110 likes | 242 Vues
Chapter 3 Section 2. Kingdoms of the Ganges Mr. Schoff. OA. Please have your India maps ready for review!!!. The Aryan Civilization. Warlike people Migrated across Europe and Asia seeking water and pasture for their horses and cattle
E N D
Chapter 3 Section 2 Kingdoms of the Ganges Mr. Schoff
OA • Please have your India maps ready for review!!!
The Aryan Civilization • Warlike people • Migrated across Europe and Asia seeking water and pasture for their horses and cattle • Early Aryans built no cities and left no statues or stone seals • Vedas – collection of prayers • Aryan priests memorized and recited the Vedas for 1,000 years before they were written down • Therefore, the period from 1500 B.C.-500 B.C. is often called the Vedic age
The Aryans continued • Appear as warriors who fought in chariots with bows and arrows • Nomadic herders that valued cattle, which provided them with food and clothing • Later, when they became settled farmers, families continued to measure their wealth in cows and bulls
Aryan Society continued • Aryans felt highly superior to the Dravidians • Aryans separated Dravidians and non-Aryans into a fourth group*, the Sudras (farmworkers, servants, and other laborers who occupied the lowest level of society) *Social Classes seen on last slide
Religious Beliefs • Polytheistic – gods and goddesses that embodied natural forces such as sky and sun, storm and fire • Fierce Indra, the god of war, was the chief Aryan god • Indra’s weapon was the thunderbolt, which he used not only to destroy demons but also to announce the arrival of rain (vital to Indian life) • Agni – messenger who communicated human wishes to gods; god of fire • Varuna – god of order and creation
Change • As lives changed, so did their beliefs • Some thinkers were moving toward the notion of a single power beyond the many gods of the Vedas • Moved towards mysticism • Meditation and yoga, spiritual and bodily discipline
Expansion • Led by chiefs called rajahs • Aryans gave up their nomadic ways and settled into villages to grow crops and breed cattle • Learned to make tools out of iron • They spread eastward to colonize the heavily forested Ganges basin • Some rajahs were powerful enough to rule over many villages • Developed a written language, Sanskrit • Priests now began writing down the sacred texts
Literature • Preserved a strong oral tradition • Memorized and recited ancient hymns, as well as two long epic poems • Mahabharata –India’s greatest epic • Ramayana – shorter, but equally memorable • Mahabharata – 100,000 verses • Ramayana – recounts the fantastic deeds of the daring hero Rama and his wife Sita • These epics evolved over thousands of years • Priest-poets added new morals to the tales to teach different lessons • This would evolved into major world religions – Hinduism and Buddhism