2. Outline: Ancient Civilizations of India and China
Indian Civilization
•The Indus Valley Civilization
•The Aryans
•Buddha
•The Emperor Ashoka
•Hindu and Buddhist Art
The Gupta Empire and Its Aftermath
•Gupta Literature and Science
•The Collapse of Gupta Rule
Civilization in China
•The Chou Dynasty
•Confucianism and Taoism
•The Unification of China:
The Ch'in, Han, and T'ang Dynasties
•The Arts in Classical China
3. Timeline: Ancient Civilizations of India and China
3000-1700 BC - Sites occupied at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro
1700-500 – (India) First evidence of the Sanskrit language
c. 1600-1100 – (China) Shang Dynasty - System of writing
based on picture signs.
c. 1000 B.C. - The Vedas committed to writing. Upanishads develop.
c. 563 – 483 B.C. - Life of Siddhartha Gautama,
who becomes known as the Buddha
c. 570 B.C - Lao-Tzu (Taoism)
551 – 479 B.C - Life of Confucius (Confucianism)
c. 403-221 B.C. - Period of the Warring States
326 B.C. - Invasion of Alexander the Great
3rd Century B.C. - Tao te ching written
261 B.C. - Emperor Ashoka unifies India, making Buddhism the official state religion.
221-210 B.C. - Ch'in Dynasty
221-210 B.C. - Shih Huang-ti ("First Emperor") conquers all rivals to unify China.
221 B.C. - Construction begins on China's Great Wall
202 B.C..- Han Dynasty / A.D. 480-500 - Invasion of the White Huns / A.D. 618-906
T'ang Dynasty
4. The Indus Valley People. The earliest culture to develop in the
subcontinent of India appeared in the Indus Valley around 3000 B.C.
Its people supported themselves by farming, growing grain and rice,
and cotton. The two main centers were Harappa and Mohenjo-daro,
which became large urban settlements with imposing public buildings
and elaborate drainage systems. They mass-produced pottery and
invented a hieroglyphic script (still undeciphered) which they carved
on seal-stones. Around 1700 B.C., their civilization went into decline,
in part as the result of the arrival of a new people, the Aryans.
Mohenjo-daro, 950
Torso, Mohenjo-daro,
third millemium B.C.Early Indus Valley Settlement, 3000 B.C.
5. The Aryans. The founders of the culture we think of as Indian were the Aryans, a
people whose origin is uncertain, and who brought to India two of its most vital
aspects: religion-Hinduism, and language-Sanskrit. The Hindu religion, as it
developed, acquired a mass of deities and legends, but its basis remained, and
remains to this day, the sacred texts of the Vedas, which were first written down
around 1000 B.C. Over time, Hinduism evolved into a complex philosophical vision
of life, which aims to distinguish between the illusions of everyday life and the
ultimate reality. One way to achieve this reality is by yoga, a renunciation of worldly
pleasures. Another is by fulfilling the requirements of one's caste, or destiny, and
living according to one's duty (karma). Aryan society was divided into castes (social
classes) of which the priestly caste was the highest.
6. Rig Veda 1000 B.C
The Rigveda is
the oldest
surviving religious
text in world
(1500-1000 BC)
7. Buddha. At the end of the sixth century B.C., the figure known to
posterity as Buddha inspired a new approach to life that emphasized
the more austere aspects of Hinduism. Buddhism claimed that
human suffering came from indulgence in superficial pleasures.
Whereas Hinduism taught that life consisted of an endless series of
deaths and reincarnations, according to the Buddha this cycle could
be broken by renouncing all worldly ambitions and satisfactions.
In this way it was possible to achieve nirvana, the ultimate freedom
and release from the ego. The truth came not from external ritual or
ceremony, but as a result of personal internal meditation.
Thus, while Hinduism encouraged its followers to enjoy the
pleasures of life permitted to them by their caste, Buddhism
viewed life pessimistically and emphasized the rejection
of the world in favor of spiritual redemption.
Noble Fourfold Path:
1. Existence is suffering
2. Suffering comes from craving and attachment (desire)
3. There is a cessation of suffering (nirvana)
4. The path to nirvana is eightfold
9. King Ashoka. The spread of Buddhism owed much to Ashoka,
the third-century-B.C. Indian ruler, who abandoned his early military
campaigns, supposedly horrified at the human suffering they caused,
gave up traditional Hindu beliefs, and converted to Buddhism.
Under his rule, Buddhism became the predominant religion in India,
although, like Buddha himself, Ashoka encouraged religious tolerance.
The Lions of Sarnath,
Pillar/column
c. 242 - 232 B.C
memorializes
Ashoka’s visit
10. Ashoka's reign strengthened the influence of Buddhism in two
important ways: he established a standard edition of Buddhist
texts-the Canon-and encouraged Buddhist missionaries to spread
the master's teachings outside India. As a result, Buddhism
became widespread throughout southeast Asia,
most notably in China
The Spread of Buddhism
See Text, p. 127.
11. Hindu and Buddhist Art. Most Indian art of the period of Ashoka
and his successors was religious in inspiration. Hindu artists
depicted their gods, in their various incarnations, as representative
of all aspects of life, and Hindu myths often stressed sensual elements:
Sexual union served as a symbol of union with the divine.
By contrast, Buddhist art aimed to inspire spiritual meditation
and a rejection of worldly values.
Erotic sculptures of Khajuraho, 950 - 1050 A.D. The Fasting Buddha,
second or third century A.D.
12. Hindu art, unlike Buddhist art, shows the human figure curved,
voluptuous and filled with potential motion. Parvati below is shaped
and dressed (only in jewelry to emphasize her sexuality and a crown)
like the Yakshi. Ganesha, the elephant-headed god in the center,
is corpulent, the result of "good living." Vishnu on the right is
portrayed with a fit, but soft body, and with four arms to show
his many powers
Standing Parvati, 10th Century AD,
India, Tamil Nadu, Tanjore region.
Bronze, 27 3/8" high.
Ganesha," stone figure,
13th Century AD
Standing Vishnu,
10th Century ce, India
13. Hindu sculpture:
•Sensuality of gods
and goddesses
•Yakshi (female), Yaksha (male)
sculptural
figures from Northern India
• Yakshi are said to be tree
spirits with
“prana” or inner breath
•They are fertility
figures
that
have undergone
expressive transformation
Yakshi, 4lh - 3rd century BC
15. Hindu Architecture:
• manifestations of universal power-
Brahma – god of creation – underlying
basis of reality
Shiva - god of destruction and
regeneration
Vishnu – god who preserves and
sustains creation
Krishna – god of living creation –
incarnation of Vishnu
•Temple construction
•3 inner halls
•Inner center room-womb room
•Rigors of daily life falls away
Pallava
(AD 600-900),
Temple
Sculpture
Southern
Style
Jagadamba Temple at Khajuraho,
Northern Style, 5th Century AD
16. Hindu Painting
• flat and decorative
Churning of the Sea of Milk
Chamba or Mandi, Punjab Hills
early 18th century
17. Buddhist Art Tradition
• Buddha achieved extinction in
Nirvana: result was that he could not
Be legitimately endowed by art with any
likeness of a body
Large mounds called stupas were erected
after his death.
Images hinting at presence of Buddha were
a. wheel (cyclical nature of existence)
b. lotus (spiritual rebirth)
c. footprint
18. Buddhist figurative art:
Enabled beginning of veneration and worship
of Buddha
Seated Buddha image format
a. symmetrical posture=harmony,
perfection, enlightenment
b. Lotus position=discipline, strength
c. Moves from Greek influence to more
abstract versions
d. Frontal and schematic, 3D
e. Harmony between
Individual and Universe
20. The Gupta Empire. After the collapse of Ashoka's empire, India split
into a series of local states, until it became united again in A.D. 320
under the rule of Gupta emperors. Hinduism regained its position as
the dominating religion in India, and art, literature, and science
flourished. The Gupta court became a center of learning and culture,
and commerce developed with China and other parts of southeast
Asia. Shortly before A.D. 500, the invasion of the White Huns from
Central Asia caused the collapse of Gupta power, however, and India
once again fragmented into separate local kingdoms.
Only with the arrival of Muslim rule-almost a thousand years later
did India reunite under a central authority.
Golden Age of Indian Culture
Sacred Gupta Cave Painting, 4th century A.D.
21. Early China: The Shang Dynasty. The first organized urban society
in China came under the rule of the Shang Dynasty (c.1600-1100 B.C.).
Trade and commerce began to develop, a system of writing was
invented, and craftsmen achieved a high standard of workmanship
in bronze.
Spouted ritual wine vessel (guang),
Shang dynasty, early Anyang period
(ca. 1300– 1050 B.C.), 13th century B.C.
Possibly Anyang, Henan Province, China
Bronze; W. 13 in. (33 cm)
22. The Chou Dynasty (c. 1100-221 B.C.). The Chou rulers, who replaced
the Shang Dynasty around 1100 B.C., served as the coordinators of a
series of regional kingdoms rather than as a central governing
authority. In a system that somewhat resembles the feudal system
of Medieval Europe, the Chou ruler relied on the support and military
resources of the nobles who ruled the local kingdoms.
Over time this support fluctuated eventually collapsed:
the end of Chou rule is known as
the "Period of the Warring States" (403-221 B.C.).
Hawk-shaped gold hat ornament
Eastern Chou Dynasty
(Hsiung-nu)
(8th - 3rd century B.C.)
23. Confucianism and Taoism. The two schools of philosophy that have
influenced Chinese culture for much of the past two thousand five
hundred years developed around 500 B.C., toward the end of the
Chou Dynasty.
Confucianism, an essentially optimistic system of belief, argued
that those who were naturally virtuous should, while behaving with
loyalty and respect, help to govern their country by maintaining
their independence and criticizing their rulers if necessary:
The government served its citizens, rather than the reverse.
Taoism, by contrast, taught that humans should withdraw from
culture and society, devoting themselves to meditation and,
like water, adapt themselves to natural forces.
Fachang Muqi
(active 13th century)
Portrait of Lao-Tzu
Hanging scroll;
ink on paper
24. The Ch'in, Han, and T'ang Dynasties. The
disorder of the latter part
of Chou rule led finally to the brief Ch'in
Dynasty (221-202 B.C.).
Shih Huang-ti, the Sh'in leader, forcibly
united the warring kingdoms,
removed from power the regional noble
rulers, and created a
centralized state with an imperial army,
unified a writing system,
and standardized weights and measures.
By a policy known
as "the Burning of the Books" he
eliminated philosophical writings
he viewed as dangerous (including
Confucian texts).
So cruel was his reign that it barely
survived his own death in 210 B.C.
Great Wall of China, 1400 miles long
First construction: Late third century B.C
25. The succeeding dynasty, that of the Han emperors (202 B.C.-A.D. 221),
sought to establish a compromise between central government and
local independence. During the first two centuries of their reign,
China prospered, the arts flourished, and the philosophical teachings
banned under the Ch'in returned to circulation. As their authority
began to wane, however, under challenge by the regional states,
China once again fell into chaos. Order was only restored under
the T'ang Dynasty (A.D. 618-906), which saw an artistic and
cultural revival often known as China's Golden Age.
Ceramic army – Tomb of Shih Huang-ti
Sian, China, late 3rd century B.C.
26. The Arts in Classical China. Under the Han and T'ang dynasties,
China enjoyed a cultural revival. A standard body of literature,
the Five Classics, circulated widely. Among the new subjects to
inspire writers, painters, and sculptors was Buddhism, which
spread throughout China following its introduction in the
first century A.D. The most important poet of the T'ang Dynasty
-and one of the best-loved of all China's writers-was Li Po.
Prancing Horse, Han Dynasty,
second century, A.D.
Standing Court Lady, Han Dynasty,
eigth century, A.D., ceramic
