Transcript Early Civilizations of India, Pakistan and China

Early Civilizations of India, Pakistan
and China
Concepts and Definitions
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India
How does geography effect
India?
Where and what were India’s first
civilizations?
Why did they decline?
Who were the Aryans?
What were some of their cultural
contributions?
Describe the caste system
Describe the principles of
Buddhism and Hinduism
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Vocabulary and Places
Caste- know all five classes
Indus River,
Ganges River
Himalaya Mountains
Hinduism
Buddhism
Karma
Dharma
patriarchal society
nirvana
Geography of India
 Geography major force shaping the
early cultures of India
 Himalaya Mountains to the north,
ocean to the south
 Central India-Deccan Plateau –a dry
area not good for supporting
agriculture.
 coast is a good agricultural region,
densest populations.
 Two major river systems
 The Ganges and the Indus- begin in
the Himalayas.
 The first civilizations grew up around
the Indus River Valley
Geography of India
 Monsoons were a defining
feature of life
 Monsoon rains come in the
summer and in the winter the
wind shifts direction and bring it
brings hot, dry air
 Monsoons bring rain to
agricultural areas
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What if the monsoons came too early or late?
India’s First Civilizations
 Along the Indus River
valley in present day
Pakistan, civilization
flourished from 3,0001500 B.C.
 Two major cities were
Harappa and MohenjoDaro
 Very little is known
about this culture
because archeologists
have yet to decipher
their writing
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
 Each city around 35,000 people
 well planned with grid streets, raised buildings
and a sewer system
 The uniformity suggests cities had well
organized governments
 Like all ancient civilizations, religion and
political power were closely linked
 Harappan economy was based on agriculture
and they trade extensively with Mesopotamian
civilizations
 Environmental factors and invasion led to the
downfall of the Harappan culture
 These cities were not discovered until the
1920’s
Question #1
 Using your notes and the book (pages 72-73) describe
features of Harappan culture that demonstrate they
were an advanced civilization.
Invaders
 Aryans, a nomadic group from
central Asia, crossed the HinduKush mountains and conquered
the region around 1500 B.C.
 The Aryans created a new
society in India. They eventually
controlled most of northern
India
 The Aryans settled down and
became agriculturists. They used
iron, a new invention, to clear
land. They grew grains in the arid
north, rice, cotton and spices
were grown in the south and
along the river valleys
Aryan Life
 The Aryans developed a written
language , Sanskrit around 1000B.C.
 They wrote religious rituals, legends
that had previously been passed down
orally
 The writings reveal that early Aryan
culture was ruled by rajas. Each had a
small state and fought each other
 Question #2- What are the advantages
of passing on cultural knowledge orally
and passing it on through writing?
What are the disadvantages?
Society in Ancient India
 Aryan conquest had long lasting
effects on India
 Created social divisions and a set of
social institutions that last even
today- this is known as the caste
system
Caste System
pages 74-77
 Important Indian social creation
 It sets up a rigid hierarchy that determines a persons occupation,
economic potential and social status
 It was based in part on a persons skin color- the Aryan conquers
were had lighter skin than the native Indians
 The five castes are- Brahman, Kshatriyas, Viasyas, Sudras and the
Untouchables
Caste System
 Known as jati
 There are thousands of castes in India.
 Brahmans- top of society, usually priests, in charge of
religious ceremonies
 Kshatriayas- typically warriors, as society changed
they found new forms of employment
 Vaisyas- commoners, merchants and farmers
Caste System
 Sudras- most people in India,
peasants that preformed
manual labor, had limited rights
 Untouchables- the lowest class,
did jobs other Indians would not
accept, collecting trash,
handling dead bodies, lived
away from others, not
considered human
Family Life in Ancient India
 Life centered on the family unit
 Ideal family had three generation living under one
roof (grandparents, parents and children)
 Oldest male was head of the household (patriarchal
society)
 Men were educated, taught by a guru
 Marriage was important and arranged by the parents
 Symbol of dominance by men was the suttee. It was a
funeral pyre that women had to throw themselves on
top of after the death of their husband
Hinduism – “God is one but wise people know
it by many names”
 One of the worlds most complex religions
 Hinduism has no single founder or sacred
text
 Mixture of Aryan beliefs and native Indian
beliefs
 Hinduism has many different gods and
goddesses because to Hindus Brahman is
too complex for most people to
understand
Hindu Beliefs
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Hinduism is a polytheistic religion
Important GodsBrahma the Creator
Vishnu the Preserver
Shiva the Destroyer
Each represents an aspects of
Brahman- they can take many
different forms and each is
worshiped by different people
 Each god also has a family
Sacred Texts
 Hindu teaching recorded in the
Vedas and the Upanishads
 Bhagavad-Gita spells out many
ethical ideas central to Hinduismimportance of duty over desire
and ambition
Hindu Goal of Life
 Every person has an essential self (atman)
 Ultimate goal of existence is to achieve
moksha, a union with Brahman
 To do this you must free yourself from
personal, selfish desire
 Most do not achieve moksha in one lifetime
 Hindus believe in –reincarnation- rebirth of
the soul in another bodily form- allows
Hindus to achieve moksha through many
lifetimes
Karma and Dharma
 Easier to achieve moksha if you
follow rules of karma
 Karma- all of the actions in this life
will effect your next life.
Symbolized by the wheel of fate
 To escape wheel of fate need to
perform the religious and moral
duties of a Hindu- dharma.
 obeying dharma a person acquires
merit for the next life.
 concepts of karma and dharma
ensure social order by supporting
the caste system
Assignment
 Describe the relationship between the caste system,
dharma.
 Why are sacred texts important to many religions?
Buddhism pages 78-79
 In the sixth century B.C. a son of a local ruling family in
northern India named Siddhartha Gautama founded a new
religion
 This religion would spread across Asia and become one of
the world’s most influential religions
 He wanted to escape the trappings of his good life and
“discover” the true meaning of life
 After searching and wandering he meditated under a tree
for forty-eight days and understood the cause of suffering.
He became the Buddha, “The Enlightened One”
Buddhism
 Goal of Buddhist life is to attain
nirvana that is the end of self and
the union with the Great World
soul.
 All life is suffering, caused by
human attachment to the material
world.
 Once people let go of this
attachment worldly pain and
suffering are forgotten
The Four Noble Truths
1.
Ordinary life is full of
suffering
2. Suffering is caused by our
desire to satisfy ourselves
3. The way to end suffering is to
end desire for selfish goals
and to see others as an
extension of ourselves
4. The way to end desire is to
follow the Middle Path
Middle Path
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Right View
Right Intention
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Effort
Right Livelihood
Right Mindfulness
Right Concentrationmeditation
Buddhism and Hinduism Compared
 Both grew from the same traditions
 Both stress nonviolence, karma, dharma, nonviolence,
and a cycle of rebirth
 Hinduism had formal rituals and many gods
 Buddhism had rejected rituals, individuals seek
spiritual enlightenment through meditation, nirvana
was offered to all regardless of birth.
Indian Empires and Culture
400 B.C. to 500 A.D.
Concepts and Definitions to know
 People
 Chandragupta Maurya
 Asoka
 Aryabhata
 Cultural Items and Places
 Silk Road
 Stupa
 Rock chamber
Mauryan Dynasty pages 81-82
 In 400 B.C. the Aryan rule was in decline and India was
comprised of warring rajas.
 India faced a new threat from the west-Persia and
then from the Macedonian general Alexander the
Great
 Chandragupta Maurya founded the first great empire
in India around 350 B.C. to 301 B.C.
 The Mauryan Empire waged war to gain power
Mauryan Dynasty
 The Mauryan Empire:
 Had a large army and secret
police
 Had a highly centralized
government
 The empire was divided into
four provinces ruled by local
governors
 To pay for the government the
people, agriculture and
industry were heavily taxed
Mauryan Empire under Asoka
 Thirty two years after the death of Chandragupta his
grandson Asoka became the ruler
 Many consider him the greatest ruler ever in India
 Early in his reign he used the military to expand the
power of the empire
 After a battle where over 100,000 soldiers died he
converted to Buddhism and adopted a policy of nonviolence
Mauryan Empire under Asoka
 After his conversion he advocated
religious tolerance, treated his
subjects humanely, opened hospitals
 Throughout the empire he erected
large stone pillars with his edicts
 He built roads and planted trees to
make travel easier
 He sent out missionaries to spread
Buddhist teachings
 He disbanded the secret police and
the government looked out for
peoples welfare
A Period of Turmoil
 After the death of Asoka period of war and disunity
 new kingdom in northern India dominated by trade
 trade connections and political instability elsewhere
people from central Asia, Greece and Persia settle in
northern India.
 migration added to and created instability in Indian
culture.
 southern India - Tamil Empire dominated they practiced
different religion (Jainism) and spoke a different language
(Tamil)
Kushan Kingdom and the Silk Road
pages 83-84
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Kingdom in Bactria (now Afghanistan)
Established in the first century A.D.
Kingdom prospered through trade.
Trade route that from China to the Mediterranean (Roman
Empire).
 The Silk Road was established between 200 B.C. and 100
A.D.
 Trade goods from Rome were traded for silks and spices
from Asia. The goods traveled on camel caravans
The Silk Road
Gupta Empire pages 84-85
 In the third century A.D. invaders from Persia overran the
Kushan Empire
 replaced by the Gupta Empire
 The empire efficiently run engaged in trade with the
Mediterranean.
 More power in the hands of the local rulers.
 Many religious pilgrims came to India to visit major
Buddhist religious centers
 fifth century A.D. the Guptas were invaded by the nomadic
Huns empire declined. India would not be united for
hundreds of years
Indian Culture
pages 85-86
 Indian Literature- passed down orally, after the
Aryan invasions it was written in Sanskrit
 Bhagvad Gita- sermon by the god Krishna about
taking action because of the moral rightness of it
Indian Architecture and Science
 Buddha inspired architecture of Asoka.
 architecture of the Mauryan Dynasty served religious
purposes.
 stupa, the pillar and the rock chamber examples of
Indian architecture.
 Pillars- most famous examples of Asoka’s reign.
placed along roads had the sayings of the Buddha,
marked sites in the Buddha’s life the laws of the
empire. They were topped with carvings, usually lions
Indian Architecture and Science
 Stupas- originally to house relics of
Buddha’s life. eventually became a
place for Buddhist devotion and
worship
 Rock Chamber- carved out of cliffs.
for Buddhist monks to live and
religious ceremonies
 Contributions in Indian science and
math astronomy. They knew that
the earth was a sphere it revolved
around the sun.
 algebra.
 Indian mathematicians introduced
the concept of zero and used a
symbol for it