Download Lecture 10—Iran and India Before Islam

Lecture 10—Iran and India Before Islam
Iran: The Parthians
The Parthian Dynasty (247 BC-223 AD) arose in the eastern Iranian province of
Parthia in Seleucid times and eventually retook most of the old lands of the
Achaemenid empire, only to end up in a grinding, destructive series of wars with
Rome which stalemated it in the west. They continued Achaemenid tolerance of
other relgions and cultures, though they also upheld Zoroastrianism as the
dynasty's cult. In their last century, they emphasized Iranian traditions over
others, perhaps in response to endless war with Rome. In their last years, the
empire fragmented due to weakness from endless wars with Rome and their
vassals broke free; the Sasanid Empire was founded by one such vassal.
The Sasanid Empire (224-651 AD)
Origins: The Sasanids were Persian in ancestry and rejected even the Parthians
as too foreign, following a policy of intolerant nationalism. The early kings
strengthened royal authority, defeated the Romans (somewhat) and centralized
and rationalized tax collecting, the bureaucracy, and the military. With the
division of Rome into two halves, the Sasanids launched into centuries of
pointless, fruitless wars with Byzantium which only succeeded in setting up both
empires for a curb stomping by Islam in the 7th century. Unlike Byzantium,
however, the rise of Islam totally destroyed the Sasanids.
Society and Economy: The extended family was the basic social unit and society
was divided between the elite classes: priests, warriors, scribes—and the
common folk. The basis of the economy was agriculture and the upper class
increasingly monopolized the land. This crushed down the commoners. Trade
flourished, making merchants and the royal family wealthy (through trade taxes).
Sasanid aristocratic culture drew on many foreign influences despite royal
rhetoric and nationalism.
Religion:
Zoroastrian Revival: The Sasanids deliberately strengthened
Zoroastrianism as part of their Persian nationalism. Chief Priest (Mobar)
Tosar (the first under the Sasanids, 225-239 AD) instituted a state church
and began to comple an authoritative, written canon of the Avesta, the
holy texts of Zoroastrianism. He also instituted a calendar reform. His
successor Mobar Kartir (239-293 AD) set out to convert Pagans,
Christians, Buddhists and especially the Manicheans, to Zoroastrianism.
Manichaeism: Mani (216-77 AD) was born of a Parthian family, raised
in Babylonia. He was a cosmopolitan speaker of many languages. His
teachings, Manichaeism, cast itself as the root from which Christianity,
Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism had emerged, a vision of a universe torn by
dualities—the good world of the spirit against the evil material world,
Ahura-Mazda against Ahriman. He may have been the first person in
history to deliberately set out to create a religion. He called his system
"Justice" and was executed as a heretic by Mobar Kartir. It spread across
Europe and Asia (Saint Augustine was originally a Manichean!)
Zoroastrian Orthodoxy: The Zoroastrian church couldn't destroy
Manicheaism, but it did weather it, becoming the official religion of the
empire and dominating its religious life.
Mazdakite Revolt: Economic inequality led to the preachings of Mazdak
in the fifth and sixth century. Mazdak denounced material wealth and
preached asceticism and social justice through wealth redistribution. .
Ultimately, they were massacred by the forces of Choroses Anosharvan,
the most powerful of the Sasanids.
India: Golden Age of the Guptas (320-550 AD): This is the 'classical' age of India, the
symbolic equivalent to Han China, Augustan Rome, or Periclean Greece. The peace and
stability of Gupta rule allowed Indian culture the space to take on its archetypical form.
Gupta Rule: The dynasty was founded by Chandragupta (ca 320-330 AD) but it
was under his son Samudragupta and especially his grandson Chandragupta (r. ca.
375-415 AD) that the dynasty rose to dominate India. The Guptas controlled all
of Northern and Western India, though they tended to turn defeated kings into
vassals rather than totally absorbing their lands. By 500 AD, however, Huns
overran western India and by 550, the empire collapsed. No one else would unify
as large a piece of India before the Moslem invasions began around 1000 AD.
Gupta Culture: With Rome in decline, India's main contacts were with eastern
and southeast Asia and mainly as a cultural transmitter. Gupta architecture,
painting, and literature all flourished. This was the age of Kalidasa, the
'Shakespeare' of Sanskrit literature. It was a time of emphasis on education:
religious literature, prose and poetic composition, grammar, logic, medicine, and
metaphysics. Chess is invented at this time. This is also the time of the creation
of the system of numbers referred to in the West today as 'Arabic numerals'.
The Development of "Classical" Traditions in Indian Civilization (ca. 300-1000
AD): The Guptas supported Brahmanic traditions and Vishnu worship instead of
Buddhism, which declined; this is the time of the full synthesis of "Hinduism" and Indian
culture.
Society: This is the period in which the hierarchical nature of Indian society
solidified. The Dharmashastra of Manu dates from about 200 AD; it lays out the
four-class (varna) system of society. Every person is born into their life status
due to karma from a previous life. Every station has its particular dharma—
class-determined duties and responsibilities. The old Vedic system of Brahmin
(Priest)/ Kshatriya (Warrior)/Vaishya (Tradesperson)/Shudra (Servant) with nonAryan "outcastes" served to guarantee the power and place of the upper classes.
There was limited social mobility; princes who rose to power from the lower
classes ended up being regarded as Kshatriya eventually.
Jatis: Each class was divided into smaller groups, called jatis. These
divisions reflected specific occupations within the classes. Jati groups are
hereditary and distinguished by three kinds of regulations: commensality
(one may only eat with people of the same or a higher group), endogamy
(one may only marry members of the same group) and trade/craft
limitations (one may only practice one's group's trade). It is the Jati who
are the 'castes' referred to in English accounts of Hinduism.
Adaptability: The Caste System could assimilate any foreigners by
tucking them into new castes. It maintained social stability and allowed
identification of others by dress. It was also the logical result of the idea
of karma.
Religion:
Hindu Religious Life: In Gupta times, Hindu religious life saw the rise
of cults devoted to specific dieties, especially Vishnu, Shiva, and the
Goddess—most dieties were seen as aspects of one of these. Bhakti—
"loving devotion—was a form of worship which arises in significance in
this time. It was a form of meditative practice intended to lead one to
loving devotion to one's god. The main difference between bhakti
philosophy and all others is that the goal is also the means of attaining the
goal. In other words, bhakti, devotional service to the Supreme, is attained
by engaging in devotional service to the Supreme. The difference between
the starting and concluding stages is that in the beginning the activity of
bhakti is a forced engagement, whereas in the conclusion it is a
spontaneous, loving reciprocation. Of especial importance is the rise of
devotional poetry, often expressing pre-Aryan religious sentiments, and
the Puranas, a collection of religious texts central to modern 'grass roots'
religious worship. Most Hindus worship some particular diety as the
Supreme Lord but also venerate the others, as part of the idea that gods
manifest at many levels of reality in different forms; the lesser is part of
the greater. Even nature can be a manifestation of the divine.
Buddhist Religious Life: In this period, Mahayana and Therevada
movements solidified and spread to other areas.
Mahayana: Mahayana ("Greater Vehicle") emerges as a
movement in the first century BC. Its proponents distinguished it
from the monk-driven forms of practice of earlier centuries.
Buddhas were seen as manifestations of a single principle of
ultimate reality and stressed Buddha's compassion. The highest
goal was not nirvana but to become a boddhisatva—one who turns
back from nirvana to help all other beings become enlightened.
Salvation becomes possible through dedication to the
boddhisatvas. The most important Buddha was Amida Buddha,
who presided over the Pure Land, a heaven. Mahayana Buddhism
predominated in China and Central Asia and spread from there to
Korea and Japan.
Therevada: The older "Way of the Elders" focused on the
monastic community but taught that service and gifts to the monks
was a major source of merit for the laity. Therevada emphasized
the monastic lifestyle of contemplation and the study of Buddhist
scriptures. It rejected Mahayana claims of the merit of later
scriptures. India passed Therevada Buddhism to Ceylon, Burma,
and parts of Southeast Asia.