India has several interesting facts about its people, religions, and geography.
India is called the land of diversity. There are about 110 languages and over 1,000
dialects. India has very interesting geography; it has a triangle shape that hangs
from the southern ridge of Asia. The Himalayas are located in India; they are the
highest mountains in the world. There is also the Deccan Plateau, which is in
between the river valleys of Ganges and Indus. The most densely populated area of
India is the lush plain of the eastern and western coasts. The climate in India can be
harsh. During the summer months of June through September, there is very heavy
rainfall on the west coast. During the winter months of October through February,
the monsoons bring heavy rainfall to the east coast. The mountains of northeast
India are the wettest place on Earth. Throughout history, thousands of people have
died because of too much or too little rain that destroy the crops, so they ended up
starving to death.
Harappa and Mohenjo Daro were groups living around 3000 BC to 1500 BC.
The Harappa group had 35,000 people in it and the Monhejo Daro had 35,000 to
40,000 people. The Mohenjo Daro group was carefully planned and had large
walled neighborhoods. Most of the buildings were created from oven-baked mud
bricks. There was also a regular supply of water. There was a well-organized
government maintained carefully structured cities. The Harappa had a belief in
divine assistance. The Priests prayed for fertility to guarantee an annual harvest and
their economy was based on farming. The Indus River flooded yearly which made
rich soil for the wheat, barley, and peas. They traded with Mesopotamia and
Sumerians. We don’t know exactly how the Indus valley civilization ended.
The Aryans lived in tribal groups that had strong warrior traditions. The
Aryans slowly spread political control through out all of India. They gave up a
nomadic lifestyle for farming. They used iron plows and irrigation, which allowed
them to clear the jungles along the Ganges River. The basic crops of the north were
wheat, barley, and millet. The south had grains, veggies, cotton, and spices. The
Aryans had no written language. In 1000 BC started writing Sanskirt that allowed
them to record legends and religious charts and rituals from earlier generations.
Life in ancient India was centered on family, which was the most basic unit in
society. There were patriarchal families that had three generations under one roof
and men held the legal authority over the entire family. The men of this time could
inherit the property, except if there were no sons. They were educated and could
serve as a priest. The husband could also take a second wife if the first wife could
not have children. The families of this time had children that were expected to take
care of the parents when they got older. The marriages were arranged by the
parents and they had to pay the dowry to the family of the man their daughter
married. The women were also expected to be burned alive with their dead
husband’s body. There were four social groups during this time. There were the
Brahmins that were the highest group, the Kshatrigas were the next highest, the
Vaisyas were the second lowest, and Sudras were the lowest. There were also the
untouchables that were people who were viewed as so impure they were outside of
the system.
After 400 BC India faced threats from invaders. Candragupta Maurya ruled
from 324 BC to 301 BC. It drove out foreign forces and established a capital of a new
Mauryan empire. They were afraid of assassination.
The First Indian Empire was highly centralized and the king divided the
empire into provinces ruled by governors.
Asoka was the grandson of Candragupta Maurya. He was considered the
greatest ruler in the history of India. He converted to Buddhism which he used to
guide his rule. He set up hospitals for people and animals and he placed trees and
shelters along the road to provide shade for travelers. He also sponsored Buddhist
missionaries. Under his rule India became a major crossroad in the trade network.
In 232 BC he died. The Maurya Empire began to decline after his death and in 183
BC the last Mauryan ruler was killed by a military leader, then India fell into
disunity.
In the first century AD nomadic warriors seized power and established the
new Kushan Empire. They spread over northern India and other kingdoms fought
for control. They prospered from the trade that passed through their empire. Most
of the trade was between the Roman Empire and China. They were shipped along
the silk road. The empire came to an end in the 3rd century AD, Persia had overrun
it.
Candra Gupta created a new state with Pataliputra as its capital. Samudra
Gupta, who was his son, expanded the empire into surrounding areas. The Gupta
Kingdom became the dominant political force in Northern India. It became the
greatest state in India since the Mauryan Empire. Gupta created a golden age of
Indian culture. The Gupta Empire engaged in trade with China, Southeast Asia, and
the Mediterranean. They encouraged domestic trade cloth, salt and iron. Gupta
Rulers managed trade, they owned silver and gold mines and they earned large
profits for their dealings. Gupta Rulers lived in luxury; a lot of their wealth came
from religious trade as pilgrims. Many new Hindu and Buddhist temples and shrines
were built during the Gupta era.
Faxian, a Buddhist monk from China, visited India in search of documents
about the teachings of Buddhism. His 5th century writings describe Gupta rulers,
their respect for Buddhism, and the prosperity of the empire. In the beginning of the
5th century AD invasions by nomadic Huns reduced the power of the empire. A
military commander revived the empire, but after his death it collapsed. North India
wouldn’t be reunited for hundreds of years.
The earliest known Indian literature is the Vedas and they contain religious
charts and stories. The Vedas were originally passed down orally, but were
recorded in Sanskirt after the development of writing. The Mahabharata and
Ramayana, 100 BC, tell of the legendary deeds of great warriors. They consisted of
over 90,000 stanzas and is the longest poem in any written language. Bhagavad Gita,
the most famous section of the book, is a sermon by the god Krishna on the eve of a
major battle. Ramayana is much shorter and it is about a fictional ruler Rama. It is
strongly imbued with religious and moral lessons. Roma is the ideal hero, the
perfect ruler, and the ideal son. Both of these writings continue to inspire the people
of India. Kalidasa, one of the ancient India’s most famous authors from the Gupta
era, wrote The Cloud Messenger which is one of the most popular Sanskrit poems.
There were three main types of agriculture that all served religious purposes.
The pillar-erected were along the roads to mark sites of events in a Buddha’s life.
Sandstone pillars were as high as 50 feet and as heavy as 50 tons. Each was topped
with a carved lion, uttering the Buddhist message. The Stupa was meant to hold a
relic of the Buddha, such as a lock of his hair. They were built in the firm of the
burial mounds. They eventually became a place for devotion and most familiar form
of Buddhist architecture. Each was surmounted by a spire. According to legend
Asoka ordered the construction of 84,000 stupus throughout India. The rock
chamber was carved out of rock cliffs and developed by Asoka to provide a series of
rooms to house monks and serve as a hall for religious ceremonies.
Ancient Indians knew a lot about science, mainly astronomy. They
recognized Earth was a sphere, that it rotated on an axis and that it rotated around
the sun. They also charted the movements of the stars.
Aryabhata, the most famous mathematician of the Gupta Empire, was one of
the first scientists to use algebra. Indian mathematicians introduced the concept of
zero and came up with the symbol 0. Arab scholar adopted the Indian system after
they conquered parts of India. European traders borrowed it from the Arabs and it
spread through Europe in the 1200’s. Today it is called the Indian-Arabic numerical
system.