India

=__ESPIRIT Chart On India:__= __**E:**__ Local and regional governments dominated in India, which placed less emphasis on politics than other early civilizations. __S:__ Indian Civilization was deeply influenced by geography and climate. Centuries of Arayan invasion and consolidation laid the foundation of classical Indian civilization. Two major empires united large parts of India at crucial periods in classical Indian history. The caste system structured India's social framework. Family life combined patriarchy with an emphasis on affection. __P:__ India developed extensive internal and maritime trade. __**R:**__ Hinduism and Buddhism were the religions of classical India __**I:**__ China and India offer important contrasts in political emphases, social systems, and cultures. They shared features resulting from the integration of large territories and the use of culture to justify social inequality. __**T:**__ Under the influence of these religions traditions, distinctively Indian arts and sciences developed. =__**Project Slide Show Link:**__= =__**Summary :**__= India's among other cultures is distinctive due to it being born throught experience of historical events and its widespread geography. Unlike China, India was more connected to other civilizations. Because of this, India was more influenced than China from the Mediterranean wolrd and the Middle East. This also triggured for Persian empires to invade India inspiring the country with new ideas of political concepts and artistic styles. Along with this, famous leaders such as __Alexander the Great__ invaded India and influenced India with Hellenestic culture but was not able to establish a empire that was durable. With all these new influences, cultures and ideas in India, this helped shape the vital features of civilization with topography. While all of this was occuring in India, it was still partially seperated from Asia ,to the northern mountain ranges which are the Himalayas. Though passes through those mountains helped India link to other civilizations in the Middle East. In terms of climate, the weather in India could get extremely hot and humid with heat rising to 120 degrees ferenheit during the summer, which could possibly make __monsoons__ occur. But monsoons in India would vary from how disasterous they could be. Some being a simple storm, while others caused extreme floods. Indias civilization was not only shaped by its physical period but by a formative period that lasted several centuries where the Indus River civilization died off, and the revival of the civilization in the subcontinent. this time period was called the __Verdic and Epic Ages__, where the Arayans originally from Asia moved to India with their own impact on the culture and social structure of their new home around 1500 to 1000 B.C.E.The Arayans history was written down in __Sanskrit__, which was the first literary language of the new culture, along with sacred books called the __Vedas__, meaning knowledge. The first epic, which was the Rig-Veda consist of 1028 hymns dedicated to the Aryan Gods. Other Epics include the Mahabharata, Ramayana, and Upanishads. Whenever Aryans were seperated into social classes, it was referred to as __Varnas__ which are familiar in agricultural societies. One group that was in the Varnas were the __Untouchables__ who were confined to a few jobs. One God that Aryans belived in was __Indra__, the god of thunder, who was also considered to be the god of strength. A soldier named Chandragupta Maurya seized power along the Ganges River, he became the firstof the Mauryan dynasty of Indian rulers, who in turn were the first rulers to unify much of the entire subcontinent. Chandragupta's grandson, __Ashoka__ who lived 269 to 232 B.C.E was an even greater figure in India's history. First serving as a governor of two provincesm also living a lavish lifestyle. Overtime Ashoka conerted to buddhism, seeing in the belief in __Dharma__ Unfortunately, overtime Ashoka's empire overtime fell apart and was invaded by new invaders called the __kushans.__ fter the Kushans tried to invade, the new line of kings under the __Guptas__ established a large empire, beginning in 320 B.C.E. Chandraguptas minister __Kautilya__ wrote an important treatise on politics that was devoted to to telling rulers how to maintain power.
 * __I:__** because of its extensive trade, India's artistic and cultural influence reached many parts of the ancient world.
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