city-states of the Harappan civilization

Answer each question with three or four sentences.

1.

What evidence indicates that the city-states of the Harappan civilization represent either a unified state or at least a connected culture?

2.

What gave the Aryans military advantages over the people they defeated in India?

3.

Describe the caste system’s effect on the social and economic aspects of Indian life.

4.

Describe some of the qualities of the Aryans gods of the Vedas.

5.

How do the personal stories and ideas of Mahavira and Siddhartha compare, and how did their experiences influence their respective religions?

6.

How did Hinduism incorporate personal devotion to the gods?

7.

What Persian methods did Chandragupta use in building this empire?

8.

What role did Kautilya play in the formation of the Mauryan Empire?

9.

How did Ashoka incorporate Buddhism into his imperial administration?

10.

How did Roman and Greek civilizations influence India?

Answer Key

1.

Answer would ideally include:
 
· Archaeological evidence indicates that the Harappan cities and villages had uniform size bricks, similar figurines of pregnant women, and seals and tablets with consistent symbols. This evidence indicates a homogeneous culture. Furthermore, all of the cities have a similar planned layout of streets.

2.

Answer would ideally include:
 
· Aryans had advantages of both technology and culture. They had two-wheeled chariots, horses, and superior weapons, including bronze swords and spears. In addition to advanced weapons, Aryans also had a society that privileged military culture and chose its leaders (a chief, or raja) from the warrior class; in religious epics, military leaders were described as godlike heroes.

3.

Answer would ideally include:
 
· The caste system was a rigid, hierarchically arranged class system with four primary classes: Brahmin (priests), Kshatriya (warriors and officials), Vaishya (merchants), and Shudra (peasants and laborers). Those without places in the four varnas—that is, newly conquered peoples and those who had lost their caste status through violations of ritual—were outcastes, some of whom became known as “untouchables” because they were seen as impure. These classes divided Indian society into economic groups but also established social rules for how the classes interacted with one another.

4.

Answer would ideally include:
 
· The Vedic gods represent aspects of nature and more abstract qualities. They also closely resemble the gods of Greece and Persia. Nature is represented by Agni, the god of fire, Indra, a god of thunder and war, and Ushas, a goddess of the dawn. Representing more abstract qualities are Rudra, the god of disasters and diseases, Varuna, the god of order and punishment, and Dyaus, who represents kingly authority as the father of the gods.

5.

Answer would ideally include:
 
· Both came from the noble warrior class, and both left home to travel as wandering ascetics. In their travels, they came to enlightenment and believed that they had found the solution to the cycle of rebirth and re-death. Although the religions they founded were different, they had a few commonalities: an emphasis on nonviolence and a rejection of the caste system.

6.

Answer would ideally include:
 
· In the third century B.C.E., Hinduism added the concept of personal devotion to the gods to the ritualized worship described in the Vedas. The goal was to find ways to worship brahman on the path to union. The pantheon of gods in Hinduism is large, offering many different gods (male and female). Believers would choose one god or goddess in particular (without denying the existence of the other deities) and make offerings of food, flowers, or recitation of prayers to that god or goddess, without using priests as intermediaries.

7.

Answer would ideally include:
 
· Chandragupta borrowed the Persian system of dividing his empire into provinces, each ruled by a governor he appointed, many of them members of his family. Chandragupta also created a Persian-style bureaucracy, which oversaw the collections of taxes, and created a standing army. Public services (including the army) were funded by the tax system. For the first time, one man governed the subcontinent.

8.

Answer would ideally include:
 
· Kautilya was a minister and advisor to Chandragupta, founder of the Mauryan Empire. Kautilya wrote a treatise (Arthashastra) on how Chandragupta could acquire and hold on to power. He advised the king to use propaganda to inform his subjects of his achievements, to use traveling agents to keep him informed of what was happening in his empire, and to make alliances with the enemies of his enemies. By following Kautilya’s advice, Chandragupta was able to create a large and profitable empire.

9.

Answer would ideally include:
 
· Ashoka incorporated Buddhist principles of moral conduct into his law codes, and he banned animal sacrifices and took up pilgrimages to holy sites. Ashoka also insisted that his officials govern humanely and encouraged compassion and nonviolence throughout his empire. He also dedicated many resources to promoting the spread of Buddhism throughout his empire and beyond, through the building of pillars and the copying of prayer texts. He envisioned Buddhism as a moral system that could unite the diverse peoples of his empire. He codified Buddhist texts and warned monks he would not tolerate schism. However, he also honored India’s other religions.

10.

Answer would ideally include:
 
· Greek culture had a great influence on Indian art during the Kushan period. Ideas on coin production were also transmitted from the west to India. The first representations of the Buddha, for instance, were modeled on the statues of Apollo. Roman traders from Egypt followed routes to India established by Arab traders. The presence of Roman coins in India reveals the extent of trade between India and Europe. A Greek merchant involved in trade with India reported on the vast array of goods available from Indian traders.