India and China600 – 1600

Gupta Empire collapses by 600 CE

After the collapse . . .

• India divided by regional states.– Harsha Vardhana (r. 606–646) united northern

states during his reign– He was a Buddhist

• Chola – Southern India – 300’s BCE – c. 1300 CE– Important trading state

Axumite Empire

Egypt

Persia

JapanKorea

China

Khmer Empire

Srivijaya

Chola

SPICE PROPERTIES

PEPPER The most widely used spice, then and now.

GINGER DigestiveCarminativeStimulantCounteract anemia and liver complaints; to Ward off colds.

CINNAMON A stimulant CarminativeAstringentSome reputed qualities as a food preservative.

CLOVES DigestiveStimulantLocal anesthetic (e.g., toothaches)

CARDAMOM Digestive Counteract bad breathHeadachesFeversColds

SPICE PROPERTIES

CUMIN Digestive

ANISE Digestive

NUTMEG & MACE DigestiveCarminativeStimulantCure for colic

SAFFRON StimulantCure for headachesHeart palpitationsFainting fitsDropsyGastric ulcers

Vijayanagara Empire

• Emerges in early 1300’s• Traditional Hindu god-kings who ruled over vassal

states.• Kingdom lasted until the arrival

of gunpowder weapons in 1564.

Portuguese reach India in 1499

Northern India• Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna created an empire from Iran

to India, 997–1030.– Muslim raids very disruptive, unlike traditional warfare

between Hindu states.– Violence and looting was accompanied by destruction of

temples, and enforcing– Sharia and a non-Muslim head tax in conquered areas.

• Muhammad of Ghur (1150-1206)– Invaded India in 1192– Conquered the remnants of Gazna’s empire– Created a Muslim state at Delhi.

• Muhammad’s state soon replaced by Turkic Delhi Sultanate.– Delhi Sultanate lasted from 1206 to 1526.– Held off the Mongol invasions that destroyed the

Abbasid Caliphate in 1258.

• "Other monarchs may have one son, or two sons; I have thousands of sons, my Turkish slaves who will be the heirs of my dominions . . .”

Delhi Sultanate held off the Mongol invasion in 1258

Genghis Khan(c. 1162 – 1267)

Ögedei KhanGüyük Khan

Möngke KhanKublai Khan (1215 – 1294)

• Balban seized power from 1265 to 1287.– Followed by years of court intrigue and succession

struggles.

• In 1320 the Tughlug Dynasty took over until weakened by Timur (Tamerlane).

Timur “the Lame” (Tamerlane) - (1336 – 1405) • Sought to re-establish the Mongol Empire.

• His campaigns killed 17,000,000 people.

• Corresponded with Charles VI of France.

• Exchanged ambassadors with Henry II of Castile.

• Inscription on Timur’s tomb:"When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble."

• Tomb opened in 1941.

• Inscription inside the casket: "Who ever opens my tomb, shall unleash an invader more terrible than I.“

• Two days later Hitler invaded the Soviet Union.

Timur’s tomb in Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Hindu / Muslim Coexistence

• Muslims adjusted to Hindu nudity and religious sexuality.

• Some Hindu women adopted the veil.

Sikhism

• In the 1400’s Hindu and Muslim mysticism merged in a new religion.

• Founded by Nanak.– Stresses direct emotional experience of the divine.

• Opposed by both Hindus and Muslims.

Guru Nanak (1469 – 1539)

• God as not wholly unknowable. • God is omnipresent• God is visible everywhere to the spiritually awakened• God must be seen from "the inward eye", or the

heart.• Mediation leads toward enlightenment. • God has no gender and is without form• There are many worlds on which God has created

life.

Golden Temple, Amritsar

The 5th largest organized religion

in the world.