1. Chapter 16: India and the Indian Ocean Basin
Before you get started, the introduction of Islam into India is an important change in India’s history. The important question is whether Islam and Hinduism can live together. Modern India, at the time of independence from Britain, decided it could not and so split into India and Pakistan in You will see that change in India comes from the northwest through Afghanistan, as did the Aryan societies, but now sea ports also open the subcontinent to change. Understanding southeast Asia can be confusing, it is such a diverse place and it takes on many cultural changes from other regions. We will simplify it down to only a few essential concepts.
ISLAMIC AND HINDU KINGDOMS
After the Gupta dynasty collapsed in the sixth century, India divided into many regional authorities much like Europe after the fall of Rome.
The Quest for Centralized Imperial Rule
(Themes: Political Structures & Changes and Continuities)
The many small kingdoms of northern India were almost at constant war until the period of the Mughal dynasty in the sixteenth century. However, there was one brief period of centralization under Harsha, a dynamic warrior who was able to lead his armies to successful conquest of the northern third of the subcontinent. Once he conquered the regions, Harsha, a Buddhist who promoted tolerance for all faiths, became particularly well known for his benevolent acts.
________________________________________

2. The Quest for Centralized Imperial Rule
(Themes: Political Structures & Changes and Continuities) cont…
The provided health care for all his subjects, promoted the building of hospitals, and promoted the arts. His generosity was noted by travelers such as the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang. Yet Harsha never managed to completely control all the principalities of his empire so, after his assassination, the empire he built fell back into small kingships.
The Introduction of Islam to Northern India
(Themes: Patterns of Interaction, War, Religious Developments & Changes and Continuities)
Islam arrived in India by three different avenues. Military expeditions of Arab forces had conquered parts of northern India by 711 C.E. the Sind thus became a part of the Arab empire with its policies of conversion to Islam or payment of taxes to allow practice of the local religion. Coastal regions welcomed Muslim merchants and, over eight centuries, along with intermarriage to local women, enclaves of Muslims were scattered throughout coastal cities. Other invasions and migrations through the northwest passes brought central Asians with their form of Islam. In the eleventh century, Mahmud of Ghazni made seventeen incursions into India to plunder and demolish its temples, hastening the disappearance of Buddhism from its place of origin. But there were few Muslim converts from his actions. His descendants continued to press into India and established the Muslim state known as the Sultanate of Delhi. While the sultanate often attacked Hindu regions in the south, they had little success and Islam was never more than a minority religion in the regions they did control. Nevertheless, by then Islam was permanently planted in India.
________________________________________
________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________

3. The Hindu Kingdoms of Southern India
(Theme: Political Structure & Changes and Continuities)
The southern two-thirds of India managed to avoid the intense conflicts of the north. Small Hindu kingdoms, loosely held, dominated the political scene but the occasional warfare was not as pervasive or damaging as that in the north. During this period, two kingdoms managed to control larger portions of the south. The Chola kingdom across the southern tip of India maintained control for four centuries while the kingdom of Vijayanagar occupied a smaller area of the western Deccan plateau for a century. Despite their devotion to the Hindu faith, southern Indian kingdoms tolerated and encouraged Muslim merchants.
PRODUCTION AND TRADE IN THE INDIAN OCEAN BASIN
Agricultural surplus in India allowed the growth of industry and trade in the postclassical period. Merchant and artisan guilds became more important but the caste system remained in place.
Agriculture in the Monsoon World
(Theme: Economics and Demographics)
A comprehension of the monsoon system is important for understanding the agriculture of India. Spring and summer brought the moist southwest winds off the Indian Ocean to water the crops in the wet season, while in the dry season the northeast fall and winter winds blew cold, dry air from the mountains that left the land parched. The only solution for successful agriculture was irrigation. Particularly in southern India, large dams, reservoirs, and canals were built requiring enormous human effort to construct and keep in good condition. The increased agricultural productivity led to a huge jump in population. At the fall of the Gupta, India had 53 million inhabitants. By 1500 C.E. India’s population was at 105 million, by the 14th century, 400,000 people lived in Delhi alone.
________________________________________
________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________

4. ________________________________________
Trade and the Economic Development of Southern India
(Themes: Economics & Religious Developments)
Despite the many political units in southern India, trade was strong and industry was increasing. Staple crops of rice, barley, millet, and wheat could be grown throughout India but specialized items such as iron, copper, salt, and pepper could only be obtained in some regions. Extensive trade developed around these commodities as well as sugar and saffron. The political chaos of the north meant that the southern kingdoms prospered from their ability to produce large quantities of commodities to trade to the north.
Temples in the south served as the centers of community, agricultural endeavors, and trade. As they prospered financially, the Hindu temples grew more powerful.
Cross-Cultural Trade in the Indian Ocean Basin
(Themes: Economics, Patterns of Interaction, and Trade)
Prosperity in India was not just a result of internal production but also benefited from the wealth of the Indian Ocean trade. With a very early understanding of the monsoon seasons, Indian Ocean mariners traveled throughout the coastal regions. Large dhows from the Arab and Indian world and the even larger junks from China were dependent on the direction of the wind, so trade occurred in stages. Significant numbers of warehouses were set up in India, a central location, for the storage of goods from each half of the Indian Ocean basin. Then ships would pick up their cargo and return to their half of the ocean with the appropriate monsoon winds. As central to the trade system, Indian cities were remarkably cosmopolitan with Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, and other merchants commingling in commerce and living arrangements. Arab and Persian merchants largely controlled the shipping in the western region & Malays and Chinese mariners in the east.

5. ________________________________________
Cross-Cultural Trade in the Indian Ocean Basin
(Themes: Economics, Patterns of Interaction and Trade) cont…
Regional specialization in commodities grew along with trade so that regions began to produce a greater quantity of a small number of trade items. Cotton textiles, steel production, and leather tanning were among India’s specialties while silk, porcelain, and lacquerware were the specialties of China. Horses, dates, and incense came from the Middle East with slaves, ivory, and gold from east Africa. Some cities and kingdoms prospered enough from trade to maintain their independence from larger empires.
Caste and Society
(Theme: Changes and Continuities)
The caste system adapted to the changes in trade and religion by becoming more complex, as it had in the classical times with the addition of jatis. Turkish peoples and Muslim merchants with their own codes of ethics were given their own place as they were absorbed into the system. The position of jatis intensified Hindu temples increased their power.
THE OF HINDU AND ISLAMIC TRADITIONS
Jainism and Buddhism lost followers as Hinduism and Islam increased in their positions. Today, there remain very small communities of Jainists and Buddhists, but they largely disappeared from their land of origin. Hinduism with its enormous numbers of gods and goddesses strongly contrasted with the absolute stance of Islamic monotheism, but both prospered in India.
The Development of Hinduism
(Theme: Religious Developments)
Islamic armies destroyed large numbers of Buddhist sites in northern India so Hinduism benefited from Buddhism’s decline.

6. ________________________________________
The Development of Hinduism
(Theme: Religious Developments)
Individuals and families began to choose favorite gods within the Hindu pantheon and devote themselves to the worship of them. By intense worship of specific deities, Hindus hoped to become unified with them for ultimate salvation. These devotional cults became hugely popular in southern India with Shiva and Vishnu gaining the widest following. Scholars took popular Hinduism and attempted to devise a philosophy that explained the relationship to the temporal world to the spiritual world.
Islam and its Appeal
At first, outside of coastal trading cities, Islam remained a religion of the conquerors. There was little incentive for conversion to such a foreign theology brought by fearsome outsiders. But gradually, conversion increased because of Islam’s message of equality for all caste members. (Which castes might not want to hear this message?) Often the conversion was by entire caste villages rather than individuals but that did not improve their social standing. The sufi mystics particularly appealed to Indians with their tolerance of Indian cultural values. During the twelfth century, the bhakti movement in southern India attempted to blend the two. It encouraged traditional Hindu faith but focused on the monotheism and equality found in Islam. While this syncretic movement was not very successful, it did serve to connect the two communities.
THE INFLUENCE OF INDIAN SOCIETY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Over a thousand year period, the peoples and governments of southeast Asia were profoundly affected by Hindu merchants, and later by Muslim merchants.

7. ___________________________________
The States of Southeast Asia
(Themes: Trade, Cultural, & Religious Developments & Political Structures)
In the early part of the first millennium C.E., Indian merchants were a common sight in southeast Asia. They traded their products with the local cities for spices, pearls, and animal skins. Rulers used their trade wealth to gain political power. They adopted Indian traditions while retaining many of their own and often, sponsored Hinduism or Buddhism in their kingdoms. Hindu ideas about kingship and political power were particularly appealing. They did not, however, adopt the Hindu caste system. In places like Funan in modern day Vietnam, Angkor in modern Cambodia, and among the Islands of Sumatra and Java, kings used the Sanskrit term raja to refer to themselves and introduced Indian court rituals. Large Hindu and Buddhist temple complexes such as Angkor Wat were built but the people often worshipped native deities as well.
The Arrival of Islam
(Theme: Religious Developments & Changes and Continuities)
Islam became more prominent in the tenth century with conversion of areas of the Malayan peninsula and present day Indonesia. As with other adoptions of Hinduism and Buddhism, local traditions were retained but so were some Hindu and Buddhist traditions. But there was a pragmatic reason for their conversion. The rulers’ adoption of Islam allowed them better communication with Muslim traders and also supported their political power. Sufi missionaries hastened its adoption with their deep spiritualism and tolerance as they had in India and across central Asia. By the fifteenth century, the Islamic kingdom of Melaka grew powerful by controlling commerce that moved between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. After and earlier adoption of Hinduism, it enthusiastically sponsored Islam in regions further south & east.

8. Finished Reading the Chapter? Be sure you can . . .
Describe the effects of the monsoon system on agriculture and trade
Analyze issues of governance which caused India to remain largely decentralized
Differentiate between the development of northern and southern India
Identify Indian Ocean trade routes and the main participants
Recognize the attempts at syncretic religion in the bhakti movement
Analyze India’s political and religious effects on southeast Asia.

9. Primary Source Questions
Examine the photographs on page 410, southern India, and page 427, southeast Asia.
What similarities do you notice?
What are the differences that are evident?
Looking in the text, what connects them?
What does this style of architecture say about the societies?
Read; Cosmos Indicopleustes on Trade in Southern India, sixth century, on page 417.
What is the tone of this piece?
What is the extent of trade in Ceylon?
How much of the trade is purchased for use in Ceylon?