• Buddhist who tolerated other religions
• Built hospitals and distributed wealth to subjects
• Patron of scholarship and learning

* His empire fell apart after his assasination

• Muslim Arabs under the rule of Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs conquered Sind.
• Muslim merchants.
• Turkish speaking people from Central Asia.

• leader of the Afghan Turks in the first part of the 11th century
• Muslim conqueror of India
• destroyed sites associated with Hinduism and Buddhism
• successors set up the Delhi Sultanate (1206 to 1526)

• Hindu Chola kingdom ruled from 850 to 1267
  
• Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar ruled from the 14th century to 1565
  

What services were provided by Hindu temples in

Southern India?

• community centers
• coordinated irrigation projects
• provided basic schooling for boys
• employed large numbers of people
• stored surplus crops
• acted as banks and made loans and invested in trade

• specialization of labor intensified and the number of jatis increased
  
• trade increased

• summer monsoons that brought rain
• irrigation from the rivers (N. India)
• dams, reservoirs, wells, canals, and tunnels were built in S. India

Items like salt, pepper, spices, condiments, and some specialized crops from different regions were traded throughout India.

Cities like Calicut and Quilon flourished because of the internal trade.

What were major goods produced by India in the

post-classical era?

cotton cloth

sugar, leather, carpets

high quality steel for knives and swords

Dhows from India

Junks from China and SE Asia

India was the site of warehouses for merchants

Tang/Song merchants traded across the Bay of Bengal

Arab/Persian merchants traded across Arabian Sea

China sold silk, porcelain, lacquerware

SE Asia sold spices

SW Asia sold incense, horses, dates

E. Africa sold gold, ivory, slaves

• Modern Ethiopia traces roots back to Axum
• conquered Kushite capital of Meroe in 360 C.E.
• adopted Christianity in the 4th century
• lands included most of modern Ethiopia and Yemen
• traded with India and SW Asia

What were the basic differences between

Hinduism and Islam?

• Islam was monotheistic, Hinduism appeared polytheistic
• Hinduism had the caste system, Islam taught that all Muslims were equal before Allah
• Hindus were vegetarians, Muslims ate beef but not pork.
• In Islam dance was an affront to Allah,  in Hinduism dance was part of worship

Lower caste Hindus converted because Islam taught that all were equal before Allah.

Sufi missionaries helped spread Islam in India.

By 1500 there were 25 million Muslims in India.

What were two Hindu deities honored by

devotional cults?

Vishnu 

Shiva was worshipped as lord of the dancers

• Shankara: devotee of Shiva who taught that the physical world was an illusion, and that ultimate reality was beyond the physical senses.
• Ramanuja: devotee of Vishnu who taught that understanding ultimate reality was not as important as personal union with deity. Bliss and salvation came from individuals identifying with their gods.

• taught by blind guru Kabir (1440 - 1518)
• effort to synthesize Hinduism and Islam
• taught that Vishnu, Shiva, and Allah were manifestations of one universal deity.
• DID NOT SUCCEED IN SYNTHESIZING THE 2 FAITHS.

Funan, in what are now parts of Cambodia and

Vietnam (1st - 6th centuries.)

Srivijaya, on the island of Sumatra (670 -1025).

• dominated SE Asia
• centered on the island of Sumatra
• Rulers built a strong navy and maintained an all-water route between China and India.
• Srivijaya would finally be eclipsed by the Chola kingdom of S. India.

• Angkor:
  • based on kingdom centered in Cambodia that grew rich from agriculture.
  • Khmer kings of Angkor built temple centers at Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat that reflect Hindu and Buddhist influences.
• Singosari and Majapahit:
  • based on the island of Java and grew rich through maritime trade

To Malay and Melaka in the Malay peninsula

Java

Sumatra