MMW 13 Lecture 7, April 23
Today’s Lecture
 India and the Indian Ocean Basin
 The Song Modernity & (briefly) the Ming in East
Asia
April 28 Tuesday
 The Americas and Oceania
April
th
30
 Afro-Eurasia and Americas
Expanding Horizons of Cross-Cultural Interaction (The
Case of Hemispheric Pandemics)
Post-Gupta India (320-550
C.E)
Southernization
India and the Indian
Ocean Basin
A collage
 Collage of micro-cultures, cultures that had their own
autonomy and yet intermingled with others.
1000-1500
 Civilization of India (and China) more “advanced” than
Europe
 India faced a series of invasions:
Islamization (from Central Asia)
European colonialism (18th century)
India’s regional divide
 Unlike China, no centralized imperial power.
 North-South divide
 North: unstable
Rajputs (“kings sons”)
A Hindu warrior caste
Chivalry, courage culture
 South: stable, though highly
fragmented.
 dependent
on the sea
I. Society and caste
Village as a political unit
Caste and Political
Society
 Caste System: social stratification found in the
Vedas
system as social classes based on
hereditary groups (bloodline or kinship ties), divided into subcategories
Brahmins: highest priestly class
Kshatriyas: ruling military elite
Vaishyas: agriculture and cattle-rearing; landowners, traders…even
money lenders
Shudras: lowest and largest caste group, service workers, unskilled
workers, even slaves
Dalits (The untouchables)
 Outside of the caste system
 167 million Dalits in today’s India
Caste Function
Division of labor, especially for foreigners
and migrants
● established codes of conduct for
behavior which helped people order
their work and their relationships with
others in the same or other classes.
● Subcasts (jati): worker’s guilds.
● Merchants and manufactures organized
powerful guilds.
“Caste System”
Gender
 patriarchal system was prevalent
 but women enjoyed a position of respect and reverence
 Religious institution: gift giving, public active participation
in temple life
Hindu Temples
 Economic centers.
 Organized agricultural
activities.
● Provided schooling
● delivered tax receipts to
the Hindu rulers and did
other community activities.
Sati
Kerala:
Southwestern India
 Practiced Polyandry, a marriage of one woman to several
husbands.
SOUTHERN KINGDOMS:
HINDU STATES
• Chola Kingdom (850-1267) expanded because of
sea trade, dominated South China Sea and Arabian
Sea.
• Gave considerable autonomy
to local rulers.
● Traded with the Chinese.
● spread the cultic
aspects of the Hindu
religion
Chola Empire 850-1279
CE
Arab Trade with the
Subcontinent
Hoysala Empire (10261343)
Vaishnava temple at
Somanathapura
Vijayanagar
(1336-1664)
 Deccan Plateau
 Harihara and Bukka: later converted to Hinduism and promoted the
religion as a unifying factor.
 Vijayanag“City of Victory”
 Centralized: Rajya (Provinces)
 Hampi:
Village; temple
II. Economy
1) Agricultural production: with the increase in agricultural yields,
people began to trade more and manufacture goods (rather
than produce food).
2) Network of sea-lanes and port-cities:
a) Innovation in maritime technology
b) Trade brought water management systems for irrigation
(in the south)
Oceanic Trade
 Dhows and Junks
 Emporia:
Manufacturing:
 cloths, textiles, pottery, leather goods, and jewelry
Agriculture & irrigation
 Southern India: arid land without rivers like the Indus or the
Ganges.
 Dams, reservoirs, canals, wells and tunnels.
 Reservoir: Artificial lakes (250 square miles).
 Therefore: Rise of agricultural
goods and population!!!
Urbanization
 By 1500 the subcontinent had a population of 105
million.
1) Internal Trade:
a) Rise of cities led to an increase in
b) trade: caravan and sea routes (coastal towns like
Calicut and Quilon flourished).
2) Maritime trade:
Lucknow
Rajput dynastic orders
 Emerged in political importance in the 7th century
 Landowners and patrilineal clans in central and
northern India
 Descendent of warrior ruling class, but in reality
varied in class status
Islam and the Indian
subcontinent
 Mahmud (971-1030) ruler of a Turkish dynasty based at
Ghazni in eastern Afghanistan
 1001 the first of numerous invasions of modern day
Pakistan
 1041 Kashmir
 1025 Hindu, Buddhist and Jain kingdoms of Nagarkot,
Thanesar, and Ujjain,
but left them as vassal states
Sultanate of Delhi
(1206-1526)
 Five dynasties, four with Turkish origins
 Qutb al-din Aibak (1206-1210)
 Muhammad bin Tughluq (1325-1351)
Islam

Appeal: egalitarianism & pragmatic (to improve their economic
situation).

Sufism (& Hinduism)
a) Mysticism: Divine as self.
b) Spiritual Authority: Pir and Guru
● Cross-fertilized sects
The Bhakti Movement: Southern India.
a)
Cult of love and devotion.
b)
Fused with Islamic values (as moved to the north)
c)
Shiva, Vishnu and Allah were all manifestations of a single deity.
Shi’i Islam
Sikhism
Make a note
 India’s contribution, in terms of religion, in
terms of economics, in terms of trade,
CANNOT be detached from
Buddhism
 624 BCE
 Nepal; formerly parts of India (Lumbini)
Tang Dynasty (618-907)
 The Silk Road revived
 Chinese maritime presence
 Southernization
Xuanzang (d. 664)
What role did Tang China play
in the Eurasian world?
1) Technological advancements: woodblock printing text
2)The Mongols adopt their advanced urban civilization and spread it
across Eurasia.
3) Cosmopolitanism: cross-fertilization of cultures and religions.
Song (960-1279
 Restored unity in China and made China the richest, most
populous civilization
 Economic cultivation through
Agricultural production
 1279 conquered by Kublia Khan
Accomplishments
 Banknotes
 Developed revolutionary new military technology: Gunpowder
 Deployment of compass
 Movable printing press (Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127)
Tang-Song China Legacy
1)
Revival of centralized imperial order.
2)
Spread of religions and ideas.
3)
Expansive market-based economy (not agricultural)
4)
Major technological and industrial advancements.
What did the Song NOT do?
1) Major economic and technological advancements did not lead to
revolutionize Chinese society? Because it was already self-sufficient.
2) Technology to sail the seas: lacked incentive to sail the world.
3)Despite commercial expansion, kept merchants out of major
industries.
4)4) Peaceful relations with neighboring nomadic societies: big mistake!
Mongols…