A Brief History of India and The Ramayana Mrs. Holt English I 2015

The Story of India

– 6 part series by PBS and BBC – Starring Michael Wood – Full Documentary Full Documentary

India - Facts Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan 7 th Largest Country in the World 2 nd most populated country in the world – 1.2 billion

Climate and Terrain Climate varies from tropical to temperate Terrain varies – Himalayan Mountains – Ganges River, rolling plains – Deccan Platue, upland plain Monsoons – Seasonal wind pattern of warm, moist air from the southwest and cold dry air from the northeast colliding

Politics Republic of India Bharatiya Ganarajya (Baharat) Capital New Delhi Federal Republic Gained Independence from UK on 15 August 1947 Prides itself on being worlds largest democracy

Religion Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)

Language English enjoys the status of subsidiary official language but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the most widely spoken language and primary tongue of 41% of the people; 14 other official languages : – Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; – Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language (2001 census) Hello - Namaste

History The Aryan people were farmers from Central Asia who arrived in India around 1500 B.C. They spoke Sanskrit, one of the world's oldest known languages. The Vedic Scriptures, writings that form the basis of the Hindu religion, were written during the Aryan reign. Sanskrit

Literature Ramayana – Valmiki, 4-5 th century BCE – The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of Hinduism, the other being the Mahabharata. It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters like the ideal father, the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife, and the ideal king. – Rama, Sita, Ravana

Hinduism

Origins Hinduism had its origins in the religious beliefs of the Aryan people who settled in India after 1500 B.C. Vedas – collections of hymns and religious ceremonies that were passed down orally through the centuries by Aryan priests and then eventually written down – Veda is revealed and as such does not originate at a particular time in history but is eternal and of divine origin

God and the Soul Brahman – Single force in the universe – a form of ultimate reality or God Atman – The individual self – The duty of the individual self is to seek Atman – By doing so, the self would merge with Brahman after death

Pantheon of Gods Most ordinary Indians could not easily relate to these ideals and needed a more concrete form of heavenly salvation It was probably for this reason that Hindu religion came to have a number of human- like gods and goddesses Many Hindus regard the multitude of gods as simply different expressions of the one ultimate reality, Brahman. The various gods and goddesses give ordinary Indians a way to express their religious feelings

Three Chief Gods Brahma – the Creator Siva – The Destroyer Vishnu – the preserve

Literacy Lesson: Vishnu

Ramayana

Lesson Essential Question Are characters realistic or exaggerated? What is the relationship between the genre and the story it tells? How dies this work compare to similar works?

Knowledge and Skills Look for connections among ideas and identify causes and effect, comparisons and contrasts. Analyze the features that contribute to the style of the work, including the use of regional speech or culture.

Ramayana - Characters Rama and Sita

Ramayana - Characters HanumanRavana

Background As an adult, Ramana is about to inherit the throne from his father when evil plots results in his banishment from the kingdom. For 14 years, he wandered in exile with his wife, Sita, and his brother; Lakshmana. During this time, Site is kidnapped by the evil giant Ravana, chief of a group of rakshasas, or demons. – His names means “He who makes the universe scream.” Rama set out to rescue Sita with the help of Hanuman, the monkey god, and a huge battle ensues.

Reading: the Ramayana Read the except from the Ramayana on page 861 in the textbook. Answer the Literary Analysis questions and the Archetype questions on page 865.