in the discipline "Culturology"
"Cultural Monuments of Ancient India"
Introduction
1. Harappan Civilization
2. Buddhist art in India
Conclusion
List of used literature
The culture of the Ancient East attracts modern tourists with its exoticism. Abandoned cities and monumental temples speak volumes about bygone civilizations. But the heritage of the Ancient East is not only temples and monuments. Buddhism, the oldest of the three world religions (along with Christianity and Islam), originated in India 2.5 thousand years ago. The bulk of her followers live in the countries of South, Southeast and East Asia: India, China, Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Sri Lanka, Nepal. In our country, Buddhism is traditionally practiced by the residents of Buryatia, Kalmykia, and Tuva. It is difficult to determine the total number of Buddhists in the world, but it is very roughly accepted that there are about 400 million lay people and 1 million monks.
Buddhism is a religious and philosophical doctrine created on the basis of the ancient teachings of India, the cornerstone of which is the belief in reincarnation. The basis of Buddhist doctrine is a person’s inner desire for spiritual insight, or nirvana, which can be achieved through meditation, wisdom and the highest moral values. The main goal of Buddhism is human self-improvement, liberation from the chain of rebirths that bring suffering, which is based on selfish desires. The relevance of this topic does not need any justification other than the words: “The Mysterious East”!
Purpose This work is a study of cultural monuments of Ancient India.
In connection with this goal, the following research objectives can be formulated:
- talk about the dead civilization of Harappa, represented only by archaeological finds;
- consider Buddhist art as one of the sources of cultural wealth of ancient and modern India.
The abstract consists of 5 sections. The first formulates the purpose and objectives of the study, the second describes the civilization of ancient Harappa, the third provides an overview of Buddhist art and its main monuments in India, the fourth draws the main conclusions on the content of the work, and the fifth indicates primary sources on the topic of the work.
Back in the twenties of the last century, archaeologists discovered ancient mounds in this region of Pakistan with the remains of the largest Bronze Age cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. By the way, according to some publications, the ruins of Mohenjo-Daro contain traces of the incinerating flame that once destroyed this great city. They even said that the terrible flame was generated almost by a nuclear explosion.
Now the site of the disaster is occupied by the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh. To date, here on a vast territory that could accommodate two states such as Mesopotamia or Ancient Egypt, the remains of one and a half thousand ancient settlements have been uncovered!
In 1985, Professor George F. Dales of the University of California at Berkeley founded the Harappan Archaeological Research Project, which has already passed its first exploratory stages. The earliest settlement at the site of Harappa dates back to 3300 BC. - the time when the ancient Sumerians were just beginning to build their first ziggurats (giant pyramids made of unfired clay with a cut off top for temples). The ancient inhabitants of the Indus Valley were then engaged in agriculture, in particular cattle breeding, and also grew barley, legumes and other crops. Archaeologists have discovered small villages in the north and south of Harappa along the banks of the Ravi River (the left tributary of the Chenab River). Terracotta trinkets and painted shells were found here. It is interesting that materials for decorations were brought 300-800 km away. The discovered remains of cotton and wool fabrics testified to the development of textile production.
Urbanization of Harappa began around 2600 and continued until 1900 BC. For seven centuries, Harappa was one of the largest and most powerful economic and political centers in the Indus Valley. During the spring and summer trading seasons, the city was flooded with hundreds of merchants and thousands of residents of the surrounding Villages. The number of permanent residents of Kharalpa ranged from forty to eighty thousand people. Archaeologists have found here beautiful pottery with images of religious scenes on them, as well as seals of sorts with carved images of unicorns and cubic stone objects, probably used as cinders for weighing. Traders brought goods here from Afghanistan and Central Asia. Among the imported items were items made of lapis lazuli, tin, silver, gold and textiles. Back to their homeland, visiting traders took grain, livestock, beautiful samples of textiles and, perhaps, even silk. At that time, the city occupied an area of 150 hectares—more than five kilometers in circumference.
The current Harappa occupies only a third of the former territory, and the population does not exceed twenty thousand people. In ancient times, local masons built multi-story (!) houses from baked bricks, located in a straight line from north to south and from east to west.
The main streets were 8 m wide, and in the central part of the city their width ensured two-way traffic for carts and carts. In and around the city, builders built wells, houses were equipped with swimming pools, toilets and a kind of sewage system. Wastewater was discharged through special channels to agricultural land to fertilize the soil. Perhaps nowhere in the ancient world was there such an intricate sewer system. Even in the Roman Empire it appeared only two thousand years later!
During the heyday of Harappa, writing actively developed in the city. It consisted of four hundred symbols, although they had not yet been solved. But it can be assumed that several languages were used in them, and they were used for correspondence among traders, landowners and religious figures. This writing became widespread in all urban centers of the Indus Valley. Seals with images of animals and ritual subjects were widely used. More than 65% of known seals had images of unicorns, others featured elephants, Indian, humpbacked bulls, buffalos, bison, tigers and rhinoceroses.
The inscriptions on the seals indicated the names of local clans, the names of landowners, and the legal affiliation of individuals. Similar markings are also found on pottery. Examples of inscriptions on bronze and gold objects referred to the names of the owners or indicated the price of these products. Faience and clay objects were sometimes broken into two parts for the participants in a pair transaction. Copper discs may have been the beginnings of a coin system. Archaeological finds in 2001 indicate new chronology development of Indian writing. Previously, scientists believed that the appearance of seals and "coins" was simultaneous, but it has now become clear that different types of these artifacts appeared and changed over the years.
Between 2300 and 1900 BC. The population of the cities of the Indus Valley grew rapidly. At the same time, the variety and perfection of cultural products increased. During this period, they show a combination of inscriptions with images of mythological scenes. Surely the spiritual leaders of those times used such objects to invoke the gods. Although archaeologists have not yet been able to find out the names of these gods, they have noticed a recurring motif on various items - men sitting in a yogic lotus position, with a headdress topped with a horn. One of the scenes shows a sacrificial buffalo in front of a seated god. On other objects, the god is surrounded by wild animals. Some seals show goddesses wearing horned headdresses fighting tigers. The clay tiles depict goddesses strangling two tigers or perched on the heads of elephants. Similar scenes were found in Mesopotamia (from the epic “Gilgamesh”), where the images show the hero fighting with two lions. The similarity of these motifs suggests cultural ties between the mentioned civilizations.
Previously, scientists believed that the ancient cities of the Indus Valley were suddenly abandoned by the inhabitants around 1750 BC. And in fact, by this time Harappa, if not completely deserted, then the urban economy had clearly fallen into decay. The weakening of power and loss of control over the life of the city was characteristic not only of Harappa, but also of other cities in the region. Similar degradation occurred in Mohenjo-Daro. The impending crisis of the state led to the gradual disappearance of signs of elite culture in the area.
Traditional square seals with unicorns and other animals disappeared. Stone weighing cubes began to fall out of use, and international trade faded away.
The flow of goods such as decorated shells and lapis lazuli products from Harappa ceased. There was probably more than one reason for the city's decline. The switching of trade routes and the emergence of settlements in the Ganges Valley (in the area of what is now the Indian state of Gujarat) undermined the political and economic life of Harappa. Around 1900 BC one of the largest rivers of the Indus Valley, Ghaggar (north of present-day Delhi), began to change its course and completely dried up, leaving many cities without water.
The relocation of residents to other fertile areas caused overstress in their new habitats. The authorities' lack of a regular army deprived them of the opportunity to establish at least some order in the territories under their control.
The pace of such change varied in different regions. Most of the abandoned settlements were plundered, and the later inhabitants of these places buried the archaeological evidence of the past that still remained.
However, although many objects from the Indus Valley culture have disappeared, some relevant artifacts have survived. These included pottery, faience, and copper and bronze items. By the period around 1700 BC. refers to the appearance of the first examples of glass jewelry in the Indus Valley (two hundred years before the development of this material in Egypt). In subsequent centuries (from 1200 to 800 BC), glass bottles and glass beads appeared in northern India and Pakistan. Iron production also arose in the north of the Indus Valley and along the banks of the Ganges.
The excavations also revealed jewelry in the form of stone beads made during the earliest stages of settlement of the Indus Valley. The first samples of stone beads had small holes with a diameter of 1.5-3 mm. Some of the early examples were made from soapstone (a soft talc known as soapstone). Craftsmen knew how to drill holes in them with copper drills for hanging, about half a millimeter in diameter. After this, the beads were given the desired shape using grinding wheels. Finally, the craftsmen fired the beads in special kilns at a temperature of 850 "C. Harappan craftsmen used agate and jasper as materials for beads. Around 2600 BC, the Indus Valley craftsmen learned to make harder drills, the secret of which remained unsolved.
One of the most complex technologies was used to produce earthenware beads. The quality of the Indus Valley pottery was higher than that of Egypt or Mesopotamia, since it was made from crushed quartz. The elite classes of the Indus Valley used faience not only for decoration but also for ritual purposes. Faience items with images of various subjects were also used in special ceremonies, during which they were given as gifts to people bringing gifts or performing sacrifices.
Harappa is a great monument of Indian culture, arousing interest among researchers and tourists of all nationalities. The material culture of Harappa has been studied quite well, however, the death of Harappa still remains a mystery.
Buddhism, spreading over the centuries to vast neighboring territories, did not conflict with the primordial religions and culture that already existed there. There were many similarities with local deities, customs and rituals. Buddhism assimilated with them, absorbing many aspects of local cults, modified under the pressure of other religions, but fundamentally remained unchanged.
Architecture, sculpture, and painting contributed to the spread of the ideas of Buddhism. Initially, the art of Buddhism was a set of “reinforcements” or “reminders” that helped the believer in perceiving a doctrine that was often too complex for him. As religion spread, it was filled with new meanings and cast into completely new forms.
The contemplative Buddhist “art of living” required the fusion of artistic forms with natural ones. Therefore, Buddhist architecture differs from European architecture: it is not a shelter from nature, but a dissolution in it. main idea Buddhist buildings - the creation of a visible resemblance of artificial and natural forms, harmony with nature, conditions for finding peace of mind. The architecture is based on a classic sense of organic, free-growing volume from the earth. Tibetan temples and Chinese pagodas seem to be natural formations; they echo the shapes of mountains, hills or weathered rocks, blooming on their slopes like strange flowers.
Two main types of Buddhist buildings can be distinguished. The first type is services designed to support the life of the monastery: temples, sometimes reaching enormous sizes, rooms for monks - vihara, a hall for believers - chaitya, libraries, towers for gongs and bells. The second type is a structure that is itself an object of worship: a stupa or pagoda. They are usually the center of the monastery in accordance with their role as guardian of sacred relics.
Stupas are not buildings, but solid monolithic monuments with small chambers - reliquaries and niches for sculptures. According to legend, the first stupas were erected after the burning of the Buddha's body according to Indian custom - to store his ashes, divided into eight parts according to the number of regions of India that claimed their rights to his relics. Stupas are hemispherical, tower-shaped or bell-shaped. In the system of Buddhist symbolism, the stupa is considered as a vertical model of the Universe. It symbolizes the “creative beginning of the Universe”, the “impulse of life”, nirvana. The architectural features of stupas in each country are determined by local traditions, but in plan they must be round or square.
The entire group of buildings of the monastery complex is organized according to a single plan. In East Asia, the monastery is surrounded by a wall and is usually oriented along a central axis with the main gate to the south, behind which stood a pagoda, followed by a temple. This line was completed by a preaching hall and a back gate. The location of the buildings could change due to the terrain, especially in the mountains, but Buddhist culture always involves a ritual walk around clockwise. In temples carved out of rocks, a special path was used for this. Over time, the temple displaced the pagoda from its central place, so it became less sacred and more decorative look, and often a second one was attached to one pagoda - for symmetry.
In Buddhist temples, on a raised platform - a kind of altar in the back of the hall - there are statues of Buddhas or bodhisattvas (saints who decided to leave the circle of reincarnations and achieve Buddhahood). The altar consists of several steps: the square step is a symbol of the earth, the round one is a symbol of the sky. In the wall niches there are statues of deities, on the walls there are paintings reminiscent of the previous deeds of the Buddha, pictures of paradise, figures of bodhisattvas, countless decorative motifs.
The heyday of Buddhist sculpture dates back to the 4th - 5th centuries. During these years, a huge number of images of Buddha and bodhisats were made from gold, bronze, painted wood, ivory, stone, from small (2-3 cm) to huge figures 54 m high.
Often Buddhist buildings turn into giant pyramids of sculptures that completely cover the main volume. Reliefs and sculptures of temple and monastery buildings also include images not related to the philosophy of Buddhism, reflecting more ancient cults and beliefs, and sometimes simply the artist’s imagination.
Buddhism did not declare bans on images of living beings, encouraged independent thinking, and declared the principle of great complexity and continuous variability of the world to be the most important. The Buddha taught that the road to salvation lies through getting rid of illusions, so Buddhist characters have a clear and enlightened expression, they are beyond moral weaknesses and selfish passions.
Picturesque images of Buddha, bodhisats, Buddhist symbols (vase, scepter, begging bowl, bow and arrows, rosary, wheel of Samsara or wheel of the Law, etc.) can be seen in almost every Buddhist temple.
This is how he describes it interior decoration one of the Buddhist monasteries in Tibet, a European traveler who studied Buddhism in the East for many years, A. David-Neel in the book “Mystics and Magicians of Tibet” (M., 1991): “A mass of banners suspended from the ceiling in the galleries and attached to high supporting pillars, a great many images of Buddha and gods are displayed to the audience, and on the frescoes covering the walls, among cohorts of other heroes, saints and demons flaunt in threatening or benevolent poses. In the depths of the huge room, behind several rows of altar lamps, statues of great, long-departed lamas and jeweled arks of silver and gold, containing their mummies or cremation ashes, flicker softly. Having fixed their demanding or commanding gazes on people, overwhelming them with their numbers, all these creatures... seem to mingle with a crowd of monks. A mystical atmosphere envelops people and objects, obscures trivial details with a haze, and idealizes faces and poses. ")
In Tibetan Buddhist art significant place Tanka is occupied by images of Buddha, church hierarchs, characters of the Buddhist pantheon, hagiographic cycles, etc. They are made with paints on silk or printed on cotton fabric and are intended for meditation, religious processions, in temple interiors, and home altars.
Characteristic of Buddhist art is the desire for a contrasting combination of bright, colorful materials: gold and silver, red and black lacquer, inlay with colored glass, porcelain, foil, mother-of-pearl, and precious stones. Buddhism became a school for several generations of masters in India, Persia, Burma, Thailand, and Indonesia. Many classical works of art from China and Japan and other countries are associated with Buddhism.
Buddhism flourished in India in the 5th-7th centuries. Mahayana promoted a return to hierarchical ideas, and Tantrism promoted the rehabilitation of the sensory world. From the 4th century Secular culture flourished under the Gupta dynasty. Along with temples in the treatise on architecture of the V-VI centuries. public buildings and palaces are described. The invasion of the Huns also contributed to the transition to a hierarchical organization of society. As in Europe, the collapse of the Hunnic state led to the formation of principalities and relations, which in Europe were called feudal. In the V-VII centuries. There were about 50 states on Indian territory.
The Gupta kings patronized various religions, but called themselves devotees of Vishnu. In the inscriptions of this time, Hindu names appear five times more often than Buddhist and Jain names. KV c. collections of Hindu myths and traditions are compiled. These codes were not intended for a select few, but for the entire population, to whom they were close and understandable. The basic idea of Hinduism was fully consistent with the spirit of a hierarchical society - the idea of personal service to God and boundless devotion to him. The most popular gods were Vishnu and Shiva.
Urban artisans of the main specialties were subordinated to corporations. The city, as the center of culture, was already sharply opposed to the village. There may also have been royal workshops: it is difficult to imagine that single artisans created the pillar of Chandragupta II in Delhi from stainless iron or the huge bronze statue of Buddha in Sultanganj. Craft guilds, like trade guilds, accepted cash deposits and carried out banking activities. There was also a separate corporation of bankers-money changers. However, little copper money was found; shells were used instead even in the capital.
The country was united not only by new religious ideas, but also by Sanskrit as a universal language.
- Culturology. Course of lectures ed. A.A. Radugina Publishing house “Center” Moscow 1998
- Culturology /Ed. A.N. Markova M., 1998
- Levinas E. Philosophical definition of the idea of culture. // Global problems and universal human values. - M.: Progress, 1990. - P.86-97
- Polikarpov V.S. Lectures on cultural studies. M.: “Gardariki”, 1997.-344 p.
- Illustrated history of religions. T.1,2 - M.: Publishing house of the Valaam Monastery, 1992.
- Kagan M.S. Philosophy of culture. - St. Petersburg, 1996.
- Ponomareva G.M. and others. Fundamentals of cultural studies. - M., 1998.
Culture of Ancient India
II. Literary monuments
A significant part of the primary sources on the history of ancient India has perished irretrievably. Many works of ancient Indian literature were written on birch bark or palm leaves and did not withstand the unfavorable conditions of a climate more humid than in Egypt (where such fragile material as papyrus could be preserved). On the other hand, fires, which could not destroy collections of clay books in Western Asia, turned out to be destructive for the archives of ancient India. Only those texts that were carved on stone survived in the original, and relatively few of them were discovered. Fortunately, Sanskrit, unlike most ancient Eastern languages, was never forgotten; the literary tradition was not interrupted for thousands of years. Those works that were considered valuable were systematically rewritten and came to us in later copies with additions and distortions.
The situation is worse with the ancient chronicles. Almost nothing remains of them, except for fragments included in later medieval chronicles.
Largest in volume and most abundant in content poetic works: Vedas (extensive collections of hymns, chants, magical spells and ritual formulas - Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda), Mahabharata (epic poem about the great war of the descendants of Bharata) and Ramayana (the tale of the deeds of Prince Rama).
In addition to mythical and epic works, the collection “Laws of Manu” has also been preserved, the chronological fixation of which also presents great difficulties (c. 3rd century BC - c. 3rd century AD). This is a typical monument of sacred law, in which civil and criminal regulations are closely intertwined with ritual regulations and prohibitions.
A unique written monument is the Arthashastra, the composition of which is attributed to the outstanding dignitary, contemporary of Alexander the Great, Kautilya. This remarkable treatise on government contains a whole series of advice and instructions reflecting the conditions of the era when centralization and bureaucratization were established in the country.
For the study of early Buddhism, the main source is the collection of legends and sayings of the Tipitaka.
The edicts of King Ashoka (III century BC), carved on rocks, are most accurately dated. They report on the warriors and religious policies of this king.
Among the ancient authors, along with Herodotus, who gave a description of western India of his time (5th century BC), Arrian, who lived in the 2nd century, should be especially noted. AD In his “Anabasis of Alexander” he described the campaign of this king to India, in a special work - “India” - he gave a detailed geographical outline of the country 11 Bongard-Levin T.M. “Ancient Indian Civilization”, - M., 1993
The history of ancient Indian literature is usually divided into several stages: Vedic, epic, and the period of classical Sanskrit literature. The first two stages are characterized by the predominance of the oral tradition of text transmission. The two great epic poems of Ancient India, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, are true encyclopedias of Indian life. They depict all aspects of the life of ancient Indians. The epic absorbed material that, emerging from the oral poetic tradition, acquired a didactic character and included religious and philosophical works and ideas. In subsequent eras, many prominent Indian artists, including the famous Kalidas, drew their inspiration from these treasures of wisdom of their people.
In the era of classical Sanskrit literature, the collection of stories and parables “Panchatantra”, based on folklore, gained particular popularity. It was translated into many languages, and they became familiar with it quite early in Russia.
Among the literature attributed to the Buddhist tradition, the work of the poet and playwright Pshvaghosh (1-2 century AD) stands out clearly. The poem “Buddhacharita” written by him was the first artificial epic to appear in Indian literature. The Gupta era was the time of development of ancient Indian theater. Even special treatises on dramaturgy appeared. The tasks of the theater and the acting technique were determined. The Indian theatrical tradition preceded the Greek one.
The theory of literary creativity, including poetry, reached a high level in Ancient India. The rules of versification and treatises on the theory of metrics and poetics were developed in detail. Several schools of “poetic science” are emerging, and there are debates about genres, the purpose of literature, and artistic language.
The concept of the divine character of speech influenced the development of the science of language. It was believed that speech lies at the basis of the sciences and arts. In Panini’s grammar “The Eight Books” the analysis of linguistic material is carried out so deeply and thoroughly that modern scientists find similarities between the theory of the ancient Indians and modern linguistics.
The first monument of the thought of the ancient Indians was the “VEDAS”, literally meaning “knowledge, knowledge” when translated from Sanskrit. The VEDAS, having emerged between the second and first millennium BC, played a huge, decisive role in the development of the spiritual culture of ancient Indian society, including the development of philosophical thought.
The VEDAS consist of hymns, prayers, spells, chants, sacrificial formulas, and so on. They are the first to attempt a philosophical interpretation of the human environment. Although they contain a semi-superstitious, semi-mythical, semi-religious explanation of the world around man, nevertheless, they are considered as philosophical, or rather pre-philosophical, pre-philosophical sources. Actually, the first literary works in which attempts are made to philosophize, i.e. interpretations of the world around a person could not be different in content. The figurative language of the Vedas expresses a very ancient religious worldview, the first philosophical idea of the world, man, and moral life. The VEDAS are divided into four groups (or parts). The oldest of them is Samhitas (hymns). The Samhitas, in turn, consist of four collections. The earliest of them is the Rig Veda, a collection of religious hymns (about one and a half thousand years BC). The second part of the Vedas - Brahmanas (collection of ritual texts). The religion of Brahmanism, which dominated before the emergence of Buddhism, relied on them. The third part of the VED is the Aranyakas ("forest books", rules of conduct for hermits). The fourth part of the VEDAS is the Upanishads, the actual philosophical part, which arose about a thousand years BC.
Already at this time, the first elements of philosophical consciousness arose, the formation of the first philosophical teachings (both religious-idealistic and materialistic) began.
Upanishads (“to sit near”, i.e. at the feet of the teacher, receiving instructions; or - “secret, intimate knowledge”) - philosophical texts that appeared about one thousand years BC and in form, as a rule, represented the dialogue of a sage - a teacher with his student or with a person seeking the truth and subsequently becoming his student. In total, about a hundred Upanishads are known. They are dominated by the problem of the root cause, the first principle of being, with the help of which the origin of all natural and human phenomena is explained. The dominant place in the Upanishads is occupied by teachings that believe that the spiritual principle - Brahman, or Atman - is the primary cause and fundamental principle of existence. Brahman and Atman are usually used as synonyms, although Brahman is more often used to designate God, the omnipresent spirit, and Atman - the soul. Starting from the Upanishads, Brahman and Atman become the central concepts of all Indian philosophy (and above all Vedanta). In some Upanishads, Brahman and Atman are identified with the material root cause of the world - food, breath, material elements (water, air, earth, fire), or with the whole world as a whole. In most Upanishad texts, Brahman and Atman are interpreted as the spiritual absolute, the incorporeal root cause of nature and man.
A common thread running through all the Upanishads is the idea of the identity of the spiritual essence of the subject (man) and the object (nature), which is reflected in the famous saying: “Tat tvam asi” (“You are that”, or “You are one with that”) .
The Upanishads and the ideas expressed in them do not contain a logically consistent and holistic concept. With a general predominance of the explanation of the world as spiritual and incorporeal, they also present other judgments and ideas and, in particular, attempts are made to provide a natural philosophical explanation of the root cause and fundamental basis of the phenomena of the world and the essence of man. Thus, in some texts there is a desire to explain the external and internal world as consisting of four or even five material elements. Sometimes the world is presented as an undifferentiated being, and its development as the sequential passage of certain states by this being: fire, water, earth, or gaseous, liquid, solid. This is precisely what explains all the diversity that is inherent in the world, including human society.
Cognition and acquired knowledge are divided into two levels in the Upanishads: lower and higher. At the lowest level, you can only cognize the surrounding reality. This knowledge cannot be true, since its content is fragmentary and incomplete. The highest is the knowledge of truth, i.e. spiritual absolute, this perception of being in its integrity, can be acquired only with the help of mystical intuition, the latter in turn being formed to a large extent thanks to yogic exercises. It is the highest knowledge that gives power over the world.
One of the most important problems in the Upanishads is the study of the essence of man, his psyche, emotional disturbances and forms of behavior. The thinkers of Ancient India noted the complexity of the structure of the human psyche and identified in it such elements as consciousness, will, memory, breathing, irritation, calm, etc. their interrelation and mutual influence are emphasized. An undoubted achievement should be considered the characteristics of various states of the human psyche and, in particular, the waking state, light sleep, deep dream, the dependence of these states on external elements and primary elements of the external world.
In the field of ethics, the Upanishads predominantly preach a passive-contemplative attitude towards the world: the deliverance of the soul from all worldly attachments and worries is proclaimed to be the highest happiness. The Upanishads make a distinction between material and spiritual values, between goodness, as a calm state of mind, and the base pursuit of sensual pleasures. By the way, it was in the Upanishads that the concept of transmigration of souls (samsara) and retribution for past actions (karma) was first expressed. Here the desire is expressed to determine the cause-and-effect relationship in the chain of human actions. An attempt is also made, with the help of moral principles (dharma), to correct human behavior at every stage of his existence. The Upanishads are essentially the foundation for all or almost all subsequent philosophical movements that appeared in India, since they presented or developed ideas that long time"nourished" philosophical thought in India.
Speaking about the philosophy of Ancient India, one cannot fail to mention the extensive epic poem Mahabharata, consisting of eighteen books. The main source of philosophical thought of the later - epic period is the extensive epic poem "Mahabharata", which consists of 18 books telling about the struggle for power between two clans - the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Along with the narration of this struggle, in various books of the Mahabharata there are texts of philosophical content. Of greatest interest from this point of view are “Bhagavad-Gita”, “Mokshadharma”, “Anugita” and some others (VII century BC - II century AD).
In terms of their content and orientation, most of the philosophical ideas of the Mahabharata represent a continuation and development of the views dominant in the Upanishads about Brahman-Atman or Purusha as a spiritual absolute and about its comprehension as a means of salvation and deliverance from the shackles of karma and samsara. However, unlike the Upanishads, where philosophy is presented primarily in the form of individual statements and positions with unsettled, sometimes amorphous terminology, already developed and integral philosophical concepts appear in the Mahabharata, giving a more or less unified interpretation of the main ideological problems, ranging from ontological to ethical and sociological, and having a more strictly fixed and more unambiguous conceptual apparatus.
The main significance among these concepts in the epic is the teaching of Samkhya and closely related yoga, which were occasionally mentioned already in the Upanishads. True, these teachings various parts The Mahabharatas are presented in different ways, but everywhere they are based on the position of prakriti, or pradhana (matter, nature), as the source of all existing existence (including the psyche and consciousness) and the pure spirit independent of it and unaffected by its modifications - Purusha (also called Brahman, Atman).
One of the books that is of greatest interest from a philosophical point of view is the Bhagavad Gita (divine song). Unlike the Upanishads, where philosophy is presented in the form of individual statements and provisions, already developed and integral philosophical concepts appear here, giving an interpretation of worldview problems. Of primary importance among these concepts is the teaching of Samkhya and the closely related yoga, which were occasionally mentioned in the Upanishads. The basis of the concept is the position of prakrit (matter, nature), as the source of all existence (including the psyche, consciousness) and the pure spirit independent of it - Purusha (also called Brahman, Atman). Thus, the worldview is dualistic, based on the recognition of two principles.
The main content of the Bhagavad Gita consists of the teachings of the god Krishna. God Krishna, according to Indian mythology, is the eighth avatar (incarnation) of the god Vishnu. God Krishna speaks of the need for every person to fulfill his social (varna) functions and duties, to be indifferent to the fruits of worldly activity, and to devote all his thoughts to God. Bhagavad Gita contains important ideas of ancient Indian philosophy: about the mystery of birth and death; about the relationship between prakriti and human nature; about genes (three material principles born of nature: tamas - an inert inert principle, rajas - a passionate, active, exciting principle, sattva - an uplifting, enlightened, conscious principle). Their symbols are black, red and white colors that determine people's lives; about the moral law (dharma) of fulfilling one’s duty; about the path of a yogi (a person who has devoted himself to yoga - the improvement of consciousness); about genuine and non-genuine knowledge. The main virtues of a person are called balance, detachment from passions and desires, and detachment from earthly things.
III. Religious cult in ancient India
Millennial cultural tradition India has developed in close connection with the development of religious ideas of its people. The main religious movement was Hinduism. The roots of this religion go back to ancient times.
The religious and mythological ideas of the tribes of the Vedic era can be judged from the monuments of that period - the Vedas, which contain rich material on mythology, religion, and ritual. Vedic hymns were and are considered sacred texts in India; they were passed down orally from generation to generation and carefully preserved. The set of these beliefs is called Vedism. Vedism was not a pan-Indian religion, but flourished only in Eastern Punjab and Uttar Prodesh, which were inhabited by a group of Indo-Aryan tribes. It was she who was the creator of the Rigveda and other Vedic collections (samhita).
Vedism was characterized by the deification of nature as a whole (by the community of celestial gods) and individual natural and social phenomena: So Indra is the god of thunderstorms and powerful will; Varuna is the god of world order and justice; Agni - god of fire and hearth; Soma is the god of the sacred drink. In total, 33 gods are considered to be the highest Vedic deities. The Indians of the Vedic era divided the whole world into 3 spheres - sky, earth, antarizhna (the space between them), and certain deities were associated with each of these spheres. The gods of the sky included Varuna; to the gods of the earth - Agni and Soma. There was no strict hierarchy of gods; turning to a specific god, the Vedic people endowed him with the characteristics of many gods. The creator of everything: gods, people, earth, sky, sun - was a certain abstract deity Purusha. Everything around - plants, mountains, rivers - was considered divine, and a little later the doctrine of the transmigration of souls appeared. The Vedic people believed that after death the soul of a saint goes to heaven, and the soul of a sinner goes to the land of Yama. Gods, like people, were capable of dying.
Many features of Vedism entered Hinduism; this was a new stage in the development of spiritual life, i.e. emergence of the first religion.
In Hinduism, the creator god comes to the fore, and a strict hierarchy of gods is established. The Trimurti (trinity) of the gods Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu appears. Brahma is the ruler and creator of the world, he was responsible for the establishment of social laws (tharmas) on earth, the division into varnas; he is the punisher of infidels and sinners. Vishnu is the guardian god; Shivu is the destroyer god. The increasing special role of the last two gods led to the emergence of two directions in Hinduism - Vaishnavism and Shaivism. A similar design was enshrined in the texts of the Puranas - the main monuments of Hindu thought that developed in the first century AD.
Early Hindu texts speak of ten avatars (descensions) of Vishnu. In the eighth of them he appears in the guise of Krishna, the hero of the Yadava tribe. This ovatara became a favorite plot, and its hero became a character in numerous works. The cult of Krishna gained such popularity that a movement of the same name emerged from Vishnaism. The ninth avatara, where Vishnu appears in the form of Buddha, is the result of the inclusion of Buddhist ideas in Hinduism.
The cult of Shiva, who in the triad of the main gods personified destruction, gained great popularity very early on. In mythology, Shiva is associated with different qualities - he is an ascetic fertility deity, a patron of livestock, and a shaman dancer. This suggests that local beliefs were mixed into the orthodox cult of Shiva.
Indians believed that you cannot become a Hindu - you can only be born one; that varna, the social role, is predetermined forever and changing it is a sin. Hinduism gained particular strength in the Middle Ages, becoming the main religion of the population. The “book of books” of Hinduism was and remains the “Bhagavad Gita”, part of the ethical poem “Mahabharata”, in the center of which is love for God and through this the path to religious liberation.
Much later than Vedism, Buddhism developed in India. The creator of this teaching, Sidgartha Shanyamuni, was born in 563 in Lumbina into a Kshatriya family. By the age of 40, he achieved enlightenment and began to be called Buddha. It is impossible to tell more precisely about the time of the appearance of his teachings, but the fact that Buddha is a real historical person is a fact.
Buddhism in its origins is associated not only with Brahmanism, but also with other religious and religious-philosophical systems of Ancient India. Analysis of these connections shows that the emergence of Buddhism was also conditioned by objective social processes and prepared ideologically. Buddhism was not generated by the “revelation” of a being who had achieved divine wisdom, as Buddhists claim, or by the personal creativity of a preacher, as Western Buddhists usually believe. But Buddhism was not a mechanical collection of existing ideas. He introduced into them a lot of new things, generated precisely by the social conditions of the era of his emergence.
Initially, elements of the new religious teaching, as the Buddhist tradition claims, were transmitted orally by monks to their students. They began to receive literary form relatively late - in the 2nd-1st centuries. BC. The Pali corpus of Buddhist canonical literature, created around 80 BC, has survived. to Sri Lanka and later called “tipitaka” (Sanskrit - “tripitaka”) - “three baskets of the law”.
In the 3rd-1st centuries. BC. and in the first centuries AD. Further development of Buddhism occurs, in particular, a coherent biography of the Buddha is created, and canonical literature is formed. Monastic theologians develop logical “justifications” for the main religious dogmas, often called the “philosophy of Buddhism.” Theological subtleties remained the property of a relatively small circle of monks who had the opportunity to devote all their time to scholastic disputes. At the same time, another, moral and cult side of Buddhism developed, i.e. a "path" that can lead everyone to the end of suffering. This “path” was actually the ideological weapon that helped keep the working masses in obedience for many centuries.
Buddhism enriched religious practice with a technique related to the field of individual cult. This refers to such a form of religious behavior as bhavana - deepening into oneself, into one’s inner world for the purpose of concentrated reflection on the truths of faith, which became further widespread in such directions of Buddhism as “Chan” and “Zen”. Many researchers believe that ethics in Buddhism occupies a central place and this makes it more of an ethical, philosophical teaching, and not a religion. Most concepts in Buddhism are vague and ambiguous, which makes it more flexible and adaptable to local cults and beliefs, capable of transformation. Thus, the followers of the Buddha formed numerous monastic communities, which became the main centers for the spread of religion.
By the Mauryan period, two directions took shape in Buddhism: the Sthaviravadins and the Mahasangikas. The latter teaching formed the basis of the Mahayana. The oldest Mahayana texts appear as early as the first century BC. One of the most important in the Mahayana doctrine is the doctrine of the Bodhisattva, a being capable of becoming a Buddha, approaching the achievement of nirvana, but out of compassion for people does not enter into it. Buddha was not considered a real person, but a supreme absolute being. Both Buddha and Bodhisattva are objects of veneration. According to the Mahayana, the achievement of nirvana occurs through the Bodhisattva and because of this, in the first century AD, monasteries received generous offerings from the powers that be. The division of Buddhism into two branches: Hinayana (“small vehicle”) and Mahayana (“big vehicle”) was caused primarily by differences in the socio-political conditions of life in certain parts of India. The Hinayana, more closely associated with early Buddhism, recognizes the Buddha as a man who found the path to salvation, which is considered achievable only through withdrawal from the world - monasticism. Mahayana is based on the possibility of salvation not only for hermit monks, but also for lay people, and the emphasis is on active preaching activities and intervention in public and state life. Mahayana, unlike Hinayana, more easily adapted to spread beyond India, giving rise to many beliefs and movements; Buddha gradually became the highest deity, temples were built in his honor, and religious actions were performed.
An important difference between Hinayana and Mahayana is that Hinayana completely rejects the path to salvation for non-monks who have voluntarily renounced worldly life. In Mahayana, an important role is played by the cult of bodhisattvas - individuals who are already capable of entering nirvana, but conceal the achievement of the final goal in order to help others, not necessarily monks, in achieving it, thereby replacing the requirement to leave the world with a call to influence it.
Early Buddhism is distinguished by its simplicity of ritual. Its main element is: the cult of Buddha, preaching, veneration of holy places associated with the birth, enlightenment and death of Guatama, worship of stupas - religious buildings where the relics of Buddhism are kept. Mahayana added the veneration of bodhisattvas to the cult of Buddha, thereby complicating the ritual: prayers and various kinds of spells were introduced, sacrifices began to be practiced, and a magnificent ritual arose.
Like any religion, Buddhism contained the idea of salvation - in Buddhism it is called “nirvana”. It is possible to achieve it only by following certain commandments. Life is suffering that arises in connection with desire, the desire for earthly existence and its joys. Therefore, one should give up desires and follow the “Eightfold Path”—righteous views, righteous conduct, righteous effort, righteous speech, righteous thought, righteous memory, righteous living, and self-improvement. The ethical side played a huge role in Buddhism. Following the Eightfold Path, a person must rely on himself, and not seek outside help. Buddhism did not recognize the existence of a creator god, on whom everything in the world depends, including human life. The cause of all man's earthly suffering lies in his personal blindness; inability to give up worldly desires. Only by extinguishing all reactions to the world, by destroying one’s own “I,” can one achieve nirvana.
IV. Exact sciences
The discoveries of ancient Indians in the field of exact sciences influenced the development of Arabic and Iranian-Persian sciences. The scientist Aryaphata, who lived in the 5th and early 6th centuries AD, occupies an honorable place in the history of mathematics. The scientist knew the meaning of “pi” and proposed an original solution to the linear equation. In addition, it was in Ancient India that the number system became decimal for the first time. This system formed the basis of modern numbering and arithmetic. Algebra was more developed; and the concepts of “digit”, “sine”, “root” first appeared in Ancient India. The achievements of ancient Indian mathematicians surpassed what was done in these fields of knowledge in Ancient Greece.
Ancient Indian treatises on astronomy indicate a very high development of this science. Regardless of ancient science, the Indian scientist Aryaphata expressed the idea of the Earth rotating around its axis, for which he was angrily condemned by the priests. The introduction of the decimal system facilitated accurate astronomical calculations, although the ancient Indians did not have observatories or telescopes.
Ayurveda, the science of longevity, is still held in high esteem in India. It originated in ancient times. Ancient Indian doctors studied the properties of herbs and the influence of climate on human health. Much attention was paid to personal hygiene and diet. Surgery was also at a high level; it is known about three hundred operations that ancient Indian doctors were able to perform; in addition, 120 surgical instruments are mentioned. Tibetan medicine, popular today, is based on the ancient Indian science of Ayurveda.
Ancient Indian physicians believed that the human body was based on three main vital juices: wind, bile and phlegm - they were identified with the principles of movement, fire and softening. Indian medicine paid special attention to the influence of natural conditions on the human body, as well as heredity. There were also treatises on medical ethics.
Summarizing all these facts, it should be noted that reverence for knowledge is a distinctive feature of Indo-Buddhist culture. Specialists from many countries came to India to study. In a number of Indian cities there were universities where religious and philosophical texts, astronomy, astrology, mathematics, medicine and Sanskrit were studied. But it is characteristic that Euclidean geometry did not appear in Indian science. And this is no coincidence. The Indo-Buddhist cultural tradition was not particularly rational. Indian scientists were not interested in the logic of scientific knowledge; they were more concerned with the secrets of the universe and practical issues of calculation, calendaring and measuring spatial forms.
V. Architecture and painting
The first monuments of architecture and fine art of Ancient India date back to the era Harappan civilization, but the most striking examples were created in the Kushano-Gupta era. Monuments of both religious and secular nature were distinguished by high artistic merit.
In ancient times, most structures were built from wood, and therefore were not preserved. The palace of King Chendragupta was built of wood, and only the remains of stone columns have survived to this day. In the first centuries AD, stone began to be widely used in construction. Religious architecture of this period is represented by cave complexes, temples and stupas (stone structures that housed relics of Buddha). Of the cave complexes, the most interesting are those in the city of Karl and Ellora. The cave temple in Karla is almost 14 m high, 14 m wide and about 38 m long. There are a large number of sculptures and stupas here. During the Gupta era, construction of the cave complex at Ellora began, which continued for several centuries. Masterpieces of Indian architecture also include the Hindu temple in Sanchi and the Buddhist stupa located there.
In ancient India there were several schools of sculpture, of which the largest were the Gandhara, Mathura and Amaravati schools. Most of the surviving sculptures were also of a religious nature. The art of sculpture reached such a height that there were a number of special guidelines and rules for their creation. Iconography techniques were developed that differed among different religious traditions. There were Buddhist, Janiya and Hindu iconography.
The Gandhara school combined three traditions: Buddhist, Greco-Roman and Central Asian. It was here that the first images of Buddha were created, and as a god; these sculptures also depicted statues of bodhisattvas. In the Mathura school, the dawn of which will coincide with the Kushan era, the secular environment receives special importance along with purely religious architectural compositions. Images of Buddha appeared here just as early. The Mathura school was influenced by earlier Mauryan art, and some sculptures indicate Harappan influence (figures of mother goddesses, local deities, etc.). Compared to other sculptural schools, the Amaravati school absorbed the traditions of the south of the country and Buddhist canons. They survived into later sculptures, influencing the art of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka.
Ancient Indian art was closely connected with religion and philosophy. In addition, it was always addressed to the lower caste - the peasants, in order to convey to them the laws of karma, the requirements of dharma, etc. In poetry, prose, drama, and music, the Indian artist identified himself with nature in all its moods and responded to the connection between man and the universe. And finally, the religious prejudice directed against the statues of gods had a significant influence on the development of Indian art. The Vedas were against the image of a deity, and the image of Buddha appeared in sculpture and painting only in the late period of the development of Buddhism.
The artistic culture of ancient Indian society was deeply influenced by Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.
Artistic and figurative perception through the prism of the named religious and philosophical systems, is marked by the sophistication of the image of man and the surrounding world, the perfection of architectural forms.
The most famous monument of ancient Indian painting is the wall paintings in the Ajanta caves. Over the course of 150 years, ancient craftsmen carved this temple into the rock. In this Buddhist complex of 29 caves, paintings cover the walls and ceilings of the interior. There are various scenes from the life of Buddha, mythological themes, scenes from everyday life, and palace themes. All drawings are perfectly preserved, because... Indians knew well the secrets of durable paints and the art of strengthening the soil. The choice of color depended on the plot and characters. Gods and kings, for example, were always depicted as white. The Ajanta tradition has influenced the art of Sri Lanka and various parts of India.
Another characteristic feature of Old Indian culture is the expression in artistic images of the idea of worshiping the god of love - Kama. This meaning was based on the fact that the Indians considered the marriage of a god and goddess as a process of cosmic creation. Therefore, images of God's punishment in a tight embrace are common in temples.
Conclusion
By the beginning of the new era, wonderful works of ancient Indian poetry (Vedas) and epics (Mahabharata and Ramayana) were finally formalized and recorded, which were initially passed on from mouth to mouth.
Collections of folk fables also appear (Panchatantra, i.e. Five Books).
In the 5th century AD the greatest playwright of ancient India, Kalidasa, is put forward. Of his dramas, “Shakuntala”, named after the main character, a beautiful hermit whom the king loved, gained particular fame.
In rural India, various philosophical schools have developed, including materialist ones. Thus, according to the teachings of Charvaka, the only source of knowledge is experience. The doctrine of the transmigration of souls, so widespread in India, is completely rejected, and the soul itself is recognized as inseparable from the body.
As in other countries with irrigation agriculture, astronomy and mathematics have achieved great development in India. A kind of solar calendar was created here. The year consisted of 360 days, and for the equation with the astronomical year, a leap month was added every five.
In the V-VI centuries. AD Indian scientists knew the sphericity of the Earth and the law of gravity, as well as the rotation of the Earth around its axis. In the Middle Ages, these scientific discoveries were borrowed from the Indians by the Arabs.
Even in the proto-Indian period (III-II millennium BC), a decimal number system had already developed in the Indus Valley. Subsequently, mathematics reaches a level superior in some respects to other ancient peoples. Thus, only in India was the sign denoting zero used. The numbers that we call Arabic, as opposed to Roman ones, were actually invented by the ancient Indians and passed from them to the Arabs. Also, Arabic algebra was influenced by Indian algebra.
Ancient Indian chemists extracted sulfuric, hydrochloric and nitric acids. Doctors sought to develop a certain systematization of diseases and created a theory of the main juices of the body. The presence of many languages and dialects in India made philological research necessary. The learned Brahman Panini, who lived in the 5th-4th centuries. BC, created a grammar of “purified”, i.e. literary language (Sanskrit).
The most remarkable monuments of ancient Indian architecture are buildings with domes (stupas) and original cave temples. In the cave temples of Ajanta, multicolored frescoes (1st-3rd centuries AD) that are remarkable in their realism have been preserved.
Indian culture had a significant influence on the countries of Central and East Asia (mainly due to the spread of Buddhism). India influenced the Western world through the Arabs.
References
“History of India”, K.A. Antonova, M 1993
Ancient civilizations - M., 1989
Introduction to cultural studies - M., 1995
Culturology - M, 1995
Bongard-Levin T.M. “Ancient Indian civilization”, - M., 1993
7. Medicine and pharmacy in Ancient India. Written medical monuments of Ancient India. Advances in surgery and hygiene.
The source for studying the history of medicine and pharmacy of Ancient India is the Vedas (monuments of Indian culture), as well as the collection of laws of Manu. From them we learn that in the 2nd century BC. In India, there was medical education: universities in Taxila and Benares, as well as medical schools at provincial monasteries. The Ayur-Veda (Book of Life) said that disease occurs after an imbalance of air (ether), mucus and bile, which ensure health. The doctor had to restore the balance that existed before the disease with the help of drugs (emetics, laxatives, diaphoretics and oils), surgery or physical methods. In 2Ayur-Veda, a kind of Indian pharmacopoeia, a list of 760 drugs is given. In empirical medicine of Ancient India, cereals, wood, bark, roots, flowers, and fruits were used. Wine, vinegar, milk, oil, fats, blood, glands and other organs of many animals, fish and birds were also consumed. Minerals: arsenic, iron, copper. The composition of ointments often included lead, sulfur, antimony, zinc, and ammonium salts. Especially MERCURY! The most powerful strengthening agent is gold. Silver, copper, iron, and tin were also used. Surgical methods of treating diseases, hygienic measures were used, vaccinations against smallpox were carried out, and patients were isolated during the treatment of leprosy. Indian doctors performed amputations of limbs, removal of cataracts, and performed plastic surgery.
15. Asclepiad, his system for preventing and treating diseases.
Asclepiades was a prominent Roman physician from Bithynia (128-56 BC). Health, according to Asclepiades, is preserved with the normal movement of body particles and the normal state of empty spaces between particles - pores and channels. When they are clogged and clogged, when the movement of particles stagnates or is disrupted, diseases occur. Special attention Asklepiades gave “invisible breath” to the skin. Health must be maintained first of all by general cleanliness, frequent ablutions, and then by stronger stimulants such as rubbing, sweating, and physical exercise. If the patient could not move independently, he advised carrying him and rocking him. Along with physiotherapy and balneotherapy, climate therapy occupied a large place in the Asclepiad system. He treated medications with caution and in some cases, under the guise of drugs, he gave clean water. The “pleasant” treatment according to the Asclepiadian system, opposed to the rude methods of the “bloodthirsty torturers,” made it extremely popular in Rome. Asclepiades treated with a diet that had been excellently developed for a long time. He introduced only one new principle into dietetics: food should be tasty.
26. The emergence of medical schools and universities in Western Europe. Methods of teaching in them.
The centers of Medieval medicine were universities. In the universities of Western Europe, scholasticism dominated, which involved the construction of hypotheses, theories and the conduct of various disputes only within the strict limits of the dogmas established by the Christian Church.
The medical school in Salerno played a major role in the history of medicine and pharmacy. In 1140, Rector Nicholas compiled the Antidotarium of Nicholas. At first it contained 60 prescriptions, later 150. The highest level of prosperity of the medical school in Salerno was reached towards the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th centuries. Salerno creates his own literature, the school was already close to teaching experimental medicine. For this purpose, autopsies of the corpses of criminals and animals were periodically carried out. The training there lasted 5 years. The Salerno school was given the right to confer the title of doctor and issue licenses.
The University of Padua, which differed from most medieval universities in the possessions of Venice, began to play a role later, towards the end of the Middle Ages, during the Renaissance. It was founded in the 13th century by scientists who fled from the papal regions and from Spain from the persecution of the Catholic Church reaction. In the 16th century it became a center of advanced medicine.
The University of Bologna is one of the oldest continuously operating degree-granting universities in the world, and the second largest university in Italy. It was the first university founded in the Western world (in 1088 AD). The University of Bologna is historically known for its ecclesiastical and civil law courses.
The Sorbonne is historically the University of Paris. It first appeared in the second half of the 12th century, but was reorganized in 1970 into 13 autonomous universities (University of Paris I-XIII).
University of Vienna, a public university located in Vienna, Austria. Opened in 1365, it is one of the oldest universities in Europe.
Universities had 3 faculties: theological, medical, and law. There were also preparatory faculties. Levels of knowledge: 1) from the Bible + works of the church fathers; 2) from the works of other scientists reviewed by the church. Students are rich people with a high position in society; age did not matter. They learned from books by memorizing. The book was fastened with a chain. Universities were separated from the state (their own police, courts). The lecture was given by the professor sitting in the form of debates (throwing around quotes).
27. The spread of infectious diseases in the Middle Ages and measures to combat them.
Infectious diseases became especially widespread in the Middle Ages, when frequent wars of conquest and crusades were fought, and the growth of cities contributed to overcrowding of the population and deterioration of sanitary and hygienic living conditions.
Such diseases often took on the character of epidemics - a massive outbreak of a disease in a certain territory, and sometimes pandemics, when the disease covered entire continents. The most terrible infectious disease in ancient times and the Middle Ages was the plague. It covered vast territories of Europe and Asia. There are known plague pandemics in the 6th and 14th centuries. She mowed down entire cities and provinces. In the XIV century. An even more dangerous variety appeared - bubonic plague. In addition to the plague, other contagious diseases are also known, which often acquired the character of epidemics: typhus, cholera, smallpox, anthrax, etc. Even in ancient times, medicine knew anti-epidemic measures: removing sick people from cities, burning the property of the sick or dead, attracting people who had been ill with this disease. illness, caring for the sick. One of the most ancient diseases that humanity encountered at the dawn of its existence was smallpox. In the XIV century. In Europe, quarantine began to be introduced - a system of measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases from the source of the epidemic with the subsequent elimination of the source of infection itself. In 1423, one of the first quarantine stations (“lazaretto”) was established on the island in Venice. In Europe, smallpox appeared only with the invention of the sail in the 5th-6th centuries. n. e. During smallpox epidemics in some countries, up to half the population died. Back in ancient China and India, doctors developed a method of protecting people from smallpox through so-called variolation. To do this, they collected smallpox crusts from the patient, dried them and ground them into a fine powder. This powder was rubbed into the skin with a special spatula or needle, which was used to cut the surface of the skin, and sometimes blown into the nose of a healthy person. The purpose of these procedures was to induce a mild form of the disease in him. Variolation did protect many people. But, since the smallpox virus was used to carry it out, variolation often caused severe illness and even death. The patient could subsequently infect people who came into contact with him and even cause a new epidemic. At the beginning of the 18th century, when smallpox spread widely throughout Europe, the search began to protect the population from this infection. Members of the Royal Society of Medicine of London decided to discuss the pros and cons of the variolation method, which was reported by many travelers. British reports on travel to Asian countries were collected. Despite the danger of the method, they decided to recommend it for use, since the damage caused to society by epidemics was much heavier. At this time, Lady Montagu, the wife of the British ambassador in Constantinople, watched as elderly Turkish women inoculated healthy local residents with material taken from a smallpox patient. In Turkey, she performed variolation on her own son, and upon returning to England, she began to promote the Turkish method of variolation. At first, variolation was met with hostility. The clergy saw in her something contrary to the will of Divine Providence. It took the support of King George I to conduct experiments that proved the enormous effectiveness of the variolation method. Inmates of Newgate Prison, who were promised amnesty, were selected for testing. Six people - three men and three women - gave their consent to variolation. They all remained healthy. After this, variolation began to be widely used in Great Britain itself, as well as in its American colonies.
studfiles.net
Sensational results of deciphering written monuments of ancient Egypt, ancient India and Western Europe
Babylonian phenomenon (Oreshkin Peter). This book, first published in Russia, outlines a method for deciphering written monuments of Ancient Egypt, Ancient India and Western Europe using ancient Russian alphabet. Sensational decryption results.
Here are a few pages from the book.
The phenomenon “that aphids do not smolder”
Editor's Preface
Dear reader! Before you is an amazing book by our compatriot, published for the first time in Russia through the efforts and funds of a small group of enthusiastic ascetics, eager for the revival of the greatness and power of our Motherland. What is it about?
In historical “science”, when deciphering written monuments of ancient times, all the languages of the world were used, including “dead” ones, but the Russian language, one of the greatest languages, was NEVER used. Russian "historians" - Russophobes - are criminally guilty of this, declaring to the whole world that the Russian people had neither their own written language nor culture before the adoption of Christianity (988). “Naturally,” none of them even thought of being indignant when the famous Egyptologist-decipherer J.F. Champollion also neglected the Russian language.
We can consider Pyotr Petrovich Oreshkin a follower of the Slavic scholar of the 18th century, the Pole Fadey Volansky, the author of the book “Monuments of the Writing of the Slavs before the Nativity of Christ.” For this book, F. Volansky was sentenced to death by the Catholic Inquisition as an “extremely eretic” work. Its circulation was thrown into the fire, where the author was also burned. But one copy somehow miraculously fell into the hands of Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Fine Sciences, State Councilor, member of the Coronation Commission of Nicholas I, a tireless figure in the field of public education, Yegor Ivanovich Klassen, a contemporary of A.S. Pushkin. E.I. Klassen was an irreconcilable fighter against the Vatican agents in Russian historical “science” Bayer, Miller, Schlözer, Gebrardi, Parrott, Galling, Georgi and others, who composed Russian “history” that humiliated the national dignity of the Russians.
F. Volansky’s “fault” was that he was the first to read the ancient written monuments of Western Europe in Russian. E.I. Klassen: “We will explain these monuments, even the first thought on the way to explain them we owe to F. Volansky, who took the first and significant step towards that...”. E.I. Klassen, a passionate follower of M.V. Lomonosov's views on ancient Russian history, irrefutably proved the fact of the existence of a primary proto-Russian civilization, which became the foundation of the culture of both Western Europe and the countries of the East. Nevertheless, our schoolchildren and students are still forced to cram the version of Russian “history” planted on us by science businessmen.
P.P. Oreshkin, using his own approaches, also brilliantly read the most ancient written monuments in Russian. The reader will see for himself: otherwise they cannot be read. There have never been any “Amonhoteps”, “Ramses” or other historical characters with hard-to-pronounce names. Ancient Egypt, Ancient India, “Greek” Byzantium, the Etruscan state are the outskirts of the Great proto-civilization of Ancient Rus', which follows not only from the works of F. Volansky and E.I. Klassen, but also other predecessors of P. Oreshkin: Mavro Orbini, A.I. Lyzlova, M.V. Lomonosova, N.A. Morozova. The “Babylonian Phenomenon” is another convincing evidence of the absolute correctness of these scientists - patriots of the Russian Land.
Living in the West, Pyotr Petrovich apparently counted on the help of Russian emigrants in publishing and popularizing his book. The reader will become familiar with A. Solzhenitsyn’s note, which correctly characterizes the situation surrounding Oreshkin’s work. But couldn't "worldwide famous classic“to allocate a couple of thousand “bucks” from his gigantic fees for the publication of “The Babylonian Phenomenon”? He could have allocated it, but he didn’t.
From the article by our wonderful compatriot Tatyana Andreevna Panshina “I see the hidden essence...”, who sent Oreshkin’s work to the editorial office of the newspaper “For Russian Business” in 1994, the reader learns that the editors of Russian foreign magazines E.A. Vagin (“Veche”) and M.I. Turyanitsa (“Free Word of Rus'”) hosted Pyotr Petrovich. However, for some reason they did not publish his book in their publications.
This is strange, to say the least... The book, fortunately, was nevertheless printed in a scanty edition at the University of Rome in Russian. Probably (and why not assume this?), Pyotr Petrovich came from the descendants of the uncompromising scientist-historian Italian Mavro Orbini, who in 1601 wrote a study entitled “The Book of Historiography inaugurating the name, glory and expansion of the Slavic people and their Kings and Rulers under with many names and with many Kingdoms, Kingdoms and Provinces, collected from many historical books, through Mr. Mavrurbin Archimandrite of Raguzh.”
This book was among those banned by the Vatican, but was published in Russia on the direct orders of Peter I in 1722. In Russia, Orbini’s work was carefully studied and commented on by A.T. only 260 years later. Fomenko and his followers in "Empire" (M., "Factorial", 1996).
“DIFFERENT SIGNS – LANGUAGE – ONE” – this is what Pyotr Petrovich Oreshkina wrote after finishing his work on deciphering ancient written monuments. He invites “specialists” in world and Russian history: “THE DOOR IS OPEN, COME IN!” But: “Light is destructive for them!”
The only thing we disagree with Oreshkin on is his indication of the existence in Siberia of a “mighty Turkic empire”, which, it is believed, ceased to be such somewhere at the beginning of the 13th century. AD She is a myth invented by “historians” in order to support them with the Tatar-Mongol “yoke” in Rus', invented by the same Miller, Schlozer, Bayer and others.
Pyotr Petrovich, according to T. Panshina, “died unexpectedly at the 55th year of his life, in 1987.” Apparently, he, too, was sentenced by the “powers of this world,” vigilantly watching, as in the time of F. Volansky, to ensure that the huge role of the World Proto-Empire Ancient Rus' in the formation of all the most ancient, ancient and modern civilizations of mankind remains forever in the dark.
According to Klassen, F. Volansky’s research is one of those “...that aphids cannot smolder.” We have the right to note the same about the book by P.P. Oreshkin "Babylonian Phenrman".
We apologize for the quality of the illustrative series, because... The book is reproduced from a photocopy.
Oleg GUSEV
From a letter 10/17/1980
Dear Pyotr Petrovich!
I can imagine your despair at offers of your work to Western “Slavic” specialists. Regardless of the truth, the very direction of your interpretation by him is disgusting and is one of the most condemning that you can come up with in modern world.
But, in any case, it is very daring and undoubtedly talented.
I wish you not to become discouraged, but to succeed!
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
"In the beginning was the word." It was Slavic
Oreshkin Pyotr Petrovich. Born in 1932, in Moscow. Graduated from the Gorky Literary Institute in 1962. He worked as a journalist, published in popular science magazines in Moscow.
While still at the institute, he began deciphering the “Phaistos Disc”, providing strong evidence of the presence of a letter-syllabic alphabet.
AND IT TURNS OUT RIGHT.
This was the first link in a long chain. Where does it lead? This is what my book is about.
Details - in the American newspaper "THE JERSEY JOURNAL", November 6, 1982
“WE WERE GIVEN A “BIG WORD.”
IT WAS BROKEN, AND WE ARE SCURRING IN THE WRITTEN –
"GUINE PIGS" OF A GLOBAL, TRAGICOMIC EXPERIMENT,
BUT – OUR LANGUAGE REMAIN UNITED, IF IT IS NOT INTENTIONAL
Fragmented - IN OUR PLACE TODAY THE EXPERIMENTERS THEMSELVES COULD BE.”
Pyotr Oreshkin
EAT TRAVELERS SUITISY – I LOOK AT YOUR BULLSHIT
Explaining the content of my work to Western “Slavic” specialists is carrying a Lamp before the blind. The “professors of Slavic languages” to whom I sent my work answered me in French, German, and English, being unable to write a simple letter in Russian.
My book is addressed to those who SPEAK AND THINK IN SLAVIC, to those who have the courage to look directly into the eyes of history and understand that our past is distorted, our roots are cut off, and we ourselves are driven into a dead end, from where we must get out until It’s not too late, while our language is still alive and the connection in time can be restored, while we have not yet suffocated in the sticky web of dead words.
Trying to read the inscriptions “BEFORE BABYLON”, using the grammatical structure of the languages of the “POST-BABYLON ERA”, is to fit an “English key” to an ancient lock, to pull a single chain of linguistic heritage where its links are broken – it is pointless!
The oldest documents were written using different alphabetic systems, but IN ONE LANGUAGE and here lies the key to deciphering them:
SIGNS ARE DIFFERENT, LANGUAGE IS ONE.
The SLAVS preserved in their entirety the grammatical structure and root vocabulary of the ancient LANGUAGE, but they forgot who they were, where they came from - they forgot about their GLORIOUS past, perhaps because they were too gullible people.
You just have to be blind or REALLY NOT WANT TO SEE that I was perfectly successful in deciphering it, and the ancient documents spoke for the FIRST TIME in our native language. He has returned to life in his original appearance, he is colorful, he is magnificent! And no “specialists” can ruin it. Light is destructive for them! THE DOOR IS OPEN, COME IN!
GENESIS 11:1.5–7:
"1. The whole earth had one language and one dialect.
And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower,
which the sons of men built.
And the Lord said: Behold, there is one people, and one for all
language; and this is what they began to do, and they will not stop
they are from what they plan to do.
Let us go down and confuse their language there, so that
one did not understand the other’s speech.”
When I gave the title to my work, I, of course, had these biblical lines in mind. But the very name of the country where the “Tower of Babel” was built indicates to people speaking SLAVIC about some strange event that took place in these places:
MESOPOTAMIA, almost unchanged "MESO OF POTOMIA" - "The country where the offspring were mixed."
Scientists passed by, not noticing that here, at some point in the INTENTIONAL CATASTROPHE, the ONE LANGUAGE was broken and fragmented into pieces, that the “BIG WORD” turned out to be, as it were, “torn into pieces,” which were then distributed to the “builders,” for some reason, suddenly forgot what the ORIGINAL looked like, and it is possible to restore it - in our darkened consciousness - only by placing in the ORIGINAL ORDER the "BRICKS" of the destroyed "Tower of Babel", where, probably, the most valuable information was stored, the possession of which has BECOME THREATENING.
Blind “apprentices” who have lost the drawings are chasing a ghost, following in the footsteps of Champollion, who did not understand a WORD of the language of Ancient Egypt. They pile up an outlandish SOMETHING, with manic persistence driving “brick by brick into other people’s nests”, and cannot realize that the “order of the masonry” has been DISRUPTED FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, that their ridiculous, fake “Renaissance temple” is tied from top to bottom with “hoops”, which alone hold the skewed structure, and ONE IMPACT is enough to sweep away all this pompous junk, revealing the pristine foundation, where - under a pile of rotten decorations - the “BIG WORD” is hidden.
The very name of the ETRUSSIANS gives reason to say that they were an ancient Slavic tribe of RUSSIANS - “THIS IS THE RUSSIANS.”
But, looking at the drawings in the tombs, it is easy to see that Etruscan women had blond, “flaxen” hair, representing a distinct type of “northern beauties,” and their husbands were dark, curly and black-haired, as if they belonged to another tribe.
Then it is quite likely that the ETRUSIANS are only slightly modified ITA-RUSSIANS, related in structure to our UGRO-FINNS. ITA were the ancestors of modern Italians. Their wives, RUSSIANS, were directly related to us.
This is also confirmed by ancient Greek sources, which call the Etruscans “turzheniya”, which is quite definite: “those urges” - “those married with a bang” (I will return to “hurray” at the end of the work).
The custom of taking wives from another tribe was widely practiced in the ancient world. "ITA" were no exception here. But together they constituted ONE people, who spoke and wrote in Old Slavic until their departure from the scene somewhere at the beginning of the “Renaissance.”
The texts I deciphered do not leave the slightest doubt that we are dealing with ANCIENT SLAVIC language, ANCIENT SLAVIC culture! THIS IS AN OBVIOUS FACT, although “experts” strive to “link” Etruscan, it seems, with all Indo-European languages EXCEPT ancient Slavic.
To understand the hidden “mechanics” of Etruscan writing and to understand the complexity of its decipherment, it is necessary to especially emphasize that the ancient scribes did not at all strive (as is commonly believed) to simplify the alphabet, to make it easier and more accessible to use, although they could easily do this .
Just the opposite! They tried with all their might to COMPLETE it, resorting to very ingenious tricks with one single goal: to hide from outsiders THE PRINCIPLE OF WRITING ITSELF and thus preserve all the privileges of the closed caste that owns its secret.
There is a strange contrast. On the one hand, there are the amazing achievements of the Etruscans in construction, architecture, and painting, where clarity, perfection and completeness of forms are visible everywhere. Along with this is Etruscan writing with its clumsy, careless “childish handwriting”, skewed letters, jumping lines. But this discrepancy is easily explained if we consider that the inscriptions were INTENTIONALLY distorted. If any of the outsiders knew WHAT was written here, they certainly did not know HOW it was done. Only a FEW people knew writing - the rest were ILLITERATE!
To hide the “mechanism” of writing, there were several proven techniques:
1. The direction of writing was constantly changing. The text could be read from left to right and right to left.
2. All together or separately, the letters were turned in the direction opposite to the direction of writing or placed “upside down”.
3. Individual letters were INTENTIONALLY distorted in the letter. For example, the letters “E”, “O”, “L” could be written “E”, “D”, “V”, becoming (purely externally) the letters “T”, “D”, “V” of the Etruscan alphabet, but retaining at the same time its original meaning.
5. Individual vowels in the writing were omitted, which was generally very typical in the writing of the ancient Slavs.
6. The letters could be hidden in the details of the ornament or appear in the drawing in the form of an “olive branch”, “spear”, etc. This made it possible to make the text ambiguous.
I have listed here only the main ones. The entire set of these ingenious techniques can be called “CAVERZ SYSTEM”, and, I believe, this term will eventually enter the scientific lexicon. In any case, I found a very accurate definition of the nature of ancient writing (not only Etruscan).
Only a small part of the reproductions of Etruscan mirrors is given here; there are many more of them. The Etruscans had a custom of placing them with their owners during burial. On many mirrors you can clearly see the inscription "DATE". The Etruscans believed in a DATE beyond the grave.
The main character of the other world of the Etruscans is “MENEOCA - AKOENEM”, a many-faced creature, a werewolf, like his name itself, which can be read from left to right “VARIABLE” and from right to left “CURSED”. This creature stands at the border of two worlds, guarding the entrance to the “Through the Looking Glass”.
The payment for a short meeting with the dead is some kind of balls of unknown origin; they are definitely of interest to MENEOKA.
These same balls are also attached to bracelets: they are given to those for whom the time has come to go to ZVIDAN. The Etruscans are brought to “ZVIDAN” (SVIDAN) by SINIVTSA, the same “Blue Bird” that M. Maeterlinck told us about, many centuries later.
But the SLAVS are familiar with it. The tit is a frequent guest of Slavic proverbs, sayings, and fairy tales.
We are connected with the Etruscans by the strong roots of the SLAVIC language, SLAVIC culture, roots going back thousands of years, which all sorts of “specialists” seek to cut down, whose “bright temple” is clearly “leaning” towards Asia Minor, where, of course, the smartest, most enlightened people lived, while everyone else sadly hung on tails in anticipation of the arrival of the "kulturtregers".
But ask any of these “experts”, where do our concepts of “PAGANITY”, “PAGAN religion” come from?
In the third edition of the TSB we find: “PAGANITY – from the Church Slavonic “pagans” - peoples, foreigners. The designation of non-Christian, in a broad sense - polytheistic religions. In the literature of Christian peoples, pagan gods personified the elements of nature."
"Soviet Historical Encyclopedia" 1976: "Paganism is a term adopted in Christian theology and partially in historical literature, denoting pre-Christian and non-Christian religions. The term Paganism comes from the New Testament - the second, Christian part of the Bible, in which paganism meant peoples or "pagans" (hence Paganism)."
That, in essence, is all that “experts” can say about pagan religion, for whom “pagans” and “peoples” are one and the same!
However, I can quite clearly and clearly answer the question of where our concepts of “Paganism” and “Pagan” come from.
There are mirrors where "MENEOKA-AKOENEM" is depicted in its true form - a teasing mask with its TONGUE sticking out.
THE CONCEPTS OF “PAGANITY”, “PAGAN RELIGION” WE TOOK FROM THE ETRUSCANS!
THE ETRUSCANS (and only the Etruscans) had a “pagan” religion – PAGAN – in the literal sense of the word!
Source:
hystory.mediasole.ru
Coursework - Cultural Monuments of Ancient India
in the discipline "Culturology"
"Cultural Monuments of Ancient India"
Introduction
1. Harappan Civilization
Conclusion
Introduction
The culture of the Ancient East attracts modern tourists with its exoticism. Abandoned cities and monumental temples speak volumes about bygone civilizations. But the heritage of the Ancient East is not only temples and monuments. Buddhism is the oldest of the three world religions (along with Christianity and Islam) that arose in India 2.5 thousand years ago. The bulk of her followers live in the countries of South, Southeast and East Asia: India, China, Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Sri Lanka, Nepal. In our country, Buddhism is traditionally practiced by the residents of Buryatia, Kalmykia, and Tuva. It is difficult to determine the total number of Buddhists in the world, but it is very roughly accepted that there are about 400 million lay people and 1 million monks.
Buddhism is a religious and philosophical doctrine created on the basis of the ancient teachings of India, the cornerstone of which is the belief in reincarnation. The basis of Buddhist doctrine is a person’s inner desire for spiritual insight, or nirvana, which can be achieved through meditation, wisdom and the highest moral values. The main goal of Buddhism is human self-improvement, liberation from the chain of rebirths that bring suffering, which is based on selfish desires. The relevance of this topic does not need any justification other than the words: “The Mysterious East”!
The purpose of this work is to study the cultural monuments of Ancient India.
In connection with this goal, the following research objectives can be formulated:
Talk about the dead civilization of Harappa, represented only by archaeological finds;
Consider Buddhist art as one of the sources of cultural wealth of ancient and modern India.
The abstract consists of 5 sections. The first formulates the purpose and objectives of the study, the second describes the civilization of ancient Harappa, the third provides an overview of Buddhist art and its main monuments in India, the fourth draws the main conclusions on the content of the work, and the fifth indicates primary sources on the topic of the work.
1. Harappan Civilization
Back in the twenties of the last century, archaeologists discovered ancient mounds in this region of Pakistan with the remains of the largest Bronze Age cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. By the way, according to some publications, the ruins of Mohenjo-Daro contain traces of the incinerating flame that once destroyed this great city. They even said that the terrible flame was generated almost by a nuclear explosion.
Now the site of the disaster is occupied by the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh. To date, here on a vast territory that could accommodate two states such as Mesopotamia or Ancient Egypt, the remains of one and a half thousand ancient settlements have been uncovered!
In 1985, Professor George F. Dales of the University of California at Berkeley founded the Harappan Archaeological Research Project, which has already passed its first exploratory stages. The earliest settlement at the site of Harappa dates back to 3300 BC. - the time when the ancient Sumerians were just beginning to build their first ziggurats (giant pyramids made of unfired clay with a cut off top for temples). The ancient inhabitants of the Indus Valley were then engaged in agriculture, in particular cattle breeding, and also grew barley, legumes and other crops. Archaeologists have discovered small villages in the north and south of Harappa along the banks of the Ravi River (the left tributary of the Chenab River). Terracotta trinkets and painted shells were found here. It is interesting that materials for decorations were brought 300-800 km away. The discovered remains of cotton and wool fabrics testified to the development of textile production.
Urbanization of Harappa began around 2600 and continued until 1900 BC. For seven centuries, Harappa was one of the largest and most powerful economic and political centers in the Indus Valley. During the spring and summer trading seasons, the city was flooded with hundreds of merchants and thousands of residents of the surrounding Villages. The number of permanent residents of Kharalpa ranged from forty to eighty thousand people. Archaeologists have found here beautiful pottery with images of religious scenes on them, as well as seals of sorts with carved images of unicorns and cubic stone objects, probably used as cinders for weighing. Traders brought goods here from Afghanistan and Central Asia. Among the imported items were items made of lapis lazuli, tin, silver, gold and textiles. Back to their homeland, visiting traders took grain, livestock, beautiful samples of textiles and, perhaps, even silk. At that time, the city occupied an area of 150 hectares, more than five kilometers in circumference.
The current Harappa occupies only a third of the former territory, and the population does not exceed twenty thousand people. In ancient times, local masons built multi-story (!) houses from baked bricks, located in a straight line from north to south and from east to west.
The main streets were 8 m wide, and in the central part of the city their width ensured two-way traffic for carts and carts. In and around the city, builders built wells, houses were equipped with swimming pools, toilets and a kind of sewage system. Wastewater was discharged through special channels to agricultural land to fertilize the soil. Perhaps nowhere in the ancient world was there such an intricate sewer system. Even in the Roman Empire it appeared only two thousand years later!
During the heyday of Harappa, writing actively developed in the city. It consisted of four hundred symbols, although they had not yet been solved. But it can be assumed that several languages were used in them, and they were used for correspondence among traders, landowners and religious figures. This writing became widespread in all urban centers of the Indus Valley. Seals with images of animals and ritual subjects were widely used. More than 65% of known seals had images of unicorns, others featured elephants, Indian, humpbacked bulls, buffalos, bison, tigers and rhinoceroses.
The inscriptions on the seals indicated the names of local clans, the names of landowners, and the legal affiliation of individuals. Similar markings are also found on pottery. Examples of inscriptions on bronze and gold objects referred to the names of the owners or indicated the price of these products. Faience and clay objects were sometimes broken into two parts for the participants in a pair transaction. Copper discs may have been the beginnings of a coin system. Archaeological finds in 2001 indicate a new chronology for the development of Indian writing. Previously, scientists believed that the appearance of seals and "coins" was simultaneous, but it has now become clear that different types of these artifacts appeared and changed over the years.
Between 2300 and 1900 BC. The population of the cities of the Indus Valley grew rapidly. At the same time, the variety and perfection of cultural products increased. During this period, they show a combination of inscriptions with images of mythological scenes. Surely the spiritual leaders of those times used such objects to invoke the gods. Although archaeologists have not yet been able to find out the names of these gods, they have noticed a recurring motif on various items - men sitting in a yogic lotus position, with a headdress topped with a horn. One of the scenes shows a sacrificial buffalo in front of a seated god. On other objects, the god is surrounded by wild animals. Some seals show goddesses wearing horned headdresses fighting tigers. The clay tiles depict goddesses strangling two tigers or perched on the heads of elephants. Similar scenes were found in Mesopotamia (from the epic “Gilgamesh”), where the images show the hero fighting with two lions. The similarity of these motifs suggests cultural ties between the mentioned civilizations.
Previously, scientists believed that the ancient cities of the Indus Valley were suddenly abandoned by the inhabitants around 1750 BC. And in fact, by this time Harappa, if not completely deserted, then the urban economy had clearly fallen into decay. The weakening of power and loss of control over the life of the city was characteristic not only of Harappa, but also of other cities in the region. Similar degradation occurred in Mohenjo-Daro. The impending crisis of the state led to the gradual disappearance of signs of elite culture in the area.
Traditional square seals with unicorns and other animals disappeared. Stone weighing cubes began to fall out of use, and international trade faded away.
The flow of goods such as decorated shells and lapis lazuli products from Harappa ceased. There was probably more than one reason for the city's decline. The switching of trade routes and the emergence of settlements in the Ganges Valley (in the area of what is now the Indian state of Gujarat) undermined the political and economic life of Harappa. Around 1900 BC one of the largest rivers of the Indus Valley, Ghaggar (north of present-day Delhi), began to change its course and completely dried up, leaving many cities without water.
The relocation of residents to other fertile areas caused overstress in their new habitats. The authorities' lack of a regular army deprived them of the opportunity to establish at least some order in the territories under their control.
The pace of such change varied in different regions. Most of the abandoned settlements were plundered, and the later inhabitants of these places buried the archaeological evidence of the past that still remained.
However, although many objects from the Indus Valley culture have disappeared, some relevant artifacts have survived. These included pottery, faience, and copper and bronze items. By the period around 1700 BC. refers to the appearance of the first examples of glass jewelry in the Indus Valley (two hundred years before the development of this material in Egypt). In subsequent centuries (from 1200 to 800 BC), glass bottles and glass beads appeared in northern India and Pakistan. Iron production also arose in the north of the Indus Valley and along the banks of the Ganges.
The excavations also revealed jewelry in the form of stone beads made during the earliest stages of settlement of the Indus Valley. The first samples of stone beads had small holes with a diameter of 1.5-3 mm. Some of the early examples were made from soapstone (a soft talc known as soapstone). Craftsmen knew how to drill holes in them with copper drills for hanging, about half a millimeter in diameter. After this, the beads were given the desired shape using grinding wheels. Finally, the craftsmen fired the beads in special kilns at a temperature of 850 °C. Harappan craftsmen used agate and jasper as materials for beads. Around 2600 BC The craftsmen of the Indus Valley learned to make harder drills, the secret of which remained unsolved.
One of the most complex technologies was used to produce earthenware beads. The quality of the Indus Valley pottery was higher than that of Egypt or Mesopotamia, since it was made from crushed quartz. The elite classes of the Indus Valley used faience not only for decoration but also for ritual purposes. Faience items with images of various subjects were also used in special ceremonies, during which they were given as gifts to people bringing gifts or performing sacrifices.
Harappa is a great monument of Indian culture, arousing interest among researchers and tourists of all nationalities. The material culture of Harappa has been studied quite well, however, the death of Harappa still remains a mystery.
2. Buddhist art in India
Buddhism, spreading over the centuries to vast neighboring territories, did not conflict with the primordial religions and culture that already existed there. There were many similarities with local deities, customs and rituals. Buddhism assimilated with them, absorbing many aspects of local cults, modified under the pressure of other religions, but fundamentally remained unchanged.
Architecture, sculpture, and painting contributed to the spread of the ideas of Buddhism. Initially, the art of Buddhism was a set of “reinforcements” or “reminders” that helped the believer in perceiving a doctrine that was often too complex for him. As religion spread, it was filled with new meanings and cast into completely new forms.
The contemplative Buddhist “art of living” required the fusion of artistic forms with natural ones. Therefore, Buddhist architecture differs from European architecture: it is not a shelter from nature, but a dissolution in it. The main idea of Buddhist buildings is the creation of a visible resemblance of artificial and natural forms, harmony with nature, conditions for finding peace of mind. The architecture is based on a classic sense of organic, free-growing volume from the earth. Tibetan temples and Chinese pagodas seem to be natural formations; they echo the shapes of mountains, hills or weathered rocks, blooming on their slopes like strange flowers.
Two main types of Buddhist buildings can be distinguished. The first type is services designed to support the life of the monastery: temples, sometimes reaching enormous sizes, rooms for monks - vihara, a hall for believers - chaitya, libraries, towers for gongs and bells. The second type is a structure that is itself an object of worship: a stupa or pagoda. They are usually the center of the monastery in accordance with their role as guardian of sacred relics.
Stupas are not buildings, but solid monolithic monuments with small chambers - reliquaries and niches for sculptures. According to legend, the first stupas were erected after the burning of the Buddha's body according to Indian custom - to store his ashes, divided into eight parts according to the number of regions of India that claimed their rights to his relics. Stupas are hemispherical, tower-shaped or bell-shaped. In the system of Buddhist symbolism, the stupa is considered as a vertical model of the Universe. It symbolizes the “creative beginning of the Universe”, the “impulse of life”, nirvana. The architectural features of stupas in each country are determined by local traditions, but in plan they must be round or square.
The entire group of buildings of the monastery complex is organized according to a single plan. In East Asia, the monastery is surrounded by a wall and is usually oriented along a central axis with the main gate to the south, behind which stood a pagoda, followed by a temple. This line was completed by a preaching hall and a back gate. The location of the buildings could change due to the terrain, especially in the mountains, but Buddhist culture always involves a ritual walk around clockwise. In temples carved out of rocks, a special path was used for this. Over time, the temple displaced the pagoda from its central place, so it acquired a less sacred and more decorative appearance, and often a second one was added to one pagoda for symmetry.
In Buddhist temples, on a raised platform - a kind of altar in the back of the hall - there are statues of Buddhas or bodhisattvas (saints who decided to leave the circle of reincarnations and achieve Buddhahood). The altar consists of several steps: the square step is a symbol of the earth, the round one is a symbol of the sky. In the wall niches there are statues of deities, on the walls there are paintings reminiscent of the previous deeds of the Buddha, pictures of paradise, figures of bodhisattvas, and countless decorative motifs.
The heyday of Buddhist sculpture dates back to the 4th – 5th centuries. During these years, a huge number of images of Buddha and bodhisats were made from gold, bronze, painted wood, ivory, stone, from small (2-3 cm) to huge figures 54 m high.
Often Buddhist buildings turn into giant pyramids of sculptures that completely cover the main volume. Reliefs and sculptures of temple and monastery buildings also include images not related to the philosophy of Buddhism, reflecting more ancient cults and beliefs, and sometimes simply the artist’s imagination.
Buddhism did not declare bans on images of living beings, encouraged independent thinking, and declared the principle of great complexity and continuous variability of the world to be the most important. The Buddha taught that the road to salvation lies through getting rid of illusions, so Buddhist characters have a clear and enlightened expression, they are beyond moral weaknesses and selfish passions.
Picturesque images of Buddha, bodhisats, Buddhist symbols (vase, scepter, begging bowl, bow and arrows, rosary, wheel of Samsara or wheel of the Law, etc.) can be seen in almost every Buddhist temple.
This is how A. David-Neel, a European traveler who studied Buddhism in the East for many years, describes the interior decoration of one of the Buddhist monasteries in Tibet in the book “Mystics and Magicians of Tibet” (M., 1991): “A mass of banners suspended from the ceiling in galleries and attached to high supporting pillars, show the audience a great many images of Buddha and gods, and on the frescoes covering the walls, among cohorts of other heroes, saints and demons flaunt in threatening or benevolent poses. In the depths of the huge room, behind several rows of altar lamps, statues of great, long-departed lamas and jeweled arks of silver and gold, containing their mummies or cremation ashes, flicker softly. Having fixed their demanding or commanding gazes on people, overwhelming them with their numbers, all these creatures... seem to mingle with a crowd of monks. A mystical atmosphere envelops people and objects, obscures trivial details with a haze, and idealizes faces and poses. ")
In Tibetan Buddhist art, tanka - images of Buddha, church hierarchs, characters of the Buddhist pantheon, hagiographic cycles, etc. - occupy a significant place. They are made with paints on silk or printed on cotton fabric and are intended for meditation, religious processions, in temple interiors, and home altars.
Characteristic of Buddhist art is the desire for a contrasting combination of bright, colorful materials: gold and silver, red and black lacquer, inlay with colored glass, porcelain, foil, mother-of-pearl, and precious stones. Buddhism became a school for several generations of masters in India, Persia, Burma, Thailand, and Indonesia. Many classical works of art from China and Japan and other countries are associated with Buddhism.
Conclusion
Buddhism flourished in India in the 5th-7th centuries. Mahayana promoted a return to hierarchical ideas, and Tantrism promoted the rehabilitation of the sensory world. From the 4th century Secular culture flourished under the Gupta dynasty. Along with temples in the treatise on architecture of the V-VI centuries. public buildings and palaces are described. The invasion of the Huns also contributed to the transition to a hierarchical organization of society. As in Europe, the collapse of the Hunnic state led to the formation of principalities and relations, which in Europe were called feudal. In the V-VII centuries. There were about 50 states on Indian territory.
The Gupta kings patronized various religions, but called themselves devotees of Vishnu. In the inscriptions of this time, Hindu names appear five times more often than Buddhist and Jain names. KV c. collections of Hindu myths and traditions are compiled. These codes were not intended for a select few, but for the entire population, to whom they were close and understandable. The basic idea of Hinduism was fully consistent with the spirit of a hierarchical society - the idea of personal service to God and boundless devotion to him. The most popular gods were Vishnu and Shiva.
Urban artisans of the main specialties were subordinated to corporations. The city, as the center of culture, was already sharply opposed to the village. There may also have been royal workshops: it is difficult to imagine that single artisans created the pillar of Chandragupta II in Delhi from stainless iron or the huge bronze statue of Buddha in Sultanganj. Craft guilds, like trade guilds, accepted cash deposits and carried out banking activities. There was also a separate corporation of bankers-money changers. However, little copper money was found; shells were used instead even in the capital.
The country was united not only by new religious ideas, but also by Sanskrit as a universal language.
List of used literature
1. Cultural studies. Course of lectures ed. A.A. Radugina Publishing house “Center” Moscow 1998
2. Culturology /Ed. A.N. Markova M., 1998
3. Levinas E. Philosophical definition of the idea of culture. // Global problems and universal human values. – M.: Progress, 1990. - P.86-97
4. Polikarpov V.S. Lectures on cultural studies. M.: “Gardariki”, 1997.-344 p.
5. Illustrated history of religions. T.1,2 - M.: Publishing house of the Valaam Monastery, 1992.
6. Kagan M.S. Philosophy of culture. - St. Petersburg, 1996.
7. Ponomareva G.M. and others. Fundamentals of cultural studies. – M., 1998.
www.ronl.ru
Abstract on the topic Cultural Monuments of Ancient India
ABSTRACT on the discipline "Cultural Studies" Topic: "Cultural Monuments of Ancient India" Contents Introduction 1. Harappan Civilization 2. Buddhist art in India Conclusion List of used literatureIntroduction The culture of the Ancient East attracts modern tourists with its exoticism. Abandoned cities and monumental temples speak volumes about bygone civilizations. But the heritage of the Ancient East is not only temples and monuments. Buddhism is the oldest of the three world religions (along with Christianity and Islam) that arose in India 2.5 thousand years ago. The bulk of her followers live in the countries of South, Southeast and East Asia: India, China, Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Sri Lanka, Nepal. In our country, Buddhism is traditionally practiced by the residents of Buryatia, Kalmykia, and Tuva. It is difficult to determine the total number of Buddhists in the world, but it is very roughly accepted that there are about 400 million lay people and 1 million monks. Buddhism is a religious and philosophical doctrine created on the basis of the ancient teachings of India, the cornerstone of which is the belief in reincarnation. The basis of Buddhist doctrine is a person’s inner desire for spiritual insight, or nirvana, which can be achieved through meditation, wisdom and the highest moral values. The main goal of Buddhism is human self-improvement, liberation from the chain of rebirths that bring suffering, which is based on selfish desires. The relevance of this topic does not need any justification other than the words: “The Mysterious East”! The purpose of this work is to study the cultural monuments of Ancient India. In connection with this goal, the following research objectives can be formulated: Ø talk about the dead civilization of Harappa, represented only by archaeological finds; Ø consider Buddhist art as one of the sources of cultural wealth of ancient and modern India. The abstract consists of 5 sections. The first formulates the purpose and objectives of the study, the second describes the civilization of ancient Harappa, the third provides an overview of Buddhist art and its main monuments in India, the fourth draws the main conclusions on the content of the work, and the fifth indicates primary sources on the topic of the work. 1. Harappan civilization Back in the twenties of the last century, archaeologists discovered the most ancient mounds in this region of Pakistan with the remains of the largest Bronze Age cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. By the way, according to some publications, the ruins of Mohenjo-Daro contain traces of the incinerating flame that once destroyed this great city. They even said that the terrible flame was generated almost by a nuclear explosion. Now the site of the disaster is occupied by the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh. To date, here on a vast territory that could accommodate two states such as Mesopotamia or Ancient Egypt, the remains of one and a half thousand ancient settlements have been uncovered! In 1985, Professor George F. Dales of the University of California at Berkeley founded the Harappan Archaeological Research Project, which has already passed its first exploratory stages. The earliest settlement at the site of Harappa dates back to 3300 BC. - the time when the ancient Sumerians were just beginning to build their first ziggurats (giant pyramids made of unfired clay with a cut off top for temples). The ancient inhabitants of the Indus Valley were then engaged in agriculture, in particular cattle breeding, and also grew barley, legumes and other crops. Archaeologists have discovered small villages in the north and south of Harappa along the banks of the Ravi River (the left tributary of the Chenab River). Terracotta trinkets and painted shells were found here. It is interesting that materials for decorations were brought 300-800 km away. The discovered remains of cotton and wool fabrics testified to the development of textile production. Urbanization of Harappa began around 2600 and continued until 1900 BC. For seven centuries, Harappa was one of the largest and most powerful economic and political centers in the Indus Valley. During the spring and summer trading seasons, the city was flooded with hundreds of merchants and thousands of residents of the surrounding Villages. The number of permanent residents of Kharalpa ranged from forty to eighty thousand people. Archaeologists have found here beautiful pottery with images of religious scenes on them, as well as seals of sorts with carved images of unicorns and cubic stone objects, probably used as cinders for weighing. Traders brought goods here from Afghanistan and Central Asia. Among the imported items were items made of lapis lazuli, tin, silver, gold and textiles. Back to their homeland, visiting traders took grain, livestock, beautiful samples of textiles and, perhaps, even silk. At that time, the city occupied an area of 150 hectares, more than five kilometers in circumference. The current Harappa occupies only a third of the former territory, and the population does not exceed twenty thousand people. In ancient times, local masons built multi-story (!) houses from baked bricks, located in a straight line from north to south and from east to west. The main streets were 8 m wide, and in the central part of the city their width ensured two-way traffic for carts and carts. In and around the city, builders built wells, houses were equipped with swimming pools, toilets and a kind of sewage system. Wastewater was discharged through special channels to agricultural land to fertilize the soil. Perhaps nowhere in the ancient world was there such an intricate sewer system. Even in the Roman Empire it appeared only two thousand years later! During the heyday of Harappa, writing actively developed in the city. It consisted of four hundred symbols, although they had not yet been solved. But it can be assumed that several languages were used in them, and they were used for correspondence among traders, landowners and religious figures. This writing became widespread in all urban centers of the Indus Valley. Seals with images of animals and ritual subjects were widely used. More than 65% of known seals had images of unicorns, others featured elephants, Indian, humpbacked bulls, buffalos, bison, tigers and rhinoceroses. The inscriptions on the seals indicated the names of local clans, the names of landowners, and the legal affiliation of individuals. Similar markings are also found on pottery. Examples of inscriptions on bronze and gold objects referred to the names of the owners or indicated the price of these products. Faience and clay objects were sometimes broken into two parts for the participants in a pair transaction. Copper discs may have been the beginnings of a coin system. Archaeological finds in 2001 indicate a new chronology for the development of Indian writing. Previously, scientists believed that the appearance of seals and "coins" was simultaneous, but it has now become clear that different types of these artifacts appeared and changed over the years. Between 2300 and 1900 BC. The population of the cities of the Indus Valley grew rapidly. At the same time, the variety and perfection of cultural products increased. During this period, they show a combination of inscriptions with images of mythological scenes. Surely the spiritual leaders of those times used such objects to invoke the gods. Although archaeologists have not yet been able to find out the names of these gods, they have noticed a recurring motif on various items - men sitting in a yogic lotus position, with a headdress topped with a horn. One of the scenes shows a sacrificial buffalo in front of a seated god. On other objects, the god is surrounded by wild animals. Some seals show goddesses wearing horned headdresses fighting tigers. The clay tiles depict goddesses strangling two tigers or perched on the heads of elephants. Similar scenes were found in Mesopotamia (from the epic “Gilgamesh”), where the images show the hero fighting with two lions. The similarity of these motifs suggests cultural ties between the mentioned civilizations. Previously, scientists believed that the ancient cities of the Indus Valley were suddenly abandoned by the inhabitants around 1750 BC. And in fact, by this time Harappa, if not completely deserted, then the urban economy had clearly fallen into decay. The weakening of power and loss of control over the life of the city was characteristic not only of Harappa, but also of other cities in the region. Similar degradation occurred in Mohenjo-Daro. The impending crisis of the state led to the gradual disappearance of signs of elite culture in the area. Traditional square seals with unicorns and other animals disappeared. Stone weighing cubes began to fall out of use, and international trade faded away. The flow of goods such as decorated shells and lapis lazuli products from Harappa ceased. There was probably more than one reason for the city's decline. The switching of trade routes and the emergence of settlements in the Ganges Valley (in the area of what is now the Indian state of Gujarat) undermined the political and economic life of Harappa. Around 1900 BC one of the largest rivers of the Indus Valley, Ghaggar (north of present-day Delhi), began to change its course and completely dried up, leaving many cities without water. The relocation of residents to other fertile areas caused overstress in their new habitats. The authorities' lack of a regular army deprived them of the opportunity to establish at least some order in the territories under their control. The pace of such change varied in different regions. Most of the abandoned settlements were plundered, and the later inhabitants of these places buried the archaeological evidence of the past that still remained. However, although many objects from the Indus Valley culture have disappeared, some relevant artifacts have survived. These included pottery, faience, and copper and bronze items. By the period around 1700 BC. refers to the appearance of the first examples of glass jewelry in the Indus Valley (two hundred years before the development of this material in Egypt). In subsequent centuries (from 1200 to 800 BC), glass bottles and glass beads appeared in northern India and Pakistan. Iron production also arose in the north of the Indus Valley and along the banks of the Ganges. The excavations also revealed jewelry in the form of stone beads made during the earliest stages of settlement of the Indus Valley. The first samples of stone beads had small holes with a diameter of 1.5-3 mm. Some of the early examples were made from soapstone (a soft talc known as soapstone). Craftsmen knew how to drill holes in them with copper drills for hanging, about half a millimeter in diameter. After this, the beads were given the desired shape using grinding wheels. Finally, the craftsmen fired the beads in special kilns at a temperature of 850 "C. Harappan craftsmen used agate and jasper as materials for beads. Around 2600 BC, the Indus Valley craftsmen learned to make harder drills, the secret of which remained unsolved. One one of the most complex technologies was used to produce faience beads.The quality of the Indus Valley faience was higher than that of Egypt or Mesopotamia, since it was made from crushed quartz. The elite classes of the Indus Valley used faience not only for decoration, but also for ritual purposes. Faience products with images of various subjects were also used in special ceremonies, during which they were given as gifts to people who brought gifts or made sacrifices. Harappa is a great monument of Indian culture, arousing interest among researchers and tourists of all nationalities. The material culture of Harappa has been sufficiently studied. well, nevertheless, the death of Harappa still remains a mystery. 2. Buddhist art in India Buddhism, spreading over the centuries to vast neighboring territories, did not conflict with the primordial religions and culture that already existed there. There were many similarities with local deities, customs and rituals. Buddhism assimilated with them, absorbing many aspects of local cults, modified under the pressure of other religions, but fundamentally remained unchanged. Architecture, sculpture, and painting contributed to the spread of the ideas of Buddhism. Initially, the art of Buddhism was a set of “reinforcements” or “reminders” that helped the believer in perceiving a doctrine that was often too complex for him. As religion spread, it was filled with new meanings and cast into completely new forms. The contemplative Buddhist “art of living” required the fusion of artistic forms with natural ones. Therefore, Buddhist architecture differs from European architecture: it is not a shelter from nature, but a dissolution in it. The main idea of Buddhist buildings is the creation of a visible resemblance of artificial and natural forms, harmony with nature, conditions for finding peace of mind. The architecture is based on a classic sense of organic, free-growing volume from the earth. Tibetan temples and Chinese pagodas seem to be natural formations; they echo the shapes of mountains, hills or weathered rocks, blooming on their slopes like strange flowers. Two main types of Buddhist buildings can be distinguished. The first type is services designed to support the life of the monastery: temples, sometimes reaching enormous sizes, rooms for monks - vihara, a hall for believers - chaitya, libraries, towers for gongs and bells. The second type is a structure that is itself an object of worship: a stupa or pagoda. They are usually the center of the monastery in accordance with their role as guardian of sacred relics. Stupas are not buildings, but solid monolithic monuments with small chambers - reliquaries and niches for sculptures. According to legend, the first stupas were erected after the burning of the Buddha's body according to Indian custom - to store his ashes, divided into eight parts according to the number of regions of India that claimed their rights to his relics. Stupas are hemispherical, tower-shaped or bell-shaped. In the system of Buddhist symbolism, the stupa is considered as a vertical model of the Universe. It symbolizes the “creative beginning of the Universe”, the “impulse of life”, nirvana. The architectural features of stupas in each country are determined by local traditions, but in plan they must be round or square. The entire group of buildings of the monastery complex is organized according to a single plan. In East Asia, the monastery is surrounded by a wall and is usually oriented along a central axis with the main gate to the south, behind which stood a pagoda, followed by a temple. This line was completed by a preaching hall and a back gate. The location of the buildings could change due to the terrain, especially in the mountains, but Buddhist culture always involves a ritual walk around clockwise. In temples carved out of rocks, a special path was used for this. Over time, the temple displaced the pagoda from its central place, so it acquired a less sacred and more decorative appearance, and often a second one was added to one pagoda for symmetry. In Buddhist temples, on a raised platform - a kind of altar in the back of the hall - there are statues of Buddhas or bodhisattvas (saints who decided to leave the circle of reincarnations and achieve Buddhahood). The altar consists of several steps: the square step is a symbol of the earth, the round one is a symbol of the sky. In the wall niches there are statues of deities, on the walls there are paintings reminiscent of the previous deeds of the Buddha, pictures of paradise, figures of bodhisattvas, and countless decorative motifs. The heyday of Buddhist sculpture dates back to the 4th – 5th centuries. During these years, a huge number of images of Buddha and bodhisats were made from gold, bronze, painted wood, ivory, stone, from small (2-3 cm) to huge figures 54 m high. Often Buddhist buildings turn into giant pyramids of sculptures that completely cover the main volume. Reliefs and sculptures of temple and monastery buildings also include images not related to the philosophy of Buddhism, reflecting more ancient cults and beliefs, and sometimes simply the artist’s imagination. Buddhism did not declare bans on images of living beings, encouraged independent thinking, and declared the principle of great complexity and continuous variability of the world to be the most important. The Buddha taught that the road to salvation lies through getting rid of illusions, so Buddhist characters have a clear and enlightened expression, they are beyond moral weaknesses and selfish passions. Picturesque images of Buddha, bodhisats, Buddhist symbols (vase, scepter, begging bowl, bow and arrows, rosary, wheel of Samsara or wheel of the Law, etc.) can be seen in almost every Buddhist temple. This is how A. David-Neel, a European traveler who studied Buddhism in the East for many years, describes the interior decoration of one of the Buddhist monasteries in Tibet in the book “Mystics and Magicians of Tibet” (M., 1991): “A mass of banners suspended from the ceiling in galleries and attached to high supporting pillars, show the audience a great many images of Buddha and gods, and on the frescoes covering the walls, among cohorts of other heroes, saints and demons flaunt in threatening or benevolent poses. In the depths of the huge room, behind several rows of altar lamps, statues of great, long-departed lamas and jeweled arks of silver and gold, containing their mummies or cremation ashes, flicker softly. Having fixed their demanding or commanding gazes on people, overwhelming them with their numbers, all these creatures... seem to mingle with a crowd of monks. A mystical atmosphere envelops people and objects, obscures trivial details with a haze, and idealizes faces and poses. ") In Tibetan Buddhist art, a significant place is occupied by tanka - images of the Buddha, church hierarchs, characters of the Buddhist pantheon, hagiographic cycles, etc. They are made with paints on silk or printed on cotton fabric and are intended for meditation, religious processions, in temple interiors, and home altars. Characteristic of Buddhist art is the desire for a contrasting combination of bright, colorful materials: gold and silver, red and black lacquer, inlay with colored glass, porcelain, foil, mother-of-pearl, and precious stones. Buddhism became a school for several generations of masters in India, Persia, Burma, Thailand, and Indonesia. Many classical works of art from China and Japan and other countries are associated with Buddhism. Conclusion Buddhism flourished in India in the 5th-7th centuries. Mahayana promoted a return to hierarchical ideas, and Tantrism promoted the rehabilitation of the sensory world. From the 4th century Secular culture flourished under the Gupta dynasty. Along with temples in the treatise on architecture of the V-VI centuries. public buildings and palaces are described. The invasion of the Huns also contributed to the transition to a hierarchical organization of society. As in Europe, the collapse of the Hunnic state led to the formation of principalities and relations, which in Europe were called feudal. In the V-VII centuries. There were about 50 states on Indian territory. The Gupta kings patronized various religions, but called themselves devotees of Vishnu. In the inscriptions of this time, Hindu names appear five times more often than Buddhist and Jain names. KV c. collections of Hindu myths and traditions are compiled. These codes were not intended for a select few, but for the entire population, to whom they were close and understandable. The basic idea of Hinduism was fully consistent with the spirit of a hierarchical society - the idea of personal service to God and boundless devotion to him. The most popular gods were Vishnu and Shiva. Urban artisans of the main specialties were subordinated to corporations. The city, as the center of culture, was already sharply opposed to the village. There may also have been royal workshops: it is difficult to imagine that single artisans created the pillar of Chandragupta II in Delhi from stainless iron or the huge bronze statue of Buddha in Sultanganj. Craft guilds, like trade guilds, accepted cash deposits and carried out banking activities. There was also a separate corporation of bankers-money changers. However, little copper money was found; shells were used instead even in the capital. The country was united not only by new religious ideas, but also by Sanskrit as a universal language. List of used literature 1. Culturology. Course of lectures ed. A.A. Radugina Publishing house “Center” Moscow 1998 2. Culturology /Ed. A.N. Markova M., 1998 3. Levinas E. Philosophical definition of the idea of culture. // Global problems and universal human values. – M.: Progress, 1990. - P.86-97 4. Polikarpov V.S. Lectures on cultural studies. M.: “Gardariki”, 1997.-344 p. 5. Illustrated history of religions. T.1,2 - M.: Publishing house of the Valaam Monastery, 1992. 6. Kagan M.S. Philosophy of culture. - St. Petersburg, 1996. 7. Ponomareva G.M. and others. Fundamentals of cultural studies. – M., 1998.
bukvasha.ru
INDIA, Introduction to Indology, State of the source base for archaeological research in the country
Introduction to Indology
State of the source base for archaeological research of the country
the Indologist has to use a poor and extremely unreliable key base through which history. Ancient. India, in comparison with other ancient civilizations, has been studied or no worse. The sources on the basis of which scientists carry out the historical reconstruction of ancient Indian society are divided into four main groups: ancient Indian written monuments, reports of foreigners about. India, the sights of material culture and living traditions of antiquity in the present rural wilderness.
A lot of Indian written monuments have survived, but they do not provide reliable historical information. Among them there are no documents of economic reporting, secular laws, historical chronicles, except for the Ceylon Chronicles of the first centuries of our era and the “Kashmir Chronicle” of the 13th century. Therefore, Indologists must be content almost exclusively with religious, philosophical and literary works and scientific treatises that cannot be accurately dated and, moreover, are kept silent thousand-year history countries of the Vedic Sutbi.
Among religious and philosophical monuments, Indologists value sacred books most of all. The Vedas, which consist of four main collections:. Rigveda (hymns). Samaveda (chant). Yajurveda (sacrifice) etc. At Tharva Veda (spells and incantations), and the last three collections have come down to us in several editions - Samhita. Even in ancient times before. The Vedas were composed of commentaries, which often require no less explanation than the Vedic texts they commented on. This -. Brahmins (books for Brahmin priests). Aranyakas (installations for hermits) etc. Upanishads ("secret teachings" for initiates), each edition. The Veda (Samhita) has its Brahmanas, Aranyakas, etc. Historians often turn to the Upanishads to the Rigveda, which recalls the most ancient events of ancient Indian history. Their historical source is also the Vedic language itself, the linguistic analysis of which helps to solve the complex problem of migration. Northern. India "Aryans".
In Vedic literature adjoin. Su tri (Soups), which are sometimes called "part of the Vedas" -. Vedanga. These are six religious, philosophical and scientific treatises that contain information about the religious and general legal life of the ancient Indians.
They also serve as a valuable historical source. Shastras that arose on the basis. Sutras and partially compiled - for easy memorization - in poetic form. Of these scientific and political treatises, the Indologist is especially singled out. Dharmashastras and Arthashastra. Dharmashastras are religious and ethical rules that explain dharma - moral and ethical norms, in general the entire way of life of each widespread and authoritative caste. Dharma-shastras were "Laws. Manu" ("Manu-smrggi"), which were compiled, as tradition assures, by "Indian. Noah" -. Manu (he survived the flood and saved the sacred texts of the Vedas). It’s not easy to draw historical information from them, because you can’t say with confidence that what they left as parting words has become the norm of life. Arthashastra is a large socio-economic and political treatise, which contains advice to kings on the destruction of political competitors, waging wars, and generally governing the state. Authorship. Tradition attributes the Arthashastras to a brahmana. Kautilya (Chanakya), although historians believe that her treatise, rather, took shape over several centuries. Use. The Arthashastra has to be extremely careful for historical reconstruction, because it is difficult to find out to what extent its recommendations were embodied in life.
indologist O. O. Vigasin and. D. M. Lelyukhin believe that c. Arthashastra "does not describe a specific state or political situation, but sets out ideas about an abstract, ideal state, although the time developed in it" political theory "was probably associated with practice and to a certain extent is a generalization of the political reality of ancient India."
Grandiose epic poems are of great historical and educational value. Mahabharata and. The Ramayana is a real encyclopedia of the life and traditions of the ancient Indians. However, neither the poems themselves, nor those of their plots that can be considered historical, are dated.
The Indologist also consults historical information from Buddhist and Hindu literature, especially from the legends of the Puranas (the tradition includes 18 Puranas)
Ancient Indian epigraphy is extremely poor: the Indians were reluctant to resort to writing, even trade agreements were concluded orally. Nevertheless, a few epigraphic monuments sometimes contain a lot of information. This applies primarily to the edicts (decrees) of the king. Adiokas (they are carved on a stone pillar), inscriptions in caves. Ajanta is thin.
Lots of messages about. Ancient. Foreigners left India. Of the Europeans, the first to describe this “land of a thousand wonders” was the Greek in the 6th century BC. Skilak, however, was truly discovered. Its only participants in Indian style. Alexandra. Macedonian in the 4th century BC. They based their description on the material they collected. India. Plutarch. Curtius. Ruf. Pompey. Troga, other ancient authors. A vivid and relatively truthful description of this country belongs to the Syrian ambassador to the Indian state. Mauryan. Megasthenes (the work of Megasthenes has not survived, but it is often quoted or retold by Strabo, Diodorus, Arrian). Rich information about. India in the works of "Indica" and "Anabasis" Arrian. Ceylon chronicles and travel notes of Chinese pilgrims to Buddhist shrines are also important historical sources. Xuan. Zana,. F. Xianya,. I. Jing and others. We still have to admit that in the reports of foreigners about. In India, there are often obvious fabrications, so they should be treated with a critical eye.
Sights of material culture. Ancient. Very little of India has survived because its architecture was mostly wooden, and the Indians practiced cremation of the dead and did not accompany burials with sacrifice.
The basis for the reconstruction of ancient Indian history is also the ancient traditions preserved in remote Indian villages, primarily in the economic life of peasants. However, one has to be careful when using such a specific source of historical information, since no matter how strong the tradition is, it has not remained absolutely unchanged over thousands of years.
Achievements of archaeological research. India is quite small. The first significant, even sensational discoveries of archaeologists in. India began excavations of robbed ruins. Mohenjo-Daro and. Harappans in the early 20s of the XX century. The ruins of these cities were first discovered by British industrialists, who built a 160-kilometre railway embankment using their bricks. Only later did an English archaeologist. J. Marshall with his Indian colleagues. D. R. Sahni and. R. D. Banerjee was forced to serve science what was left of the most ancient centers of Indian civilization and civilization.
Excavations. Mohenjo-Daro and. Harappa, and later also. Chankhu-Daro. Kalibangan,. Lothal and other ancient urban centers made a stunning impression on historians, because they discovered one of the oldest urban civilizations that arose long before the arrival of the. India of the Aryan tribes, and prompted scientists to reconsider the concept of the creation of ancient Indian culture by strangers "Aryans".
Unfortunately, excavations. Mohenjo-Daro is now being destroyed literally before our eyes, because of the construction. The Sukkur dam and the expansion of the area of irrigated land subsoil water rose almost to the surface, as a result of which saltpeter began to seep into the brick and destroy it - and the city walls began to fall apart. None of the proposed methods of conservation of this monument of ancient Indian civilization gave the desired effect, so excavations. Mohenjo-Daro had to be stopped.
Scope of archaeological research. India grew up after the formation of two sovereign states on its territory in 1947 -. Republic. India and Pakistan. In particular, the “culture of gray painted pottery”, which scientists mainly associate with the “Aryans,” was excavated in the early 50s, several ancient capitals (Rajagriha, Pataliputra, etc.), fortresses (V. Rupal, etc.). Ujjayani, etc.), Buddhist temples and monasteries (in Karla, Ajanta, Andhra Pradesh, etc.) -. Excavations of Harappan settlements are currently ongoing (more than a thousand of them have already been discovered), and a program of archaeological study of those cities and localities mentioned in the ancient Indian epic or associated with the Indian campaign is being implemented. Alexandra. Macedonian.
TOPIC 1. LEGAL MONUMENTS OF THE ANCIENT INTERFLIVE REGION
TOPICS AND WORKSHOP PLANS
(Laws of Hammurabi)
Plan:
1. Sources of law of the countries of Ancient Mesopotamia. General characteristics of the Laws of Hammurabi.
2. Social structure and legal status of the basis of population groups of Ancient Babylon.
3. Property and obligations under the Laws of Hammurabi.
4. Marriage and family in Ancient Babylon.
5. Legal proceedings. Crimes and punishments.
Purpose of the lesson: to study during the seminar the monuments of the history of law of the ancient Eastern civilizations of Mesopotamia - the laws of Hammurabi (Old Babylonian Kingdom, 18th century BC) and allows you to get acquainted with the legal status of individual population groups, consider the features of the state system of the countries of Ancient Mesopotamia, sources and the main legal institutions of these states.
Control questions:
1. Are all aspects of the life of Babylonia considered in the 3rd century with equal completeness? What issues does ZH not touch upon at all and why?
2. Why is there relatively little evidence of the existence of a community in AZ?
3. What social groups are known to us from ZH?
4. How are the public sector of the economy and the people employed in it protected?
5. Could Babylonian slaves own property?
6. What was the difference between the slaves Mushkenum and Mar-Avelim?
7. What were the terms and working conditions of those caught in debt bondage?
8. Give a general description of the Babylonian family: was it monogamous?
9. What remnants of tribal law are preserved in ZH?
10. To what extent have the goals and promises proclaimed in the introduction and conclusion been realized in the Landscape?
Sources:
Anthology of world legal thought. In 5 volumes. T. 1. M., 1999.
Dyakonov I.M. Laws of Babylonia, Assyria and the Hittite Kingdom // VDI. 1952. No. 3-4.
Reader on the history of state and law of foreign countries / Rep. ed. ON THE. Krasheninnikova. In 2 volumes. T. 1. M., 2003.
Literature:
History of the Ancient East. The origins of ancient class societies and the first steps of slave civilization. Part 1. Mesopotamia. M., 1983.
Ancient world history. Early antiquity // Ed. THEM. Dyakonov et al. M., 1989.
Yakobson V.A. The emergence of written law in ancient Mesopotamia // VDI. 1981. No. 4.
Jacobsen T. Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion. M., 1995.
Dandamaev M.A. Slavery in Babylonia VII-IV centuries. BC. (626-331). M., 1974.
Klengel-Brandt E. Journey to ancient Babylon. M., 1979.
(Laws of Manu and Arthashastra of Kautilya)
Plan:
1. The origin and evolution of the sources of law of the countries of Ancient India, their originality. General characteristics of the Laws of Manu and Arthashastra.
2. Social structure and legal status of the basis of population groups of Ancient India. Features of the Varna-caste division of ancient Indian society.
3. Property and obligations under the Laws of Manu.
4. Marriage and family in Ancient India.
5. Litigation. Crimes and punishments.
Purpose of the lesson: study of monuments of the history of law of ancient Indian civilization - the Laws of Manu (India, 2nd century BC - 2nd century AD) and the political and legal treatise of Kautilya, familiarization with the legal status of certain population groups of Ancient India, consideration features of the political system, sources and basic institutions of law.
Control questions:
1. How does the literary and religious tradition explain the origin of varnas?
2. Does the varna-caste division coincide with the class-class division?
3. How was the inequality of varnas expressed?
4. How was the status of children born in intervarn marriages determined?
5. Is it possible to trace changes in the position of individual varnas?
6. What caused the development of the system of lower castes (“untouchables”, chandala, dvipada, panchala)?
7. What are the similarities and differences between the class structure of Indian and other ancient Eastern societies?
8. What are the features of the position of women in Indian society according to ZM (in comparison with ZH)?
9. What types of obligations appear in the LM and CA?
10. Do ZM and CA distinguish such concepts as intent, guilt, presumption of innocence?
Sources:
Arthashastra, or the Science of Politics. M.-L., 1959; M., 1993.
Laws of Manu. M., 1960; M., 1992.
Literature:
Bongard-Levin G.M., Ilyin G.F. India in ancient times. M. 1985.
Vigasin A.A. “The Statute of Slaves” in Kautilya’s Arthashastra // VDI. 1976. No. 4.
The World History. T. 1. M., 1956.
Ilyin G.F. The main problems of slavery in Ancient India // History and culture of Ancient India. M., 1963.
History of the East. T. 1. The East in antiquity // Rep. ed. V.A. Jacobson. M., 1997.
History of state and law of foreign countries: Educational and methodological manual / Responsible. ed. ON THE. Krasheninnikova. M., 2006.
Ancient world history. Early antiquity // Ed. THEM. Dyakonov. M., 1989.
Krasheninnikova N.A. Hindu law: history and modernity. M., 1982.
Samozvantsev A.M. Legal text of the Dharmashastra. M., 1991.
Samozvantsev A.M. The theory of property in Ancient India. M., 1978.
TOPIC 3. LAWS OF XII TABLES
Plan:
1. History of the compilation and sources of the Laws of HP tables.
2. Legal status of the main population groups in Ancient Rome.
3. Property rights according to the Laws of the HP tables.
4. Obligations from contracts and torts.
5. Court and process.
The purpose of the lesson: to study the laws of the XII tables - the oldest monument of Roman law, which reflected the processes of social differentiation in ancient Rome and the formation of its main institutions. When starting to study Roman law, one must understand its periodization. Roman law only in the process of long development turned into the most perfect form of law, “resting on private property.” It survived the fall of Rome, being adopted in feudal Europe, and formed the basis of civil codifications of the capitalist period. When studying the history of Roman law and, in particular, one of its oldest sources - the Laws of the XII Tables, it is necessary to take into account the changing nature of the institutions of this law, depending on the specific historical conditions of the development of Roman society. This note applies not only to the topic of this seminar, but also to the next topic on the Guy Institutions.
The laws of the XII tables, as a reflection of the initial stage in the evolution of Roman law, regulated the legal relations of Roman citizens during the formation and development of the Roman slave-holding republic.
Control questions:
1. In what historical situation were the Laws of the XII Tables adopted?
2. What remnants of tribal law do the Laws of the XII Tables contain?
3. What are the fundamental differences in the legal status of Latins and Peregrines compared to the position of Roman citizens?
4. What are the main approaches to classifying things according to the Laws of the XII Tables?
5. What is the difference between obligations arising from a contract and those arising from a tort?
6. Did private ownership of land exist in Rome during the era of the Laws of the XII Tables?
7. What are the characteristic features of the legislation process?
8. What evidence did the court operate under the Laws of the XII Tables?
9. Can the Laws of the XII Tables be called a code?
10. List the main features of Roman law according to the Laws of the XII Tables?
Sources:
Laws of the XII Tables / Trans. L. Kofanova. M., 1996.
Laws of the XII Tables // Monuments of Roman Law. M., 1997.
Laws of the XII tables // Ruzina E.G., Bessilin N.A. Fundamentals of Roman private law. Ufa, 2000.
Literature:
Bartoszek M. Roman law (concepts, terms, branches). M., 1989.
Dozhdev D.V. Roman private law: Textbook for universities. M., 1999.
History of state and law of foreign countries: Educational and methodological manual / Responsible. ed. ON THE. Krasheninnikova. M., 2006.
History of ancient Rome. M., 1997.
Kofanov L.L. Law of obligations in archaic Rome (VI-IV centuries BC), M., 1994.
Puhan I., Polenak-Akimovskaya M. Roman law. M., 1999.
Chernilovsky Z.M. Roman private law: Elementary course. M., 1997.
Writing and Scribes in Ancient India
A.A. Vigasin
The article discusses the question of the time of the appearance of writing in India and the status of scribes. The Vedic tradition was focused on memorizing and preserving texts orally. The first written monuments of India are the inscriptions of Ashoka in the 3rd century. BC BC, they use four types of script: Aramaic, Greek, Kharosthi and Brahmi. Aramaic appeared in Gandhara from the end of the 6th century. BC e., Greek - after Alexander’s campaign. Kharosthi arose, most likely, on the basis of Aramaic in the V-IV centuries. BC e., brahmi - later. The inventors of kharostha and brahmi were, obviously, learned brahmanas who were in the royal service. The scribe's status remained high in subsequent centuries. Writing spread widely after the Mauryans, as evidenced by epigraphy. At the turn of the century e. The Buddhist canon and epic poems were written down. In the shastras of the beginning of the century. e. (from the Arthashastra to the Narada Smriti) written documentation is often spoken of and there is reason to believe that the foundations of diplomacy had already been formed. Sanskrit texts of late antiquity and the Middle Ages show an extremely negative attitude towards kayastha scribes, which can be explained by their active participation in collecting taxes.
Key words: India, antiquity, writing, scribes, Brahmi, Kharosthi.
the central word (Vac). Vach in the Rigveda (X.125) appears as a sovereign goddess, a giver of benefits and the embodiment of creativity. But this word is oral, not implying written recording.
In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. the so-called vedangi appeared - auxiliary “parts of the Veda”, or Vedic sciences. This
The Vedic religion attached great importance to sa-
phonetics, etymology, grammar, metrics, that is, disciplines of the philological cycle1, focused mainly on the careful preservation and reproduction of the sacred word. Even works such as Panini's famous Sanskrit grammar were designed for oral instruction - their very form is associated with school tradition. The text of this grammar is a collection of rules (sutras), set out with extreme laconicism and replete with special terminology. Vedic sutras are often difficult to interpret, since they offer only a certain outline, almost a table of contents, and the interpretation of the content could be given by a guru mentor.
Vedic textbooks, also called sutra (lit. "thread"), apparently assumed rote memorization - syllable by syllable, word by word. A characteristic feature of at least some of them is the double division of the text: on the one hand, into meaningful sections, on the other, into “lessons” or “readings” (a^uaua)2. The latter could tear apart not only a thought, but even a phrase. For example, in one of the most archaic dharmasutras (“Apastamba” 1.3.45-1.4.1), the last sutra of the “lesson” reads: “By feeding him” (meaning the teacher). And the end of the phrase makes up the first sutra of the next lesson: “He (that is, the student - A.V.) can eat the rest himself.”
If we turn to non-Vedic religious traditions, then we will see that here, too, the original form of existence of texts was oral. The canonical monuments of Buddhism were recorded by joint recitation (samglti) of learned monks, and they were written down only in the 1st century. BC e. Rules of behavior (vinaya) and plots associated with everyday life monastery, do not imply either the presence of writing instruments, or reading and writing as the activities of a monk3. The very form of canonical texts, with their monotonous repetitions and stringing of synonyms in a sequence dictated by rhythm, indicates their oral origin and existence4.
The stylistic features of monuments are also imitated in the era when literature becomes written. As an analogy, we can recall how, during the construction of cave temples, such details were reproduced that had a constructive meaning only in wooden architecture. "Arthashastra Kau-
tily", compiled at the beginning of the century. e., preserves the double division of the text5. The author of “Vishnu-smriti” in the middle of the 1st millennium tries to present his work in the form of an ancient sutra. The sacred books of Hinduism, no longer associated with the Vedic schools (shastras, puranas), are presented in verses that make it easier to memorize. And the prologue to the story is often the story of how the ancient sage dictated this shastra to his students.
Indologists have no inscriptions earlier than the 3rd century. BC e.6 And even such a supporter of the deep antiquity of writing in India as Georg Bühler admitted that not a single literary monument mentioning written documents can be confidently dated to the pre-Aurian era7. The word lipi itself, which in the ancient Indo-Aryan languages meant writing or inscription, is undoubtedly borrowed from Iran. It comes from Persian dipi (in Achaemenid inscriptions), and then, in turn, from Elamite tippi/tuppi (Akkadian tuppu, from Sumerian dub - “tablet”)8. This borrowing could have occurred no earlier than the end of the 6th century. BC e., when two Persian satrapies appeared in northwestern India - Gandara (Gandhara) and Hindu (Sindhu, Sind).
The situation changed in the 4th century. BC e. Nearchus, the naval commander of Alexander the Great, first reports about the writing of the Indians (Strab. XV. 1.67): according to him, they write on pieces of thin fabric. Since we are talking about the territory of Punjab, it is quite possible that the Greek saw documents in the Aramaic language, which spread here from the end of the 6th century. BC e., during the time of the Achaemenids. But it is possible that they were referring to documents written in the so-called “Arameo-Indian” script. This is how J. Filliosa9 called the Kharoshthi script, which arose on the basis of Aramaic and adapted to the phonetics of the Indo-Aryan languages.
There is similar information in Quintus Curtius Rufus (VIII.9.15) - that the Indians write on bast wood, like on papyrus. Obviously, this refers to documents on birch bark (such birch bark documents are known in Kashmir of a later time). But since Curtius does not give any reference to the source of his information, perhaps this information does not go back to the era of Alexander, but to the 1st century, when his History of Alexander was compiled. The same fragment by Curtius refers to precious
stones that are found on the sea coast of India - an undoubted echo of the literature of the beginning of the century. e., when the Greeks sailed to Western and Southern India.
Ancient Indian writing, of course, was invented for practical needs - after all, the Brahmins did not need writing to record sacred texts in Sanskrit10. And for several centuries, starting from Ashoka, inscriptions were compiled only in spoken languages - Prakrits. Only at the beginning of the century e. Sanskrit epigraphy also appeared.
The principles of Kharoshtha and the Brahmi script that appeared later11 reveal familiarity with the discipline developed in the Vedic schools - phonetics112. Therefore, one should think that writing was invented not only by people familiar with Aramaic, but also by those who received a Brahman education. We are obviously talking about those who served at court. Nearchus (81hab. XV. 1.66) distinguishes two categories of brahmanas: some, according to him, indulged in what belongs to nature, while others were engaged in state affairs, accompanying the kings as advisers. Sanskrit texts use the word asShua to designate the king's servants and advisors. According to the Pali texts, the social status of these hereditary atasses is so different from ordinary brahmins that they constitute a kind of caste13. This made Megasthenes see in the “advisers and companions of the king” a very special category of the Indian population - along with the “philosophers”-brahmans ^gab. XV. 1.49). The royal servants (including, apparently, scribes) acted not as representatives of the priestly varna, but as educated administrators. And they needed writing not for reading the Vedas (learned by heart in childhood), but for government activities14.
The earliest inscriptions in Indian languages were carved by order of the Magadha king Ashoka in the middle of the 3rd century. BC e. In the northwestern territories of his state these were inscriptions in Kharosthi, and in all other areas - in Brahmi. The text of the royal edicts, naturally, was prepared in the capital, Patali Putra. Then the royal people (taIatShta) delivered it to the provinces. Local authorities were asked to carve the words of the Sovereign (devanampiya) on rocks, on stone slabs or columns in order to preserve them forever (VII Column Edict). From provincial
centers, the king’s “decrees on righteousness” were distributed to small towns and fortresses (Small Rock Edict). They were periodically, on calendar holidays, to be read at a gathering of people (Special Rock Edicts). The minted formulations of what exactly the dharma consists of are often distinguished by a special rhythm - they were undoubtedly designed for recitation.
We cannot recreate with certainty the process of disseminating the “edicts of dharma” (LashtapshaY). A careful study of the inscriptions showed that groups of words are separated by intervals that reflect pauses made when dictating to a scribe. Sometimes the vowel sounds that complete such fragments acquire longitudes that have no linguistic justification - the scribe probably carefully reproduced the chanting style15. We cannot exclude the hypothesis that sometimes the royal envoy did not have the written text of the decree with him at all, but read it to the scribe by heart. However, in most cases there was still a written original. The fact is that in a number of inscriptions the decree itself is preceded by some kind of introduction indicating the addressee of the message and good wishes to him. Sometimes this appeal is not on behalf of the king, but from an intermediate authority - the provincial governor (a number of versions of the Small Rock Edict). We are dealing with an accompanying “envelope” that was not at all intended to be reproduced in stone and passed on to future generations. But the administration of one or another town, without understanding it, ordered everything that was received from the authorities to be carved into the rock. In such cases, it becomes obvious that if there was an “envelope” or accompanying message, then the royal decree existed in written form.
Local authorities were sometimes quite clueless. For example, three versions of the Small Rock Edict (MNE) contain words of greeting to the leaders of the town of Isila. Of course, only one of these three points could bear the name Isila, but those who received a copy of the message in the other two places mechanically reproduced the entire text, including those words that were not related to them16.
A number of circumstances make us think that translations into colloquial dialects were usually prepared not locally, but directly in the royal office. Apparently, at the court in Pata-
Liputra worked with scribes who knew the spoken languages of those regions of the state where it was planned to send messengers with edicts. We can also see in later Sanskrit literature the requirement for the scribe to know the languages of different regions and peoples (desabhäsäprabhedavid - “Shukra-nitisara” II.173). Sometimes the knowledge of dialects was not impeccable, and then alien forms characteristic of the scribe’s native language penetrated into the translations.
They wrote from dictation in the Brahmi script, which is common throughout India except the northwestern territories. During recording, errors occurred related to the perception of the text by ear. If it was then rewritten in a different script (kharosthi), errors could appear due to incorrect reading of the Brahmi written sign17. It is worth noting in passing that the Greek-Aramaic bilingual found in Kandahar does not apparently go back to the same original. Judging by the fact that the king's name is rendered in Greek as nioSaccfj, the translator had at his disposal the same version as we see in eastern India (Prakrit piyadasi). Meanwhile, the Aramaic translation was apparently made from the same text as we find in the Kharoshthi inscriptions from northwestern India: the Prakrit priyadrasi is rendered in Aramaic by Prydars. But it is quite possible that both scribes were not in Kandahar at all, but in the same royal office in Pataliputra - only the Greek translator used the original of the edict, and for Aramaic it was easier to work with the text in Kharosthi and the Gandhari dialect.
The royal envoy brought a separate copy of the decree to each region, from which copies were then made for further distribution. For this reason, even obvious errors in the original could be replicated: for example, in Mansehra and Shahbazgarhi there is the same typo: dhamangala instead of dhammamangala. W. Schneider18 made an attempt to determine the relationship between the versions of the Great Rock Edicts (GRE) by building their “family tree” (Stammbaum). This should supposedly contribute to the reconstruction of the structure of the administration of the Mauryan state. But the methodology of such constructions raises serious doubts. If the translations were prepared in Pataliputra, then the relationship between the versions is not related to the structure of the state, but to a purely clerical procedure.
Three local versions of the II MNE (from Brahmagiri, Siddapur and Jatinga-Rameshwar) contain the scribe's signature. It is fully preserved in the inscription from Brahmagiri: “written by Chapada scribe (Hr1kaga).” By “scribe,” of course, we do not mean the artisan19 who carved the inscription on the stone (he, most likely, was illiterate). A scribe is a person who wrote down a text from dictation20 with paint or chalk, so that the stone carver could then begin his work. The assumption that the scribe only copied the received message with utmost accuracy (even respecting the width of the intervals between groups of words in the original) does not seem convincing. It is well known that the text was often shortened locally. Even Ashoka himself knew about this, pointing out in the XIV BNE: “what is not written in full - this happens due to the location or (other) reason or due to the scribe’s oversight.”
The only question is who this Chapada was - the man who wrote from dictation on stone, or the scribe who produced the original decree in Pataliputra. In the first case, we would have to assume that the royal envoy was accompanied on his trip around the country by the same scribe, who left his signature in three places. G. Falk21 claims that the scribe’s handwriting in all three cases is completely different - therefore, the scribes were different and, most likely, local. But then one can only think that Chapada signed the original message sent from the capital. By the way, the presence at the end of the letter of an indication of the name of the copyist is fully consistent with later practice and the requirements of medieval scribes22. In all other places (except for the three indicated) where there are versions of the MNE, the authorities did not consider it necessary to reproduce the scribe’s signature - just as the address accompanying them was omitted.
Particularly interesting is the fact that the word “scribe” in all three local versions is written in the Kharosthi script, while the entire inscription is in Brahmi. The Kharostha script was widespread only in northwestern India. On this basis it is usually assumed that the scribe Chapada himself was a native of Gandhara. The written tradition in the North-West had deeper roots than in Magadha, and the use of Gandharan scribes in the service of Pataliputra would have been quite natural. Is it true,
K.R. Norman23 doubts this interpretation, noting that in the Kharosthi inscriptions from northwestern India the word “scribe” has a different, closer Persian, form - dipikara. However, the use of kharostha in the signature under the edict in Brahmagiri did not at all oblige Chapada to switch to his native Gandhari dialect in his vocabulary.
In recent decades, it has been hypothesized24 that the Brahmi script was invented under Ashoka specifically for recording his edicts in stone. In our opinion, this point of view contradicts the degree of spread of literacy in the middle of the 3rd century. BC e. In order to write edicts in different parts of the vast country, a certain number of scribes were required, as well as readers who knew the Brahmi script. People who read the king’s edicts to local residents on holidays could apparently be found even in small settlements25. In order for literacy to be mastered throughout the country by at least a very narrow layer of people associated with government, of course, time was required26.
After the 3rd century. BC e. the number of inscriptions increases sharply, and many of them were private (dedicatory, dedicatory, etc.). From the 2nd century BC e. inscriptions in Brahmi and Kharosthi also appear on coins (not without Hellenistic influence). Literacy becomes prestigious as a form of knowledge. Thus, King Kharavela (1st century BC, Orissa) boasts that from a young age he mastered literacy and numeracy (lekharüpagananä). In the inscriptions of the turn of the century. e. names of scribes or members of the scribe's family are found who visit holy places and bring donations to the Buddhist community27.
The later parts of the Pali canon contain references to writing (although the canon itself had not yet been written down). The activity of a scribe is considered one of the “noble crafts” (ukkattham sippam - Vinaya IV.7.128). At the turn of the century e. or at the beginning of the century e. The most important literary monuments in Pali and Sanskrit, such as the Tipitaka, Mahabharata and Ramayana, were written down. Author's works (for example, Sanskrit poems and dramas of Ashvaghosa) are created in written form. The Kushan era was the heyday of cities whose culture was largely associated with writing. And it’s not without reason that, speaking about the bearer of urban culture,
ry (nagaraka - lit. “city dweller”), the Kama Sutra mentions that there must certainly be “some kind of book” on the table by his bed (D4.4). Kalidasa (“Raghuvamsha” Sh.28) likens knowledge to the “verbal ocean” ^apshauash samudram), the path to which is opened by the possession of literacy (Pro. In the period of late antiquity, culture and knowledge could already be associated with the book.
One of the later books of the Mahabharata (XIII.24.70) contains the following phrase: “Those who write down the Vedas will go to hell.” Two conclusions can be drawn from this. Firstly, already at the end of antiquity there were recordings of Vedic texts. Secondly, the attitude of the orthodox Brahmins, editors of the didactic parts of the epic, towards the procedure of writing down sacred texts (but only them!28) and in the first centuries A.D. e. remained sharply negative. We see a similar situation later. An aphorism is attributed to Chanakya (“Vriddha-Chanakya” XVII.!), according to which true knowledge can only be obtained from the lips of a mentor. Knowledge gained from books is compared to an illegitimate child conceived by a lover. This comparison is quite understandable: a self-taught person lacks the main thing - a living connection with a mentor-guru, involvement in a continuous line of teachers. And in the 11th century. Abu Reikhan Biruni29 noted that Indians “do not consider it permissible to write down the Vedas.”
The attitude towards book knowledge among Buddhists was much less severe. Buddhism sought to spread, and the rewriting of manuscripts contributed to the increase in the number of its adherents. Buddhist authors projected the situation of their time onto the era when the founder of the teaching lived. Therefore, in “La-litavistara” (125.19), for example, it is said that the Buddha knew 64 types of writing (the number, of course, is conventional and sacred). Supporters are very fond of referring to this passage early origin brahmi and kharosthi30. However, in the list of types of writing (just as in a similar list in “Mahavastu” - N35) there are obvious anachronisms. Along with Brahmi and Kharosthi, one can find here Greek writing31, and Chinese (which Indians could have become acquainted with no earlier than the 2nd century BC), and even the writing of the Huns (which appeared in India only in the middle of the 1st millennium AD). )32.
A sharply negative attitude towards the recording of the Vedas did not in the least hinder the widespread spread of literacy and the use
writing for other, non-sacral purposes. This is evidenced by the Brahmanical books - shastras. In the Arthashastra, in accordance with the theme of the entire treatise, we mainly talk about official documents. There is also a special chapter (II. 10) on the rules for drawing up decrees (^ala)33. It is assumed that the royal office does not use spoken dialects (Prakrits) as a language, but Sanskrit. This means that Sanskrit experts - learned brahmins - should have taken the most active part in drawing up decrees and royal correspondence. This is also indicated by the widespread use in this chapter of the treatise of the special terminology of traditional grammar and logic - subjects that formed the basis of Brahman education.
In the ancient dharmasutras that told about the judicial procedure (“Apastamba”, “Baudhayana”), documents were not mentioned at all - they only talked about the oral testimony of witnesses. But in the dharmashastras of the mid-1st millennium (“Yajnavalkya”, “Narada”, “Vishnu”, fragments of “Brihaspati” and “Katyayana”) we see the widest use of business documentation. The shastras list numerous types of documents: agreements on debt, pledge, sale, slavery or other dependence, etc. (“Nara-da”, Introduction P.38, etc.). It is documents, and not oral testimony of witnesses, that become the most important method of evidence in court (Narada G66, etc.). The authors pay great attention to ways to verify the authenticity of the submitted document (by handwriting, signatures, compliance with the form, etc.). The mention in this regard of “handwritten receipts” indicates the spread of literacy.
The document was drawn up by a scribe (1ekbaka), whose name had to be indicated - just like the names of the witnesses to the transaction. Strictly speaking, Iekbaka could not have been a professional, but simply a competent person (Nrupa), who was brought in to formalize the transaction (“Narada”, P.146; “Vishnu”, VII.4). However, the need to adhere to the form suggests that he was usually a professional scribe. If we are talking about various transactions carried out in rural areas, the documents were obviously drawn up by the one who is called the word grama1ekhaka - “village scribe” or grаmakayastha (“Rajatarangini”, U175). “Every village and every city must have a scribe,” as stated in Shukra-
nitisare" P.220. In the Middle Ages and in modern times, “village scribes” participated in the collection of taxes. In the 19th century, in different regions of India, their position was not the same: in some places they were government officials, in other places they were considered as employees of the village community itself34. It is quite natural that the spread of literacy contributed to the fact that representatives of increasingly lower social strata gained access to it. Among the scribes in the Middle Ages, we sometimes meet Brahmins, but, of course, the majority of village literates did not belong to high castes.
Letter books have been preserved from the Middle Ages, containing samples of both official documents of various kinds, and private letters addressed to relatives or friends. And although we are talking in this case about literary genre, which requires some convention, it is difficult to doubt that the basis of these texts was genuine act material. Scribes could pursue practical purposes - to serve as a guide for scribes (as well as for judges who determined the authenticity of documents). The most famous of them, “Lekhapadchati,” dates back to the 13th-15th centuries. Some texts of this kind are known only from mentions in Sanskrit literature - for example, “Trishastilekhaprakara-na” (“Sixty-three types of documents”) by Kalyanabhatta. It is worth noting that the author of the last treatise was a learned Brahmin - it was he who edited Asahai’s commentary on the Narada Smriti, one of the most important monuments of Hindu law.
We do not have at our disposal such manuals that date back to ancient times. But the rules for drawing up decrees contained in the Arthashastra allow one to assume the existence of such benefits already at the beginning of the century. e.35 The requirements set out in the dharmashastras of Yajnavalkya and Vishnu for the execution of deeds of gift for land are fully consistent with the practice of issuing such documents on copper plates, known since the Gupta era. Therefore, we can say with confidence that even then the foundations of diplomacy were developed in India.
Classical Sanskrit drama of late antiquity depicts several figures of a scribe. They are usually referred to by the term k aua8Sha (as in the inscription from Damodarpur of the mid-6th century, cf. “Vishnu” VII.3). In one of the scenes of “The Clay Cart” Shudraki the scribe ass.
reports to the judge together with the merchant foreman (shresthi), - he draws up a protocol of interrogation. The original text of this protocol was probably written with chalk on a board lying on the ground, because the participant in the process who let it slip tried to quietly erase the recording with his foot. The scribe has the official status of a member of the judiciary (Ykagapa), although he speaks not Sanskrit, but the prestigious Shauraseni dialect.
In Visakhadatta's drama “The Ring of Rakshasa,” the scribe Shakata Dasa is a person especially close to the main adviser of the deposed king. True, the brahman Chanakya speaks of him somewhat disparagingly: the small bird is just a scribe (kayastha Ш ^ьу! та^а)37. However, he takes Shakatadasa very seriously as an opponent to be reckoned with. In the same play we see that only professional scribes were trusted with the design of letters. After all, as Chanakya asserts, learned brahmanas write indistinctly (zgoShuakvagash pgayatnalikhitanyapi niyatamasphutani byauapi)38.
Mentions of k^a^Ia in Sanskrit texts of the 1st millennium are often accompanied by extremely harsh reviews about them. This is perhaps the earliest formulated in Yajnavalkya's dharmashastra: the king is advised to protect his people from all kinds of rapists and robbers, but mainly from kayast:ha (P.336). This aphorism became popular, it was repeated in various texts39 for several centuries, and slight variations indicate that it was usually quoted by heart. In the synonymous dictionary "Amarakosha" the scribe was associated with the king: the word Nr1kaga - as well as ambassador and purohita (household priest) - was considered in the section on kshatriya. Its main function was to collect taxes40. Often the scribe is referred to as the royal favorite, which makes him especially dangerous for the population of the country41. This is a representative of the all-powerful bureaucracy, the “jug’s snout,” as our writer puts it. The medieval Sanskrit chronicler Kalhana (“Rajata-rangini”, V. 180) calls the scribes the word “son of a slave” (^TrShha - this expression roughly corresponds to our “son of a bitch”). He says that the whole earth came under the rule of the Kayasthas (U181). The scribes are trying to take everything away from decent people, leaving them only air (U185, cf. IV.629-630). In a typically Indian spirit, an artificial etymology was attributed to the ancient sage Ushanas42
the words kaua81ba from kaka - uata - yaray. She was supposed to reveal the very essence of the scribe: he is greedy, like a crow, and ruthless, like the god of death himself.
Since the 9th century. we can talk about scribal castes. The position of representatives of these castes is often contradictory43. They could be associated with the court and administration (especially if this administration is foreign). However, their occupations themselves were considered as a service, serving labor, similar to craft professions44. In later Sanskrit texts, a disgusted attitude towards “ink souls”45 on the part of learned Brahmins46 is evident. The status of Kayasthas in the caste hierarchy has been the subject of fierce debate in traditional society47. In Bihar and Uttar-pradesh in the century before last they were considered as twice-born, and in Bengal they were considered sudras.
Notes
H. Scharfe emphasizes the difference in this regard between India and classical Greece, in which the leading science was geometry (Scharfe H. Education in Ancient India. Leiden: Brill, 2002. P. 60). See Renou L. Les divisions dans les texts sanskrits // Renou L. Choix d "études indiennes. Tome II. P.: École Française d "Extrême-Orient, 1997. Rhys Davids T. W., Oldenberg H. Introduction // Sacred Books of the East. Vol. XIII (Vinaya Texts). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1880. P. XXXI-XXXII. Hinüber O. von. Der Beginn der Schrift und frühe Schriftlichkeit in Indien. Mainz: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, 1989. S. 31; Idem. Untersuchungen zur Mündlichkeit früher mittelindischer Texte der Buddhisten. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1994.
See Renou L. Les divisions... P. 20; Scharfe H. Investigations in Kautalyas's Manual of Political Science. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1993. P. 16 f. True, a number of archaeologists claim that they discovered objects with Brahmi writing signs in layers of the 4th century during excavations in Anuradhapura in Lanka. BC (Salomon R. Indian Epigraphy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. P. 12). Mayrhofer M. Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen. III. Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1976. S. 103. From lipi “letter”
(in Prakrit livi) the word “scribe” (lipika - livika) also originates, see Divyävadäna, 293, 5; 9.
Filliozat J. Paléographie // L"Inde classique. Tome II. P.: EFEO, 1996. P. 670.
Janert K.L. About the Scribes and their Achievements in Asoka's India // German Scholars on India. Vol. I. Varanasi: Chowkhambha Sanskrit Series Office, 1973. P. 141.
Voigt R. Die Entwicklung der aramäischen zur Kharosthl- und Brähml-Schrift // ZDMG. Bd. 155. 2005. S. 48. Bühler G. Indian Paleography. P. 18, 33.
Fick R. Die sociale Gliederung im nordöstlichen Indien zu Buddhas Zeit. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlags-Anstalt, 1974. S. 93-94, 164. The fact that the inventors of Indian writing were experienced phoneticians was noted long ago. In our opinion, this contradicts the assumption that significant role Traders traveling to Western Asia could have played a role in the creation of writing. The Vaishya traders were hardly people versed in the science of phonetics.
Janert K.L. Abstände und Schlussvokalverzeichnungen in Asoka-Inschriften Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1972.
Schneider U. Zum Stammbaum der grossen Felseninschriften Asokas // Indologen-Tagung 1971. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1973; Idem. Die grossen Felsen-Edikte Asokas. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1978. S. 18. For criticism of these constructions, see: Fussman G. Central and Provincial Administration in Ancient India: the Problem of the Mauryan Empire // IHR. Vol. XIV No. 1-2. 1987-1988.
Upasak (Upasak C.S. History and Palaeography of Mauryan Brähml Script. Varanasi: Siddhartha Prakashan, 1960. P. 27) believes that it was an engraver.
SalomonR. Indian Epigraphy. P. 65; Sircar D.C. Indian Epigraphical Glossary. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1966. P. 171.
Falk H. Asokan Sites and Artefacts. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 2006. P. 58. “Yajnavalkya” II.88: etanmayä likhitam hyamukeneti... lekhako "nte tato likhet (“Let the scribe write at the end: this was written by me, so and so”) Norman K.R. Middle Indo-Aryan Studies X // Norman K.R. Collected Papers. Vol. I. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1990. P 161-162. Hinüber O. von. S. 59-60; . Falk: Falk H. Schrift im alten Indien: Günter.
Narr, 1993; see also Goyal S.R. Ancient Indian Inscriptions. Recent Finds and New Interpretations. Jodhpur: Kusumanjali Book World, 2005. Perhaps sometimes these were officials who migrated from Magadha - in any case, the inscriptions from the southern borders of the state are written in the same eastern dialect (and the population there was completely Dravidian).
K.L. rightly draws attention to this circumstance. Yanert. See JanertK.L. Abstände... S. 19.
Lüders H. A List of Brahmi Inscriptions. Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing, 1912. No. 209, 1037, 1045, 1138, 1148, 1149, 1291. In the Puranas (Shabdakalpadruma II.93) one can find the following statement: “The scribe has the right to write down whatever he wants with a pen ink (masya saha lekhanya) - but not the Vedic text (vaidikam).” Biruni A. India // Biruni A. Selected works. T. II. Tashkent: Publishing house. Academy of Sciences of the UzSSR, 1963. P. 141.
Dieringer D. Alphabet. M.: Publishing house. foreign literature, 1963. P. 388. Yavanl.
Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya claims that the text dates back to the turn of the century. e., which is difficult to reconcile with the mention of the Huns (Vorobyeva-Desyatovskaya M.I. Manuscript book in the culture of the peoples of the East. Book 2. M.: Nauka, 1988. P. 23).
Stein O. Versuch einer Analyse des Sasanadhikara // Stein O. Kleine Schriften. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1985.
Wilson H. A Glossary of Judicial and Revenue Terms. London: W.H. Allen and Company, 1855, p. 406.
Strauch I. Die Lekhapaddhati-Lekhapancasika. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 2002. S. 17.
Inscriptions of the Early Gupta Kings (CII, Vol. III). Varanasi: Indological Book House, 1981. P. 360.
Visakhadatta. Mudraraksasa. Poona: Royal Book Stall, 1948. P. 20. Ibid. P. 24.
“Parasara-smriti” XII.25; "Vishnudharmottara Purana" II.61.28; Agni Purana 223.11, cf. "Nitisara" V.81; "Manasollasa" II.155-156; "Yogayatra" I.18.
Already in the Mahabharata it is said (II.5.62) that “scribes and accountants” (ganakalekhaka) are used in matters of “receipt and expense” (ayavyaya) at the royal court. Apararka explains the word kayastha in Yajnavalkya II.336: "tax officials" (karadhikrta). In a similar sloka "Manu" there is simply "the king's servant" (bhrtya). At least after the 11th century. some kayasthas received villages with dependent farmers (Thapar R. Social Mobility in Ancient India
with Special Reference to Elite Groups // Indian Society: Historical Probings. Delhi: People's Publishing House, 1974. P. 112). See EI. XVIII.243: vallabha from kayasthavamsa “feudal lord from the family of scribes,” cf. Vijnanesvara’s commentary on “Yajnavalkya” II.336 about royal scribes “ favorites" or feudal lords (rajavallabha).
Kane P. V. History of Dharmasastra. Vol. II. Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1974. P. 76.
Baines A. Ethnography (Castes and Tribes). Strassburg: K.J. Trubner. 1912. P. 38-39; ThaparR. Cultural Pasts. Essays in Early Indian History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. P. 202. See Angavijja. Banaras: Prakrit Text Society, 1957. P. 160; Wed Kane P.V. History. P- 76 (quote from Veda-Vyasa-smriti, according to which scribes are associated with barbers, potters and other sudras). Food from a scribe should no more be accepted than from a goldsmith or a libertine. masisaka - lit. "wielding ink."
See Sabdakalpadruma. Vol. II. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 1961 for a selection of derogatory characteristics of scribes (kayastha, lipikaraka), who are said to be the Sudra caste: they come from the feet of Prajapati and are supposed to be servants of brahmanas (viprasevaka ). Kane P. V. History. P. 75-77.