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Party Like it’s 2000 BCE
India’s Early History
Tuesday, February 1, 2010
CCSC 8th Grade Humanities
Party like it’s 2000 BCE
Between 2000-BCE and 500
CE, peoples of ancient India
developed:
World’s first planned
streets!
Writing
Sewage systems
Spinning and weaving
cotton
Sanskrit language
Systems of taxes and
justice
Astronomy
Math - the zero!
Vedism
Based upon sacrifices to gods
Gods represented natural forces
Chief god: Indra, god of war and rainstorms
Wrote verses about kings in India and the
caste system
Later developed into Hinduism
Enter Islam
700s CE: Muhammad ibn Qasim
Jizya: tax on non-Muslims
Hindus and Buddhists allowed freedom of
worship
1000 CE: Mahmud of Ghazni raided 16
times, little territory
Motivated by promise of great wealth
and religious belief
Mughal Empire: Akbar
Ruled 1556-1605 CE
Muslim ruler
100 million people (compared to England’s 5
million)
Abolished jizya
Married Hindu princesses
Universal religious tolerance
Hindu population liked him, while Muslims
thought he was a heretic
Mughal Empire: Aurangzeb
1658-1707
Devout Muslim
No gambling, drinking
No dancers, artists, or musicians in court
Restored jizya
Fought with Hindu rulers in southern India
Islam
Monotheistic
Begun by prophet Mohammed
Holy Text: Quran
Forbidden to draw an image of God or
Mohammed
Equality of believers before God
No drinking of alcohol
Hinduism
Polytheistic
Evolved from Vedism
No single founder or beginning
Hindu text: Bhagavad Gita
Discusses caste distinctions
Nature and animals are worshipped
Cows are sacred
Many Hindus are vegetarians
Hinduism: moksha
Priests are called Brahmans (highest
caste)
By following the rules of your caste, you
can be reborn into a higher caste and
eventually reach moksha
Moksha - soul’s final release
Hinduism: gods
Brahma the Creator
Shiva the
Destroyer
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Vishnu the Preserver
Hindu/Muslim Reactions
Muslims disliked…
Caste system
Polytheism
Idolatry
Eating pigs
Muslims liked…
Reservoirs
Science & Art
Hindus disliked…
Eating cows
Hindus liked…
Other religions
Muslim leaders let
them live in peace,
since they were the
majority
British East India Company
Formed in 1600 by a group of English
merchants
Created to capitalize on wealth of
Indian natural resources
Granted a fort in India in 1696 by the
Mughals, later Calcutta
Company nearly went bankrupt
1773 British gov’t appointed a governorgeneral to supervise
British East India Company
Lord Wellesley, 5th governor-general,
decided in 1790s to campaign in India
and conquer land
Wellesley was recalled to England, but
further governor-generals continued to
control British India
Eventually, Great Britain controlled 1/3
of Indian territory and 1/4 of the
population
“Mutiny” of 1857
Laws passed that angered both
Muslims and Hindus
Christian converts from Hinduism were
given right to inherit ancestral property
Sati was made illegal
English was made official language over
Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit
British gov’t could take control when a ruler
died without an heir or was deemed unfit to
rule
“Mutiny” 1857
Enfield Rifle
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How did the British react?
British troops murdered townspeople
Before being hanged, sepoys were
made to swallow beef or pork
Some were strapped to a canon and
blown apart
King Bahadur Shah II, to whom the
sepoys claimed allegiance, was put on
trial and exiled
Two Peoples - Two Standards
British believed themselves superior
Descended from Greek and Roman civilization
Practiced Christianity
British were outnumbered by Indian
population and believed they couldn’t show
weakness or permit defeat
British community always remained British,
never Indian
Discrimination