The document provides an overview of the history of ancient India, including the origins and developments of early civilizations, Hinduism, and Buddhism. It discusses the Harappan civilization which flourished on the Indus River from 2300-1700 BC and had advanced city planning and art. It also covers the later invasion of the Aryans around 2000 BC, who introduced Sanskrit and the caste system. Hinduism developed out of the Aryan beliefs in Brahmanism and influences from other cultures. Buddhism originated from the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama in the 6th century BC and later spread far beyond India.

1. Chapter 19 – History of Ancient India
Section Notes Video
Early Indian Civilizations Impact of Buddhism as a World
Origins of Hinduism Religion
Origins of Buddhism Maps
Indian Empires
Ancient India, 2300 BC-AD 500
Indian Achievements Harappan Civilization, c. 2600-1900 BC
Aryan Migrations
Early Spread of Buddhism
Mauryan Empire, c. 320-185 BC
Close-up Gupta Empire, c. 400
Life in Mohenjo Daro India: Physical
Ancient India
Images
Harappan Art
Quick Facts The Great Departure
Chapter 19 Visual Summary Mauryan Troops
Gupta Art
Temple Architecture

3. Early Indian Civilizations
The Big Idea
Indian civilization developed on the Indus River.
Main Ideas
Located on the Indus River, the Harappan civilization also
had contact with people far from India.
Harappan achievements included a writing system, city
planning, and art.
• The Aryan invasion changed India’s civilization.

4. Main Idea 1:
Located on the Indus River, the Harappan
civilization also had contact with people far
from India.
• Archaeologists think that the Harappan civilization thrived
between 2300 and 1700 BC.
• The Harappan civilization controlled large areas on both
sides of the Indus River.
• The largest settlements were two cities: Harappa and
Mohenjo Daro.
• The Harappan civilization was dependent on agriculture
and grew a variety of crops—from wheat and barley to
dates and vegetables.
• The Harappans traded with people as far away as southern
India and Mesopotamia.

5. Main Idea 2:
Harappan achievements included a writing
system, city planning, and art.
• Developed India’s first writing system
Writing System • Scholars cannot read this system.
• Must rely on other clues to study Harappan society
• Skilled engineers
• Towering fortresses were built near each city.
City Planning • Streets were lined with
storehouses, workshops, market stalls, and houses.
• Built extensive sewer systems
• Skilled artisans
Artistic
Achievements • Sturdy pottery vessels, jewelry, and ivory objects

6. The End of the Harappan Civilization
• Harappan civilization ended by the early 1700s
BC.
• No one is sure why their civilization ended.
• Perhaps invaders or natural disasters caused the
civilization to collapse.

7. Main Idea 3:
The Ayran invasion changed India’s
civilization.
Arrival and Government Language
Spread and Society
• First arrived in • Nomads who
India in the 2000s eventually settled • Did not read or
BC in villages and write
began to farm • Memorized poems
• Originally from
the area around • Lived in small and hymns that
the Caspian Sea communities were important to
in Central Asia based on family their culture
ties • Sanskrit was the
• Spread east and
south into central • Villages were most important
India governed by language in
rajas. ancient India.
• Most of what we
know about Aryan • Groups often • Sanskrit is no
society comes fought each other longer spoken
from the Vedas today.

8. Origins of Hinduism
The Big Idea
Hinduism, the largest religion in India, developed out of
ancient Indian beliefs and practices.
Main Ideas
• Indian society divided into distinct groups.
• The Aryans formed a religion known as Brahmanism.
• Hinduism developed out of Brahmanism and influences
from other cultures.
• The Jains reacted to Hinduism by breaking away.

9. Main Idea 1:
Indian society divided into distinct groups.
• These groups were largely organized by people’s
occupations.
• Strict rules developed about how people of
different groups could interact.
• Over time, these rules became stricter and
became central to Indian society.

10. Social Divisions in Aryan society
The Varnas The Caste System Caste Rules
• Brahmins – • Divided Indian • Aryans wanted to
priests society into groups keep the classes
based on a person’s distinct.
• Kshatriyas – birth, wealth, or
rulers and occupation • Sutras, or
warriors guides, which
• Determined his or listed the rules of
• Vaisyas – her place in society the caste system
farmers, craftspe
ople, and traders • On rare • People spent
occasions, people almost all of their
• Sudras – could change caste. time with others
laborers and in their same
non-Aryans • Untouchables were class.
considered unclean
and were the
outcasts of society.

11. Main Idea 2:
Aryans formed a religion known as
Brahmanism.
• Aryan priests were called Brahmins, and their religion is often
called Brahmanism.
• Aryan religion was based on the Vedas.
• Aryans wrote down their thoughts about the Vedas in collections
called Vedic texts.
– One collection of Vedic texts describes Aryan religious rituals.
– A second collection describes secret rituals that only certain people
could perform.
– The final group of Vedic texts are the Upanishads. These writings
are reflections on the Vedas by religious students and teachers.

12. Main Idea 3:
Hinduism developed out of Brahmanism and
influences from other cultures.
• The Vedas, the Upanishads, and other Vedic texts
remained the basis of Indian religion for centuries.
• Eventually, the ideas began to blend with ideas from other
cultures.
• This blending created a religion called Hinduism, the
largest religion in India today.

13. Hinduism
Hindu Beliefs Life and Rebirth
• Believe that everyone has
• Believe in many gods
a soul
• Each god is part of a single • A person’s ultimate goal
universal spirit called should be to reunite that
Brahman. soul with Brahman, the
universal spirit.
• Brahman created the world • People must try and see
and preserves it.
through the illusion of the
world, which can take
• Everything in the world is
part of Brahman. several lifetimes.
• Souls are born and reborn
many times, each time into
a new body. This process
of rebirth is called
reincarnation.

14. Hinduism
Hinduism and the Caste Hinduism and Women
System
• A person’s karma determines • Early Hinduism taught that
what physical form person will both men and women could
be reborn into.
gain salvation, but that
• Karma is the effects that women were inferior to men.
good or bad actions have on a
person’s soul. • Over the centuries, Hindu
• Hinduism teaches that one women have gained more
must obey one’s dharma. rights.
• Hinduism was popular at all • Mohandas Gandhi was
levels of Hindu society. influential in helping women
• Hinduism preserved the caste achieve more rights.
system in India by teaching
people to accept their places
in society.

15. Main Idea 4:
The Jains reacted to Hinduism by breaking
away.
• Mahariva did not like the control of religion by the
Brahmins and founded a new religion called Jainism.
– Jains try to live by four principals: injure no life, tell the
truth, do not steal, and own no property.
– Jains practice nonviolence, or the avoidance of violent
action.
– Jains believe that everything is alive and part of the cycle of
rebirth.
– Jains are vegetarians. They do not eat any food that comes
from animals.

16. Origins of Buddhism
The Big Idea
Buddhism began in India and became a major religion.
Main Ideas
• Siddhartha Gautama searched for wisdom in many ways.
• The teachings of Buddhism deal with finding peace.
• Buddhism spread far from where it began in India.

17. Main Idea 1:
Siddhartha Gautama searched for wisdom in
many ways.
• Siddhartha Gautama was born around 563 BC in northern India.
• He was a prince, a member of the Kshatriya (or warrior)
class, who grew up in luxury.
• Siddhartha began to ask questions about the meaning of life.
• Before he was 30, Siddhartha left his home and family and
began to travel around India, talking to priests and people
known for their wisdom.

18. The Buddha Finds Enlightenment
• Siddhartha spent six years wandering throughout India.
– He started fasting, or went without food.
– He spent time in meditation, the focusing of the mind on
spiritual ideas.
• After seven weeks of deep meditation under a tree in the town of
Gaya, Siddhartha suddenly had the answers that he had been
looking for.
• He discovered that human suffering comes from three things:
– wanting what we like but do not have,
– wanting to keep what we like and already have, and
– not wanting what we dislike but have.
• Siddhartha is said to have found “enlightenment” under the tree.
From that point on, he would be called the Buddha, or “Enlightened
One.”

19. Main Idea 2:
The teachings of Buddhism deal with finding
peace.
• At the heart of the Buddha’s teachings were four guiding
principles, which became known as the Four Nobel Truths.
• The Eightfold Path was a middle way between human
desires and denying oneself any pleasure.
• Some of Buddha’s teaching challenged traditional Hindu
ideas.

20. The Four Noble Truths
Suffering and unhappiness are a part of human life.
No one can escape sorrow.
• Suffering comes from our desires for pleasure and
material goods. People cause their own misery
because they want things they cannot have.
People can overcome their desires and ignorance and
reach nirvana, a state of perfect peace. Reaching
nirvana would free a person’s soul from suffering and
from the need for further reincarnation.
• People can overcome ignorance and desire by
following an eightfold path that leads to
wisdom, enlightenment, and salvation.

21. The Eightfold Path
1. Right Thought
2. Right Intent
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration

22. Buddhist Teachings Challenged Hindu Ideas
• The Buddha rejected many of the ideas contained in the
Vedas and told people that they did not have to follow
these texts.
• The Buddha challenged the authority of the Hindu
priests, the Brahmins. He taught that each person was
responsible for their own salvation.
• The Buddha was opposed to the caste system.

23. Main Idea 3:
Buddhism spread far from where it began in
India.
In India Beyond India Buddhism Splits
• After his • The Indian king • As Buddhism
death, 500 of the Asoka helped to spread, not all
Buddha’s followers spread Buddhism Buddhists could
spread his both within India agree on their
teachings and outside of beliefs and
throughout India India. practices.
after the Buddha
died. • He built Buddhist • Buddhism split into
temples and two major
• Buddhist teachings schools throughout branches:
were popular and India. Theravada and
easy to Mahayana.
understand. • Asoka sent
missionaries to • Both branches have
• Within 200 years other kingdoms in millions of followers
of the Buddha’s Asia. today, but
death, Buddhism Mahayana is by far
had spread • Buddhism spread the larger branch.
throughout most via the Silk Road
of India. into China, then
Korea and Japan.

24. Indian Achievements
The Big Idea
The people of ancient India made great contributions to the
arts and sciences.
Main Ideas
• Indian artists created great works of religious art.
• Sanskrit literature flourished during the Gupta period.
• The Indians made scientific advances in
metalworking, medicine, and other sciences.

25. Buddhist and Hindu Temples during the
Mauryan and Gupta Periods
Hindu Temples Buddhist Temples
• During the Mauryan • Some Buddhists carved
period, temples were entire temples out of
small, stone structures mountainsides.
with one or two rooms
and flat roofs. • The temples at Ajanta
and Ellora are two of the
• During the Gupta most famous of this
period, the temples type of Buddhist temple.
were more
complex, with huge • Another type of
towers and intricate Buddhist temple was the
carvings. stupa.

26. Main Idea 2:
Sanskrit literature flourished during the
Gupta period.
Religious Epics
• During the Mauryan and Gupta period, many works of
Sanskrit literature were created.
• The greatest of these Sanskrit writings are two religious
epics: the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.
Other Works
• Writers in the Gupta period also created plays, poetry, and
other types of literature.
• Kalidasa was a famous writer during this time.
• Indian writers produced a book of stories called the
Panchatantra. This collection of moral stories spread
throughout the world.

27. Main Idea 3:
The Indians made scientific advances in
metalworking, medicine, and other sciences.
Metalworking Mathematics Other Sciences
• Pioneers of • The most skilled • Began writing
metallurgy, the mathematicians of medical textbooks
science of working their day as early as the AD
with metals • Hindu-Arabic 100s
• Knew processes for numerals were • Doctors knew
mixing metals to created by Indian about disease
produce scholars and prevention and
alloys, mixtures of brought to Europe used inoculation.
two or more metals by Arabs.
• Doctors could
• Metalworkers made • The first people to perform surgery.
their strongest create the zero
• Interested in
products out of astronomy, the
iron. study of stars and
planets

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