History 122 - South Asia or the Indian Subcontinent

I. Historical Development

A. Between 3200-1600 BCE, interaction with Mesopotamia was propably active

Mohenjo Daro (300 miles from the seacost) and Harappa (400 miles
further up the river in the Punjab) -- Ancient India's Bronze Age The
Indus Valley (or Harrapan) civilization began some time after
3,000 BCE to flourish around 2,400 to 1,750 BCE and vanished sometime
after 1,500, probably to the shifting of the main rivers (like the
Ganges) eastward. The score of cities for a thousand miles along the
Indus, including Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro (Mound of the Dead), and the
seaport of Lothal, featured a planned rectangular format with drainage
and sewage systems. Organized trade and art prospered. Invasions, floods,
even lessening of monsoon rains, soil salinification, or a combination of
factors have been blamed for the strange disappearance of these highly
sophisticated people and civilization.
B. Around 1500 BCE, two closely related groups of tribes from the steppes of
western Russia moved southward one group into the Iranian plateau and
the other through passes in the Hindu Kush mountains into northwestern
India (both of these peoples called themselves Arya, meaning "noble")
Puzzling also is the dominance achieved by the Indo-Aryan-speaking
people soon after 1,500 BCE. The "Indo-European theory" of waves of
Aryan- speaking invaders obliterating the Harappan cilization, and then
swamping the Dravidian-speaking inhabitants of the Bronza-Age cities
and farms on Gangetic plain, is seriously questioned. Some scholars think
a slow process of incoming peoples brought about cultural and economic
changes. Others think that the Aryans had been in Bengal and the Indus
Valley, alongside other peoples, since about 4,000 BCE, the Aryans appear
to have brought about iron tools, horses, social hierarchy, and Sanskrit
classics.

Between 1,000 and 500 BCE, the Deccan participated in the Ganges culture based on
settled agriculture. By 700 BCE, numerous small kingdoms existed in the Himalayan
foothills. Later, in one such kingdoms within what is now known as Nepal, was born a
prince Siddharta, who became the Buddha, the Enlightened One. However, Buddhism as
a religion, became widespread only under the Mauryas.
1. Nanda Dynasty
2. 500 BCE -- Darius I made a part of the Indus valley a satrapy (province)
of the Persian Empire
3. 327-326 BCE, Alexander the Great traversed most of the Punjab, fought and
negotiated with local rajas and installed Macedonian officials in the
region resulting in the cultural exchange between the Hindus and the
Greek-speaking world paving the way for the erection of a powerful state
in the Indian subcontinent.
 4. 323 BCE -- Chandragupta Maurya seized the opportunity to found a dynasty
after the death of Alexander the Great.
313-312 BCE - consolidation
In the 300s BCE, the monarchial system in South Asia made the transition to
imperial government with the advent of the Mauryan emperors who ruled the
northern plains region.
C. Magadha kings - Mauryan Dynasty
under Chandragupta --> Bindusara --> Ashoka Priyadarsi (327-323 BCE)
-->
184 BCE -- the last Maurya ruler was assassinated
Under Asoka (Ashoka), greatest of the Mauryan rulers, trade with China
and Greece prospered. Asoka greatly expanded his empire through
conquest, but ceased warring after converting to the Buddhist concept of ahimsha
(nonviolence, kindness to all living things) and tolerance. He sponsored
Buddhist monasteries and universities (Nalanda among them) and the
spread of Buddhism into Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, and Gandhara (Afghanistan). He
improved irrigation and transportation in his kingdom, and in every
important city, set up great stone pillars inscribed with the Buddhist
Dharma or "Law of Piety:" compassion, liberality, truth and respect.
D. 176-64 BCE -- Sunga Dynasty
By 100 BCE, North India was in contact with the South, where
enterprising people maintained extensive maritime trade relations with the
Mediterranean world and with Southeast Asia.
E. 75-30 BCE Kanva Dynasty
F. 189 CE -- Bactrian king Demetrius conquered India as far as Pataliputra
-- Kusana's rule was the height of the Kanishka Period -- start of the use
of the title Maharaja
G. Rise of the Pandyas (in the Madurai region); Satavehanas (in the Deccan);
Keralas (in the Travancore); Cholas (coast of Coromandel with Tanjore as
capital)
*During the five hundred years between 250 BCE and about 300 CE,
South
Asia's international trade with Egypt, Rome and China flourished; her
mathematicians brought to light the so-called "Arabic numerals", the
decimal places, and concept of "zero"; and Greek sculptors from the
Kingdom of Bactria formalized the smooth beauty of the Buddha images.
The Scythian king, Kanushka of the Kushan dynasty (circa 78-320 CE) facilitated
the spread of Buddhism into Central Asia, and the "Silk Road" came again
into prominence. By sea and land, ideas and customs crossed both ways
between India, Central Asian, China and Rome.
H. 320 CE -- Gupta Dynasty with:
1. Chandra Gupta I as the founder and Pataliputra
(Patna) as capital; assuming the title of Maharajadhiraja (king of kings)
2. Samudra Gupta (335-375 CE)
3. Chandra Gupta II (also known as Vikramaditya) (275-315 CE) -- the
dynasty reached its height both in material opulence and in
 cultural achievements
4. Kumara Gupta (414-455 CE)
5. Skanda Gupta (455-467 CE)
*When Chandra Gupta I, whose successors in great measure restored the
splendor of Mauryas, wisely rose to power with his marriage to a princess
Kumaradevi of the the tribe of the Licchavis, Samudra Gupta was made
capital of an empire that reached from Assam to the borders of the Punjab.
Vikramaditya's rule marks the high watermarks of ancient Indian culture.
His reign, noted by a Chinese traveler, Fa-Hsien, is characterized by
peacefulness, a rarity of serious crime, and the mildness of the adminis-
tration, stating that it was safe to travel from one end of the country to
the other with being molested and without the need for passports. Indian
culture reached a perfection with it was never again to attain and at this
time, as perhaps the happiest and most civilized region of the World.
I. 480+ CE -- Hunas (White Huns) -- destroyed the Gupta power and brought a
period of confusion lasting for more than a century --
6. Budhagupta (475-454 CE) was driven out of Malava
7. Mihivakula (500-540) -- last of the Guptas
*Gupta and Chola dynasties---The Gupta dynasty (320-540) of northern
India saw the revival of classic Sanskritic learning, and the expansion of
cities and universities. India became an international center of art,
learning and medicine. The Gupta dynasty was India's first "Golden Age,"
and it existed at a time when Europe was in the depth of the "Dark Ages,"
following the fall of Rome.
Chola Dynasty--India's second "Golden Age" was the Chola kingdom
(800s-
1251) in the south. Chola kings, and those in the half millenium
preceeding
them, established colonies overseas and altered and political and cultural
life of Southeast Asia by speading Indian concepts of statecraft and royal
courts to the region. Chola merchants also traded to Arab ports and to
Egypt, South India's cities. Architecture, huge irrigation projects, dyes, tempered
steel, textiles placed her on a par with the most advanced civilizations of
the period.
During India's "Golden Ages," Hinduism deprived Buddhism of much of
its singularity by proclaiming Buddha Gautama to be an incarnation of Vishnu.
Thus, by implication, the rest of Buddhist teaching and practice was
incorporated into the system of Hinduism's all-inclusiveness. Buddhism
also suffered two other disastrous setbacks: (1) the wholesale destruction of
Buddhist temples by the while Huns (Hunas) in 500 CE; and (2) the
desecration by the Muslims in the 1000s. From this time on, it was only outside its
Indian home that Buddhism continued to flourish, although presently,
places
in India associated with the life of the Buddha are being considered
important destinations for pilgrimages.
J. Deccan plateau civilization with the Pallavas in Tamil area (near Kanchipuram)
 under Visnugupta.
K. 605-647 CE --Thanesvar was under Harsa rule
L. Establishment of Muslim rule in India
*By the 1000s, the North had slumped into fragmented kingdoms and
had
become ripe for invasion. It did not have to wait long. The Muslim armies
pressed in from Persia and Afghanistan and, after defeating the Hindu
forces
in 1192, established the Delhi Sultanate in 1202. For a brief period, around
1330, India was united from Kashmir to Madura/Madurai in Tamil
Nadu/Tamil
land. But this unity was soon dissolved because the Muslim administrative
philosophy favored a tribal rather than an imperial form of government.
The
outcome was that the thirty-three sultans of Delhi belonged to five
different dynasties, and independent states took shape in what ostensibly
were simply provinces.
1. 997-1030 -- Mahmud, ruler of a Turkish dynasty based at Ghazni in
eastern Afghanistan, conducted seventeen plundering raids through
the mountain passes into northwestern India
2. 1193 -- Muhammad, from the Afghan city of Ghur, captured Delhi,
eventually securing control of Bengal, thus bringing Hindustan
under the rule of Afghan-base Turks
3. 1206 -- Delhi Sultanate began with the assassination of Muhammad of
Ghur
4. 1296-1316 -- Delhi Sultanate reached its highest point during the
reign of Ala-ud-din of the Khalji Dynasty
5. 1325-1351 --Tughlug replaced the Khalji Dynasty but debased the
currency by substituting coppper tokens for gold and silver
disrupting commerce and weakening the economy
6. 1351-1388 -- Sultan Firuz tried to restore prosperity but the stability
of the Delhi regime was being undermined by the hostility of the
other Indian states (province of Bengal broke away from Delhi in
1338 and remained independent for two centuries
7. 1398-1399 -- Timur the Lame (Tamerlane) led the most devastating raid
in all of India's history; city of Delhi became a ghost town,
any place that offered resistance was destroyed and its
inhabitants slaughtered or enslaved, robbed of its gold and
precious stuffs, thousands of skilled craftsmen, including
stonemasons, were carried off to build a great mosque in the
capital city of Samarkand in Turkestan
M. Chola Kingdom, with its capital in Tanjore, occupying the Coromandel
(southeastern coast) was shielded by distance from the nomadic invasions
that shook Hindustan, promoted a flourishing culture, evident in the
construction of Hindu temples and in remarkably fine metalwork
* 1010 -- beginning of the height of the Chola kingdom
 N. 14th Century -- Chola was absorbed by the Hindu state of Vijayanagar that
dominated the whole southern end of the peninsula as far north as the
Kistna river
O. 1347-1489 -- Bahmani kingdom, a Muslim power that gained control of the
northern Deccan from the Arabian sea to the Bay of Bengal eclipsed
Vijayanagar but ended in 1489 when Bijapur, one of its five provinces,
declared itself independent under a new dynasty and gradually absorbed
adjacent territories
P. Mughal Empire
Chronology: (the first six emperors are the best)
1. Babur--1483-1530
2. Humayun--1508-1556
3. Akbar--1542-1605
4. Jahangir--1569-1627
5. Shah Jahan--1592-166
6. Aurangzeb--1818-1707
*1483--Babur is born in Ferghana
1526--Babur defeats Ibrahim, Sultan of Delhi, at Panipat
1530--Death of Babur, accession of son, Humayun
1540--Humayun defeated by Afghan leader, Sher shah, who rules
empire
1555--Humayun retakes Delhi
1556--Humayun dies, son, Akbar enthroned
1562--Akbar, a freethinking Muslim, marries a princess of the
powerful kingdom on the Hindu province of Rajputana
1564--Akbar abolishes jizhya, the poll tax on non-Muslims
1605--Death of Akbar, succession of son, Jahangir
1617--Jahangir's son, Khurram, pacifies rebellous Deccan region
and receives the title of Shah Jahan
1627--Jahangir dies; Shah Jahan proclaimed emperor and executes
five rivals (brothers and relatives)
1631--Queen Mumtaz Mahal dies in childbirth; the following
year,
work began on her tomb, the Taj Mahal
1657--Rumors of Shah Jahan's imminent death trigger war among
four sons; the victor, Aurangzeb, is crowned in 1658 and
confines his father to the palace
1666--Death of Shah Jahan
1679--The jizhya reimposed
1681--Aurangzeb departs for the Deccan, remains 26 years
1707--Aurangzeb dies
1739--Persians massacre the people of Delhi and carry off the
Peacock throne
1862--Death of the last of 17 succeeding Mughal rulers, Bahadur
Shah, while in exile in Burma
At the height of their power, in 1500s and 1600s, the Mughals ruled as
 many as 150 million people in the empire that today would stretch across
Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
Akbar, whom most historians regard as the greatest Mughal emperor,
was
the most powerful ruler of his time, far succeeding, for example, his
contemporary, Queen Elizabeth of England, in wealth and number of men
in
his army.
*The Legacy of the Mughals:
1. Painting attained unrivaled heights under the reign of Jahangir
and architecture under Shah Jahan. Painters perpetuated a
a Mogul style in miniatures, delicately stroking paper with
brushes made of hair from squirrels' tail--one hair to a
brush.
2. The design of the Taj Mahal is not original. Humayun's tomb, in
Delhi built a century before the Taj Mahal seems a
prototype.
Similar minarets had risen in Lahore, and the cupolas
beside
the dome--classic Indian embelishment--were to be seen
everywhere. The great achievement of Taj's architecture
was
the refinement of these elements into harmonious
symmetry.
The Taj exceeds the sum of its inspirations.
3. The Shalimar gardens of Indian and Kashmir are unrivaled, like
those also found in Lahore.
4. The empire under Akbar was stitched with roads, improving
communications.
5. A unique system of government administration was developed:
during
the time of Akbar, his officials were organized, given the
ranks called "mansabs," with authority weighed by
number--a
high-ranked man might be a "mansabdar" to 1,000 men; a
greater official might rank over 2,000, even 4,000.
Governors
were expected to maintain troops, according to one's rank,
for the empire's use.

SOUTH ASIAN RELIGIOUS PHASE

Hindu Calendar
1. Sraddha - Periodical sacrifice/communion with the ancestors
2. Pitryajna - worship of the ancestors (one of the 5 great Social Sacrifices)
3. Events:
Feb.-March - Holi (Saturnalia) - two weeks after Kama (festival of the god of
love)
Mar.-April -Caitra - for the goddess Gauri (in swings) - for harvest
May-June - Bhutamentr - festival for the mother of the spirits
July-Aug. - new amulets of shellac and special herbs
Aug.-Sept.-Oct. - festival to Durga (Durga-Mata)
-(Buddhist monks resume missionary works)
-festival of Indra's standards
Autumn - sacrifices to ensure prosperity of the herds and flocks, offering of rice
and millet -- harvest festival
Oct.-Nov. - Divali/Diwali - feast of lamps

Ancient Religious Historical Development

I. Vedic era (circa 1500-500 BCE)

Four principal types of literary form:
(1) strophes recited during sacrificial ceremonies
(2) sacrificial formula (with commentaries)
(3) sacred melodies
(4) magical formula
*(vague concept of "Purusa" or "Higher Self"]
II. Brahmanism (due to commentaries)
Vedas (Sakha/Samhita - 1000 BCE)
l
Brahmanas (800-600 BCE)
l
Aranyaka
l
Upanishad (600-300 BCE)
l
Epics and Puranas (400-250 BCE)
l
Maha Bharata (300 BCE); Ramayana (300 BCE); Puranas; Bhagavad Gita
l
Code of Manu/Dharma Shastra (250 BCE)
l
Srauta Sutra (+1000 CE)
*(release from Samsara towards Moksha; concept of Atman)
III. 800 BCE - Eastward Aryan movement along the Gangetic plain
IV. 560 BCE - liberation reaction against: priescraft/orthodoxy/formalism:
A. Vardhamana Mahavira of the Lichavi clan started Jainism: ascetism and
ahimsha
 B. Sidharta Gautama of the Sakyas- "Middle Way"
C. Theism (Brahmic reaction)--Classical Hinduism/Sanatana Dharma
V. 260 BCE - Asoka's rule of Dharma; Buddhism separated into Therevada
and Mahayana-negativist dogmatism of Nagarjuna
- Brahmanism--Bhakti--Darshanas (orthodox system)
VI. Start of the Stupa erection
VII. 375-414 CE -under Chandragupta II
-Shakuntala by kalidas
-Buddhist monasteries in Ajant
-Buddhist's Asanga and Basubadhu philosophical development
VIII. 605-647 - Bana's writings in Sanskrit

What Constitute the Entire Life of a Brahmin:

A. age three - Cudakarana
B. age eight -Upanayana -Yajnopavita
- Brahamacharin
*Vedangas - Kalpa, Siksa, Chanda, Nirukta, Vyakarana,Jyotisa
*Sandhyas - homage to Gayatri
-Panca-Mahayajna: Brahmayajna, Pitryajna, Devayajna, Bhutayajna,
Purusayajna
C. age 20's - Grhasta stage -- "Purusha": Artha, Dharma, Kama, Moksha
- Sraddha (periodical sacrifices to the ancestors)
D. age 60's -Vanaphrasta - leave domicile but stay in a hermitage (Asrama)
E. age 70's - Sannyassin -goal is Moksha
F. Rite of Antyesti is done by the living members of the family when the parents
have died.