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