India and China, 3000 BCE to 500 CE

Early Civilization in India New Empires in India Early Chinese Civilizations Rise and Fall of Chinese Empire

Early Civilization in India

Objectives: 1. Describe how Indias earliest cities provided the foundation for the Aryans 2. Examine the caste systema set of rigid social categories in Indian society

The Land of India

The Indian subcontinent, isolated by the Indian Ocean, the Himalaya, and dense jungle *Himalaya, the highest mountains in the world *Ganges River, a chief region of Indian culture

The Indus River valley, a relatively dry plateau that forms the backbone of the modern state of Pakistan *Deccan, a plateau that extends from the Ganges Valley to the southern tip of India

*Monsoon, a seasonal wind pattern in southern Asia Throughout history Indian farmers have depended on these rains brought by the Monsoons to grow their crops

Indias First Civilization As in Mesopotamia and Egypt, early civilization in India and China emerged in river valleys Between 3000 BCE and 1500 BCE, the valleys of the Indus River supported a ourishing civilization The major cities Harappa and Mohenjo-Darothe Indus civilization

Harappa and MohenjoDaro

Harappa35,000 inhabitants; Mohenjo-Daro35,000 to 40,000 Walled cities and building made of mud brick; public wells, advanced drainage systems A system of chutes took household trash from houses to street-level garbage bins. Only a well-organized government could have maintained such carefully structured cities

Rulers and the Economy The Indus River ooded every year, providing rich soil for the growing of wheat, barley, and peas, the chief crops Much of this trade was carried by ship via the *Persian Gulf

The Arrival of the Aryans Who Were the Aryans? around 1500 BCE, a grouped of nomadic peoples known as the *Aryans moved south across the Hindu Kush mountain range into the plains of northern India

Aryan Ways of Life

Organized in groups, the Aryans were a pastoral people with a strong warrior tradition The introduction of iron, transforming regular farming The creation of the iron plow, along with the use of irrigation, made it possible for the Aryans to clear the dense jungle growth along the Ganges River and turn it into a rich farming area

Aryans had no written language by 1000 BCE, *Sanskritthe written language of the Aryans was developed Various Aryan leaders, known as *rajas (princes), had carved out small states

Society in Ancient India Indias Social System

The *caste system of ancient India was a set of rigid social categories that determined not only a persons occupation and economic potential, but also his or her position in society *caste (jati) In addition to the jati, Indian society was broadly divided into four major social classes called varnas

The priests and the warrior (the top varna); *Brahmans, priestly class; *Kshatriyas, warriors *Vaisyas, commoners (merchants or farmers) *Sudras, peasants (manual labor) *Untouchables, menial degrading tasks (trash, dead bodies, nonhuman)

The Family in Ancient India Equal-class marriage Arranged marriage Dowry Sutteerequired a wife to throw herself on her dead husbands aming funeral pyre

Hinduism
*Hinduism had its origins in the religious beliefs of the Aryan peoples who settled in India after 1500 BCE Early Hindus believed in the existence of a single force in the universeBrahman It was the duty of the individual self, the atman, to seek to know this ultimate reality *Reincarnation is the belief that the individual soul is reborn in a different form after death

*Karma, the force generated by a persons actions that determined how the person will be reborn The concept of *dharma, or divine law, ruled karmarequiring all that they do their duty Reincarnation provided a religious basis for the rigid divisions in Indian society

*Yoga, a method of training designed to lead to a union, or oneness, with God Hundreds of deities were included in Hinduismincluding the three chief deities: Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer often seen collectively as the Brahman

Buddhism
In the sixth century, *Buddhism appeared in northern India and soon became a rival of Hinduism *Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha Enlightened One

The Story of the Buddha

The foothills of the Himalaya in c. 563 BCE to a ruling family Protected from pain and suffering, but suddenly encountered both In reaction, he followed the example of the *ascetics who practiced self-denial, but nearly starved to death Entered a period of meditation, through which he reached enlightenment

The Basic Principles of Buddhism

To reach *nirvana, one must believed the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path 1. Ordinary life is full of suffering 2. This suffering is caused by our desire to satisfy ourselves 3. The way to end suffering is to end desire for selsh goals and to see others as extensions of ourselves 4. The way to end desire is to follow the Middle Path

1. Right view: We need to know the Four Noble Truths 2. Right intention: We need to decide what we really want 3. Right speech: We must seek to speak truth and to speak well of others 4. Right action: The Buddha gave ve preceptsdo not kill, steal, lie, be unchaste, drink alcohol, take drugs 5. Right livelihood: We must do work that uplifts our being 6. Right Effort 7. Right mindfulness: keep our minds under control 8. Right concentration: we must meditate to see the world in a new way

Objectives: 1. Describe how Indias earliest cities provided the foundation for the Aryans 2. Examine the caste systema set of rigid social categories in Indian society

New Empires in India

Objectives: 1. Discuss why the Mauryan dynasty ourished under asoka 2. Summarize how the Kushan kingdom prospered 3. Identify the contributions of the Gupta Empire in the areas of literature, architecture, and science

The Mauryan Dynasty

India faced new threats from the west, rst from *Persia, which extended its empire into western India Alexander the Greats conquest into western India gave rise to the rst dynasty to control much of Indiaa consequence of external incursion leading to unication

The Founding of the Mauryan Dynasty Chandragupta Maurya drove out the foreign forces and established the capital of his new Mauryan Empire in northern India The king divided his empire into provinces, using large armies and a secret police that followed his orders

The Reign of Asoka The Mauryan Empire ourished during the reign of *Asoka, the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya greatest ruler in the history of India Buddhism set up hospitals for both people and animals After Asokas death in 232 BCE, the Mauryan Empire began to decline

The Kushan Kingdom and the Silk Road

A number of new kingdoms arose along the edges of India in Bactria, known today as Afghanistan Nomadic warriors seized power and established a new Kushan kingdom The Kushans spread over northern India as far as the central Ganges Valley

The Kushans prospered from trade between India and the Mediterranean Sealargely through the *Silk Road (called so because silk was Chinas most valuable product) The Silk Road, which had arisen sometime between 200 BCE and 100 CE, from *Changan, through Mesopotamia, to the Mediterranean Only luxury goods were carried on the Silk Road, due to the danger and expense of travel silk, spices, teas, ivory, textiles, pepper, and porcelain

The Kingdom of the Guptas

The Kushan kingdom came to an end in the third century CE, when invaders from Persia overran it Samugragupta, expanded the empire into surrounding areas Eventually the new kingdom of the Guptas became the dominant political force throughout northern India The greatest of its culture was reported by Chinese traveler, *Faxian, who spent several years there in the 5th century

The Gupta Empire actively engaged in trade with China, Southeast Asia, and the Mediterranean Much of their wealth came from religious trade as *pilgrims from across India and as far away as China came to visit the major religious centers Beginning in the late fth century CE, invasions by nomadic *Huns from the northwest gradually reduced the power of the empire

The World of Indian Culture

Literature: A Lasting Legacy The earliest known Indian literature comes from the Aryan tradition in the form of the *Vedas After the Aryan conquest of India and the development of a writing system, the Vedas were written down in Sanskrit Indias great historical epics Mahabharata and Ramayana

The Mahabharata consists of over ninety thousand stanzas, making it the longest poem in any written language The most famous section of the book, the *Bhagavad Gita, is a sermon by the god Krishna The Ramayana is an account of the ctional ruler Rama, banished from the kingdom and forced to live as a hermit in the forest One of ancient Indias most famous authors was *Kalidasa, who lived during the Gupta dynasty

Architecture The desire to spread the ideas of Gautama Buddha inspired the creation of great architecture: the pillar, the stupa, and the rock chamber Many stone pillars were erected along side roads to mark sites related to events in Buddhas life A stupa was originally meant to house a relic of Buddha Early architecture was the rock chamber, carved out of rock cliffs in which monks lived

Science
Many recognized that Earth was a sphere that rotated on its axis and revolved around the sun *Aryabhata, the most famous mathematician of the Gupta Empire, was one of the rst scientists known to have used Algebra the concept of Zero (0) and the adoption of it by Arabs

Objectives: 1. Discuss why the Mauryan dynasty ourished under asoka 2. Summarize how the Kushan kingdom prospered 3. Identify the contributions of the Gupta Empire in the areas of literature, architecture, and science