WARM UP
Create a TRIPLE VENN DIAGRAM!!!
Zoroastrianism
Z+H
All 3
Z+B
B+H

Agenda
-Warm Up: Triple Venn Diagram
-Edicts of Asoka
-Gupta Travels
-Cultural Diffusion, visually
-Review and Preview

Zoroastrianism

Background Information
• 1,000 years after Aryan migrations, about 600
BC
– Many small kingdoms
• 326 BC, Alexander the Great
• 321 BC, Chandragupta Maurya seized power

FIRST
• Read packet on Mauryan Empire

Asoka

Asoka’s Edicts

Asoka’s Edicts
“On the roads… trees have been planted for the enjoyment of animals and men. I have had ponds dug and shelters erected along the roads. Everywhere I have had wells dug.”

Asoka’s Edicts
“It is good to be obedient to one’s mother and father, friends, and relatives. It is good not only to spend little, but to own the minimum of property.”

Asoka’s Edicts
“My officers have been appointed for the welfare and happiness of the…people. I have given them…authority in judgment and punishment. But it is desirable that there should be uniformity in judicial procedure and punishment.”

Asoka’s Edicts
“This world and the other are hard to gain without great love of Righteousness [correct behavior], great selfexamination, great obedience, great effort.”

Asoka’s Edicts
“ If the unconquered peoples on my border ask what is my will, they should understand this: I desire that they should trust me and should have only happiness in their dealings with me.”

Asoka’s Edicts
“This…has been engraved so that the officials of the city should always see to it that no one is ever imprisoned or tortured without good cause. To ensure this I shall send out every five years on a tour of inspection officers who are not fierce or harsh.”

Asoka’s Edicts
“There is no gift comparable to the gift of Dharma, and this is: good behavior towards slaves and servants, obedience to parents, generosity towards friends, acquaintances, and relatives…and abstention from killing living beings.”

Asoka’s Edicts
“ Everywhere, I, Ashoka, King
Priyadarsi, Beloved of the Gods, have arranged for two kinds of medical treatment: medical treatment for men and medical treatment for animals.”

Asoka’s Edicts
“Men who are sentenced to death are to be given three days’ respite.
Thus their relations may plead for their lives, or [the] men may make donations or undertake a fast for a better rebirth in the next life.”

Summary - Asoka
• Fierce military leader turned big teddy bear
– (due to Battle of Kalinga and conversion to
Buddhism)

Period of Turmoil
• 500 years
• Invasion
• A bunch of different kingdoms

GUPTA EMPIRE! The Golden Age
• We are going to travel it.
Friendly sticks,
Not weapons
Me

Traveling the Gupta Empire
• In pairs, travel to the NINE stations
• You will have THREE minutes at each station

• Astronomy
• Literature
• Mathematics
• Medicine
• Metalwork
Stations
• Painting
• Roads
• Sculpture
• Universities

Take Notes on:
• Setting
• What the place is like
• The Achievement
– What was it?
– Why is it important
Then, draw a picture to help you remember!

EXAMPLE
-Pataliputra (capital of Gupta Empire)
-on the Ganges River
-hot, humid day
-chilly night
-Discoveries about sun, moon, earth, other planets
-Some conclusions more accurate than Greeks
-Famous astronomer: Aryabhata
-One year = 365.258 days
-Planets are spherical
-Estimated earth’s size
-Earth turns on axis
-Mercury and Venus revolve around the sun
-Lunar eclipses

What did you learn?

Trade

Why was India at an advantage?

Rome, Africa,
Arabia, Persia

INDIA

What else spreads?

Buddhism and Hinduism Change
• Mahayana Buddhism: accepted new doctrines
– Worshipped Buddha as a god
– bodhisattvas
• Theravada Buddhism: stuck with Buddha’s original, stricter teachings
• Hinduism trends towards monotheism, focus on one of the gods

Is Buddhism a Religion or Philosophy?
10%
8%
55%
54%
36%
37%
Religion
Philosophy
Both

3rd
24%
22%
18%
22%
Breakdown by class
Religion
Philosophy
Both 73%
27%
5th
Religion
Philosophy
Both
7th
67%
71%
Religion
Philosophy
Both

Religion
• “Buddhism is a religion because the Buddhist people trust in gods, feelings, and the importance of life”
• “Religion. If it has gods, then it’s a religion.”
• “Religion because a lot of people consider it that. And they also believe in gods.”
• “It’s a religion because people follow it.”
• “I think it’s a religion because its being practiced all over the world.”
• “I think it’s a religion because it has things like gods and people following it.”

Philosophy
• “I think it is a philosophy because it is a way of living to help you be a better person.”
• “I think it’s a philosophy because religion is supposed to be based around and about a God, these ideas are more about people and how to act.”
• “Philosophy as there isn’t a god; its just teachings that make up this
‘religion’”
• “I think it’s a philosophy because they didn’t really have rules.”
• “I think Buddhism is a philosophy because it can be applied to anyone’s life, despite if they have a religion already.”
• “[Philosophy] Because it states facts, and things that people should already do, its what makes you a good person, not religion.”
• “Buddhism is a philosophy because there are no gods.”

Both
• “I believe that it is both. It has ideas like a philosophy but also tells how to reach salvation and the meaning of life.”

Review and Preview
-Triple Venn Diagram
-Asoka’s Edicts
-Gupta Travels
-Cultural Diffusion
NEXT CLASS (11/4): CHINA!
Class after (11/7): Group Activities/Review
Class after(11/9): Test!