CCOT Style India Research Paper
By: Matthew Cheon
Maurya Empire
Other Influences.
India had been influenced by Alexander the Great in 326 BC for they had conquered the land before the rise of Mauryan Empire had risen.
Rise of Mauryan Empire
Major Contributions
For the first time in the history of India, much of India has been united and Asoka had brought Buddhism to the country along with peace and prosperity among the empire. The Mauryan Empire had a relatively complex government structure. Being divided into provinces, each of the provinces of the empire was each governed by a member of royal family and was checked on by senior royal officials who had a great inspection checks using spies and regular inspections to check on to see if they were doing anything suspicious. For all the maintenance of justice, roads, and wells, they had created a hierarchy of royal officials to take responsibilities of that problem. This empire can be compared with the Zhou dynasty just north east of India who had a terrible system of power in their society. The Zhou dynasty did not regulate the power that was given to the noble and was therefore not effective nor trustworthy unlike the Maurya who did regulate their men and worked effectively.
Under the rule of Mauryan rule, iron had become a huge tool and weapon for the Mauryans as they had made diverse usage of iron tools. The diverse use of iron tools had helped the farmers have a greater productivity in their yearly harvest. This allowed for trade amongst the empires.
Chandragupta
He was the founding father(compared with the US) of the Mauryan Empire. He had ruled his empire for 24 years through the year 322 BC to 298 BC. He had continued to expand his empire and his son Bindusara continued the conquest after Chandragupta had died into central India.
Asoka
Ashoka reigned from 272 BC to 232 BC and was considered to be one of the most popular amongst his people in the whole world history. Asoka had accepted Buddhism after seeing a horrific war against the Kalinga(eastern India) and seeked peace for his country. He was very devoted Buddhist and spread Buddhism across India, bringing in a religion that was different from what they believed in. Vismay Parmar, their former religion. He had also set up pillars across his empire to encourage his people to live in harmony with one and another.
Religion
Buddhism became the religion for the majority of the people of Maurya empire because of Asoka's acceptance of the belief. The leader's choice in his religion has impacted the people so much to the point where they followed him in his footsteps. However, that was not the only religion in the empire.
Jainism was also popular among the merchants. Trade had affected the religion the merchants believed in for the word had spread around and eventually came to the merchants which later spread to the people of India. Jainism is an ancient religion from India that teaches the way to liberation and bliss is to live lives of harmlessness and renunciation. The people who were not Brahmins did not like the Brahmins and their overwhelming power over religious decisions and had favored this mixed religion above the previous religion.
Connection with Other Empires
- Had been marriage alliances between the Seleucid and Mauryan royal families.
- The Mauryan government avoided negative relations with the western kingdoms.
- Had contacts with Macedonia, Egypt and other kingdoms through trade routes and Buddhist missionary works.
Fall of Maurya
The enormous empire began to fall down after several decades after Asoka's death. There are many theories behind the fall of the Maurya Empire involving Asoka's ruling abilities to be too-gentle. However the real reason behind on why the Empire fell was that after Asoka's death, the throne was followed by weak rulers who did not apply their will over the massive empire. The Han empire in China and the Mauryan rule was very different for the Mauryan's principle element to a great empire was the personal ability and the energy of the king while the personalities and characteristics of Chinese emperors in China hardly made a difference. So when these weak rulers took their throne, pieces of the Mauryan parted from the empire until it was only it's core which eventually disappeared around 185 BC.
Ashoka
Chandragupta
The pillars set by Ashoka
Gupta Empire
Outside Influence?
Rome have previously conquered the India civilization so the Roman currency with the coins have encouraged the Gupta Empire to have a currency of their own which they had created. The Romans have also influenced the Gupta in their educational system and their high value in their pottery, music, and dancing. The Greeks were very famous for it's famous mathematicians and other geniuses. This Greek culture that have affected the Romans could have influenced the Indians to take highly of their academic subject.Which is why the Indians valued very highly on their mathematical, science, etc.
Rise of Gupta
Gupta an Indian empire was able to rise to power in about 200 AD when the Scythian and the Kushana Asian powers disappeared. They believe that the name Gupta comes from a family so the empire actually started from a very wealthy family that was very gifted in knowledge and has expanded to form a state and then an empire. Gupta were viewed on as the most brilliant empire in ancient India's history in terms of it's cultural and educational achievement. The original homeland of the Guptas was Varendri or the Varendra Bhumi in Bengal. Their knowledge of these educational stuff gave them uniqueness to the eyes of historians as they still try to make out how they had managed to figure these problems out.
Continuity
The practice of Buddhism and the practice of Hinduism was still seen in this empire for they were the core religion that had set this country. Maurya's third leader, Ashoka's acceptance of Buddhism still affected the next civilization and was still practiced widely throughout the empire.
Change
Unlike the Mauryan empire, the Gupta evaluated highly on their educational and cultural activities. The Mauryan empire had almost a little to none mathematical achievements while the achievements done by the Gupta still make the historians gape at the records. The influence of Greek culture where mathematics and science were crucial could have been affected for the fact that they were in the rule of a Roman emperor who was influenced by the Greeks. (there are multiple signs of Greek influence in Roman culture such as the gods.) This have affected the Gupta to achieve more than their rulers and ultimately surpassing them in their own discoveries.
Major Contributions and Achievements
Many educational achievements have been found by the Gupta Empire such as astronomy, engineering, and mathematics. Not only that, they also valued highly on cultural achievements such as painting, music, and pottery. They valued highly on cultural creativity and had magnificent architecture, sculptures and paintings. The decimal system that we still use today originated from this empire and we can thank them for all of the trouble we would have gone through without their help. Their understanding of science and many more still makes our jaws open because they had to figure all of their things out. It wasn't like us where we can just figure things out by searching on the internet or the textbook.
They had also created a large number of gold coins called dinars to deal with money and currency. Literature was a huge part of culture in Gupta for there was actually authors of books that people bought and read. You would think that most of the authors in the classical age became famous after they had died but in Gupta, people read of pleasure and knowledge. They had also set up a very effective administrative system which helps empires in the future.
Religion
The majority of vegetarians came from India where Buddhism was still widely spread among this empire. Buddhism encouraged no violence and no meat because you would be responsible of the creature's death. Hinduism also affected the people to be vegetarian because they believed that everything was God. These two core religion of the empire had influenced their regular meal that even today, Indians are famous for being vegetarian among the many meat eating countries.
Having a strong Hinduism beliefs, Buddhism and Hinduism were both widespread and practiced by many. The affect of Buddhism has actually made Gupta fall for their non violence and the lacking power of the emperors. Buddhism was good in some extent, but without a good leader, it leaned to be more poison than medicine for the empire.
Samudragupta
- Came in power in 335 AD and ruled for 45 years which was pretty long for emperors at that time.
- He had conquered many of the tribes that were surrounding the Gupta empire and at the time of his death, he had conquered about twenty kingdoms in his realm
- He had created many allies and foes in his life time
- He was a very talented military leader that the historians called the "Indian Napoleon".
- He was a believer of Hinduism and worshiped Lord Vishnu
- He was tolerant to the other religions and allowed Buddhism to coexist with Hinduism.
Chandragupta II
- Came in power at 375 AD and ruled until 415 AD.
- He sent most of his sons and daughter to marry foreign empires to make an alliance with them.
- He set a campaign against Kshatrapas of Malwa and ultimately defeating them.
- He was very talented military leader that also set hindu art and panels at the Dashavatara temple.
- He attacked foreign tribes and chased them away from the Gupta Empire.
Relationship with Nomadic Tribes
The White Huns were nomads that had terrorized the civilizations in the parts of India and Persia. They did not stay in one place too long for they were always searching for food and water from the sedentary civilizations. There is little known about the White Huns for there is no specific date nor area where they had started off from. This great nomad tribe has conquered many of the surrounding empires and commanded tributes from them as trophies.
The White Huns were carefully waiting for the death of their Gupta ruler, Skandagupta (455-470 AD) and came in to sweep all of the Ganges and all the cities and town along the way. Buddhist was persecuted for their belief and the whole capital city has dramatically declined in population for the mass killing and stealing of the White Huns. They had specially timed the attack on the death of their leader for without a leader, when Gupta was helpless and lost. The northwestern India was ruled by Hephthalite kings for nearly thirty years and some of which appeared on Indian coins.Their reign over Gupta has shifted the caste system and the religion of this empire.
Fall of Gupta
The Gupta Empire actually survived after China's Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire. The fall of Gupta in 550 AD, was because of not only external but internal causes. After the death of Ashoka, the Gupta politically became very weak because the following emperors lost their superior power. The state rulers also drained their power from the emperor and declared their independence later so that they do not have to play taxes to the Gupta government. Without the taxes, the government had to put a stop to all of their educational and cultural practices for money no longer supported them. The emperors became too easy on their job to rule the empire. Gupta was already becoming destroyed from the inside out because they could not get any taxes from it's country. In addition to that, the Pushyamitras and the Huns attack on Gupta flipped over the already spilled water bucket so that they do not even have the chance of coming back. This is a case where an empire collapsed because emperor had failed to keep unity among the land because of their lacking ability to rule and govern the land. Though several sub state cities have managed to survive, the Gupta empire did not come back.
Map of Gupta Empire
Temple
Decimal created by the Gupta Empire
Delhi Sultanate Empire
A little background before the rise of Delhi Sultanate, India was dominated by large number of states during the 8th and 12th century. In the central and west Asia, the Turks came in with powerful army and established an empire there. The Turks later invaded India in the late 10th and early 11th century and a small section of northern India called, Punjab, came completely in the Turkish rule. However the Turks did not stop there. They later expanded their empire taking most of the northern India. The Turks believed in Islam and that is how Islam became the core religion of the Delhi Sultanate Empire. After a few decades, Aibak had declared independence and set the Delhi Sultanate Empire in 1206 AD after the death of his former master Muhammad of Ghor, a Muslim ruler. The empire takes most of the northern India and a little bit of the central part of India.
Major Contribution
The Muslim leaders were called sultans and they were "chosen by God". They were very violent in their ways and had invading armies that consisted of war like tribes. The Indians who were not given to war and the techniques were no match for these brutal empire. They used horse shoes to make the power and stamina of the Arab cavalry better for the bottom of the hooves didn't get grinded by the long horse rides and fights that they did. This Empire had brought military techniques and unification in India for it's influence by the Turks and the Arabs.
Through this empire, slavery was brought into India and also the caste system. Through the violence of the Arab and Turkish culture, they had conquered and made slaves out of the empire that had lost and used it to their advantage. There had been signs of slavery before this empire but it was not favored for the belief of Hinduism and Buddhism and was dis encouraged. However, the Islamic belief didn't which lead to slavery in India.
Religion
The introduction to another religion that was based off of violence and war was not favorable by the Indians because they're belief was totally based off of trying to be good and be one with nature. Buddhism and Hinduism contradict Islamic beliefs and they were both persecuted for their belief in their nation. Any people believing in a different religion from a different culture that did not accept and follow the Islamic rule were persecuted by the Muslims because they forced others to believe in their religion and killed anyone who opposed to it.
The Indians did not appreciate the Islamic religion in their society because that meant that they had to give up what they believed and kept silent about the things that matter the most to them.
Rulers
There is no important rulers in this empire but the first one. However even he did not make a significant difference in the Empire. Numerous prince and sultans were killed for the power of the throne. Brother killed brother, son killed father, and niece killed their uncles. Most of the sultans were assassinated by their siblings or cousins before they could make a significant difference in their rule.
Influence of foreign rule?
The Delhi Sultanate Empire was mostly built on the basis of foreign rule of that of the Turks and the Arabs. The influence of foreign rule in this case was the core of their belief and the base of their empire.
Change
They had changed everything when they came in. They turned the morals for the Indians upside down and forced them to believe their religion. However, the natives there did not like the change and the impact they had on the subcontinent.
Fall of Delhi Sultanate
The Delhi Sultans Empire fell in 1526AD because of multiple reasons. When they had conquered the Indians, they did not make any sort of effort to respect their previous belief and be a little flexible with their people. Moreover, the Hindus considered the Muslims to be their enemies because of their heavy taxes and their enforcement of their religion. They also had a corrupt army where only the powerful rulers were able to control. These were the reasons behind the fall of Delhi Sultanate and the Timur's invasion against them tipped them over the cliff when they were already vulnerable.
Sultans
Currency of Delhi Sultanate
The world's most beautiful horse
Indian Ocean sea lane trade
The Mauryan Empire, Han Dynasty, and the Achaemenid Empire, Roman Empire traded among each other through the Indian Ocean to trade silk, Indian treasures, Persian jewels, and many more. The Indians traded with jewels with the Persians and traded spices to the Roman Empire.
Without the Indian Ocean trade, Islam wouldn't have been able to spread widely into the world. Muhammad was a trader and the spread of Islam flourished with trade. Without trade, there wouldn't have been Muhammad, and without Muhammad, there wouldn't have been Islam. Trade basically formed Islam along with Muhammad.
CCOT
The religion of India changed spontaneously through the change of the empires. For instance, Mauryan's belief was on Buddhism as well as Hinduism as the leader did not enforce Buddhism to the Hindus. Same for the Gupta empire, however, most of the people were Hindus but Buddhism still coexisted with Hinduism. In the Delhi Sultanate Empire, the core belief of this empire was Islam. Islam enforced others to believe in their religion or they killed them if they refused. Religion was a big factor which changed over time because Islamic belief was completely different from the Indian's previous beliefs. The people of India did not appreciate this change over time for it was against their belief and later overthrew the Delhi Empire
Continuity over time
Although multiple religions have come to India, the people of India kept Hinduism at the core of their belief. For instance Buddhism has come along in India, however Buddhism did not take away Hindus. It only made them believe in two religions at a time. Hinduism is a polytheistic religion which means that they can have more than one god at a time. When Islam came along, The Hindus did not like the Muslims for they tried to put the Islamic religion at the place of where Hinduism was placed. The people of India have continued to keep their belief in Hinduism and accepted other religions as side religions for their comfort.
One continuity over time was that the empires had a pattern of going from unification to dispersion. They were really strong and unified at first and then they end up just falling apart gradually. This had happened to all three of the empires and also the reason why they fell was to the fact that the empire started off with really strong leaders and then headed down hill when the sons of the former kings took over the nation.
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