Transcript Section IV: Ancient Indian Dynasties (Pages 65-69)

Section IV: Ancient Indian Dynasties
(Pages 65-69)
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This section is about:
The rise and fall of Chandragupta and his Mauryan Empire.
The Gupta Empire.
The great advances in arts and sciences at this time.
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Two of the best known
of the ancient Indian
cultures are the
Mauryan and the
Gupta Empires.
The first great empire
of India was formed
by Chandragupta
Maurya.
He took control and
united many kingdoms
in the Indus River
valley about 321 B.C.
The Mauryan empire worked well
because it was a bureaucracy.
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Appointed officials were in
charge of different
responsibilities (building roads,
running towns, collecting
taxes).
There were even spies keeping
track that everything was done
correctly.
Chandragupta had a huge
army: 700,000 men, 9,000
elephants, and 10,000
chariots.
He also improved business and
trade for the empire Built
canals, created jobs, built
roads to link everything, and
traded everywhere they knew
of.
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(a government system of departments –
run by appointed officials)
Chandragupta’s grandson (Asoka)…
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…was the most admired of the
empires rulers.
After losing more than 100,000
men in a battle, Asoka changed
his mind about violence and
became a Buddhist.
He won the support of India’s
people through kindness and now
saw himself as the protector of his
people.
He tried to lead his people by
example (and not by force).
He began placing edicts (orders)
around places people would
gather- promoting goodness,
compassion, truthfulness, purity,
tolerance, and gentleness.
Mauryan society was greatly improved
by Asoka’s changes. He…
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Dug wells along major roads for
travelers.
Grew herbs and provided medical
care.
Prohibited the slaughter of
animals for food (Buddhism).
Tried to get “ministers” to help
him make a more caring, tolerant
society -even among different
castes.
Promoted religious tolerance.
Gave assistance to the elderly.
Personally donated large sums of
money.
All this helped spread Buddhism
to other parts of Asia
The empire failed when it couldn’t unite the
entire sub-continent into one group.
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Fifty years after Asoka died, the
empire was pretty much gone.
We’re not sure why, but…
May have been too spread out to
be united
The economy may have
weakened.
Agriculture may not have been
able to keep up with the
population.
But… about 500 years later, a new
empire would rise up in India
The Gupta Empire
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Was not as large as the
Mauryan Empire.
Because it had good military
leaders, no one bothered them
for about 300 years.
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(about 320 A.D.)
Because it was peaceful, the
people could concentrate more
on developing art, music,
writing, literature, and
architecture.
The empire was set up different
than the Mauryan Empire
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Divided into territories – each
governed by a member of the
royal family,
The people in these individual
territories worked together
pretty well – they all had mostly
common interests.
Chandragupta I and his son
Chandragupta II (not related to
the Mauryan ruler) helped build
up the Gupta empire.
The empire lasted until about
650 A.D. (when the Huns
invaded from the north). There
were many kingdoms at that
time who wanted to control India
Gupta Art and Architecture:
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Art, architecture, math, and
science were huge in the
Gupta Empire.
They also supported both
Buddhism and Hinduism.
Mural paintings and sculpture
from the time show details of
how the people lived.
They also built magnificent
stone temples – usually simple
buildings with heavy walls that
had an image of a deity (god).
Some also had elaborate
carvings that told the story of
the Buddha.
Literature
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The Gupta wrote in
“Sanskrit” – their official
language.
India’s greatest Sanskrit
poet was Kalidasa: who
wrote: “The Cloud
Messenger” about a man
who misses his wife and
shares his sadness with a
passing cloud.
There was another set of
stories called the
Panchatantra – a
collection of animal fables
Science, medicine, and education
also flourished in the Gupta Empire
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They even had centers of
learning – or universities –
probably the first of their kind in
the world.
Students were taught medicine,
physics, languages,
mathematics, and literature.
In mathematics, they came up
with the idea of using a number
system with a decimal point and
a zero. Aryabhata also probably
came up with the ideas for
Algebra and a decimal system
that counted in tens.
They also studied astronomy and
knew the earth had a round
shape and rotated on an axis.