INDIA AND PAKISTAN
The properties of copper ore for the manufacture of metal artifacts was known at a very early date in India and Pakistan. At MEHRGARH, copper beads have been found in contexts dating as early as 6000 B. C.E. The metal workers of the INDUS CIVILIZATION were highly skilled. By the second half of the third millennium B. C.E., they were able to cast figurines by using the lost wax technique. This involved investing a clay core with wax in the form of the desired artifact and then covering the wax with an outer layer of clay, ensuring by the use of pins that the inner and outer clay bodies were separated at all times. Having melted the wax, molten bronze was then poured into the mold. The bronze smiths also used annealing, that is, heating and hammering an artifact to give it added strength, and were able to rivet castings into composite tools. Their output included vessels in a wide range of forms, spearheads, figurines, knives, and axes. During the second half of the second millennium B. C.E., a bronze industry was established in eastern India, in the context of small agricultural communities such as Navdatoli and Inamgaon. The range of artifacts included bangles, rings, axes, arrowheads, and chisels.
CHINA
Recent archaeological research has revealed that early knowledge of copper-based metallurgy reached western China from the west by means of the expansion of people and the spread of ideas along what later came to be known as the SILK ROAD. Settlements of the QIJIA CULTURE in Gansu Province have revealed the presence of copper or bronze implements by the mid - to late third millennium B. C.E. At Qinweijia, for example, pits have yielded copper or bronze implements, including an ax, an awl, discs, and rings. The ax was annealed to harden it. This is a technically sophisticated procedure. Dahezhuang and Huangni-angniangtai have also yielded bronzes, 32 specimens from the latter site being found in occupation contexts and burials. Some of the knives, awls, and chisels were cast from copper, others from a tin bronze. This knowledge of the properties of bronze was assimilated in the LONGSHAN CULTURE of the Chinese central plains during the late third millennium B. C.E. Early urban centers there were associated with large cemeteries. At TAOSI, one rich grave included a copper bell. Bronze working took on a distinctive Chinese character with the development of the XIA DYNASTY. At ERLITOU, elite graves contained bronze grave goods, including vessels, bells, knives, and halberds (ge). There are also some unusual bronze plaques inlaid with turquoise. The vessel forms included a wine jug, which was cast in the piece mold technique. This technique stands at the threshold of the magnificent bronze ritual vessels cast during the ensuing SHANG DYNASTY. A series of clay molds, bearing a negative of desired decoration, was fitted together over a clay core prior to the pouring of the molten bronze into the intervening space. By this technique, the finest bronzes of the ancient world were produced in specialist workshops, and many found their way into imperial and aristocratic tombs. The richest Shang burial uncovered to date contained the remains of FU HAO, a consort of the emperor. Her bronzes provide a measure of her high status. Many vessels are of unusual form, and the two largest contribute 120 kilograms (264 lbs.) to the total weight of 1,600 kilograms (3,520 lbs.) of bronze in the tomb.
Further technical improvements and new designs mark the passage of the ensuing ZHOU DYNASTY, until arguably the summit of Chinese bronze working was reached in the vessels from the tomb of ZENG HOU YI, marquis of Zeng, dated to the late fifth century B. C.E. The tomb contained almost 10 tons of bronze, a figure not yet exceeded in the history of China. Two festive vessels, known as the zun and the pan, take pride of place. Minutely decorated, they were cast by the piece mold system, as well as the lost wax method. The latter allows for lifelike images to be formed, and hence the vessels incorporate dragons and serpents, each individually cast, before being soldered to the vessel.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Since the Shang had established trade connections with the south, particularly for supplying turtle shells, it is highly likely that knowledge of alloying copper with tin reached Southeast Asia from Chinese sources, between 1500-1000 B. C.E. During the Bronze Age, most bronzes were cast in the form of personal ornaments, although one also encounters spears, arrowheads, and socketed axes. The Iron Age, which began about 500 B. C.E., saw a proliferation in both the quantity and the range of bronzes, including finger and toe rings, belts, and head ornaments. Early civilizations, therefore, had the opportunity to employ bronzes based on a millennium of expertise. At the FUNAN port city of OC EO, French archaeologist Louis Malleret found a gold workshop, including bronze awls and hammers, indicating an early industrial use of bronze. However, the principal developments were to be the casting of monumental statues of gods, the use of bronze for casting musical instruments, and the use of highly ornamented bronzes as components of vehicles, palanquins, and chariots. The excavators of the central temple of AK YUM, which was constructed before the foundation of the Kingdom of Angkor in about 800 C. E., found six bronze statues, two of a Hindu deity and four of the Buddha, varying between nine and 35 centimeters (9 and 14 in.) in height. A donation made to a temple in northeast Thailand during the reign of SURYAVARMAN I included rice, cloth, workers, a pair of buffaloes, four pairs of sacred cattle, and a bronze cymbal. An outstanding gilded bronze door guardian from the same region that was recently unearthed at Kamphaeng Yai stands 1.84 meters high. Perhaps the most impressive monumental bronze, however, is a part of a huge statue of Vishnu from the Western Mebon, an island temple in the middle of the WESTERN BARAY at Angkor. A cremation cemetery near the Sras Srang in Angkor was identified first with the recovery of pottery jars associated with bronze Buddha images. The French archaeologist B.-P Groslier then excavated further the mortuary vessels containing human ashes, associated with Chinese ceramic vessels and figures, and bronze mirrors, iron weapons, ingots and pieces of lead. The mortuary jars were grouped with other vessels of local manufacture, a bronze pin 30 centimeters long, iron hooks, chains, axes, and knives. A tin vessel was associated with one cremation, along with animal teeth, stone mortars, and grinding stones. One pot contained seven lead ingots. In one instance, a pair of bronze mirrors was found, on a precise east-west orientation. The ivory handle survived on another mirror. Bronze palanquin rings and fittings and images of the Buddha and Vishnu riding the eagle GARUDA were also found. There must have been a considerable demand for copper during the Angkorian period, for we read that at PREAH VIHEAR, a leading dignitary had the floors of the towers faced with bronze plaques. The later foundation inscription of the PREAH KHAN temple lists 20,400 statues of gods in gold, silver, bronze, and stone in the government rest houses.
The establishment of such a vigorous bronze industry during the prehistoric period on the mainland of Southeast Asia was the springboard for the export of bronzes, and the ultimate establishment of a local industry, in the offshore islands. During the late first millennium B. C.E., DONG SON-style bronze drums were exported to island chiefdoms. These were soon copied in the form of the Pejeng drums, while stone mold fragments from Sembiran on the northern coast of Bali reflect local workshops on an island devoid of either copper or tin ore. Clearly, bronze working was a stimulus to trade in ingots. The products of this Balinese bronze industry included armlets, necklaces, belts, and ear - and finger rings that found their way into aristocratic burials dating to the first few centuries C. E.
Further reading: Gao Dalun. “Bronze Ritual Artefacts of the Shu Culture: A Preliminary Survey,” Orientations
32 (2001): 45-51; Higham, C. F W The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996; Kohl, P L. The Bronze Age Civilization of Central Asia: Recent Soviet Discoveries. Armank: M. E. Sharpe, 1981; Masson, V M., “The Bronze Age in Khorasan and Transoxania.” In History of the Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. 1, edited by A. H. Dani and V. M. Masson, 225-245. Paris: UNESCO, 1992; Shelach, G. “Early Bronze Age Cultures in North China,” Asian Perspectives
33 (1994): 261-292.
Buddhism Buddhism is one of the oldest of the great world religions. It originated in the life and teachings of Sakyamuni, the son of royal parents, King Suddhodana and Queen Maya, and after it was established in India, it spread to Central Asia, Southeast Asia, China, Korea and Japan. Its teachings stress attaining enlightenment and escaping the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, which generate suffering.
EMERGENCE OF BUDDHISM
The date of the future Buddha’s birth and events of his life are not firmly established. It is widely held that he was born in 543 b. c.e. Some sources, however, affirm that his birth was 218 years before the consecration of King ASOKA, others that it was only a century earlier than the consecration, respectively, either 486 or 368 b. c.e. He was born in Nepal, and his birthplace, lumbini, was the site of one of Asoka’s columns. The future Buddha was a member of the Gautama clan of the Sakya tribe and had a rich and privileged upbringing, living in his father’s palace and marrying Princess Yasodhara when he was aged 16. However, his appreciation of poverty and illness stimulated a concern for one of the central religious tenets of the day, the notion that all beings underwent a continuous cycle of life, death, and rebirth, which necessitated illness and suffering.
To break this cycle, he left home and traveled south, to the kingdom of Magadha in the Ganges (Ganga) Valley in India, and took up the life of a wandering mendicant, living under the harshest conditions of personal privation while meditating on the human condition. This way of life, which he endured for six years, he found debilitating and of little profit in his quest. He left his five fellow mendicants and, having bathed in the river of Nairanjana, sat near a fig tree. In the course of meditation, he attained complete and perfect enlightenment. At the age of 34, he thus became a Buddha, “enlightened one.” After a further period of meditation lasting several weeks, he traveled to the Varanasi (formerly Benares) Deer Park and there expounded the dharma, the doctrine of deliverance from the cyclic pattern of life, death, and rebirth, to his former companions. This doctrine includes four basic truths concerning human sufferings: Suffering is found everywhere because of greed and desire, and the path toward an end to suffering, nirvana, is followed by the Buddha.
For the remainder of his life, until his death at the age of 80 years, he traveled widely, expounding the dharma, attracting followers, and founding a religious order of monks. He died just outside kusinagara, in India, and after his cremation, his remains were distributed as holy relics and preserved under stupas. Even during his lifetime, the Sangha, or monastic orders of Buddhist monks, was established. This is a vital strand in the practice of Buddhism, which includes four entities— monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. The Buddha, having experienced six years of asceticism at the start of his quest, resolved to follow the middle path that eschewed extreme privation as contributing little to the attainment of enlightenment. Therefore, while the monks and their monastic foundations were maintained by meritorious gifts by the laity, the laity received in return the fundamental teachings of the Buddha. The Sangha entails the monks’ renunciation of worldly possessions. Prescriptions govern the acquisition and nature of clothing: Monks can wear three garments given them by the laity Their possessions include a begging bowl, belt, razor, strainer, needle, staff, and toothpick. A morning procession of monks with their food bowls can be seen today across much of East, South, and Southeast Asia. Monks are allowed to eat meat or fish only if the animal was not killed specifically for them. They have no fixed residence but often live in monasteries. Their daily round involves praying, meditating, perambulating to secure food from the laity, eating before noon, meditating, and receiving instruction.
SPREAD OF BUDDHISM IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
The Sangha was established by the time of the Buddha’s death, after which a meeting of monks set about the task of formalizing his teachings and expanding his following through moving out from Bihar in India into the surrounding areas. The major triumph of early Buddhism was the conversion of the Mauryan emperor Asoka (r. 268-235 B. C.E.), who enthusiastically espoused the doctrine and sent missionaries throughout his kingdom and beyond. His son, Mahendra, established Buddhism in one of its greatest future centers, Sri Lanka. The kushan king KANISHKA I (100-126) was another adherent, whose influence saw the Mahayana branch of Buddhism spread into central Asia. One of Asoka’s missions, led by his servants Gavampti, Sona, and uttara, was dispatched to Southeast Asia in the mid-third century b. c.e.
The site of ban don ta phet in central Thailand has provided the earliest archaeological evidence for knowledge of Buddhism in Southeast Asia, in the form of a small figurine of a carnelian lion, an animal employed to represent the Buddha. This site has been dated to the fourth century b. c.e. Buddhism was adopted by the pyu CIVILIZATION of inland Myanmar (Burma) and ultimately dominated the religious architecture of the dvaravati civilization of the Chao Phraya Valley in central Thailand (500-900). There are numerous stupas, circular structures that house a relic of the Buddha, and caityas, buildings or temples that hold a sacred object, such as an image of the Buddha. Images of the Buddha show the adoption of this religion in the state of funan (150-550), in the area of the Mekong Delta in cambodia. Images of the Buddha have been found in the deep vault in the temple of AK YUM, which belongs to the period of chenla kingdoms (550-800). During the period of Angkor in cambodia, Buddhism is often mentioned in the inscriptions; it became dominant during the reign of jayavarman VII (1181-1219). He had numerous images of the Buddha set up in his state temple, the bayon, and in temples across the kingdom. However, a successor king, jayavarman VIII (r. 1243-96), reacted violently against Buddhism and had the images destroyed or modified in favor of Hindu gods. Buddhism was the religion of the sailendra
World History
