In what ways were the lands and people of ancient India, China, and Central America similar? How did they differ? Students can study the culture and geography of these three areas as they developed between 1500 b.c. and a.d. 500.  

What Primary Sources Can Tell Us about Ancient India, China, and Central America 
In examining the writings, artifacts, and images of various ancient people, many similarities and differences can be noted. 

• Written forms – Aryan songs (Vedas), Sanskrit writings such as the Bhagavad-Gita, the Mahabharata, and the Ramayana, and Buddha’s teachings all offer us insight into the beliefs and values of the cultures in which their creators lived. The Indians made many contributions to mathematics and science. They, for example, invented the symbols for the numbers 1 to 9 as well as for zero. They studied the movements of the planets and stars. The early Chinese also developed a system of writing, based on pictographs, or drawings that represent objects and ideas.
• Physical artifacts – From Harappan ruins we know that the royal palace and temple were enclosed in a fortress. By the scarcity of weapons found there we deduce that they were a peaceful people. Buddhist stupas and sculptures tell us much about the gods and belief systems of ancient India. The skill of China’s early craftspeople is seen in the sculptures, jewelry, tools, vases, and dishes that they made of bronze, jade, ivory, and clay. This skill can also be seen in the almost 8,000 life-size terracotta sculptures of warriors buried at Xian more than 2,000 years ago. The Olmec were also very skilled. They long ago used stone, clay, and jade to create works of art and utility.
• Images – These images provide additional clues into the myths, legends, religions, and daily lives of ancient Indian, Chinese, and Central American people: likenesses of Hindu gods and goddesses, photographs of students in China taking an early civil service exam, and Mayan art showing a bird jaguar knight preparing for battle. Historical maps from ancient China also suggest that their society placed China at the center of the world. 

 Primary Sources 

The Edicts of King Asoka

The Edicts of King Asoka

India and Sri Lanka

Dating from the third century b.c., the edicts issued by King Asoka are the earliest deciphered scripts from ancient India available for study. (The Harappa scripts have not yet been deciphered and are believed to be pictographic. Those of Asoka are phonetic.) Although the majority of Asoka’s inscriptions were written in Prakrit (an early Indian script from which all later Indian scripts developed), a few were in Greek and Aramaic. These edicts were found in areas that are now a part of India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

Historians do not know when the script used by Asoka was first invented. The posting of the edicts in public places around the kingdom suggest that many Indians could read by the time of his reign. However, it is also known that Asoka insisted the edicts be read aloud to his subjects.   

Specific edicts issued by Asoka addressed different categories of people. Some of them, for example, targeted Buddhist monks, while others, officers of the state. The majority, however, were for the general public. These focused mostly on social responsibility and were influenced by Buddhist teachings. They also show that Asoka was aware that his was a multicultural empire.

Asoka’s “pillar edicts” (those engraved on pillars) were produced during the last part of his reign. Unlike earlier edicts engraved in rock, Asoka’s edicts were carved with great skill.  The script is easy to read and the carvings on the pillars are executed with considerable artistry.

Ruins at Avantipur

 

 Background Information 

Philology: The Study of Ancient Texts and Languages 

How are ancient texts translated?  How can people today understand works, such as Asoka’s edicts, that are written in archaic languages? Linguistic historians, known as philologists, undertake that task. They begin to decipher ancient manuscripts and inscriptions by looking at the cultural history of a period or people, and taking into consideration the relationship between languages. If the original of a text has been lost, they study the similarities and differences among the versions that exist to determine what is common among them. Through their analyses, philologists help us learn a great deal about many things—from history and culture to literature and language. 

 

 Classroom Activity 

Creating a Set of Classroom Edicts

1. Distribute a copy of the worksheet found on page 45 of your Primary Sources Handbook to each student. Review with the class the material they read about King Asoka, found on pages 228, 268, and 272 of their textbook.  

2. As a class, discuss how the edicts found on page 44 of their Primary Sources Handbook connect to the Buddhist Eightfold Path, found on page 260 of their textbook. Students should then work on their own to complete the worksheet from page 45 of their Primary Sources Handbook.

3. Next, have the students read the more complete set of edicts found at the web link above. In particular, read as a group the last of Asoka’s Fourteen Rock Edicts. Ask students these questions to be sure they comprehend what they have read:  

• Are Asoka’s edicts all the same length? Why or why not?
• Why does Asoka write that he has concentrated more on some edicts than on others—and why does he return to these topics again and again?
• What types of topics from his edicts do you think Asoka might return to more than once?   

4. Emphasize to students that Asoka’s edicts focused primarily on social responsibility—on proper behavior toward neighbors, friends, relatives, servants, teachers, and all others. Students should also be aware that, to this day, Asoka has a reputation as a good and just leader and that his kingdom thrived during his reign. Later monarchs in the ancient Buddhist world, it is said, studied Asoka’s style of government as a way to improve their own. With this in mind, tell students that you are going to have them help improve the “government” of the classroom by using Buddha’s teachings to create their own set of classroom edicts.

5. Organize the class into teams of two or more students. Tell students that they will also need to refer to Buddha’s Eightfold Path (page 260 in their textbook). Then have the class as a group brainstorm ways in which Buddha’s Eightfold Path might apply to daily life in the classroom. (Possibilities include: how to treat classmates, how to treat the teacher, how to speak to others, working hard, doing good deeds, and how to focus on tasks.) Assign each team one of these areas to use as a basis for their edicts.

6. Tell students that each team should use the copy of Asoka’s Fourteen Rock Edicts you gave them as a model for writing the classroom edict or edicts you assigned.

7. Decorate a classroom bulletin board with an enlarged likeness of the pillar found on page 44 of the Primary Sources Handbook. (As students will read, this pillar has become modern India’s national emblem.) Leave space for students to post their own “edicts” on or around the pillar. Then go over the edicts students wrote as a group. Help students revise or rephrase any, if necessary. Then, once everyone agrees that these are good edicts to follow, tell students that their goal is be to adhere to them all year.