Transcript Hinduism - Fulton County Schools

Ancient India
Geography
• 2500 –1500 Indus River BCE
• What is now India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh
• Surrounded by Mountains,
Himalayas and
Hindu Kush
Climate
• Seasonal Monsoon bring wind and rain
– November to March, winter monsoon
– June to September Summer monsoon
• Monsoons bring rain and cause rivers to
flood, enrich soil but also can destroy
villages and drown animals and people.
Early Indus Valley Civilizations
• Archeologist call it “Harappan Civilization”
• Harappa is in present day Pakistan
• Mohenjo Daro was an important Harappan
city near the Arabian sea
Cities
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Cities were carefully laid out
A citadel or fortress, built of oven dried brick
Possibly a government or religious building
Rest of the cities were laid out in a grid pattern
Oven baked brick houses, sometimes two or
three stories high
– Had courtyards
– At least one bathroom with a sewer system
Life in Harappa
• People worked the land
– Wheat, barley and cotton were major crops
– Had a food surplus
• People in the cities dealt in commerce, trade and
manufacturing.
– Made bronze and copper tools, silver and gold
jewelry, mass produced clay pots,
• cotton clothing
• Used soapstone seals to label their products,
these seals were found in Mesopotamia showing
trade with those peoples.
Language and Religion
• Pictograms used, most likely got the idea
from Mesopotamia, theses pictograms
have yet to be deciphered.
• Since the Harappans had no written
records it is hard to determine religion.
• Animal and human-like figured suggest
they worshiped gods associated with
nature.
Collapse
• Theories include great floods that may
have wiped out Harappan civilization.
• Signs at Mohenjo Daro suggest invasion
and a violent end.
Empires develop
The Mauryan Empire 322 BC
•
India was united under Chandragupta Maurya
– Empire stretched 2000 miles.
– Battles Armies of Alexander the Great.
– creates a bureaucratic government
• Divided into 4 provinces each with a royal princes (rajah)
– His advisor created a handbook on ruling including
spying, assassination
– Created a large army 600,000 troops, 30,000
horseback troops, and 9000 elephants.
Asoka
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- Chandragupta’s son Asoka becomes king 269 B.C.
- creates Rock Edicts:large stone pillars inscribed with
policies; located throughout empire,
- builds extensive network of roads with “rest stops”
– after fierce wars of conquest, became
“enlightened”
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•
Renounced war
Followed Buddhist teachings
Buddhism official religion, but Hinduism
tolerated
Spread Buddhism throughout India and other
parts of Asia
- Asoka’s death beings a period of turmoil as empire breaks
apart, invaders disrupt society
Asoka’s Rock Edicts
• Laws carved on
rocks and pillars
throughout
empire
• Laws stressed
concern for other
human beings
Gupta Empire
• 320AD-535AD
• India’s “Golden Age” –
arts & sciences
flourished
• Began to write down
rules for everything:
grammar, drama,
politics
• Sanskrit of Gupta court
became major
language of north
Economy
• Agricultural
(agrarian)
• Coastal Rim –
trade in cotton,
gems, spice,
gold, silk,
cashmere
Society
• Caste System
• Women respected but had
little power or independence
• Polygamy
Caste
System
Castes divided
into 3000
subcastes,
jati, based on
occupation
priests
Brahman
s
Kshatriyas
Vaisyas
Nobles, warriors,
royalty
Merchants &
skilled workers
Sudras
Servants,
peasants,
slaves,
laborers
Untouchables: Outcastes, pariah = outside caste
system
Language/Writing
• Vedas
• Sanskrit (written
language)
• Upanishads
• Epics
• Panchatantra –
collection of tales that
presented moral lessons
thru animals who acted
like humans
Art/Architect
ure
• Golden Age during Gupta Empire
–Drama, poetry, math and sciences
flourished
• Stupas – mound shaped shrines to
Buddha
• Temples with brightly painted sculptures
• Murals on cave walls in Ajanta
Science/Math
Math
• Principles of
algebra
• Infinity & Zero
• Pi (3.14)
• Arabic numerals
Science
• Earth is round
• Some knowledge of
gravity
• Identified 7 planets
• Medicine
• Set bones,
operations, invented
medical instruments
Hinduism
One religion and many…
Hinduism
• Hinduism is the world's oldest extant(stand-out) religion.
• with a billion followers, which makes it the world's third largest
religion.
• Hinduism is a conglomeration of religious, philosophical, and cultural
ideas and practices that originated in India
• Characterized by
– belief in reincarnation
– one absolute being of multiple manifestations
– the law of cause and effect
– following the path of righteousness
– desire for liberation from the cycle of births and deaths.
Hinduism was not founded on the teachings of one person and does
not have one holy book. As a result, it became a complex religion
of many deities
Hinduism Cycle of Rebirth
• Reincarnation  rebirth of the soul
• A soul passes through many lifetimes before
it achieves union with the universal spirit
• Karma  determines the cycle of rebirth
• How a person lives their life will determine
what form they take on in the next life;
failure to fulfill your dharma means you
might be reborn into a lower varna (social
class)
• To move towards universal spirit you must
have good karma and fulfill your dharma
Hinduism Cycle of Rebirth
(cont’d)
• Cycle of rebirth continues until a person
reaches spiritual perfection
• Ultimate aim of life is moksha (synonymous
with Nirvana) , or release from the pain and
suffering of rebirth after rebirth
Religious Writings
• Vedas: “Books
of Knowledge”
• -oral tradition:
songs, prayers of
the Aryans
• - eventually
written in
Sanskrit
Religious Writings
• Upanishads:
philosophical
discussions
• -reality and
illusion
• -unity and
diversity
"What is that by knowing which all
things are known?"
"What makes my mind think, my
eyes see, my tongue speak, my
body live?"
What happens when this body
dies?"
With such questions begin the Upanishads, the
wellspring of India's loftiest philosophies and faith.
Some thousand years old, they do not explain or
develop a line of argument in the modern sense.
They are darshana, "something seen", and the
reader is expected not only to listen to the words but
to realize them: that is, to make their truths an
integral part of character, conduct, and
consciousness.
Religious Writings – The Epics
• Epic: long heroic tale
• Mahabarata: great
war
• -Bhagavad-Gita
“song of God”
• -Krishna’s instruction
on love and morality
Religious Writings - Epics
• Ramayana –
Story of Rama
and wife Sita
• In an allegorical sense,
the Ramayana represents
the Aryan people
establishing their hold
and culture over north
India and moving their
influence into the south.
From a mythical point of
view, Rama represents
the noble man, following
dharma and living rightly.
Hindu
Gods
Brahman
One Divine
Essence
Unity
+ millions of
other gods
+ divine essence,
“atman” in all things
Gods (diversity)
Many manifestations of Brahman
Brahma
The
Creator
Shiva
The
Destroyer
Vishnu
The Preserver
Had many earthly
incarnations:
Rama, Krishna
Hindu Beliefs
• Worshiping many gods
• Reincarnation – cycle of rebirth
• Atman – spirit that goes from birth to
rebirth (“soul”)
• Karma – every action is rewarded or
punished in this life or a next life
• Dharma: one’s moral duty in life
• Maya: the deception or illusion of the seen
world (diversity)
reality is the divine essence (Brahman=unity)
• Moksha: release from pain & suffering
• Ahimsa: reverence for all life forms
• Yoga: mental and physical discipline to free
mind/spirit from bodily control
• Asceticism – extreme self-denial
• Nirvana – ultimate goal; to escape cycle of
rebirth
BUDDHISM
Buddhism
• Founded by Siddhartha Gautama
– A Kshatriya prince
– Lived a sheltered life and one day was exposed
to scenes of misery
– Wandered for 7 yrs as a hermit to seek the truth
through fasting and self-denial
– Soon he began to share his insights with others
and the meaning of his “enlightenment”
– Began to be called Buddha or “Enlightened
One”
Four Noble Truths
• 1: life is filled with suffering and sorrow
• 2: people suffer because their selfish desires
bind them to the cycle of rebirth
• 3: people could end their suffering by
eliminating their desires
• 4: one could eliminate desire by following
the Eightfold Path (middle path = between
desires and self-denial) to find
enlightenment
The Eightfold Path
• Urges his followers to do 8 things:
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Know the truth
Resist evil
Say nothing to hurt others
Respect life
Work for the good of others
Free their minds of evil
Control their thoughts
Practice meditation
The Eightfold Path (cont’d)
• By following the path one could reach
nirvana or a state of freedom from the cycle
of rebirth
• Buddha rejected the varna system
• Said your place in life depended on the
person, not their birth so did not believe in
caste system
• Also didn’t believe in Hindu deities
• Is not considered monotheistic or polytheistic,
has no god, and no main holy book ……
Spread of Buddhism
• Buddha spent 40 years teaching
• After his death monks spread this belief to
India, Asia (China, Japan, Korea)
• Architecture honored Buddha through
stupas or large stone mounds over the bones
of Buddhist holy people