State, Society and the Quest for Salvation in India 9

Earliest description of India by foreigner from pen of Megasthenes,

diplomatic rep of Seleucid emperor and wrote book Indika
• Recorded spurious info – ants, monster
• Also recorded reliable info - Pataliputra
The fortunes of empire in classical India
• From after 1500BCE, India is a series of small kingdoms that
constantly fought but Mauryan and Gupta unified but not long
• The Mauryan dynasty and the temporary unification of India
o Magadha kingdom filled power vacuum left by withdrawal of
Alexander of Macedon when he invaded in 327BCE but left in
325BCE
o Also due to conquest of Darius in 520BCE in NW India and
made small kingdom of Gandhara of Achaemenid
 Chandragupta Maurya began conquest in 320s B.C.E.
that was located in the Ganges plain and was wealthy
because of trade routes
 Founded Maurya dynasty stretching from Bactria
to Ganges
 In 321BCE, he overthrown Magadha by working
from out to in, then moved to Punjab and brought
NW India into control, then moved to Bactria
(Greek) and controlled it
 Kautala's (careful and systematic) advice manual,
Arthashastra, outlined administrative methods,
trade, maintaining order etc.
• Advised Chandragupta to use spies and built
bureaucratic admin system
• Tradition sayed Chan became monk and
died of starvation
 Ashoka Maurya (reigned 268-232 B.C.E.)--peak of
empire succeed father in 297BCE
 Conquered the kingdom of Kalinga, 260 B.C.E.
• Was the last independent power and it was
hard to control because of trade routes
• Estimated that 100K kalingans died
 Ruled through tightly organized bureaucracy
  Established capital at fortified Pataliputra
• Megasthenes reported that there was
committee for foreigners
 Central treasury oversaw efficient collection of
taxes
 Policies were written on rocks or pillars known as
edicts, increased Buddhist values and expressed
intention to be fair, just, and humane ruler
• Built lots of irrigation
• Increased trade by road system (1.6K km)
 Empire declined after his death in 232BCE
because of financial problems
• Dependent on strong army and large corps
of officials to admin policy
• After 185BCE, empire disappeared
o The revival of empire under the Guptas
 After fall of Mauryan, local rulers formed kingdoms and
Bactria fell under Greek rule, Indo-Greek forces invaded
N. India from 185BCE and seized large territory
 Greek-speaking Bactrians ruled in northwest India for
two centuries
 Strategic for trade
 Kushans (nomads from Central Asia) conquered and
ruled, 1-300 C.E.
 High point was Emperor Kashika, 78-103 C.E.
• Embraced Pakistan, Afganistan and N. India
 Crucial role in Silk Road trading network
 The Gupta dynasty, founded by Chandra Gupta (375-
415 C.E.) by forging relations with powerful families
 Smaller and more decentralized than Maurya
• Ashoka insisted on knowing all but Gupta is
more relaxed
 Started in 320CE
• Successors Samudra Gupta (335-375CE)
and Chandra Gupta II (375-415CE) made
Pataliputra power again
  Invasion of White Huns weakened the empire
during 400CE
• During first half, repelled but with great cost
• Eventually failed and established kingdoms
in NW india
 After the fifth century C.E., Gupta dynasty
continued in name only
• But before, it is prosperous
 Chinese Buddhist name Faxian traveled widely in
India and commented that it is little in crime and
possible to travel without documents
 Large regional kingdoms dominated political life in
India
Economic development and social distinctions: After 1000BCE, after
iron, Aryans dispatched shudras, semifree serfs, to work in cleared fields and
to reap large harvast
• Towns and trade
o Towns dotted the India countryside after 600 B.C.E.
 Towns provided manufactured products and luxury
goods
 Flourishing market places (Saddalaputta owned
500 workshops and have fleet of boats)
 Active marketplaces, especially along Ganges
o Trade with Persia, China, Indian Ocean basin, Indonesia,
southeast Asia, Mediterranean basin through Hindu Kush or
silk roads
o In Mauryan era, Merchants used land routes but turned to sea
more because of monsson winds (Summer and spring from
SW and fall and winter from NE)
 By 5th century BCE, Indians traveled to Indonesia and
traded products
 Products are popular in Mesopotamia and Rome
• Family life and the caste system
o Gender relations: patriarchal families, female subordination,
child marriage
 Mahabharata and Ramayana portrayed women weak
  By Gupta Era, child marriages were often so often
devoted to family life
o Development of caste system – at first 4 caste (Brahmins:
priests, kshatriyas: warriors and aristocrats, Vaishyas:
Peasants and merchants, Shudras: serfs)
 With trade and commerce new social groups of artisans,
craftsmen, and merchants appeared
 Formed guild to supervise prices and wages
 These social groups functioned as subcastes, or jati
 Much like government (Courts, reulate community
affairs)
 Vaishyas and shudras saw unprecedented wealth after
600BCE
 Old beliefs and values of early Aryan society became
increasingly irrelevant after 600BCE
Religions of salvation in classical India: Ancient Indian religion revolved
around ritual sacrifices offered by Brahmins in hopes that gods would reward
reward. Since they perfomed rituals, they are excempt from tax and recived
fees and gifts. After economical boom, lower classes got richer and resent
Brahmins. In 6th and 5th century, new religions came. Charvaks – Gods are
imagination and priest hoodwink people
• Jainism and the challenge to the established cultural order – most
influential during 7th century BCE
o Vardhamana Mahavira – great teacher (Jina – the conqueror)
founded Jain religion in 5th century B.C.E.
 Born in 540BCE to prominent kshatriya family and left
home at thirty to search for enlightenment and after 12
years of ascetic life wander Ganges
 Teach to bunch to of disiciples till death in 468BCE
o Jainist doctrine and ethics
 Inspired by the Upanishads: everything in universe has
a soul even inanimate objects
 If souls are in worldly objects, then they will suffer
 Striving to purify one's selfish behavior to attain a state
of bliss
 Principle of ahimsa, nonviolence toward all living things
  Some go to extreme to not harm souls
 Too demanding, not a practical alternative to the cult of
the brahmans
o Appeal of Jainism
 Social implication: individual souls equally participated
in ultimate reality
 Jains did not recognize social hierarchies of caste and
jati
 Gained more acceptance in lower levels
 Doctrine of ahimsa is prominent till today
• Early Buddhism
o Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 B.C.E.) became the Buddha
from Kshatriya
 Gave up his comfortable life to search for cause of
suffering about 534BCE
 On chariot ride – saw age and death and monks
 Received enlightenment under the bo tree in 49 days
after trying meditation and asceticism
 Became Buddha “the enlightenment one”
 First sermon about 528 B.C.E. at the Deer Park of
Sarnath near holy Buddha city of Banaras
 Refered to sermon as “Turning of the Wheel of the
Law” because represented beginning of quest to
promulgate righteousness
 Organized followers into a community of monks
 About 483BCE, after 80 years, he died with “Decay is
inherent in all component things! Work out your
salvation with diligence!”
o Buddhist doctrine: the dharma
 The Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path are
the way to end suffering
 Four Noble Truths: All life involves suffering,
desire is cause of suffering, elimination of desire
brings an end to suffering, a disciplined life
conducted with Eightfold path eliminate desire
  Eightfold Path – Balanced and moderate lives,
reject devotion to luxury and regimes of extreme
asceticism (Right belief, resolve, speech, behavior,
occupation, effort, contemplation and meditation)
 Suffering is caused by desire
 Religious goal: personal salvation, or nirvana, a state of
perfect spiritual independence
o Appeal of Buddhism
 Appealed strongly to members of lower castes because
it did not recognize social hierarchies of castes and jati
 Was less demanding than Jainism, which made it more
popular
 Popular among merchants and used monasteries as inns
 Used vernacular tongues, not Sanskrit (Formal)
 Holy sites venerated by pilgrims such as Bodh Gaya
where enlightenment, Deer Park where 1st preached
 Stupas – Shrines housing relics of Buddha
 The monastic organizations--extremely efficient at
spreading the Buddhist message and winning converts
to the faith
 Gifts and grants from pious supporters provided
land and money
 Kalingans, violence caused him to convert
o Ashoka converted and became important patron of Buddhism
– benefited from Mauryan dynasty
• Mahayana Buddhism
o Early Buddhism made heavy demands on individuals
o Development of Buddhism between 3rd century B.C.E. and 1st
century C.E.
 Buddha became a god
 The notion of boddhisatva--"an enlightened being"
 Monasteries began to accept gifts from wealthy
individuals
 These changes became known as Mahayana Buddhism
rather than Hinayana
  Educational institutions (like Nalanda) promoted new
faith
• The emergence of popular Hinduism
o The epics Mahabharata, a secular poem revised by brahman
scholars to honor the god Vishnu, the preserver of the world
Ramayana, a secular story of Rama and Sita rescue from
demon Ceylon, was changed into a Hindu story (Vedic ages
1500 – 500BCE)
o The Bhagavad Gita – songs of the lord – written by many
people 300BCE – 300Ce before shape in 400CE
 A short poetic work: dialogue between Vishnu and
warrior Arjuna (kshatriya)
 Vishnu presented argument to fight
1. Won’t harm
soul
2. Moral duties
and social
responsibilities
3. Failure to
do caste
system in a
sin
 Illustrated expectations of Hinduism and promise of
salvation
o Hindu ethics
 Achieve salvation through meeting caste responsibilities
 Upanishads – renunciation and detachment from world
could escape cycle
 Lead life in detached fashion – not become bound with
actions, don’t strive for rewards or recongnition, no
thoughts to consequence
 Lead honorable lives in the world
1. Obedience to religious
and moral laws (dharma)
2. Pursuit of economic
well-being (artha)
 3. Enjoyment of pleasures
(karma)
4. Salvation of the soul
(moksha)
o Hinduism gradually replaced Buddhism in India
o Gupta empire helped and by 1000CE, Buddhism lost massive
grounds
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