1. Kingdoms of the Ganges Mr. Schoff
Chapter 3 Section 2
Kingdoms of the Ganges
Mr. Schoff

2. OA
Please have your India maps ready for review!!!

3. The Aryan Civilization
Warlike people
Migrated across Europe and Asia seeking water and pasture for their horses and cattle
Early Aryans built no cities and left no statues or stone seals
Vedas – collection of prayers
Aryan priests memorized and recited the Vedas for 1,000 years before they were written down
Therefore, the period from 1500 B.C.-500 B.C. is often called the Vedic age

4. The Aryans continued
Appear as warriors who fought in chariots with bows and arrows
Nomadic herders that valued cattle, which provided them with food and clothing
Later, when they became settled farmers, families continued to measure their wealth in cows and bulls

5. Aryan Society continued
Aryans felt highly superior to the Dravidians
Aryans separated Dravidians and non-Aryans into a fourth group*, the Sudras (farmworkers, servants, and other laborers who occupied the lowest level of society)
*Social Classes seen on last slide

6. Religious Beliefs
Polytheistic – gods and goddesses that embodied natural forces such as sky and sun, storm and fire
Fierce Indra, the god of war, was the chief Aryan god
Indra’s weapon was the thunderbolt, which he used not only to destroy demons but also to announce the arrival of rain (vital to Indian life)
Agni – messenger who communicated human wishes to gods; god of fire
Varuna – god of order and creation

7. Change As lives changed, so did their beliefs
Some thinkers were moving toward the notion of a single power beyond the many gods of the Vedas
Moved towards mysticism
Meditation and yoga, spiritual and bodily discipline

8. Expansion Led by chiefs called rajahs
Aryans gave up their nomadic ways and settled into villages to grow crops and breed cattle
Learned to make tools out of iron
They spread eastward to colonize the heavily forested Ganges basin
Some rajahs were powerful enough to rule over many villages
Developed a written language, Sanskrit
Priests now began writing down the sacred texts

9. Literature Preserved a strong oral tradition
Memorized and recited ancient hymns, as well as two long epic poems
Mahabharata –India’s greatest epic
Ramayana – shorter, but equally memorable
Mahabharata – 100,000 verses
Ramayana – recounts the fantastic deeds of the daring hero Rama and his wife Sita
These epics evolved over thousands of years
Priest-poets added new morals to the tales to teach different lessons
This would evolved into major world religions – Hinduism and Buddhism

10. Aryans

11. Now please turn to page 58 and complete # 3-5