Ancient India
5.5 – Indian Achievements Essential Question: How do India’s rich history and culture affect the world today? Big Idea: The people of ancient India made great contributions to the arts and sciences. Key Term
metallurgy
alloys
Hindu-­‐Arabic numerals
inoculation
astronomy
Definition
The science of working with metals Mixtures of two or more metals The numbers we use today They were created by Indian scholars and brought to Europe by Arabs Injecting a person with a small dose of a virus to help him or her build up defenses to a disease The study of the stars and planets Memory Clue
A. Religious Art The Indians of the Maurya and Gupta periods created great works of ____________, many of
them ______________. Many of their paintings and sculptures illustrated either Hindu or
__________________ teachings.
Early Hindu temples were small ____________ structures with flat _________ and one or
two rooms. In the Gupta period, though, temple ______________ became more complex. They were topped with huge ________________ and were covered with carvings of the __________ worshipped inside. Buddhist temples of the Gupta period are also impressive. Some Buddhists carved entire
temples out of ____________________. Another type of Buddhist temple was the
__________________. Stupas had domed roofs and were built to house ____________ items from
the life of the Buddha.
The Gupta period also saw the creation of great works of art, both paintings and
_________________. Most Indian paintings from the Gupta period are ____________ and
_____________, showing Indians wearing fine ___________ and stylish _____________. Artists
from both of India’s major religions _________________ and ________________, drew on their
beliefs to create their works. As a result, many Indian paintings are found in ____________. Indian
__________ also created great works. Many of their statues were made for Buddhist cave
temples. In addition to the temples intricately carved columns, sculptors carved _____________ of
kings and the Buddha. B. Sanskrit Literature As you read earlier, _____________ was the main language of the ancient Aryans. During
the Mauryan and Gupta periods, many works of Sanskrit _____________________ were created.
The greatest of these Sanskrit writings are two religious epics, the __________________ and the
__________________. Still popular in India, the Mahabharata is one of the world’s longest literary
works and is a story about the struggle between two ____________ for control of a
_____________. The most famous passage within it is called the Bhagavad _______. The
Ramayana is a story of the god _________ in human form, as a prince, who rids the world of
demons and rescues his wife. It is seen as a model for how Indians should behave.
Writers in the Gupta period also created ___________, ____________, and other types of
literature. One famous writer of this time was Kalidasa. Sometime before 500, Indian writers also
produced a famous book of stories called the Panchatantra. The stories in the collection were
intended to teach life _____________, each ending with a message about winning friends, losing
property, waging war, or some other idea.
C. Scientific Advances Indian achievements were not limited to art, ________________, and literature. Indian
scholars also made important advances in metalworking, _____________, and the sciences.
The ancient Indians were pioneers of _____________________, the science of working with
metals. The Indians also knew _______________ for mixing metals to create
_____________________, mixtures of two or more metals. Alloys are sometimes stronger or easier
to work with than pure metals. Metalworkers made their _____________ products out of
_________. These features made the iron a valuable __________ item.
Gupta scholars also made advances in math and science. They developed many elements
of our modern math system. The very numbers we use today are called__________________
_______________ because they were created by Indian scholars and brought to Europe by Arabs.
They also created the _________. The ancient Indians were also very skilled in the
_____________ sciences. Besides curing people with medicines made from plants and minerals,
Indian doctors knew how to ____________ people against disease. The Indians practiced
____________________, or injecting a person with a small dose of a virus to help him or her build
up defenses to a disease. For people who were injured, Indian doctors could perform
_______________. If they could find no other cure, doctors would cast __________ ___________
to help people recover. Indian interest in ___________________________, the study of stars and
planets, dates back to early times as well.
Main Idea #1: Indian artists created great works of religious art. Q: What is unusual about the temple at Ajunta? A: Q: How did the Hindu temples change over time? A: Main Idea #2: Sanskrit literature flourished during the Gupta period. Q: Who was Kalidasa? A: Q: How is the theme of the Mahabharata different from the theme of the Ramayana? A: Q: How may the Panchatantra be similar to Aesop’s fables? A: Main Idea #3: The Indians made scientific advances in metalworking, medicine, and other sciences. Q: What were some operations that Indian surgeons could perform? A: Q: How were metallurgy and alloys connected? A: Q: Why do you think the concept of zero was so important? A: Q: What were some Indian achievements in astronomy? A: Q: Since the Indians did not have telescopes, how did they become expert astronomers? A: Reading Checks Q: How did religion influence ancient Indian art? A: Q: What types of literature did writers of ancient India create? A: Q: What were two Indian achievements in mathematics? A: