+

India

+Independence

August 15th, 1947

Freedom from British rule

Movement led by Gandhi Non-violence protests

Partition of India and Pakistan

+Kolkata

Long cultural history

Capital of British India

Strong revolutionary movement

Naxalites – Communist party

Markets and bazaars

+Varanasi

Located next to the Ganges River

The city of temples, lights, learning

Homes 4 universities

Rich in Arts, Music, Dance & Literature

Believed to be 3,000 years old

One of the holiest places for Buddhists, Hindus, and Jains (pilgrimage site) Hindus believe that bathing in the river washes sins Cremated bodies are released into the water

+Concepts to Know

Hinduism

Buddhism

Caste System

Diaspora

+Hinduism

Oldest major world religion still practiced today

Diverse array of belief systems, practices and scriptures

Origin in ancient Vedic culture at least as far back as 2000 BC

Third largest religion with approx. 890 million followers worldwide 96% of whom live in the Indian subcontinent

+Hinduism cont.

Doctrine of reincarnation / Karma If a person does evil in this life, he will be reincarnated into

a lower social caste in the next life. To break this endless cycle of birth, death, and

reincarnation, it is necessary for a person to do charity and follow the rules (dharma) and meditate to reach a higher consciousness (nirvana)

Moksha = liberation from the cycle of rebirth

Multiple gods or manifestations of one god: Lord Gnesh, the elephant god Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, and Brahma

+Buddhism

Siddhartha Gautama: wanted the world to be liberated from suffering

Became enlightened in 600 BCE: suffering comes from desire

Tenets of Buddhism: Four Noble Truths: 1. Life means suffering 2. The origin of suffering is attachment/desire 3. The cessation of suffering is attainable. 4. The path to the cessation of suffering is to follow the

eightfold path – in order to be enlightened and reach nirvana

+Buddhism cont.

The Eightfold Path is the means by which enlightenment may be realized:

Right understanding, right thinking, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration

+Caste System

sense of order, and peace among the people

"castes" or jatis within which people are born, marry, and die

Indians accept that it is the way to keep society from disintegrating to chaos

Brahman: priest Kshatriya: ruler, warrior, landowner Vaishya: merchants Shudra: artisans, agriculturalists Harijans (children of God, coined by Gandhi):

Untouchables (Dalit)

+Diaspora

During the British Raj in India (1800’s)

Indians were used as indentured servants in other British colonies (Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad, Malaysia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, more)

Dispersal of Indian labor/professionals = world wide phenomenon

+Mother Teresa

•Born in Macedonia in 1910•Albanian Catholic Nun•Left her family when she was 18 to Ireland•Changed her name to Teresa in 1931•Bengal famine and religious violence inspired to her work in Kolkata•Created Missionaries of Charity•Declining health in 1990s led to her death in 1997

+Amartya Sen

Won the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics

Research in poverty, gender, human development

Famines Bengali famine of 1943

Development thesis