Civilizations in Current-Day India
Hinduism
- A diverse body of religion, philosophy, and cultural practice
- Native to India
- Belief in reincarnation/supreme being of many forms and nature
- Brahma: Hindu creator god
- Vishnu: the Hindu preserver god
- Shiva: Hindu destroyer god
Brahma:
- Senior member of the triad of great gods
- He felt alone, separated from world
- He split himself into 2 people and created god Shatapura for company
Vishnu
- Often represented as resting on coiled serpent Shesha
- Never sleeps, & when forces of good and evil are not balanced, he will incarnate himself as a human to set the forces equal.
Shiva:
- Destroyer of the world (so it can be re-created) also called Lord of the Dance
- Seen with 3rd eye, cobra necklace, vibhuti on (3 horizontal lines on forehead made from white ash) and a trident. Sometimes as half man/half woman
- Known to have wild passion which causes extreme behavior and his relationship with his wife. Parvati brings him balance.
Military Conquest
Maurya Empire
- Founded after death of Alexander the Great
- First 3 emperors: Chandragupta Maurya, Bindusara Maurya, and Ashoka Maurya (all able to gain land)
- 9000 elephants, 8000 chariots, 30000 cavalry, 750000 soldiers, war elephants and swords on their trunks
Gupta Empire:
- Chandragupta was dying and he told his son to rule world
- His son went on extreme military campaign and conquered Bengal, Nepal, Assam, Malava, and Ujjayini
- 500000 infantry, 50000 cavalry, 20000 chariots, 10000 elephants, Navy with +1200 ships
- At height, had + ¾ million soldiers
Buddhism (Our Notes)
Stupas:
- mound-like structure
- typically the ashes of deceased.
- used by Buddhists as a place of meditation.
- five types of stupas:
- relic: remains of Buddhist leaders.
- object: objects that belonged to Buddhist leaders.
- commemorative: commemorative events in life of Buddha and his disciples.
- symbolic: symbolizes aspects of Buddhist theology.
- votive: constructed to commemorate visits or to gain spiritual benefits.
Theravada:
- is the oldest surviving Buddhist branch.
- the more conservative of the two major traditions of Buddhism.
- It is practiced mainly in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos
Buddhism:
- Historians estimate that the founder of Buddhism is Siddhartha Gautama commonly known as Buddha
- it’s a religion home to the Indian subcontinent that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and practices largely based on teachings where the people worshiped Buddha.
- Buddha is recognized as being an awakening and enlightening teacher
- Thought of more as a ‘way of life’ than religion
- Practice meditation
- The Four Noble Truths : the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering.
- Believe in karma, which in turns determines reincarnation (believe after death that they will be reborn again)
- There are six planes in which they can be reborn. Into the Three fortunate realms and the Three unfortunate realms.
- Three fortunate realms: the realm of demigods, the realm of gods, and the realm of men
- Three unfortunate realms-- of animals, ghosts and hell -- suffer untold suffering, the suffering of the realm of man is far less
Buddhism & Hinduism Art
History:
- Originated from Indian subcontinent
- Spread from contact with other cultures throughout Asia
- Influenced the development of Hindu art
- Buddhist art flourished and influenced development of Hindu art (but Buddhism almost disappeared around the 10th century)
Buddhism Art:
- Used brick, wood, thatch, and bamboo
- Made stone railings, gateways, sculptures, stupas
- Painted scrolls and made images of nature, sculptures of gods/goddesses
Hinduism Art:
- Four goals of life on earth:
- Everyone should aim for dharma or kama: human righteous living
- Artha: wealth acquired thru pursuit of profession
- Exual love
- Moksha: spiritual salvation
- Costume decorations, perfume, jewelry, magic/illusions, ointments, cooking, eating, drinking, food preparation, sewing, embroidery
Advancements in Medicine, Literature,
Medicine
- Ayureda (life knowledge) ancient science of medicine originated in India
- Used practice of herbal medicine, believed body has 3 types of energy that controlled body/health
- Vata – motion including blood circulation, breathing, blinking, heartbeat
- Pitta – metabolic system, digestion, absorption, nutrition, body temp
- Kapha – growth, supplies water to all body parts, moisturizes, immune system
- Surgery was common practice
- Sushruta came up with 120 instruments, 300 procedures, and 8 classifications
- Created plastic surgery and nose job
- Introduced dental surgery and cataract extractions
Literature
- Well-known writer Kalidasa
- Kalidasa was Indian dramatist and poet
- Classical Sanskrit writer
- Sanskrit – classic Indian language
- 2 categories: Sruti (listened to/heard) and Smriti (remembered/memorized)
Math
- Decimal number system still used today was first developed in India
- Made early contributions to study of zero as a number, negative numbers, arithmetic, algebra
- Trigonometry
- Early, simplified versions of Calculus (two centuries before official invention)
- Sutras: set of rules/problems in verse to help memorization
- Prose Commentary: composed of several scholars that described problem in detail
- Everything was orally taught
Astronomy
- Used stars/planets to create charts
- Calculation of occurrences of eclipses
- Determination of Earth’s circumference
- Theory of gravitation was theorized
- Determine that sun was star
- Determination of number of planets in our solar system
- Aryabhata – presented mathematical system that sun spins on axis and considered motion of planets in respect to sun
- Theory that moon reflected the light of sun
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