Download Ancient India and China

Ancient India and China
The Subcontinent
• Huge peninsula
• Pushes out into the
Indian Ocean
• India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Nepal,
Bhutan, Sri Lanka
Mountains
• Himalaya
• Hindu Kush
• Eastern and Western
Ghats
Rivers
• Ganges
• Indus
• Brahmaputra
Regions
• Indo-Gangetic Plain;
aka the Northern
Plain
• Deccan Plateau
• Coastal Plains
Monsoons
• Seasonal wind that
dominates the climate
of South Asia
• Flooding in Calcutta
(NYT 7/6/07)
• Flooding on the
Brahmaputra
Indus River Valley Civilization
• 2600-1500 BC
• Well organized
government
• Cities are MohenjoDaro and Harappa
• Grid; streets, houses
plumbing, sewers,
warehouses
• Farming; trading;
polytheistic
Mohenjo-Daro
Street Scenes
Arrival of the Aryans
• 1500 BC Aryans
migrate into the valley
• No cities, no physical
remains;
• Iron weapons and
tools
• Nomads who turn to
farming
• Social groups ranked
by occupation
Aryan Social Classes
Brahmins
Kshatriyas
Vaishyas
Shudras
The Vedic Age
• 1500-500 BC; What
we know of the
Aryans comes from
this time
• Vedas; Hymns;
Chants; Religious
Rituals; Sanskrit
• Polytheistic
• The Mahabharata and
the Ramayana
Hinduism
• No single founder,
combination of Aryan
and Indus Valley
beliefs
• No single sacred text;
Vedas
• Brahman; single
spiritual force
• Polytheistic; Brahma,
Vishnu, Shiva
What You Need to Know
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Atman-universal self
Moksha-union with Brahman
Reincarnation-rebirth
Karma-what goes around comes around
Dharma-religious or moral duty
Ahimsa-non-violence
Caste
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Social organization
Rigid
Born, live, and die in it
Rules to ensure social
purity
• Stable social order
• Grown to include
thousands of subcastes
• Outlawed recently
Buddhism
• Siddhartha (563 BC)
• Hindu
• The birth of the
Buddha
• ‘Enlightened One’
• The Four Noble
Truths
• The Eightfold Path
• Nirvana
The Four Noble Truths
• All life is full of
suffering, pain, and
sorrow
• The cause of
suffering is desire,
aka non-virtue
• You must crush
desire
• Follow the Eightfold
Path
Basic Beliefs
Hinduism
Many gods
Brahman
Caste
Priests
Karma
Dharma
Reincarnation
Buddhism
No gods
Nirvana
No caste
No priests
Karma
Dharma
Reincarnation
Maurya Empire
• 321-185 BC
• Chandragupta unifies
northern India
• Taxes; roads; stateowned factories
• Secret police
The Maurya Empire
Ashoka
• 268 BC
• Greatest, most
beloved of all rulers
• Converts to
Buddhism; rejects
violence; rules by
moral example
• Edicts
• Sends missionaries
Ashoka’s Empire
Ashoka’s Law Code
• Edicts scattered in
over thirty places in
India, Pakistan,
Afghanistan
• Ten rock edicts on
pillars (stupas) 40-50
feet tall
• Sanskrit; Buddhist
principles dominate
his laws
The Gupta Empire
• Golden Age; 320-540
AD
• Peace and prosperity
• Math; medicine,
physics; philosophy
• Arabic numerals and
the decimal system
• Decline due to weak
rulers, civil war,
invaders
The Gupta Empire 320-647
Rise of Civilization in China
• Center of the Earth
• Himalayas; Gobi
Desert; Rainforest;
Pacific all block
movement
• Trade with the Middle
East and India
• Invaders
• All are absorbed into
Chinese civilization
Bronze Age Dynasties
• Shang; 1766-1122
BC; clan government;
social classes
• Zhou; 1122-256 BC;
Mandate of Heaven to
justify taking control
• Zhou establish
feudalism; money
economy; population
growth; expansion of
empire
Mandate of Heaven
Belief Systems
• Confucius; 551-479 BC;
Siddhartha and
Socrates
• Social order and
harmony-not interested
in spirituality; Analects
• Relationships;
Superior/inferior
• Duties, responsibilities;
filial piety; implied
contract
Daoism
• Lao-zi
• Not interested in
order of human affairs
• Live in harmony with
nature
• Dao- ‘the way’ of the
universe
• Society is unnatural;
government is cause
of problems
System of Writing
• Begins about 4000
years ago
• Oracle bones
• Lots and lots of
characters; both
pictographs and
ideographs
• Calligraphy
Strong Rulers
• 221 BC Zheng
becomes Shi Huangdi
the First Emperor
• Unifies China under the
Qin
• Based on Legalism
• Burns books to quiet
dissent; tortures, kills,
enslaves enemies
• Abolishes feudalism
• Great Wall
The Great Wall of China
More of the Great Wall
Han Dynasty
• 202 BC-220 AD
• Expansionist; Go into
Manchuria, Korea,
Vietnam, Tibet
• Silk Road; 4000
miles; network of
trade routes from
China to India to the
Middle East
• Civil Service; wealthy;
male
Buddhism
• By AD 100
missionaries and
merchants had
brought the religion to
China
• Appealing because it
offers an escape from
suffering
• By 400 AD it had
spread throughout
China