Classical India

The people are Asoka's

"children"

Buddhist Monasteries

elaborate carvings in their gateways -simple inside

Decentralized

governmental power is spread among more than one person or group -scattered

Theater State

historians' term for a state that acquires prestige and power by developing attractive cultural forms and staging elaborate public ceremonies to attract and bind subjects to the center -to keep people interested/ make others want to be apart of the empire

Huns

large nomadic group from northern Asia who invaded territories extending from China to Eastern Europe. They virtually lived on their horses, herding cattle, sheep, and horses as well as hunting.

The Guptas had a...

looser rule than the Mauryas. --individual villages had power and city governments were choosen by merchants and artisans

Buddhism and Hinduism

mixed in the Tamil Kingdoms.

Indo-Gangetic Plain

most heavily populated part of South Asia due to its fertile soil

Aryan

nomads from Europe and Asia who migrated to India and finally settled; vedas from this time suggest beginning of caste system -brought religious beliefs -Brahmanism -Iron/Weapon Making -never ended; dispersed

Gupta Empire

(320-550 CE) The decentralized empire that emerged after the Mauryan Empire, and whose founder is Chandra Gupta. 320-550 CE -Chandragupta's namesake **connect to their history

Gupta

(320-550 CE) The decentralized empire that emerged after the Mauryan Empire, and whose founder is Chandra Gupta. Powerful Indian state based in the Ganges Valley. It controlled most of the Indian subcontinent through a combination of military force and its prestige as a center of sophisticated culture. Often associated with a Golden Age of classical India. - restored Hinduism

dissent

(v, n) disagree or take an opposing view, esp. in relation to a formal body such as a government, political party, or church; such a view

Why was India rarely united?>

-Aryans--> rivalries -North and S. Deccan---> diff. cultures and distance

Guptan Trade

-Long-distance trade; Middle Eastern markets, East Africa, Southeast Asia. -rice and sugar cane; cotton textiles and metal

Royal Officials

-helped govern -collected taxes -Built roads and harbors -Factories and Iron Mines under their control (more power over the economic situation), and shipyards 4. Secret Police

Public Works of the Mauryan Empire

-massice defensive wall -schools and libraries -temples and palaces

Asoka Promotes...

-no violence against animals -no kill animals in kitchen -protected species of birds and fish -animals can't eat each other/be fed to each other

Things to Know about Asoka

-rejected violence -fight for Deccan Plateau (South) made him convert to Buddhism -ruled by moral example -built stupas, hospitals etc.

Then Gupta declines due to the Huns. Next Empire?

1,000 yrs. later

Arthashastra

A Sanskrit written discourse on economy and military strategy composed by Kautilya. The central argument of (blank) is that an autocracy is the most efficient governmental structure for developing a solid economy. book on how to rule, writen by Chandragupta Maurya's advisor

What medical advancement happened in Gupta?

1st Vaccine (for small pox) -info is lost and doesn't return until the 20th century

How many empires in classical India?

2

Chandra Gupta

320 ce, married princess of licchavi, new dynasty in ganges valley. 320-330. He founded the Gupta Empire, and took the title "Great King of Kings" in 320 CE.

Classical Period

500 BC - 500 AC

Nalanda

A large university in ancient India where Tantrism and Buddhism were practiced & studied education instituion studies Buddhism and Vedas, Hindu philosphy, logic, math, astronomy and medicine --destroyed by Muslim invaders

Mongols

A member of any of the traditionally nomadic peoples of Mongolia -nomads -devastated huge kingdoms

Missionaries

A person sent on a religious mission. Mostly Christian missionaries sent to countries where the U.S. was trying to achieve influence.

monastery

A place where communities of monks live lives of devotion to God in isolation from the outside world

autocracy

A system of government in which the power to rule is in the hands of a single individual

Megasthenes

Although only fragments remain, some of our best information about early Indian history come from the Indika, written by

edicts

An official public order or law put forth by a ruler

Vedas

Ancient Sanskrit writings that are the earliest sacred texts of Hinduism.

Dhamma

Ashoka ruled with a sense of enlightened Buddhism with a rule called _____ Universal law; ultimate truth; teachings of the Buddha --Collection of Buddhist sayings--

Suregons in Guptas

Bone setting, facial reconstruction surguries and small pox vaccination

Stupa

Buddhist shrine that is shaped like a dome or mound

Hindu Temples

Carvings

Ajanta

Cave 16 at Ajanta records the gift of the cave to the buddhist sangha (community) by minister of the Vakataka The most famous Buddhist cave temple is located where?

What type of Government did Maurya have?

Centralized; power in the central government

\What did all theater states have?

Ceremony, Ritual, Show

Faxian

Chinese Buddhist monk who traveled to India in search of documents about the teachings of the Buddha Chinese Buddhist monk who visited and recorded life during Gupta -wrote A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms

When Gupta was at it's height, Rome...

Declined/Collasped

Takla Makan Desert

Desert in China

Pillars of Asoka

Edicts written during the demand "peace to all beings"

Magadha

The kingdom that played a leading role in Indian unification, after the withdrawal of Alexander of Macedon, was

Seleucus

Greek general under Alexander the Great who took most of the old Persian Empire, which became known as the Seleucid kingdom.

Peak of Indian Art

Gupta Empire

Chandragupta Maurya

He founded India's first empire. He was an Indian prince who conquered a large area in the Ganges River valley soon after Alexander invaded western India. -killed unpopular Nanda king -defeat Seleucus, who was a general with Alexander the Great.

Mathmatical contributions of the Guptan Empire

Historic texts saved Arabic Number System Decimals The concept of Zero

What important area of land did C.M. get?

Indo-Gangetic Plain -has power over most productive area

Indian Civilizations we've learned about

Indus Aryan Maurya Gupta

Shakuntala

Kalidasa's most famous play which tells the story of a king who marries a lovely orphan. Under an evil spell the king forgets his bride, but after many plot twists he finally recovers his memory and is reunited with her. king marries Shakuntala, daughter of river goddess

Mohenjo-Daro

Largest city of the Indus Valley civilization. It was centrally located in the extensive floodplain of the Indus River. Little is known about the political institutions of Indus Valley communities, but the large-scale implies central planning.

Kalidasa

Lived during the Gupta dynasty and wrote plays, poems, love stories, and comedies about doing your duty in life

Where did Buddhism originate?

Nepal

Road Construction

PRIORITY of the classical empires b/c -trade -connection with others -speed -military (supply route -easy navigation -out-pace and out-maneuver enemies -easy travel

Cosmic Patterns

Reflected in Hindu Temple design --square inscribed with circle "eternity"

Manchuria

Region of Northeast Asia North of Korea.

What is A's greatest Contribution

Spread of Buddhism

What did the Gupta trade?

Textile cotton (high quality) cloth dye crops etc.

Why did the classical empires fall?

The Huns came

What happens after Asoka dies

The empire declines and centralized government isn't seen until 500 years later with the Gupta Empire.

Pataliputra

The grand captial of both Mauryan and Gupta empire along the Ganges

Tamil Kingdoms

The kingdoms of southern India, inhabited primarily by speakers of Dravidian languages, which developed in partial isolation, and somewhat differently, from the Aryan north. They produced epics, poetry, and performance arts. Elements of Tamil religious beliefs were merged into the Hindu synthesis.

Why were cotton textiles werre popular b/c?

They were pretty and well-made

Asoka

Third ruler of the Mauryan Empire in India (r. 270-232 B.C.E.). He converted to Buddhism and broadcast his precepts on inscribed stones and pillars, the earliest surviving Indian writing. -often compared to the Twelve Tables of Rome. -height of the empire reach under his control

Life in Guptas

Trade and farming -arts and learning -trade w/ Middle E., E. Africa and SE Asia

murals

Wall paintings

Golden Age of India

What was the Gupta empire?

Rajah

a Hindu prince or king in India

Beaucracy

a system of government in which most of the important decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives

Gap between the two empires?

about 500 years

Indus Civilization

civilization located around the indus river valley and includes organized governments and even the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro which are believed to have been twin capitals. Most people of the Indus civilization were farmers because they made a living by trading and farming a variety of crops such as wheat, barley, melons, and dates. Those who were merchants and traders had ships that carried cargoes of cotton cloth, grain, copper, pearls, and ivory combs to disband lands. By hugging the coast of the Arabian sea and sailing up to the persian full, Indus vessels reached cities of sumer, scholars think that this contact with sumer may have prompted the Indus Valley people to form their own unique system of writing. The Indus people's religious beliefs were polytheistic. A mother goddess, the source of creation, seems to have been widely honored as perhaps was a leading male god. The iNdus people also viewed certain animals as sacred, including the buffalo and bull. However the quality of life in the Indus Valley declines by 1900 B.C. Crude pottery replaces the finer works of earlier days and the use of writing halts. The entire city of Mohenjo-Daro was completely abandoned and the populations of other indus cities and towns also dwindled to smaller numbers.

Arabic Numbers

concept of zero and medical advances -current number system we use

The Huns were...

pastoralists

Kalinga

territory in eastern India conquered by Ashoka in 261 BCE; 150,000 abducted and 100,000 killed; drove Ashoka to become a Buddhist

Secret Police

the rajah would use them to find, arrest, and kill the people who were against him -nations with secret police had no freedom of speak -crush opponents eliminate crime and corruption

Maurya

x2 the size of Gupta -began with Alexander the Great The first state to unify most of the Indian subcontinent. It was founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 321 B.C.E. and survived until 185 B.C.E. From its capital at Pataliputra in the Ganges Valley it grew wealthy from taxes. After Alexander the Great left India in 325BC, a local ruler in Magadha in Ganges called CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA rose to power. He formed the first unified central government of India, taking advice from the treatsie 'Arthashastra'. He took taxes for agricultural crops, introduced a standardized coinage which led to trade and government controlled manufacture, as well as a stronger state and a good army. -army included elephants