Transcript Slide 1

Classical India 600 BCE-600 CE
I.
Analyze how the further development of Hinduism continued to provide a bond among the people of India and an ethical code to live by
-Describe core beliefs of Hinduism
-Analyze how Hinduism affected India’s society and political system
-Analyze how Hinduism affected gender
I.Analyze how Buddhism emerged and how it asserted universal truths.
-Describe the origins and main ideas of Buddhism
-Analyze how Buddhism affected gender roles and the caste system
-Describe how Buddhism spread throughout Asia
-Analyze how Buddhism changed during this spread
I.Describe how India became an empire and how it politically unified the territory of modern day India.
II.Analyze the methods of political control that the emperors in India developed. How did these build on earlier efforts of the Vedic Age?
-Describe the administrative institutions that helped the Maurya and Gupta emperors organize their subjects.
-Describe the role of the military and efforts by the Maurya and Gupta emperors to increase its effectiveness through road buildings, defensive walls,
fortifications, and building supply lines
-Describe how the Maurya and Gupta recruited soldiers
-Describe how economic policies helped maintain the empire (roads, currencies, promotion of trade)
I.Analyze social and economic developments in classical India
-Describe the role of cities in government, religion, trade
-Analyze social hierarchies and the role of each social class
-Describe how agriculture was organized and how the elites were rewarded for their loyalty to the state
-Analyze gender relations and how patriarchy continued to influence gender relations
I.Describe Indian architecture and scientific contributions of classical India
II.Describe literature in India and how it influenced later time periods and neighboring regions.
Aryan Migration
We know that they were
related to OTHER IndoEuropean people
because of their
language and religious
beliefs that show
similarities to ancient
Greek and Latin
ideologies
 pastoral  depended on their cattle.
 warriors  horse-drawn chariots.
Sanskrit
writing
The Vedas
 1200 BCE-600 BCE.
 written in SANSKRIT.
 Hindu core of
beliefs:

hymns and poems.

lists of the gods
and goddesses.
Classical Indian literature:
Mahabharta,
 religious prayers.
Baghavad-Gita, magical
Vedas spells.
 oldest work.
Varna (Social
Hierarchy)
Brahmins
Kshatriyas
Vaishyas
Shudras
Pariahs [Harijan]  Untouchables
The Caste
System
WHO IS…
Brahmins
Kshatriyas
 The mouth?
 The arms?
Vaishyas
 The legs?
 The feet?
What is a JATI?
Shudras
The Vedic Age
The foundations for
Hinduism were
established.
•How do Hindus
worship?
• Meditation, pilgrimage to sacred places
(Ganges river)
• Pray to different gods, either at shrines or
in temples
• Following rituals (bathing, sacrifice to a
god, taking care of the statue of a god)
• Worship in nature
• Worship depends on jati, gender, and
stage in life
• Om in Sanskrit
– Mantra. Om
is a sound.
HINDUS AND NATURE
Man co-exists with
other forms fo
beings. FLOW OF
ENERGY
Pancha Rathas monolith rock-cut
temple, late 7th century
Classical India
600 BCE – 600 CE
• What empires were there in
classical India? When did
they rule? How much of India
did they rule? What was the
government structure like? How
did they unify their diverse
empire?
Maurya Empire
• Chandragupta Maurya founds Maurya empire around
320 BCE
• Capital Pataliputra in Ganges Valley
• Asoka (269-232) conquers subcontinent, converts to
Buddhism
• Improvements in infrastructure: building of roads, postal
service, irrigation systems,
common
The Maurya
rule ALLcurrency
of India.
• COMMON CURRENCY
• Relies on centralized
bureaucracy,
large army,
• CHARGE
FEES TO USE IRRIGATION
SYSTEM system of
• GOV. CONTROL MAKING WEAPONS
spies
They are going to unite much of India after the death of
Alexander the great
• taxation system relies on taxing farming (1/4th of harvest)
• Collapse of Mauryan dynasty around 180 BCE due to
too high expenses for large standing army
• Jati important in keeping public order
Kushan Empire
• Kushan – Indo-Europeans, invade India
late second century BCE
• Control modern day Afghanistan and
northern India
• Control trade routes to Central Asia and
Middle East
• Collapses 220 CE
• They are going to strongly promote the
spread of the Buddhist religion.
• The
Kushan
Empire
(30-375)
Gupta Empire
• Founded by Chandra Gupta in 320 CE
• They are going to rule the north (a much smaller
area than their Mauryan predecessors.)
• Gupta: taxation system, bureaucracy, road building,
law codes similar to Maurya dynasty
• Relies more on alliances with local rulers, tribute
payments from rulers who opt not to fight Guptas
• They develop the decimal system and the concept
of zero.
• Jati important in keeping public order
• Overrun by White Huns around 550 CE
What was society like in classical
India?
• Hierarchical: varna, jati
• Cut across political boundaries
• Many different languages and cultures,
organized by caste and jati
• Not many contacts between different jati
• Hardly any slavery, but not many rights for
lower caste people
• Land owned by villages, peasants not as
dependent on land lords as in China
• Influential merchant class
What religious changes took place
in classical India ?
• Asoka converts to Buddhism after bloody
military campaign
• Kushan rulers promote Buddhism
• Promote spread of Buddhism to Central
Asia, from there to East Asia
• Gupta Hindu, claim to have been
appointed by Hindu gods
• Leads to decline of Buddhism in India
How did Buddhism and Hinduism change?
• Early Buddhism stresses asceticism, community of
monks, Buddha seen as human being, not a god
• Mahayana Buddhism
- Becomes popular during early centuries CE
- Begins to worship Buddha as god
- Boddhisatvas (enlightened beings) as examples of
spiritual excellence
- Spreads from India to Central Asia and East Asia
- Spread assisted by Buddhist monasteries teaching the
new faith, for example Nalanda near Pataliputra
• Popular Hinduism
- Promises salvation to everyone who follows the dharma
of his/her caste
- Replaces Buddhism in India
SPREAD OF BUDDHISM
• Gandhara Buddha,
northern India
• Buddha at
Suzhou, China
• What does Buddhist art and
architecture look like?
Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan
• Shewdagon
Pagoda in
Yangon, Burma
• 6th to 10th
century
Great Stupa at Sanchi, India
established by King Asoka
What was the status of women in
India?
• Patriarchal society
• Women excluded from holding official
political or religious functions
• Arranged marriage, limited property rights
• Sati
• Less rights for women under Gupta (child
marriage common)
• Buddhism allows women life outside family
(nuns), but still patriarchal
What scientific advances were
made under the Gupta?
• Astronomy: length of solar year
(Aryabhatta), identified seven planets,
understood rotation of the earth
• Mathematics: decimal system, concept of
zero, negative numbers, square roots,
value of pi
• Medicine: inoculation against small pox,
sterilization of wounds, hospitals
What economic role did India play in the “world
economy”? Who was responsible for trade?
• Merchants have high social status
• Merchants run governments in some
coastal towns
• Export of spices (pepper), steel, cotton
cloth
• Trading connections with Mediterranean
(metals, wine, gold), China (silk), South
East Asia (spices)
• Asokan
Pillar at
Vaishali.
Asokan Pillar next to stupa from
2nd cent. BCE
• Gold coin of Kushan emperor
Kanishka I. with a depiction of the
Buddha and inscription in Greek
script.
Examples of Greco-Buddhist Art
• Buddhist
Gods
Panchika
and Hariti
3rd
century
CE
(Kushan
Period)
• Standing
Buddha,
1st
century
CE
• Statue of
Hermes,
a Greek
god
Pancha Rathas monolith rock-cut
temple, late 7th century
Ajanta Caves
Shrine with Statue of Buddha
Court Scene