AP World HistoryChapter 3 - Classical India

Introduction• In looking at the Classical period of Indian

history - a number of comparisons with China must be made – while the Chinese focused on politics and

philosophical values; India’s culture focused on religion and social structure

– India’s political structure was decentralized, China’s political structure was centralized

– Both India and China were agricultural societies - most people being peasant farmers

– Both societies developed a strong patriarchal family structure where women were held as inferior.

– Both societies built large, important cities that led to the creation of a formal intellectual life

Geography and Climate• Indian civilization was shaped by geography and

climate • India is a subcontinent that separates it from the

rest of Asia by the Himalaya Mountains; but there are many mountain passes to the northwest that linked India to other civilizations in the Middle East.

• India had more contact with other cultures than the Chinese did; Persian empires included parts of India on several occasions.

• Alexander the Great’s invasion of India did not produce anything durable; but it did produce important Indian contacts with the Hellenistic culture(that being a mixture of Greek, Persian, and Egyptian traits)

• Geographical divisions within the subcontinent made political unity difficult - India had more diversity than China.

Topographical map of India

Himalayas

Northwest passages

Deccan Plateau

Mauryan Empire

Gupta Empire(413 C.E.)

Geography and Climate• India’s agricultural regions developed around

the Indus and Ganges rivers • In the mountainous northern regions, a

herding society developed • The southern coastal rim a seafaring and

trading economy arose • India’s separate regions explains not only the

different economies; but also the racial and language differences.

• Most of India’s climate is semitropical - bringing tremendous heat and torrential monsoon rains. This climate can bring droughts one year, floods the next. People had to learn how to deal with that.

Enter the Aryans• There is a formative period in Indian history

called the Vedic(1500-1000 BCE) and Epic( 1000-600 BCE) ages. • During this time, Aryan(Indo-European)

invaders flowed in from the northwest. • The Aryans were a hunting and herding people

from Central Asia that eventually adopted agriculture.

• What people know from pre-classical India comes from literary epics developed from the Aryans - first, an oral tradition and later in Sanskrit, the first literary language in the new culture.

Aryan Literature• The first sacred books were called the Vedas.

Veda is Sanskrit for “knowledge.” • Rig-Veda was the first epic consisting of 1028

poems dedicated to the Aryan gods. • Stories developed during the Epic Age include the

Mahabharata, India’s greatest epic poem; and the Ramayana. Both dealt with real and mythical battles.

• The Epic Age also produced the Upanishads, epic poems with a more mystical, religious tone.

*What is an epic poem? A real long poem. The Mahabharata is the world’s longest poem -

106,000 verses. Originally, it was an oral tradition.

Aryan Literature - The Mahabharata• The Mahabharata is set around a great war

between two sets of cousins, the Pandavas and the Kauravas.

• The Hindu god, Krishna, is featured in this tale. He is a dark-faced god(non-Aryan) who instructs one of the Pandavas, Arjuna.

• Arjuna is reluctant to go into battle against his cousins - he does not want to kill his relatives. Krishna informs Arjuna that the eternal spirit in every human cannot be destroyed; and that it is his duty(dharma) to wage war.

The Mahabharata

Indian Caste System• The caste system in India is believed to have

taken shape during the Vedic and Epic Ages by the Aryans as a means to distinguish the Aryan conquerors from the indigenous people.

• The Aryan social classes are called varnas, and are broken down as follows: – Kshatriyas: Warrior and ruling class – Brahmans: The Priestly class – Vaisyas: Traders and farmers – Sudras: Common laborers – Untouchables(Pariahs) - lowest jobs; everyone

else shunned them.

Indian Caste System• Initially, the warrior caste ranked the highest;

but during the Epic Age the brahmans took the highest rank - implying the increase importance of religion

• Eventually, the five social groups became hereditary. Marriage between castes was forbidden and punishable by death.

• The castes were further divided by subgroups called jatis, each with its own occupations.

• Ultimately, nearly 300 jatis were formed, which were later subdivided into subcastes.

India’s Caste System

Early Indian Religion• The Aryans brought India a religion with many gods

and goddesses - who possessed natural forces and human qualities.

• Thus there were gods of fire, thunder, sun, death, etc. • This system of gods resembled the mythology of the

Greeks and Scandinavia - probably because of a common Indo-European oral tradition

• However, in India a belief developed that all the gods came from the same basic divine force - brahma.

• Brahma, the universal divine force, was an idea expressed in the mystical Upanishads.

• Thus, while early religious practices included rituals, ceremonies, and rituals to the endless pantheon of gods and goddesses; the belief in one divine force and the desire to be united with that force formed the foundations of Hinduism.

Hinduism• Unlike other world religions, Hinduism has no single

founder, no prophet. • Also, the practices ranged from the highly

ritualistic(prayers, ceremonies) to the highly mystical(humans becoming one with god).

• Early Hinduism encouraged economic and political goals(artha) and worldly pleasures(karma).

• The religion proved to be flexible enough to adapt to the needs of the people; gods of nature were altered to represent more abstract concepts - ideas of right and wrong.

• The Upanishads taught that worldly concerns(money, health) were not important compared with one seeking unity with the divine spirit.

Hinduism - the Basics• Brahma, the basic holy essence, is in everything in this world.

Every living thing is part of Brahma. • The divine aspects of Brahma are manifested in the form of

several gods, such as Vishnu(Preserver) and Shiva(Destroyer). • The world we live in is unimportant than the world of the divine

soul. • Thus, the quest for unity with the divine soul may take several

lifetimes - reincarnation. The soul does not die when the body dies, but returns has another human or animal.

• What a person reincarnates into, a higher/lower caste, or even into an animal, depends on how good a life that person led.

• Hinduism provided more than one way to get good with the divine essence. One way is through meditation and yoga. Another is to continue with the rituals and a personal devotion to the lesser gods

• People had to follow their dharma, or moral law in order to move up to a higher caste in their next life. Everybody has obligations in their life. If one’s duty was to be a warrior and kill - then it was right. The Bhagavad Gita(part of the Mahabharata) tells the story of Arjuna and his moral dilemma.

Indian god Krishna with Arjuna

Indian gods - Vishnu the Preserver

Indian gods - Shiva the Destroyer

Dancing Shiva

Indian gods - Ganesha