INDIA


 World’s 7th largest country located in South Asia
 Second most populous country.
 About 3000 km (1865 mi) wide, shoreline about 7000
km(4350 mi) along Bay of Bengal.
 India and Bharat are both official names.
 Derives from Indus river used by Greek
 India civilization grew up in the Indus Valley 4000 to
2500 BC.
Divided into three Main
Topographic regions

 Himalayan Mountain system on the North

 Northern plain, drained by the Indus, Ganges and

Bramaputra rivers in North Central India.

 Peninsula India in the South

PEOPLE

 Over thousand years , countless group have
migrated into the subcontinent and many of these
groups have maintained distinctive cultures down
through years.

 The earliest Indians may have migrated from

Australia and the Pacific Islands.
 Language

 More than 200 languages are spoken in India
 Four (4) major Languages are represented:
 Indo–Arab branch of the Indo-European group (the
major Linguistic family in Europe)
 Dravidian language group
 Hindi, the fourth most widely spoken language in
the world
 Indo-Aryan language
 Religion
this area:

 Four major religious traditions have emerged from

• Hinduism-83%
• Jainism (and Islam)-11%
• Buddhism-less than 1%
• Sikhism
 Indian Caste system-a major social system that
groups people according to birth
• Brahmins:priest, the highest caste
• Kshatriyas: warriors and kings
• Vaishyas: marchants
• Shudras: manual labourers
 Caste system

 Some people do not fall into any caste; these are
called dalits, or untouchables
 Untouchables also known as Harijans
 Dalits have traditionally been tasked with work
such as cleaning streets and working with human
and animal corpes and waste
Caste – based discrimination is now illegal in India, and
affirmative-action policies aim to improve standards of
living in lower caste, but inequalities persist
 Education

 1950 and 1988 – India literacy was doubled
 Literacy is higher on man than woman
 Free and open
 8 years in primary
 2 years in lower secondary
 2 years in upper secondary
 Compulsory in 6-14 years old.
 University are large with cluster or affiliated
colleges.
 Government

 Federal system with parliamentary form of
government
 Parliament consist of two houses
 The Raiya Sabha (Council of states)
 The Lok Sabha ( House of the People)
• Elected directly by eligible voters and sit 5 years
unless Parliament is dissolved
• Indian National Congress- party most identified
remained control of the central government
 
 November 1989 election- Discontent with India’s
leadership caused Congress to lose it’s parliamentary

 1991 election- P.V Narasimha Rao succeeded Ravid

Gadhi as party leader became prime minister in June
1991
 History

 The history of India as a sovereign state under its own
constitutional government began on August 15, 1947,
when the subcontinent was partitioned into the two states
of India and Pakistan. Pakistan become an Islamic state
while India opted to become a secular state.
 Mahatma Gandhi the father of modern India was
assassinated on January 20, 1948 by the militant Hindu
who believed him to be too kind to Muslim. During
Gandhi’s first decade in office agriculture production
increased. India exploded 1974 its first nuclear weapon
and Sikkim became state of India.
 In June 1975, Gandhi persuaded president
Fakhuruddi Ali Ahmed to evoke as a state of
emergency that gave her near-dictatorial power

opposition leads were jailed without a trial and
many constitutional freedom were curtailed.
 In March 1977, Gandhi suddenly called new election,
perhaps to legitimize the powers she had taken
under the emergency. Surprisingly, a coalition of
parties ranging in ideology from socialist to
conservative Hindus (the Janata party) won control
of the Lok Sabha. Morarji Desai, a longtime
opponent of Gandhi became prime minister.
President Ahmed died that same year and Nelan
Sanjavi Reddy was elected president. The Janata
party almost immediantly began to break apart and
Desai resign as prime minister in July 1979.
 
 Gandhi was born in Pobandan India on October 2,
1869, his father was a chief minister for the Maharaja
Porbandan, and the family came from traditional
caste of grocers and moneylenders. His mother was a
devout adherent Jainism, a religions in which ideas
of nonviolence and vegetarianism. Gandhi stated
that he was most influence by his mother. He
married by arrangement at 13. He went to London to
study law when he was 18. He works for an Indian
firm in South Africa. He experiences of overt racial
 
discrimination. He assume leadership of protest
campaign and gradually developed his techniques of
nonviolent resistance known as Satyagraha. Gandhi
also fought to improve the status of the lowest classes
of society, the castles untouchable, whom he called
Harijans.
 He believe in manual labor and simply living. Non-
violence or non-injury is a percept common to three
faiths, HINDUISM, JAINISM, and BUDDHISM.
1. HINDUISM- adherent to the proscription against
violence toward living things can escape from the cycle
 
of rebirth and the doctrine also form a basis vegetarian.
2. BUDDHISM- non-violence is manifest in the
Buddha’s emphasis on compassion and is also part of
the faith’s moral codes.
3. JAINISM- non-violence is a core religious duty and
followed so strictly that the most Orthodox devouts
cover their faces with mask to prevent accidentally
harming insect.
 Literature

 Sanskrit Literature- Oral tradition produced the
Vedic holy text.
 Mahabharata and Ramayana- two great books,
sources for countless literary.
 400 B.C.- PANINI produced his Sanskrit grammar
 Second Century AD- Prakrits being used in
literature
 Middle Ages Sanskrit- used in religious context by
priesthood
 Ghazal- stylized form of lyrical folk song and
notable exponents of the form.
 
 MACAULAY- established English-language
schooling of Indians.
 Michael Madhusudan Dutt and Jayashankar Prasad
(1889-1937) introduced black verse in sonnet into
Indian poetry.
 ARUNACALA KAVI- developed a utilitarian prose
style
 MADHUSUDAN DUTT- wrote the first plays
modeled on Western drama
 
 SIR RABINDRANATH TAGORE- introduced the
short story to vernacular writing in India
 LAKSMINATH BEZBARUA and MUHAMMAD
IQBAL- major poets of the period
 History of Indian literature falls into 2 periods;
1. The Vedic Period
2. Sanskrit Period
 Religious works
 Poetry

 The Rig Veda: a book of sacred hymns
 The Yajur Veda: a book of knowledge and melodies
for the hymns
 The Sama Veda: descriptions of the materials for
sacrifice
 The Atharva Veda: contains magic spells and other
folk knowledge
 The Brahmanas
 The Upanishards
 Maya
 The Sutras
 Secular works

 Epics
 The Mahabharata
 Bhagavad gita
 Nala and Damayanti
 The Ramayana
 Dramas
 The toy clay cart
 Sakuntala or the fatal ring
 The Jatakas
 The Panchatantra
 Romanorum
 The Hitopdesa
 The Sukasaptati

 Karma and
Reincarnation

 Reincarnation is the belief that the soul repeatedly
goes through a cycle of being born into a body,
dying, and being reborn again in a new body.
 Karma, a force that determines the quality of each
life, depending on how well one behaved in a past
life.
 Hinduism says we create a karma by our actions on
earth. If you live a good life, you create a good
karma. If you live a bad life, you create bad karma.
 Moksha

 Each time a Hindu soul is born into a better life, it
has the opportunity to improve itself further, and get
closer to ultimate liberation.
 This liberation is called Moksha.
 One attains Moksha when one has “overcome
ignorance”, and no longer desires anything at all.
 The ones who reach this state no longer struggle
with the cycle of life and death.
 The way to get to Moksha is to not create any karma.
 Sacred writings

 The Vedas collections of Sanskrit hymns (written
down 1200-900BCE, but based on older versions).
 The Upnishards which means the inner or mystic
teaching that were passed down from guru (teacher)
to disciple (student).
 Mahabharata

 Mahabharata, Sanskrit for Great Story, is one of the
great epic poems of ancient India.
 It was written between 300 BC and AD. 300
 The story is about the battle of one family over a
kingdom in northern India.
 The Bhagavad Gita (Song of God) is contained in
Mahabharata. It is dialogue between in Krishna and
hero Arjuna on the meaning of life.

 Ramayana
 Ramayana was written
in 3 century BC, and tells
rd

story of Rama and his wife, Sita.

 Rama and Sita are generally seen as ideal examples
of great manly heroism and wifely devotion.
 Reciting the Ramayana is considered a religious act,
and scenes from the epic are portrayed throughout
India and Southeast Asia.

 Hindu Life Goals

 Hinduism is about the sort of life one should lead in
order to be born into a better life next time and
ultimately achieve liberation. There are 4 legitimate
goals in life:
 Dharma (appropriate living)
 Artha (the pursuit of material gain by lawful means)
 Kama (delight of the senses)
 Moksha (release from rebirth)
 Hindu Duties

 Each Hindu has 4 daily duties:
• Revere the deities
• Respect ancestors
• Respect all beings
• Honor all humankind