Classical South Asia

Oct. 8, 2013

Review

• Was Funan a kingdom?

•What is “Indianization”?

•Who were the Chams?

•Who were the Khmers?

•Which part of Southeast Asia was influenced by China at this time?

The Kushan empire•Linked China and India

•A Turko-Mongolian people (Yuezhi)

•Mounted archers from Central Asia

•Renowned Buddhist rulers

•Sanskrit returns as the favoured language for serious texts, including medical texts and the Kamasutra

•This is the time of the rise of Vishnu and Shiva devotionalism in India itself--the birth of Hinduism.

The Gupta empire

• Not as powerful or as well organized as the Mauryan empire

• However, they controlled people and territory not only through trade but also through ritual hegemony (sponsored Hindu temples)

• Faxian described Gupta civilization

• The Gupta empire was destroyed by the Huns (from Central Asia)

Rajputs•RAJPUTS:– "sons of kings," a Hindu

warrior caste which fought Muslim incursions into India.

•However, they themselves are probably the descendants of outsiders from Central Asia (the Hunas) who intermarried with local people in northwestern India.

•Evidence of ethnic diversity in India.

Southern India and Ceylon

•Different languages (Dravidian), different social structure (castes defined differently), different forms of Hinduism (devotionalism stronger)

•Tamils are the best known peoples of southern India. They had their own literature from the 2nd century.

•Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka) had Sinhalese (they were from northern India, and were said to have been converted to Buddhism by missionaries dispatched by Ashoka) and, later, Tamils (who are Hindus)

Women in Ancient India

•How was southern India different from northern India? More matrilineal and bilineal lineages.

•Which women had the greatest autonomy?

•Professional entertainers (courtesans) and temple dancers.

• Sati (the suicide of wives after the death of their husbands) appears at this time, indicating a decline in how much society valued women

Hinduism: Devotional religion

•Much more than the Vedic tradition of bramanical rituals, or the Buddhist emphasis on renunciation.

• Is focused on a relationship of devotion to a god or gods expressed through ritual offerings.

•More like a family of religions than a single religion, since there are many different gods in Hinduism, and different people focus on different gods.

Major Gods of Hinduism•Vishnu, and his avatars Krishna and Ram

•Krishna is important in the Bhagavad Gita

•Ram is important in the Ramayana

•Shiva

•Devi (the goddess)

Social structure• The varna: a) priests b) warriors/rulers

c) merchants and landlords d) servants, and

• untouchables--below those four varna

• Jati are more important. Jati, like varna, are hereditary social groups but they are more specific (there are over 1,000 jati) and were traditionally occupationally defined. They also have a smaller geographic range.

• Normally, in South Asia, you marry within your own jati, though a woman may marry a man of higher status. Marrying only within your own group is called endogamy.