India, China, and Byzantium

c H A p T E R 9 India, China, and Byzantium Lin Cheng yawned and pushed aside the report he had been writing. Noticing that the room was filled with a soft glow, he looked out the window. A full moon lit up the canal below. Barges filled with rice floated by on their way to Beijing. It had been a good harvest, and the peasants were singing as they poled their barges through the water. Tonight, Lin Cheng felt like a father to these strong, hard- working people. He had been their governor for 20 years. And thanks to the policies of the emperor, he had been a just one. Lin Cheng thought how lucky he had been. He no longer minded that his older brother had inherited the family property. He, Lin Cheng, had been the clever one. He had scored high on the civil service examination. Now, instead of acting as the manager of his brother's estate, he ruled a whole province. What if he had been born under the previous line of emperors? Under the Sui, he would have had no opportunity for advancement. Would he have grown resentful of his brother's arrogance? Would he have escaped to this very province? Instead of bringing peace and plenty to its people, would he have urged them to rebel against their rulers? Lin Cheng felt his pulse quicken a little. These contrasting fates would make a good poem. He turned back to his writing table and dipped his brush in the ink. 157 U s empires grew larger and more complex, their rulers tried Ei! many methods of governing. Lin Cheng lived during the Tang Dynasty in China. For the most part, the emperors of this line ruled wisely. Lin Cheng was able to better his own life and to help the people under him prosper. However fair and just the Tang emperors might have been, they did not allow their people a voice in making government policies. The leaders of the empires of the Gupta in India, the Tang in China, and the Byzantine in the Middle East used several methods of keeping control over vast territories. They established a close relationship between religion and the state. Their subjects, they rea- soned, would be more likely to obey the laws of the state if the laws were backed by religious principles. The Gupta and Byzantine emperors made the greatest use of this method. The Tang emperors did something similar. They revived the philosophy of Confucius, which taught that people should have respect for their rulers. THE GUPTA EMPIRE: A.D. 320-600 After the fall of the Maurya Empire in about 185 B.C., India passed through a long period of political unrest and division. When order was restored, a great civilization arose. Three Emperors In A.D. 320, a new ruler took over a northeastern area of India called Magadha. He had the same name as the founder of the Maurya Empire, Chandragupta. He conquered more territory and became the first in a line of Indian rulers called the Gupta Dynasty. The second Gupta emperor, Samudragupta (ruled 330-375) tried to restore unity to India. He reconquered many of the kingdoms that had become independent after the fall of the Mauryas. Others he won back by making alliances with their rulers. At the end of his reign, Samudragupta's empire included much of the territory once ruled by the Mauryas. This new empire arose during the period in which Con- stantinople replaced Rome as capital of the Roman Empire. The third Gupta emperor, Chandragupta II (ruled 375-415), de- feated the Shakas, a people from the borders of China. They were trying to invade western India. With this military success, Chandra- gupta II won control of the trade with the Middle East and China. Foreign trade improved his empire's economy and enriched its culture with new ideas. India, China, and Byzantium 159 India: The Gupta Empire N TIBET w+,s SEA BAY OF BENGAL Gupta Empire 0 250 Kilometers ~ ~ 0 250 Miles Cultural Achievements A long period of peace followed the military conquests of the early emperors. It was a time of great intellectual achievement for India. The Gupta rulers used their wealth to establish colleges and universities. The upper classes supported a rich cultural life. Consequently, Indian art, science, and scholarship flourished. The universities and libraries protected the Sanskrit writings (lit- erature) of the past. These institutions became famous, and people 160 EXPANDING ZONES OF EXCHANGE AND ENCOUNTER (A.D. 500-1200) came to them from China and Southeast Asia. When the scholars returned to their own countries, they took Indian customs as well as the Sanskrit language back with them. Indian writers and artists produced many masterpieces during this time. A great poet named Kalidasa (lived about 400 to 450) wrote plays in verse that were enjoyed by people of all classes. His themes were love, adventure, beauty of nature, and moral lessons. Music and dance forms that are still popular today were developed during the Gupta Dynasty. Two long poems completed during this period are the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Both were passed down through the years by oral tradition before they were written down. They are still popular. The Ramayana is a tale of an adventurous hero who is separated from his wife for many years. It has similarities to the Iliad and Odyssey credited to Homer in ancient Greece. The Mahabharata contains moral lessons and is respected as a source of religious inspiration and instruction. Science and Mathematics Indian scientists and mathematicians of that time developed important theories and ideas. They invented the decimal system and the concept of zero. The numbers 1 through 9 plus 0 are the ones we use today. Because they came to Europe through contacts with the Arab world, they are called Arabic numerals. The system is much easier to use for mathematical calculations than the one devised by the Romans. A mathematician named Ayabhata calculated pi, a necessary concept in geometry. (Pi expresses the relationship between the circum- ference of a circle and its diameter.) Ayabhata also realized that the earth is a sphere. He understood that lunar eclipses are caused by the shadow of the earth falling on the moon. Other Indian scientists developed theories about gravity. Organization of the Gupta State Indian government under the Gupta rulers was less centralized than it had been during the Maurya Dynasty. Princes controlled areas outside the center ofthe empire. Their only official duty to the Gupta emperor was to send him tribute (taxes, gifts). The princes did, however, have strong ties to the emperor. It was commonly believed that the emperor was related to the gods. No one wanted to irritate the gods by disturbing the emperor. The emperor also secured the friend- ship and loyalty of the princes by making marriage alliances with their families. Like the outlying kingdoms, towns and villages throughout the empire were largely self-governing. Nonetheless, the emperor exerted India, China, and Byzantium 161 indirect control through religion. Hinduism was the religion favored by the Gupta dynasty, and Hindu religious leaders regulated village society. Local temples provided meetingplaces for village assemblies. The priests kept records of local history and preserved local legends. They also helped manage important public works, such as irrigation. The Influence of Hinduism and Buddhism Hinduism helped to make India's class structure more rigid. This class structure began when the Aryans, an invading tribe from the north, conquered large parts of India in the 1500s B.C. The Aryans introduced the caste system. It divided people into four major groups and set up strict rules for living. A person was born into a caste and could not leave it, except in rare cases. A person in one caste could not eat with anyone in another caste or marry anyone in another caste. The Hindu concept of reincarnation reinforced this system. Since people believed that their status in society was the result of their behavior in past lives, they felt that they must accept that status. If they accepted it and lived virtuously, they would be reincarnated in a higher form in the "next life." The Hindu religion also played a part in the spread of culture 1, ~ I t I Hindu sun god of the Gupta Empire, 6th-century A.D. 162 EXPANDING ZONES OF EXCHANGE AND ENCOUNTER (A.D. 500-1200) throughout India and beyond. People on religious pilgrimages to other Indian villages learned about the inhabitants' customs and beliefs. Hindu missionaries traveled to Southeast Asia and taught the people about Hinduism. They also encouraged the use of the Sanskrit language. Although Buddhism decreased in popularity during the Gupta Dynasty, it continued to influence the culture of the time. The mag- nificent temples and monasteries that Gupta architects carved into the sides of mountains were Buddhist as well as Hindu. Though fewer in number, Buddhist schools continued to function. They taught grammar, mathematics, medicine, philosophy, and sa- cred writings to the young people of India. Hinduism, however, had by far the most important influence on the people in their daily lives. Most people worshiped the idols of the Hindu gods. They followed its rules about not eating meat or drinking alcoholic beverages. They also lived by the rules of the caste system. Hinduism slowly emerged as the leading religion of India, a position it still holds today. The Status of Women Under the Guptas Women of the Gupta period enjoyed more freedom than they had in previous dynasties.

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