Classical+India

3.1 ESPIRIT Indian Civilization

**ESPIRIT Chart** Civilization: Classical India  - The most important agricultural regions were along the Indus and Ganges Rivers. Torrential **monsoons** are the important rainy season that is crucial to the agriculture.  - Northern regions of India have an economy based on herding, while the southern coastal area has an active seafaring and trading economy. (This explains the economic diversity/complexity)  - India developed extensive internal and maritime trade. The economy and people were all about agriculture. The wealth of the upper classes was only enjoyed by a small fraction of the people. || intercaste marriage was forbidden -- capital crime
 * E ||  - Although mainly agricultural, India built great cities and engaged in extensive trade, adding to the economic complexity.
 * S || ﻿ The Indian caste system had created a social schism and affected the other sectors.
 * Agricultural society like China
 * Farmer peasantry
 * Villages with local authority and cultures
 * Micro-organization
 * Close family ties
 * Patriarchal society in which women were greatly subordinated
 * Arranged marriages in which the bride had no say, only the family
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">More diversified than China's Middle Kingdom -- economically, idiomatically, prejudicially, demographically
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Vedic (1500 - 1000 B.C.E) and Epic (1000 - 600 B.C.E) ages -- aka. the formative years
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Reconstruction of Indian civilization after the fall of cities like Harappa along the Indus
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Agriculture extended from the Indus to Ganges
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Domination of Vedic beliefs and brahmins (700 - c. 500 B.C.E)
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Caste system had **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Varnas **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">, or, social classes
 * Low caste individuals had few legal rights and were highly abused by landowners
 * Peasantry and nobility had little contact;
 * <span style="display: block; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; marginbottom: 0pt; marginleft: 0in; marginright: 0in; margintop: 0in; tabstops: list 1.5in;">Brahmins and Kshatriyas (priests > warriors > Vaisyas (merchants and farmers) > Sudras (common laborers, serfs) > Untouchables
 * <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Provided social stability ||
 * P || <span style="color: #ff0000; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; marginbottom: 0pt; marginleft: 0in; marginright: 0in; margintop: 0in; tabstops: 55.5pt;">The political system of India was not very elaborate.

__
 * Few politcal values and institutions
 * **Kautilya**, Chandragupta's chief minister, wrote a treatise instructing leaders how to maintain power.
 * government was overshadowed by local villages and the caste system
 * __Politics were overshadowed by religion
 * Regionalism - distinct provincial cultures
 * **Mauryan Empire**
 * 322 B.C.E. - **Chandragupta Maurya** seizes power (322 - 298 B.C.E.)
 * Mirrored Persian and Hellenistic political structures
 * Bureaucracy
 * Legalism monarchy
 * United most of the subcontinent
 * **Grandson** Ashoka **(269 - 232 B.C.E.)**
 * Expanded the Mauryan Empire to just short of the southern tip
 * Empire collapsed and regional kingdoms flourished
 * **Kushan** state (? - 220 C.E.)
 * Gupta Empire (320 C.E. - 535 C.E.)
 * Longest lasting
 * Expanded authority with intermarriage alliances
 * Greatest political stability
 * Smaller than Mauryan
 * Did not impose Sanskrit
 * No antidisestablishmentarianism ||
 * I || * Children should indulge in imagination longer
 * Placed emphasis on learning and rational inquiry
 * Under the Gupta, one of the first universities in the world was founded
 * Tolerant of cultures and religions ||
 * R || <span style="background-color: #ffff00; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; marginbottom: 0pt; marginleft: 0in; marginright: 0in; margintop: 0in;">Religion, namely Vedic beliefs, like Buddhism and Hinduism, were at the epicenter of Indian society.


 * Vedic beliefs and practices
 * **Vedas,** written epics
 * //Rig-Veda:// dedication to the gods
 * **Mahabharata and Ramayana**, epics to real and mythological battles
 * Reflected a more settled agricultural society with stronger political units
 * **Upanishads,** Epic Age epic poems with a more mythical/religious flair
 * Similar to Greek and Scandinavian mythology
 * ** Buddhism **
 * ** dharma, karma **
 * Religion of Ashoka
 * Converted Kushan king Kanishka
 * Hurt Buddhism's reputation
 * Experienced the greatest influence 200 B.C.E. - 200 C.E.
 * ** Hinduism **
 * Supported by Ashoka
 * Religion of the Guptas, who used a mandate of heaven claim
 * Exists as the religion of India's majority
 * No single founder, no central holy figures
 * Promoted **Artha: economic goals;** and **karma:** worldly pleasures
 * **gurus** and **brahmins** accepted certain dogmas
 * reincarnation ||
 * I || * Indo-Chinese trade developed later in the classical period with the majority of the impact on China
 * Middle Eastern and Mediterranean civilizations conquered India at different points
 * Short lived, but brought many new aspects into the cultures
 * Middle Eastern influences persisted past the classical era, forcing the Indian culture to assimilate
 * Aryan invasions (1600-1000 B.C.E.)
 * Kushan invaders after the fall of Mauryan Empire
 * Sent religious missionaries and welcomed religious diversity ||
 * T || * <span style="background-color: #ffff00; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; marginbottom: 0pt; marginleft: 0in; marginright: 0in; margintop: 0in;">Classical India was more connected with the world than China making able to pull ahead
 * trading by sea was a technological advancement over China because China was isolated
 * India had the geographical advantage, being closer to trading countries and being a peninsula; maritime trade allowed India to flourish. ||

3.2 Comparison China/India economy

3.3 Key Terms

3.4 Thesis statements <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">1. Compare and contrast the ways civilization developed in India and Mesopotamia. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Development of civilization can take on different forms, like those of India and Mesopotamia. Mesopotamian civilizations were built after the technology of agriculture allowed people to settle in one area and become specialized.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">2. Compare and contrast the impact of Confucianism in China with Hinduism in India (200 B.C.E to 200 C.E.) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Religion's effect on ancient societies can be evidenced and compared well by looking at China and India. Confucianism made some major changes in China as it affected more people and became the way of life and proper mannerism for the Chinese. Much the same in India, Hinduism was adopted by the ruling class and it became instrumental in the tradition of the caste sytem.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">3. Describe the changes and continuities in the role of women in the transition from a hunter gathering life style to civilization. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Whenever the traditions of a group of people evolves from hunter gatherer to civilization, the roles women play always changes. As the transition occurs, women typically take on a more subordinate and less active lifestyle.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4. Compare the development of political structures in Classical China with those in Classical India. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 10pt;">The political stuctures of Classical China and India are easily comparable. Both political structures were based on a religion or idealism. For China it was Confuciansim, while in India the Caste system and political bodies embraced Hinduism.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">5. Describe the different trading patterns China and India (200 B.C.E to 200 C.E.) What factors can explain these differences? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">China and India were both very successful empires in ancient times, but their trading patterns differed greatly. The differences can be easily identified as geographic, cultural, and political*.