South Asia Continuities

Economic relationships between classical China and India were similar and almost seemed to rely on one another. India was considered “the center of trade”. Most trade routes were all passing through and dependent on India. Indian emphasis on trade and merchant activity was far more than in China, and also greater in the classical Mediterranean world. During the Maurya rule, India expanded their trade between the main centers of civilization Eurasia and Africa. Some products produced at one end of the system, such as Chinese silks and porcelains, were carried the whole length of the trading networks to be sold at the other end of the routes, in Rome. As a result, China and India both had to work together and figure out a way to make sure and help each other because both civilizations depended on each other for different things.

When Indian caste system became stable it suddenly became rigid, and people stayed where they were born. Although hierarchy was rigid in both classical societies, they developed stable social classes that produced various kinds of people: the most important being the farmers.

8. Indian influence registered in Southeast Asia by causing political change. Its rulers became more ambitious due to the wealth accrued and tried to construct larger more centrally governed cities and states. Local people were attracted to foreign religious ideas like Confucianism or Buddhism.The inland states of Southeast Asia were more reliant on domestically preduced rice particiaped in international trade and many of them flourished. Trade also spread Indian culture across Southeast Asia. Indian alphabets were used to write numbers and Indian artistic forms provided models for Southeastern sculptures. Southeast Asia also adopted the Indian philosophy of rulers being “good-kings” and having good morals. Rulers

The caste system initially served to maintain strict social boundaries between the invaders and the previous inhabitants. Through the generations, the origins of the caste system were forgotten and it became the general rule of a single society (University of Wyoming, 1997).

Trade helped diffused literary, artistic, and cultural practices. Languages like Swahili formed in Africa. Islamic leverage in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa changed the views and traditions that took place. Religious beliefs of Buddhism and Hinduism also impacted Southeast Asia, while Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism brought changes in East Asia. Mesoamerican and Andean American formed ideas that were based around Incan and Toltecan traditions.

Many changes transpired to the trade across the region of the Indian Ocean basin from 650 CE to 1750 CE. At the beginning of the period, Islam arose as a major religion,

There was a huge demand for luxury Asian goods in India, that would lead Europeans to trade along the Indian Ocean for Indian spices and goods. Because of this, an economy was revolved around trading, known as a mercantilist economy, where European nations would have rivalries in order to obtain silver in the Americas. This would then lead to European countries trying to thrive in the Indian Ocean with joint stock companies and trading posts in order to control the area and help out their economy.

During the post-classical era, larger ships and improved commercial organization supported a dramatic sure in the volume and value of trade in the indian ocean basin

As trade increased in the Indian Ocean basin, neighboring lands like South Asia and Southeast Asia began to engage in specialized production of commodities for the commercial market, which led to a stronger economy. Regional specialization in areas like India, East Africa, Southeast Asia, and China led to the changes in the Indian Ocean trade network. During the postclassical India, the state produced high quality cotton textiles, pepper, and carpet weaving, leather, iron and steel production, and sugar refineries. This allowed merchants to create local, thriving industries because of high demands for specific agricultural products, providing employment for artisans and enabled consumers to import goods from other regions. Not only was India

In ancient India and China a social system was developed to separate the society into levels. This social system is called a caste system. Which caste level you belong to was determined by your occupation and family origin. If you were born the son of a king your life was grand. But, if you were born to a farmer you are a farmer for life. Your birth determines where you fall in the caste system, and you live according to the rules. Both ancient India and China had the caste system. Ancient India and China had similarities and differences in the caste system.

The caste system itself is a system of social stratification, based on two concepts, varna and jati. Varna

What are the four major castes? What implications does the caste system have for everyday life? How does the caste system relate to Hindu ideas of spiritual life? “The four major castes of Hindu society are; seers ( brahmins ), administrators ( kshatriyas ), artisans or farmers ( vaishyas ), and followers or servants ( shudras)”( Smith 56). Smith writes, religious leaders, teachers, artists, and philosophers are members of the first caste, brahmins, khatriyas, the second caste, first known as warriors are now managers. The tillers of the land, the makers of bricks, and the builders are part of the third caste, vaishyas. The fourth caste is made up of servants, those who will take care of the other castes’ needs (56)”. While I was working in India, summer of 2001 and there at the invitation of the richest family in India and staying at one of their compounds, some of my co-workers and I were playing snooker. A young boy walked into the room where we were playing. He stopped and talked to us for a few minutes before continuing to bed. Accompanied by a man of about twenty years old, the boy’s shudra, who had been the boy’s personal servant for ten or more years. The shudra’s purpose was to protect and serve his charge’s every need. Although there is inequality between castes, Smith denotes.“ within each caste, there is equality, opportunity, and social insurance ( 57)”. Although the text

Islam was brought to Southeast Asia by Muslim traders and preachers. It’s estimated they first made contact in the 7th century, likely in Java, according to an account by He ling in the New History of the Tang where a “prince of the Arab lands” was present (Xiu, O., Qi, S., 1060). Ibn Khordadbeh recorded trade posts including Loukin, in present day Vietnam, Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Yangzhou, the end of the maritime route (Wade, G., 2010). There was also a large diasporic community in Guangzhou, which had a self-governing Muslim community in the

There were three main points that explained the significance of the caste society: religious worship, meals, and marriage. Marriage across caste lines was not allowed, so most people just married within their own jati, which was just a Hindu caste or specific social group. When it was meal time, any of the people could take food from the Brahmins, but if a Brahmin took food from a lower class than them, than they would be considered contaminated, especially if taken from an untouchable (also, if an untouchable drew water from a well, then it was considered polluted and unusable by anyone else). Brahmins, being considered the religious priests of the society,

The South-east Asia is prone to trpical cyclone from a very long time.the country of myanmar experienced several cyclonic storms in the past.The cyclone Nargis which hit the myanmar in 2008 is the worst disaster recorded in the history of myanmar.In this assignment I tried to examine the causes & consequences of cyclone Nargis.The cyclone severly affected the Ayeyarwaddy & Yangon divisions of the country.