Download The Indus Valley Civilizations and the Aryans

The Indus Valley Civilizations and the Aryans
Objectives- SWBAT ID the location of the Indus Valley civilizations, list their accomplishments and analyze how they used the environment
around them.

6G.2.1 Use maps, charts, graphs, geographic data and available technology tools to draw conclusions about the emergence, expansion
and decline of civilizations, societies and regions

6G.1.1 Explain how the physical features and human characteristics of a place influenced the development of civilizations, societies
and regions (e.g., location near rivers and natural barriers, trading practices and spread of culture.

6G.1.3 Compare distinguishing characteristics of various world regions (e.g., physical features, culture, political organization and
ethnic make-up

6G.1.4 Explain how and why civilizations, societies and regions have used, modified and adapted to their environments

H.2.1 Explain how invasions, conquests, and migrations affected various civilizations, societies and regions

6H.2.3 Explain how innovation and/or technology transformed civilizations, societies and regions over time
Like Egypt and Mesopotamia, The Indus River Valley civilization was another important
civilization that began along a river. The Indus River flows through what is today Pakistan, Bagladesh,
Nepal, Sri Laka, Bhutan and India in South Asia (Find these countries on a map you little creeps). Natural
borders consisted of mountains and the Arabian Sea, sheltering the civilization from attack and disease.
Water from the river fertilized and
irrigated crops. Proximity to the river
allowed boats to become a viable
transportation option. The development
of widespread irrigation systems allowed
the indigenous population to provide food
for themselves. Wheat and barley were
primary crops, however rye, peas, cotton,
and rice were also grown. Domestication
of animals also served as an important
tool for cultivation and as a source of
food. The economy depended greatly on
trade. Trade was conducted within the
civilization as well as with Mesopotamia.
Advancement in technology led to carts and early boats that were used as the main method of trade and
travel.
Harappa and Mohenjaro-Daro were the two most significant cities built by the Indus Valley
people between 2,500 B.C.E. and 1,500 B.C.E. As with both the Nile River and the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers, The Indus River flooded yearly leaving behind rich nutrients in the soil. The land was excellent
for farming and the river water was used for irrigation. The abundance of food allowed Harappan and
Mohenjaro-Daron cities to flourish. The cities were very advanced. There is even evidence they had
sewers and toilets to carry away sewage.
Little else is known about Indus Valley civilizations but many historians and archaeologists believe
another group of people known as the Aryans migrated into the region took control.
The Aryans were extremely important because their culture influenced modern India’s culture
even to this day. They brought with them the belief in a caste system, the Sanskrit language and a
collection of religious writings and prayers known as the Vedas and Upanishads. All of these later
developed into the Hindu religion which we will study in much more detail later.
Essential Questions:
1. Where were the Indus Valley civilizations?
2. How did the Indus Valley civilizations become powerful and how did they use their environments?
3. List accomplishments of the Indus Valley civilizations.
4. Who were the Aryans and why were they important?
Hinduism
Hinduism-Introduction
Objectives: SWBAT explain how Hiduism began. SWBAT contrast Hinduism with the major monotheistic religions.
6H.2.4 Explain the role that key historical figures and cultural groups had in transforming society (e.g., Mansa Musa, Confucius, Charlemagne
and Qin Shi Huangdi
6C.1.2 Explain how religion transformed various societies, civilizations and regions (e.g., beliefs, practices and spread of Buddhism,
Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism).
6C.1.3 Summarize systems of social structure within various civilizations and societies over time (e.g., Roman class structure, Indian caste
system and feudal, matrilineal and patrilineal societies).
Hinduism began over 5,000 years ago. It is the world’s oldest religion. About 80% of all Indians
are Hindu. Hinduism was not founded (started) by just one person. It began with the Harappan
civilization of India and evolved (changed) over thousands of years with the Aryans. Hinduism also does
not just follow one book. It has a collection of prayers and readings called the Vedas. It also has a
collection of hymns (religious songs) called Upanishads. The Vedas and Upanishads act as a guide to the
Hindu religion.
Hinduism is very different than Judaism, Christianity and Islam. First, both Christianity and
Islam worship one God whereas Hinduism worships thousands of gods. Hindus are allowed to choose
their favorite god. Second, both Christianity and Islam have only one book, the Bible for Christianity
and the Koran for Islam. However, the Vedas are a collection of many separate readings. Lastly, both
Christianity and Islam have one founder, Jesus for Christianity and Muhammad for Islam. Hinduism does
not have one person who began it. It began with the ancient Harappan culture and evolved over
thousands of years.
Essential Questions:
1) How old is Hinduism?
2) Why are the Vedas and Upanishads important?
3) Name the three ways Hinduism is much different from both Christianity and Islam.
Hindu temple in india
Four Important Aspects of Hinduism
Objectives: SWBAT explain and summarize the aspects of Hinduism.
Aspect 1
There are four very important aspects to the Hindu religion. The first important belief of
Hinduism is that there is one Great Spirit in the universe, which is the creator of all life. This spirit is
called Brahman.
However, this spirit can appear as many different gods so the Hindus worship
thousands of gods. Vishnu is one god. Vishnu is the preserver of all life (in other words Vishnu keeps
everyone and every thing alive). Shiva is another god. Shiva is the destroyer of all life. These are just
two examples of Hindu gods out of thousands. All of these gods together make up Brahman.
Essential Questions:
1) What is the first important aspect of Hinduism?
2) What is Brahman?
Aspect 2
Hindus believe all life is sacred and all living things have souls. Our soul is like a ghost that lives
inside us. A soul never dies. After a body dies the soul looks for a new body to live in. This brings us to
the second important Hindu belief called reincarnation. Reincarnation is the Hindu belief that after
someone or something dies its soul goes to live in a new body. In other words the soul comes back to life
in a new body. It could be the body of a person, an insect, an animal or whatever else that lives. To a
Hindu, a spider has a soul just like a person does. One holy animal is the cow. Hindus will not harm or eat
a cow.
Questions:
1) What are the first two important Hindu beliefs?
2) What is reincarnation?
Aspect 3
A third important belief of Hinduism is Karma. Karma is the belief that a person’s behavior in
life will affect how the soul gets reincarnated. If a person behaves well during his or her life then they
will come back to life as someone or something better than before. For example, a person who was a
slave might be reincarnated as a farmer. If a person behaves badly during his or her life then they
might come back as someone or something lower. For example a person could be reincarnated as a rat or
a snake. You are punished for bad things done in your previous life.
Essential Questions:
1) What is Karma?
2) What might happen if a poor person leads an excellent life? In other words, what might they
come back as? What would happen if they behaved poorly?
Aspect 4
The fourth important aspect of Hinduism is the goal to reach nirvana. Nirvana is when a soul
becomes part of the Great Spirit – Brahman. The goal of every Hindu is to eventually stop the
reincarnation cycle of life and just be part of Brahman. This is not an easy task. It takes many
lifetimes for the well behaved. Poorly behaved may never reach nirvana.
Essential Questions:
1) What is nirvana?
2) What are the four important aspects of Hinduism?
3) What is the goal of every Hindu?
The Caste System
Objectives: SWBAT ID the different castes. SWBAT evaluate the role of reincarnation in the caste system.
The ancient Aryans put all people into groups. Each group was called a caste. Castes are social
groups that rank people into high positions in society and low positions in society. The caste system
became part of the Hindu religion long ago. In ancient India there were four main castes. These castes
from most important to least important were the Brahmins (priests), the Kshatriyas (kings and warriors),
the Vaishyas (landowners and businessmen) and the Sudras (workers- peasants and slaves). Another
group of people was totally out of the caste system. These people were called the Untouchables or
Outcastes. These people were considered so low in society that no one from the other castes would go
near them, talk to them or touch them. They had to do the worst jobs like picking up garbage and
cleaning sewers.
People were born into a caste. You could not move up to another caste or move down to another
caste. For example if you were born into the warrior caste you could not move up to the Brahmin caste.
The only way to change castes was through reincarnation. Remember that this is the belief that your
soul is born again into another body after you die. The Hindus believe that if you live your life as a good
person you will be born into a higher caste in your next life. If you live your life as a bad person then
you will be born into a lower caste or even an animal or insect.
The four major castes are also divided into smaller castes called jatis. For example within the
businessman caste there are many jatis. For example a shoemaker is one jati and a tailor is another jati.
A person could not marry or socialize with a person from another caste. For example someone from the
peasant worker caste could not marry a person from the warrior caste. The clothes people wore showed
their caste and jati.
Essential Questions:
1) Who began the caste system?
2) What are the four main castes?
3) Which group of people was considered so low that they were not even a caste?
4) What role does reincarnation play?
The Caste System Today
Hinduism is both a religion and as social system. The caste system determines where you are in
society and the people who you should be with. The castes in which people are born into affect their
jobs, friends, and people they marry. You cannot marry outside your caste. However, within the last 50
years some Hindus have tried to change the caste system because many people feel it is unfair.
Mohandas Gandhi was the leader of India in the 1930’s. He was one of the first leaders to speak against
the caste system. He especially did not like the way the untouchables were treated. By 1950 the
government of India passed a law that forbids (not allow) discrimination against people from the lower
castes. Discrimination means treating people unfairly because of the color of their skin or because of
their position in society. 1 This was especially done to help the untouchables because many Indians
treated them very badly.
Even though laws have been passed there is still a lot of discrimination against lower castes. In
the big cities there is less discrimination but in the small villages there is still a lot of discrimination
against the untouchables. For example the untouchables must drink from different wells and use
different bathrooms. Just because a government passes a law it does not make everything perfect right
away. Hinduism and the caste system have been around for thousands of years. It often takes a long
time to change people’s feelings and beliefs.
Essential Questions:
1) Why do many Indians want to change the caste system?
2) Who was Gandhi? Why was he important?
3) When did the Indian government end discrimination based on caste? Who did this help the most?
4) Why is there still a lot of discrimination against lower castes today?
5) In what way was segregation of African Americans similar to practices against the Untouchables
of India?
Buddhism
Introduction
Objectives: SWBAT explain the significance of Siddhartha Gautama. SDWBAT interpret the 4 Noble Truths and the 8 Fold Path. SWBAT
argue ad justfy opinions about Buddhist philosophy of life.
6H.2.4 Explain the role that key historical figures and cultural groups had in transforming society (e.g., Mansa Musa, Confucius, Charlemagne
and Qin Shi Huangdi
6C.1.2 Explain how religion transformed various societies, civilizations and regions (e.g., beliefs, practices and spread of Buddhism,
Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism).
India was also the birthplace of another great world religion, Buddhism. This religion began about
500 BC. It began with a man called Buddha. He did not believe in the Hindu Gods. Buddha also did
not like the caste system. He felt many of the people were not treated fairly. He felt that all
people were equal and that everyone must be treated equally. Buddha taught that people should be
good to one another. Many Indians liked what Buddha was teaching. The people who began following
Buddha were called Buddhists. Although there are Buddhists in India, Hinduism was and still is still
the predominant religion in India. Predominant means what most people do or want. About 83% of
the people of India are Hindus. Buddhism spread to China and other South and Southeast Asian
countries and made its largest impact in these regions.
Buddhism Part 1
Buddhism actually began in India but most of the people of India remained Hindus. However,
Buddhism did spread to both East Asia and Southeast Asia and became the predominant (most popular)
religion.
A prince from Nepal named Siddhartha Gautama began Buddhism. He began his religion around
500BC. He was a very rich man. He wanted to know why there was so much suffering and pain in the
world. Why couldn’t everyone be happy? One day he had a vision. He became very concerned about the
poor. He then gave up all of his wealth and began to spread his new beliefs. He then changed his name
to Buddha, which means the enlightened one or in other words, the one who knows everything.
Essential Question:
1
An example of discrimination in America would be not giving a person a job because he or she is black or Hispanic. In India an
example of discrimination would be not giving an untouchable a job because he or she is from a lower caste.
1.
Who was Siddhartha Gautama and why was he important?
Complete each sentence:
1.
Siddhartha Gautama changed his name to ____________
2.
Buddhism actually began in ____________________.
3.
Siddhartha Gautama wanted to know why there was so much ______________ and
_______________ in the world.
Buddhism Part 2
Buddhism is a bit different than other religions. It does not have a belief in a supreme god.
Buddhism accepts the Hindu beliefs of Karma and reincarnation, but it rejects the caste system. 2
Buddha was concerned with all human suffering. He did not like the caste system because it kept people
in bad situations.
Buddha based his religion on four basic beliefs. He called these the Four Noble Truths:
1) Our lives are full of pain and suffering.
2) Our pain and suffering are caused by our desire to have things.
3) We need to get rid of our desire to have things in order to end our pain and suffering.
4) We must follow the eight-fold path in order to end our desire to have things. (see next reading
for eight-fold path)
Basically what Buddhism teaches is that living as human beings is very painful for our bodies, minds
and souls. People are reincarnated many times into this terrible world. People suffer because they want
to own and control too many things. In order to end this pain and suffering a person needs to stop
wanting to own and control things. For example, many people want nice cars. But Buddha feels that
wanting a car and then having a car will never make a person happy forever.
Essential Question:
1.
What do the 4 Noble Truths do?
Complete each sentence:
1.
Buddhism accepts the Hindu beliefs of _______________ and reincarnation.
2.
Buddhism rejects the Hindu belief in the ____________ system
Reincarnation refers to your soul getting reborn into another body. Karma refers to a how a person’s behavior in this life will affect
their next life and caste system puts people into different social groups in which they cannot ever move out of during their life.
2
3.
Karma refers to a how a person’s behavior in this life will affect their next __________.
4.
In Hinduism, the _____________ system puts people into different social groups in which
they cannot ever move out of during their life.
5.
___________ is the Hindu belief of the soul getting reborn into another body
Buddhism Part 3
Buddhists feel a person must end their desire to own things for themselves. To do this a person
must follow The Eight-Fold Path. These are eight things all people must do in order to end their desire
to own material things. If a person follows this path then he/she can end all desire to want things.
These are the eight things:
1) talk correctly
2) act correctly
3) see things correctly
4) have good intentions
5) be good at your work
6) always try your hardest
7) concentrate hard on all things you do
8) always think about what you do
If a person follows these eight steps in life then a person will reach nirvana. Nirvana is the perfect
state of happiness where a person does not have any desires. The only thing that matters is happiness.
To be happy, a person needs nothing. Once a person reaches nirvana then they never need to be reborn
again. The cycle of reincarnation can end (this is very similar to the Hindu belief).
Buddhism spread quickly amongst the poor people because it offered people a way to be happy
forever even though they had nothing. Today there are over 300 million people who follow Buddhism,
most of whom live in East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Essential Question:
1.
What is the ultimate goal for a Buddhist by following the Eight Fold Path?
2.
Why do you think Buddhism appeals to the poor?
Activity:

Create posters that summarize and highlight the 4 Noble Truths and the 8 Fold
Path
Argumentative Writing Prompt:

Do you agree or disagree with the ideas of Buddhism. Consider and analyze the
Four Noble Truths, the Eight Fold Path and the idea of Nirvanna.

You should have the following in your essay:
a.
Introduction- Summarize what Buddhism is and given your opinion.
b.
Body – Support your opinion and argument with details.
c.
Conclusion- Restate the main ideas using different words and expressions