Chapter 13: The Mystery of the Harappan Society
"Review time!" Kida cheered. "Do the Aryans sound familiar?"
"They were the people who pushed the Indo-Europeans out of India," Otulissa said confidently.
"Yep. Okay, review's over, because that's all I told you about the Aryans. You don't really need to know about their society or their politics, or even their deity Indra, but you do need to know what they did.
"In 8000 BCE, Neolithic societies were built on the west side of the Indus River, and by 3000 BCE five thousand years later, they had begun full out agriculture. The local residents grew wheat, barley, and cotton, and kept cattle, sheep, and goats, similar to their western neighbors.
"Now, I know that when I said 'the Aryans pushed people out' you guys thought I was talking about the Aryans conquering the land and actively forcing people to up and go, but in truth, the Aryan Intrusion into India was a mass migration in 1500 BCE.
"I'm not saying there was no conflict; the Aryans from Central Asia fought with the native Dravidians over India's rich resources, each trying to hold his own home on the land. But eventually, in around 1000 BCE, the two races had mingled enough through intermarriage that they had fused into a single new culture, the Harappan society.
"The Harappan society is a big mystery. We don't know how it started because we only have artifacts from its golden period, and we haven't decrypted its writing system, either, so we don't have any records of its origin, or anything else, really.
"We do know, however, that the Harappan society is similar to any other civilization, especially Mesopotamia and Egypt. I believe I mentioned the Indus River they depended on? Just like the Nile or the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia that surrounded the Fertile Crescent, the Indus flooded its banks, thereby creating fertile soil, and this, as you well know…
"I've already said this. Many times. Anyone feel like reiterating for me?"
"More food," Gylfie began.
"Which led to a bigger population," Twilight continued.
"And cities," Soren added.
Kida raised her eyebrows. "Nice. But that wasn't all; you forgot the specialized labor bit, which is kind of important. I mean, just picture the Tree without your blacksmith."
They all shivered somewhat at that.
"And you also forgot, although I don't think I made a big point of this, that the river was a major transportation device. It carried boats, the people on the boats, and, in merchants' cases, the people's goods easily from city to city. You'll basically find that where there is a well, there is a way.
"What?" Soren wondered aloud.
"A well is the water source of the humans. What I meant was that the humans used waterways to get from landmass to landmass.
"And as for the cities, well, the term 'city' is a very loose term that describes any economic or political (or both) center. The closest thing you guys seem to have is your Tree, but the Tree doesn't have any city-walls for defense, or religious temples, or a marketplace-"
"We have a 'marketplace,'" Otulissa protested. "It was where I…" She trailed off, unable to bring the word 'bought' followed by 'you' to her beak.
Kida ignored the potential offense. Instead, she simply smiled at her guardian. "But it's not there all the time, I presume?"
"Well, no-"
"Then it's not an actual marketplace. Anyway, cities also had public buildings-"
"What about the Great Hollow?" Digger put in.
Kida opened her mouth, thought for a moment and then let her breath go. "Touché."
"I'm sorry?" Coryn asked for the owls, puzzled.
"Touché." Realizing they didn't know what she meant, Kida elaborated. "Meaning you have a point that I can't counter – at least at the moment.
"Now, does the owl world have a single writing system, or are there multiple ones?"
"…Krakish is spoken up in the North and has a different language, and we were just exploring Jouzhen," Otulissa replied a little hesitantly.
The odd creature lightly smacked herself in the head. "Duh," she muttered. "Right. I remember Krakish, but I bet it'll be too old to do any good. Anyway, Krakish is spoken in the North, right? Still is?"
"Yes," Gylfie confirmed.
"And Hooligan is spoken in the South? And this Jouzhen, it's spoken in a kingdom you guys have never heard of?" They nodded. "These areas are blocked off from each other. If I'm reading this map right, and I desperately hope I am," Kida said as she observed the map of the current Owl Kingdoms, "the Ice Narrows separate the North and South and you guys said that the Sixth Kingdom was across the sea. There you go. Natural barriers that prevented mingling between these three linguistic groups."
"What's the point of this?" Twilight asked irritably.
"The point is, you can tell that the separate parts of each group all belong within a bigger group.
"I did not explain that very well.
"Okay, there are multiple Southern Kingdoms, but they're all part of the same region. We know that, but how would an outsider tell?"
"By recognizing the linguistic similarities?" Otulissa immediately responded.
"Yes," Kida said, pointing at her with a finger. "Because of their common language. Or any commonalities, really. For example, the cities Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were both recognized as units of the Harappan society despite the distance between them because they had the same standards in measurements, political system, architectural styles, and currency, which just gives it away."
"Currency?" Coryn asked.
Kida looked at him in a deadpan. "Currency is a much easier way to trade. Instead of saying 'I'll give you this for that' and haggling over worth, currency allows merchants or vendors or whoever to put fixed values of worth on their goods and gets rid of the highly inconvenient necessity to drag twenty-six dead chickens to the marketplace or something."
"…Ah."
Kida nodded and continued. "Once again similar to the other civilizations we discussed, the concept of wealth was born in the Harappan society, and it, in turn, caused social classes to emerge. Sadly, there was a big difference between the rich's and the poor's lifestyles, something that this world doesn't have, and thank goodness for that.
"Another sad thing is that that is pretty much all we know about Harappan society. Like I stated before, we ironically cannot read the many written records that are stored.
"That's the same reason I can't tell you anything about the Harappan society's politics.
"And as for religion, well, that is a relatively easy subject. The Harappans have shown a deep concern about fertility." Kida's cheeks took on a slightly pinkish hue. "They were polytheistic like many of their time, believing that the gods and goddesses had created Earth and nature, which they also considered sacred from the animals to the trees.
"It is believed that the Harappan religion had a strong influence on the future religion called Hinduism, which I will get to soon.
"Now, when I said 'picture an Egyptian city,' that was slightly inaccurate. The Harappans did not make giant pyramids or tombs or palaces or whatevers for their leaders. Instead, more like Mesopotamia, they had a highly advanced water and sewage system that carried these things to and from the cities. Let me just put it this way: owls would have no need for the later.
"As for other technology, well, I'm just going to say that they were experts with the metallurgy of their time and move on.
"I need to highlight something important about India," Kida told them. "It is very wealthy. Like, VERY wealthy (Trader Mags would adore the place) and as such, the Harappans were a wealthy group of people.
"Usually, such wealth would draw jealous foreign attackers, like we saw in Mesopotamia, but not so.
"No, instead, we don't know much about the Harappan society's ending, much like we don't know about its beginning." Kida suddenly became very solemn. "Do you remember what I said about how humans had a hugely negative impact on their surroundings?"
Otulissa shivered at the new, cold atmosphere.
"This would be a good example. The Harappans deforested their land for firewood and cultivation, causing erosion and desert to form. This ecological degradation could have been the cause of the powerful society's demise, since if there's no good land, then there's no food.
"It's also possible that while they did destroy their environment, unrelated natural disasters were a bigger cause; it's hard to build cities in the midst of floods and earthquakes. Just think of how this place would crumble in them.
"A pretty good guess is that the cities were disbanded as the land crumbled around the residents. Of course, not everyone left, and like I said before, some migrants came, attracted by India's wealth. These migrants had a similar impact that the Aryans did: they helped create a brand new society. However, the newcomers' population was very small and as such, the new culture that formed was much more heavily influenced by the original residents of India.
"The foundation of India's first major religion, Hinduism, is a perfect example of this."