Post on 28-Jun-2015
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India
+Independence
August 15th, 1947
Freedom from British rule
Movement led by Gandhi Non-violence protests
Partition of India and Pakistan
+Kolkata
Long cultural history
Capital of British India
Strong revolutionary movement
Naxalites – Communist party
Markets and bazaars
+Varanasi
Located next to the Ganges River
The city of temples, lights, learning
Homes 4 universities
Rich in Arts, Music, Dance & Literature
Believed to be 3,000 years old
One of the holiest places for Buddhists, Hindus, and Jains (pilgrimage site) Hindus believe that bathing in the river washes sins Cremated bodies are released into the water
+Concepts to Know
Hinduism
Buddhism
Caste System
Diaspora
+Hinduism
Oldest major world religion still practiced today
Diverse array of belief systems, practices and scriptures
Origin in ancient Vedic culture at least as far back as 2000 BC
Third largest religion with approx. 890 million followers worldwide 96% of whom live in the Indian subcontinent
+Hinduism cont.
Doctrine of reincarnation / Karma If a person does evil in this life, he will be reincarnated into
a lower social caste in the next life. To break this endless cycle of birth, death, and
reincarnation, it is necessary for a person to do charity and follow the rules (dharma) and meditate to reach a higher consciousness (nirvana)
Moksha = liberation from the cycle of rebirth
Multiple gods or manifestations of one god: Lord Gnesh, the elephant god Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, and Brahma
+Buddhism
Siddhartha Gautama: wanted the world to be liberated from suffering
Became enlightened in 600 BCE: suffering comes from desire
Tenets of Buddhism: Four Noble Truths: 1. Life means suffering 2. The origin of suffering is attachment/desire 3. The cessation of suffering is attainable. 4. The path to the cessation of suffering is to follow the
eightfold path – in order to be enlightened and reach nirvana
+Buddhism cont.
The Eightfold Path is the means by which enlightenment may be realized:
Right understanding, right thinking, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration
+Caste System
sense of order, and peace among the people
"castes" or jatis within which people are born, marry, and die
Indians accept that it is the way to keep society from disintegrating to chaos
Brahman: priest Kshatriya: ruler, warrior, landowner Vaishya: merchants Shudra: artisans, agriculturalists Harijans (children of God, coined by Gandhi):
Untouchables (Dalit)
+Diaspora
During the British Raj in India (1800’s)
Indians were used as indentured servants in other British colonies (Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad, Malaysia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, more)
Dispersal of Indian labor/professionals = world wide phenomenon
+Mother Teresa
•Born in Macedonia in 1910•Albanian Catholic Nun•Left her family when she was 18 to Ireland•Changed her name to Teresa in 1931•Bengal famine and religious violence inspired to her work in Kolkata•Created Missionaries of Charity•Declining health in 1990s led to her death in 1997
+Amartya Sen
Won the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics
Research in poverty, gender, human development
Famines Bengali famine of 1943
Development thesis