Sunday, September 8, 2013

Aryan head project




For this project I had the India societies and I decided to focus mainly on the Aryan society. For the first theme, Patterns and impacts of interaction between humans and the environment, I drew a picture of an Aryan herding cattle on the inside of the head and a picture of the Aryans migration to India on the outside. The Aryan society migrated into India out of Indo-European origin. They relied little on agriculture and mostly on a pastoral economy. So the inside of the head is an Aryan hearing cattle because that is what they relied on while migrating, outside of the head. For the second theme, Development and interaction of cultures, I drew a picture of an Aryan sacrificing an animal to the gods on the inside of the head and what the Aryans believed would happen when the made sacrifices on the outside of the head. The Aryans preformed many ritual sacrifices and some households had to preform as many as 5 rituals a day. This fact was illustrated by the clock on the wall with the hands at multiple times. Also there is a god standing next to the Aryan because they believed the gods would join them during their sacrifices. On the outside of the head is a picture of a light coming down from the clouds symbolizing divine powers. In that light are images of military success, large families, long life's and abundant herds of cattle. For the third theme, State-building, expansion and conflict, I drew a picture of a leader with his followers on the inside and several states with arrows indicating conflicts on the outside. The Aryans developed many chiefdoms, each with their own leader. This leader was know as a raja and governed with them help of the chiefdoms elders. The inside shows the raja and his followers because the people had to obey the commands of their leader. Because of the many chiefdoms, there was much potential for conflict and the chiefdoms often raided each others cattle. this is represented by the picture on the outside which shows several states and arrows indicating conflict. For the fourth theme, Creation, expansion and interaction of economic systems, i drew a picture of a Aryan herding and another farming on the inside of the head, and on the outside it shows the transition of the Aryan society from a pastoral economy to a agricultural society. As mentioned before the Aryan society relied mostly on a pastoral economy. As they migrated into India and interacted with the people there and began to settle they started to rely more on agriculture. the inside picture shows that the Aryans had to heard and farm in order to survive and the outside shows how the migrating pastoral society transitioned to a more settled society with agriculture. Lastly for the fifth theme, Development and transformation of social structures, i drew a picture of a women watching the house on the inside of the head and man standing over two women on the outside. The Aryan society, like most of the world at the time, was a patriarchal society. The inside of the head shows how men believed that women were only allowed to care for the house. This included, cleaning, cooking and raising the children. the outside picture shows that men were dominant over women and that the Aryan society was ruled by them.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Xavier! I really liked your history project about India. One of the things I liked is your illustration of a cloud with a divine light coming out it which shows military success, large families, long life and abundant herds of cattle. I think that it was a very creative and imaginative way to represent development and interaction of cultures in Aryan society. Another thing I liked is that you drew all the images. I think that this shows that you put a lot of time and effort into the project. One way that you could improve your project is by adding color to it to make the pictures more aesthetic. Also, I would recommend making sure that your pictures are legible because the illustration on the outside for the first theme is a bit faded and hard to see. In a way, the Aryan and Mesopotamian societies are similar because they were both patriarchal societies with men being in control of the household and taking most of the decisions. However, in the Aryan society, people often sacrificed animals to please the gods, whereas in Mesopotamia, there was no concept of sacrifice. To conclude this response, I would like to ask you a question. Why did you choose to do gender relations for the fifth theme of development and transformation of social structures rather than the social classes of Indian society?

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