India's Sanathana Dharma

1. India

2. Early Indus River Civilizations –
Harappan Civilization

3. Harappa—An Artist’s Reconstruction
of the Gateway & Drain

4. Harappa--Granary

5. Harappa

6. Mohenjo-Daro—Entrance to City

7. The Aryans – “The Noble People”

8. Sanskrit

9. The Vedas

10. The Vedas
• A collection of poems and sacred hymns (c.
1,500 B.C.) describing Aryan beliefs and daily
life
• “Veda” means knowledge
• 1,500 – 1,000 B.C. – Vedic Period

11. Government
• Raja (“Prince”)
• Maharajas (“Major Princes”)

12. Chandragupta Maurya

13. Chandragupta’s Conquests

14. The Caste System
• Brahmins (Upper class—scholars & priests)
• Kshatriyas (Aristocratic warriors)
• Vaishyas (Merchant class)
• Shudras (Mass of common peasants,
laborers & servants)
• Untouchables

15. The Caste System

16. The Upanishads (6 century B.C.)
th
• Commentaries on the Vedas
• Rejected Brahmin rituals &
inspired people to reach
spiritual truth and peace
through meditation & an
ascetic lifestyle

17. Hinduism
• Emerged from the ideas in the
Upanishads
• Karma & Reincarnation (the rebirth
of the soul in a different form after
death, determined by actions in the
previous life according to the
dharma, a law regulating human
behavior)

18. Three Major Hindu Gods
• Brahman the Creator
• Vishnu the Preserver
• Shiva the Destroyer
• Plus thousands of lesser deities

19. Another Name for Hinduism
• Sanatana dharma
• Sanatana—”that which has no beginning or
end and that which is there always”
• Dharma—refers to the right way or living or
proper conduct