new empires in india

India’s first EmpiresMaurya ( 322- 232 BCE)

Gupta (320-467 CE)

The strong village culture based on caste, and local rajas made political unity difficult and even irrelevant in India.

Macedonian conquests in the Indus Valley spread Hellenistic Culture to India.

Persian then Macedonian rule helped unify India.

The Magadha Kingdom formed alliances against the invaders.

In 322 BCE, Chandragupta Maurya (CHUN•druh•GUP•tuh MAH•oor•yuh) defeats Seleucus.

The Maurya Empire 322- 232 BCE)

By 321 BCE, Chandragupta Maurya defeats the rajas in eastern and northern India, unifying India for the first time.

The Maurya Empire

The Maurya Empire

He establishes the capital at Pataliputra in the northern Ganges Valley.

Pataliputra

The city had a moat, walls, and 570 watchtowers.

ancient Pataliputra india

Pataliputra

Gold and Silver columns decorated the palace hall.

Pataliputra

Trade flourished merchants exported elephants, silk, spices, cotton and perfume to China.

Pataliputra

The Greek ambassador Megasthenes said it was more splendid than any city of the Seleucid Empire

Chandragupta Maurya

He used the Persian bureaucracy, dividing India into provinces, each governed by one of his relatives.

Chandragupta Maurya

Farmers had to pay 50 percent tax, which supported his army and public works.

Chandragupta Maurya He created a standing army of 500,000.

Chandragupta Maurya

His chief minister Kautilaya wrote the Arthashastra.

Chandragupta Maurya

A book on political realism, advising rulers to get power by any means as long as the ruler pleases his people. (like Machiavelli’s the Prince or Sun Zi’s Art of War).

Chandragupta Maurya

Chandragupta had many spies reporting on officials.

Chandragupta Maurya

He feared assassination and always had his food tasted and never slept in the same room 2 nights in a row.

Chandragupta Maurya

He abdicated the throne and become a Janis monk. He led such an ascetic life that he starved himself to death

The Maurya Empire

His secular rule greatly reduced the power of the Brahmans.

From 268-232 BCE, Chandragupta’s grandson, Asoka expanded the Empire.

He is considered the greatest ruler of India.

The Maurya Empire

Asoka (304 – 232 BCE)Asoka (304 – 232 BCE) He converts to Buddhism

after the gruesome battle of Kalinoa in 262 BCE.

Dedicated his life to Buddhism.

Built extensive roads.

Conflict how to balance Kautilya’s methods of keeping power and Buddha’s demands to become a selfless person?

Asoka’s

Empire

Asoka’s

Empire

He built hospitals for people and animals, roads with trees and shelters to shade travelers.

Asoka

He issued laws against violence and practiced religious toleration.

Asoka

He carved the laws into pillars placed in the center of towns.

Asoka

Some of the Pillars of Asoka

Sanskrit Language

Asoka

Merchants quickly converted to Buddhism. Trade grew as India became the major crossroads in the commercial network going from the Pacific to the Mediterranean.

Asoka

Asoka spread Buddhism and built temples all over South and Central Asia.

A stupa is a mound-like structure with Buddhist relics, used as a place of meditation.

Title: Great Stupa, Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh, India

Artist: n/a

Date: Erected 3rd century BCE; enlarged c. 150-50 BCE

Source/ Museum: n/a

Medium:

Size: height 3 1/3" (8.5 cm)

Title: Yakshi bracket figure, detail from great Stupa, Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh, India

Artist: n/a

Date: n/a

Source/ Museum: n/a

Medium: n/a

Size: n/a

Vihara is a Buddhist monastery.

Vihara is a Buddhist monastery.

Vihara is a Buddhist monastery

Sangharama is a free standing temple and monastery including its gardens.

Asoka

After the death of Asoka died the empire degraded into many small warring states.

Bactrian Greeks

In the second century BCE, King Demetrius set up a Hellenistic kingdom.

Bactrian Greeks

Indian scholars studied Hellenistic medicine and astronomy.

The Kushan Kingdomand the Silk Road

In the first century CE, nomadic warriors established the new Kushan kingdom (Afganistan).

The Kushan Kingdomand the Silk Road

Mostlikely, not Indoeuropean, rather Yuezhi from the arid grasslands in modern-day Xinjiang. By the 1st Century, they took over Bactria (Afganistan).

The Kushan Kingdomand the Silk Road

The Kushans prospered from the trade that passed through their land on its way between the Roman and Chinese Empires .

The Kushan Kingdom and the Silk Road

The Silk Road reached from the city of Changan in China across central Asia to Mesopotamia, about 6,436 km.

The Kushan Kingdomand the Silk Road

People and camels transported luxury goods through mountains and deserts, winding up at Antioch in Syria.

The Kushan Kingdomand the Silk Road

Chinese merchants made large fortunes trading luxury goods, such as silk, spices, teas, and porcelain.

The Kushan Kingdomand the Silk Road

Indian merchants sent ivory, textiles, precious stones, and pepper.

The Kushan Kingdomand the Silk Road

The Romans desired silk and considered it worth its weight in gold.

The Kushan Kingdom

The Buddhist Kushans hired Hellenistic sculptors and artists. They developed the Gandaran school of sculpture.

Title: Standing Buddha, from Gandhara (Pakistan)

Artist: n/a

Date: Kushan period, c. 2nd-3rd century CE

Source/ Museum: Lahore Museum, Lahore

Medium: Schist

Size: height 7'6" (2.28 m)

Title: Buddha and Attendants, from Katra Keshavdev, Mathura, Madhya Pradesh, India

Artist: n/a

Date: Kushan period,c. late 1st-early 2nd century CE.

Source/ Museum: Government Museum, Mathura

Medium: Red Sandstone

Size: height 271/4" (69.2cm)

The Kushan Kingdom

They held a great council of Buddhist monks to regulate Buddhism, creating Mahayana Buddhism.

The Kushan Kingdom

By 250 CE, the Sassanid Persians (224 – 651) conquered the Kushan kingdom.

Gupta Empire: 320 – 467 CEGupta Empire: 320 – 467 CE

The Gupta Empire considered the Golden Age of Indian culture.

Gupta Empire: 320 – 467 CEGupta Empire: 320 – 467 CE

Gupta RulersGupta Rulers Chandra Gupta I

r. 320 – 335 CE

“Great King of Kings”

Chandra Gupta II

r. 375 - 415 CE

Profitable trade with the Mediterranean world!

Hindu revival.

Fa-Hsien: Life in Gupta IndiaFa-Hsien: Life in Gupta India

In the 5c, Chinese Buddhist monk traveled along the Silk Road and visited India.

He followed the path of the Buddha.

He reported the people to be happy, relatively free, polite and generous.

Commented on the "untouchability," doomed to menial labor.

Chandra Gupta II

Chandra Gupta II

International Trade Routes during the Guptas

International Trade Routes during the Guptas

Extensive Trade:4c

Extensive Trade:4c

spices

spices

gold &

ivory

gold & ivory

rice & wheathorses

cotton goods

cotton goodssilks

Achievement in the Gupta Empire

Universities Literature Painting Sculpture Metalwork Mathematics Roads

Universities

Time of great learning No women were allowed to attend, except for the daughter’s of

teachers Upper Castes only

Nalanda University

Buddhist school. Eight colleges Three libraries Hospital Monastery Courses in Buddhist

and Hindu philosophy

Gupta Arts, Science and Technology

Caraka a great doctor developed a code of ethics for doctors

Health care free

Gupta Arts, Science and Technology

Advance in iron making.Medical advances and tools

like scalpels.Plastic surgery

Gupta Arts, Science and Technology

Indian numbers latter borrowed by Arabs are what we use today along with the zero.

0123456789

Gupta Arts, Science and Technology

In 628 AD, Brahmagupta solved quadratic equations.

Ax2 +Bx=C

Literature

Writers wrote poetry, fables, and folktales, and plays.

Many focuses on Hindu law and religion

The Puranas (“Ancient Lore”)

Described many Hindu legends, which had been passed down orally.

The Mahabharata (“Great Work”)

Themes relate to Hindu values of good versus evil.

The Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita is the most famous book.

The Bhagavad Gita

The warrior Arjuna struggles with the problem of battle against his family.

Bhagavad Gita

Krishna (Vishnu) tells him to obey the warrior code, emphasizing the duty to one’s caste.

Gupta Literature Spread

Beyond India to Greece and Persia.

Gupta folktales inspired the Arabian story of Aladdin and the lamp.

KalidasaKalidasa

The greatest of Indian poets, most famous play Shakuntala.

Kalidasa wrote stories in which humans wrestled with imperfection and fate, the opposite of Greek tragedies. Romantic works with happy endings.

Gupta

Art

Gupta

Art

Greatly influenced Southeast Asian art &

architecture.

Gupta Architecture

The stupa became elaborate often with scenes of Buddah’s life. Style spread to Buram and Thailand.

Gupta Architecture

The rock cut temples carved into solid cliffs.

Gupta Architecture

Principle chamber was the Chaitya.Ajanta 29 chambers

Title: Cave-Temple of Shiva. View along the east-west axis to the Shiva shrine. Elephanta, Maharashtra, India

Artist: n/a

Date: Mid- 6th century CE

Source/ Museum: n/a

Medium: n/a

Size: n/a

Ellora 34 chambers

Ellora 34 chambers

Ellora 34 chambers

Gupta Architecture

Portray world of universe of Hindus Buddhists and Jains.

Gupta Architecture

Free standing temples hug the ground, rather than go to sky Hindu belief that divinity related to earth.

Title: Buddhist Temple of Borobudur

Artist: n/a

Date: Sailendra dynasty, 835-60 CE

Source/ Museum: Java, Indonesia

Medium: Lava stone

Size: perimeter of lowest gallery 1,180', diameter of crowning stupa 52'

Gupta Architecture

Best examples outside India, like Ankor Wat Cambodia.

Dedicated to Vishnu, the Khmer Empire of Cambodia built this temple in the 12th C.

Sculpture

The Gupta period developed a wholly Indian sculpture.

Title: Eternal Shiva

Artist: n/a

Date: Mid-6th century CE

Source/ Museum: n/a

Medium: rock-cut relief in the Cave-Temple of Shiva at Elephanta

Size: Height approx. 11" (3.4 m)

Painting made great advances in the Gupta period.

. The most famous painting in the caves of Ajanta

Title: Bodhisattva, detail of a wall painting in Cave I, Ajanta, Maharashtra, India

Artist: n/a

Date: Gupta period, c. 475 CE

Source/ Museum: n/a

Medium: n/a

Size: n/a

Hindu reform and comeback

Buddhism weakened as merchants lost money as international trade crashes when both Rome and Han China collapse.

Hindu reform and comeback

Buddhist monks stayed in monasteries isolated from urban and village life.

Hindu reform and comeback

The Brahman class made a comeback.Hindu leaders built shrines for all castes and

women, stressing individual worship.

Hindu Society

Brahms became gurus again.

Men progress four stages student, provider, hermit and holy man.

Buddha becomes one of the many Hindu Gods

Hindu reform and comeback

Castes became more complex with additional sub castes.

Buddhism absorbed by Hinduism.

White Huns 480-500 CE

The kingdom of the Guptas ended with the invasion of the Huns.

White Huns 480-500 CE

India breaks down into 70 warring Hindu

states.

Peaceful contacts between Muslims and India by the 7th and 8th Centuries.

These turned into military invasions during the 11th Century led by the Turkish Muslim Mahmud of Ghazani (971-1030).

Nicknamed the “Sword of Islam”, Mahmud led 17 plundering and slaughtering invasions and soon controlled the Indus Valley (Pakistan today).

The Indus Valley Muslim promise of equality led to many Hindus converting to Islam.

By 1200 CE, the Muslim Sultanate of Delhi had conquered all of India.

The Muslim rulers in India viewed themselves as conquerors. They maintain a strict separation between the Muslim ruling class and the Hindu population.

Muslims destroyed many Hindu temples and massacred thousands of Hindus.

Many Hindus considered Muslims another higher caste, others as barbarian invaders.

While they became more tolerate, the conflict between Muslims and Hindu lasts until this day.

1526–1857 Mughal Empire Islamic decedents of Genghis Khan

British East India Company 1700’s1857 British Crown Annexes India1900 on many independence movements1920 Gandhi1947 India (Hindu) and Pakistan (Muslim)

gains independence, when the USA forces England to give up colonies after WW II

Indian Classical Tradition

Classical characteristics of India can be found in the village rather than in the polis as in Greece, provincial rule in Persia or empire as in Rome.

The caste is the social fabric of India fundamental to Hinduism.

In the contest between trade that nourished Buddhism and agriculture of Hinduism, farming won. Buddhism found a home elsewhere.

Hw pg 86 1-6pg 104 1-6 20

The Kushan Kingdomand the Silk Road

In the first century CE, nomadic warriors seized power and established the new Kushan kingdom (Afganistan).

For the next two centuries, the Kushans spread over northern India as far as the central Ganges Valley.

Soon after Asoka died, however, his empire collapsed.

Around 320 AD, Chandra Gupta I came to power in the north. He was not related to the first emperor Chandragupta Maurya of the Maurya Empire , but he too took the title of king and began to conquer other areas in the name of the Gupta Empire.

The Gupta Golden Age

Added western coast to empire

religion scienceFlourishing of arts

Medicine Literature

MathematicsAstronomy

Printedmedicinal

guides

1000 diseasesclassified

PlasticSurgery

C-sectionsperforme

d

Inoculations

500 healingplants

identified

DecimalSystem

Conceptof Zero

PI = 3.1416

Kalidasa

SolarCalendar

The earth

is round

GuptaIndia

Gupta Achievemen

ts

Gupta Achievemen

ts

The Kingdom of the Guptas

In 320, a new state was created in the central Ganges Valley by a local prince named Chandra Gupta I .

He rebuilt the capital at Pataliputra

The Kingdom of the Guptas

Under a series of efficient monarchs—especially Chandra Gupta II, who reigned from 375 to 415—the Gupta Empire created a new age of Indian civilization.

The Kingdom of the Guptas

Chinese traveler, Faxian (FAY•SYEN), who spent several

years there in the fifth century. Faxian, a Buddhist

monk, admired the Gupta rulers, their tolerance of

Buddhism, and the prosperity of the country

Medicine Literature

MathematicsAstronomy

Printedmedicinal

guides

1000 diseasesclassified

PlasticSurgery

C-sectionsperforme

d

Inoculations

500 healingplants

identified

DecimalSystem

Conceptof Zero

PI = 3.1416

Kalidasa

SolarCalendar

The earth

is round

GuptaIndia

Gupta Achieveme

nts

Gupta Achieveme

nts

BhartrhariBhartrhari

5c India court poet and philosopher.Knowledge is man's crowning mark,A treasure secretly buried,The source of luxury, fame, and bliss,A guru most venerable,A friend on foreign journeys,The pinnacle of divinity.Knowledge is valued by kings beyond wealth---When he lacks it, a man is a brute.