1. Chapter 3 - India
Early and Classical India
AP World
Hals
2. Indus Valley
Geography of Indian Subcontinent
Juts out from the continent
Includes modern day India, Pakistan, Sri
Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh
Northern border, Hindu Kush and Himalayas
Passage ways in between
Limited contact, but by no means isolated
3. 3 Regions
1 – Well-watered Northern
plain
Indus, Ganges, and
Brahmaputra Rivers
Rivers seen as sacred (river
“lokmata” or “mother of the
people”
2 – dry, triangular Deccan
Raised area of level land,
juts into Indian O.
Arid, unproductive, and
sparsely populated
3 – coastal plans on either
side of the Deccan
Separated from Deccan by
low-lying mountains (E and
W Ghats)
Seas for fishing, highways
for trade
4. Monsoons
“seasonal wind”
October – blow from NE – bringing hot dry air
and withering crops
Late May, early June – blow from SW –
bringing moisture form the Indian Ocean
Monsoon rains are all about balance
By the time they come people are desperate for rain
Too much rain floods and wrecks crops
Too little or late rains causes famine and starvation
5.
6. The monsoon season in India is always awesome and erratic. The death
toll in flooding so far this year has surpassed 500 across India. A
rickshaw puller in Calcutta coped with a particularly heavy downpour
this week.
NY Times July 2007
7. Indus Valley
Civilization in present day Pakistan c.
Emerged
2500 BCE
Archaeologists pretty sure they had
well organized government
Powerful leaders would have made
sure that the thousands of city-dwellers
had supply of grain
http://www.semp.us/images/Biot576PhotoC.gif
Uniform bricks suggest government
planners
Suggest skills in mathematics and
surveying to lay cities out so precisely
Indian vessels sailed to Sumer by
hugging the coast
8. Indus Valley Religion
Clues –
Polytheistic
Mother goddess, source of creation,
seems to be widely honored
Worshiped sacred animals – esp. the bull
**probably beginnings of the veneration of
cattle**
9. Disappearance?
By 1750 BCE quality of life declining
Orderly cities were not as well kept (pottery got cruder)
Damage to local environment?
Too many trees cut down to fuel the ovens of brick makers?
Volcanic Eruption?
Did they find tons of river mud in the streets because a
volcanic eruption?
Devastating Earthquake?
Probably fell completely ~1500 BCE – nomadic people
arrived in even larger numbers from the N
Aryans had slowly migrated with cattle, sheep, and goats,
horse-drawn chariots and superior weapons
Indus River Valley cities were abandoned and forgotten
10. Aryan Civilization
Group of Indo-European people who
migrated across Europe and Asia
Priorities – seeking water and pasture for
horses and cattle
Didn’t build cities or statues
11. The Vedas
collection of prayers, hymns, and other religious teachings
Memorized and recited by priests for over a thousand years before recorded
Vedic Age – 1500 BCE – 1000 BCE
Very little about Aryans is known, most of it is derived from the Vedas
12. Aryans as depicted in the
Vedas
Appear as warriors who
fought in chariots with bows
and arrows
Loved eating, drinking,
music, chariot races, and
dice games
Nomadic herders who
valued cattle (provided food
and clothing)
Even once settled, farmers
measured their worth in
cows and bulls http://www.indhistory.com/aryan.html
13. Rig-Veda is the first epic story, 1028 hymns
dedicated to the Aryan gods
Attributed the rise of the caste system to the gods
Social Classes – people divided by occupation
Brahmins – priests
Kshatriyas – warriors
Vaisyas – herders, farmers, artisans, and merchants
Sudras – Dravidians and non-Aryans, farmworkers,
servants, and low level laborers
**warriors initially most prestigious, but priests
eventually gain upper hand b/c Brahmins alone
could conduct ceremonies to win favor with the gods
Untouchables
14. Aryans felt superior to those they conquered
(Dravidians – who might have been the
descendents of the original Indus Valley people)
Class divisions slowly evolved to reflect social
and economic roles more than ethnic
difference between Aryans and non-Aryans
A more complex system of castes emerges
Castes – people are born into social groups and
cannot change (no social mobility)
15. Aryan Religious Beliefs
Polytheistic – gods and goddesses that embody natural
forces (sun&sky, storm&fire)
Indra – god of war – chief deity
Varuna – god of order and creation
Agni – god of fire – who communicated human wishes to the
gods
Aryans also honor animals like monkey gods and
snake gods
Brahmins offer sacrifices of food and drink
Aryans thought correct rituals and prayers could call on
the gods for health, wealth, and victory in war
16. Evolving beliefs
Some religious thinkers were moving
towards idea of a single spiritual force
above the gods of Vedas called
“brahman”
Brahman believed to reside in all things
Trend toward mysticism
Mystics – people who devote life to seeking
spiritual truth (often through meditation and
yoga)
17. Expansion and Change
Over centuries, waves of Aryans went
through the mountain passes into NW
India
Led by chiefs called Rajahs
Rajahs – skilled war leader elected to his
position by an assembly of warriors
Ruled with advice from a council of elders
made up of heads of families
18. Nomads to Farmers
Settle in the Ganges basin
By ~800 BCE started using iron
Built walled cities with multistory houses
~500 BCE new Indian civilization emerges
Consisted of rival kingdoms
Aryan and Dravidian traditions have blended
Sanskrit has developed and priests start writing
down sacred texts
19. Epic Age – 1000 BCE – 600
BCE
Mixes of history, mythology, adventure, and
religion
These epics depict a more settled and
agricultural society with better organized
political units than during the era describe in the
Vedas.
Evolved over time, priests-poets added new
morals to the tales to teach different lessons
20. Mahabharata – India’s greatest epic
100,000 verses of battles of rival Aryan tribes fighting to
control the Ganges region
5 royal brothers – Pandavas, lose their kingdom to their
cousins
An 18 day battle put the Pandavas back in control and the
brothers restore peace to India
Ramayana –
Story of a hero named Rama and his beautiful bride Sita. Sita
is kidnapped by demon-king Ravana
Rama gets help from Hanuman, the monkey general, and
rescues Sita
Rama is an ideal king and Sita is an ideal woman b/c she
remained loyal and obedient to her husband through many
hardships
22. Hinduism
Vedas, most importantly Rig Veda
Upanishads – appeared 800-400 BCE,
speaks of a universal spirit known as
Brahman
Believe reincarnation – and that the atman
(human spirit) could eventually join the
universal spirit if the human being behaved
ethically
Beliefs eventually called Hinduism
Karma, dharma, gods and goddesses
23. Cremation considered proper burial
ceremony
Cows considered sacred animals, not to
be consumed
24. Founded by Siddharta
Buddhism Gautama (563-483 BCE)
Left his comfy life as a
prince to seek the
meaning of life
Eventually experienced
an enlightenment
Became called the
Buddha, meaning
“Enlightened one”
Shared with his followers,
never claimed to be a god
After death some of his
followers consider him a
deity
Buddhism spreads slowly
25. Two main sects
Theravada Buddhism
strongest in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand,
Laos and Burma (Myanmar). It is sometimes
called 'Southern Buddhism‘
Mahayana Buddhism
strongest in Tibet, China, Taiwan, Japan,
Korea, and Mongolia
Includes Zen Buddhism, Pure Land
Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism
(source BBC: Buddhism 101)
26. The Four Noble Truths
The essence of the Buddha's teachings
It was these four principles that the Buddha came to understand
during his meditation under the bodhi tree.
The truth of suffering (Dukkha)
The truth of the origin of suffering (Samudāya)
The truth of the cessation of suffering (Nirodha)
The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering (Magga)
The Buddha is often compared to a physician. In the first two
Noble Truths he diagnosed the problem (suffering) and identified
its cause. The third Noble Truth is the realization that there is a
cure. The fourth Noble Truth, in which the Buddha set out the
Eightfold Path, is the prescription, the way to achieve a release
from suffering.
(Source: BBC: Buddhism 101)
28. Regional Developments
By 600 BCE, 16 major states existed
Monarchies, republics, you name it
Magadha, a regional state, begins
establishing dominance
Dates: 327 BCE Alexander the Great
pushed into NW India
322 – Changragupta Maurya siezes power
along the Ganges River
29. Chandragupta Maurya
First to unify a bunch of the
subcontinent
Maintains large armies with
thousands of chariots and
elephant-borne troops
Develops bureaucracy
http://www.vishwakala.net/uniportal/info/
info.asp?
Very autocratic
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30. Ashoka
269-232 BCE
Chandragupta’s grandson
Governor of two provinces, continues to
use his military to extend his lands (quite
brutally)
Inspired by Buddhism
spread Buddhism throughout India,
while honoring Hinduism
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/ashoka/ashoka.jpg
Sent Buddhist missionaries to the ME
and Sri Lanka
Builds up infrastructure (trade,
communication, road networks with wells
and rest stops)
31. Successes and Decline
Successes
Buddhism’s presence in India grows and
persists
Reasons for Decline
After Ashoka dies, the empire falls back
into its regional kingdoms
Kushans invade from the NW
Rule until about 220 CE, emphasize
Buddhism, but actually make it less
popular (by associating it with foreign
http://moinansari.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/ashoka-empire.jpg
rule)
About 100 years of instability
32. The Guptas
320 – 535 CE
Greatest period of stability
Autocratic kings and emperors, trying to
negotiate with regional leadership
Many regions had aristocratic assemblies as
well
Claimed religious appointment
Although that idea only appealed to Hindus
33. Not exactly uniformity
No single language, many regional
languages
Sanskrit only the language of the
educated people
Create a demanding tax system
Allow regional leaders to control their
region if they acknowledged the Guptas
authority
34. Uniform law codes
Road building
Developed universities
Kautilya – Chandr.’s advisor had legalist-
ish advice for how to lead; stressed
efficiency
35. The Caste System
The true caste system sets in
Subcastes established; nearly 300 jati
(livings)
Could actually marry down
Caste rules governed marriages,
permissible jobs, social habits (like eating
and drinking)
No state could command full loyalty from
subjects – their first loyalty was to caste
36. Religious Beliefs
Hinduism continues to become the dominant religion of India
Can encourage political and economic goals (artha) and
worldly pleasures (karma)
Very fluid – adaptable to the needs of various groups and can
change with circumstance
Bhagavad Gita – classic sacred hymn about a warrior doing
battle against relatives
“he will not really be killing his victims because their divine
spirit will live on” - Stearns
Ethical concept of dharma much less detailed and prescriptive
than Christianity or Islam
Inner study and meditation
37. Buddhism
Denies validity of the caste system
Upholds idea of reincarnation
Argue holy life could be achieved through
individual effort by people at every level of
society
Denies spiritual value of castes, rituals and
priests
Organize monasteries and monks
38. Nalanda
University Center
Religion, philosophy, medicine,
architecture and agriculture
Over 100 lecture halls, 3 libraries,
astronomical observatory, and a model
dairy
39. Astronomy and
Medicine
Aryabhatta – calculates length of the solar year and improves
mathematical measurements
Earth rotates daily on its axis
Predicted and explained eclipses
Theory of gravity
Identify seven planets
(religion banned dissection, but…)
Bone setting and plastic surgery
Smallpox vaccine
Sterilization of wounds
40. Math
Arabic numbering system
Concept of zero
Decimal system
Concept of negative numbers
Square roots
Table of sines
Calculated pi more accurately than the
Greeks
41. Society
Very tight family unit
Husband dominant
But mutually respectful relationship
between the husband and wife
Young children are doted on
Children expected to work hard
Adults obliged to care for older relatives
42. Economics
Produced fine cotton cloth, calico, and
cashmere goods
Merchants - enjoy fairly high caste
system and the flexibility of the Hindu
ethic
Tamils – S. India traders
Traded cotton and silks, dyes, drugs, gold,
and ivory
Brought in pottery, wine, metals, some
slaves, and gold