Ancient India

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Ancient India
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The Indian Subcontinent
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The Emergence of Civilization in India Harappan
Society

• Geography
• Mixture of people
• Harappan Civilization A Fascinating Enigma
• Harappa in the Punjab
• Mohenjo-Daro (City of the Dead) near the mouth of
  the Indus
• Political and Social Structure
• Villages in the Indus valley 6500 - 7000 B.C.E.
• Harappa a city more than 3 ½ mile in
  circumference with wall over 40 feet thick
• City life in Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
• Government, religion, agriculture and trade
• Harappan Culture
• Pottery, sculpture, clay seals

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Ancient Harappan Civilization
Note the growth of cities in river plains.
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Mohenjo-Daro
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• A computer-generated reconstruction has brought a
  small area of Mohenjo-daro back to life. (Lost
  Civilizations by Austen Atkinson, p. 179 - 188)

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The City of Mohenjo-Daro
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Arrival of the Aryans

• Harappan civilization destroyed about 1500 B.C.E.
• Invasion by Aryans
• Social decay
• Epidemic or natural phenomena
• The Early Aryans
• Indo-European nomads from Siberia and the steppes
  of Central Asia
• Into the Indus valley 1500-1000 B.C.E.
• Use of iron
• A writing system
• Led by a chieftain called a raja (prince) that
  was later transformed into kings called maharajas
  (great princes)
• Prince did not have absolute power
• Required to follow dharma (laws that set behavior
  standards)
• Arrival of the Persian Empire,
• Arrival of Alexander the Great, 326 B.C.E.

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The Mauryan Empire

• Chandragupta Maurya (324-301 B.C.E.)
• The Arthasastra, a treatise on politics
• Highly centralized and despotic government
• Provinces ruled by governors
• Division of power at lower levels

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Caste and Class Social Structures in Ancient
India

• The Class System
• An issue of color
• Varna (color or caste) reflected informal
  division of labor and rigid social classification
  for occupation and status
• Caste taboos
• Jati kinship group, of a specific caste, living
  in a specific area, doing a specific task
• Changes over time

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Daily Life and The Economy in Ancient India

• Family the basic unit of society
• Commemorative rites to ancestors
• Father-son relationship
• Males inherit property
• Position of women
• Before the law
• In marriage
• Exceptions
• Most Aryans were farmers
• Iron plow
• Differing status of farmers
• Problems farmers faced
• Developed trade and manufacturing

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The Religious World of Ancient India Hinduism

• Indo-European in origin from the Aryans
• Vedas four collections of hymns and religious
  ceremonies
• Dyaus
• Indra, Varuna, Vishnu
• Use of sacrifice
• Asceticism
• Upanishads commentaries on the Vedas

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The Religious World of Ancient India Gods,
Goddesses and Reincarnation

• Soul reborn a different form after death and
  progresses through several existences on the
  wheel of life until reaching the final
  destination with the Great World Soul, Brahman
• Karma actions in this life determines ones
  rebirth in the next life
• Cosmic scale Brahmins at the top in animal
  kingdom the cow is at the top
• Dharma governs karma
• Reincarnation provides compensation for those
  lower on the ladder of life
• Multitude of gods (330 million?) in Hinduism but
  only a small number of primary gods
• Trinity of gods Brahman the Creator, Vishnu the
  Preserver, and Siva the Destroyer

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Buddhism The Middle Path

• Siddhartha Gautama (c. 560-480 B.C.E.)
• Born in foothills of the Himalaya Mountains, son
  of a kshatriya family
• Traveled widely
• Follows some ideas of Hinduism
• Denied the existence of the individual soul
• Nirvana (release from the wheel of life)
• Bodhi (wisdom)
• Four Noble Truths
• Middle Path (Eightfold Path)
• Simpler than Hinduism
• Monastic life
• Rejection of division of humanity into castes
• All human beings can aspire to Nirvana as a
  result of their behavior in this life
• Jainism
• Founded by Mahavira, contemporary of Siddhartha
• Doctrine of extreme simplicity keep no
  possessions and rely on begging for a living

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Stupa at Sarnath
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The Reign of Asoka and the End of the Mauryan
Empire

• Asoka, A Buddhist Monarch (269-232 B.C.E.)
• After a career as a bloodthirsty conqueror,
  converted to Buddhism and ruled benevolently
• Built shelters for travelers
• Sent Buddhist missionaries throughout India
• After 232 B.C.E., the Mauryan Empire declined
• Disunity
• New Kingdoms arose
• Indo-Europeans entered and proclaimed the Kushan
  Kingdom
• Reasons for disunity

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The Empire of Asoka
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The Exuberant World of Indian Culture Literature

• Rig Veda hymns used in religious ceremonies,
  second millennium B.C.E.
• Bramanas and Upinishads and commentaries on the
  Vedas
• Sanskrit language
• Mahabharata, 100 B.C.E.
• Describes war of cousins for control of the
  kingdom
• Interwoven are the legends of the Hindu gods
• Moral confrontation and ethics
• The Bhagavad Gita
• Sermon by legendary figure Krishna
• In taking action, one must be indifferent to
  success or failure and consider only the moral
  rightness of the act itself
• Ramayana triumph of good over evil

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Indian Culture Architecture and Sculpture

• Pillar
• Asoka used stone columns alongside roads to
  commemorate the life of the Buddha and mark
  pilgrim routes to holy places
• Stupa
• Place of devotion meant to house a relic of the
  Buddha
• Constructed in the form of a burial mound
• Rock chamber
• Rooms to house monks and ascetics
• Halls for religious ceremonies
• Style
• Embellished with decorations
• Detailed reliefs and freestanding statues

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Indian Culture Science

• Astronomy
• Elements of earth, air, fire, and water
• Quality of textiles
• Massive stone pillars

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Discussion Questions

• What factors influenced the development of
  Indias caste system? What role did skin color
  play in the creation of caste distinctions?
• What challenges did Chandragupta Maurya face in
  creating an Indian empire? How successful was he?
• What does the Mahabharata tell us about ancient
  Indian values and beliefs?