From Harappan to the Mauryans

The Origins of Indian Culture

Geography, Ecology, Demography

• Northern Mountain Belt

• Indo-Gangetic Alluvial Plain

• Dravidians and East Africa

• The Indus valley and the Land of the Seven Rivers

• The Ganges (Ganga) system

Harappan Society and Culture

• Harappan bricks and streets

• Seals and ideograms

• Ancient sanitation systems

• Mohenjo-Daro: Land of the Dead

• Harappan Economy

The Aryan Question

• Arya vs. Aryan• The Western Imperial

view of Aryan Supremacy

• Aryans and the Fall of Harappan

• Aryan origins?• The Aryanization

thesis

Sanskrit and the Indo-European Language Family

• Sir William Jones’ discovery

• Philology: the History of Words

• Indian Literature: The Mahabharata and the Ramayana

• The Scientific Analysis of Sanskrit

The Vedas

• The Vedas as History• The Rig Veda• The Vedic Pantheon• The Dasas

Varnas, Jati, and “Caste”

• The Varna– Brahman– Kshatriya– Vaishya– Shudra

• Twice-born varna and the Vedas

• Jati and endogamy• “Outcastes” – the

Untouchables

Vedic Religion: The Brahmans

• The emergence of a priestly class

• Propitiatory Sacrifice and Ritual Exactitude

• Brahmanic Meteorology

• Mantras and the Separation of Spoken and Written Language

The Upanishads

• The Revolt of the Sages

• Atman and the Universal-Particular Union

• The Eternal Recurrence and Moksha

• Karma

Jainism

• Mahavira’s revelation• Extreme asceticism:

– Nudism– Self-mutilation– Starvation unto Death

• Pantheistic Animism and the Sanctity of Sentience

The Life of Buddha (ca. 563-483 BC)

• Siddhartha Gautama: the Spoiled Prince

• The Upanishadic Scholar

• The Ascetic Wanderer

• Under the Pipal Tree• The Sangha and

Monastic virtue

Tenets of Buddhism

• The Wheel of Law (Dharma)

• The Four Noble Truths

• The Eightfold Path• Nirvana• Theravada

(Hinayana)

Magadha and the Macedonian Invasion

• Alexander the Great and the Persian legacy

• Herodotus and the Gold-Sand Ants

• The Battle of Hydaspes and the end of the World

The Mauryan Empire

• Chandragupta Maurya

• Kautilya and the Arthasastra

• Seleucis and the Marriage Pact

• Pataliputra

Ashoka, “Caesar of India”

• The War with Kalinga• The Conversion to

Buddhism• Forced labor and

indentures• Ashoka’s building

projects• Ministries across Asia• Knowledge of the

West

The Fall of the Mauryans

• Greco-Bactrian Conquest

• The Rise of Mahayana

• The (Other) Barbarian Invasions

• St. Thomas in India• Renaissance India?• International Hub

Hinduism

• Foundational elements of hinduism

• Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva

• Stage’s on Life’s Way:– Brahamacharya– Grihastha– Vanaprastha– Sanyasa

Summary

Indian history presents the historian with a number of fascinating paradoxes. The seemingly advanced stage of its early development virtually disappears, leaving us to wonder how this society would impact the Aryan world to come. Additionally, India is one of the world’s great indigenous centers of religion today, along with the Near East. Understanding the cultural contributions of India thus requires us to seek to understand this distant and unique culture.