Chapter 3: Classical IndiaAP 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 semi-tropical– 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 “pre-classical” 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• Caste system

dominated economic and social life.

• Lower Caste individuals had very few rights

• Family life echoes that theme of hierarchy and organization

• As agriculture became better organized and improved technology reduced women’s 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