Ancient+India

5000 B.C-1799 A.D  By: Nathan Kapaun, Austen Tyryfter

__Overview __

Ancient India is know as the land of diversity, with many different religions and cultures. As in Mesopotamia and Egypt, early civilizations were built between river valleys and next to other sources of water. For example the Indus River supported many civilizations that extended many miles. A few major cities on the Indus River are Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, both civilizations flourished and lasted for hundreds of years. Not only was Ancient India full of diversity and ancient civilizations it was full of divine culture and a social caste.Rulers of India based their power on a belief of divine assistance. So the religion and political power were closely related. The Indus valley civilization carried extensive trade with city-states or nomes in Mesopotamia. Many precious resources were traded between both civilizations through the Persian Gulf. Along with extensive trade the Indus valley civilization had a caste system. A caste system is social categories that determine his or her position in society. There were five castes going in order from highest to lowest social position, Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras, and the Untouchables or people with little to no meaning. One of the cultures were Hinduism which was brought by the Aryan people who settled in India around 1500 B.C. With Hinduism appeared the idea of reincarnation which is the belief of being reborn after death. Later on arrived the culture of Buddhism, the founder of Buddhism was Siddhartha Gautama known as Buddha. The principle of Buddhism is to achieve nirvana or ultimate reality with the great world soul. In all Ancient India was know for is land of diversity, its thriving civilizations and its diverse cultures .  __**Important People**__


 * 1) Siddhartha Gautama: He started the religion Buddhism, he is the original Buddha. [[image:worldhistoryatnk/17853620.jpg width="210" height="201" align="right" caption="Budha"]]
 * 2) Aryabhata: He was an astronomer, and gave 0 (zero) to the world, or he gave little to nothing to the world.
 * 3) Panini: He made the sunskrit, the sunskrit was a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.
 * 4) Chandragupta Maurya: Gave india political unity for the first time, meaning that all the political affairs were in order.
 * 5) Ashoka: He was a famous King in India, one of the most famous because he was a fair ruler.

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 * __Terms__ **


 * __**Caste System**__: A set rigid social categories that determined not only a person's occupation and economic potential, but also his or her position in society.
 * __**Karma**__: The force generated by a person's actions that determines how the person will be reborn in the next life.
 * __**Dharma**__: A concept of karma is ruled by dharma or divine law. The law requires all people to do their duty, duties depend on social status.
 * __**Ascetics**__: People who practiced self-denial to achieve and understanding of ultimate reality.
 * __**Nirvana**__: Achieving wisdom or ultimate reality- the end of the self and reunion with the Great World Soul.



__**Historical Quote**__ “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.”

― //Siddhārtha Gautama// media type="custom" key="10820824" align="center" __**Timeline**__


 * 1400 BC-** The Vedas, the Hindu scripture, was written.
 * 800 BC-** The sacred scripture, the Upanishads written.
 * 500 BC-** Buddhism was founded in India by Siddhartha Gautama.
 * 500 BC-** Jainism was founded in India by Mahavira Jains.
 * 326 BC-** Alexander the Great moves into India.
 * 324 BC-** The Mauryan Empire is established.
 * 272 BC-** Ashoka becomes the emperor of India.
 * 50 AD-** The Kushans established an empire in northern India.
 * 700s AD-** Muslim armies from Arabia invade India.
 * 1398 AD-** Timur conquered India resulting in the decline of the Delhi Sultanate.

Civilization-This is the best website to get information in any ancient civilization in my opinion. Detailed-This website really goes into depth about Ancient India I am sure you will find what your looking for in this site. Overview- This website only displays facts and is for a good reader, it also has a very good overview. Religion-This site is good if you like a site that is organizied, if you want to find stuff fast this is it, it also has some pretty good stuff on religion. Religions in India-If you are looking for a specific religions in India this site is all about that.