Buddha’s followers later British army engineer. Cunningham
spread his teachings through East and began exploring Buddhist monuments
Southeast Asia. Today, Buddhism has in 1834, when he dug into a stupa at
over 350 million followers.
But little over a century before
Chowhdary’s find. Buddhism had been
forgotten in India. It only became clear
in the early 19th century that Buddha
had been an Indian.

V The gateway to the stupa at Sanchi was

carved in the ist century b.c. with scenes from the
life of Buddha.

37
 ANCIENT INDIA

Sarnath. Then he got hold of a French

translation of a work by a Chinese
Buddhist named Hsuan Tsang, who
had visited India in the seventh
century, more than a thousand years
after Buddha had lived. Buddhism was
in decline, he wrote, but still popular.

Buddha’s life
Cunningham used the pilgrim’s
account as a guidebook to carry out
what he thought would be a brief
survey of ancient remains. In the end,
he spent twenty-five years on his
quest and did not finish until he was
well into his seventies.
Often he worked quickly, recording
what he could before hurrying on.
There was so much to do. Northern
India was home to many sites linked to
Buddha. The four most important
were Lumbini in Nepal, said to be
Siddartha’s birthplace; Bodh Gaya
in the state of Bihar, where he
meditated beneath a banyan tree;
Sarnath, where the Buddha
preached his first sermon; and
Kusinara, where he died.
But Cunningham also visited
sites that revealed the world in
which Buddhism had thrived. At
Kaushambi, a village of only 2,000
people, he found earthen ramparts
that marked the walls of a huge
ancient city 4 miles (6.4 km) around.

^ This early statue of Buddha shows

him in one of his traditional poses,
with one hand raised in blessing to
his followers.

38
 IN A GOD’S FOOTSTEPS

An urban world A Pilgrims set up colorful prayer flags to decorate

this tree in a sacred garden in Lumbini, which they
Later archaeologists explored the
believe is Buddha’s birthplace.
same sites up to a century after
Cunningham. They discovered a
series of ruined settlements that levels of many cities, showing that
showed that the rise of Buddhism had they had all been founded at about the
coincided with a burst of city-building same time. The population must have
in the Ganges Valley, east of the grown, and with it trade and wealth.
ancient centers of the Indus Valley. The new merchants and traders
The archaeologists tracing this wanted a new faith, and many found it
change had an invaluable aid. The in Buddhism. Stupas built in the cities
urban citizens used a kind of pottery and countryside show that the new
that was dark but highly polished. faith had an enthusiastic welcome.
This Northern Black Polished Ware, or Disciples used their money to build
NBP Ware, is like a fingerprint for monuments to proclaim their devotion.
identifying sites: It was so well made Monasteries were founded along trade
that it has a glistening surface, almost routes. They provided a way for
like silver. It turned up in the lower religion and trade to develop together.

39
A Changing
World
CHAPTER

What did the ancient

A
pillars mean?
fter India achieved independence from

Britain in 1947, the politicians who

had led the independence campaign

looked to the future. But they did not forget the

past. The new government created a flag for the

new country. In 1950 they added a crest to that flag.

The crest was a wheel, or chakra, which was a

symbol of order and balance. The chakra symbol

was over 2,000 years old. It had been discovered on

the base of a carving showing four seated lions.

This makara was carved in India in the 2nd century b.c. during the Mauryan
period. The makara is a crocodile-like creature from Hindu mythology.

THE MAURYAN EMPIRE

ca 322 -185 B.c.

B.c. 0 A.

4]
A One of King Ashoka’s pillars looks over a ruined could read them until 1837.
stupa at Sravasti. Legend says that the king built
A British official in India, James
84,000 stupas to show his devotion to the Buddha.
Prinsep, saw copies of inscriptions from
facing in four different the stone railings surrounding
directions. the Buddhist stupa at
The carved lions Sanchi. They were short
became another symbol hnes in the same script
of the country. They that was on the pillars. Each
appear on Indian line ended in the same
banknotes—even though characters. Prinsep guessed
there are few lions left in that the inscriptions listed
modern India. people who had paid to build the
stupa. In that case, the word
Pillars of wisdom repeated in each inscription
The hons and the chakra might be “given,” or
came from the top of a tall “danam” in Sanskrit.
pillar at Sarnath in It was the key Prinsep
northern India. Similar needed. He worked out the
pillars had been found
between the 1600s and the ^ The lions from Ashoka’s column
1800s. They were all carved are a symbol of India. The spoked
wheel, or chakra, beneath them
with inscriptions—^but no one appears on the national flag.
 A CHANGING WORLD

characters for d, n, and m, and went Western ideas

on to break the code. The messages on Experts working at the Great Stupa
the pillars were a set of rules for living of Amaravati have found thousands of
a good life, a little like the teachings of coins buried during the building of
Buddhism. They were the work of a the stupa from the third century B.c.
king who called himself Piyadassi. to the second century A.D. But some of
Prinsep learned that another the coins had writing in ancient
name for Piyadassi was Ashoka. Greek—and images that looked just
Ashoka was one of the Mauryan kings like Greek statues.
who ruled much of India in the 300s The coins were the work of the
and 200s B.c. In a few dozen inscriptions, Bactrians. They had arisen in what is
Ashoka recorded not only the way he now Afghanistan in the second century
wanted his subjects to live, but also B.c. and expanded their domain into
the history of his own reign. what is now Pakistan. Their culture
Ashoka boasted that he had built w^as heavily influenced by the ancient
roads to encourage trade. Ashoka Greeks. In 326 B.C., Alexander the
was a Buddhist. He built many stupas Great had led his Greek armies as far
in India and trained monks to carry east as the Indus River as he created
the faith overseas. It was thanks to
V The Parthian city of Sirkap was laid out along
his efforts that the faith spread into Greek lines, with a grid of streets and temples
Sri Lanka. supported by Greek columns.

43
 ANCIENT INDIA

Archaeology and War

an empire that stretched from Egj^t
across Central Asia. War is terrible for anyone who gets caught up in
Soon Alexander headed back it—including archaeologists. Sites are often
west—his troops were tired of constant quite remote, and people working there cannot
fighting and wanted to go home. But be protected. Experts studying the Bactrians, for
he left settlers who brought Greek and example, could not work in Afghanistan for over
Persian (Iranian) influences to two decades. A civil war was followed by a
Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Soviet military occupation. Then more fighting
Bactrians and their successors, the brought the anti-Western Taliban to power. And
Parthians, also incorporated Greek finally the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 sparked
influence. They built cities such as more fighting. In such cases, archaeologists
Sirkap, in Pakistan, that were modeled have little choice: They have to leave for their
on western examples. own safety and hope that the valuable sites are
In the 1st century B.C., the not damaged in the violence.
Parthians were conquered by another
dynasty from Central Asia, the
Kushans. The Kushans built an The Bactrian gold
empire where artists produced work In 1978 Victor Sariandi, an
that reflected influences from as far archaeologist from Uzbekistan, found
away as Rome, Italy. remarkable evidence of Bactria. He
was working in
northern Afghanistan
at a site named Tillya
Tepe, or “golden hill,”
but was at the point of
giving up. The weather
had turned wet and
cold. Worse, a civil war
had broken out in the
country. One morning
armed horsemen
visited the site and
threatened the
archaeologists before
riding off.

< This piece of carved ivory

once decorated a chair that
was made under the Kushans
in the ist century a.d.

44
 A CHANGING WORLD

Then a workman
made a startling
discovery. He uncovered
the remains of a tomb
with a wooden coffin
holding a skeleton
surrounded by precious
artifacts. While Sariandi
was exploring the tomb,
news came that another
had been found. And another, and A This clasp made
from gold inlaid with
another. There were seven in all.
pale green turquoise
For the last tomb, Sariandi had held together the clothes
only a week before the site closed for of a Bactrian noble.

winter. He did as much as he could,

and then took what he had found—
more than 20,000 objects—to the
museum in the capital, Kabul. The so-
called Bactrian gold gave a unique
insight into Bactria in about 100 A.D.
The finds included objects with Indian ^ The Bactrian Aphrodite
is a Roman goddess, but
influences, such as carvings of hump¬ she has a forehead mark
backed oxes, but also others that had like Indian deities.

Roman, Persian, and Greek influence.

But the fate of the gold was
Meeting point uncertain. Sariandi had to leave it at
Bactria had been an important the museum. It was time for him to
meeting place on the so-called Silk get out of the country. Afghanistan
Road, the most important trade route was growing too dangerous to stay. In
in Asia. The “road” was not like the 1979, troops from the Soviet Union
superhighways we are familiar with invaded Afghanistan. That sparked
today, but a network of pathways more violence and began a series of
that connected China in the east with bitter wars that is still going on. It
the Mediterranean in the west. remained too dangerous for Sariandi
Traders carried goods along the Silk to go back to Tillya Tepe—or even to
Road—and they also carried ideas Kabul. As for the Bactrian gold itself,
and beliefs. The Bactrian gold was it was rumored to have been lost in
spectacular evidence of how different the war-torn decades following the
influences had come together. Soviet invasion.

45
The Age of
the Guptas
Who painted the caves
of Ajanta?

A bout two hundred years ago, bored

British cavalry officers on duty in the

countryside in central India paid a

young man to show them where they could go

hunting. He led them to a gorge where steep cliffs

rose up above a U-bend in the Waghora River. It

looked like good tiger country. The men got their

guns ready and were climbing down into the gorge

when one of them got a huge surprise. Staring from

< This massive statue of a reclining Buddha was carved from the solid rock in
Cave 26 at Ajanta.

B.C. 0 A.D. 300 600 A.

 ANCIENT INDIA

A The 70-foot-deep (20 m) ravine at Ajanta was rooms where monks and nuns could
used by hundreds of Buddhist monks as a retreat
sleep. They were decorated with more
where they could pray and think about their faith.
carved images of the Buddha. Colorful
murals covered almost every wall. The
the face of the cliffs was a huge face— caves were well preserved: They had
a giant carving of the Buddha. As been almost forgotten for over a
they got closer, the men saw that a thousand years. Wild animals had
carved doorway near the statue led been the only regular visitors.
into the cliff. What lay inside?
The men lit flaming torches and A king’s boasts
began to explore. Such a vast work of art was not
created overnight. Experts dated the
Forgotten treasures oldest caves to the second century
The hunters had stumbled upon B.C., and the last to 700 years later.
what is now one of the world’s most Much of the work had been done after
famous archaeological sites: the caves A.D. 300, at a time of great artistic
of Ajanta. Twenty-nine caves had achievement in India.
been carved into the rock of the cliff. During the first half of the 1800s,
Four were places for Buddhists to clues to this golden age emerged from
worship. The rest of the caves were inscriptions on coins. They recorded
monasteries: An underground the deeds of an emperor named
courtyard was surrounded by small Samudragupta. At Allahabad, a stone

48
 THE AGE OF THE GUPTAS

Spreading the Word

It took many years for the rest of the world to

hear about the Ajanta caves. At the time they
were discovered, the only way for people to
learn of new discoveries was either to visit them
or to read about them in newspapers and
magazines. The articles were often illustrated
with engravings based on the work of amateur
artists. In the 1840s a British artist made copies
of the largest paintings at Ajanta and sent them
to London—but they were burned in a fire. The
same fate destroyed copies made in the 1870s.
In the 1920s, the first photographs were
taken of the murals. When the pictures reached
Europe, they caused a sensation.

> This mural illustrates the “miracle at Saravasti,”

when Buddha filled the sky with images of himself.

V The monastery caves had an underground

courtyard and rooms where monks and nuns slept.

49
 ANCIENT INDIA

Gaps in the Record

pillar originally erected by Ashoka in
the fourth century B.c. had been It has been hard for experts to learn some
altered to celebrate the same king. It details about the Guptas. Many Gupta sites
told how he had conquered other lands continued to be occupied later, which covered
and boasted that he cared for the poor up the Gupta remains. The problem is not
and was a skilled poet. unique to India. In many places archaeologists
Such records are not always come up against periods from which they can
reliable: Kings might exaggerate their find few objects or ruins, even though they
importance and achievements. But might have evidence from an earlier age. The
information on Samudragupta came reasons for these gaps in the record vary.
from another source. French experts Evidence might have been destroyed in war or
had translated the travel accounts of invasion. Or there might have been a natural
the Chinese monk Fa Hsien, who had disaster, such as a flood or an earthquake. Or it
spent about ten years in India in the might be a matter of luck: The evidence is out
there, but no one has found it yet.

fifth century. He described a peaceful

and wealthy country where agriculture
was highly successful and merchants
sold goods from as far away as the
Mediterranean Sea.

The mighty Guptas

The emperor who ruled over this
golden age was Samudragupta’s son,
Chandragupta II. Father and son
were two of the outstanding rulers of
the Guptas. The dynasty ruled much
of northern India from a.d. 320 to
497, although their influence spread
farther and lasted longer. In fact, the
major caves at Ajanta were created by
a dynasty named the Vakataka, who
dominated southern India near the
end of the Gupta dynasty and who

< Legend says that anyone who circles this Gupta

pillar near Delhi with their arms behind their backs
will have a wish granted: But it’s not so easy!

50
inherited many of the Guptas’ Outposts of Buddhism
cultural styles. Over the years, the Guptas and other
Physical evidence shows that dynasties returned to the priest-led
prosperity went together with artistic traditions of the Vedic period. In that
excellence. Architects built fine way, they laid the basis for what we
temples, and sculptors carved images recognize as the Hindu religion today.
of the Buddha, the Hindu gods, and Buddhism survived in Nepal and
saints from another Indian religion. on Sri Lanka. On the island, experts
Jainism. Writers wrote great plays in have been exploring a remarkable
Sanskrit that are still performed. monument since 1982. On top of
Kalidasa, who likely worked at the Sigiraya, a rock outcrop about 650 feet
court of Chandragupta, has been called (200 m) high, stand the ruins of
India’s Shakespeare. palaces, gardens, and a rock gallery
painted with images of beautiful
women. But the rock is so steep that
after it was discovered in the early
1800s, it was 70 years before anyone
climbed to the top.

The lion-shaped rock

Rock carvings show the history of the
site on Sigiraya. In a.d. 477, a king
named Kasyapa I started building a
palace there, reached only by one
dizzying set of stairs. Sigiraya means
lion mountain. The rock got its name
because from a distance it looks like a
crouching lion.
Kasyapa was overthrown before
his palace was even completed. The
site became a Buddhist sanctuary for
another 800 years, after which it was
forgotten—as the Guptas and
Buddhism in India would
be for centuries.

< Gupta artists created a

feeling of life and movement
in statues such as this one
of the Hindu god Vishnu.

51
 ANCIENT INDIA
-- ■ ----1 L. -.1-^- I.J^ -L^ ^ ^ . . .. . 1 . ' .

Meet an Archaeologist
Kathleen Morrison is a

professor of anthropology at

the University of Chicago. She

has worked on many

excavations in India and

elsewhere, specializing in

studying plant remains.

□ What made you want to liked Indian food, so it are working together. 1 also
become an archaeologist? seemed like a good idea. like spending time in the lab,
□ I never thought about it When 1 got there, in 1985,1 where 1 study ancient plant
until I tried it. I was interested found that India has an remains. It’s exciting when we
in science, history, and amazing and not very well- find something unexpected.
anthropology, and one studied archaeological record.
summer I worked on an There is so much more to □ What’s the worst part of
excavation. I loved it—we learn, which is very appealing, your job?
were uncovering an ancient and the people are really 0 Archaeology can be pretty
city, with streets, buildings, wonderful. Fortunately, I still tedious. Sometimes we have
and even drains. It made like Indian food. to study thousands and
history seem really alive, thousands of things —pieces
touching things that people 0 What’s the best part of of pottery, pollen grains, or
had made and used and your job? whatever—to begin to see a
seeing things no one had □ Being an archaeologist at a general pattern. This process
seen for hundreds or even university involves a lot of can take years.
thousands of years. different things including
teaching, lab work, writing, 0 What are the most
□ When did you get fieldwork, and service, which important qualities for an
interested in India? usually means going to archaeologist?
□ 1 was in graduate school meetings. I love fieldwork, □ A curiosity about and
when 1 got a chance to work especially when my an interest in virtually
on a project in India. I knew 1 colleagues, students, and 1 everything! You have to be

52
 MEET AN ARCHAEOLOGIST
mk;\'

able to work in teams and

alone and to handle both
numbers and words. Most
jobs require a master’s
degree or Ph.D., so you have
to go to graduate school.
Persistence is also helpful,
not only to get through all the
training but also to keep
working on a problem that
might take years to resolve.
Most archaeologists also like
to be outside and to travel.

0 What’s your favorite

period in Indian history?
□ That’s a hard one. Right
now I am in the early years of
a new project on the Iron Age
and Early Historic periods in
southern India, which started A Kathleen Morrison’s colleague Mark Lycett stands on top of the wall
of an ancient reservoir during a survey in southern India.
about 3,000 years ago (looo
BC) and lasted for around
1,500 years. At this time, every season. India is also hundreds of sites, including
the first cities and states very far from the U.S., so it is villages, roads, temples,
appeared in the region, along an expensive trip and one wells, reservoirs, iron-making
with real differences in power that is quite tiring. sites, and many more. We
and status between people. needed good mapping and
Southern Indians also began 0 What techniques have been computer skills, knowledge of
growing rice on a large scale. most useful for your work? architecture, and of course a
Rice takes a lot of water and a □ One thing people may not trained eye to see the remains
lot of work to grow, and it always realize is that a lot of of different time periods. No
made a big impact on the archaeological work deals single person knows about
environment. That all these with remains that are above everything, so archaeologists
things happened at around ground. We spend a long time always work in teams. We
the same time is pretty doing a survey of a large have people who study
amazing; we’d really like to region, which involves animal bones, human
know how and why. walking back and forth in a remains, plant remains, metal
very specific way, recording working, soils and sediments,
0 What are the biggest all archaeological sites. Our pottery, stone tools, and even
challenges working in India? area is very hilly, so we had to beads. We send material to
□ It can be difficult to get climb a lot, wade through specialized labs to get
permission to work from the canals, stomp through muddy radiocarbon dates and
government, and there is a lot banana groves, and really chemical analyses of
of paperwork and long waits work hard. We found sediments and other things.

53
 %r- *‘ .. '*

- i.

The Living
Past
Why does the past cause
controversy today?

A rchaeologists in South Asia face many

challenges. For example, the division

between India and Peikistan in 1947

left political and religious tensions in the region.

Muslim dynasties ruled India from the 13th to the

19th centuries, but most Indians remained Hindus.

Pakistan was created as a Muslim state, but more

than 145 million Muslims still live in India. Some

people in India want to show that Hindu culture is

superior to that of Muslims. Some Muslims in

Pakistan want to show the opposite.

< The Taj Mahal is still one of India’s most popular historic sites—but it was built
by a Muslim prince in an Islamic style.
 A At Kot Diji, a Mughal fort was built on top of often make clear that the countries of
the Harappan city. Such reuse of sites was common
the region shared a common past.
in ancient times, but today may cause controversy.
They are sometimes placed near more
The past does not follow the recent displays about the achievement
political divisions of the present, of independence. That encourages
however. The most famous ancient site visitors to identify the past with their
in India is the Taj Mahal, which was own nation.
built by a Muslim ruler in memory of Sometimes, competition between
his dead wife in the early 17th century. countries has spurred efforts to find
In Pakistan, on the other hand, the out about the past. After Partition, for
best-known sites are Harappa and example, Harappa and Mohenjodaro
Mohenjodaro. Both are thousands of lay in Pakistan. The ASI made it a
years older than the Islamic religion. priority to search for new Harappan
sites, so that India could claim a closer
Archaeology and nations link with Bronze Age cultures. As a
In the decades since independence, result, the ASI made some spectacular
people in India and Pakistan—and discoveries, such as the city of
also in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka— Dholavira on India’s west coast.
have seen archaeology as a way to At other times, however, politics
strengthen the idea of their nation. and religion have been damaging. In
They opened museums, for example, India, Hindu extremists have
where people could see artifacts destroyed Islamic structures. In
tracing the past. The ancient artifacts Pakistan, extremists have argued that

56
 THE LIVING PAST
f%'WM W-^ ^"^■ i'^ W" -

experts should concentrate on Islamic archaeologists found two temples. One

sites, not older places such as Harappa. had been built in the ninth century
A.D. on top of the ruins of a temple
A famous city from the first century B.C. In the
Not all archaeology in South Asia is so ground nearby, archaeologists found
controversial. In 2002, experts from thick layers of seashells and other
India’s National Institute of debris. They believe the layers were
Oceanography visited
Mahabalipuram in Tamil
Nadu to explore ruins in
shallow water near the
coast. There were stories
that a city with seven
temples once stood on
the site. The city’s
beauty made the gods
jealous. They sent a flood
that destroyed six of the
seven temples.
There are m3dhs all
over the world about
ancient floods, and
archaeologists do not always take them A Local workers help clear debris from part of one
of the temples exposed by the Indian Ocean
seriously. However, fishers led the team
tsunami in December 2004.
to an area of walls,'broken pillars, and
stone blocks on the seabed. Evidence left by two earlier tsunamis, which
from remains on land nearby suggested destroyed the two temples.
that the complex may have been built Despite such discoveries, experts in
between 1,200 and 1,500 years ago. Not the subcontinent still face problems.
for the first time in Indian archaeology Relations between Pakistan and India
what seemed to be just a story did have are still tense. In India, meanwhile,
a basis in fact. some Hindu politicians are unhappy
with the accepted version of history.
A disaster reveals treasure They argue that Muslim rulers
In December 2004, the coast around destroyed Indian culture, rather than
Mahabalipuram was battered by the adding to it. It seems that, until the
Indian Ocean tsunami. The wave political background changes,
washed sand from beaches near the archaeology may continue to find itself
town and exposed more ruins. ASI in the middle of a tense fight.

57
 The Years Ahead
T here are lots of causes to be
optimistic about archaeology
Heritage Site list of the United Nations
cultural department, UNESCO.
in South Asia. Major projects In the north, there is even good
at Harappa in Pakistan and at various news from Afghanistan. The Taliban
sites run by the ASI in India are government destroyed some ancient
continuing to yield new information. statues—but many remain. And the
In the half-century since India gained Bactrian gold that was thought to have
independence in 1947, generations of been lost turned up safely. After the
native experts have emerged to take U.S.-led invasion of 2001, experts
the place of the British archaeologists opened six locked safes in the Kabul
who led most earlier work. Museum—and found all 20,600 pieces
In both India and Pakistan, the of the treasure. Experts from the
governments are eager to make sure National Geographic Society helped to
that ancient sites are well preserved. photograph and record the artifacts
Some are still visited by pilgrims. more carefully than anyone had been
Others are still used for worship. able to do in 1978, when the treasure
Many are included on the World was first discovered.

A National Geographic photographer Kenneth Garrett prepares to photograph a piece of the Bactrian gold.

58
Glossary
architect - a person who designs and Muslim - a follower of the Islamic faith
builds buildings
pass - a valley that provides an easy pathway
artifact - any object changed by human through a mountain range
activity
ramparts - large banks of brick or earth that
carbon - an element found in all living things; protect towns or other sites
it can be used to date objects accurately
relief - a carving with a raised surface
ceramics - objects made from clay
rituals - repeated practices that relate to
circa - about; used to indicate a date that is specific ceremonies
approximate (abbreviated as ca)
sanctuary - the most holy part of a
citadel - a fortress that defends a city religious building

civil war - a war fought between groups of seal - an object used to stamp a pattern into
people from the same country soft clgy or wax to identify the owner

controversy - an argument between two semiprecious stones - colored stones that

opposite points of view are shaped and polished to make jewelry or
other objects
dynasty - a series of rulers that all come from
the same family shards - broken pieces of pottery
excavation - an archaeological dig silt - particles of soil carried in water that
settle to form a kind of soil
extremist - a person who holds an extreme
version of religious or political views stupa - a domed monument built by
Buddhists and used to help meditation
fossil - the remains of an ancient animal or
and prayer
plant that have been preserved in Earth’s
crust and turned to rock subcontinent - a name usually given to the
part of Asia that includes India, Pakistan,
foundation - the buried base that supports a
Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka
building
theory - in science, the explanation that best
hunter-gatherers - people who get food by
explains all of the evidence
hunting animals or gathering wild fruit and
berries, rather than by farming tsunami - a tidal wave caused by an
earthquake beneath the seabed
hymns - songs written to praise a god or gods
urban - belonging to a city
imperial - something associated with an
empire or emperor ware - pottery such as plates and pots that
have been made from clay and then baked in
inscriptions - words that are carved or
a kiln
engraved into a hard material
zooarchaeology - the study of the past
kilns - ovens used to bake pottery to make
through the remains of animals
it stronger

59
 Bibliography Further Reading
Aronovsky, Ilona, and Sujata
Books
Gopinath. The Indus Valley
Ancient India: Land of Mystery. (Excavating the Past). Chicago:
Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, Heinemann, 2004.
1994.
Barr, Marilyn. India: Exploring
Dehejia, Vidya. Indian Art. London: Ancient Civilizations. Carthage, IL:
Phaidon Press, 1997. Teaching and Learning Company,
2003.
Harle, J. C. The Art and Architecture
of the Indian Subcontinent. New Schomp, Virginia. Ancient India
Haven: Yale University Press, 1994. (People of the Ancient World). New
York: Franklin Watts, 2005.
Keay, John. A History of India. New
York: Grove Press, 2001.
On the Web
Articles The British Museum
http://www.ancientindia.co.uk/
Behl, Benoy K. “Striking New Images
of Cave Paintings in India.” national History for Kids
GEOGRAPHIC (November 1993): http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/india/
Geographica.
Harappa Archaeological Research
“Brought to Light: New Dawn for a Project (HARP)
Night Garden at the Taj Mahal.” http://www.harappa.com/indus2/harpframe.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (March 2001): html
Geographica.

UNESCO World Heritage List for

Edwards, Mike. “Indus Civilization: India
Clues to an Ancient Puzzle.” http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/in
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (June 2000):
108-131. UNESCO World Heritage List for
Pakistan
http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/pk

60
Index
Boldface indicates illustrations. study of animal bones 20, 27 water 21
Brahma (god) houses
Afghanistan 17 wife 5 Harappan 25
archaeology and war 44, 45 British Empire 16 Hsuan Tsang 38
see also Bactrian gold; Bactrians Buddha 37
Ajanta birthplace 38, 39 independence (1947) 17, 41^2
caves 47, 48, 49, 49 miracle at Saravasti 49 India
ravine 48 statues of 35, 36, 38, 47, 48 in context of the ancient world
Alexander the Great 43^4 Buddhism 37 14-15
Allahabad 48-50 the Ajanta caves 47, 48, 49, 49 Indo-Aryan Period see Vedic Period
Aphrodite, statue of 45 ancient scripture 17 Indus Valley civilization (Harappan
archaeological sites 9 festival 15 civilization) 10, 18-27
Archaeological Sruwey of India history traced 35-39 descendants of 28-33
(ASI) 17 Mauryan Empire and 11 end 27
archaeologists 14 houses 24, 25
Banerji, R. D. 21-22 carts important sites see Harappa; Kot
Chowdhary, S. N. 35, 36 models of 11, 15 Diji; Mehrgarh; Mohenjodaro
Cunningham, Arthur 37-38, 39 used today 32 hnk with Mesopotamia 23-24,
Jansen, Michael 19-20 Chandragupta II, Gupta emperor 25, 27
Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark 19, 23 50 hnk with Oman 25-26
Khan, Fazal Ahmed 26 Chowdhary, S. N. 35, 36 ivory, carved 44
Lai, B. B. 33 coins
Lycett, Mark 53 found at the Great Stupa of Jansen, Michael 19-20
Marshall, John 22-24 Amaravati 43 Jones, William 31-32
Morrison, Kathleen 52-53, 52 Cunningham, Arthur 37-38, 39
Rao, S. R. 25, 29-31 Kalidasa 51
Sariandi, Victor 44-45 dance 16 Kasyapa I, king of Sri Lanka 51
artifacts Dashabala 36-37 Kaushsimbi 38
Bactrian gold clasp 45 dating, radiocarbon 26 Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark 19, 23
Gupta statue of Avalokiteshvara Devanagari script 30 Khan, Fazal Ahmed 26
11 Dholavira 56 Kish
Gupta statue of Vishnu 51 Dilmun 25 seal found at 23-24
Indus Valley stone figure 24 Dwarka 30 Kot Diji 26, 56
Kushan carved ivory 44 Kushans 44, 44
model boat 26 Fa Hsien 50 Kusinara 38
models of oxen and carts 11, 15 flag, of India 41-42
seals 10, 21-24, 23 Ladakh
statue of Aphrodite 45 Ganges Valley 33, 39 statue of Buddha 35
statue of Buddha 38 gold, Bactrian 44-45 Lai, B. B. 33
stone weights 27 Great Stupa of Amaravati 43 Lai Kot
Ashoka, Mauryan emperor 11, 43 Greeks, ancient 43-44 Gupta pillar 50
pillars 42, 48-50 Gupta Empire 11, 46-51 languages
stupas built by 42 statue of Avalokiteshvara 11 hnguistic paleontology 31
ASI see Archaeological Survey of Sanskrit 30, 31-32
India Hanuyaman (monkey god) 13, 33 Lothal 25, 26
Harappa (city) 10, 24 model of boat found at 26
Avalokiteshvara
Gupta statue of 11 link with Mohenjodaro 24 stone weights found at 27
photographing 19 Lumbini 38, 39
pottery 23 Lycett, Mark 53
Bactrian gold 44-45
Bactrians 43, 44 seals found at 22-24
Harappans Mahabalipuram
gold clasp 45
named 24-25 temples 7, 57
statue of Aphrodite 45
see also Indus Valley civilization Mahabarata (poem) 32
Baneiji, R. D. 21-22
Hinduism 51 archaeology and 30-31, 33
Bangladesh 15
basis 10 carvings illustrating 5, 29
Bodh Gaya 38
makaras in mythology 41 Makaras 41
temple 15
temples at Mahabalipuram 7 Marshall, John 22-24
bones

61
 Mauryan Empire 11 radiocarbon dating 26
Emperor Ashoka 11, 42, 43 Ramayana (poem) 13, 30, 32, 33
Mehrgarh 26-27 Rao, S. R. 25, 29-31
Mesopotamia Rigveda 32
link with the Indus Valley 23-24,
25, 27 Samudragupta, Gupta emperor
Miracle at Saravasti 49 48-50
Mohenjodaro (city) 10, 19-20, 22, Sanchi
24 stupa at 36, 37
citadel 24 Sanskrit 30, 31-32
excavations 24 Saravasti 5
Granary 24 Miracle at 49
Great Bath 20 Sariandi, Victor 44-A5
Great Hall 24 Sarnath 38
Harappan people 24-25 pillar at 42
link with Harappa 24 seals
mound of the dead 21-22 Indus Valley 10, 21-24, 23
seals found at 10, 21-24 Sigiriya 51
water 20-21, 20 Silk Road 45
monasteries, Buddhist 36, 39 Sirkap 43, 44
at Ajanta 48, 49 Sita 33
monkey god 13, 33 Somnathpur
Morrison, Kathleen 52-53, 52 images from temple at 5, 29
Muslims 55-56, Sri Krishna 30
Sri Lanka
Narmada River 21 Buddhism 11, 43, 51
national symbol 42, 42 stories, ancient 13-14
Northern Black Polished Ware storytelling 14
(NBP Ware) 39 stupas 35-38, 39, 42, 43
Great Stupa of Amaravati 43
Oman subcontinent, Asian 14-15
link with Indus Valley 25-26 symbol, national 42, 42

Painted Gray Ware 33 Taj Mahal 55, 56

Pakistan 15, 56 Taliban 44
archaeological disputes 17, technology
55-57, 55 radiocarbon dating 26
paleontology temple sculptures
linguistic 31 of dance 16
Parthians 43, 44 of Saravasti 5
Partition (1947) 15, 55 Tillya Tepe 44-45
photography tsunamis 57, 57
bird’s-eye 19-20, 19
pillars 42, 42, 48-50 Vakataka dynasty 11, 50
Gupta 50 Vedas 31, 32
Piyadassi 43 Vedic Period 10, 31
see also Ashoka Hindu religion and 10
poems 32 Vishnu (god) 51
Mahabarata 5, 29, 30-31, 33
Ramayana 13, 30, 32, 33 war
pottery archaeology and 44, 45
at Harappa 23 water 21
Northern Black Polished Ware at Mohenjodaro 20-21, 20
(NBP Ware) 39 weights, stone 27
Painted Gray Ware 33
Prinsep, James 42-43 zooarchaeology 20

62
About the Author About the Consultant
Anita Dalal has an Indian father Dr. Monica L. Smith is associate
and a British mother and studied professor of anthropology at the
for her doctorate in London. She has University of California at Los
traveled many times to India and Angeles. She is also director of the
visited many of its ancient sites. South Asian Laboratory at UCLA’s
Today she is usually accompanied Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, which
by her young son, but complains houses reference material and
that it’s exhausting trying to keep facilities for studying the past of the
up with him. Indian subcontinent. She is
particularly interested in the growth
of early cities, the archaeology of food,
and the role of the ordinary person
in prehistory.

< Statue of a man combining

Indian and Greek influences,
northern Pakistan, second-third
century a.d.

63
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Front cover: llth-12th century sculpture of Vishnu

Staff for This Book from Madhya Pradesh.
Nancy Laties Feresten, Vice President, Editor-in-Chief Page 1 and back cover: This sculpture from a temple
of Children’s Books at Khajuraho shows a prince killing a lion.
Virginia Ann Koeth, Project Editor Pages 2-3: Elephants are teiken to drink from a river
Bea Jackson, Director of Design and Illustration at dusk.
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Lori Epstein, National Geographic Image Sales,
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64
' ALSO IN THE SERIES:

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Egypt
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0-7922-7784-8 0-7922-7826-7 ' 0-7922-7827-5

978-0-7922-7784-2 978-0-7922-7826-9 978-0-7922-7827-6

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0-7922-7783-X 0-7922-5382-5 ,.-0-7922-5384-1

978-0-7922-7783-5 978-0-7922-5382-2 978-0-7922-5384-6

1-4263-0072-7
978-1-4263-0072-1

AUTHOR
Anita Dalai has an Indian father and a British mother
and studied for her doctorate in London. She has traveled
many times to India and visited many of its ancient sites.
Today she is usually accompanied by her young son, but
complains that it’s exhausting trying to keep up with him.

CONSULTANT
Dr. Monica L. Smith is associate professor of
anthropology'at the University of California at Los Angeles.
She is also director of the South Asian Laboratory at
UCLA’s Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, which houses
reference material and facilities for studying the past of
the Indian subcontinent. She is particularly interested in
the growth of early cities, the archaeology of food, and
the role of the ordinary person in prehistory.

Jacket copyright © 2007 National Geographic Society

All rights reserved.

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successes have come at Mohe^o-Daro anid Harappa. Learn about

the city whose name means “Mound oftlie De^d/* Discover how

the urban center around Harappa came to dominate] the upper

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