1. Aim: Do the Mauryan or the Gupta deserve to be called Classical civilizations? Do Now: What is infinity? What is nothing? NY State Standards 2 Common Core RS 5, 9, WS 2

3. I Mauryan Empire (323-185 BCE) A)Before the time of Chandragupta, India was mostly composed of a number of small independent states, with the exception of the Magadha kingdom, a realm that controlled most of Northern India, which was ruled by the Nanda dynasty. Chandragupta Maurya created the first unified Indian Empire by the Ganges river. B) Around 326 BCE, Alexander the Great’s army refused to go any further into Asia; his men mutinied and thus the Macedonian army turned back and left India.Chandragupta was a noble member of the Kshatriya caste (the warrior-ruler caste) and the main proponent for removing all fragments of Macedonian influence from India. He was related to the Nanda family, but he was an exile.

4. Mauryan Empire Continued… C) Chandragupta raised a small army. Chandragupta entered the capital of the Magadha kingdom, Pataliputra, where he triggered a civil war using his chief advisor’s intelligence network. In 322 BCE he finally seized the throne putting an end to the Nanda dynasty, and he established the Mauryan Dynasty which would rule India until 185 BCE. After, Chandragupta fought and defeated Alexander’s generals located in Gandhara, present day Afghanistan. D) After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, the Eastern territories controlled by the Macedonians fell into the hands of General Seleucus, including the region of the Punjab, which today is part of Northern India and Eastern Pakistan. Seleucus was busy enough with the western borders, so Chandragupta launched an attack on Seleucus and captured a big portion of what today is Pakistan and Afghanistan. In 305 BCE, Chandragupta signed a treaty with Seleucus in which both rulers established borders, and the Punjab was given to Chandragupta in return for 500 war elephants.

5. Pataliputra

6. Mauryan Dynasty Continued… E) The most revered Mauryan Emperor was King Asoka, Chandragupta’s grandson. He ruled from 270 to 232 BCE. Originally a Hindu, he converted to Buddhism in 262 BCE and proceeded to spread Buddhism throughout his empire. F) King Asoka erected the Edicts of Asoka (stone pillars across India) that listed public works projects such as irrigation systems, roads, hospitals, and described Buddhist beliefs. “All men are my children. What I desire for my own children, and I desire their welfare and happiness both in this world and the next, that I desire for all men… While being completely law- abiding, some people are imprisoned, treated harshly and even killed without cause so that many people suffer. Therefore your aim should be to act with impartiality. It is because of these things -- envy, anger, cruelty, hate, indifference, laziness or tiredness -- that such a thing does not happen... This edict has been written for the following purpose: that the judicial officers of the city may strive to do their duty and that the people under them might not suffer unjust imprisonment or harsh treatment…” Edicts of Asoka, Kalinga

7. Asoka and the Spread of Buddhism “In the beginning, Asoka ruled the empire in an efficient but cruel way. He used military strength in order to expand the empire and created sadistic rules against criminals. A Chinese traveler named Xuanzang who visited India during the 7th century CE, reports that even 900 years after the time of Asoka, Hindus still remembered the prison Asoka had established in the north as “Asoka’s hell”... During the expansion of the Mauryan Empire, Asoka led a war against a feudal state named Kalinga with the goal of annexing its territory. The conflict took place around 261 BCE... The disaster in Kalinga was supreme: with around 300,000 casualties, the city devastated... Allegedly Asoka was so horrified that despite having called himself a Buddhist for two years prior to the war, he began to take the tenants of Buddhism seriously. After the war of Kalinga, Asoka controlled all the Indian subcontinent except for the extreme southern part and he could have easily controlled that remaining part as well, but he decided not to. Some versions say that Asoka was sickened by the slaughter of the war and refused to keep on fighting. Whatever his reasons were, Asoka stopped his expansion policy. India for a time became at least somewhat peaceful, and he erected numerous pillars with his Edicts…

8. Asoka and the Spread of Buddhism … Asoka turned Buddhism into a state religion and encouraged Buddhist missionary activity. He also generated among Buddhist monks certain expectations of support and influence... Prior to Asoka Buddhism was a relatively minor tradition in India and some scholars have proposed that the impact of the Buddha in his own day was relatively limited. Archaeological evidence for Buddhism between the death of the Buddha and the time of Asoka is scarce; after the time of Asoka it is abundant. Was Asoka a true follower of the Buddhist doctrine or was he simply using Buddhism as a way of reducing social conflict by favoring a tolerant system of thought and thus make it easier to rule over a nation composed of several states that were annexed through war? The intentions of Ashoka remain unknown and there are all types of arguments supporting both views.” - Cristian Violatti published on 02 September 2013

9. Pillar of Asoka, Vaishali, 3rd century BCE

11. Sanchi Stupa Stupas are mound-like or hemispherical structures containing Buddhist relics (typically the ashes of Buddhist monks), used by Buddhists as a place of meditation. The Sanchi Stupa is the most famous stupa built by King Asoka.

12. IV Gupta Empire (320 – 550 CE) A) 500 years after the Mauryan Empire ended, the Gupta came to power in 320 CE. B) The Gupta period is known as the golden age in Indian History and it reached its pinnacle under Chandragupta II. He gained territory militarily, but also through strategic political marriages. Additionally, he was a great patron of art, culture, literature and music. He had his capital at Pataliputra. His court comprised of geniuses to the likes of Kalidasa, a famous poet, and the physician and surgeon Susruta. During his reign the famous Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hien visited India and wrote a detailed account of his kingdom. He was succeeded by his son Kumaragupta who was a great scholar and built the Nalanda University.

14. Nalanda University, Gupta Empire

15. C) The Golden Age of the Gupta 1.Discovered the concepts of zero & infinity. Created our modern number system, including decimals. These numbers would later be diffused to Europe by way of Arab traders. 2. Invented vaccinations for smallpox, a deadly illness. 3. Created great works of art from iron. -Iron Pillar of New Delhi, India 4. Aryabhatta is considered to be one of the mathematicians and astronomers in ancient history. He is known to have considerable influence on Arabic science world too, where he is referred to as Arjehir. His contributions includes the theory that the earth rotates on its axis, explanations of the solar and lunar eclipses, solving of quadratic equations, decimal place value system with zero, and approximation of pie (π).

16. Zero and Infinity… why a big deal? Why may it have been difficult to discover the concepts of zero or infinity? Are these things that the human mind can picture? How may these concepts have helped the Gupta?

17. The Meaning Behind the Numbers! Even though the Gupta invented the number system that we use today, they are called “Arabic numerals” because the Arabs spread the idea to Europe by trade. The first sign that the Indian numerals were moving west comes from a source which predates the rise of the Arab nations. In 662 CE Severus Sebokht, a Christian bishop who lived near the Euphrates river, wrote on Indian mathematics: “... [it is] more ingenious than those of the Greeks and the Babylonians, and of their valuable methods of calculation which surpass description...”

18. Iron Pillar, New Delhi, India

19. Vaccinations for Smallpox "Take the fluid of the pock on the udder of the cow...upon the point of a lancer, and lance with it the arms between the shoulders and elbows until the blood appears; then, mixing the fluid with the blood, the fever of the small-pox will be produced.” –Dhanwantari, circa 550 CE

20. Sati is often described as a Hindu custom in India in which the widow was burnt to ashes on her dead husband's pyre. It was believed to be a voluntary Hindu act in which the woman voluntary decides to end her life with her husband after his death. But there were many incidences in which the women were forced to commit Sati, sometimes even dragged against her wish to the lighted pyre. Even though Sati is considered an Indian or a Hindu custom it was not practiced all over India by all Hindus. Also, sacrificing the widow in her dead husband's funeral or pyre was not unique only to India. This custom was prevalent among Egyptians, Greeks, Goths, and others. Among these communities it was a custom to bury the dead king with his mistresses or wives, servants and other things so that they could continue to serve him in the next world. Historians believe it was done prior to the Gupta Dynasty, but there is greater evidence of its existence during and after the Gupta. The later Muslim Mughal Dynasty tried to ban it, as well as the colonizing British. V Sati/Suttee

21. The Times of India: “Why Sati is Still a Burning Issue” 2009 “Last week, 60-year-old Sharbati Bai attempted to commit sati on her husband's pyre in Rajasthan, India. She couldn't because the village and the police stopped her just in time… What does this mean, if anything? Has India finally been able to stamp out sati, almost 21 years after it brought in anti-Sati legislation? Yes, say sociologists who work against sati in the area. But they add that even though the custom has been dying a slow death since the law came about, the myth remains... Kavita Srivastava, general secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties, Rajasthan, has been actively working to discourage the practice since 1987. She says "the law has very effective in preventing the making of a sati" but adds that "it has not been equally successful in preventing the glorification of sati even though it has been rendered a crime.“… But even though sati may be simply falling out fashion, but women's activists and legal experts are worried it may be revived for commercial reasons… A sati temple has always been a big draw. Some temples are thought to be as old as the custom itself, which is believed to have originated 700 years ago among Rajasthan's ruling warrior community…”

22. Focus Questions 1. Fill in your Period 2 Civilization chart for the Mauryan and Gupta Empires. 2. How should King Asoka be remembered? Explain your position. 3. What was the practice of sati/suttee? Why do you think it was done? How can we prevent it from occurring today?

23. Key Vocabulary Arabic Numerals Aryabhatta Chandragupta II Chandragupta Maurya Edicts of Asoka Gupta Empire Infinity Iron Pillar of New Delhi King Asoka Mauryan Empire Pataliputra Sati/Suttee Smallpox Stupa Vaccination