South Asia
By: Lauren Mlouhi
P - Political - leaders, state structure, war, diplomacy, courts/laws
- In the year 528 C.E, the Gupta Empire ends due to continuous barbaric invasions.
- In the year 550 C.E, the Chalukyan Kingdom is established in central India.
- in 600 C.E, the Pallava dynasty controls southern India from the city of Kanchi.
- In 800 C.E, Rajputs create many kingdoms in both central India and in Rajastan.
- In 888 C.E, the Pallava Dynasty ends.
- In 998 C.E, Mahmud Ghazni conquers the region of Punjab.
- In 1019 C.E, Mahmud Ghazni attacks the northern region of India and destroys Kannauj.
- In 1497 C.E, the Mughal dynasty is established by an Afghan ruler named Barbur and becomes the leader of Ferghana.
E - Economic - Type of system, technology/industry, trade, money, types of businesses
- Dams and Bridges were constructed.
- The wells at Dhank and stepped ponds at Bhinmal were constructed.
- The philosophers Dharmakirti and Dignaga considered atoms to be point-sized, durationless, and made of energy.
- The "Charkhi" (cotton gin) was invented in India and was also known as the "wooden-worm-worked roller".
- Darius had fixed Alexander's system of economy.
- The riches that were obtained from India's temples improved the economic activity during the Mahmud empire.
- Gupta coins were used until the late 6th century, due to continued invasions from the Huns.
- The Huns issued coinage that they had imitated from earlier models.
- The sale of merchandise was managed by the government.
R - Religious - Holy Books, beliefs, conversion, sin/salvation, deities
- Religions that originated in South Asia included: HInduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism.
- Indian Buddhism depleted in the 6th century after the invasion of the White Huns.
- As an effect, pursued religions included Tengri, and Manichaeism.
- The invasion of Sind by Muhammad bin Qasim in 711 further weakened Buddhism.
- There were many instances of conversion from stupas to mosques.
- Arab traders had primarily introduced Islam to South Asia at first to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
- The first Muslim state in India was established in 711.
- Muslims criticized the Hindu faith, claiming that Hinduism was idolatrous.
- Hindu followers claimed that the Hindu rites helped individuals along the path to a pure and abstract belief in a single God swell as the ultimate truth beyond our worldly experience.
- The religious text of Hinduism were the Vedas.
- The religious text of Buddhism was the Tripitaka.
S - Society - Family, gender relations, social classes, inequalities, lifestyles
- In the Hindu religion, the Vedas suggest that women's sole responsibility is to aid her husband in performing obligatory duties and permit him to always continue his family traditions.
- Generally a women's primary responsibility was to give birth to the children and to take care of them.
- Hinduism is essentially a male dominant religion.
- Women were not allowed to officiate in any Vedic ceremony.
- Vedic ceremonies and sacrifices were performed by men for men.
- Hindus worshipped many female deities.
- Men were prohibited from harassing or neglecting women. It was a man's duty to always take care of his wife.
- Young women generally lived under the protection of her father.
- It was often that men in southern asia would have more than one wife.
- Values of the caste system were still present.
- The concept of Varna offered societal dominance to the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas.
I - Intellectuals, Innovation, and Inventions - Writing, literature, philosophy, math, science, education
- By the 7th century, Indian mathematicians were aware of negative numbers.
- The Indians were the first to developed the "law of signs", with commendations to the multiplication of both positive and negative numbers.
- By the 9th century CE, the Hindu-Arabic numeral system was invented.
- The conception that zero was primarily a number and not just a symbol for separation between positive and negative numbers, was credited to South Asia.
- The trigonometric functions of sine and versine, were used by the the Indian mathematician, Aryabhata.
- The Indians also established the use of the law of signs in multiplication.
- The famous mathematician Madhava, developed and founded Mathmatical Analysis.
- The infinite series of pi was stated by The south Asian mathematician Madhava.
- They used the improved series to come up with a rational expression.
A - Art and Architecture - Arts, music, dances, buildings
- Complete sculpted rock temples were built during the Middle Ages.
- The model of sculpted stone building, was constructed by the laying cut stones on top of each other.
- Multiple stone temples were built between the 7th and 9th centuries.
- The temples carved out of rocks were built up till around the 12th century.
- Hinduism took the lead in construction during the Middle Ages.
- During the reign of the Turkish and Afghan dynasties over Delhi, western styles of architecture (such as domes) were brought to India and had a strong influence on the building architecture.
- The Chola dynasty in the south exhibited exceptional advancements in south asia architecture, by building extraordinarytemples, using stone.
N - Near Geographic - location, physical, movement, human/environment, region
- The country's that make up the South Asian region includes: India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.
- The Bay of Bengal is classified as the largest bay in the world; it forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. The majority of the Bay is bordered by India and Sri Lanka.
- The Ganges River derives high in the HImalayas. The river flows through India and drains into the Sunderban Delta and into the Bay of Bengal.
- Hindus consider the Ganges river as the holiest of all rivers in India. The river passes through the Hindu holy city of Varanasi.
- The Thar Desert covers 77,00 square miles of India and Pakistan.
- The Thar Desert plays as Asia's only subtropical desert.
- The Ghats mountains are large mountain ranges.
- The Western Ghats stretch along the western side of India, the average elevation reaches about 3,900 feet up.
- The Eastern Ghats stretch along the eastern coast of India; Jindhagada Peak, the highest peak , reaches to about 5,545 feet.
http://www.all-about-india.com/India-Ganges-River.html
http://www.indoarch.org/arch_thr_ages.php
http://www.iloveindia.com/history/timeline-of-india.html
http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h09ind.htm
http://www.csuchico.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/asst001/spring98/india.htm
http://www.thefinertimes.com/Middle-Ages/economy-in-the-middle-ages.html
http://www.indoarch.org/arch_thr_ages.php
http://www.iloveindia.com/history/timeline-of-india.html
http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h09ind.htm
http://www.csuchico.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/asst001/spring98/india.htm
http://www.thefinertimes.com/Middle-Ages/economy-in-the-middle-ages.html