Transcript India - SoYoung Kim

Classical India
AP Information
Topics
• Trade
• Technology/Achievements
• War/Invasions
• Cultural Diffusion
• Social Hierarchy
• Gender
•
Trade
Jains turned to commerce to
avoid farming
•
Traded for gold with the Roman
Empire; w/Persians
•
Asoka’s successors taxed goods
sold by merchants
•
Traded gems, spices, cotton,
teak, & ebony for horses from
Arabia & Central Asia; silk from
China
•
Emphasized trade more than
China
•
Traded w/China, but had little
impact; more with Middle East &
Mediterranean
•
Indian merchants traded cotton
textiles and bronze statuaries
• Maurya: Asoka built roads, hospitals,
Technology/Achievements
veterinary clinics
•
Gupta: arts & sciences flourished
•
Gupta: developed principle of algebra,
infinity, and concept of zero; “Arabic
numerals”, negative numbers, square
roots
•
Astronomy: earth’s rotation around sun,
circumference of earth & planets; gravity
•
Stupas built by Ashoka
•
Panchatantra with “Sinbad the Sailor”
and “Jack the Giant Killer”
•
Medicine: set bones, performed
operations, invented medical
instruments; ethics, cleanliness
•
Epic poems: Mahabharata (100,000
verses) & Ramayana (24,000 verses)
• Caste system made up
of varnas: Brahmans,
Kshatriyas, Vaisyas,
Sudras, & Pariah
Social Hierarchy
• Only priests and
warriors could recite the
Vedas
• Priests replaced
warriors at the top of
the caste system
• Castes/varnas divided
into jatis based on
occupation
• Castes promoted
tolerance; goes hand in
• 1500 B.C. - Aryan invasion
War/Invasions
(Indo-European hunterherder migrants)
• 500 B.C. – Persians under
Darius I conquer Indus River
valley
• 327. B.C. – Alexander the
Great’s armies make it to the
Indus River
• Asoka builds empire through
war; renounces violence
after much bloodshed
• Kushans invade from
northwest
Cultural Diffusion
•
Buddhism spreads to other
parts of Asia especially China,
Japan, Korea, Middle East, &
Sri Lanka
•
Indian art influenced China
•
Symbols for 1-9 adopted by
traders from Middle East;
became Arabic numerals that
we use today
•
Hinduism influence spreads to
surrounding areas (Angkor
Wat in Cambodia is dedicated
to Vishnu)
•
Hellenistic culture transferred
to India through Alex the
Great’s armies
•
Stoicism stimulated by
Buddhist emissaries to Middle
• Men dominated the
Aryan world (patriarchal)
• Aryan women had
choice of choosing
husband;
Gender
• Indian women could
remarry if widowed; took
part on social affairs;
high ranking boys and
girls could attend school;
were educated in
household tasks
• Status of women
declines after Aryans
arrive