Transcript India after the Guptas

India’s First Empires
India 3000 b.c.- 500 a.d.

3000-1500 B.C. early civilization.
◦ Indus River Valley-modern Pakistan; served as
the cradle of Indian civilization.
◦ Two Regions The Northern Plain & Deccan Plateau.
◦ Three Rivers: Ganges River, Indus River and
Brahmaputra
 -important to Indian culture.
◦ Himalaya –highest mountains in the world.
 Karakorum, Hindu Kush
India’s First Civilization
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Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
◦ Two Indian civilizations
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Rulers Divine Right
◦ Religion and Political Power tied together.
Economy based on farming.
 Extensive trade
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Aryans
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Who were the Aryans?
◦ Indo-Europeans who came south across the
Hindu Kush mountain range.
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Pastoral people with strong warrior
tradition.
◦ Nomadic people who developed their own
written language called SANSKRIT
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Rajas: princes who controlled small
kingdoms in India.
India’s Social System
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Caste System
◦ Rigid social categories.
◦ Based on a person’s occupation and extended
family network.
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Social Classes (varnas)
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Brahmans= in charge of religious ceremonies.
Kshatriyas= warriors
Vaisyas= commoners (merchants and farmers)
Sudras= peasants/labor
Untouchables= not considered human
Family in India
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Family basic unit of society.
◦ Extended family.
Superiority of males.
 Guru: teacher (generally only males
were educated.
 Divorce was not allowed.
 Arranged marriages (with dowry)
 Suttee: a ritual in which a wife threw
herself on her husband’s funeral pyre.
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Mauryan (MAH-oor-yuh) Dynasty
321 BCE – 185 BCE
 Chandragupa Maurya
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◦ Centralized government
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Empire divided into provinces,
◦ Ruled by governors
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Large army and a secret police
◦ Political assassinations…
Asoka
Chandragupta’s grandson.
 Greatest ruler in history of India.
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◦ Converted to Buddhism(set up hospitals, and
shelters for travelers).
◦ Trade expanded
Asoka’s Pillar
Guptas (320 CE – 535)
Dominant in northern India after the
Mauryan Empire.
 Chandra Gupta- leader of Gupta, the second empire.
 Admired for their tolerance of Buddhism
and prosperity of the country.
 Much wealth came from pilgrims.
 “Golden Age of India”
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◦ Arts, mathematics, literature
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Indian families patriarchal.
◦ Southern India were matriarchal.
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Invaded by Huns from the northwest
After the Guptas
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Believers of Buddhism split.
◦ Theravada- “teachings of the elders”
 Way of life, not a religion,
 Understanding oneself is the chief way to gain virvana.
◦ Mahayana- stressed that nirvana could be
achieved through devotion to the Buddha.
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Believed Theravada too strict,
Buddhism is a religion, not a philosophy,
Buddha divine
Nirvana a true heaven
Both declined.
Expansion of Islam in India
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In Northwest India.
◦ Division of the subcontinent into mostly
Hindu India and two Islamic states,
Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Expansion of Islam
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Islam arrived when there was a lot of
division in India.
◦ India had been divided into 70 states (and
they fought each other constantly!)
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10th century Islamic expansion.
◦ New Islamic state known as Ghazni (in
Afghanistan) is founded.
◦ By 1200, Muslim power had reached over the
entire plain of northern India.
 A new Muslim state known as the Sultanate of
Delhi was formed.
Timur Lenk
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Military force crossed the Indus River and
raided the capital of Dellhi.
◦ 100,000 Hindu prisoners were massacred
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Timur Lenk (Tamerlane)
◦ Mongol ruler in Samarkand.
◦ 1380s placed the entire region east of the
Caspian Sea under his authority and then
occupied Mesopotamia.
◦ Died in 1405
Islam and Indian Society
Strict separation b/w Muslim ruling class
and Hindu population.
 Many Muslim rulers were intolerant of
other faiths.
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◦ Peaceful means to convert people to Islam,
but some destroyed Hindu temples.
Economy and Daily Life
Peasant farmers
 Landed elites and merchants lived in
cities.
 Farming and trade were important.
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Indian Culture
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Temples (Hindu)
Indian Culture
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Sanskrit Prose
◦ 6-7th centuries.
◦ Dandin
 The Ten Princes
 Created a fantastic world.