In the history of ancient Indian civilization, there was no war on the outside and no conflict on the inside. It prospered for 700 years. Is this a utopia in the legend?
Does utopia exist
The concept of utopia first appeared in the ancient Greek philosopher Plato’s “Utopia”, and the blueprint of utopia appeared in the 16th century, when the founder of British utopian socialism Moore published “Utopia”.
Moore uses Utopia to refer to an ideal society, which is transliterated as Utopia. This kind of ideal social order is well-organized. The government is elected, the officials are highly educated, and the monarch must be elected but life-long; the social atmosphere is harmonious, everyone is equal, and the distribution is based on needs; fighting is almost extinct, everyone is ashamed of war, although war exists , But only prisoners do not kill the enemy.
This is a beautiful blueprint for an ideal society of mankind. It has aroused great repercussions and has a profound impact on the socialist doctrine of later generations. Of course, some people think that utopia does not exist at all. It is a fiction that Mohr satirizes the selfish greed of the upper-class powers and criticizes the current evils.
At the same time, Utopia is a pun. It is derived from the ancient Greek word ou-topos, which means “no place”; but it also refers to another ancient Greek word eu-topos, which means “good place”. Of these two meanings, which one does Mohr use?
No matter what it means, at least no one has ever seen utopia. The development of human society is often accompanied by violence, such as police and prisons. The development of human civilization in the past 5,000 years has the mark of war. And in a sense, violence (war) is one of the driving forces for the development of civilization.
The Babylonian Empire emerged in the Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq region) more than 2500 years ago. It relied on war to establish its country. It flourished for a time and built the famous hanging garden. The Babylonian Empire was part of the Mesopotamian civilization (or Two Rivers Civilization), which was one of the earliest civilizations of mankind. More than 2,200 years ago, the Qin Empire used force to “sweep Liuhe” and unify China, making China the first real unification in the true sense. In modern times, the British Empire also expanded into a “sun never setting” empire through colonial wars.
In human history, authoritarian rule, power worship, conflict and struggle… these have almost never stopped. But archaeologists have discovered a dusty human remains, where there is no tyranny, conflict, or war! This is the ancient Indian civilization, and it is also the most mysterious of the four ancient civilizations of mankind.
It has eliminated conflicts and struggles from the invisible and embarked on a unique path that is completely different from other ancient civilizations. Is this the utopia that really existed? How did it survive, and why did it eventually disappear?
Prosperous without war and conflict
From about 2600 BC to 1900 BC, the ancient Indian civilization prospered for 700 years and then disappeared in the long river of history. It was not until the 1920s that it “reappeared”.
Archaeologists have discovered a large number of towns in the Indus Valley, with a total of more than 1,000, covering an area of more than 800,000 square kilometers. Through archaeological excavations, it was discovered that this must be a prosperous and peaceful society.
First of all, economically, ancient India had a developed handicraft industry, a prosperous trade and a complete system. Due to the Arabian Sea to the south, it facilitates maritime trade. The ancient Indians traded as far as the Mesopotamia, because in the remains of Ur and Akkad cities in the Mesopotamia, archaeologists have discovered objects made by ancient Indian civilization.
The handicrafts of ancient Indians are very delicate. They can precisely drill holes in jewelry and prepare long agate beads. They have made countless small seal stones, which are worn by merchants on their necks. They are used as identification marks, letterheads, signatures and seals. This represents honesty and is also a sign of developed commercial trade. They created a weight unit based on stone weighing mounds to provide weighing standards for commercial transactions. And in some traditional markets in Pakistan and India today, this standard is still in use, and it is used when weighing things that are not too heavy.
Secondly, in cultural life, ancient Indians created characters. Thousands of small seal stones representing identity signs were unearthed, all of which were engraved with delicate words. But so far, this kind of text is still very mysterious. Although it has been deciphered by many parties, it has not formed a unified interpretation.
The ancient Indians have advanced living facilities. When excavating the two largest cities-Xalapa and Mohanjidaro, archaeologists were shocked. Their street planning and sewage treatment are comparable to the modern level. Among them are the earliest known toilets in the world, and the large bathrooms equipped with brick water tanks are very eye-catching.
The ancient Indians were also “even rich and poor.” There are no magnificent palaces and palaces in the ruins, no majestic temples, and no immortal tribute to kings and rulers. There seems to be no hierarchy. All houses and families are similar, and their food and beverages are almost the same. It can be said that “everyone is equal”, other ancient civilizations did not. Lianghe Civilization built the majestic ancient Assyrian temple tower around 2000 BC. It is a large-scale religious building. Later, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon have a great relationship with this. In ancient Egyptian civilization, the pharaoh was revered as the son of the sun god and was regarded by others. Seen as the incarnation of a god, worship as a god.
Finally, in military warfare, the ancient Indians performed miracles. When the archaeologists excavated the remains, they only found hunting knives, spears and other tools; no fortifications were found in major cities, no military regular weapons, armor, or war horses were found. They had no armaments.
Since the excavation of the remains, archaeologists have not found any signs of war in the past 100 years! In other words, the ancient Indians neither launched any foreign wars nor suffered military threats.
This seems unbelievable. Some people have raised questions, but at least from the archaeological excavations, the reasons are not enough to convince the public and there is no evidence.
Gather people’s power without centralized rule
In ancient times, when the productive forces were underdeveloped and the population increased, centralization was the most effective way to gather social forces, but the ancient Indian civilization seemed to be an exception.
The ancient Indians built large-scale flood control projects, maintained a vast commercial network, and gathered people and financial resources to do many major things, but archaeologists have found no signs of centralization.
In the ruins, many cities have stone foundations and huge stone platforms underground. It raises the “altitude” of urban buildings and streets above the annual flood level of the Indus River. Some stone platforms also add some extra stones to heighten individual buildings. The length, width, and height of the stone foundation of Mohanjidaro City are 400 meters, 200 meters, and 5 meters. It is estimated that this requires the mobilization of 10,000 male laborers. Through unified deployment, it will take at least one time for the logistics supply It can only be built in years. If there is no unified coordination, how to organize so much labor?
In commercial trade, lapis lazuli was an important trade product at that time. There was a celestite mine in the northern part of the Indus Valley, and a trading post called Shaotuga (in present-day Afghanistan) developed nearby. However, archaeologists found the same lapis lazuli in Egypt thousands of miles away (this mine is not produced in Egypt). Therefore, the ancient Indians’ trade must have gone far into Egypt, and goods were transported by sea, water and land.
The business network not only extends in all directions, but also has been in operation for 7 centuries. If there is no road connection between the various trade posts on the land, without infrastructure, it will definitely not be able to operate for a long time. It is speculated that the cost of infrastructure construction and maintenance should be guaranteed by a unified tax, and then other rules and regulations (at least in ancient India) can be added to ensure business reputation and continuous trade. Doesn’t this need any organization to unify management?
In order to find a “unified institution”, archaeologists excavated the ruins in depth, but they could not find any institution, only one “ruler”. In fact, this is a bust sculpture. Due to limited information, it is not clear how this ruler exercises his powers, but it is certain that he is related to sacrifices and is therefore called the “Priest King”. He has a beard and a half-closed eyes, and he is thoughtful, more like a “thinker.” He also has a special attire, only wearing a three-leaf cloak on his left shoulder, much like the costumes of Buddhist monks and Hindu priests. Moreover, the trilobal pattern is the symbol of the priest’s clothing in the Lianghe civilization.
Everything seems to indicate that there was no prominent centralized ruler in the ancient Indian civilization, but there was a certain “institutional system” that mobilized social resources and accomplished great things.
Reasons for prosperity
Ancient Indian civilization looks a lot like a utopia, with a prosperous economy and a wealth of life for the people; everyone is equal, and society is cohesive; “not proud of war” and prospered for 700 years without military invasion. This may be related to its superior geographical location.
The Indus River Basin is vast, with the Arabian Sea and the Indus Plain in the south, and hilly and mountainous areas in the north. The Indus River and its tributaries are abundant in water, providing abundant and stable water sources. Wood, semi-precious stones, copper and other metals, as well as various raw materials are abundant. The Indian Ocean monsoon brings a lot of rain every year, which nourishes this land. Therefore, it has everything that it has to offer, there is no need to plunder resources from outside, and there is no need for foreign warfare, and there is no need for centralized rule.
So, will it face foreign invasion? The answer should be no. First of all, geographically, in the east are the Thar Desert and the Aravali Mountains, where there is no one inhabited, and there are no strong and militant nations further east.
Secondly, politically and economically, from the excavation of urban relics in different directions, it has close contacts with Western countries and has very friendly political and trade relations; it also maintains friendly relations with countries in the north and northwest.
Therefore, only the South is most likely to be attacked. Coincidentally, in the remains of the southern coastal city, archaeologists discovered fortifications. At that time, only Lianghe Civilization could invade from the sea. But they have almost no reason to invade. One is that the distance is too far, the other is the close trade between the two sides, and the continuous civil war in the Mesopotamia, expedition is unlikely.
Coupled with the limited ancient navigation technology, large-scale fleet invasions are almost impossible. Therefore, during the centuries-old prosperity period, the possibility of an attack in the south is almost zero.
The final decline
Not because of the war invasion, why did the ancient Indian civilization finally decline?
In the beginning, archaeologists unearthed 14 human remains and speculated that they were arrested and executed for escaping from the city. In addition, between 1900 BC and 1500 BC, large-scale population migration occurred and a large number of people poured out from Central Asia , Impacted ancient Indian civilization. Therefore, it is speculated that the decline of ancient Indian civilization was ultimately caused by the large-scale southward migration of Central Asians, causing conflicts and wars. However, half a century later, the maturity of forensic technology confirmed that these people were not massacred, but died of malaria or other diseases.
If it is not a human factor, is the environmental change the cause? Archaeology found that the climate did change at the end of the ancient Indian civilization. About 2100 BC, the Indian Ocean monsoon weakened, and the Indus River and its tributaries were diverted one after another. The change of the river course directly caused the threat of flooding, and perhaps the city of Mohanjidaro was abandoned. These changes may be caused by crustal activity in the Himalayas, after all, this area is prone to earthquakes. There was an earthquake around 2200 BC, and it destroyed a settlement in the Dolavina area. Environmental changes have made the lives of ancient Indians no longer stable. If the Central Asian migration to the south brings a lot of disturbance at this time, then this is likely to cause civil turbulence and even decline.
In addition, the ideology of ancient Indians may also be one of the reasons for its decline. This is proposed by an expert on ancient Indian civilization, who is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Poser. Indian thought has the Achilles’ heel. Its ultimate philosophy allows people to know who they are and at the same time they know that they can’t change anything. This makes society form stable and orderly customs. In the early days of civilization, this order was helpful for social development, but after development and prosperity, once the outside world changed, it appeared conservative and rigid, and could not be adjusted and responded in time.
In fact, the truth of ancient Indian civilization may only be known until the day when the text is deciphered. At the same time, we will also know whether its civilization is based on war (violence) and whether it is a “utopia”.