1. FROM THE MAURYANS TO THE GUPTAS
CLASSICAL INDIA
FROM THE MAURYANS
TO THE GUPTAS

2. RISE OF MAURYAN EMPIRE Ganges Republics Western Intrusions
Prior to Alexander, kshatriyan republics dominated, vied for power
Western Intrusions
Intrusions of Persians (520 B.C.E.) and Alexander (327 B.C.E.)
Persians established Indus satrapy
Alexander’s withdrawal left a political vacuum
Magadha kingdom filled the vacuum
Chandragupta Maurya
The founder of the Mauryan empire
Overthrew the Magadha kingdom in 321 B.C.E.
Chandragupta's empire embraced all of northern India
Chandragupta's government
The political handbook, Arthashastra, outlined administrative methods

3. ASHOKA Ashoka Maurya (reigned 268-232 B.C.E.)
Chandragupta's grandson,
The high point of the Mauryan empire
Ruled through tightly organized bureaucracy
Policies of encouraging agriculture and trade
Converted to Buddhism
Established a tolerant rule
Sent out missionaries Decline of the Mauryan Empire
Ashoka died in 232 B.C.E.
Suffered from acute financial and economic difficulties
The empire collapsed by 185 B.C.E.

4. THE GUPTAS The Gupta Dynasty Gupta decline
After Mauryans, India was controlled by regional kingdoms
The Gupta state rose to power
Chandra Gupta founded the new dynasty
Gupta dynasty was relatively decentralized
Officially supported revival of Hinduism as state faith
Era seen as the Golden Age of Hinduism
Gupta decline
Invasion of White Huns weakened the empire
After 5th century C.E., Gupta dynasty ruled in name only
Large regional kingdoms dominated political life in India

5. ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL Towns and manufacturing Long-distance trade
Towns dotted the India countryside after 600 B.C.E.
Towns provided manufactured products and luxury goods
Long-distance trade
Link with Persia and the west helped to build extensive trade networks
Trade with China through the silk roads of central Asia
Trade in the Indian Ocean basin, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, Mediterranean basin
Spread Buddhism and Hinduism throughout Indian Ocean basin
Social and gender relations
Strong patriarchal families; subordination of women to men
Child marriage placed women under control of old men
Development of caste system
New social groups of artisans, craftsmen, and merchants appeared
Individuals of same trade or craft formed a guild; guilds were subcastes, jatis
Functions of guilds: social security and welfare systems
Wealth and social order
Trade and industry brought prosperity to many vaishyas and shudras
Old beliefs and values of early Aryan society became increasingly irrelevant

6. EARLY BUDDHISM Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 B.C.E.)
Born in 563 B.C.E. to the Kshatriya caste (warrior caste)
Witnessed miseries of the human condition
Gave up his comfortable life and began searching for enlightenment
Intense meditation
Received enlightenment under the bo tree and became Buddha
The Buddha and his followers
"Turning of the Wheel of the Law," 528 B.C.E.
Organized followers into a community of monks (“the sangha”)
Traveled throughout north India, bringing enlightenment to others
Buddhist doctrine: The dharma
The Four Noble Truths
All life involves suffering
Desire is the cause of suffering
Elimination of desire brings an end to suffering
The Noble Eightfold Path brings the elimination of desire
The Noble Eightfold Path (“Setting the wheel in motion”)
Right belief, right resolve, right speech, right behavior
Right occupation, right effort, right contemplation, and right meditation
Religious goal: Nirvana, a state of perfect spiritual independence

7. APPEAL OF BUDDHISM Appealed strongly to members of lower castes
Salvation without services of the brahmins
Did not recognize social hierarchies of castes and jati
Appealed to women as all souls considered equal
Used vernacular tongues, not Sanskrit
Holy sites and pilgrims
The monastic organizations
Spread the Buddhist message, won converts
Could be endowed by others to support the religion
Centers of learning, good works, contemplation
Ashoka's support
Emperor Ashoka became a devout Buddhist, 206 B.C.E.
Banned animal sacrifices in honor of ahimsa
Granted lands to monasteries
Sent missionaries to Bactria and Ceylon

8. VARIANTS OF BUDDHISM Early Buddhism made heavy demands on individuals
Giving up personal property
Forsaking the search for social standing
Detaching oneself from worldly pleasures
Development of Buddhism
Buddha gradually seen as a god by ex-Hindu’s, in China
The notion of bodhisatva - "an enlightened being"
Buddhism became more attractive
The Schism of Buddhism: Was he a god or man?
Mahayana - "the greater vehicle"
Spread to Central, East Asia
Blended in India with Hinduism, which coopted Buddha as a god
Coopted Chinese traditions and Taoist gods in China
Hinayana or Theravada
Continued to view Buddha as human
Practiced in Sri Lanka, parts of India, SE Asia
Buddhism died out in India as it merged with Hinduism

9. POPULAR HINDUISM The epics The Bhagavad Gita Hindu ethics
Mahabharata
Honored the god Vishnu, the preserver of the world
Ramayana
Secular story of Rama and Sita was changed into a Hindu story
The Bhagavad Gita
A short poetic work within the Mahabharata
Illustrated expectations of Hinduism and promise of salvation
Hindu ethics
Lower demands for achieving salvation
Individuals should meet their responsibilities in detached fashion
Balance of dharma, artha, karma to attain moksha, end samsara
Popularity of Hinduism
Became more popular than Buddhism; Buddhism too hard to maintain for most people.
The Guptas helped Hinduism become the dominant religion