India and Southeast Asia, 1500 BCE-600CE

1
India and Southeast Asia, 1500 BCE-600CE

• Chapter 6

2
Foundations of Indian Civilization

• 1500 BCE-300CE

3
The Indian Subcontinent

• Subcontinent
• Large
• Physically isolated
• Himalayas in the North
• Indian Ocean on the East, South and West
• Modern nations of Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan,
  Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka

4

• The mountains in the North block cold Arctic
  winds
• Monsoon seasonal winds bring rain in the summer
• Fertile land Ganges Delta
• River silt
• 3 harvests a year are possible in some places
• Indus Valley
• Agriculture depends on irrigation

5
The Vedic Age

• 1500-500 BCE
• Vedas religious texts where most of our
  information on the age comes from
• Collapse of the Indus Valley civilizations 1900
  BCE
• No central authority
• Kinship groups formed
• Herds of cattle and small gardens

6

• Patriarchal
• After 1000BCE iron tools
• Allowed for movement into new territories
• Could clear trees and plow fields with oxen
• Confrontation
• Aryas light skinned people that moved in from
  the northwest
• Dasas dark skinned people of the region
• Some fighting, some absorption, some of the Dasas
  moved southward
• Skin color has caused divisions ever since

7

• Varna literally meant color, but came to mean
  class

8

• Jati were class groups within the varnas
• Members of a jati only associated with people of
  their jati

9

• Belief in reincarnation
• Status in the next life depended on karma, or
  deeds done in the past life
• You are where you are supposed to be
• Vedic religion
• Male deities
• Sacrifice to promote stability
• Only the Brahmin, or priest, knew how
• Makes them an important group
• Women could own property and study religion

10
Challenges to the Old Order Jainism and Buddhism

• After 700 BCE, people reacted against Brahmin
  power
• People retreated to the forests
• Leaders emerged
• Convinced others they could achieve moksha
  through physical and mental conditioning along
  with dietary changes

11

• Jainism (threatened Vedic Religion)
• Holiness of the life force
• Non-violence
• Wore masks to prevent inhaling small insects
• Extreme asceticism (self denial)
• Nudity
• Ate only what they were given
• Thanks Jainists!!!

12

• Buddhism (threatened the Vedic Religion)
• Siddharta Gautama
• Buddha the Enlightened One
• From a Kshatriya family
• Ascetic for 6 years and then took the middle path
• Four Noble Truths
• 1 life is suffering
• 2 suffering arises from desire
• 3 the solution to suffering is to curb desire
• 4 curb desire by following the eightfold path

13

• Attracted followers
• An individual effort, no need for gods
• Nirvana the release from the cycle of
  reincarnations
• After his death
• Buddhist monasteries were built
• Stuppas were built
• Believers began to worship Buddha as a god

14

• Then, a schism (split)
• Mahayana Buddhism
• The new way
• Theraveda Buddhism
• Followed the original teachings

15
The Rise of Hinduism

• Evolved from the old Vedic Religion
• Religion of hundreds of millions in South Asia
  today
• Hinduism Vedic (Aryans) Dravidian (Dasas)
  Buddhism
• An example of how Arya and Dasa merged

16

• Hindu Deities
• Vishnu the preserver (a.k.a. Krishna)
• Shiva creation and destruction
• Devi the mother goddess, fertility
• 330 million different gods
• Pilgrimage to famous shrines and festivals
  allowed people to unite and share ideas

17

• Hinduism became more popular than Buddhism
• Buddhism forced the individual to find his own
  path to enlightenment

18
Imperial Expansion and Collapse, 324BCE 650 CE
19
The Mauryan Empire

• 324-184 BCE
• Kinship groups
• Kingdom of Magadha was gaining strength
• Control of natural resources

20

• Chandragupta Maurya took over
• Created the Mauryan Empire
• Indias first centralized empire
• Extended power over the subcontinent
• (all but the southern tip)
• Took over Punjab (Pakistan) after Alexanders
  death

21

• Political theory
• Mandala (circle)
• My enemys enemy is my friend
• Taxes
• ¼ the value of the harvest
• Spies to watch the kingdom
• Close relatives administered the districts
• Large imperial army
• Infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants

22

• Control of natural resources
• Standard coinage
• Capital at Pataliputra
• Where 5 tributaries met the Ganges
• Had a wall and a moat

23

• Ashoka
• Chandraguptas Grandson
• Military campaigns extended the empire
• After conquest of Kalinga
• Upset at his own brutality
• Converted to Buddhism
• He preached non-violence, morality, and religious
  toleration
• Spread his word in stone carvings

24
Commerce and Culture in an Era of Political
Fragmentation

• 184 BCE Mauryan Empire collapsed
• 500 years until another Indian Empire
• Series of dominating foreigners in the Northwest
• Greco Bactrian Kingdom 180-50 BCE
• Nomads of Central Asia
• Shakas from Iran 50 BCE 50 CE
• Kushans from China 50-240 CE

25

• Led to political fragmentation but,
• good roads (built by the Mauryans) fostered
  commerce
• sea trade grew
• Artisans and traders grew politically powerful
• Paid artists and had temples built
• Two great Epics
• That were originally told orally
• Ramayana and Mahabharata
• Bhagavad Gita is part of the Mahabaharata

26

• Scientific advances
• Herbal remedies
• Standardization of Sanskrit
• Small kingdoms grew in strength and power

27
The Gupta Empire, 320-550 CE

• Modeled after the Mauryan Empire
• Capital at Pataliputra
• Man called himself Chandra Gupta
• (after Chandragupta Maurya)
• Was never as big as the Mauryan Empire and they
  were Hindu

28

• Trade, agriculture, iron deposits
• Tax ¼ of the value of the crop
• Charged people to use the irrigation services
• Central government was never very strong
• Hereditary governor positions had a lot of
  autonomy

29

• Was a Theater State
• The beauty and splendor of the capital was used
  to persuade followers
• Festivals, rituals and cultural events
• Mathematicians
• Concept of zero
• Arabic numbers
• Place-value notation

30

• Women lost power
• Lost the right to own land and study
• Were treated like shudra
• Were forced to marry younger and younger
• Sometimes 6 or 7
• Would be raised with the family of her husband to
  ensure her virginity and so she could be trained
  to fit his likes and dislikes
• The ritual of sati was required in some regions
• A wife would cremate herself upon her husbands
  death

31

• Jainist and Buddhist women did not face these
  problems
• The Guptas were Hindu, but they tolerated other
  religions
• Traded with the Roman Empire and China
• 550 CE the Gupta empire collapsed under
  pressure from the Huns

32
Southeast Asia, 50-600 CE
33

• Three geographical zones
• Indochina
• Malay peninsula
• Islands (thousands)
• Influenced by both India and China
• Prospered because of trade

34

• Fertile region
• Rain forest
• Malay peoples probably immigrants from other
  regions
• Good sailors
• Bronze metallurgy
• Small political units
• Based on access to fresh water

35

• Commerce brought Indian traders
• Brought Hinduism and Buddhism
• Funan
• The first major Southeast Asian center
• Delta of the Mekong River
• Irrigation
• rice bowl