Ancient India and China
The Subcontinent
• Huge peninsula
• Pushes out into the
Indian Ocean
• India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Nepal,
Bhutan, Sri Lanka
Mountains • Himalaya
• Hindu Kush
• Eastern and Western
Ghats
Rivers
• Ganges
• Indus
• Brahmaputra
Regions
• Indo-Gangetic Plain;
aka the Northern
Plain
• Deccan Plateau
• Coastal Plains
Monsoons
• Seasonal wind that
dominates the climate
of South Asia
• Flooding in Calcutta
(NYT 7/6/07)
• Flooding on the
Brahmaputra
Indus River Valley Civilization
• 2600-1500 BC
• Well organized government
• Cities are Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
• Grid; streets, houses plumbing, sewers, warehouses
• Farming; trading; polytheistic
Mohenjo-Daro
Street Scenes
Arrival of the Aryans
• 1500 BC Aryans migrate into the valley
• No cities, no physical remains;
• Iron weapons and tools
• Nomads who turn to farming
• Social groups ranked by occupation
Aryan Social Classes
Shudras
Vaishyas
Kshatriyas
Brahmins
The Vedic Age
• 1500-500 BC; What we know of the Aryans comes from this time
• Vedas; Hymns; Chants; Religious Rituals; Sanskrit
• Polytheistic
• The Mahabharata and the Ramayana
Hinduism
• No single founder, combination of Aryan and Indus Valley beliefs
• No single sacred text; Vedas
• Brahman; single spiritual force
• Polytheistic; Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva
What You Need to Know
• Atman-universal self
• Moksha-union with Brahman
• Reincarnation-rebirth
• Karma-what goes around comes around
• Dharma-religious or moral duty
• Ahimsa-non-violence
Caste
• Social organization
• Rigid
• Born, live, and die in it
• Rules to ensure social purity
• Stable social order
• Grown to include thousands of sub-castes
• Outlawed recently
Buddhism
• Siddhartha (563 BC)
• Hindu
• The birth of the
Buddha
• ‘Enlightened One’
• The Four Noble
Truths
• The Eightfold Path
• Nirvana
The Four Noble Truths
• All life is full of suffering, pain, and sorrow
• The cause of suffering is desire, aka non-virtue
• You must crush desire
• Follow the Eightfold Path
Basic Beliefs
Hinduism Buddhism
Many gods No gods
Brahman Nirvana
Caste No caste
Priests No priests
Karma Karma
Dharma Dharma
Reincarnation Reincarnation
Maurya Empire
• 321-185 BC
• Chandragupta unifies
northern India
• Taxes; roads; state-
owned factories
• Secret police
The Maurya Empire
Ashoka
• 268 BC
• Greatest, most
beloved of all rulers
• Converts to
Buddhism; rejects
violence; rules by
moral example
• Edicts
• Sends missionaries
Ashoka’s Empire
Ashoka’s Law Code
• Edicts scattered in over thirty places in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan
• Ten rock edicts on pillars (stupas) 40-50 feet tall
• Sanskrit; Buddhist principles dominate his laws
The Gupta Empire
• Golden Age; 320-540 AD
• Peace and prosperity
• Math; medicine, physics; philosophy
• Arabic numerals and the decimal system
• Decline due to weak rulers, civil war, invaders
The Gupta Empire 320-647
Rise of Civilization in China
• Center of the Earth
• Himalayas; Gobi Desert; Rainforest; Pacific all block movement
• Trade with the Middle East and India
• Invaders
• All are absorbed into Chinese civilization
Bronze Age Dynasties
• Shang; 1766-1122 BC; clan government; social classes
• Zhou; 1122-256 BC; Mandate of Heaven to justify taking control
• Zhou establish feudalism; money economy; population growth; expansion of empire
Mandate of Heaven
Belief Systems
• Confucius; 551-479 BC;
Siddhartha and
Socrates
• Social order and
harmony-not interested
in spirituality; Analects
• Relationships;
Superior/inferior
• Duties, responsibilities;
filial piety; implied
contract
Daoism
• Lao-zi
• Not interested in order of human affairs
• Live in harmony with nature
• Dao- ‘the way’ of the universe
• Society is unnatural; government is cause of problems
System of Writing
• Begins about 4000
years ago
• Oracle bones
• Lots and lots of
characters; both
pictographs and
ideographs
• Calligraphy
Strong Rulers
• 221 BC Zheng becomes Shi Huangdi the First Emperor
• Unifies China under the Qin
• Based on Legalism
• Burns books to quiet dissent; tortures, kills, enslaves enemies
• Abolishes feudalism
• Great Wall
The Great Wall of China
More of the Great Wall
Han Dynasty
• 202 BC-220 AD
• Expansionist; Go into Manchuria, Korea, Vietnam, Tibet
• Silk Road; 4000 miles; network of trade routes from China to India to the Middle East
• Civil Service; wealthy; male
Buddhism
• By AD 100 missionaries and merchants had brought the religion to China
• Appealing because it offers an escape from suffering
• By 400 AD it had spread throughout China
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