domestication and after
after the man had been domesticated when he started growing his own food, instead of foraging for it and getting his meat from the animals he reared, instead of hunting for them, he became complacent. he soon found out that it was not an easy life. the crops he grew had to be protected from others who also liked the species. the enemies came from above (the birds), from outside (herbivorous animals) and from ground (the weeds and the pests). fencing had to be done, birds scared away with sound but the weeds were difficult to deal with. it required constant supervision and labour. as all these required lot of labour, the idea of companionship which were inherent in hunting and foraging , started flagging. soon it was 'every one for himself". the idea of private property took roots. the protection of private property assumed significance.
it was the beginning of modern civilization.
with property nourished by persons came inheritance. the hard work on the fields must remain with known persons. quarrels, fights, adjudication, fines and penalties became important. someone had to adjudicate, someone had to control. someone had to lay down the rules and enforce them. this, in due course, gave away to governance and division of labor. the persons who controlled became dependent upon others because they had no time to attend to their food requirement. others had to give to sustain them. in due course, their position became possession which was passed on by inheritance. if you controlled land, you could pass it on to children. but could the controllers pass on the ability to control. nature is cruel. neither intelligence, nor muscle power are due to inheritance. in these circumstances, to keep power within the family, assistance of others was required. it was also needed to enforce the decisions. the police and security personnel became essential.
the nature is not uniform in providing wherewithal for growing food. but man, deprived of this facility, found an easier way of acquiring them. if you can physically snatch them from someone else, all the labour and constant supervision is avoidable. as a result, the raids became norm. this led to ever increasing concentration of population since it is sine qua non to have manpower to defend. villages became town and then cities. and finally kingdoms (the name had not yet been formalized. it might be janapada, realm, domain or some similar words).
within the city, the people were further divided by profession according to needs. the blacksmiths were in great demand, so were carpenters and planners. the last was a community which thought of strategies to thwart hostile forces. this community is credited with advance of civilization. they had beneficial effects as well as non-beneficial ones. new strategies for advancement were devised. better instruments for cultivation were invented as well as more dangerous weapons. but the worse part was introduction of rituals. the planners tried to find secrets of nature and what they could not fathom, they tried to propitiate.
religion was born. the humanity has never been the same since then.
(maybe the saga will continue)
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