Ancient India

INDUS RIVER VALLEY Has mountains, rivers, and fertile soil

Rivers

Indus & Sarasvati R.

water for irrigation

water routes for trade Mountains

Himalayas & Hindu Kush Mts.

separate India from the rest of Asia =>Subcontinent

Himalayas

Source of three rivers

Indus R., Ganges R., Brahmaputra R.

VARNAS(SOCIAL CLASSES)

Social Classes

Each class is called a caste

Today, the system can also be referred to as the caste system

BUDDHISM IDEASBasic Instructions:

4 Noble Truths (All life is marked by suffering)

Eightfold Path

Place of Origin: India

Ultimate Goal: To reach Nirvana.

Nirvana is the end of suffering. Seen as a heavenly paradise.

Main Locations: China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia

ENLIGHTENMENTAchievement of giving up all desires and overcoming ignorance

Selfless love & compassion

End of reincarnation

Meditation- focusing on one’s thinking

Calms the mind & makes it helpful to let go of desires & possessions

MIDDLE WAY

Buddha’s teachings focus on how one should behave & act

Moderation- not too much of one thing and not too little

Balance

KARMA (BUDDHISM) Thoughts, speech, actions a person performs in a lifetime

Buddhists teach:

Good karma and bad karma travel into a person’s next life

Rebirth of karma

Personality does not count!

Life is continual change

Life can change…so go with the flow…

Good + bad karma are the results of actions

Karma decides whether your soul will be reborn in a better or worse form in the next life

When no more evil karma—>

Soul will become at one with Brahman, or God

KARMA & REBIRTH (HINDUISM)

DAILY RITUALS IN HINDUISM

Washing & prayer

Strict rules food your eating

Meditation

Belief: Bringing holiness into their lives

THE GUPTA EMPIRE

320 to 467 CE

Responsible for Golden Age of Ancient India

Traded by land & sea

Export: Elephants, oxen wagons, gems, pearls, perfumes, pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cotton cloth, red dye, ebony

As far as Rome, Africa, China, S. E. Asia, Indonesia

Import: Silk from China, gold from Rome, Horses from Arabia & Central Asia

Guilds- group of craftsman & merchants that do the same work

TRADE ITEMS

ACHIEVEMENTS

Arts

•Decorative metalworks using iron

•Epics - tells of heroic deeds—> Written down in Gupta times

ACHIEVEMENTS

Literature/poems/epics

Bhagavad Gita-long poem a part of the longer epic poem Mahabharata (2 families fighting over the kingdom of India)

Read stories starting 300 CE

ACHIEVEMENTS

Science/Astronomy

World is a sphere & rotated around the sun- (Aryabhata)

Solar system had 365 days (and a few hours)

ACHIEVEMENTS

Mathematics

Number system

9 digits

zero

decimals