Ancient India 5.5 Answers - Pottsgrove School District › cms › lib07 › PA01916597 ›...
Transcript of Ancient India 5.5 Answers - Pottsgrove School District › cms › lib07 › PA01916597 ›...
5.5 – Indian Achievements Essential Question: How do India’s rich history and culture affect the world today? Big Idea: The people of ancient India made great contributions to the arts and sciences.
Key Term Definition Memory Clue metallurgy
The science of working with metals
alloys
Mixtures of two or more metals
Hindu-‐Arabic numerals
The numbers we use today They were created by Indian scholars and brought to Europe by Arabs
inoculation
Injecting a person with a small dose of a virus to help him or her build up defenses to a disease
astronomy The study of the stars and planets
Ancient India
A. Religious Art
The Indians of the Maurya and Gupta periods created great works of ___art______, many of
them ___religious____. Many of their paintings and sculptures illustrated either Hindu or
___Buddhist_____ teachings.
Early Hindu temples were small ___stone______ structures with flat __roofs___ and one or
two rooms. In the Gupta period, though, temple __architecture_____ became more complex. They
were topped with huge ____towers_______ and were covered with carvings of the ___god____ worshipped
inside. Buddhist temples of the Gupta period are also impressive. Some Buddhists carved entire
temples out of ___mountainsides_________. Another type of Buddhist temple was the
_____stupa___. Stupas had domed roofs and were built to house ___sacred___ items from the life
of the Buddha.
The Gupta period also saw the creation of great works of art, both paintings and
___statues_____. Most Indian paintings from the Gupta period are ___clear_____ and
__colorful_____, showing Indians wearing fine __jewelry______ and stylish ___clothes______.
Artists from both of India’s major religions ____Buddhism_______ and ____Hinduism____, drew on
their beliefs to create their works. As a result, many Indian paintings are found in ___temples___.
Indian __sculptors___ also created great works. Many of their statues were made for Buddhist cave
temples. In addition to the temples intricately carved columns, sculptors carved __statues___ of
kings and the Buddha.
B. Sanskrit Literature
As you read earlier, ___Sanskrit____ was the main language of the ancient Aryans. During
the Mauryan and Gupta periods, many works of Sanskrit ____literature_________ were created.
The greatest of these Sanskrit writings are two religious epics, the ___Mahabharata_____ and the
_____Ramayana______. Still popular in India, the Mahabharata is one of the world’s longest
literary works and is a story about the struggle between two __families____ for control of a
___kingdom____. The most famous passage within it is called the Bhagavad __Gita___. The
Ramayana is a story of the god __Vishnu___ in human form, as a prince, who rids the world of
demons and rescues his wife. It is seen as a model for how Indians should behave.
Writers in the Gupta period also created ___plays____, ___poetry_____, and other types of
literature. One famous writer of this time was Kalidasa. Sometime before 500, Indian writers also
produced a famous book of stories called the Panchatantra. The stories in the collection were
intended to teach life ___lessons___, each ending with a message about winning friends, losing
property, waging war, or some other idea.
C. Scientific Advances
Indian achievements were not limited to art, ___architecture_______, and literature. Indian
scholars also made important advances in metalworking, __math______, and the sciences.
The ancient Indians were pioneers of ____metallurgy__________, the science of working
with metals. The Indians also knew ____processes___________ for mixing metals to create
______alloys_______________, mixtures of two or more metals. Alloys are sometimes stronger or
easier to work with than pure metals. Metalworkers made their ___strongest____ products out of
___iron___. These features made the iron a valuable ___trade____ item.
Gupta scholars also made advances in math and science. They developed many elements
of our modern math system. The very numbers we use today are called____Hindu-Arabic___
___numerals______ because they were created by Indian scholars and brought to Europe by
Arabs. They also created the ___zero____. The ancient Indians were also very skilled in the
___medical_____ sciences. Besides curing people with medicines made from plants and minerals,
Indian doctors knew how to ___protect_____ people against disease. The Indians practiced
____inoculation_______, or injecting a person with a small dose of a virus to help him or her build
up defenses to a disease. For people who were injured, Indian doctors could perform
___surgery____. If they could find no other cure, doctors would cast __magic____ ___spells____
to help people recover. Indian interest in ____astronomy____, the study of stars and planets, dates
back to early times as well.
Main Idea #1: Indian artists created great works of religious art.
Q: What is unusual about the temple at Ajunta?
A: The temple at Ajunta was carved out of a mountainside.
Q: How did the Hindu temples change over time?
A: At first, Hindu temples were small stone structures with flat roofs, but later, they became complex temples with huge towers.
Main Idea #2: Sanskrit literature flourished during the Gupta period.
Q: Who was Kalidasa?
A: Kalidasa was a brilliant writer of the Gupta period.
Q: How is the theme of the Mahabharata different from the theme of the Ramayana?
A: The Mahabharata is about the struggle between two families, whereas the Ramayana is about ideal love and devotion of a married couple.
Q: How may the Panchatantra be similar to Aesop’s fables?
A: Both the Panchatantra and Aesop’s Fables teach life lessons through stories.
Main Idea #3: The Indians made scientific advances in metalworking, medicine, and other sciences.
Q: What were some operations that Indian surgeons could perform?
A: Operations that Indian surgeons could perform include fixing broken bones, treating wounds, removing infected tonsils, reconstructing broken noses, and reattaching torn earlobes.
Q: How were metallurgy and alloys connected?
A: Creating alloys, or mixtures of two or more metals, was a skill within metallurgy that ancient Indians developed.
Q: Why do you think the concept of zero was so important?
A: Zero acts as a placeholder when using numbers of a specific base, such as base 10, allowing mathematicians to make calculations easily.
Q: What were some Indian achievements in astronomy?
A: Indians knew seven planets, that the sun was a star and that planets revolved around it, that the earth was a rotating sphere, and they could predict eclipses.
Q: Since the Indians did not have telescopes, how did they become expert astronomers?
A: The Indians practiced careful, systematic observation and record keeping in order to become expert astronomers.
Reading Checks
Q: How did religion influence ancient Indian art?
A: Most artists illustrated religious beliefs in their works, many of which can be seen in temples.
Q: What types of literature did writers of ancient India create?
A: Indians created religious epics, plays, poems, and fables.
Q: What were two Indian achievements in mathematics?
A: Two Indian achievements in mathematics include Hindu-‐Arabic numerals and the zero.