Ancient India

1
Ancient India

• Unit 3

2
The Subcontinent Environment

• Rivers
• Indus River
• Ganges River
• Mountains
• Himalayan Mountains
• (North East)
• Climate
• Monsoon
• Seasonal wind pattern producing heavy rainfall

• Other
• River valleys have rich soil
• Mountains provide an excellent barrier
• Monsoon seasons are irregular causing drought or
  over flooding
• NEEDS
• What should the people do?

3
INTRODUCTION

• Over 4,000 years ago people built huge, planned
  cities, with straight streets and brick homes
  with private baths!  Kids played with toys and
  women wore lipstick!
• Where did this happen?
• The Indus Valley
• How do we know this?  
• In 1922, archaeologists found the remains of an
  ancient city called Harappa.
• They found another city, located 400 miles
  southwest of Harappa, called Mohenjo-Daro. Other
  ancient cities have been found since.
• This civilization existed from about 3000-2,500
  B.C.E. (Before Common Era) to about 1500 B.C.E.,
  which means it existed at about the same time as
  the Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations.
• What was life like, over 4,000 years ago, in
  Harappa and in Mohenjo-Daro, two busy cities of
  about 35,000 people each?
• What would life be like for you back then?
• Welcome to Chapter 3, Ancient India! 

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THE HARAPPANS

• Monarchy aided by an elite
• Elite
• Small group of powerful people who supported the
  Kings will
• Belief in divine authority

Indias First Civilization
Mohenjo -daro
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Buying Real Estate in Harappa?

• Homes
• Houses were one or two stories high, made of
  baked brick, with flat roofs, and were just about
  identical.
• Each home had its own private drinking well and
  its own private bathroom. Clay pipes led from the
  bathrooms to sewers located under the streets.
• These sewers drained into nearby rivers and
  streams.

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Well in Harappa
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Early Life in the Indus Valley

• Art Religion
• Weaving, Metal working, and Pottery.
• The Pottery was very high quality, with
  unusually beautiful designs.
• The Vedas were memorized hymns, prayers, and
  religious teachings.
• Transportation
• Camels, oxen and elephants were used to travel
  over land.
• Sailboats were used for travel over water
• Carts with wooden wheels. Ships with one mast,
  probably used to sail around the Arabian Sea.
• Trade
• Seals with a pictographic script, which has not
  as yet been deciphered, were found at the Indus
  Valley sites. Similar seals were found in
  Mesopotamia, which seems to indicate possible
  trade between these two civilizations.

• Entertainment
• The discovery of bronze statues resembling
  dancers tell us they enjoyed dancing as well as
  working with metals.
• The discovery of a large central pool in
  Mohenjo-daro, with steps leading down at both
  ends, could have been a public swimming pool or
  used for religious ceremonies.
• Food
• Each town had a large central storage building
  for grain.
• Crops were grown for all town members.
• Fishing and animal herding also contributed as a
  food source.  
• Toys 
• Small carts, whistles shaped like birds, toy
  monkeys which could slide down a string

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Family Life
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• Life centered around the family.
• Patriarchal- The oldest male was in charge
• Only men were given the opportunity of education.
• Education with the Guru ?
• Special Treatment for females
• Women were considered minors
• Divorce was not allowed (few minor exceptions)
• The ritual of Sati- To show the subjugation to
  men by requiring a wife to throw herself on her
  dead husbands flaming pyre.
• The Indian tradition is now forbidden by law,
  though a very small number of incidents still
  occur each year in remote isolated villages.
• Women were viewed
• as an economic burden

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The Aryans

• Aryan- improperly used term by the Nazi Germans-
  It actually is Indo-European speaking nomadic
  people.
• Created the writing system of Sanskrit c. 1000
  B.C.
• Warring kingdoms and shifting tribal alliances
  created a great deal of instability until strong
  leaders emerged.
• Raja- The tribal chieftain prince
• The raja was chosen by Brahman, chief god of the
  Aryans
• Leaders became the representation of the gods
• Leaders still subjected to laws
• Eventually the title, raja, became the maharaja
  (great prince)
• The most lasting effect class divisions among
  the people ranging from skin color to economics.
  This social division was known as the Caste
  System

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The Caste System

• Upper Classes
• 1. Brahmin
• Priests
• 2. Kshatriyas
• Warriors

• Lower Classes
• 3. Vaisyas
• Merchants, farmers, traders, and artisans
• 4. Sudras
• Laborers and servants to the upper class
• 5. Untouchables
• Cleaning bathes, collected trash. Contact with
  an untouchable was considered harmful.

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The Caste System Continued
Brahmin Priests?
Kshatriyas Warriors ?
Sudras Laborers and servants ?
Vaisyas Merchantsfarmers ?
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Homework ?

• Type at least a two page paper about the
  following. (40 Points)
• Analyze Barrington High School.
• Is there a caste system?
• What is the high school good life?
• Is school life equally good for everyone?

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Conquests in India

• Persians
• Greeks and Macedonians
• Alexander the Great
• 3. Then the Mauryan Dynasty

Alexander the Great
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Mauryan Dynasty

• Leader- Chandragupta Maurya
• Large army with secret police to protect the
  paranoid leader.
• Built a road system to make it easier to
  transport goods.
• Next major leader, grandson, Asoka

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Mauryan and Asoka Empires
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Asokas Reign

• Asoka one without sorrow
• Ruthless military leader who converts to Buddhism
• Decides to win the support of Indias people
  through kindness.
• Sets up hospitals for both people and animals
• Wanted to lead by good example rather than by
  force.
• Began placing edicts on pillars.
• Edicts are orders that were put on pillars
  throughout the empire
• Edicts stressed Buddhist qualities of goodness
• Trade and Industry flourished under Asoka.
• The Mauryan Dynasty will fade with the death of
  Asoka.

One of Asokas famous pillars
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Expansion of Trade The Kushan Kingdom

• Became one of the most advanced trading
  civilizations in the ancient world
• Trade via sea and camel caravan
• Traded a variety of spices, jewels, and textiles
  for gold, tin, lead and wine.
• One of the major routes was called the Silk
  Road China supplied the Silk Romans wanted it,
  but passed through India to get there...

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The Silk Road
19
Gupta Empire

• Developed precise surgical instruments.
• Developed the concept of 0
• Adopted the Hindu faith as the main religion in
  India.
• A group called the Huns greatly weaken the Gupta
  Empire

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Hinduism

• The Mahabharata
• Probably the longest poem in the world
• 220,000 lines, divided into eighteen chapters
• The third and most important Hindu Epic- Bhagavad
  gita.

• Vedas - collection of hymns
• Bhagavad Gita is revered as a sacred text of
  Hindu philosophy
• The name 'Bhagavad Gita', when translated into
  English, literally means 'Song of God.'
• Belief in one God called Brahman (Vishnu, and
  Shiva)
• Salvation comes only after a person has abandoned
  all pursuits and desires and accepts that the
  individual soul is the same as Brahman. (Moksha)
• Ironically, to achieve moksha, one must make a
  deliberate effort to not want it.
• Reincarnation- belief that individual soul is
  reborn in a different form after death.
• Karma- What people do in their life determines
  what they will be in the next life.
• What goes around, comes around!
• Dharma- divine law ruling karma.
• Dharma determines the expectation level.

• How does one get in touch with ones spiritual
  nature?
• Yoga a method of training designed to lead to
  union with God.
• Path of Knowledge
• Path of Love
• Path of Work
• Path of Meditation
• Common ?s
• Next page!
• Today, most of Indias citizens are Hindu

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Common Questions

• What is the significance of red dots on the
  forehead?
• It symbolizes the "third eye" -- the one focused
  inwards toward God (or the atma (soul) within
  you). The red dot between the eyebrows is said to
  retain energy in the body and control various
  levels of concentration.
• 2. In the past, a red dot was usually worn
  by married women as an auspicious sign of
  marriage. And, unmarried women wore black dots
  which indicated that they were unmarried.
• If Hindus acknowledge more than 33,000 deities,
  then shouldnt the religion be polytheistic?
• No. Brahman is the ultimate reality of God.
  Hindus believe in more than one FORM of one God.
• Why are cows so important to people from India?
• The most important indicator of wealth among the
  Aryans was the number of cattle that an
  individual owned. The more cattle a family, or
  tribe possessed the more wealthy they were.
  Eventually cattle became so important in Aryan
  society that they made it illegal to kill or eat
  them.
• Food, Work, Religion
• Cows bring about life and provide life, work,
  (Animals and reincarnation).

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Hinduism
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Buddhism

• Siddhartha Gautama
• A prince with every everything, discovers a
  great deal of human suffering outside his
  world.
• Gives up everything to seek the cure for human
  suffering.
• Goal To seek Nirvana
• Means end of the self and a reunion in life with
  the Great Soul
• Four Noble Truths
• Ordinary life is suffering
• This suffering is caused by our desire to satisfy
  ourselves
• The way to end suffering is to end desire for
  selfish goals and to see others as extensions of
  ourselves
• The way to end desire is to follow the middle
  path

• The Middle Path
• Next Page
• Stupas and temples were built to honor the death
  of Gautama.
• Stupas are stone towers that house relics of the
  Buddha

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The Middle Path

• Right View
• We need to know the Four Noble Truths
• Right Intention
• We need to decide what we really want
• Right Speech
• We must seek to speak truth and to speak well of
  others
• Right Action
• The Buddha gave five precepts Do not kill. Do
  not steal. Do not lie. Do not be unchaste. Do not
  take drugs or alcohol.
• Right livelihood
• We must do work that uplifts our being.
• Right effort
• The Buddha said, Those who follow the Way might
  well follow the example of an ox that arches
  through the deep mud carrying a heavy load. He
  is tired, but his steady, forward-looking gaze
  will not relax until he is out of the mud.
• Right mindfulness
• We must keep our minds in control of our senses
  All we are is the result of what we have
  thought.
• Right concentration
• We must meditate to see the world in a new way.

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Two Religions
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Buddhism
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Why Fat Buddha Statues?

• The "Fat Buddha" is not THE Buddha, Siddhartha
  Gautama
• The statue is not an idol.
• Rubbing the belly of a fat Buddha Statue is not a
  prayer of any sort it's just a more or less
  superstitious habit
• Buddha means "one who has achieved a state of
  perfect enlightenment" and there are several
  people who have been given the title.
• Siddhartha lived from around B.C. 560 to B.C.
  480, it was not until around 127 BC that statues
  actually depicting him became prevalent.
• Nobody knew what he really looked like, he was
  from a noble family and had been described as
  tall, slender, and of "manly build", but that may
  have been just because that is what people
  expected "Nobles" to look like.
• The image of a fat overfed Buddha didn't fit with
  his teachings, and an "enlightened one" might be
  so enlightened as to disregard material needs
  like eating
• Buddhism reached China around 100AD, and was wide
  spread there by 600AD.
• We get three theories on Fat Buddha.

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• First the physical image of a Noble was not
  athletic or a warrior, but a well fed person of
  leisure. People tried to rub a fat man's belly in
  hopes of luck and ample meals.

• Then there is the story of a Chinese Buddhist
  monk in the 6th century, who just happened to
  have a belly that shook like jelly, he was a kind
  fellow who dedicated himself to helping others,
  and was regarded as the incarnation of the
  Boddhisatva Metteya, who had reached nirvana but
  stayed around just to help people.

• And finally the theory held by most Buddhist
  scholars. A sagely Zen monk appeared in China
  around 850 A.D. and died in 916A.D. He said his
  name was "Knowing This" (ChiChe). No one knew
  where he came from, he carried a big fat bag and
  was famous for his fat belly. When asked how to
  obtain nirvana he would lay down the bag and not
  said a word. When asked about what happened after
  reaching nirvana he would pick up the bag and
  walk away, still not a word. It is pretty much
  accepted that such a monk existed. He is probably
  the inspiration for Fat Buddha, as the statues
  began appearing in the late 800's, 1200 years
  after the Gautama's death. If you'll look at an
  authentic Fat buddha, you'll see he has a sack on
  his back.

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Lasting Effects of Indian Culture

• Literature
• On your own!

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Lasting Effects of Indian Culture

• Art and Sculpture
• On your own!