Iran and India Before Islam

The Parthian Dynasty (247 BC - 223 AD)

• Rises in the East of Iran

• Long, Endless Wars with Rome

• Zorastrians

• War with Rome eventually allowed their vassals to overthrow them.

The Sasanid Empire (224-651 AD)

The Sassanid Empire (224-651 AD)

• Persian in Ancestry

• Intolerant Nationalists

• Endless Wars with Byzantium

• Extended Family is Base Unit

• Elite Classes: Priests, Warriors, Scribes

• Common Folk

• Agriculture Based Economy

Sassanid Religion

• Zorastrian Revival– Chief Priest (Mobar) Tosar, 225-239 AD– The Avesta canon compiled– Mobar Kartir (239-293 AD) -- Convertor of

Other Faiths

Manicheanism

Manicheanism

• Mani (216-77 AD) – Dualistic Religion

• Ahura-Mazda vs. Ahriman

– Claimed to be root of Christianity, Zorastrianism, and Buddhism

– Called his system “Justice”– Executed by Mobar Kartir– Saint Augustine originally a Manichean!

Later Zorastrianism

• Orthodoxy Survives

• The Teachings of Mazdak (5th-6th century)– Denounced Material Wealth– Asceticism and Social Justice – Wealth Redistribution– Slaughtered by Choroses Anosharvan

The Gupta Dynasty

The Gupta Empire (320-550 AD)

• Classical Age of India = Han China, Augustan Rome, or Periclean Greece

• Chandragupta (320-30 AD)

• Samudragupta (330-375 AD)

• Chandragupta II (375-415 AD)

• Controls North and Western India

• Vassal Kings

• Huns: 500 AD, Weakens Empire

Gupta Culture

• Cultural Contacts with Eastern / Southeast Asia

• Architecture, Painting, Literature Flourish

• Age of Kalidasa, the ‘Shakespeare of Sanskrit’ (Unclear time, must be before 634 AD)

Gupta Inventions

• Chess

• The concept of 0

• ‘Arabic Numerals’ (Our modern numbers)

• Medical Science--drugs, bone setting, caesarian sections, skin grafting.

• The Kama Sutra

The Development of “Classical” Traditions in Indian Civilization

(300-1000 AD)• Solidification of the Caste System: The

Dharmashastra of Manu (200 AD)– Varna (class) system– Dharma determines duties by class

• Brahmin (Priest)

• Kshatriya (Warrior)

• Vaishya (Tradesperson)

• Shudra (Servant)

• Outcastes

The Caste System (II)

• Jatis--Divisions within a Varna– Hereditary– commensality (one may only eat with people of the

same or a higher group)– endogamy (one may only marry members of the

same group)– trade/craft limitations (one may only practice one's

group's trade).– Foreigners assimilated by designating Jati for them.

Hindu Religious Life

• Rise of Single Diety Cults

• Bhakti--Loving Devotion– Meditation --> Devotion to a God– Bhakti inside is achieved by practice of Bhakti

outside– Rise of devotional purity and the Puranas– Gods manifest at many levels of reality

Buddhism

• Mahayana (Greater Vehicle)--1st century BC

• Compassion is stressed

• Goal to become a Boddhisatva

• Salvation through dedication to Boddhisatvas

• Amida Buddha, Master of the Pure Land

Buddhism II

• Therevada (“Way of the Elders”)

• Focused on Monasticism

• Laity earn merit by supporting monks

• Monks contemplate and study Buddhist scripture and meditate

• Ceylon, Burma, Southeast Asia