2 - Maurya Flashcards
Indus Valley Civilisation
- Neolithic and Bronze Age
- 2600-1900 BCE
- archeologic evidence
- Figures of Priests and dancers
- pottery
- seals
Vedic times
- (ca. 1800-500 BC)
- Indo-Aryan hierarchical society
- A hierarchical society
kula (family) grama (village) raja (king) brahman (priest) - Period of composition and oral transmission of 4 religious texts: Vedas
- Rigveda
- Samaveda
- Yajurveda
- Atharvaveda
- in Vedic Sanskrit
Indo-Gangetic Plain (2nd urbanisation)
- 6th-5th centuries BC: Shaping the Indian Religions
- City-states in the 6th-5th centuries BC : Ruins of Kaushambi city preserved
- few artefacts, mostly textual evidence
- Siddharta Gautama (the Buddha) 600-500 BC foundation of Buddhism
- Panini and the grammar of classical Sanskrit, scientists, Logiker
- Until then india brahmanical
- Rise of Buddhism coincides with second Phase of Urbanisation
The Maurya dynasty
- (4th-2nd centuries BC)
- 324 BC: advent of the Maurya dynasty:
- huge empire springs into existence,
- unifying India;
- gigantic world-wide religious movements are initiated
- secluded India in close the outer world. »
Vincent Smith, History of India, 1908
CANDRAGUPTA
- (r. 324-300 BCE), founder of the Maurya dynasty
- Rivalry between the Achaemenids (Darius) and the Greeks (Alexander) / Seleucids
- < Seleucus Nicator, officer of Alexander the Great, founder of the Seleucid Empire, defeated by Candragupta Maurya in 305-303 BCE (Seleucids lose their eastern provinces).
330 BC: end of the Achaemenid empire
323 BC: death of Alexander
305-303 BC:
war between Seleucus and Candragupta
The palace of Pāṭaliputra (Patna, Bihar)
Megasthenes,
ambassador for Seleucus Nicator to the Mauryan court
describes in lost book “Indica” the Palace Pāṭaliputra (Mauryan)
columns and Capitel close architectural similarities to Hellenistic motifs of
Persepolis (Achaemenid)
Aśoka’s reign: 273-232 BC
Grandson of Candragupta
Piyadassi (the ‘Beloved of the Gods’)
Prakrit (vernacular) Brāhmī alphabet Dhamma Lipi
Aśoka and the emergence of writing in South Asia:
Most of the inscriptions of Aśoka associate a type of text with a type of support, and they are commonly classified in three groups, According to the chronology:
* the minor rock-edicts,
* the major rock-edicts
* the pillar edicts.
Aśoka and Buddhism
- Inscriptions on pillars most famous one about remorse of war cruelty conversion to Buddhism
- later great promotion of Buddhism
Distinguished Buddhism from other competing religions of the time - Empire dharma on pillars clearly based on buddh, dharma ie prohibiting animal sacrifice
- Spread of buddhist dharma beyond the borders until Syria and further
Promoting the idea of conversion, he personally only after the violent conquest of Kalinga - Production of inscriptions started after the conquest
- First and most personal minor rock edicts, located on border regions
Inscriptions intention to conversion, real victory only by dharma
Buddhist missionaries were dispatched also to Africa and Sri Lanka (later very influential) - Major Rock edicts are more political
- Pillar edicts more philosophical, close to the center of the empire
Inscriptions on pillars were very famous and influential, at End of asokas reigns, polished
Pillars rise directly from the Earth, on Platform, symbolic rise from spiritual ocean, indra King of the gods, Idol for Mandane kingship
12 Meters high Blend of Indic and Western Traditions, Lotus Dekoration, Lion as proning Element of the Capital, Bull and Elefant are Indian, but Lion is Not, imported from other Asian areas
3 Maurya reigns
Candragupta’s reign: 324-300 BC
Aśoka’s reign: 273-232 BC
Kaliṅga’s conquest: c. 260-261 BC
Aśoka as a cakravartin
cakravartin = universal monarch (the one who holds the wheel of the law)
Sarnath; Emblems of Pillars
Sarnath is holy Place for Buddhism, First Sangha After enlightenment
Lion Capital of Sarnath; head of a colomn; sandstone; H: 2,1 m; c. 250 BCE (Aśoka’s reign);
WHEEL
LION CAPITEL
ABACUS
BELL SHAPED VASE w INVERTED LOTUS
- Lotus flower Symbol of purity
Animal Emblems
Galopping Horse
Elefant
Bull
Dharma Chakra
- Four animals represent spreading the Dharma Wheel in the Four Cardinal directions of the world
Elephant, galloping horse, Bull, Lion on the abacus
Lion not only Symbol for Royalty, but the sakyas had the Lion as their totem so Lion is closely Connected to Buddha,
Lion open mouths : spreading the dharma in all Four directions
