Hindu India: 300 to 1100 ce

Your father is a master potter. One day a leader of the potter’s guild visits from a nearby city. He says he can sell your father’s wares at a better price than he gets in the village. He explains that a caravan will come periodically through the village to collect his pots. In fact, he tells your father the guild can sell all the pots the village potters can make.

Should the potters accept the guild’s offer?

BUILDING BACKGROUND: Scholars used to call the period from 500 to 1000 ce the Dark Ages or Medieval Period of European history. Medieval, a Latin word, came to mean “backward,” though it really just means “middle age.” Unfortunately, these terms were also applied to Indian history. In fact, Europe and—much more so—India flourished greatly in this age.

The Abundance of India

Throughout the period from 300 to 1100, India was a wealthy country. It produced a large amount of food, manufactured goods and various items for domestic and foreign trade. The nation made advances in medicine, mathematics, astronomy and metallurgy. People enjoyed prosperity, peace and freedom and achieved unprecedented artistic and culture excellence.

The richest nation in the world for over 1,000 years

Economic historians estimate that between the firt and eleventh century ce, India produced roughly 30% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. The GDP is the total value (the “gross”) of everything a country or region produces. It includes the value of food, manufactured items (such as cloth, jewelry, tools and pottery) and services (such as the incomes of doctors, teachers, authors and artists). India had the highest GDP in the world for this entire pe-riod. China was the next highest, with 25% of the world’s GDP. By comparison, in 1,000ce Europe’s GDP was just 11%.

Cities: centers of wealth and culture

The Indian subcontinent’s population in the fifh century is estimated at 50 million, of which perhaps fie million lived in cities and towns. The capitals where the kings lived were usually the biggest. Cities and towns grew up along important trade routes, at sea and inland river ports and adjacent to major temples and pilgrimage centers. Temples had become an important focus of life in cities and villages. They served as places of worship, scholarship, education and performing arts. City life was dynamic, diverse and fulfilling, as seen in the excerpt from an ancient poem, The Ankle Bracelet, on pages 10 and 11.

Larger houses were two-or three-story structures with tile roofs, built around an open-air, central courtyard. The homes of wealthy citizens had attached gardens. Cities maintained public gardens, parks and groves. Prosperous citizens were expected to be highly sophisticated and to lead an active social and cultural life. Ordinary citizens lived in humbler circumstances.

Then, as now, the Hindu calendar was filled with home celebrations and public festivals. Some festivals, such as Sivaratri, took place in temples. Others, like Diwali, Singing, dancing and gambling were available in special city areas throughout the year. Traveling troupes of musicians, acrobats, storytellers and magicians provided entertainment.

Cities served as centers of commerce and were largely self-governing. A four-person ruling council included a representative from the big business community, the smaller merchants and the guilds of artisans. The fourth member, the chief clerk, was responsible for making and keeping records, such as land deeds.

The wealth of the region depended upon the abundant agricultural harvests and the diverse products of many artisans. It was in the city that this wealth was concentrated. The king and well-to-do citizens actively supported the fne arts, including literature, music, dance and drama. They promoted medicine, technology and science. They patronized the skilled jewelers, weavers, painters, metal-workers and sculptors.

SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENT

Among India’s greatest contributions to the world are the concept of zero and counting with ten numbers. This decimal system was best explained by Brahmagupta. He was born in 598 ce and lived during the time of King Harsha. It was much easier to multiply, divide, add and subtract with the Indian system. At right you can see the English numbers and the Sanskrit they were derived from. Note how you can recognize some shapes, such as 3 and some names, such as nava for nine. Aryabhata (pictured here), born in 476 ce, lived in the Gupta age. He determined that the Earth is a sphere spinning on its axis. He calculated its circumference within just 67 miles. He understood and accurately predicted solar and lunar eclipses. He also made discoveries in mathematics. The Delhi Iron Pillar (lower right) is 23 feet 8 inches tall, 16 inches in diameter at the base, and weighs 6.5 tons. This victory pillar was forged in the 4th century and has stood without rusting for the past 1,700 years. Scientists have determined that an unusual chemical composition has made it rustproof. Only a few foundries in the world today could duplicate it.

Find a few English words or parts of words that are related to the Sanskrit numbers. For example, the tri in triangle is related to Sanskrit tri, 3.

Understanding the village

The villages, where 90 percent of the people lived, were usually surrounded by agricultural land. Each had for common use a pond or water reservoir, wells, grazing grounds and at least one temple. The year-round warm climate and monsoon rains allowed farmers to produce two crops a year. The villages enjoyed a food surplus, except when struck by natural disaster. The villages had priests, doctors and barbers and skilled craftsmen, such as carpenters, blacksmiths, potters, oil pressers and weavers. Some villages specialized in one or more trades, which were organized into guilds, or shrenis. There were daily and weekly markets in the villages and nearby towns to barter and sell goods.

Hindu society evolved into many jatis, based on specific ocupations. The jatis are called castes in English. Jatis are grouped under the four-fold class division, or varna: priests, warriors, merchants and workers. A fifth group gradually developed that included scavengers, leather workers, butchers, undertakers and some tribal people. This group, about ten percent of the population, was considered “untouchable” and lived outside the city or village.

The Chinese pilgrim Fa-hsien reported that when a member of one of these castes entered a city, he had to clap two sticks together to announce his presence.

Because the jatis were hereditary, the families became expert farmers, craftsmen, merchants, etc. Each family in the village interacted with all other jatis and were bound together in a permanent relationship. There would be a family barber, washerman, priest, doctor, carpenter, etc., routinely serving the family needs. Thus the village was an interlocked economic unit. Each village was self-governed by an assembly of five elders, called the panchayat.

The central unit of the town and village was the joint family, as it is today among many Hindus. Father, mother, sons and their wives, unmarried daughters and grandchildren all lived under one roof. Land and finances were held in common, and everyone worked for the advancement of the family.

Marriages were often arranged by the parents. The boy and girl had little say in the matter, but if a couple eloped, the marriage was recognized. In the system called swayamvara, a woman, usually a princess, could choose her husband from a group of assembled suitors.

Villages were interconnected with one another, due in part to arranged marriages. The girl often came from a different village, one not more than a day’s journey away. A day’s journey (on foot or by bullock cart) was about 60 kilometers. Visits to relatives created an interlocking communications network through which news, technology and ideas freely flowed. Merchants, Hindu holy men and women, storytellers and pilgrims added to this network of communication and to cultural enrichment. Such itinerants often traveled long distances throughout India. Each village along the way offered abundant hospitality.

Science, technology and art

India’s enduring prosperity allowed for great progress in science, technology and the arts. The most visible examples are the great stone temples that stand today. These temples were expertly carved using simple iron chisels and hammers.

Knowledge was taught in many schools. The world’s first universities were built, including Takshashila, Nalanda, Vikramashila and Vallabhi. Students entered Takshashila at age 16 and studied the Vedas and the “eighteen arts and sciences,” which included medicine, surgery, astronomy, agriculture, accounting, archery and elephant lore. One could later specialize in medicine, law or military strategy. Nalanda was described by Hsuan-tsang as a center of advanced studies with 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers.

Indian medicine, ayurveda, developed sophisticated systems of disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Widely practiced today, this holistic system aims to create and preserve health, rather than just cure disease.

From the Gupta Empire onward, India witnessed a vast outpouring of literature in the form of plays, poems, songs and epics. Performing arts were noted for portraying the nine rasas, or emotions: love, humor, compassion, anger, heroism, fear, disgust, tranquility and wonder.

All these achievements created what historians call a “classical age.” India developed strong moral values and noble ethical principles. High standards of intellectual and artistic sophistication and refined patterns of living were set that served as models for following generations.

REVIEWING IDEAS, TERMS AND PEOPLE

1. a. Define: What is Gross Domestic Product?
b. Identify: What country had the biggest GDP in the world for 1,000 years? What country was next richest?

2. a. Explain: Where were cities and towns located?
b. Analyze: Who ran the city? Do you think this was a good system? Why?
c. Contrast: Give three ways that Indian villages were different from the cities.

3. a. Evaluate: Do you think the system of jatis was a good system? How is it different from modern life?

4. Analyze: Why is this time a “classical age” in India?

ACADEMIC VOCABULARY

commerce

buying and selling of goods

sophisticated

educated and refined

foundry

a workshop for casting metal

barter

exchange of goods or services for other goods or services (without using money)

guild

an association of craftsmen who cooperate in the production and sale of goods

elope

to run away and get married without parent’s’ consent

itinerant

one who travels from place to place

ayurveda

Literally, “science of life,” a system of health and prevention of disease