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India
 Role of Geography
The Earliest Indus River
Civilizations
Harappan India
 Centered along the Indus River in
NW India
 Similar to Mesopotamia and Nile
cultures
 Agricultural economy
Aryan arrival
 Came from Central Asia
 Arrived ca 1500-1000 BCE
 Vedic Age, 1200-600 BCE:\
 Epic stories of Varuna, the mighty
god, and Indra, the warrior god
 Connected with veneration of the
god Shiva
 Invasion of Alexander, 326 BCE
Hinduism
 Vedic Age gave rise to
Hinduism
 Upanishads—philosophical
speculations
 Maya
 Transmigration of Souls
 Karma
 Caste System
Hindu Castes
Brahmins: Profs and priests
Kshatriyas: Military leaders and
politicians
Vaishyas: Farmers, landlords,
businessmen
Sudras: Peasants, servants, laborers
Untouchables (Dalit): Workers in
polluting jobs
(Officially outlawed in 1949)
Buddhism
Gautama Buddha (563 BCE-483 BCE)
“middle way”
Restored the ethical content to Karma
The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an
inherent part of existence; that the origin of
suffering is ignorance and the main symptoms
of that ignorance are attachment and craving;
that attachment and craving can be ceased;
and that following the Noble Eightfold Path will
lead to the cessation of attachment and craving
and therefore suffering.
 The Noble Eightfold Path: right understanding,
right thought, right speech, right action, right
livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and
right concentration.
 Spread under King Asoka (ca. 250 BCE);
virtually unknown in India by 1200.
 Theravada (South East Asia) and Mahayana
Buddhism (China and Japan)
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Mauryan Empire
 First Indian dynasty to control India
 Chandragupta Maurya drove out
Greeks
 Grandson, Ashoka, consolidated
control (r. 269-232)
 Buddhist convert
 Edicts of Ashoka
 India fell into disunity and
regionalism
Ashoka India (3C BC)
Gupta India
 320-550 CE in northern India
 Less militaristic than Mauryan state
 Golden Age
 Helped spread a uniform law code
 Hinduism crystalized during this
time
 Aryabhata—Archimedes of India
Indian Government
 Did not develop the traditions of
China,or the inquiry of Greece and
Rome
 Altered between regional and
national unity
 Not particularly elaborate systems
 Local villages the key to social
cohesion
Coming of Muslim
Rulers
Babur the Tiger (1526)—subordinated
Hindu chieftains to his rule.
 Mughal Dynasty controlled India until
British Imperialists seize power.
 Mughal Dynasty under Akbar (15561605) brings order and stability to Hindu
Country
 Din Ilahi
 Akbar’s successors squander wealth
and attempt to impose Sharia on Hindu
population.

Akbar the the Moghul
Conqueror of India (15561605)
The Spread of the
Mughal Empire
Contemporary India
The Taj Mahal built by
Shah Jahan in the 17C
Brahma: The Creator
Lord Krishna or Vishnu: The
Preserver
Lord Shiva: The Destroyer
“Twining of the Creeper”
from the Kamasutra
Image of Buddha from 13C