Chapter 2 - Ancient India
Diversity of India
• Two major religions – Hinduism and Buddhism
• Multiple languages
• Geography
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–
–
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Himalayan and Karakoram mountains
Ganges Valley
Indus River “holy river”
Hills
Plains
Harappan Civilization
• Indus River valley held a civilization
• Believed that the Harappa city emerged
from the Dravidian people
– Because of this, the people of India are
Harappans
• Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa cities
– Walled, had drainage systems for bathrooms,
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Harappan Civilization
• Unlike Egypt and Sumer because it was
not a centralized monarchy
– Loose collection of cities tied together by
trade and alliance to landlords
• Agricultural society
– Maybe 1st to cultivate cotton
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The City of Mohenjo-Daro
Harappan Civilization
• Culture
– Functional architecture
– Sculpture were artistic
– Kiln-fire pottery and
wheel turned
• Writing – not
deciphered
– We do not know much
about their society
because of this
Lost Civilization
• Perhaps in the north of Indus River from
Caspian Sea to Afghanistan
– Signs of domestication of animals
– Irrigation systems
– In process of developing writing
Aryans
• Great mystery of how Harappan civilization
ended
– Believed natural disaster (like Pompeii)
• Aryans were great at war
• Nomads, pastoralists people
• Indo-European language who moved south
– Unlike other Indo-Europeans who moved westward
Aryan
• Adopted agriculture, used
•
•
•
iron plow
Writing system based on
Aramaic script from Middle
East
Most of what is known
about early Aryans from oral
traditions of the Rig Veda
Tribes led by chiefs called
rajas, kings were maharajas
(“great rajas”)
– Warrior class were the
kshatriya
– Required to follow the
dharma, or laws, that set out
standards for all
Aryan
• Impact of the Greeks
– Alexander the
Great arrived in
India in 326 B.C.E.
– Left Greek
administrators and
veneer of Greek
culture
The Mauryan Empire
• Founded by Chandragutpa
Maurya (324–301 B.C.E.)
• Advised by Kautilya,
possible author of
Machiavellian-like
Arthasastra
– 1) Practical politics, ends
justify the means
– 2) Provinces ruled by
appointed governors, divided
into districts
– 3) Most lived in agricultural
villages, governed by council
of elders
Caste/Varna (color) and Class:
Social Structures in Ancient India
Brahmins
Priestly class
Kshatriya
Warrior class
Vaisyas
Commoners/merchants
Sundras
Servants and laborers
Indigenous people
Outcasts or untouchables
Caste and Class: Social Structures
in Ancient India
• The Class System
– Aryans superior over non-Aryans/Dravidians
• Light skin high status, dark skin lower status
• Class divisions were to be absolute in theory, born
and died in same class
– enforced by numerous taboos
• Class system provided an identity for individuals in
•
a hierarchical society
The Jati: kinship groups living in specific areas
and carrying out specific functions
– Each jati was composed of hundreds or thousands of
individual families
Daily Life in Ancient India
• The Family: three generations under
same roof and generally patriarchal
– Linked together by ancestral religious
rites
– Male superiority, could be priests, and
had monopoly on education
• Marriage
– Woman legally considered as a minor,
and divorce generally prohibited
– Child marriage common for young girls
– Ritual of sati required wife to immolate
herself on husband’s funeral pyre
Daily Life in Ancient India
• The Role of Women
– Little utility outside home, but could have much influence inside
it
– A liability because parents required to provide dowry when
marry
– Indians fascinated by female sexuality
• The Economy
– Indian Farmers
• Life harsh: taxes, often worked land as sharecroppers, famine
•
common
Unpredictable climate as much depended upon the seasonal
monsoons
– Trade and Manufacturing
• Trade networks from China to the Mediterranean
• Indians trade spices, perfumes, jewels, textiles for gold, tin, lead,
•
wine
Under the Mauryas, government played a major role
The Religious World of Ancient
India
• Hinduism: over time the original
Aryan worship evolved into
Hinduism
– Vedas are the sacred texts of hymns
and ceremonies transmitted by Aryan
priests
• Pantheon of nature gods, common to
most Indo-Europeans
– Indra (warrior god) and Varuna (lord of
justice)
– Sacrifice important in ceremonies by
priests (brahmins)
– Asceticism in pursuit of spiritual
meditation to get beyond material
reality
• Led to yoga (union)
• Reincarnation: individual soul is reborn
after death in different forms
Indra – warrior god
The Religious World of Ancient
India
• Final destination is union with
•
Brahma
•
Shiva
•
Great World Soul, Brahman, and
escape from the cycle of existence
Karma (one’s actions) determine
where one is reborn on scale of
existence
Dharma is the law regulating
human behavior, differs depending
upon class
Hindu Gods and Goddesses—
33,000 gods and goddesses
– Primary trinity, and all had wives
Vishnu
• Brahma the Creator
• Vishnu the Preserver
• Shiva the Destroyer
– Different manifestations of one
ultimate reality
Buddhism: The Middle Path
• The Life of Siddhartha
Gautama (c.560–480 B.C.E.),
the Buddha
– Quest for how to escape
from human suffering,
which is caused by
attachment to things of
this world
– The Middle Path between
extreme asceticism and
materialism
– Material world is an
illusion
– Desires can be overcome
through wisdom
(bodhi=Buddhism)
Buddhism: The Middle Path
– Escape from the wheel of life
and achieve Nirvana by
following the Eightfold Way
– Reject Hinduism’s concept of
class reincarnation as well as
Hindu gods
– After his death, some of his
followers worshipped the
Buddha as a god
• Stupas (stone towers containing
relics of the Buddha)
constructed
• Monastic orders established,
even for women
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Stupa at Sarnath
Buddhism: The Middle Path
• Jainism: founded by
•
Mahavira, contemporary of
Siddhartha
– Stress poverty and
asceticism and thus
more extreme than
Buddhism
Asoka, a Buddhist Monarch
(269-232 B.C.E.), grandson
of Chandragupta Maurya
– Became benevolent ruler,
considered the greatest
in Indian history
– Constructed rock edicts
throughout India
Wheel of
Righteous
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The Empire of Asoka
The Rule of the Fishes: India after
the Mauryas, whose dynasty ended
in 183 B.C.E.
• Numerous small kingdoms
• Xiongnu warriors established the Kushan
kingdom over much of north India
• Rule of the fishes refer to the glorification
of warfare, common attitude at the time
Indian Culture
• Literature
– Four Vedas, from c. 1500,
transmitted orally for a
thousand years
– Literary language was
Sanskrit, an Indo-European
language, replaced by Prakit
in oral communication
– The Mahabharata (written c.
100 B.C.E.): story of Bharata
family feud c. 1000 B.C.E.
• Bhagavad Gita and dialogue
between Krishna (Vishnu)
and Arjuna
Rama (right) seated on the shoulders of
Hanuman, battles the demon-king Ravana.
– The Ramayana (also written
c. 100 B.C.E), story of Rama,
the ideal Aryan hero, whose
wife Sita was kidnapped by
demon-king of Sri Lanka
Indian Culture
• Architecture and Sculpture
– Religious structures
included stone pillars
(weighing up to 50 tons),
stupas, and rock chambers
(such as at Ajanta), many
built by Ashoka
• Popular and sacred
themes, including
Vedic, Buddhist, and
pre-Aryan
• Religious art often
exuberant and sexual in
portrayal of
otherworldly delights
Indian Culture
• Science
– Devised numerical system which is known as
Arabic numbers
– Recognized spherical nature of the earth
– Matter was divided into five elements of
earth, air, fire, water, and ether (heaven)
Discussion Questions
• What factors influenced the development of
•
•
India’s caste system? What role did skin color
play in the creation of caste distinctions?
What challenges did Chandragupta Maurya
face in creating an Indian empire? How
successful was he?
What does the Mahabharata tell us about
ancient Indian values and beliefs?