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Iran and India Before Islam The Parthian Dynasty (247 BC 223 AD) • • • • Rises in the East of Iran Long, Endless Wars with Rome Zorastrians War with Rome eventually allowed their vassals to overthrow them. The Sasanid Empire (224-651 AD) The Sassanid Empire (224-651 AD) • • • • • • • Persian in Ancestry Intolerant Nationalists Endless Wars with Byzantium Extended Family is Base Unit Elite Classes: Priests, Warriors, Scribes Common Folk Agriculture Based Economy Sassanid Religion • Zorastrian Revival – Chief Priest (Mobar) Tosar, 225-239 AD – The Avesta canon compiled – Mobar Kartir (239-293 AD) -- Convertor of Other Faiths Manicheanism Manicheanism • Mani (216-77 AD) – Dualistic Religion • Ahura-Mazda vs. Ahriman – Claimed to be root of Christianity, Zorastrianism, and Buddhism – Called his system “Justice” – Executed by Mobar Kartir – Saint Augustine originally a Manichean! Later Zorastrianism • Orthodoxy Survives • The Teachings of Mazdak (5th-6th century) – – – – Denounced Material Wealth Asceticism and Social Justice Wealth Redistribution Slaughtered by Choroses Anosharvan The Gupta Dynasty The Gupta Empire (320-550 AD) • Classical Age of India = Han China, Augustan Rome, or Periclean Greece • Chandragupta (320-30 AD) • Samudragupta (330-375 AD) • Chandragupta II (375-415 AD) • Controls North and Western India • Vassal Kings • Huns: 500 AD, Weakens Empire Gupta Culture • Cultural Contacts with Eastern / Southeast Asia • Architecture, Painting, Literature Flourish • Age of Kalidasa, the ‘Shakespeare of Sanskrit’ (Unclear time, must be before 634 AD) Gupta Inventions • • • • Chess The concept of 0 ‘Arabic Numerals’ (Our modern numbers) Medical Science--drugs, bone setting, caesarian sections, skin grafting. • The Kama Sutra The Development of “Classical” Traditions in Indian Civilization (300-1000 AD) • Solidification of the Caste System: The Dharmashastra of Manu (200 AD) – Varna (class) system – Dharma determines duties by class • • • • • Brahmin (Priest) Kshatriya (Warrior) Vaishya (Tradesperson) Shudra (Servant) Outcastes The Caste System (II) • Jatis--Divisions within a Varna – Hereditary – commensality (one may only eat with people of the same or a higher group) – endogamy (one may only marry members of the same group) – trade/craft limitations (one may only practice one's group's trade). – Foreigners assimilated by designating Jati for them. Hindu Religious Life • Rise of Single Diety Cults • Bhakti--Loving Devotion – Meditation --> Devotion to a God – Bhakti inside is achieved by practice of Bhakti outside – Rise of devotional purity and the Puranas – Gods manifest at many levels of reality Buddhism • Mahayana (Greater Vehicle)--1st century BC • Compassion is stressed • Goal to become a Boddhisatva • Salvation through dedication to Boddhisatvas • Amida Buddha, Master of the Pure Land Buddhism II • • • • Therevada (“Way of the Elders”) Focused on Monasticism Laity earn merit by supporting monks Monks contemplate and study Buddhist scripture and meditate • Ceylon, Burma, Southeast Asia