Early Civilization in India

India’s Geography

North-The Himalaya Mountains, the highest mountains in the world

Ganges River Valley-rich land

Deccan-dry hilly plateau

Monsoons

Seasonal wind patterns-southwest winds bring heavy rains

Farmers depend on these rains but too much or little, too early or late, can cause thousands of deaths.

India’s First Civilization

Advanced civilizations that lasted for hundreds of years.

Well Planned-grid of streets, walled neighborhoods, buildings of mud bricks, public wells and bathrooms used advanced drainage system, chute system for trash

Arrival of the Aryans

Invaded India’s civilizations and created a new Indian society based on Aryan culture.

Used the iron plow to clear dense jungle growth and irrigation systems to create farm land

Sanskrit-first written language of the Aryans

The Caste System

Rigid social classes that determined a person’s occupation, economic potential, and social status-based partly on skin color

Life of the Untouchable was difficult. They were not considered human. They lived in ghettos and to tap sticks together so others would know they were coming.

*Male dominated society:

-oldest male had legal authority over the entire family

-arranged marriages

-suttee required a wife to throw herself on her dead husband’s funeral pyre and die herself

Hinduism

Based on the Vedas-the oldest Hindu sacred text

Believed in an ultimate reality (God) called Brahman

Individual self, or atman, had the duty to come to know this ultimate reality

Reincarnation

*The idea that after death the individual soul is reborn in a different form.

• Karma-the idea that people’s actions determine their form of rebirth and the class into which they are reborn

• dharma-divine law rules karma, requires people to do their duty in one’s caste

• provides a religious basis for the caste system, gave hope to the lower classes

Yoga-a practice to achieve oneness with God

Buddhism

Founder-Siddhartha Gautama, known as Buddha (“Enlightened One”)

Gave up his rich life to find the meaning of life and the cure for human suffering.

The pain, poverty, and sorrow that afflict human beings are caused by their attachment to things of this world.

Achieving wisdom is a key step to achieving nirvana, or ultimate reality-the end of the self and a reunion with the Great World Soul.

Four Noble Truths

1. Ordinary life is full of suffering.

2. This suffering is caused by our desire to satisfy ourselves.

3. The way to end suffering is to end desire for selfish goals and to see others as extensions of ourselves.

4. The way to end desire is to follow the Middle Path.

Middle Path (Eightfold Path)

1. Right view

2. Right intention

3. Right speech

4. Right action

5. Right livelihood

6. Right effort

7. Right mindfulness

8. Right concentration

Accepted the idea of reincarnation but rejected the caste system-appealed to the people at the lower end of the social scale

Mauryan Dynasty

• First Indian Empire

• Asoka is considered to the greatest ruler in the history of India-set up hospitals for people and animals, provided trees and shelter for travelers, and expanded trade so India prospered.

Silk Road

A caravan route between China and the Roman Empire: main route for

transporting luxury goods.

Greatest Indian state since the Mauryan Empire-much of the cities’ wealth came from religious trade as pilgrims came to visit religious centers

The Vedas

Earliest known Indian literature