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Iran and India Before Islam
The Parthian Dynasty (247 BC - 223 AD)
• Rises in the East of Iran
• Long, Endless Wars with Rome
• Zorastrians
• War with Rome eventually allowed their vassals to overthrow them.
The Sasanid Empire (224-651 AD)
The Sassanid Empire (224-651 AD)
• Persian in Ancestry
• Intolerant Nationalists
• Endless Wars with Byzantium
• Extended Family is Base Unit
• Elite Classes: Priests, Warriors, Scribes
• Common Folk
• Agriculture Based Economy
Sassanid Religion
• Zorastrian Revival– Chief Priest (Mobar) Tosar, 225-239 AD– The Avesta canon compiled– Mobar Kartir (239-293 AD) -- Convertor of
Other Faiths
Manicheanism
Manicheanism
• Mani (216-77 AD) – Dualistic Religion
• Ahura-Mazda vs. Ahriman
– Claimed to be root of Christianity, Zorastrianism, and Buddhism
– Called his system “Justice”– Executed by Mobar Kartir– Saint Augustine originally a Manichean!
Later Zorastrianism
• Orthodoxy Survives
• The Teachings of Mazdak (5th-6th century)– Denounced Material Wealth– Asceticism and Social Justice – Wealth Redistribution– Slaughtered by Choroses Anosharvan
The Gupta Dynasty
The Gupta Empire (320-550 AD)
• Classical Age of India = Han China, Augustan Rome, or Periclean Greece
• Chandragupta (320-30 AD)
• Samudragupta (330-375 AD)
• Chandragupta II (375-415 AD)
• Controls North and Western India
• Vassal Kings
• Huns: 500 AD, Weakens Empire
Gupta Culture
• Cultural Contacts with Eastern / Southeast Asia
• Architecture, Painting, Literature Flourish
• Age of Kalidasa, the ‘Shakespeare of Sanskrit’ (Unclear time, must be before 634 AD)
Gupta Inventions
• Chess
• The concept of 0
• ‘Arabic Numerals’ (Our modern numbers)
• Medical Science--drugs, bone setting, caesarian sections, skin grafting.
• The Kama Sutra
The Development of “Classical” Traditions in Indian Civilization
(300-1000 AD)• Solidification of the Caste System: The
Dharmashastra of Manu (200 AD)– Varna (class) system– Dharma determines duties by class
• Brahmin (Priest)
• Kshatriya (Warrior)
• Vaishya (Tradesperson)
• Shudra (Servant)
• Outcastes
The Caste System (II)
• Jatis--Divisions within a Varna– Hereditary– commensality (one may only eat with people of the
same or a higher group)– endogamy (one may only marry members of the
same group)– trade/craft limitations (one may only practice one's
group's trade).– Foreigners assimilated by designating Jati for them.
Hindu Religious Life
• Rise of Single Diety Cults
• Bhakti--Loving Devotion– Meditation --> Devotion to a God– Bhakti inside is achieved by practice of Bhakti
outside– Rise of devotional purity and the Puranas– Gods manifest at many levels of reality
Buddhism
• Mahayana (Greater Vehicle)--1st century BC
• Compassion is stressed
• Goal to become a Boddhisatva
• Salvation through dedication to Boddhisatvas
• Amida Buddha, Master of the Pure Land
Buddhism II
• Therevada (“Way of the Elders”)
• Focused on Monasticism
• Laity earn merit by supporting monks
• Monks contemplate and study Buddhist scripture and meditate
• Ceylon, Burma, Southeast Asia