Scholar: someone who knows a lot about a particular subject, especially one that is not a science subject

Agriculture: the practice or science of farming

Farmer watering his crops

500 BC1500 BC

1700BC 500 BC

Aryan nomads take control of Indus valley

The mysterious end of the Harappan

civilizationEnd of the Aryan

rule in India

Beginning of Magadha rule

-Ayra means “nobleman.”

-They were a large group of nomadic cattle herders.

-They were a strong group of warriors, whose culture revolved around warfare.

-In about 1500 BC, they settled in the Indus Valley region.

-They changed from being nomadic to settled.

Top: Cattle herders Bottom: Carving of an Aryan warrior

- Having many cattle showed wealth.

- Later, cattle became so important to the Aryans that it was illegal to kill or eat them.

- They learned from the Harappan people that still lived in the region.

- Almost everything we know about the Aryans comes from the Vedas.

- The Vedas are part historical and part mythical.

Illustration said to depict an Aryan person

Possible Homeland

Forest hunter -

gatherers

Farmers & cattle herders

Hunter-gatherer people

- Scholars believe that the Aryans came from Europe because of their language.

- Their language is similar to English, Spanish, and German.

- The Aryans spoke Sanskrit.

- Sanskrit did not have a written form until after the Aryans settled in the Indus Valley.

- The Aryans mixed with the advanced Harappan people to create a culture known as Vedic culture.

- The Harappans were mostly gone when the Aryans arrived, but some still remained.

- Harappans taught the Aryans to become settled cattle herders.

- We do not know what else the Aryans learned from the Harappans, since very few writings remain from the Harappans. The Aryan language of Sanskrit

- Once the Aryans developed a written form of Sanskrit, they wrote the Vedas.

- The Vedas are the four different texts which explain the Aryan gods.

- The Vedas mixed with the native Indian people’s beliefs to form the religion Hinduism.

Above: A picture of the Vedas

Right: Caste system

- Using Hinduism, the Aryans created the caste system.

- The Aryans put the native Indians in the bottom and, of course, put themselves in the top places of the caste.

- There was no way to change your caste.

- The darkest-skinned people were in the lower castes.

- The caste system officially ended in 1950 AD.

- By 700 BC, the Aryans had formed 16 tribal kingdoms known as janapadas.

- Around 500 BC, the greatest janapada, Magadha, began to rule all of India.

- The Aryans did not leave India, although their rule ended.

- Fair-skinned people remained at the top of the caste system.

Kuru

GandharaKamboja

Pancala

Matsya

Surasena

KosalaMalla

Vrji

Anga

MagadhaKasi

Vatsa

Cedi

Avanti

Assaka

-Nomadic

-Cattle herders

-No written language

-History was preserved in oral poems and songs

-Religion was dominated by warring storm-gods and sky-gods

-Settled

-Agriculturalists

-Cattle is worshiped

-History was written in the Vedas

-Religion became Hinduism

*Caste system in place