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ANCIENT INDIASection 5: Indian Achievements
BIG IDEA
The people of ancient India
made great contributions to
the arts and sciences.
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/india/history/gupta.htm
SECTION 5: INDIAN
ACHIEVEMENTS.
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/india/
MAIN IDEA
Indian artists created great
works of religious art.
RELIGIOUS ART
Both the Mauryan and Guptan empires unified India and created a stable environment where artists, writers, scholars, and scientists could
thrive.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/114857062/Chandragupta-321-BCE-298-BCE-%EF%82%A7-Unified-northern-India-under-the-%EF%82%A7Mauryan-Empire-using-an-army-of-750-000-men-%EF%82%A7-Defeated-the-Persian-general-Seleucus
Their works are still admired today. Much of the Indian art from this period was religious, inspired
by both Hindu and Buddhist teachings.
Many beautiful temples were built during this time and decorated with
elaborate wood and stone carvings.
HINDU TEMPLES - They had huge towers…...
and were covered with carvings of the god worshipped inside.
This one is inCalifornia
http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/of-rock-tombs-cave-temples-and.html
Buddhist temples were equally as impressive.
STUPA
They were built to house sacred item from the life of the Buddha.
Many of them were
covered with
detailed carvings.
Some Buddhists carved entire temples out of mountainsides.
The most famous is at Ajanta. It’s builders filled the caves with beautiful
wall paintings and sculpture.
Ajanta
WALL PAINTINGS
Inside - unfinished rooms at Ajunta
Other examples of temples carved out of mountainsides.
The World’s First Granite Temple - the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. This magnificent temple was built in just
five years, (between 1004AD and 1009 AD).
Many of the finest paints of ancient India are found in their temples….
Hindu painters drew hundreds of gods on temple walls and entrances.
Buddhists covered the walls and ceilings of temples with scenes from the life of the Buddha.
READING CHECK
How did religion influence ancient
Indian art? (SUMMARIZING)
MAIN IDEA
Sanskrit literature flourished
during the Gupta period.
SANSKRIT LITERATURE
Great works of literature were written in Sanskrit, the ancient Aryan language, during the Gupta Dynasty.
The best-known works are two religious epics called the Mahabharta (muh-HAH-BAH- ruh-tuh) and the Ramayana (Rah- MAH-yuh-nuh).
The Mahabharata (composed between 300 BC and 300 AD) has the honor of being the longest epic in world literature, 100,000 2-line stanzas (although the most recent critical edition edits
this down to about 88,000), making it eight times as long as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey together, and over 3 times as long as the Bible.
1st Epic
The name Mahabharata is sometimes referred to as “the great story of India.”It is a story about the struggle between two families for control of a kingdom - it is divided
into 18 books (concerning an 18-day war among 18 armies).
The most famous passage- in the
Mahabharata - is call the Bhagavad Gita (BUGuhvuhd-
GEE-tah).
The Ramayana is the story of the Prince Rama, a human incarnation of one of the three major Hindu gods, Vishnu.
He became human to rid the world of demons.
2nd Epic
He also had to rescue his wife, a princess named Sita.
For centuries, the characters of THE RAMAYANA, have been seen as models for how Indians should behave.
Rama is seen as the ideal ruler, and his relationship with Sita as the ideal marriage.
READING CHECK
What types of literature did writer
of ancient India create?
(CATEGORIZING)
MAIN IDEA
The Indians made scientific
advances in metal working,
medicine, and other sciences.
SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES
Scientific and scholarly work also blossomed during the early Indian empires.
Most prominent was the development of metallurgy,
MetallurgyThe science of
working with metals
They also invented processes for creating alloys. Alloys, such as steel or bronze, may be stronger or more useful than pure metals like iron or copper.
Alloy - A mixture of two or more metals
Indian technicians and engineers made stronger tools
and weapons. Indian iron was hard and pure
making it a valuable trade item.
Iron Pillar near Delhi
Unlike most iron, which rusts easily, this pillar is VERY resistant
to rust. The tall column still attracts crowds of visitor to lean
the Indian’s secrets.
The numbers we use today, called HinduArabic numerals, were first developed by Indian
mathematicians.
Hindu-Arabic Numerals,- The number system we use today; it was
created by Indian scholars during the
Gupta Dynasty
They also created the concept of zero, upon
which all modern math is based.
Other sciences also benefited from the period of Indian history. In medicine,
Indians developed the technique of inoculation,
Inoculation - Injecting a person with a small dose of a virus to help build up defenses to a disease
Doctors could even perform certain
surgeries.
India’s fascination with astronomy, also lead to the discovery of seven of the planets in our solar system.
Astronomy - The study of stars and planets
Other “COOL” things India is know for……….
Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.
The ‘Place Value System’ and the ‘Decimal System’
were developed in India in 100 B.C.
The game of Snakes & Ladders was created by a 13th century Indian poet. It was originally called ‘Mokshapat’. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with shells
and dices. In time, the game underwent several modifications, but its meaning remained the same, i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and
evil to a cycle of re-births.
The world’s highest cricket ground, built in 1893, is in India. It was made after leveling a hilltop.
The largest employer in India is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita
The world’s first university was established in 700 BC. in India. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more
than 60 subjects here.
The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the
greatest achievements of
ancient India.
READING CHECK
What were two Indian achievements in
mathematics?(FINDING MAIN IDEAS)
SUMMARY: From a group of cities on
the Indus River, India grew into a major empire whose people made great
achievements.
