Iran and India Before Islam

The Parthian Dynasty (247 BC 223 AD) • Rises in the East of Iran • Long, Endless Wars with Rome • Zorastrians • War with Rome eventually allowed their vassals to overthrow them.

The Sasanid Empire (224-651 AD)

The Sassanid Empire (224-651 AD) • Persian in Ancestry • Intolerant Nationalists • Endless Wars with Byzantium • Extended Family is Base Unit • Elite Classes: Priests, Warriors, Scribes • Common Folk • Agriculture Based Economy

Sassanid Religion • Zorastrian Revival – Chief Priest (Mobar) Tosar, 225-239 AD –

The Avesta

canon compiled – Mobar Kartir (239-293 AD) -- Convertor of Other Faiths

Manicheanism

Manicheanism •

Mani

(216-77 AD) – Dualistic Religion • Ahura-Mazda vs. Ahriman – Claimed to be root of Christianity, Zorastrianism, and Buddhism – Called his system “Justice” – Executed by Mobar Kartir – Saint Augustine originally a Manichean!

Later Zorastrianism • Orthodoxy Survives • The Teachings of Mazdak (5th-6th century) – Denounced Material Wealth – Asceticism and Social Justice – Wealth Redistribution – Slaughtered by Choroses Anosharvan

The Gupta Dynasty

The Gupta Empire (320-550 AD) • Classical Age of India = Han China, Augustan Rome, or Periclean Greece • Chandragupta (320-30 AD) • Samudragupta (330-375 AD) • Chandragupta II (375-415 AD) • Controls North and Western India • Vassal Kings • Huns: 500 AD, Weakens Empire

Gupta Culture • Cultural Contacts with Eastern / Southeast Asia • Architecture, Painting, Literature Flourish • Age of Kalidasa, the ‘Shakespeare of Sanskrit’ (Unclear time, must be before 634 AD)

Gupta Inventions • Chess • The concept of 0 • ‘Arabic Numerals’ (Our modern numbers) • Medical Science--drugs, bone setting, caesarian sections, skin grafting. • The Kama Sutra

The Development of “Classical” Traditions in Indian Civilization (300-1000 AD) • Solidification of the Caste System:

The Dharmashastra of Manu

(200 AD) – Varna (class) system – Dharma determines duties by class • Brahmin (Priest) • Kshatriya (Warrior) • Vaishya (Tradesperson) • Shudra (Servant) • Outcastes

The Caste System (II) • Jatis--Divisions within a Varna – Hereditary –

commensality

(one may only eat with people of the same or a higher group) –

endogamy

(one may only marry members of the same group) –

trade/craft limitations

(one may only practice one's group's trade).

– Foreigners assimilated by designating Jati for them.

Hindu Religious Life • Rise of Single Diety Cults • Bhakti--Loving Devotion – Meditation --> Devotion to a God – Bhakti inside is achieved by practice of Bhakti outside – Rise of devotional purity and the

Puranas

– Gods manifest at many levels of reality

Buddhism • Mahayana (Greater Vehicle)--1st century BC • Compassion is stressed • Goal to become a Boddhisatva • Salvation through dedication to Boddhisatvas • Amida Buddha, Master of the Pure Land

Buddhism II • Therevada (“Way of the Elders”) • Focused on Monasticism • Laity earn merit by supporting monks • Monks contemplate and study Buddhist scripture and meditate • Ceylon, Burma, Southeast Asia