Chapter 3 Classical India AP World History The

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 China • Open to influences from the Middle East and the Mediterranean world. • Persian ideas spill into Classical India at times • Alexander the Great invades India and spreads Hellenistic culture to India

India’s Location in the World

Geography • India is partially separated from East Asia via the Himalayan Mountains. – Passes through these mountains formed cultural ties with the Middle East, yet isolated China. • Divisions within the Indian Subcontinent made unity difficult – Greater diversity than China’s Middle Kingdom

Geography • Agricultural regions exist between the Indus river and Ganges River • Mountainous northern region is where herding takes root. • Southern coastal rim is where active trading and seafaring economy grows

Geography • The differences in geography 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 semitropical – In the River Valley plains summer brings monsoons. – Indian population 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 “formative” period between the fall of the Indus RVC and the establishment of a full Indian Civilization. – 1600 to 1000 BCE: Aryan Invasions • 1500 to 1000 BCE: Vedic Age • 1000 to 600 BCE: Epic Age

Formative Period • Aryans were Indo-European migrant hunting and herding peoples from Central Asia. – Aryan invasions were separate, unrelated, but common occurrences. Aryans often attacked and subjugated peoples. • During the Vedic Age (1500 to 1000 BCE) Indian agriculture extended from the Indus to the more fertile Ganges River Valley. – Aryans used iron tools to clear away the dense vegetation.

Literary Traditions • Much of what we know about the “preclassical” India comes from literary epics developed by the Aryans – Passed on orally, at first – Then, written in Sanskrit • Sacred books were known as the VEDAS

The Vedas • Vedic Age (first part of the Formative period) comes from Sanskrit “Veda” or “knowledge. ” • Rig-Veda: the first epic, with 1028 hymns dedicated to Aryan gods. • During the EPIC age, more stories were created…

Literature during the Epic Age • The Mahabharata: India’s greatest epic poem • The Ramayana: deals with real and mystical battles – These show a more organized, civil life than the Rig-Veda • Upanishads: Epic poems with a religious flavor

Impact of Aryan Society • Tight level of village organization – Village chiefs organize defenses and property control • Family structure emphasizes patriarchal controls with strong extended family relationships

Aryan Social Structure • Aryan Social Classes (varnas) – Warrior/Governing class (Kshatriyas) – Priestly class (Brahmans) – Traders and farmers (Vaisyas) – Common Laborers (Sudras) – UNTOUCHABLES • During the EPIC age, the Brahmans displace the Kshatriyas at the top of the social order

The Indian Caste System • The Five Social groups become hereditary, with marriage between castes forbidden, punishable by death. – Smaller sub-captions of castes (jati) began • Aryans brought a religion of many gods and goddesses who regulate natural forces and have human qualities

The Classical Age • By 600 BCE, India had passed through its formative phase. – Regional political units grew in size – Cities and trade expanded – Development of the Sanskrit language – A full classical civilization could now build on themes developed during the Vedic and Epic ages

Classical Civilization • India did not take on the convenience of the rising and falling of dynasties, like in China. – Irregular power flow – Consisted of invasions, and religious conflict • By 600 BCE, 16 major states existed in the plains of Northern India – The most powerful: Magadha, established dominance over a considerable empire.

Alexander the Great • In 327 BCE, Alexander the Great, conquered most of Greece and the Middle East…establishes a border state, called Bactria.

Mauryan Empire • 322 BCE, a young soldier named Chandragupta Maurya seized power along the Ganges River. • He becomes the first ruler of the Mauryan Dynasty who will rule most of the Indian Subcontinent

Chandragupta Maurya • Maintained large armies with thousands of chariots and elephant borne troops • Highly autocratic

Ashoka • Chandragupta’s grandson, ASHOKA (269 -232 BCE) was at first, governor of two Indian provinces – Leads Mauryan conquests in the whole subcontinent of India, minus the southern tip – bloodthirsty

Ashoka • Converts to Buddhism – Dharma-law of moral consequences – Vigorously propagates Buddhism throughout India – Urges officials to be humane, and insists that they see over the moral welfare of the people

After Ashoka • The empire begins to fall apart. • No real long-term impact of governing style, etc. • Buddhism persists for some time, though • The Kushans invade India – Kanishka converts to Buddhism, but hurts the religion because he is foreign • Kushan state collapses by 220 CE, followed by a century of instability

The Gupta Empire • Beginning in 320 CE, the GUPTA Empire takes hold – No individual rulers as influential as the Mauryan rulers – Greatest period of stability for classical India – Overturned in 535 CE by the Huns

Politics in Classical India • Unlike China and Greece/Roma, India does not develop complex political ethics systems – REGIONALISM – DIVERSITY IN POLITICAL FORMS • Depend heavily on the power of their large armies • Claimed that they were appointed by the gods to rule – Support for Hinduism

Politics in Classical India • Gupta Empire creates a demanding taxation system • Did NOT create an extensive bureaucracy – Allowed local rulers to maintain regional control as long as they pledge support to the Gupta Empire • No single language was imposed – Sanskrit was the language of educated people. • Spread uniform law codes • Patrons of art/literature/university life • Engaged in road building • The Gupta Empire is considered to be a GOLDEN AGE of Indian History

Politics in Classical India • Political culture was not very elaborate – Thinking encouraged efficient authority but not a spread of political values like Confucianism in China or the interest in political ethics in Rome and Greece • Ashoka saw an ethic for good behavior in Buddhism, but Buddhist leaders were not involved in the affairs of the state. • Indian Religion stressed the importance of priests as sources of authority

The Caste System • Became more complex after the Epic Age • The 5 classes subdivided into over 300 jati • Determined who one could eat with/marry, etc. • Hereditary principals became stronger • Upward mobility could occur within ones caste, but rarely to a new caste • This was the most rigid overall framework for a social structure in any of the classical civilizations

The Caste System • In a sense, the caste system led to tolerance • Avoided outright slavery

Effects on Economy and Society • Family life echoes that • Caste system theme of hierarchy and dominated economic organization and social life. • As agriculture became better organized and • Lower Caste improved technology individuals had very reduced women’s few rights economic contributions, the stress on male authority expanded

Caste • Assigned people to an occupation • Regulated marriages • Peasant villages less contact with higher social caste

Guptas- University. Nalanda • • 100 lecture halls 3 large libraries Astronomical observatory religion, philosophy, medicine, architecture, and agriculture

Science • • • Greek and Alex Great Aryabhatta- circumference of earth Understood daily rotations of earth Predicted and explained eclipses Theory of gravity

Medicine • Dissection prohibited for reigious reasons • Advances in bone setting and plastic surgury • Cowpox serum to treat smallpox

Math • Numbering system used today (Arabic bc Europeans imported it secondhand from the Arabs) • Zero • Decimal system • Negative numbers • Square roots • Computed pi more efficiently than Greeks

Economy and Society • Arranged marriages come about during this time as a means of ensuring solid economic links • The family was a core unit – A man’s wife is his truest friend – Children were pampered • Patriarchal family was subtly different from that in China – Indian culture featured strong-willed female goddesses, which contributed to women’s status as wives and mothers. – Stories celebrate women’s beauty

Economy • • • A Vibrant economy, rivaling China’s New uses for chemistry Steel was the best in the world Textiles: Cotton cloth, and cashmere Artisans formed guilds and sold their goods from shops • Emphasis on trade and merchant activity was greater than in China

Economy • Indian merchants enjoyed high caste status • Traveled widely • Seafaring people along the southern border, usually out of the control of the large northern empires were active traders • Southern Indians, known as Tamils, traded cotton, silks, dyes, drugs, gold, and ivory.

Indian Influence • Indian dominance on the waters of Southern Asia carried goods and influence well beyond the Indian Subcontinent. • While India did not attempt political domination of Southeast Asia, it influenced its development greatly

Indian Influence • Buddhism spreads from India to many parts of southeast Asia. • India influence affects China by the end of the classical period • With the fall of the Gupta 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 dynamic styles of India. • India rests upon a singular religion, while China has different philosophies and religions • Social rigidity in India • Political structure and values more structured in China than in India. • Science: Indians venture into math more than Chinese

Ch’India-Similarities • Agricultural societies – Large peasant class organized in close knit villages – Cities and merchant activity was vital yet secondary role – Political power lay with those who own the land – Patriarchy