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ANCIENT INDIA
1.
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The Land of India
The Indian subcontinent
hangs down from the
southern edge of Asia.
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In the north: the highest
mountains in the world, the
Himalayas. Just south of the
Himalaya is the rich valley of
the Ganges River.
•
Monsoons: seasonal wind
patterns. If rains are too light
or heavy, too early or late,
crops are destroyed and
thousands of Indians likely
starve.
India’s First
Civilization
•Early civilization in
India developed in
the Indus River
valley, flourished
from 3000 to 1500
B.C. E.
•Archaeologists
have found remains
of over a thousand
settlements in this
area.
Two sites have ruins of the major cities
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.
These cities had around 35,000 people and each was planned carefully:
• Grid of streets, divided into walled neighborhoods.
• Some three story houses.
• Buildings were constructed of mud bricks
• Public wells supplied water,
• Bathrooms used an advanced drainage system
• Chute system took household trash to public garbage bins.
•The careful structure = a well-organized government.
Religion and political power were linked
closely. Harappan rulers based their
power on a belief in divine assistance.
Traded with Mesopotamian civilizations
The Arrival of the Aryans
Aryan invaders ended the civilization of the Indus River valley by conquering
the Harappans (Aryans excelled at war).
Aryans settled in India and began farming
Introduction of the iron plow facilitated clearing land.
Irrigation systems turned the area into productive farmland.
Wheat, barley, and millet were grown in the north. Rice was grown in the fertile
river valleys. Vegetables, grains, cotton, and spices such as cinnamon and
pepper were grown in the south.
Sanskrit
• The Aryans had no written
language.
• They developed Sanskrit,
around 1000 B.C.
• They wrote down the
religious rituals, legends,
and chants that previously
had been passed down
orally.
Society in Ancient India - The Caste System
The caste system set up a rigid hierarchy of classes that determines a
person’s occupation, economic potential, and social status. In part, it was based
on skin color. Set up by Aryan conquerors and conquered Indians.
Five Major Castes (Classes)
1.Brahmans: priestly class.
2.Kshatriyas: the warriors
3.Vaisyas: commoners, (mostly merchants)
4.Sudras: Mostly peasants who did manual
labor (darker-skinned natives)
Their rights were limited.
Most of the Indian population.
5. The Untouchables:
Considered “beneath” the caste system.
Did menial labor that no one else would
do.
(collecting trash, handling the dead).
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The Untouchables
Performed jobs considered degrading by Indian society.
About 5 percent of ancient India’s population.
Not considered human and their presence was considered harmful.
Lived in ghettos. When they traveled they had to tap sticks together so
others would know they were coming and could avoid them.
Patriarchal Family Unit
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Family was the basic unit of ancient Indian society.
The ideal: an extended family of three generations under one roof.
Children were to take care of their aging and elderly parents.
Oldest male had legal authority over the entire family.
Only males could inherit property and be educated.
Divorce was forbidden, but men could take a second wife if the first
was not able to bear children.
• Marriages were arranged. Men married after 12 years of study. Girls
married young because they were an economic drain on the family.
The Suttee – “Good Wife”
The dead were burned on funeral pyres.
Suttee required a widow to throw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre (to die).
Those who refused were disgraced.
Dynasties & Conflict
After 400 B.C., India faced new threats from the west, first from Persia, then
from Greece and Macedonia, under Alexander the Great.
Greek Conqueror Alexander the Great invaded northern India in 327 B.C.E.
He left quickly, but his invasion gave rise to the first Indian dynasty.
Indian Dynasties
• Mauryan Dynasty - 1st Indian Empire
•Established by Chandragupta Maurya
• Ruled 324 to 301 B.C.E.
• Highly centralized
• Divided into provinces, ruled by governors
• Asoka
• Chandragupta Maurya’s grandson
• Considered greatest Indian ruler ever
• Converted to Buddhism
• Governed according to Buddhist ideals
• His kindness was legendary.
• Set up hospitals for people and animals
•Asoka died in 232 B.C. E.
• The empire then declined.
India became an important crossroads in a commercial network from the
Pacific Rim to Southwest Asia and the Mediterranean Sea.
Indian Culture
Indian Literature:
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The Vedas: Aryan Religious Text (Passed down orally, then written –Sanskrit)
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Indian epic poems:
•Mahabharata: world’s longest written poem (war between cousins for control of
the kingdom)
•Ramayana: Legendary deeds of great warriors.
•Bhagavad Gita: the god Krishna on the eve of battle - consider only the morality of
actions.
•The Ramayana: Tale of a demon kidnapping Rama’s wife. Rama is the ideal Aryan
hero, and Sita embodies perfect wifely loyalty to her husband.
Architecture
• Flourished during the Mauryan Empire, especially under Asoka
• Build may religious structures to spread the ideas of Buddhism
• The three principal religious structures: the pillar, the stupa, the rock chamber
Technology: Astronomy & Mathematics
•Astrology:
• Chartered the movements of the heavenly bodies,.
• Recognized that Earth was a sphere, rotated on its axis, and revolved
around the sun.
•Mathematics:
• Devised a decimal system of counting in tens
• Arab scholars adopted this system, and
European traders spread it throughout Europe.
• Introduced the concept of zero.
The Religions of India
Hinduism
Buddhism
Hinduism
• A complete approach to life that
involves social class, work,
family, politics, diet, etc.
• 750 million Hindus in the world
- most live in India.
• No known founder
• The Vedas: collections of
sacred verses or hymns (written
down in Sanskrit in 1200-900
BCE, but based on older oral
versions
Hindu Beliefs
1. A supreme God present in everything. Other gods aspects of that supreme God.
• Brahma the Creator
• Vishnu the Preserver
• Siva the Destroyer
2. The soul repeatedly goes through a cycle of birth,
death, and rebirth (“Samsura” - Reincarnation)
3. Karma, a force that determines the quality of each
life, depending on behavior in a past life.
4. Follow the dharma (divine law) to create good
Karma, and reach the Brahma (realizing your true
self).
Buddhism
• 'Buddha' means 'one who has woken up'.
• Founder: Siddhartha Gautama, who lived
c.566-486BC.
• Son of a wealthy “raja” (prince)
• Saw suffering around him
• While meditating, he had a “bodhi” or
awakening.
• Devoted his life to ending suffering.
• About 500 million adherents around the world.
• No supreme God
• No single sacred book.
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Focus on attaining enlightenment.
Key Beliefs of Buddhism
"The Four Noble Truths“.
1. All existence is suffering or "dukkha.“
2. The cause of suffering is attachment and desire.
3. Eliminate attachment and desire to end suffering & reach enlightenment
- the state known as nirvana.
4.The path that leads out of suffering is called the Eightfold Path.
1. Right understanding
2. Right thinking
3. Right speaking
4. Right acting
5. Right lifestyle
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right contemplation