Mohenjo- Mauryan Mauryan Gupta Empire

Dara and Empire Empire

King
Harappa Gupta
Chandragupta Asoka Chandragupta I
Empire
Vedic Period – Aryan Golden Age of India Collapses
Buddhism
Invaders

500 years of
2600 BC 1500 – 1000 BC 600 BC 321 BC 269 BC – turmoil 5th Century AD
321 AD
232 BC
 •India’s 1st
civilizations.
•Started in 2,600 BC.
•Called the Indus
Valley Civilization or
the Harappan
Civilization.
Map of ancient Mohenjo-Daro.
•Ganges river – forms
a fertile farming
valley.
•Indus river- farming
region that produces
wheat.
•Climate is impacted
by monsoons.
 •1st to make cotton.
•City was developed on
a grid system.
•Advanced drainage
and sewage systems.
•Supported a
population of 35,000-
40,000. Ended suddenly
Images of ancient Mohenjo-
Daro. – no one knows why.
 These images reflect the
careful planning that
went into the design of
Images of ancient Mohenjo- this ancient city.
Daro.
• Floods, earthquakes or changes in climate weakened
civilizations, and by 1500 BC, waves of Aryan
invaders migrated throughout the region.
 •Migration was
made possible via
the Khyber Pass
through the
Hindu Kush Mtns.
• Himalayas-
highest mountains
in the world.
Label the Hindu Kush Mtns, the Himalayas and the downward path
through the Khyber Pass.
•The Vedic Period - 1500-
1000 BC- Invaders
breached the Khyber Pass
in the Hindu Kush Mtns.
•Conquered the Indus
valley region of India.
•War-like and pastoral
people.
 •Aryan Kings or
Leaders were called
“Rajas” – (“princes”)
•India was made of
warring kingdoms
and shifting alliances.
An Indian Raja and Princess.
•Iron tools – plow, etc,
made them good
farmers.
•They produced: rice,
wheat, barley, millet.
•Spices included:
cinnamon, pepper, and
ginger.
 •Writing – Sanskrit
•Sanskrit was a status
symbol of education
and wealth.
•Only the higher
castes were taught to
read and write
Selections from the Rig Veda above,
courtesy Wikipedia Commons. Sanskrit.
 Balto-Slavik Greek Indo-Iranian
Hittite
Slavik Baltic Armenian
Indic Iranian
Polish Latvian Hindi
Persian
Czech Lithuanian Urdu
Russian
Kurdish
Punjabi
Ukrainian Bengali
Macedonian Italic
Germanic Celtic
Danish Latin
Swedish Breton
French
Norwegian Welsh
Portuguese
English Irish Gaelic
Spanish
Dutch Scottish
Gaelic Italian
Afrikaans Romanian
German
•The dominant religion in
the region is Hinduism
which was brought in by
the original Aryan
invaders.
•With the birth of
Siddhartha Gautama
(Buddha) in 600 BC, the
religion of Buddhism was
also introduced in India.
•Aryans brought with
them a strong oral
tradition, and religion.
•These became the
foundation for the religion
of Hinduism.
•They established a social
institution and class
system – caste system.
 Impact of the Caste
System
•Position in society based
on skin color.
•Occupation, and
economic status are
determined by your caste.
•This will also determine
who you marry.
1. Brahmins – priests
2. Kshatriyas – rulers and warriors
3. Vaishyas – artisans and traders
4. Shudras – laborers and servants

•You are born into a caste for life.

•It determines: who you will marry,
the job you will have, and the
people you are allowed to associate
with.
•Higher castes are concerned with
ritual purity.
 The lowest social class were known as untouchables
because they did the dirtiest work that was considered
unclean and impure. They were butchers,
gravediggers, and trash collectors.
 •Patriarchal – men are
educated and allowed to
inherit.
•Women - no status, and
daughters were an
A Hindu widow financial drain. (Dowry).
commits sati
above. •Suttee – wife throws
A Rajput girl –
herself onto the pyre of
right. her dead husband.
 •After 400 B.C., India faced
new threats from the west–
first from Persia, Greece,
and Macedonia, under
Alexander the Great in 327
B.C.
•Alexander left quickly, but
his invasion gave rise to the
1st Indian dynasty.
Alexander’s battle with Porus
on the Jhelum.
 •321 BC - King
Chandragupta
established one of the
greatest Hindu empires –
the Mauryan Empire.
•He created a large army
King Chandragupta – 60,000 soldiers, 30,000
cavalry, and 9,000
elephants.
 •The Mauryan Empire
stretched from modern
day Pakistan and
Afghanistan in the west, to
the Ganges river in the
east.
•His grandson, Asoka
would be the next great Extent of Mauryan Empire
under Asoka
ruler of India.
 •The “founding Father” for
India, was Mauryan ruler,
Asoka who ruled from 268 BC -
232 BC.
•Asoka added to his empire
through a bloody battle at
Kalinga.
•Saddened over the loss of life,
Asoka turned to Buddhism for
Asoka Maurya above. Image
courtesy of Wikipedia comfort.
Commons.
 •“Along the roads, wells have
been dug and trees planted for the
use of men and beasts.”
•“I must promote the welfare of
the whole world, and hard
work…whatever may be my great
deeds, I have done them in order
to discharge my debt to all
beings.”
Map of Asoka’s rock edicts •Asoka’s edicts – pillar edicts and
rock edicts.
 •Asoka sent missionaries to
other lands, spreading
Buddhism.
•Carved royal messages on stone
monuments that stood as
“billboards” throughout his
Asoka’s empire.
Chakra –
chosen •His empire collapsed 50 years
2,000 years after his death, but to this day,
later for his impact and legacy on India is
India’s flag. powerful.
 •500 years later-
Chandragupta, (no relation to
the 1st Chandragupta),
established a new kingdom in
320 A.D. He was called the
Great King of Kings.

•The Gupta period was

India’s Golden Age.
Map of the Gupta Empire-413 •Arts, sciences and trade
AD
flourished.
 • Aryabhata was the Gupta
Empire’s most famous
mathematician.
• He was one of the first
scientists known to have
used algebra.
• Indian mathematicians
also introduced the
Aryabhata
concept of zero.
• The Guptas postulated that
the Earth was not flat, but
rotated on its axis.
• Astronomers calculated the
solar year and the movement
of bodies in space.
• In medicine, the Guptas
knew how to set bones, and
perform minor skin grafts.
 • They traded salt, cloth,
and iron domestically and
as far away as China and
the Mediterranean.
• In the 5th century A.D.,
invasion by nomadic
Trade in the ancient world
brought many cultures and Huns from the northwest
kingdoms together. Silk road was weakened the empire.
4,000 miles.
 • Writing – Sanskrit
• Many of the World’s
Languages
• 3-Religions/Eastern
Philosophies of:
Hinduism, Buddhism and
Sikhism.
• Spice merchants and
tradesmen.