THE CASTE SYSTEM

1. THE CASTE SYSTEM The Vedic religion propounded by Brahmins (that’s why also known as Brahmanical religion or Brahmanism) Three main features Yagna: sacrifices Karma: actions or deeds which determine the status and caste Dharma: obligations or duties more specifically religious duties.

2. SIXTEEN MAHAJANAPADASIN THE AGE OF BUDDHA SECOND URBANIZATION AND NEW ECONOMY (6TH to 3rd century BCE) • EMERGENCE OF TOWNS • SPECIALIZATION OF CRAFTS • RISE OF GUILDS (SHRENIS) • COINAGE • TRADE • WRITING SYSTEMS

4. MAJOR TOWNS • Towns had come into existence as centres of industry and trade. Sravasti, Champa, Rajagriha, Ayodhya, Kaushambi and Kashi were important administrative centres in the Gangetic plains. Others such as Vishali, Ujjain, Taxila and Bharuckachcha (Broach) were trading and commercial centres.

5. SPECIALIZATION OF CRAFTS AND RISE OF SRENIS (GUILDS) • The expansion of towns brought about an increase in the number of artisans who were organized into guilds. Each guild inhabited a particular section of the town, so that members of a guild lived and worked together and generally had a close-knit relationship that they came to be regarded as sub-caste. In most cases the sons, followed the same profession as the father so the hereditary principle was also adhered to.

6. THE RISE OF SRENIS • There are references of several kinds of craft organization and some of the important ones were the cobblers' guild, the oil millers' guild, potters guild, weavers' guild, and hydraulic engineers' guild at this time.

7. THE RISE OF SRENIS • Buddhism and Jainism, which emerged in the 6th century BCE, were more egalitarian than Brahmanism and provided a better environment for the growth of guilds. Material wealth and animals were sacrificed in the Brahmanical yajnas. The Buddhists and Jains did not perform such yajnas. Thus, the primary resources were made available for trade and commerce.

8. GUILD ORGANIZATION • Each sreni had its own professional code, working arrangements, duties and obligations and even religious observances. Matters relating to wider areas of dispute were sometimes settled by srenis among themselves. Social mobility among such groups, where an entire group would seek to change its ritual status on the basis of an improvement of actual

9. GUILD ORGANIZATION • profession were frequent, since the economic opportunities would be more easily available, because of expanding trade. It is not coincidental that the greatest activity of heterodox sects and of religious movements associated with social protest was in this period.

10. GUILD ORGANIZATION • By the Mauryan period the guilds had developed into fairly large-scale organizations. It would seem that they were registered by the local officials and had a recognized status, as there was a prohibition against any guilds other than the local co-operative ones entering the villages and towns.

11. COINAGE • The introduction of the monetary system facilitated the growing commerce and trading specializations. Coins were made of silver, gold and copper and were punch-marked. During this period most of the republics and kingdoms had their independent coinage.

12. PUNCH –MARKED COINS

13. PUNCH MARKED COINS • Punch-marked coin from Taxila (Janapada)

15. PUNCH MARKED COINS • Kosala (Janapada) coin.

16. PUNCH-MARKED COINS • Coin with elephant and swastika signs

17. GOLD PUNCH MARKED COIN

18. CONTINUITIES FROM THE INDUS VALLEY • Was there some cultural continuity from the time of Indus valley civilization down to this new Gangetic civilization? This question is very debatable but it is interesting to note that the weight of 95% of 1.150 silver coins found at Taxila is very similar to the standardized stone weights of Indus Valley.

19. TRADE AND COMMERCE • There was a great demand in this period for a new type of ceramic referred to as “Northern Black Polished Ware” (NBPW). The centre for production of this was in the Gangetic plains, this new type of ceramic shows the spread of the Gangetic civilization and its influence on other parts of Indian sub-continent as it opened up with new trade routes.

20. TRADE AND COMMERCE • The main trade routes were along the Ganges river itself, from Rajagriha as far as Kaushambi and then via Ujjain to Broach, which was the chief port of overseas trade with the west: and from Kaushambi up to the Ganges valley across the Punjab to Taxila, which was the outlet for the overland western trade. Eastwards, trade went through the Ganges delta to the coast of northern Burma, and south along the east coast of India.

21. WRITING SYSTEMS • The use of script was now common and although the examples of writings from the sixth century have not survived but there are frequent references in the literary sources of this period to the use of an alphabet. During this time various variants of local vernacular began to emerge like Pali, Prakit, Shauraseni and Magadhi. Classical Sanskrit had became the language of Brahmans and few learned people.

22. POLITICAL EXPERIMENTS • Permanent settlements in a particular area gave a geographical identity to a tribe or a group of tribes and subsequently this identity was given concrete shape in the possession of the area, which was generally named after the tribe. To maintain this possession required political organization, either a republic or a monarchy.

23. POLITICAL EXPERIMENTS • Sixth century India saw the concentration of monarchies in the Gangetic plain and republics in the northern periphery of these kingdoms (foothills of Himalayas) and in north western India. • The republics consisted of either a single tribe such as the Shakyas, Koliyas, and Mallas, or a confederacy of tribes such as Vrijjis and Yadavas.

25. POLITICAL EXPERIMENTS • The republics had emerged from the Vedic tribes and retained much more tribal tradition that did the monarchies. • The corporate aspect of the government was strength of the republics. The actual procedure of government involved the meeting of the representatives of the tribes from the heads of families in the Public Assembly of the capital city.

26. POLITICAL EXPERIMENTS • The assembly was presided over by one of the representatives who took the title of raja (king). The office was hereditary and the king was regarded as the chief of the tribe. All decisions were taken on the basis of voting (later on used by Buddha for his monastic order).

27. POLITICAL EXPERIMENTS • In the monarchies, tribal loyalty weakened and gave way to caste loyalties. The political expansion of the kingdoms (Kashi, Kosala, Magadha and Anga) over large areas made frequent tribal meetings redundant. In the monarchical system, the divinity of the king with the power of the priests and theVedic rituals further reduced the status of the tribal traditions.

28. POLITICAL EXPERIMENTS • Kingship had by now become hereditary with a preference for the rulers of the kshatriya caste, although this preference remained theoretical, since kings of all four castes are known to have ruled, according to the political expediency. The divine nature of kingship was an established idea and it was reinforced from time to time by mean of elaborate ritual sacrifices which the king initiated for example

29. ASHVAMEDHA YAGNA • the ashvamedha sacrifice: the kings who wanted to establish sovereignty over a large area, let loose their horse with their emblems on it for a year to roam in their kingdom. If the horse returned unharmed it meant no one had challenged the authority of that ruler. If the horse came back injured it meant open confrontation and war.

30. POLITICAL EXPERIMENTS • A number of kingdoms have been mentioned in the literature and among these Kashi was at first the most important but its eminence did not last long. Finally there were four rival states: three kingdoms: Kashi, Kosala, Magadha and Vrijji republic.

31. POLITICAL EXPERIMENTS • The battle of pre-eminence in the Gangetic region lasted for a long time and finally Magadha emerged victorious and established itself as a centre of political activity in northern India, a position which was maintained for centuries.

32. SHRAMANIC SECTS • The changing features of social, political and economic life, such as the growth of towns, expansion of the artisan class and the rapid development of trade and commerce were closely linked with changes in another sphere; that of religion and philosophical speculation. The conflict between the established orthodoxy and the aspiration of newly rising groups in the urban centres must have

33. SHRAMANIC SECTS intensified the process, which resulted in a remarkable richness and vigour in thought. Thinkers such as the Ajivikas were followers of philosophy of complete predetermination-destiny controlled everything and individual could not change anything. There was a wide variety of atheistical sects and they were regarded with disdain and were accused of immoral practices by the orthodox.

34. THE SHRAMANIK CHALLENGE FROM WITHIN • Brahmanical concepts of the Vedas and their practices were challenged by the many, especially, those who could read and understand the texts right from the very beginning. The Upanishads are the result of that criticism where the abstract concepts of worship especially yagnas were disdained. The creation story (cosmic sacrifice was the first one to be challenged)…

35. THE CREATION HYMN • Then there was not non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it.What covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there, unfathomed depth of water?Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal:No sign was there, the day's and night's divider.That one thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature Apart from it was nothing whatsoever.

36. THE NEW MOVEMENTS • The intellectuals, priests, and philosophers had started the process of protest and provided the groundwork for the new religious movements. The search to end the cycle of birth and rebirth and to attain moksha was the main issue with many possible answers. Two men showed the possibility to attain moksha and end the cycle of samsara by following non-Vedic rituals…

37. SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA

38. GAUTAMA BUDDHA • Buddha (or the Enlightened One) as he was called, came from the republican tribe of Shakyas and his father was a chief of a tribe. • He was born in about 566 B C E and lived a life of a young prince but with increasing dissatisfaction, until he left his family and disappeared to become an ascetic.

39. GAUTAMA BUDDHA • After six years of severe hardship he decided that the path to salvation was not asceticism and discarded it. He then resolved to discover the means of salvation through meditation, and eventually on 49th day of his mediation he received Enlightenment and understood the cause of suffering in this world. He preached his first sermon at Sarnath and gathered his first five disciples.

41. SARNATH

42. BUDDHA AT THE DEATH BED

43. DHYANA MUDRA

44. TEACHINGS • He explained the middle way which avoids extremes as a way to attain nirvana. (end of cycle of birth and rebirth). • Buddha’s teaching were compiled in Pali language and most of the teachings are preserved in Pali and Sanskrit.

45. TEACHINGS • The Four Noble Truths are: 1. There is suffering; 2. Suffering has a cause; 3. The cause is removable, and 4. There are ways to remove the causes. • To remove the causes the Buddha prescribed an Eight-fold Path: Right speech, Right action, Right livelihood, Right effort, Right mindfulness, Right concentration, Right attitude and Right view.

46. THREE JEWELS • Buddham sharanam gachhami • Dhamman sharanam gachhami • Sangham sharanam gachhami • TRANSLATION • I SEEK REFUGE IN BUDDHA • I SEEK REFUGE IN DHAMMA • I SEEK REFUGE IN SANGHA

47. HINAYAN BUDDHISM • At the second of the two councils held to determine the Buddhist canon, a schism occurred, and the main body of the monks, who described themselves as the inheritors of the Buddha’s own doctrines, became associated with the path known as Theravada. Later this would become known as the Hinayana "The Lesser Vehicle", which is the school of Buddhism that still prevails in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos.

48. MAHAYAN BUDDHISM • The other principal school of Buddhism is the Mahayana, which described itself as "The Greater Vehicle". The followeres of this school saw Buddha not as a savior but as an example. The worship of the emblems of the Buddha — such as the wheel, his footprints, or the empty throne was one of the means of salvation.

49. MAHAYAN BUDDHISM • The idea of the bodhisattva, or a would-be Buddha who endeavored to bring ordinary people on to the right path was developed by followers of Mahayana Buddhism. Faith in the bodhisattva was thought to make possible spiritual achievement. Nirvana was a annihilation of everything in Hinayan Buddhism, Mahyana thought of Nirvana as an attainment.

50. WORLD VIEW OF BUDDHISM