Gupta Empire PERSIA

Elbert & Mattius

Introduction – Gupta Empire

• Ancient Indian Empire

• Covered Indian Subcontinent

• From 320 CE to 550 CE

• Advanced in science, engineering, technology, art, literature, and etc

Thesis Statement

• Depicting the cultural elements of the Gupta Empire

• Classifying into 6 different sections – PERSIA

• Some deductive thinking process with given facts

PERSIA - POWER

• ABOUT – How power is distributed and how decisions are made

• Fact 1: Succession, inheritance of throne

• – It answers the question: “How are the leaders chosen?”

PERSIA - POWER

• Fact 2: Villages were protected from bandits and raids with local military squads. (Each squad was made up of one elephant, one chariot, three armored cavalry-men and five foot soldiers.)

• - It answers the question: “How did the government protect civilians?

• Fact 3: From Pataliputra, their capital, leaders tried to retain political power by committing judicious mar-riage alliances for stronger military and political strength. (Pragmatism)

• - It answers the question: “What were some ways for leaders to maintain their political power?”

PERSIA - Economy

• ABOUT – The making and distributing of money/wealth

• Fact 1: Rewards of money were given to writers, artists, and scholars to en-courage them to produce wonderful work, and they did.

• - It answers the question: “How did artists earn money?”

PERSIA - Economy

• Fact 2: Stalls for selling things were located on both sides of the street.

• - It answers the question: “How were busi-nesses conducted by people?”

• Fact 3: In the Gupta Empire, wheat was the main crop, and people kept cows for milk.

• - It answers the question: “What were some goods produced by farmers (or people)?”

PERSIA - Religion

• ABOUT – How a society describes the supernatural

• Fact 1: The emperor sent missionar-ies around India and Sri Lanka to spread Buddhism.

• – It answers the question: “How was the religion diffused?”

PERSIA - Religion

• Fact 2: During the Gupta period, people had the freedom of religion.

• – It answers the question: “How did people choose religion?”

• Fact 3: True to the Buddhist principle of re-spect for all life, Asoka (the emperor) stopped eating most meats and limited Hindu animal sacrifices.

• - It answers the question: “What were some re-ligious practices that were done by followers?

PERSIA - Social

• ABOUT – How individuals in a society interact with each other

• Fact 1: During the Gupta period, peo-ple were given free medical care, which included simple surgery.

• - It answers the question: “What did the government do to help people?”

PERSIA - Social

• Fact 2: Criminals were never put to death. Instead, they were fined for their crimes.

• - It answers the question: “How did the govern-ment organize the society in a good way?” (en-lightening)

• Fact 3: In ancient India, the most popular form of marriage was called Swayamvara. (a group of po-tential grooms assembled at the bride's house and the bride selected her spouse)

• - It answers the question: “What traditions did people have?”

PERSIA - Intellectual

• ABOUT – How a society tends to solve problems

• Fact 1: Hindu mathematicians were the first to use a system of numbers based on ten.

• - It answers the question: “What are some major accomplishments of this culture?”

PERSIA - Intellectual

• Fact 2: The Gupta Empire had many universi-ties, and students came from as far away as China to study at those schools.

• - It answers the question: “What is this culture known for?”

• Fact 3: Ancient Indians invented many of the games we play today, like chess, polo, and playing cards.

• - It answers the question: “What is this culture known for?”

PERSIA - Artistic

• ABOUT – What a society sees as beauti-ful, how it defines beauty, and how it entertains itself

• Fact 1: The Golden Age of Gupta dy-nasty encompassed other arts, including painting, music, dance, and literature.

• - It answers the question: “What are some forms of art?”

PERSIA - Artistic

• Fact 2: Dancers have performed Indian classical dances since a few centuries before the Gupta era up through the present day. Each movement of the arms, hands, and eyes carries particular meaning.

• - It answers the question: “In what ways did people try to express themselves?”

• Fact 3: In the north, Ancient Indians wore (some still wear) an unstitched garment called “dhoti”. People also wore lots of jewelry. It was used both by men and women.

• - It answers the question: “How did people decorate themselves?”

Summary

• During the Gupta era, many things like policies, education systems, be-liefs, and market systems were quite similar to those of modern societies.

• People at that time were living in well-organized society, also under the properly established, and also pretty humanistic government sys-tem.

Bibliography

• http://india.mrdonn.org/gupta.html• World History Book