Classical India
Chapter 3 Interactive Lecture
Notes
Politics
4 Corner Debate
Geography is the most important
factor in the development of a
civilization.
How might the
geography of India
influence its political
development?
•Mountains = full
political unit different,
decentralized govt.
•Came into the orbit of
other civilizations
•Monsoons = drought to
flood
What sort of
problems would this
regionalism pose to
India?
Classical Dynasties
Aryan
Nomadic
emigrants
who
eventually
settled and
began
farming in
India
Mauryan
Chandragupta
Ashoka
Gupta
Golden
Age of
Classical
India
Achievements of the Gupta Rulers
•
Consolidation and
unification
•
Taxes
•
Hinduism
•
Promoted Sanskrit, but no
single language imposed
•
Uniform law codes
Economy
4 Corner Debate
Greed is good.
Vigorous economy
•
•
•
•
•
Manufacturing
Steel and iron
Textiles
Trade and merchant activity
Firmly agricultural at its base, however
Religion
4 Corner Debate
Religion is a philosophy.
The Aryans and Hinduism
Vedic and Epic ages- Veda
means “knowledge” and the RigVeda was the first epic dedicated to
ryan gods
Upanishads- epic poems of
fe after death, divine force, sacred
ghts and rituals
The Vedas and Upanishads
the basis of Hinduism
Rig-Veda
Hinduism
• http://safari03.pisd.edu/SAFARI/montage/
play.php?keyindex=3355&location=local
• Chapters 2,3,4
• Note- This video clip is from PISD database,
but there are plenty clips to use as links
Hinduism 101
•
No single founder
•
No central holy figure
•
Encouraged political and
economic goals
•
Pursuit of worldly pleasuresKarma
•
Tolerant of other religions
•
Monism
•
Brahma, the basic holy
essence, formed every part of the
world
•
Reincarnation
•
Dharma- attention to the
moral consequences of action, and
at the same time the need to act,
stresses inner study and mediation
Buddhism 101
•
Siddhartha Gautama
•
What is unique about Buddhism?
Similarities differences between
Buddhism and Hinduism?
•
Meditative and natural
•
Rejected priests and caste
system
•
Focused on a supreme divinity
•
Believed in the after life an
ultimate goal was the destruction of the
self and the union with the divine
essence, a state called “nirvana”
•
Stress on self-control
•
Four Noble Truths
•
Eightfold Path
Buddhism
• http://safari03.pisd.edu/SAFARI/montage/
play.php?keyindex=244&location=local
• Chapters 2,3
• -Note- This video clip is from PISD
database, but there are plenty clips to use
as links
Theravada Buddhism
Mahayana Buddhism
Intense, dedicated and timeconsuming effort require for
Nirvana
Enlightenment achieved through
normal life with spiritual
involvement
Wisdom is the highest virtue
Compassion is the highest virtue
Followed as a teaching or
philosophy
Followed as a religion with higher
beings
Politicaly conservative
Political liberal
Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos, Thailand, China, Japan, Singapore,
Cambodia
Vietnam, Tibet (Tantric)
Social
4 Corner Debate
A society must have a caste/ class
system in order to function.
Indian Caste System
• Began as a way
establish
relationships
between Aryan
invaders and
indigenous people
whom they felt
were inferior
Gender Roles
• Family life/ structure/
gender roles
•
Wife worshipped
husband
•
Agricultural male
dominance
•
Can women advance
spiritually without being
reincarnated as a man?
•
Arranged marriages
Intellectual
4 Corner Debate
The best evidence of highly
intellectual civilization is their
advancements in math and science.
Advancements in Math and Science
•
Length of the solar year
•
Mathematics- Indian
numbers, concept of zero, decimals,
square root, pi, algebra
•
Astronomy
•
Gravity
•
Bone setting and plastic
surgery
•
Inoculation against small pox
•
Hospitals
Art
4 Corner Debate
Art is religious at its core.
Art
• How was Indian culture expressed in
writing?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Epic poetry
Drama
Advancements in art?
Stupas
Buddha statues
Human form
Nature
Indi
a
Japa
n
Chin
a
Thailan
d
Sri
Lanka
Burma
(Myanmar)
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Burma
(Myanmar)
India
China
Japan