Happy Wednesday.

What do you remember about the Indus River Valley Civilizations? Be ready to share and take out your class notes.

Crash Course Video Clip: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7ndRwqJYDM

India: Mauryan and Gupta Empires

Today’s LEQ: After the first wave civilizations, what stayed the same and what changed?

When We Last Studied India…

Indus River Valley, Harappan Society

Major society built c. 3000-2500 BCE, mysterious decline by 1500BCE

Major cities: Harrapa (Punjab region and Mohenjo-Daro (mouth of Indus River)

Harappan society and its neighbors ca. 2000 B.C.E.

The Aryan “Invasion”

Aryans, lighter-skinned invaders from the north

Arrived in waves and mixed with local people, Dravidians (darker-skinned sedentary inhabitants of Harappa)

Moved eastward towards Ganges River by 1000BCE

Difficulty of theory: no evidence of large-scale military conquest

Early Aryans

Pastoral economy: sheep, goats, horses, cattle

Religious and Literary works: The Vedas Sanskrit: sacred tongue Prakrit: everyday language, evolved

into Hindi, Urdu, Bengali Four Vedas, most important Rigveda▪ 1,028 hymns to gods▪ Lays out India’s caste system

Varna: The Caste System

Soon after Aryan invasion, India began dividing everyone into one of five groups, or castes - Complex system of social division

Origins in Aryan domination of Dravidians

Resulted in cultural stability in India for thousands of years, but restricted social mobility

Jati – subsystem of castes6

Also, you need a page for the Untouchables

And, for Jati

Caste System Foldable

Go to www.worldhistory.abc-clio.com

Username & Password: midtownstaff

Switch to ancient databaseType “caste system” into the

search fieldIn your foldable, provide a

description and visual for each social class; Keep in mind, this will serve as your study guide for the upcoming unit test.

Happy Friday

Turn in your caste system foldable (is your name on it?!)

Use the terms below to write 3-4 sentences that show your understanding of what we covered yesterday. Be ready to share!!!

Aryan

Migration

Indus River Valley

SANSKRIT

VEDIC RELIGION

HinduismCaste System

Chandragupta Maurya

Unified northern India. Extremely centralized – Maurya Empire!

Divided empire into provinces and districts for taxation and law enforcement

Feared assassination food tasters, slept in different rooms, etc.

301 BCE gave up his throne and became a Jain (religion focusing on complete non-violence) 10

Kautilya

Chandragupta’s advisor Wrote the Arthashastra: A guide for his king and his

ministers Supports royal power The great evil in society is

anarchy Therefore, a single authority is

needed to employ force when necessary

Ashoka Maurya (304-232BCE)

Ashoka = most important ruler of Mauryan Empire

Religious conversion after gruesome battle of Kalinga

Religiously tolerant Patronized Buddhist art,

architecture and culture. Buddhism expanded.

Put up pillars all over India, declaring the peaceful intent of his empire

12

Ashoka’s Law Code

Written mostly in Sanskrit (some in Greek and Aramaic)

Cosmopolitan (diverse) empire!

Buddhist principles dominate his laws.

Decline of the Mauryan Empire Economic crisis

follows death of Ashoka

Results in power vacuum

Regions begin to abandon Mauryan Empire Disappears by 185

CE14

Gupta Empire c. 320 CE – 550 CE Next to unify India Profitable trade of

cotton and pepper Guptas were Hindu,

not Buddhist (although tolerant)

Politics = indirect rule Large amount of

freedom given to administrators throughout empire

“Golden Age” of Indian culture

International Trade Routes

Extensive Trade:4c

Extensive Trade:4c

spices

spices

gold &

ivory

gold & ivory

rice & wheathorses

cotton goods

cotton goodssilks

Medicine

MathematicsAstronomy

Printedmedicinal

guides

1000 diseasesclassified

PlasticSurgery

C-sectionsperforme

d

Inoculations

500 healingplants

identified

DecimalSystem

Conceptof Zero

PI = 3.1416

SolarCalendar

The earth

is round

GuptaIndia

Gupta Achievemen

ts

Gupta Achievemen

ts

Gupta Architecture

Decline of the Gupta

Invasion by pastoralists called White Huns in the 500s = end of Gupta Golden Age

Decline of Gupta – north India broke into many separate Hindu kingdoms ruled by rajputs (Hindu princes)

Not really unified again until the coming of the Muslims in the 7c.

Indian history marked by big debate: unity vs. disunity

On loose-leaf…

Create a multiple choice test item for the AP exam that assesses the Maurya and/or the Gupta. Create a problem with four answer choices, one that is correct and three that are incorrect. Make sure your question is challenging! For example, don’t do this:

What were the names of the two Classical Age empires of India? A: Wynnland & Appotopia B: Europe & Asia C: Maurya and Gupta D: None of the above