Chapter 7 - India and China Establish Empires

From Magadha to the Indus, Chandragupta pushed northwest, capturing all of the regions. * Chandragupta began fighting Seleucus I, one of Alexander the Great's generals, around 305 B.C. * Part of Alexander's dominion had been passed down to Seleucus.
In 269 B.C., Asoka was crowned ruler of the Mauryan Empire. He initially followed in the footsteps of Chandragupta, waging war to expand his empire. * 100,000 soldiers and even more citizens were killed in a terrible conflict against the neighboring state of Kalinga.
The first Gupta ruler rose to power by marrying a daughter of a powerful royal family rather than by fighting. * Chandra Gupta I was given the title "Great King of Kings" after his marriage in A.D. 320.
The royal court of the third Gupta emperor was a site of excitement and expansion, while country life followed unchangeable conventional patterns. * Chandra Gupta II was admired by Indians for his valor.

The Buddha emphasized that everyone can achieve nirvana or enlightenment. * By abandoning the sensual world and adopting spiritual discipline, Nirvana was attained. * Following the Buddha's death, his followers devised a plethora of interpretations of his teachings.
Hinduism, like Buddhism, had become alienated from the general public.
Hinduism had established a complicated series of sacrifices that could only be performed by priests by the time of the Mauryan Empire. * People who were not priests had a less direct relationship with the religion.
The advancement of science was aided by the rise of trade. * Knowledge of astronomy grew when sailors on commerce ships used the stars to determine their position at sea. * Indians adopted Western timekeeping methods from Greek conquerors. * They started using a calendar based on the sun's cycles rather than the moon's.
To transport products from India to Rome, traders used coastal routes across the Arabian Sea's rim and up the Persian Gulf. * Traders from southern India would also travel to Southeast Asia in search of spices.

When Liu Bang died in 195 B.C., his son ascended to the throne, but only in name. Empress Lü, his mother, was the true ruler. * Despite the fact that Lü was not Liu Bang's sole wife, she had influential allies at court who assisted her in gaining power. * The empress outlived her son and kept the throne by designating one infant after another as emperor.
To rule, the Chinese emperor relied on a vast bureaucracy. It was costly to run the bureaucracy and maintain the imperial army. * The government collected taxes to raise funds. Chinese peasants, like Indian farmers, owed the government a portion of their annual harvest. * Taxes were also paid by merchants.
China's population rose to 60 million people during the Han Dynasty. * Agriculture was considered the most important and revered activity by Confucian scholars and ordinary Chinese people since there were so many people to feed.
Despite Ban Zhao's fame as a historian, most Han Dynasty women lived tranquil lives at home.
Women were expected to devote themselves to their families, according to Confucian principles.

Painting of Confucious