INDIA ( 3000 B.C. - A.D. 500 )
In India, as in egypt and Mesopotamia, Civilization arose in a fertile foodplain-in this case, the Indus River Valley.Abundant harvests from irrigated fields there fed the growth of cities such as Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, which gave its name to the harappan civilization that emerged around 2500 B.C. Those cities were laid out on plans with standardized housing for the common people, larger residences for the elite, and a sanitation system with bathroom linked to sewers.
Seasonal flooding helped mourish the fields but was sometimes catastrophic.Mohenjo Daro had to be rebuilt at least nine times. Runious floods may have contributed to the decline of Harappan civilization after 2000 B.C., when the cities were abandoned.
Aroud 1500 B.C., invaders called Aryans entered the valley through mountain passes from Afghanisthan and Iran (named for the Aryans). Gradually, Aryan rulers called rajas expanded from the Indus valley into the lush Ganges valley and formed more than a dozen states or kingdoms across northern India. Aryan doctrines were questioned and reinterpreted by indian philosophers such as Siddhartha Gautama, known to his followers as the Buddha, or Enlightened One, and the teachers who composed the Upanishads.
Around 520 B.C., Pershains conquered the Indus valley and made it a province of their empire. Two centuries later, Alexander the great look control here but withdrew after his troops rebelled.
Alexander's departure behind a power vaccum that was soon filled by chandragupta Maurya, who came from the wealthy kingdom of Magadha in the Ganges Valley. He and his descendants forged an empire that covered all of the Indian subcontinent except its southern tip. That empire reached its peak with the conquests of Ashoka, who, after establishing his expanded reign, renounced violence and embraced Buddhism.
Ashoka died around 235 B.C., and india fractured into competing Kingdoms. In the fourth century A.D. another ruler from Magadha, called Chandra Gupta in honor of chandragupta Maurya, begin reunifying India. Under the Gupta dynasty, trade, Crafts, Science, Medicne, and the arts flourished. By now, Hinduism was the dominant faith. Doctrines such as reincarnation were enshrined in Scared texts like the Bhagavad Gita. The Gupta dynasty declined around A.D. 450 as nomads from Central Asia invaded India.
- What's the Caste System?
India's Caste system had its origins in the class system of the Aryans, who invaded India around 1500 B.C. and long dominated the country.
At the top of the Aryan social hieratchy were priests known as Brahmans, followed by a ruling warrior class, commoners such as merchants and landowners, and an underclass of laborers and peasants. The lowest of the low were so-called untouchables, who performed tasks considered unclean such as butchering animals.
Over time an eloborate caste system evolved, with hundreds of occupational groups ranked according to social status. Children were to take up the work of their parents and to marry within their caste. Although individuals had little opportunity to advance socially, the caste to which they belonged sometimes rose in status as its members gained Wealth and Political Power.
At the top of the Aryan social hieratchy were priests known as Brahmans, followed by a ruling warrior class, commoners such as merchants and landowners, and an underclass of laborers and peasants. The lowest of the low were so-called untouchables, who performed tasks considered unclean such as butchering animals.
Over time an eloborate caste system evolved, with hundreds of occupational groups ranked according to social status. Children were to take up the work of their parents and to marry within their caste. Although individuals had little opportunity to advance socially, the caste to which they belonged sometimes rose in status as its members gained Wealth and Political Power.
- Ashoka / Promoter of Buddhism in India
Like the Roman emperor Constantine, whose conversion spread christianity through the Mediterranean world,the Indian emperor Ashoka ( ca 265 B.C. - 235 B.C. ) embraced Buddhism and promoted its Teaching across asia. Ashoka underwent his conversion after a brutal campaign of conquest in which his troops claimed tens of thousands of lives.Renouncing violence,he devoted himself to peaceful pursuits, including founding hospitals and buildings roads and inns to promote travel and trade. He preached religious tolerance and stressed principles such as mercy, comparision, and kindness to animals, appealing to Indians of various sects, who believed that all created creatures had souls.By supporting Buddhist monastries, he helped the faith he espoused advance beyond India to Tibet, Southeast Asia, and China.
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