Harappan agriculture declined because farmers had less access to river water for irrigation. As food supplies decreased, people could no longer support city life and abandoned the cities, Brahmanism supported the power of both priests and kings because the Brahmans preached that the gods granted the right to rule to the kings., The map shows that Aryan migrations moved from the north (crossing the Hindu Kush) into India, spreading south and east., The Aryan migration into India was important because it led to the establishment of a new Indian civilization after the Harappan civilization declined., The Aryans had a huge cultural impact on religion, class, and language, and their Vedic civilization eventually expanded, adopting agriculture and forming villages, chiefdoms, and kingdoms., The main purpose of the Vedas was to record religious rituals and hymns that told historians what life might have been like in the Vedic period., Polytheism is the belief in many gods. The Aryan religion was based on polytheism., Aryans believed in an afterlife and that death was a transition to another existence. They believed proper rituals and burial practices were necessary for the soul's journey., The purpose of the Vedas was to preserve religious rituals and hymns and to guide Aryan religious life., Aryans practiced Brahmanism because they worshipped many gods from nature and believed that priests (Brahmans) needed to perform complicated rituals to keep the gods happy., To keep the gods happy, priests called Brahmans performed complex rituals in Sanskrit, the Aryan language., The Harappan civilization's achievements were more closely connected to trade because they built advanced planned cities and used soft stone seals to mark goods for trade., The Vedic civilization's achievements were connected to religion and social structure because they composed the Vedas, developed Brahmanism, created the Sanskrit, and established the caste system., Brahmanism grew powerful because the priests established beneficial relationships with kings., The Brahmans preached that the gods granted the right to rule to the kings, and in return, the kings upheld the authority of the Brahmans., Brahmanism helped create a social class system, with priests at the top. Eventually, this Aryan hierarchy developed into a rigid caste system that was hereditary and could never be changed., These rituals and hymns were eventually recorded in sacred texts called the Vedas. Over time, this religion came to be called Brahmanism.

Aryans

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