Chapter 3: Classical India
AP World History
The Impact of Geographic Determinism in India
• India was much closer to the “orbit of other civilizations” than ________________
• Open to influences from the ____________ __________ and the Mediterranean world.
• ____________ ideas spill into Classical India at times
• Alexander the Great invades India and spreads ________________ culture to India
Geography
• India is partially separated from East Asia via the __________________ Mountains.
– Passes through these mountains formed cultural ties with the Middle East, yet
______________ China.
• Divisions within the Indian ___________________ made _____________ difficult
– Greater diversity than China’s _______________ Kingdom
• ______________ regions exist between the Indus river and _____________ River
• Mountainous northern region is where ________________ takes root.
• Southern _______________ rim is where active trading and _______________ economy grows
• The differences in ________________ and activities along the Indian subcontinent help to explain the
economic, racial, and language diversity that exists in India even to this day!
Climate
• Much of India is semi-___________________
– In the River Valley plains summer brings _________________.
– Indian ___________________ has been forced to adjust to the monsoon cycle…for good, and
bad
Indian Development
• Indian’s civilization was shaped by what is known as the “________________” period between the
fall of the ____________ RVC and the establishment of a full Indian __________________.
– 1600 to 1000 BCE: _________________ Invasions
• 1500 to 1000 BCE: _________________ Age
• 1000 to 600 BCE: __________________ Age
Formative Period
• Aryans were Indo-_______________ migrant hunting and herding peoples from __________ Asia.
– Aryan invasions were separate, _____________, but common occurrences. Aryans often
attacked and __________________ peoples.
• During the Vedic Age (1500 to 1000 BCE) Indian agriculture extended from the Indus to the more
fertile ____________________ River Valley.
– Aryans used __________________ tools to clear away the dense vegetation.
Literary Traditions
• Much of what we know about the “pre-classical” India comes from _________________ epics
developed by the Aryans
– Passed on _____________-, at first
– Then, written in _______________
• Sacred books were known as the ______________________
The Vedas
• Vedic Age (first part of the Formative period) comes from Sanskrit “Veda” or “______________.”
• _______-Veda: the first epic, with ________________ hymns dedicated to Aryan gods.
• During the ____________ age, more stories were created…
Literature during the Epic Age
• The _____________________: India’s greatest epic poem
• The _____________________: deals with real and mystical battles
– These show a more ___________________, civil life than the Rig-Veda
• _______________________: Epic poems with a religious flavor
Impact of Aryan Society
• Tight level of _____________________- organization
– Village chiefs organize ___________________ and property control
• Family structure emphasizes ________________ controls with strong _______________ family
relationships
Aryan Social Structure
• Aryan Social Classes (________________)
– Warrior/Governing class (____________________)
– Priestly class (___________________)
– Traders and farmers (________________)
– Common Laborers (_________________)
– ______________________________
• During the EPIC age, the __________________ displace the Kshatriyas at the ____ of the social order
The Indian Caste System
• The Five Social groups become _________________, with _______________ between castes
forbidden, punishable by __________________.
– Smaller sub-captions of castes (____________) began
• Aryans brought a religion of many gods and goddesses who regulate _______________-- forces and
have human qualities
The Classical Age
• By __________ BCE, India had passed through its _________________- phase.
– Regional political units ___________- in size
– Cities and trade _________________
– Development of the _________________ language
– A full ___________________ civilization could now build on themes developed during the
Vedic and Epic ages
Classical Civilization
• India did not take on the _______________ of the rising and falling of dynasties, like in ___________.
– __________________ power flow
– Consisted of ___________________, and religious conflict
• By 600 BCE, ____ major states existed in the plains of ________________ India
– The most powerful: _________________, established dominance over a considerable empire.
Alexander the Great
• In 327 BCE, Alexander the Great, conquered most of _______________ and the Middle
East…establishes a border state, called __________________.
Mauryan Empire
• 322 BCE, a young soldier named _____________- _________ seized power along the Ganges River.
• He becomes the first ruler of the __________ Dynasty who will rule most of the Indian Subcontinent
Chandragupta Maurya
• Maintained large armies with thousands of _______________ and ____________ borne troops
• Highly ________________
Ashoka
• Chandragupta’s grandson, ___________ (269-232 BCE) was at first, governor of two Indian provinces
– Leads Mauryan conquests in the whole subcontinent of India, minus the ____________ tip
– ___________________
• Converts to Buddhism
– ________________-law of moral consequences
– Vigorously propagates ____________________ throughout India
– Urges officials to be _____________, and insists that they see over the _______________
welfare of the people
After Ashoka
• The empire begins to fall __________________.
• No real long-term impact of __________________ style, etc.
• _________________-- persists for some time, though
• The ________________ invade India
• Kanishka converts to Buddhism, but hurts the religion because he is foreign
• Kushan state collapses by ___________ CE, followed by a century of ____________________-The Gupta Empire
• Beginning in __________- CE, the ________________ Empire takes hold
– No individual rulers as ____________________- as the Mauryan rulers
– Greatest period of ______________- for classical India
– Overturned in __________- CE by the ___________
Politics in Classical India
• Unlike China and Greece/Roma, India does not develop complex political ethics systems
– _____________________
– DIVERSITY IN _____________________ FORMS
• Depend heavily on the power of their large ___________________
• Claimed that they were appointed by the ______________ to rule
– Support for ___________
• Gupta Empire creates a demanding ____________________ system
• Did NOT create an extensive ___________________
• Allowed local rulers to maintain ______________ control as long as they pledge support to the Gupta
Empire
• __________ single language was imposed
• Sanskrit was the language of _______________ people.
• Spread uniform ____________ codes
• Patrons of art/________________--/university life
• Engaged in _______________- building
• The Gupta Empire is considered to be a ______________-- AGE of Indian History
• Political culture was not very _________________
– Thinking encouraged efficient __________________ but not a spread of political values like
Confucianism in China or the interest in political ethics in _______ and ______________
• Ashoka saw an ethic for good behavior in _______________, but Buddhist leaders were not involved
in the affairs of the _________________.
• Indian Religion stressed the importance of _____________ as sources of _____________________The Caste System
• Became more ___________ after the ___________ Age
• The 5 classes subdivided into over __________ ____________
• Determined who one could _____ with/________, etc.
• __________________ principals became stronger
• _______________ mobility could occur within ones caste, but rarely to a ______ caste
• This was the most rigid overall framework for a __________________ structure in any of the classical
civilizations
• In a sense, the caste system led to ________________• Avoided outright ________________
Effects on Economy and Society
• Caste system dominated _______________ and _________________ life.
• _____________ Caste individuals had very few ______________• Family life echoes that theme of __________________ and organization
•
As agriculture became better organized and improved ________________ reduced women’s economic
contributions, the stress on ______________ authority expanded
Economy and Society
• _____________ marriages come about during this time as a means of ensuring solid economic links
• The family was a _____________- unit
– A man’s wife is his truest ____________
– Children were _______________
• Patriarchal family was subtly different from that in _________________
– Indian culture featured strong-willed _____________ goddesses, which contributed to
women’s _____________ as wives and mothers.
– Stories celebrate women’s _________________
Economy
• A Vibrant _____________, rivaling China’s
• New uses for ______________
• _____________ was the best in the world
• _____________: Cotton cloth, and cashmere
• Artisans formed _____________-__ and sold their goods from shops
• Emphasis on trade and _________________ activity was greater than in China
• Indian merchants enjoyed _______________ caste status
• __________________- widely
• Seafaring people along the ______________ border, usually out of the control of the large northern
empires were active _____________
• Southern Indians, known as _______________, traded cotton, silks, dyes, drugs, gold, and ivory.
Indian Influence
• Indian dominance on the waters of Southern Asia carried ___________ and influence well beyond the
Indian Subcontinent.
• While India did not attempt _____________________ domination of Southeast Asia, it influenced its
development greatly
• Buddhism ________________- from India to many parts of __________________ Asia.
• India influence affects _________________ by the end of the classical period
• With the fall of the ________________ Empire, the classical age is over (later than China and Rome)
BUT an identifiable image of India remained (unlike China and Rome)
Ch’India…contrasts
• Restraint of Chinese art and poetry contrast with the more ______________________ styles of India.
• India rests upon a singular __________________, while China has different philosophies and religions
• ___________________ ___________- in India
• Political structure and values more ___________________ in China than in India.
• Science: Indians venture into ________________ more than Chinese
Ch’India-Similarities
• ___________________ societies
– Large ______________- class organized in close knit villages
– Cities and ______________- activity was vital yet secondary role
– Political power lay with those who own the __________________
– ______________________