The following description of the Indus Valley civilization is based on A Critical Survey of Indian Thought, by K. Damodaran

Anthropologists have divided social evolution into three stages: Savagery, Barbarism, and Civilization.

·         Savagery – The period in which the appropriation of natural objects ready for use predominated.  The things produced by men were… instruments that facilitated this appropriation.

·         Barbarism – the period in which knowledge of cattle breeding and land cultivation was acquired, in which methods of increasing the productivity of nature through human activity was acquired.

·         Civilization – the period in which the further working up of natural products, of industry proper, and of art was acquired.

Archeological evidence tells us that a civilization thrived in the Indus Valley around 5,000 years ago, at around the same time as similar civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia.   The Indus Valley civilization was based on irrigated farming.   Copper, bronze, silver, and gold were used for utensils, weapons, and other artifacts. “There was production of pottery of standard design”, and there were “specialized craftsmen, including brick makers, carpenters, potters, coppersmiths, glaziers, stone-cutters, goldsmiths, and jewelers”.  There was trade with the outside world and transport by wheeled vehicles and boats.  They were not illiterate, but had developed a pictographic script of about 300 characters.  There were sewers and municipal water systems, fortified citadels and two-story private houses with courtyards and public baths. 

There appears to have been a division of society into classes.  “Spacious double-storied houses of baked bricks, well equipped with many apartments, bath rooms, courtyards, private walls – all stand in contrast to the monotonous rows of small, ill-furnished brick houses without gutters and drains or even proper water supply.”  It appears that menial jobs and the construction of buildings were the work of slaves.

Worship of the Mother-Goddess was widespread.  Worship of Siva or Pasupati (Lord of the Beasts) was prevalent.  The linga or phallus was another object of worship.

This civilization lasted until around 1500 B.C.E., when it was conquered by Aryan invaders, who were still living in the stage of barbarism.  The Aryans were able to conquer this relatively more advanced civilization because they possessed superior weapons of warfare, including “coats of mail, iron helmets and armor”, and trained horses and chariots.

“Ignorant of the laws of nature and society, the early Aryans fell a prey to superstitions, unscientific, and mythological concepts of reality. The external terrestrial forces which controlled their daily life assumed the form of supernatural forces.” Aryan gods like Indra, Varuna, and Surya were endowed “with their own qualities, their own ambitions and emotions, and the great powers they themselves desired to possess. “  In time, the Aryans assimilated various elements of the pre-Aryan culture.

This information is important because it leads to certain conclusions about the correct interpretation of the Samkhya-Yoga philosophy. We know from archeological evidence that Yoga originated in the Indus Valley civilization.  It is likely that Samkhya also originated there.  But the Indus Valley civilization was not a people who were preoccupied with superstitious beliefs and mythological concepts of reality.  They were more concerned with practical knowledge and the means of securing their survival and comfort. The materialist and non-theistic interpretation of the Samkhya-Yoga philosophy  springs from this observation.