1. The emergence of South Asian Civilization.
September 25, 2012

2. Review What was the impact on iron on the history of China?
What is the difference between government in China in the centuries leading up to the Qin, and government from the Qin on?
What are the main differences between Confucianism and Daoism?
What was the relationship of Han China to Vietnam, and to Korea?

3. Chinese-style government
legalistic Confucianism: proclaim rule by virtue and ritual, but keep force available for use when needed.
The mandate of Heaven goes to a royal family- even women in such a royal family sometimes ruled as empress dowagers.
Bureaucracy instead of feudalism
Supported by gentry in the countryside.
The theoretical social hierarchy:
Scholars, peasants, artisans, and merchants (where are the soldiers?)

4. Ideological Legitimization
The pattern perspective/ correlative cosmology: everything is related to everything else in dynamic interactions
The Five phases/agents: earth, metal, water, wood, fire.
cycle of production: wood⇒ fire⇒ earth⇒ metal⇒ water⇓
⇑ ⇐
cycle of overcoming: fire ⇐water ⇐earth ⇐ wood ⇐metal ⇑
⇓ ⇒
The magic square:

5. Han technology paper the compass the wheelbarrow the seismograph
stern-post rudder
shoulder-harness for horses
ridge-furrow farming
decimal system (with counting rods)

6. The Han legacy
Centralized government, legitimized with Confucian rhetoric
civilian rather than military rule
Writing history as a state responsibility.
The important of educated landlords as local leaders, and the official denigration of merchants.

7. India: Vedic Civilization
Around 1,500 BCE to 600 BCE
“Aryan culture” There probably was no Aryan invasion.
But the Aryans had superior military technology, and a language which was not Dravidian. Their language was Sanskrit, one of the oldest identifiable Indo-European languages
Worshipped fire (Agni), soma (an intoxicating drink), Indra, and Varuna
Vishnu and Shiva are minor deities
First references to varna (but not jati)

8. Vedic Religion
A religion of ritual, which only later became a religion of moksa (salvation), and later devotion.
Polytheism evolved into henotheism (the beginning of focus on particular deities)
Dominated by brahmins, who alone knew how to perform essential rituals
Sanskrit is the sacred language
Vedas are sacred texts
Brahminism rather than Hinduism
Produced the monistic philosophy of the Upanishads.
Probably did not have “sacred cows”

9. The first Indian States
States arise around the Ganges from about 600 BCE. Why not earlier?
Primary and secondary state formation aided by iron tools for cutting wood and for fighting
What is a state: mechanism for extracting revenue from producers. Needs a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence. Ritual hegemony adds stability and legitimacy.
Kingdoms and republics (no democracies)
No real histories. The Mahabharata and the Ramayana are epics, not histories

10. The appearance of epics
The Mahabharata and the Ramayana
Should these be read as history or as myths?
What do they tell us about South Asia 2,500 years ago?
Represent a change toward more human-like gods. (At the same time, more ascetic religiosity appears-Buddhism and Jainism.

11. The Epics and Hinduism
The Mahabharata featured Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu. Krishna became a major deity in Hinduism.
The Bhagavad Gita, a part of the Mahabharata, emphasized the need for people to play their proper roles in society, even if they are warriors.
the Ramayana featured Rama, another incarnation of Vishnu. He became another major deity in Hinduism, as did Sita, his consort.
The Ramayana has many versions, and was very influential in Southeast Asia as well as in India.

12. South Asian religions
Assumptions shared by traditional South Asian religious philosophies include:
only that which is uncaused and unchanging is truly real
diversity masks an underlying unity, which is more real than diversity
the line between the human and the divine is not an unbridgeable chasm
what we do and think affects what happens to us later. (karma)
monism, monotheism, and polytheism are considered complementary rather than contradictory positions.

13. Buddhism: 4 Noble Truths
To live is to suffer.
Suffering is caused by desires and attachments, resulting from ignorance of what is real and what is not.
We can stop suffering by stopping our desires and clearing up our ignorance.
We can do this if we follow the Eight-fold path.

14. Basic Buddhist Terms
Buddhists, like Hindus, believe in karma and in reincarnation
Nirvana: escape from rebirth, extinction (or paradise, in some varieties of Buddhism)
Sutras: the written records of the teachings of the Buddha
The Three Jewels of Buddhism
The Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha
The Dharma: Buddhist teachings
The Sangha: the monastic community.
Buddhists “take refuge” in those three jewels.

15. Theravada Buddhism
The Buddhism of Sri Lanka and (now) much of mainland Southeast Asia
Emphasis on salvation through our own efforts (accumulating good karma)
Is non-theistic (in theory).Buddha (Sakyamuni) is seen as a teacher,not a god.
Emphasis on insight meditation, and on donations to monks and temples
Claims to be the original Buddhism

16. The Mauryan Empire The stimulus from Alexander the Great
Founded by Chandragupta by 322 BCE with a capital in Pataliputra
How is an empire different from a kingdom?
Greatest ruler was Ashoka( BCE)
Ashoka promoted Buddhism.