Transcript India - Pierce College

Chapter 2
Ancient India
1500 – 100 BC
I. Background to the Emergence of Civilization in India
II. Harappan Civilization: A Fascinating Enigma
I. Culture
II. Political
III. Religious
IV. Food
V. Agriculture / Trade / Economic
III. Arrival of the Aryans, c. 1500 B.C.E.
I. Early Aryans
II. Political
III. Legal
IV. The Mauryan Empire
I. Chandragupta Maurya 324-301 BC
I. Arthasastra
V. Caste and Class: Social Structures in Ancient India
VI. Daily Life in Ancient India
VII. The Economy of Ancient India
VIII. The Religious World of Ancient India
I.
Hinduism
II. Reincarnation
III. Buddhism
IV. Janism and Sikhism
IX. The Rule of the Fishes: India after the Mauryas
X.
The Exuberant World of Indian Culture
I.
Literature
II. Architecture
XI. Conclusion

I. Background to the Emergence of Civilization
in India
3000 BC
 Two of the worlds religions: Hinduism and
Buddhism originated in India
 Sikhism and Islam
 history that dates back nearly 5000 years.
 Geographical divisions


II. Harappan Civilization: A Fascinating Enigma


Indus river, Harrapan civilization began.
Today versus 6000 years ago

Harappa – city unearthed
• Villages in the Indus valley 7000 B.C.E.
• Harappa a city more than 3 ½ mile in circumference with wall over 40 feet
thick

I. CULTURE
–
–
–
–
Walls in Harappa – 40 feet thick, 3.5 miles around city.
Walls, roads, and square mud brick buildings.
held as many as perhaps 35,000 people
Within walled city were walled neighborhoods
– Architecture was functional with little artistic design
– Pottery and sculpture shows artistic inclinations

II. POLITICAL

III. RELIGIOUS

IV. FOOD:

V. AGRICULTURAL AND TRADE / ECONOMIC
– Textiles and foodstuffs
– TRADERS
– Ship trading and caravans over land. In one word, trading probably best describes the
Harappan civilization.

III. Arrival of the Aryans,
 I. The Early Aryans

c. 1500 B.C.E.
destroyed about 1500 BC
• Invasion by Aryans
• Social decay
• Epidemic or natural phenomena



II. POLITICAL



Raja
Maharajas
III. LEGAL


Iron
Writing
Dharma
Until Alexander in 326

IV. The Mauryan Empire

I. Chandragupta Maurya (324-301 B.C.E.)






centralized the government
large army
Similarity to kings of Europe
Governors would appoint magistrates to manage districts.
Village at base of power structure, and village governed by
a council – usually hereditary (wealthy families).
I. Arthasastra, a treatise on politics

V. Caste and Class: Social Structures in Ancient India

Aryans arrived with a structure previously established.
• The Caste System
• Varna
•
•
•
•
•
Level 1: Leadership/Religious (known as Brahmins)
Level 2: Warriors (kshatriya)
Level 3: Commoner (Vaisyas)
Level 4: Sudras (mass bulk of population)
Level 5: Outcasts / Pariahs / untouchables
• TECHNICALLY CASTES WERE absolute. NO change ever could
occur.
• Practically, more likely during early times 1500 – 500 BC – some
mobility.
• Caste taboos
• Jati

VI. Daily Life in Ancient India
• Centered around the family
• Individual not important – family unit important.
• For most part, a patriarchal society
• In homes, not uncommon to find 2-3 generations living together
• Oldest male possessed legal authority over entire family unit.
• Education
• Inheritance
• Divorce
• Procreation
• Sexuality
– Homosexuality
– Concubines

VII. The Economy
• Not changed by Aryans
– Was farming before and was after. Not only did it remain, but Aryans
took up farming.
• Developed trade and manufacturing
• Agriculture expanded
• Property divided when father died
• Trade as far as SE Asia and China, toward Africa and Madagascar.
– India shipped spices, perfumes, jewels, ivory, stones and what
returned was gold, tin, lead, wine.
• By 2nd century BC, use of money – when copper and gold coins
introduced from Middle East regions.
– Barter had been used or exchange of a type of shell (cowry shell –
highly polished shell)
 VIII.
Escaping the Wheel of Life: The
Religious World of Ancient India

I. HINDUISM:
 Pantheon of gods
 Dyaus
 Sacrifice
 Asceticism
 Vedas

Upanishads
Brahman.
 Vishnu


II. Reincarnation




6th century BC
All living species divided into classes and it is
predetermined, not to be questioned, not a cosmic accident
but the inevitable result of actions that the soul has
committed in the past.
Karma
Dharma governs karma
• Reincarnation provided sanction for the castes, social structure,
hope for the lower classes and advanced assimilation into Indian
society.

Trinity of gods: Brahman the Creator, Vishnu the
Preserver, and Siva the Destroyer

III. Buddhism:
 6th century BC
 Northern India

Siddhartha Gautama (c. 560-480 B.C.E.)
• Dedicated his life to finding cure for human suffering
Few documents or texts remain, few were written
 Question whether he would have been interested in a
religion or simply a reformation of what was.


Bodhi (wisdom)
• Four Noble Truths
• Middle Path

Elements:
 Karma
 Reincarnation
 Simplicity in life
 Nirvana

Asoka, A Buddhist Monarch (269-232 B.C.E.)

Denied existence of individual soul
Our physical environment is a fiction to be transcended
Once worldly cares are forgotten so to will pain and suffering



IV. Jainism and Sikhism

IX.. The Rule of the Fishes: India after the Mauryas

Asoka's death in 232

decline in regional trade during the first
millennium C.E. may have contributed to the
growth of small land-based kingdoms,

political behavior of the ruling class was
characterized by what Indians call the "rule of the
fishes," which glorified warfare as the natural
activity of the king and the aristocracy

Arthasastra

X. The Exuberant World of Indian Culture
 I. Literature

Sanskrit language
Rigveda – hymns used in religious ceremonies,
second millennium B.C.E.

Mahabharata, 100 B.C.E.

• War of cousins for control of the kingdom; interwoven are
the legends of the Hindu gods
– Moral confrontation and ethics
• 90,000 stanzas
• Bhagavadgita

Ramayana – triumph of good over evil

II. Architecture and Sculpture



Pillar
Stupa
Rock chamber