Transcript chapter-7-india-and-southeast-asia

Cover Slide
The Earth and
Its Peoples
3rd edition
Chapter 7
India and
Southeast Asia,
1500 B.C.E.-1025 C.E.
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Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat
The most important mainland state of Southeast Asia was the Khmer Empire of Cambodia,
which controlled the heart of the region. Their empire, founded in 802, eventually extended
south to the sea and the northeast Malay Peninsular. The Khmer rulers built both Buddhist and
Hindu temples, the most elaborate of which is the twelfth-century temple complex at Angkor
Wat, dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva and decorated with bas-relief carvings of Indian legends
and Khmer history. (Robert Harding Picture Library)
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Ashoka's column
Ashoka's column
The best preserved of the pillars that King
Ashoka erected in about 240 B.C.E. is this
one in the Bihar region, near Nepal. The
solid shaft of polished sandstone rises 32
feet in the air. It weighs about 50 tons,
making its erection a remarkable feat of
engineering. Like other Ashokan pillars, it
is inscribed with accounts of Ashoka's
political achievements and instructions to
his subjects on proper behavior. These
pillars are the earliest extant examples of
Indian writing and a major historical
source for the Mauryan period.
(Borromeo/Art Resource, NY)
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Caves at Ajanta
Caves at Ajanta
During the fifteen-year reign of its founder, Chandra Gupta (320-335) and the forty-year reigns
of his three successors, the power and influence of the Gupta Empire reached across northern
and central India. During and after the Gupta period, natural caves--like the cave temples at
Ajanta, in central India, shown here--were turned into complexes of shrines decorated with
sculpture and painting. (Dinodia Picture Agency)
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Fasting Buddha
Fasting Buddha
This sculpture of the Buddha, showing
the effects of a protracted fast, is from
Gandhara in northwest India. It displays
the influence of Greek artistic styles
emanating from Greek settlements
established in that region by Alexander
the Great in the late fourth century
B.C.E. (Courtesy, Robert Fisher)
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Great Stupa at Sanchi, North Gate
Great Stupa at Sanchi, North Gate
The North Gate is one of four ornately
carved gates guarding the Buddhist
memorial shrine--the Great Stupa--at
Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh, Satavahana.
The complex at Sanchi, in central
India, was begun by Ashoka in the
third century B.C.E., though the gates
probably date to the first century. The
elaborate relief sculpture on the gates
includes Buddhist symbols, scenes
from the lives of the Buddha, and
voluptuous female tree spirits. (JeanLouis Nou/akg-images)
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Head, Nok woman, 1st Century B.C.E.
Head, Nok woman, 1st Century
B.C.E.
Ancient iron tools found at the village
of Nok on the Jos Plateau in presentday Nigeria seem to prove an early
knowledge of ironworking in West
Africa. The Nok culture, which enjoys
enduring fame for its fine terra-cotta
(baked clay) sculptures such as the
head of this woman, flourished from
about 88 B.C.E. to 200 C.E. (National
Museum, Lagos/Werner Forman
Archive/Art Resource, NY)
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Jain Ascetic
Jain Ascetic
Vardhamana Mahavira (fl. ca. 520 B.C.E.) was the key figure of Jainism. He accepted the doctrines of karma
and rebirth but developed these ideas in new directions. Like many ascetics of the period, he left home to
become a wandering mendicant ascetic. The most extreme of Jain ascetics not only endured the elements
without the help of clothes but were also generally indifferent to bodily comfort. The Jain saint depicted in
this eighth-century cave temple has maintained his yogic posture for so long that vines have grown up around
him. (Courtesy, Robert Fisher)
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Kushan girl
Kushan girl
In 20 B.C.E., a nomadic tribe, the
Kushans, began their rule of the region
of today's Afghanistan, Pakistan, and
west India as far south as Gujarat.
During the Kushan period, Greek culture
had a considerable impact on Indian art.
Here, a young Kushan woman on this
second-century stone sculpture wears
bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. She is
carrying a platter of food, perhaps for a
feast. (Courtesy, Archaeological
Museum, Mathura)
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Queen Maya's Dream
Queen Maya's Dream
The stupa erected at Bharhut in the
second century B.C.E. depicts stories
of the Buddha's previous lives and
events in his life as Shakyamuni. In
this panel we see the legend of his
conception. As a lamp flickers at
Queen Maya's bedside, a large white
elephant hovers above her before
descending into her side. (Government
of India, Department of Archaeology)
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Stele of Aksum, 4th c.
Stele of Aksum, 4th c.
This 70-foot stone is the tallest remnant
of a field of stelae, or standing stones,
marking the tombs of Aksumite kings in
Ethiopia. The carvings of doors,
windows, and beam-ends imitate
common features of Aksumite
architecture, suggesting that each stele
symbolized a multistory royal palace.
The largest stelae date from the fourth
century C.E. (J. Allan Cash)
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Vishnu asleep
Vishnu asleep
In this stone relief from a temple at
Deogarh, in central India, Vishnu
reclines on the coiled body of a giant
multiheaded serpent that he subdued.
The beneficent god of preservation,
Vishnu appears in a new incarnation
whenever demonic forces threaten the
world. The Indian view of the vastness
of time is embodied in this mythic
image, which conceives of Vishnu as
creating and destroying universes as
he exhales and inhales. (John C.
Huntington)
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Wall painting from Ajanta
Wall painting from Ajanta
Kings and other wealthy patrons donated lavishly for the construction and decoration of Buddhist, Hindu,
and Jain religious shrines, including elaborate complexes of caves, such as those at Ajanta, which are filled
with paintings and relief sculptures illustrating religious and secular scenes. This segment depicts, at left, a
princess and her attendants in a garden and, at right, a royal couple in the harem. While representing scenes
from the earlier lives of the Buddha, the artists also give us a glimpse of life at the royal court in their own
times. (Jean-Louis Nou/akg-images)
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Map: Ancient India
Ancient India
Mountains and ocean largely separate the Indian subcontinent from the rest of Asia. Migrations and invasions usually came through the Khyber Pass,
in the northwest. Seaborne commerce with western Asia, southeast Asia, and East Asia often flourished. Peoples speaking Indo-European languages
migrated into the broad valleys of the Indus and Ganges Rivers in the north. Dravidian-speaking peoples remained the dominant population in the
south. The diversity of the Indian landscape, the multiplicity of ethnic groups, and the primary identification of people with their class and caste lie
behind the division into many small states that has characterized much of Indian political history. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All
Rights Reserved.)
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Map: India from ca. 2500 B.C.E. to 300 C.E.
India from ca. 2500 B.C.E. to 300 C.E.
The earliest civilization in India developed in the Indus River valley in the west of the subcontinent. The Ganges River
valley was the heart of the later Mauryan Empire. Although India is protected from the cold by the mountains in the north,
mountain passes in the northwest allowed both migration and invasion. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights
Reserved.)
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Map: Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia's position between the ancient centers of civilization in India and China had a major impact on its history. In
the first millennium C.E. a series of powerful and wealthy states arose in the region by gaining control of major trade routes:
first Funan, based in southern Vietnam and the Malay Peninsula, then Srivijaya on the island of Sumatra, then smaller states
on the island of Java. Shifting trade routes led to the demise of one and the rise of others. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin
Company. All Rights Reserved.)
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Map: The Spread of Buddhism
The Spread of Buddhism
Buddhism spread throughout India in Ashoka's time and beyond India in later centuries. The different forms of Buddhism
found in Asia today reflect this history. The Mahayana Buddhism of Japan came via Central Asia, China and Korea, with a
secondary later route through Tibet. The Theravada Buddhism of Southeast Asia came directly from India and indirectly
through Sri Lanka. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.)
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