Arabic Numerals and Bhagavad Gita

Arabic numerals were responsible for the development of place-values in mathematics; this was brought about by the introduction of 0.  Other mathematics systems were available at the time, but Arabic numerals is the most simplified.

Bhagavad Gita

• Humans are born neutral and have to prove their goodness.  Kshatriya for example were granted honor and life in heaven if they were to fight and die in battle; if they chose to cower, the Kshatriya would be belittled and lead a life of infamy.
• Those who focused and indulged in worldly pleasures would be unable to reach an afterlife in heaven.
• There is no fear of death; existence on earth is not given such a high value because once one dies, he or she is birthed again.

Zarathustra

• Zarathustra developed a religion that focused on Ahura Mazada (good) against Angra Mainu (evil).  After they lived their life on earth, they would be judged on whether they are sent to a paradise or hellish realm.
• People should enjoy the worldly pleasures that are available in moderation because the worldly life is a gift from Ahura Mazda.
• Humans are responsible for whether they are good or evil as indicated by the hymn from the Gathas on page 176 in the textbook.

Confucius

• Humans are born with ren; they are all capable of doing good.
• Confucius did not address religion because he believed human intelligence was too limited to understand it.

Map of China

            The Han Dynasty suffered from economic and social difficulties brought about by their greatest emperor, Han Wudi.  Han Wudi was responsible for some beneficial things such as the Confucian educational system which would help men prepare for government jobs.  Other actions of his weakened the Han Dynasty.  Expanding the empire into Korea and North Vietnam placed a lot of economic strain and consumed a lot of the empire’s excess wealth.  As a result, Han Wudi collected land from the wealthy, often illegally, and raised taxes to restore some wealth.  These two actions hurt their economy by discouraging investments in manufacturing and trading.

            Despite the fact that Han Wudi brought down the economic and political structure of China, the best place to intervene would be during the Later Han Dynasty.  Han Wudi helped with the survival of China; his conquests into central China conquered areas of the Xiongnu people.  These conquests sent the Xiongnu into disarray, thus ending the threat of Xiongnu army.  Taking over before Wang Mang comes to power does not seem to be the best place.  Tensions were already high from the degrading economy and development of social distinctions.  Taking over at this time would be problematic because of the insurrection against Wang Mang by irritated landlords and peasants.  The best place to take over would be the early Former Han dynasty.  The Han dynasty was in a weakened state, but they had the military to enforce boundaries against the Xiongnu.  I would take power during this time and distribute the land from landlords to peasants.  By learning from Wang Mang’s errors, I would take some of the military power to enforce distribution of land.  This distribution of land would hopefully destroy social distinctions.  This would be done by taxing the landlords to the point where they have to sell their land in order to pay them, and the peasants would be taxed so that they would have enough money to pay for food and a bit extra to save up to buy land from the landlords.  I would also unite factions by establishing a common enemy.  The enemy would probably be the Xiongnu because China had already been keeping the Xiongnu submissive and had been controlling the silk roads that supported the Xiongnu.  

Daoism

Daoism is the thought in which humans should relinquish their desires and live simplistically with nature by attending to comprehensible matters.

Confucianism

1)      According to Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus, religion is the belief in one or more gods.  I do not think that Confucianism is a religion.  Nowhere was it mentioned that people were supposed to worship or fear a higher spiritual being.  The reading focused on ethical behavior like filial piety.

2)      The reading supports the idea that people were born in the neutral zone and needed to embrace good behavior.  Following the ethical rules would lead people in the right direction; as philosopher Yu stated, “’In practising the rules of propriety, a natural ease is to be prized” (Book I. Chapter XII. Line 1-3).  Yu implies that following the rules of society allows humans to be more comfortable because it leads them from the path of evil.  Malicious behavior brings shame, so, “’When respect is shown according to what is proper, one keeps far from shame and disgrace’” (Book I. Chapter XIII. Line 1-5).  Attention to wording reveals that people are not born virtuous; humans, “’If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame, and moreover will become good’” (Book II. Chapter III. Line 8-12).  The use of the phrase “will become good” indicates that human beings have to find their way to the path of uprightness. 

Map of Persia

Blue = Water
Orange = Range of Achaemenid Empire
Purple = Royal Road

Zarathustra on Good and Evil

            Zarathustra founded Zoroastrianism after a ten year journey.  Zoroastrianism dealt with the clash of the supreme god, Ahura Mazda, against the pure evil spirit named Angra Mainu.  These two titans would judge humans based upon their life in the material world; if they were good, they went to paradise.  And if they behaved badly, then they were sent to a hellish world.  Zarathustra assumed that nearly everybody, if not everybody, constantly was aware of the afterlife.  Zoroastrianism emphasized the importance of the material world; it was a gift from Ahura Mazda that was created for humans to enjoy everything pleasurable in moderation.  This makes the physical appear as a temporary opportunity to experience pleasure; some could have indulged in the physical world because the afterlife could be lacking in these opportunities.

            Zarathustra assumed that the issue of right and wrong did not have a gray area.  There could be many situations in which a good deed for someone is a bad moral choice for another.  If a family is suffering, the son could take steal some food for the family; he would be doing a good deed for his family.  To others, the son was observing low moral standards.  Also, some things could seem negligible for some, but it could change the lives of others.  Raising taxes by the slightest amount might only yield small difference, but it could drive the payers to doing unethical things.  The higher-ups wouldn’t know what kind of issues they brought about and would not think if they committed a foul act, but the evil-doer would have had no other option.  

History Head Comment

I commented on Harsha's project located here http://harshachittoorworld.blogspot.com/2013/09/history-head-project.html#comment-form .

Hello Harsha!

Your artistic talent caught my eye, and I felt the need to comment on your project.

I like how you drew all of the pictures. I particularly like the external image for theme two. You can see the smugness of the ruler by the way he is slouching. In contrast to the ruler are the two laborers working to satisfy the desires of the wealthy. The drawing really conveys the idea that rulers held the power to get things they wanted. I was also pleased with the fact that you took the external image from theme two and split it into two to make an internal and external images. The inequality shows with how the laborers had to work for those who ranked higher than them, and they had to remain submissive to the rulers.
This poster could benefit from some colors. If maybe you just outlined some of the people or landscape with colored pencils or printed out some pictures, the poster would look even better. Organization is another thing that could use some work. The key could be condensed, and the pictures could be spread out across the construction paper. I think the poster would look much better if the pictures were much larger and scattered across the construction paper.
One similarity that really had me intrigued was the fact that laborers had no other option other than to serve the elites. The Caste system had people in the shudras Varna that had similar roles; shudras were composed of washers, sweepers, shoemakers, and more whose purpose was to serve others. The laborers of Latin America’s purpose were to serve the elites.
A difference that caught my eye was that the people of Latin America conquered in order to gain knowledge. India had many chiefdoms while the Aryans were there, and they often fell into conflict. The Aryans were able to develop kingdoms with a more complex political system through conquest. 

Why did you choose to show laborers building giant heads for rulers in theme two instead of talking about the temples that the Latin Americans built?
Why do you think that the Olmec were unable to maintain their control, but India was able to?

History Head Project: India

For this History Head Project, I worked with Anu, Aman, and Kevin.  India was the region that we were assigned.

Theme 1: Interaction between humans and the environment.
The image inside the head shows people farming in the Indus River valley.  The Indus River valley produced a lot of crops for India, but it was plagued by one issue: deforestation.  This leads the external picture.  The image shows trees in a desert; deforestation transformed the Indus River valley from a rich, fertile land into a barren desert.

Theme 2: Development of Religion
The external image shows a group of people working together on a community service project.  They performed good deeds in order to maintain a good karma.  Good karma led to their soul becoming one with Brahman.  This is the internal picture; the people are praying because they want to become one with Brahman and end their reincarnation cycle.

Theme 3: Expansion
During the Vedic Age, Aryans clashed with the Dravidians, hence the (crude) drawing of two groups fighting against one another.  These battles led to destruction of irrigation systems in the Indus River valley, and crops were destroyed because of this.

Theme 4: Interaction Between Economic Systems
The internal image shows the farming of money; the surplus led to development of cities and specialized labor.  Agriculture was important for India's trade too.  The external image shows a person travelling down the Indus River in order to claim a spot of land to farm.

Theme 5: Development of Social Structures
Aryans developed a Caste system in India as they expanded.  At first, the Caste system was determined by skin color, but it later changed.  The external image shows brahmin at the top, followed by kshatriya, then Vaishyas, and finally the shudras.  Although brahmin enjoyed a wealthy life while the shudras suffered, each tier of the system was crucial for the society of India.  The internal image shows the relationship between different levels of the Caste.  The brahmin enjoys the ability of ordering the shudras, and the shudra has to follow the orders.

AP World Test 1-6

                The history test we took today in AP World instilled fear into me.  I spent about two hours per chapter; I read it carefully and took notes of everything: dates, people, and geographic locations.  These notes were excessive, and there was too much for my own good.  The day before the test, I was scared of how difficult it was going to be.  Up until the moment of the test, I was afraid of the difficulty.  When the test was passed out, I looked at it with confidence.  The test was not as brutal as I thought it was going to be, but it was not a walk in the park.  I answered some of the questions with complete confidence; other questions had me doubting myself.  I particularly had difficult with the questions in which you had three options and had to choose the combination that was correct.  I also had a small bit of difficulty with maps and quotes, which was peculiar because I usually never have issues with those types of questions.  The test was a bit easier than I expected, and I felt that I did an okay job on the test; only when I see my grade can I say that I did a good job.  For the next test I will prepare by carefully reading over the textbook, and I will take notes that focus less on dates.