Transcript Classical Civilization

Classical Civilization
India
The Roots of Civilization in India
Geography of India
• India is a huge triangular peninsula
• Sometime called a subcontinent
• Made up of three basic regions
• Himalayas
• Northern Plains
• Deccan or southern plateau
Himalayas-world’s highest mountain
Himalayas
• Provide barrier to north from China
• Rugged climate, freezing temperatures, few people
South of Himalayas
• Wide stretch of plains with Indus & Ganges Rivers
Deccan Plateau
• Forms most of Indian peninsula
• Relies on monsoons for water
• Volatile weather systems create uncertain farming
Indus Valley Civilization
• Territory of Indus Valley much larger than
civilizations of Egypt & Mesopotamia
• Early civilizations found around 2500 BC
• Cities of Mohenjo Daro & Harappa
• Cities had indoor plumbing & sewer systems
Life in the Indus Valley
• People were polytheists
• Built brick houses – two story
• Became sea traders with ports on the
Arabian sea
Arrival of Aryans
• Aryans came around 1500 BC
• Indus Valley declined around this time
• Aryans
• Lighter skin
• Spoke Indo-European language
• Classified as warlike nomads
• No written records
Vedas
• Knowledge of Aryans comes from Vedas
• Four sacred texts
• Vedas are collection of hymns, prayers, wise
sayings
• Most important Rig-Veda
• Shows Aryans liked fighting, singing, chariot
races
• Worshiped natural forces, like the sun
Aryan Society
• Aryan society had a class system
• Warrior-nobles
• Priests
• Common people
• Male & female roles clearly defined
• Men warriors & raised cattle
• Women raised crops, wove cloth, ground
grain, & tended children
Rajah
• Rajah in Aryan society was the
chief
• Slowly an evolution began
• Rajahs set up their own kingdoms of
small villages
• Ruled as a hereditary leader
• More rigid class structure
developed
Aryan Rajahs-Class System
• Class system turned into a rigid
unchangeable system
• Four classes with its own dharma
• Code of conduct
• Classes
• Priests or Brahmins
• Warrior/Nobles or Kshatriya
• Common People or Vaisya
• Laboring class or Sudra
Caste system in India
• Developed over 1,000 of years
• Very strict rules & customs
• Cannot associate with someone of lower
caste
• Outcasts or untouchables
• People who commit serious crimes
• Perform the worst jobs in society
Hinduism & Hindu Society
• The religion of early Hindus people & Aryans
developed into Hinduism
• Upanishads
• Hymns & poems of the Vedas
• Collections of writings
• Ideas of right & wrong
• Ideas of universal order & human destiny
Hinduism General Facts
• World’s third largest religion
• 800 million followers
• Most adherents live in India
• Historical roots are in the caste system
• Developed over thousand of years
• Blended early religions of Aryans & Dravidians
• No single founder or leader of Hinduism
Concept of Universal Spirit
• Hinduism has concept of universal spirit as
do most Eastern religions
• Universal spirit is responsible for what
happens in universe
• This spirit encompasses humans
• All human souls (called atman) are pieces of
the spirit trapped inside a physical body
What Happens when you Die?
• Greatest desire of human soul is to unite
with the universal spirit
• When you die you have this opportunity
• Each person has a karma
• A destiny shaped by years of cause & effect
• Your outward indication of your karma is the
caste you live in
What Happens when you Die?
(Continued)
• Attached to karma is dharma
• Dharma is your set of duties to perform
• If you have fulfilled your set of duties or your
dharma--- then
• the atman will be reincarnated in the next life to
a higher caste
Hinduism & caste system
• Members of Brahmin caste in original Aryan
religion had attained their status
• Through many reincarnations
• Higher castes have the opportunity to attain
moksha
• Moksha is reunion with universal spirit
• Caste system in modern India is illegal
• Buddhism was very critical of Hindu caste
system
Is Hinduism polytheistic?
Universal Spirit & individual gods
• Simplistic to say that Hinduism is polytheistic
• All the gods are part of the universal spirit
• Is Hinduism is actually monotheistic?
Major Hindu gods
Vishnu—the preserver
• Vishnu is the second god of the Hindu triad
• Known as preserver of the universe
• Represents mercy and goodness
• Said to be the cosmic ocean nara, meaning
water
• For this reason, he is also known as Narayana, or
"one who moves on the waters"
Vishnu
Hindu gods often portrayed with multiple
hands or mudras (hand signals)
Vishnu
Shiva—the destroyer
• Shiva is the destroyer of the world
• Responsible for change in the form of death
and destruction
• Also, responsible for positive sense of
destroying the ego
• Includes shedding of old habits
Shiva
Seated on tiger skin; tiger skin represents the Mind
Vedas
• Doctrines of Hinduism stem from the Vedas
• Epic poems sung by priests
• Eventually written down
• Rig Veda most significant
• Deals with deities: Indra & Varuna & their
relationship with humans
Hindu Poems & Stories
• Mahabharata
• World’s longest poem
• Ramayana
• Represents the fulfillment of dharma, especially
relationships of husband & wife
• Bhagavad-Gita
• Best known story in Hinduism (part of
Mahabharata)
• About the warrior Arjuna
Bhagavad-Gita
• Warrior Arjuna must go to battle against his cousins
• His charioteer (god Krishan in disguise) reveals
to him nature of human soul (atman) & cycle of
rebirth
• Poem is moral guideline as are all Hindu poems
• You could start reading the Hindu poems at birth
and never finish by end of your life
The Bhagavad-Gita
Our bodies are know to end,
but the embodied Self is enduring,
Indestructible, and immeasurable;
therefore, Arjuna, fight the battle!
he who thinks this Self a killer
and he who thinks it killed,
both fail to understand;
it does not kill, nor is it killed.
The Bhagavad-Gita
It is not born,
it does not die…
it is enduring, all pervasive
fixed, immobile, and timeless…
The self embodied in the
body of every being is indestructible;
you have no cause to grieve for all these
creatures, Arjuna!
Belief of Reincarnation
• There is a “world spirit” or “supreme
principle” called Brahman
• This spirit present in everyone & living
creatures
• All are part of the “world spirit”
• Goal of a Hindu is to return to Brahman
• Be absorbed into this universal spirit
• Takes more than one lifetime (reincarnation)
• Speed of absorption depends on ones karma
Karma
• All of the good & bad acts of ones previous
life
• Good karma means you will be born into a
better life
• Caste system fits with this belief
• Brahmins at top with knowledge of Vedas
• Must perform correct dharma within your class
to achieve good karma
Important Components in Hinduism
1. Attain perfect understanding
2. Reincarnation
3. Reach enlightenment or develop a
relationship with the "universal spirit“
(known as Mokṣha)
Key Elements in Hindu families
• Close family ties
• Obedience to elders
• Women run household, care for children,
obedient to husbands
• Little independence
• Could not remarry
• Husbands give wife luxuries
• Jewelry (gold– inheritance)
Buddhism
• Began in Ganges River valley with
Siddhartha Gautama
• Siddhartha was from privileged class
• Abandoned his class to seek the meaning
of life
• Experienced enlightenment under bodhi
(boh-dee) tree
Buddhism
• Buddha taught that everyone could reach
nirvana or union with the universal spirit
• Different from Hinduism that related
reincarnating to the caste system
• Hinduism saw individuals going through the
various castes based on their previous life
• Reaching nirvana in Buddhism means not
suffering
Buddhism
• Nirvana in Buddhism is similar to Hindu
belief of attaining moksha
• Moksha, however, could only be attained by
upper classes
• Nirvana can be reached through
understanding the Four Noble Truths and the
Eightfold Path
Buddhism & Four Noble Truths
1. All of life is suffering
2. All suffering is caused by desire for things that
ultimately won’t fulfill us
3. Desire can only be overcome by ending all desire
4. Desire can only be ended by following the
Eightfold Path
Buddhism & Eightfold Path
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Right understanding
Right concentration
Right intention
Right speech
Right action
Right livelihood
Right effort
Right mindfulness
Buddhism & Eightfold Path
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By following the eightfold path anyone can reach
nirvana
Buddhism broad appeal is that anyone can
achieve satisfaction in life
Buddhism
• Buddhism was advanced by King Ashoka in
India & by through the trade routes
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•
Silk Road
Indian Ocean Trade
The Silk Road
Silk Road
• Silk Road extended overland from Xi’an, China to
eastern Mediterranean
• Began in 2nd century BCE when a Chinese general
made it to the Tarim Basin in central Asia and
discovered “heavenly horses”
Silk Road
• Chinese had many goods to trade, especially
highly prized silk
• Now willing to trade silk for horses
• Tarim Basin connected to the western trade
routes
• By 100 BCE Greeks could buy silk from
Mesopotamian traders who had traded with
the nomads of Tarim Basin
• Goods made it all the way to Rome although
Romans & Chinese probably never had
contact
Silk Road: What was traded?
• Traders going west from China carried peaches,
apricots, cinnamon, ginger, spices, & silk
• Traders going east carried alfalfa (for horses), grapes,
pistachios, sesame, and spinach
• Other things: stirrup (major innovation) came from
Afghanistan and made its way both to China &
Europe
• Ideas!: Buddhism and Christianity, customs
• Much of Silk Road held together and managed by
nomads of central Asia (provided protection)
Indian Ocean Trade
Indian Ocean Trade
• Indian Ocean traders traveled back and forth
from one of its three legs
1. Southeastern China to Southeast Asia
2. Southeast Asia to the eastern coast of India
3. The western coast of India to the Red Sea and
eastern coast of Africa
Indian Ocean Trade
What was traded?
• Ivory: from Africa, India, and Mesopotamia
• Frankincense & myrrh (fragrances): from southern
Arabia
• Pearls: from Persian Gulf
• Spices: from India & Southeast Asia
• Manufactured goods & pottery: from China
Differences in Sailing Vessels
Mediterranean & Indian Ocean
• Mediterranean Sea very calm water
• Sails large and flat to pick up wind
• Ships had rows & stayed close to shore
• Indian Ocean
• Strong seasonal winds making navigation difficult, so
lateen sail (triangular) was used –more maneuverable
• Boats smaller than used in Mediterranean
Mediterranean ships
Lateen sail for rough monsoon
waters
Trans Saharan Trade
• Prior to Classical Age Sahara Desert served as a
natural geographical barrier between Sub-Saharan
Africa and those living in north and east
• Introduction of camel (probably around 1st century
BCE) made it possible for trade caravans
Saharan Trade
• Technological advancement: camel saddle
allowing trade goods to be transported
• Desert salt was a strong trading
commodity
• Traders from Sub-Saharan Africa brought
forest products, kola nuts and palm oil for the
salt
• Items from Sub-Saharan Africa would
make their way to Eastern Africa & then
into Indian Ocean trade networks
Chronology of Classical India
• 563-483 BCE
• 326 BCE
Life of Buddha
BCE Alexander the Great’s Army
reaches western India
• 322-185 BCE
Mauryan Empire
• 269-232 BCE
Reign of Ashoka
• 200 BCE-150 CE Division of Buddhism (Theravada
& Mahayana schools)
• ca. 50-250 CE
Kushan Empire in northwest India
• ca. 320-550 CE Gupta Empire
Mauryan Empire
• Alexander the Great’s expedition into India
disrupted the governmental system in
northwest India (Indus River Valley)
• Persian King Darius had been there in 518
BCE
• Alexander in 326 BCE
• Political vacuum was filled by
Chandragupta Maurya & Mauryan Empire
first imperial state
• Mauryan Empire (322-185 BCE)
• Chandragupta drew a treaty with heirs of
Alexander and set boundary in the north along
the Hindu Kush mountains
Chandragupta Maurya
• Perhaps followed Alexander the Great as a
model-- formed a strong monarchy with a
powerful army
• He was a cynical realist favoring political
centralization
• Chief adviser was Kautilya who wrote a
manual for leaders
• Very similar to Legalist thinkers who followed
the Zhou in China
Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya
• Lived in great
splendor
• Surrounded by an
entourage of women
• They cooked his food,
served his wine, &
lulled him to sleep with
music
The successful historical
show that began in 2010
Mauryan Life, Institutes, & Networks
• Estimated population of that time was 50 to
100 million people
• Capital was at Patna on Ganges River
Patna
• Largest city of the world at that time
• 500, 000 residents
• Timber walls around the city
• 21 miles in circumference, 570 towers,
surrounded by a moat of 900 feet
Height of the Mauryan Empire
• Reached it height under King Ashoka whose
name means “Sorrowless”
• Was the grandson of Chandragupta
269-232 BCE
Ashoka
• Rose to power under bloody campaigns of
eliminating rivals and gaining territory
• Had a transformational experience and
became a Buddhist
• Look in the future to John Newton
• Early edicts were carved into rocks and sand
pillars boasting of enemies slain & captured
• Late edit proclaimed: “the greatest victory is
the victory of righteousness”
Ashoka the Buddhist
• Spent remaining years of his life
promoting pacifist ideas
• Shaped laws around Buddhist teachings
• Sponsored public works: hospitals &
medical care provided by state
• Planted trees, dug wells, developed parks
• Did not demand that individuals convert,
but worked to treat all fairly
• Ultimately, the effect was to create
political legacy of a leader who had a
divinely sanctioned role is a cosmic
scheme
Decline of Mauryas
• Ashoka rule with popular claim, but within 50
years after his death, Mauryans were
overthrown & empire destroyed
• End of Mauryan Empire set different pattern
than that of China
• China: long periods of unity interspersed with
short intervals of political fragmentation
• India: periods of unity, very brief, followed by
prolonged fragmentation
• India, however had very strong cultural unity
Gupta Age 320-550 CE
• Gupta Age is considered by Indians as their
golden age
• Economic prosperity and tolerant government
• Major developments in science, medicine,
mathematics, & literature
• Roman Empire was in steep decline and
China had another chaotic period between
the Han and Sui Dynasties
Gupta Empire 320-550 CE
Gupta Empire: Government & Economy
• Gupta family & allies carved out empire
about the same size as Ashoka
• Government was decentralized with
autonomy outside of the core, but their was
allegiance
• King Chandra Gupta II (375-414) recognized
as the overlord;
• the southern part of India did not come under
his influence, but there was no resistance to his
rule
Gupta Empire Economy
• Strong evidence of internal and external
trade
• India became the textile center of the world
• Produced calico, linen, wool, & cotton for export
by sea and land
• Exported jewels, pepper, spices, & timber
• Exports went into Middle East, Europe, and far
east China
• Gupta government favored business
• Low taxes
Gupta Culture
• Tremendous domestic peace, personal
freedom, religious tolerance, & fair justice
system
• Chinese visitor, “The people are very well off,
they kill no living thing, & criminals are fined
according to circumstances.”
• Guptas helped build a Buddhist monastery
• They built a university at Nalanda
• Students came from all over Asia to study logic,
medicine, and Hindu philosophy
Gupta Society & Gender Relations
• Patriarchy became more dominant over time
• Mahabharata warned men, “not to put
confidence in a woman or coward, a
lazybones, a violent man, a thief, or an
atheist.”
• Women in southern India did have more
status based on goddess worship in the
religion
• Kama Sutra
Gupta Society & Gender Relations
• Gupta India was not a golden age for women
• Code of Manu devised by Bahamans said, “in
childhood a female must be subject to her
father, in youth to her husband, and when her
lord is dead, to her sons; a woman must never
be independent”
• Many girls pledged to marriage by their fathers
before puberty
• Ancient custom of sati, women jump into a fire
killing themselves when husband dies
Sati
• Outlawed in 1829
• Last known and highly publicized case was in 1987
• In the Vedas: performing sati relinquishes the husband
from all his sins
• Guarantees the wife heavenly bliss
• If not performed woman comes back as a woman again
Gupta Science & Mathematics
• Gupta India became the world’s
leading producer of scientific
knowledge
• Major astronomers,
mathematicians, & physicians
• Aryabhata (AR-ya-BAH-ta) ca. 476550
• Taught that the earth was round,
rotated on its own axis, & revolved
around the sun as a family of
planets
Gupta Science & Mathematics
• Aryabhata analyzed quadratic
equations and the value of pi
• Greatest Gupta achievement was
the concept of zero
• Base could have been any number
and Guptas probably picked 10
because of 10 fingers
• Guptas great in chemistry
• Made soap, cement, & first
tempered steel
Guptas Other Achievements
• Developed yoga and the power
of the mind over the body
• Physicians discovered the
function of the spinal cord
• Developed holistic herbal
medicines
• Doctors learned to sterilize
wounds, do Caesarian
deliveries, & perform plastic
surgery
Gupta Culture and Arts
• Great period for literature and performing arts
• The lute, vina, and sitar came alive in Gupta
India
Decline of the Guptas
• Last half of the fifth century the Huns
invaded the Indus Valley
• Huns had been unsettling Europe
• Soon the empire disintegrated, and other
Central Asian invaders followed the Huns into
north India
• By 650 CE India had entered a period of
fragmentation, political instability, & frequent
warfare
• This opened the door of conquest by the
Muslims