India

Continuity and Discontinuity for Mauryan – Kushan – Gupta Periods

Continuities

• focus remained on northern India as the standard bearer of Indian civilization

• civilization centered on the Ganges River

• the importance of Pataliputra as a critical capital city

• patriarchy

• contact with diverse people and faiths through long distance trade along the Silk Roads

• religion, particularly Hinduism and the caste system, remained the backbone of Indian culture

• threats from conquerors arriving from the West through the Khyber Pass

• presence of literacy and scholarly activity, long distance trade in luxury goods – no “Dark Ages”

• separate cultures and histories for northern and southern India separated by the Deccan Plateau

Changes

• gradual reduction in the influence of Buddhism – ultimately absorbed into Hinduism

• size and shape of the empire shifted over time – smallest under Guptas

• decentralization grew as more regions became autonomous – Kushans, and especially Guptas, relied on local governorships and regional loyalties to rule effectively

• increasing restrictions on women, particularly in the upper classes, culminating in child marriages and the practice of Sati during the Gupta era

• sophistication of science and literature increase – reach their peak under the Guptas

• focus on oral historical traditions – reemphasized under the Guptas

• indigenous central authority – India was ruled by outsiders under the Kushans

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