Culture in Classical India
Classical Indian culture was one made up of many different kinds of people. India was, to a greater degree than many other classical civilizations, diverse ,but still very unified despite their differences. Classical India was a highly patriarchal society for most of its existence. Not only were traditional gender roles standard, but when a husband would die, his wife would be expected to kill herself by way of fire. These kinds of practices and ideals show us a bit about classical Indian culture. Culture in classical India can not be discussed without mention of the Vedas and the Vedic Age. During this time, the aryan people were settling into India and spreading their culture, beliefs, and stories. Their stories are now known as “vedas” and contain many foundation ideas of Hinduism. One early component to classical Indian culture was the Upanishads. These texts contained similar thought to the Vedas and came later. Together these classical texts made up much of the ideas that popular ways of thought in India were based on.
To the left is a statue of the Buddha found from the time of the Gupta empire. With a look at the bust, it is clear that the Indian people saw Buddha as a peaceful and clam man. These are apparent ideal from Buddhism that we can see in the depiction of the founder many years later. Also, the simple fact that this kind of statue shows respect and dedication to the school of thought that these people followed. From this statue we can not only see some of the Indian people's values, but their respect for traditions as well.
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