Download Indian Empires and Religions

Indian Empires, Chinese
Dynasties, Philosophies
and Religions
The Mauryan Dynasty
The Kingdom of Guptas
Indian Culture
Qin & Han Dynasties
Chinese Accomplishments
Mauryan & Gupta Empires
Indian Culture
Background
 A nomadic group of Aryans migrated into India
around 1500 B.C.
 Strong warrior tradition
 Caste system and varnas (social classes)
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Priests
Warriors
Herders, farmers, artisans, merchants
Farmworkers, servants, laborers
Dalits or untouchables (not part of varna system)
The Mauryan Dynasty
 Founded by
Chandragupta Maurya
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Ruled from 324-301 B.C.
Drove out foreign forces
Centralized government
Divided kingdom in
provinces ruled by
appointed governors
 Army & secret police to
follow his orders
The Reign of Asoka
 Mauryan Empire
flourished under Asoka
 Grandson of Chandragupta
Maurya
 Considered greatest ruler of
India
 His rule guided by Buddhist
ideals
 Provided hospitals for people
& animals
 Placed trees & shelters
alongside roads for travelers
to rest
 India became crossroads for trade & prospered
 Sent out Buddhist missionaries
 After his death in 232 B.C., Mauryan Empire began to
decline
Silk Road
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Part of the route went through India
Arose around 200 BC
Covered 4,000 miles, from China to Mediterranean Sea
Traded silk, spices, teas & porcelain from China for woolen
& linen clothes, glass & precious stones from the west
 Romans considered silk worth its weight in gold
Kingdom of the Guptas
 Chandragupta
established a new
kingdom in Ganges
Valley in 320 AD
 His son expanded the
kingdom
 Dominant force in
northern India
 Loose control over
central India
Chandragupta II
 Created a new age of
Indian civilization-Golden
Age
 Traded with China,
Southwest Asia & the
Mediterranean
 Faxian, a Chinese
traveler spent several
years here, describing
Indian culture
Indian Culture
 Literature
 Oldest: the Vedas, primarily religious texts
 Written in Sanskrit after Aryan invasion
 Great historical epics
 Mahabharata & Ramayana
 Both epics about great warriors
 Mahabharata
 90,000 stanzas (longest poem in any written language)
 Written 100 B.C.
 Bhagavad Gita – sermon by the god Krishna (most famous passage)
 Ramayana
 Story of fictional leader Rama, an ideal Aryan leader
 Written 100 B.C.
Indian Culture
 Architecture
 Buddhism inspired Mauryan
Dynasty architecture
 Asoka erected stone
pillars alongside roads to
mark places of events in
Buddha’s life
 Weighed as much as
50 tons & up to 50 ft.
high
 Topped with a carving
of some sort, usually a
lion
 Stupa-built in form
of burial mounds
 Became a place
of devotion
 Topped with
spires
Indian Culture
 Science
 Astronomy
 Charted movements of heavenly bodies
 Knew the earth was a sphere, that it rotated on an axis &
revolved around the sun (heliocentric theory)
 Mathematics
 Aryabhata (during Gupta Empire)
 One of first scientist known to use algebra
 Introduced the concept of 0
 Arab scholars adopted the Indian system  European traders
adopted Arab system
 Today, it is called the Indian-Arabic numeral system
Religion
 Hinduism
 Came with Aryan invaders in 1500 B.C.
 Reincarnation, karma, dharma, yoga
 Brought the caste system
 Buddhism
 6th C. B.C.
 Siddhartha Guatama = the Buddha or “enlightened one”
 Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path & nirvana
Qin & Han Dynasties
Chinese Accomplishments
Qin Dynasty
 Shi Huangdi united warring
states into one in 221 BC
 Highly centralized
government
 Adopted Legalism as
official ideology
 Single monetary system
 System of roads
 Began Great Wall
 Terra-cotta army
Han Dynasty
 Established by Liu Bang in
202 BC
 Han Wudi “Marital Emperor
of Han” greatly expanded
borders
 Lasted more than 400 years
 Confucianism became new
state philosophy
 Introduced civil service
exam system to select new
government officials
Chinese Philosophies
 Confucianism
 Emphasized filial piety, Five
Constant Relationships
 Daoism
 Emphasized harmony with
nature
 Legalism
 Introduced by Hanfeizi
 Strict laws & harsh
punishments
Han Accomplishments
 Textile manufacturing
 Iron casting leads to
invention of steel
 Paper making
 Invention of rudder and
fore-and-aft rigging for
ships (could sail into wind
for first time
 Increased trade