Download India Beginnings - A Cultural Approach

India’s Beginnings
SSWH2:a-b
Time and Geography
ECONOMIC/ SOCIAL
INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION
AND EARLY TRADE
• Earliest Indian civilization found in plains of
Indus and Saraswati Rivers
• Indus Valley civilization origins still unknown
• Trade with north and west before agriculture
• Farming began 6000 BCE
An Indian farmer
INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION
AND EARLY TRADE
• By 4000 BCE, region had dense population and
fortified farming villages
• 3000 BCE, explosive growth - towns became
cities
• Huge trade network linking eastern
Mediterranean, East Africa, Arabia, Asia
Indian city
Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
• 2 cities on Indus River with over 100,000
people
• Many small towns
• Physical layout
– Fired brick structures
– Streets at right angles
– Buildings 2/3 stories high – unusual
– Sewage canals from houses to larger canal
• Powerful government - theocracy
View of the
site's Great
Bath, showing
the surrounding
urban layout.
Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
• Both cities constitute one civilization: Dravidian
• Mystery about Dravidian’s still remains because:
– writing not yet been deciphered
– long period when this civilization was forgotten
• Know almost nothing about religion, government,
society, scientific and intellectual accomplishments
• Prosperous until about 1900 BCE
• Decline:
– Abandonment of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
– Landslides hampered irrigation, malaria epidemic, land became
alkaline and nonproductive
– Invasion of Aryan nomads
RELIGIOUS
The Vedic Epoch
Aryans
• Early nomadic, horse-breeding people of ancient Asia
• Aggressive ways terrorized agrarian Indian civilizations
• Vedas, ancient oral epics, written after invasion describe
Aryans as:
– Indo-European speakers, worshipped gods of sky and storm,
used bronze weaponry and horse-drawn chariots
– Rigveda (oldest Vedas) says raja led his war-loving, violent folk,
and magic-working priests
– In time, ruled all northern India with center on Ganges River
– Gradually settled down as farmers, townspeople
– New iron technology and introduction of rice cultivation
Beginnings of Caste System
• Four groups
–
–
–
–
Brahmins - priests, highest rank
Kshatrija - warriors
Vaishya - freemen, farmers, traders
Shudra - non-free
serfs
Beginnings of Caste System
• Classes evolved into complex castes
– Caste is social unit into which individuals are born,
dictates everything of their daily life
– Status of person cannot be changed
– Special duties, privileges
– High-caste person has little contact with lower castes
Caste System
• Stratification still continues today
– By 18th century, over 3000 sub-castes
• Inhibits any type of change
– Nearly impossible for person to climb up social ranks
– Limits political power to highest ranks
– Discourages/prohibits cultural innovation by lower
ranks
• Indian society became highly stratified, immobile
Hinduism
• Fourth largest religion in the world – one billion
• A way of life, philosophical system, inspiration
for art, basis of all Indian political theory
• Mix of Aryan beliefs and native agrarian cultures
• Principles of patriarchy, class conscious society
Hindu symbol
Hinduism
• Laws of Manu
• Major difference – tangible world is illusory,
person has to accept their fate in earthly life
• Caste-based, ritual formalism
Hinduism
Basic principles and beliefs
• Non-material unseen world is the real and permanent
• Universe works as a Great Wheel with events and lives
repeating themselves never endingly, (samsara)
• individual dies, but soul is immaterial and undying
Samsara depicted
Hinduism
Basic principles and beliefs
• karma determines the next caste into which it will pass
– Karma: tally of good and bad then ‘justice’ is rendered
– Dharma: code of morals for one’s caste
• Many gods, most important being
– Brahman, life force
– Shiva, creator and destroyer
– Vishnu, preserver
Hinduism
• Moksha
– Final release from reincarnation when one has lived a perfect life
– End of individuality, soul is submerged into a world-soul
• Three new modes of thought appeared
– Jainism
• Philosophy emphasizes sacredness of all life
• Practiced by 2% of high-caste people
– Buddhism
• One of the great religions of the world – 3rd largest membership
• Democratic nature: anyone who seeks the divine can experience it
in the Buddhist nirvana
– Bhakti Hinduism
• gods have more personal attributes, more approachable
• Individual seek spiritual fulfillment by devoting to individual gods
Buddhism
• Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, or
Enlightened One
– His life is well documented
– Became teacher of large group of disciples
– His teachings eventually were more important
in China and Japan, than in
India
The
Buddha
Teachings of the Buddha
• Basic ideas
– Everyone can attain nirvana (release from earthly
woes)
– Release comes from self-taught mastery of oneself
– Gods have nothing to do with it
– Way to self-mastery is through Four Noble Truths and
the Eightfold Path
The
Buddha
Teachings of the Buddha
• Four Noble Truths
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–
–
–
All life is permeated by suffering
All suffering is caused by desire
Desire can only be overcome by attaining nirvana
Way to nirvana is guided by eight principles
Eightfold path
Teachings of the Buddha
Eightfold Path
• Right (righteousness) ideas, thought, speech,
action, living, effort, consciousness, meditation
• Anyone who follows these steps will conquer
desire, be released from suffering
• Suffering and loss are caused by desire for
illusory power and happiness
• Once one sees these are not desirable,
temptation will vanish
• Then will find serenity of the soul, harmony with
nature and people
Buddhism
• Buddhism spread among Indians of all backgrounds
– Popularity from its democracy of spirit
– Everyone can discover path to nirvana
• After his death, Buddhism split
– Theravada
• Stricter version
• Claims to be the pure form of his teachings
– Mahayana
•
•
•
•
More liberal, sees doctrines as initial step, not the ultimate word
Many ways to salvation
There are many buddhas, many more will appear
Followers far outnumber stricter adherents
ECONOMIC/ SOCIAL
Daily Life in Ancient India
• Self-governing Indian villagers controlled by seasons,
caste, local tradition, with feast days of the deities
• Rural misery today is recent phenomenon
• Plenty of suitable agricultural land
• When shortages happened, people could emigrate to
new area
• Today, shortage of agricultural land
The Position of Women
• Began in near-equality, possibly matriarchy
• Lost equality in Vedic Hindu era
• Customs became established like widow’s
suicide, isolation from all non-family males
• Woman’s dharma was to obey, serve husband
and sons
• Emphasis on female sexuality
– Woman seen as more sexually potent than man
– Possibly a personification of goddess
of destruction, Kali
Kali, goddess
of destruction
RELIGIOUS
Buddhism’s Spread
• Land routes from northwest made invasion possible
• Most intruders adopted Indian culture and Buddhism
• Little cultural exchange with China
– Extremely difficult to cross Himalayas or Burma’s jungles
• Exception was export of Buddhism to China in 1st
century CE
– Mahayana deeply affected Chinese culture
– Most of China’s educated class became Buddhists
– This was possibly the most far-reaching single cultural event in
world history
– Chinese passed Buddhism to Korea,
Vietnam, Japan
The Buddha
POLITICAL
THE MAURYAN DYNASTY
• Political vacuum with retreat of Alexander the Great
• Founded by Chandragupta Maurya - political unity
• Arthsastra – hard-bitten government policies
emphasizing “the end justifies the means”
• Ashoka (ruled 269-232 BCE) – 3rd emperor
– Founding spirit of Indian unity and nationhood
– Spread Buddhism in India, encouraged religious
tolerance
– Period of internal prosperity, external peace
– Became a devout Buddhist and pacifist
• Decline:
– Successors were weak, conquered by invaders
– New peoples became sedentary, adopted
Buddhism
– Political unity disintegrated
Ashoka
TRADE AND THE
SPREAD OF BUDDHISM
Buddhism
• Invaders, Aryans, Greco-Macedonians, Persians, Turks
and Afghani Muslims, adopted settled habits and
enriched Hindu-Buddhist culture
• Export of Buddhism to China through Silk Road trade
• Buddhism entered Chinese cultural life, blended new
ideas with traditional Confucian practice and ethics
Trade
• Buddhists taught that trade contributed to everyone’s
welfare
• Extension of trade along sea-lanes to Southeast Asia:
port of Tamluk, and monsoon winds
Discussion Questions
1. The caste system which still characterizes
Indian society began in the Vedic Era. What do
you see as the differences between castes and
classes? Which provide mobility? What
advantages can you see in the caste system?
2. Ancient Indian religion centered on Hinduism
and Buddhism, two of the great religions of the
world. What common threads do you see
between them? What comparisons can you
make between these two religions and
Christianity?