History Head Activity

1. (Inside the head) An axe symbolizes deforestation. Harappans deforested the Indus valley to clear land for cultivation and to obtain firewood. Also, Aryan settlers in the Ganges valley learned how to make iron tools such as axes. They used it to clear trees away and establish agricultural communities. The average Aryan might be a farmer, and he would use this land for food production.

(Outside the head) With many groups of people cutting trees and using the land for their farming in the Indus River valley, deforestation started to have an impact. Without any trees, there started to be erosion of topsoil and reduced amounts of rainfall. Over hundreds of years, most of the valley had become a desert. This change reduced agricultural yields dramatically, causing Harappan society to face a crisis after 1900 BCE.

Although humans had an effect on the environment, the environment also had an affect on humans. The flooded house represents this. The Indus River draws its waters from rain and melting snow off of the mountains, raging downhill with much force. It floods annually, sometimes with devastating effect. 

2. (Inside) The sword represents the Aryans' beliefs during their migrations. Since they were an active, often violent group, their main god Indra led them with military leadership. He was stormy and violent, and they believed he trampled enemy forces and opened the way for Aryans. The average early Aryan honored Indra as his hero and told dozens of stories about his great deeds.

The butterfly represents the religious beliefs of the Dravidians, who had a great respect for all living things. They believed in reincarnation, where human souls could take on new physical forms after death, including in animals. When Dravidian beliefs blended with Aryans, they developed into the Upanishads, where people would try to understand the journey of their souls and how to get them to Brahman. Brahman was the ultimate goal of an eternal soul.

(Outside) This image represents how Aryans and Dravidians, who came from different places and had different skin colors, mixed. They intermarried, interacted, and became the foundation of Indian society. 

3. (Inside) The arrows show how Aryans migrated into the region. They filtered over the Hindu Kush mountains. They came in groups, slowly filling the Indus River valley in herding communities. 

(Outside) The four men sitting in chairs represent a council of elders. This was the first government system the Aryans had. Councils of respected elders became the principal sources of political authority. They directed affairs of small states, so the average Aryan citizen would be led by these men. States were republics, governed by representatives of the citizens. 

The two kings fighting represented the enourmous potential for conflict between Aryan states. They formed hundreds of chiefdoms led by a leader known as a raja, who worked in collaboration with a council of village elders. The men of one village often raided the herds of the neighboring village. Ambitious chiefs also sometimes sought to conauer neighbors. An everyday farmer might have to watch out for attacks from neighboring chiefdoms. 

4. (Inside) The cow represents the Aryans' main economy when they entered India. They had a pastiral economy, keeping sheeps, goats, horses, and herds of cattle. The average person in an Aryan group would probably have herded cattle or another animal.

The ship represents trade. Harappans engaged in trade with neighboring peoples in Persia, the Hindu-Kush mountains, and Mesopotamia. An average person trading in a Harappan society would have used a ship following the coastline of the Arabian Sea between the mouth of the Indus River and the Persian Gulf. With Sumerians they traded copper, ivory, pearls, and semiprecious stones for wool, leather, and olive oil.

(Outside) Eventually herding societies developed into agricultural societies, which led to cities being formed. Population increased enough in the Ganges River Valley that many Aryan groups formed cities. This would be a dramatic change for an Aryan group who had been used to migrating and herding all their lives. 

5. (Inside) The giant male symbol next to the tiny female symbol represents the strongly patriarchal society that developed in Aryan groups. Men had already dominated Aryan society. Priests, warriors, and tribal chiefs were all men, and women had no public authority. The common Aryan man could expect to inherit property and be the leaders of the community. In fact the Lawbook of Manu, which dealt with priper moral behavior, placed women explicitly under the control of men.

The man hugging his knees to his chest and looking sad represented the "Untouchables". These were people who performed dirty and unpleasant tasks, and theoretically became so disgusting and polluted from their work that people of higher status refused to touch them in fear of being polluted themselves. The average Indian citizen would probably be a little higher up than these, and would make sure to avoid associating with them at all costs.

(Outside) These two men represent the caste system that developed when Aryan and Dravidian groups mixed. Aryans, who refered to themselves as "noble peoples" were "wheat colored" while Dravidians had darker skin. Aryans used the term varna, which meant "color" in Sanskrit, to refer to the major social classes. This was a racist system and could affect the average citizen well or poorly, depending on where he was born and his skin color.