Transcript Chapter 35 Ancient and Modern India

Modern India
1947 to the Present
Indian Languages
Indian History
• Indus River Valley
– Fertile river valley
– 1st Indian Civilization
– Peninsula surrounded by water
– Himalayas in the North
– Monsoons: seasonal winds: droughts/ flooding
– Isolation
– Ganges River: Sacred River to Hinduism
Indus Valley Cities
• Harrappa and Mohenjo-Daro
– Laid out in a grid
– Mostly farmers
– Aryan invaders 1750 BC
– Vedic Age 1500 BC to 500 BC
– Vedas Sacred Writings/ Aryans
– Blending of Dravidians and Aryans
Mauryan Empire
• 1st united Indian Empire
• Well organized gov’t
• Rule was harsh
• Chandragupta 1st leader
• Grandson Asoka turned to Buddhism
• Tried to spread Buddhism
• Peaceful rule
Hinduism
• Terms
– Brahman: universal spirit
– Reincarnation: rebirth of the soul into a new
body
– Karma: deeds/actions of a person
– Dharma: responsibilities of a person
– Ahisma: non violence
Hinduism
• Religious Indian Literature
• Provide moral guidelines for living &
behavior
– Upanishads
– The Ramayan
– Bhagavad Gita
– The Vedas
The Caste System
• Hindu beliefs of karma and dharma support
the caste system
• Difficult to change
• Social groups/ born into/can’t change during
lifetime
• Determines marriage, friends, food,
occupation, where you live
The Caste System
• Orders Indian Society
• Limits social and economic progress
• Discrimination against untouchables
• Members need to know responsibilities
(dharma)
Buddhism
• Founder Siddharta Gautama
• Buddha the Enlightened one
• Ultimate goal is nirvana
• The Four Noble Truths
– All life is suffering
– Suffering is caused by desire
– Eliminate suffering by eliminating desires
– Follow the eightfold path to overcome desires.
Comparisons between
Buddhism and Hinduism
• Share belief in karma, dharma, and
reincarnation
• Buddhism rejects the caste system
• Rejects many of the Hindu gods and
priesthood
Gupta Empire
• Contributions
– Zero and decimal system
– Arabic numerals
– Medicine small pox vaccinations
– Architecture: stupas
British Imperialism
• Sepoy Rebellion
• Indian National Congress
• Gandhi
• Differences in language and religion
prevented unity
Imperialism
• Positives
– Railroads
– Telegraph and postal systems
– Irrigation systems
– New laws
– Education
– Healthcare
– New technology
– Parliamentary form of gov’t
Imperialism
• Negatives
– Indian resources go to Britain
– Cash crops
– British made goods replace local goods
– Top jobs go to British
– Indians are treated as inferiors
– Britain tries to replace Indian culture with
western ways
– Social Darwinism and the White Man’s Burden
Rowlatt Act and the Amritsar Massacre
• Over 1 million Indians enlisted in the British Army in WWI
with the promise of eventual self rule.
• Treated as second class citizens after the war.
• Rowlatt Act allowed the British to jail protestors without
trial for as long as two years.
• Western Educated Indians felt this violated their
individual rights.
• Violent protests in Punjab
• 10,000 Hindus and Muslims flocked to Amritsar for a
festival and peaceful protest.
• British Troops open fire for 10 minutes
• 400 Indians were killed and 1200 were wounded
Amritsar Massacre
• Over night loyal British Subjects became
revolutionaries.
• Rise of Mohandas K. Gandhi as leader of
the independence movement.
Gandhi
• Hindu leader of the Indian National
Congress
• Encouraged use of passive resistance, civil
disobedience, boycotts & non violence
against the British
• Salt march to defy British tax on salt
• Against mistreatment of untouchables and
women
• Favored Indian production of homespun
textiles
• Next he protested against the
English Salt Tax.
• Here he leads his fellow
freedom fighters on a march
to the sea to make their own
salt from sea water instead of
buying the expensive English
salt with its extra tax.
• The English army beat up
Gandhi and his followers and
threw them in jail when they
tried to make their own salt
from the sea.
• But Gandhi and his friends
kept coming back and back
until the English gave up.
1942
spinning
Gandhi was inspired by Ruskin’s
ideal of self-reliance
He taught Indians to provide for
themselves and not depend on
the British
The spinning wheel became the
symbol of independence, and
was used on the flag of the Indian
National Congress.
Gandhi Impact
• Leadership led to Indian Independence
• Beginning of changes in treatment of
untouchables and women
• Others began to follow the nonviolence
approach
Partition and bloodshed
• 1946 violence Muslims vs. Hindus
• Four days 5 thousand killed
• Muslims wanted own nation
• British partition India in 1947
• India Mostly Hindu
• East and West Pakistan mostly Muslim
Summer 1947 Rivers of Blood
• 10 million people on the move
• Hindus leave Pakistan
• Muslims leave India
• Sikhs to East Punjab part of India
• 1 million die including Gandhi
The Battle for Kashmir
• Northern part of India next to Pakistan
• Hindu ruler
• Majority of people Muslim
• War
• UN gives a 1/3 to Pakistan 2/3rds to India
• Both countries continue to fight over Kashmir
today
1947 World’s largest Democracy
• Jawaharial Nehru 1st Prime Minister
• Emphasized democracy, unity and
economic modernization
• Government based on British Model
• Non aligned nation took aid from US and
USSR
• Socialist economy
Green Revolution
• Use of modern fertilizers
• Use of modern technology
• Use of modern seeds
• To increase Food
Production Very Successful
Political Violence
• Sikh Extremists took over The Golden temple at
Amritsar (1984)
• Want own country
• Indira Gandhi sends in troops 500 Sikhs killed
• Sikhs kill Indira Gandhi
• Political violence widespread
21st Century Challenges
• Unstable nation
• Unchecked population growth
• Religious instability: violence among Hindus,
Sikhs and Muslims
• Social Inequality
• India vs Pakistan both have Nuclear Weapons
• New Leader: Atal Bihari Vajpayee
India Facts
• India is one of the ten nuclear state in the world
•
Has a labor force of over 509 million, 60% of which
is employed in agriculture and related industries
•
India is the second most populous country, and the
• most populous democracy in the world.
•
•
It is the world’s 4th largest economy in terms of
purchasing power.
•Environment - current issues
• deforestation
• soil erosion
• overgrazing
• desertification
• vehicle emissions
• water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of
agricultural
•pesticides
• tap water is not potable throughout the country
• huge and growing population is overstraining
natural resources
Review India
• Gandhi against partition of India at
Independence
• Gandhi wanted Muslims and Hindus to
live together
• Civil unrest, ethnic rivalries, religious
violence.
Modern India
Pakistan Copes With Freedom
• 1947 Separated and divided states of East and West
Pakistan
• East Pakistan Larger population
• West Pakistan seat of government ignored the East
• 1971 Civil War East Pakistan: Bangladesh
• Million people die
• Major cultural and economic differences caused East
Pakistan to become Bangladesh
Pakistan
• Series of Military governments ruled for many
years
• Benazir Bhutto elected Prime Minister twice>
Importance She is a woman
• Pakistan is a Islamic State
• Military leader now rules Pakistan/ Allied with
US
Bangledesh
• Very Poor nation per capital income is $360 per
year.
• Crippling natural disasters
• Low lying country
and tidal waves
subject to cyclones
• Massive storms regularly destroy crops, land
and kill people
• Cyclone in 1991 killed 139,000 people
Sri Lanka
• Off the southeast coast of India
• ¾ of the people are Sinhalese, who are
Buddhists.
• 1/5 are Tamils who are Hindus.
• Tamils want their independence from the
Sinhalese