Indian Advancements

Quick Review

• What continent is India located on?• What is a subcontinent?• What is a monsoon?• What are some of the Harrapan’s Achievements?• How was the Aryan culture different from Harrapan?• What are the 5 Varnas/Castes?• What were some of the Caste rules?• What is the largest religion in India today?

• How do Hindus believe karma effects

reincarnation?

• Who was Siddhartha Guatama?

• What is Nirvana?

• Describe what the Jains believe.

• What did Asoka do?

• What religion did Gupta promote?

Quick Review

Sanskrit Literature

• Main language of the ancient Aryans• During the Maurya and Gupta periods many works were created and later translated into many other languages

- Mahabharata - one of the world’s longest sacred texts; a struggle between two families for control of a kingdom

- Bhagavad Gita – a long passage within the Mahabharata about Hindu beliefs

Hindu Temples

- Gupta temples were complex.

- Hindu temples had a tower on top and the outside of the temple had carvings in honor of the specific god being worshipped

Buddhist Temples

- During the Gupta period, some temples

were carved out of a mountainside and contained beautiful paintings.- The Stupa (a type of Buddhist

temple) had a dome on top and had intricate carvings.

Paintings and Sculptures

• Artists were well- respected people in ancient India• The paintings were very vibrant and made for Hindu and Buddhist temples.• Most sculptures were also created for Hindu temples and Buddhist cave temples

Scientific Advances

• Indians were the first to find ways to work with metal (metallurgy) to create tools.• The numbers we use today, Hindu-Arabic numerals, were created by Indian scholars.• Inoculation (injecting a person with a small amount of a virus) began with ancient Indian doctors. We still use the process when receiving vaccinations.• Astronomy - ancient Indians knew of 7 of the 9 planets by studying the skies.