Download Lecture Notes_India

Eight Parts:
Vedas:
 Vedic Age
 Indus Valley disappears after 1750 BCE
o No central authority for irrigation
o Kinship groups depending on herds
 Aryan migration
o People from the Caucasus
 Knowledge comes from religious texts (Vedas)
 Earliest texts of what came to be known as Hinduism
o Not known as Hinduism then
 Patriarchal
 Ganges Plain
o New tools
 Iron
 Able to clear/cut trees, plow fields = agriculture
 Rise in population
 Aryas vs Dasas
o Aryas
 Light skinned
 Indo-European languages
 Northern India
o Dasas
 Dark skinned
 Dravidian languages
 Pushed south by Aryas
Caste System
 Varna “color”
 Purusha: the universal pervading spirit: sacrificed
o Born into one of four classes
o Brahmin (mouth): priests and scholars
o Kshatriya (arms): warriors and officials
o Vaishya (thighs): merchants, artisans, and landowners
o Shudra (feet): peasants and laborors
 Shudra originally would’ve been Dasas “slave”
 Eventual fifth group: “Untouchables”
o Other groups avoided them
o Leather tanning
 Jati
o Subdivisions of the varna
o Occupation, duties and rituals
o Lived, married, ate within jati
o High class feared interaction with lower class
 Purification rituals to remove stain
Dharma
 Role in life based on birth and caste
 It is better to fulfill your own dharma poorly than doing someone else’s well.
Samsara
 Reincarnation
 Cycle of rebirth
 When you die, your soul (atman) transfers to another living thing as it is
being born
 If you fulfill your dharma, you are re-born into a higher being
 Karma
o Deeds performed in past and present lived that adheres to a
“spirit” and determines what form it will assume next
 You are where you deserve to be and the only way t improve your lot in
the next cycle of existence is to accept your current station and duties
Religion
 Sacrifice
 Brahmin priests controlled the sacrifices
o Knowledge was the basis of their economic well-being
o They were rewarded for sacrifices and their knowledge gave them
social and political power as they were the indispensible
intermediaries between gods and humans
o Resisted writing in order to preserve control
Moksha
 People who rejected the hierarchy of the castes retreated to nearby forests
o Symbolized freedom from social constraints
 Some charismatic leaders began to attract a following
 Called into question the Brahmin’s exclusive claims to wisdom and the
necessity of Vedic chants and sacrifices
 Yoga
o Offered an alternative path to salvation: the individual pursuit of
insight into the nature of the self and the universe through physical
and mental discipline, special dietary practices and mediation
 Distancing oneself from desire from the things of the world could allow
one to achieve Moksha “liberation”
o “deep, dreamless sleep”
Jainism
 Maharvira
o Known by followers as Jina “the Conqueror”
 Emphasized the holiness of the life force animating all living creatures
 Nonviolence
 Masks to prevent inhaling small insects, and they carefully brushed off a seat
before sitting down
 Practiced extreme asceticism and nudity
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Ate only what they were given by others
And eventually starved to death
Less zealous Jainists who were restricted from agricultural work by the
injunction against killing were city dwellers engaged in commerce and
banking
Buddhism
 Siddhartha Guatama
o Buddha
o “the Enlightened One”
 Came form a Kshatriya family
 “Prince” life
o Abandoned family to become a wandering ascetic
o After six years of self-deprivation, he regarded asceticism as no more
likely to produce spiritual insight than the luxury of his pervious life
o Middle Path
 Moderation
 Sitting under a tree near Benares on the Ganges River he
gained a sudden and profound insight into the nature of reality
 Four Noble Truths
o 1. Life is suffering
o 2. Suffering arises from desire
o 3. The solution to suffering lies in curbing desire
o 4. Desire can be curbed if a person follows the “Eightfold Path” of right
views, aspirations, speech, conduct, livelihood, effort, mindfulness,
and meditation
 Buddhism
o Centered on the individual
o Not rejecting gods but denied their usefulness to seeking
enlightenment
o Moderation
 In order to minimize desire and suffering
 Searching for a spiritual truth through self-discipline and
mediation
 Nirvana
 “snuffing out the flame”
 release from the cycle of reincarnation
 state of perpetual tranquility
 NOT atman
o Individual as a composite without soul-like
composition that survived upon entering nirvana
 Death of Buddha
o No final instructions
o Urging his disciples to “be their own lamp”
o Spread to Central, Southeast and East Asia
o Monasteries were established and a hierarchy of Buddhist monks, and
nuns
o Stupas
 Earthen mounds symbolizing the universe
o Mahayana Buddhism
 Began to worship Buddha himself as a god
 Bodhisattvas
 Those who have reached Nirvana but chosen to stay and
lead others to Nirvana
 Stupas
 Erected by Ashoka
 New gods
 Saints
 Myths
o Theravada Buddhism
 Strictly the teachings of Buddha
Ashoka
 Quasi-Buddhist principles
o Particularly because of relational goals rather than individual spiritual
enlightenment goals
 Dhamma
o Proper behavior towards servants
o Proclaimed his benevolent rule
o Stupas and Pillars erected to remind his subjects of his benevolent
rule
Hinduism
 Derived from Vedic religion
 Brahmin
o Still the priests and sacrificed however less central to the religion
 More opportunity for direct contact to gods
 Polytheistic
o Gods could take many forms
 Assimilated parts of Buddhism
o Worshipped Buddha as another incarnation of Hindu gods
o Rather than purging Buddha, enveloped him
 Ideal life passes through four stages:
o Students and studies sacred texts
o Becomes a householder, marries, and has children and acquires
wealth
o Once grandchildren are born, he gives up his house and family and
becomes a forest dweller, meditating on the nature and meaning of
existence
o He abandons his personal identity altogether and becomes a
wandering ascetic awaiting death
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Through these four stages he fulfills his Dharma: fulfills duties to society,
then to himself, and by the end is so disconnected from the world, he can
achieve Moksha