Transcript India

 Indus River flows from Hindu Kush
and Himalaya Mountains toward Arabian Sea
 Similar to Nile River
 Seasonal floods deposited silt, making rich farmland
 Settlement began around 2500 B.C.
 Civilization started to unravel around 1750-1500 B.C.
 Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
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Major cities, possibly twin Capitals
Grid patterned roads
Huge grain warehouses
Modern plumbing and sewers
Trash service
Uniform weights and measures
Written language
 We haven’t been able to translate
 Settlement began around 2500 B.C.
 Civilization started to unravel around 1750-1500 B.C.
 Q: Why did this civilization collapse?
 A: We. Don’t. Know.
 Possible reasons:
 Earthquake
 River changed course
 Depletion of the Environment
 Climate Change
 Invasion of Aryans
 Migrated from Eastern Europe (Caucus Mts. Region) to the
Indus Valley
 Warlike people, used chariots with bows and arrows
 Brought horses to the region
 Sanskrit
 Written Language
 Used by Priests to record sacred text
 Most known information comes from Vedas (collection of
prayers)
 Vedic Age 1500 B.C. - 500 B.C.
 Built no cities, eventually settled along Indus and Ganges
Rivers
 Polytheistic
 The Vedic religion eventually became Hinduism
Brahmins (Priests)
Kshatriyas (Warriors, Rulers)
Vaisyas (Herders, farmers, artisans, and merchants)
Sudras (laborers)
• People did not associate with those outside of
their caste
• Below all castes were the Untouchables
• People could improve their caste in a future life
by fulfilling their expected role in this one
 Hundreds of major castes and thousands of sub-castes
 People in different castes were different species (different types
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of humans)
Caste System preserved social order
Rules forbade
 Marrying outside of one’s caste
 Eating with someone from a different caste
 High-Caste People had stricter rules to protect them from
becoming spiritually polluted by the lower castes
Untouchables
 BELOW all castes
 Contact with an Untouchable spread pollution
 Lived apart from everyone else
 Had to sound a wooden clapper to warn people of their
approach
Cannot change status in this life but by fulfilling their duties
they can improve status in next life
 Upanishads, Vedas - sacred texts
 Polytheistic
 Brahman
 All powerful spiritual force that controls the universe
 Every person has the Brahman in them
 Goal of Hindus is to achieve Moksha
 Union with the Brahman
 To do this individuals must free themselves from selfish desires that
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separate them from Brahman
Reincarnation
 Life and death not real – illusions – bodies are transient
 Allows people to work toward Moksha over several lifetimes
Karma
 All actions of a person’s life that affect his or her fate in the next life
 Existence is ranked by closeness to Moksha
 Humans, animals, plants, objects
 Accumulated record of many lives
Dharma
 Every male person born into a class and caste – determines what you do in
life
 Women’s rebirth to a higher existence based on devotion to her husband
 Religious and moral duty of an individual effects Karma
Ahimsa
 Nonviolence & reverence for all life
 Started by Siddhartha Gautama 566 B.C.
 Born 566 B.C. to high-caste family
 Mother dreamed that when he was born a white elephant descended from
heaven
 Prophets predicted Gautama would become a holy man
 To prevent this parents surrounded him with luxury
 Gautama married beautiful woman and had a son
 Gautama eventually left palace walls and encountered a sick person, an old
person and a dead body
 Deeply disturbed by suffering he left his wife and child in the palace never to
return
 Set out to discover, “The realm of life where there is neither suffering nor death”
 Wandered for years seeking answers from Hindu holy men
 One day, sat under a giant tree and determined to stay there until he could
understand the mystery of life
 Tempted by evil spirits for 48 days to try and convince him to stop
meditating
 Came to understand the cause of and cure for suffering
 Gautama became Buddha (Enlightened One) through the meditation
 4 Noble Truths
 All life is full of suffering, pain, and sorrow
 The cause of suffering is the desire for things that are really
illusions such as riches, power, and long life
 The only cure for suffering is to overcome desire
 The way to overcome desire is through meditation
 Nirvana
 Union with the universe and release from cycle of rebirth
 Goal of Buddhism
 Tripitaka (Three Baskets of Wisdom) teachings of the
Buddha compiled after his death
 321 B.C. - 185 B.C.
 Created by Chandragupta Maurya who
gained power in the Gages Valley and
conquered northern India
 Efficient Government
 Harsh rule
 50-60 million people at its peak
 Capital - Pataliptra
 Schools, library, palaces, temples, grand city wall consisting of
530 towers and 64 gates
 Ashoka becomes ruler 273 B.C.
 Conquers Deccan region of Kalinga
 Horrified by death of 100,000 during battle
 Converted to Buddhism, rejected violence, even became vegetarian
 Spread Buddhism, promoted peace and prosperity
 Empire ended in 185 B.C. resulting in warfare between rival
princes
 A.D. 320 - 550
 India’s Golden Age
 Period of cultural achievement
 Allowed for advances in Mathematics, Medicine, Physics,
Language, Literature
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Concept of zero
Decimal System based on 10
Vaccination
Simple surgery
Sterilization
Literature, Poetry, Plays and Murals
 Causes of decline include weak rulers and civil war
 Collapse helped by invasion of the Huns
 India falls back into regional rule
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