Unit Questions - Non-Western Cultures

Indian civilization developed along the Indus River around 2700 BCE. There were two chief cities in this region Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. They quickly developed facility in bronze casting but were over run by the Aryans from the North in 1500 BCE. The Aryans imposed the rigid Indian caste system that was made up of five groups: the untouchables (who where outside the castes), the Shudras (unskilled workers), Vaishyas (Artisans and Merchants), Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers), and Brahmins (priests and scholars).

Hinduism developed from two sets of Aryan texts: the Vedas and the Upanishads, both written in Sanskrit, the language of the Ancient Aryans.  There is no unified practice or set of rituals in Hinduism. All reality is seen as illusory. The purpose of life is to be free from illusion and achieve Nirvana - the state free from death, life, and rebirth - unification with Brahman, the universal soul. Later, Brahman was split into three distinct deities: Brahman (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver), and Shiva (the destroyer).

Vishnu is among the most popular gods of Hinduism because of his compassion for mankind. Valmiki a poet similar to Homer in that he collected preexisting stories composed the Ramayana around 550 BCE. In this work, he relates the story of the pious incarnation of the god Vishnu through Ram and his wife Sita. Ram and Sita perfectly illustrate lives that follow dharma, the path of right conduct. When dharma is followed, harmony ensues; when it is violated, disaster may strike.

Another tale of Vishnu’s incarnation, this time into the god Krishna, is found in the Mahahbarata, composed between 400 BCE and 400 CE. In the 6th book of this text, known as the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna, the charioteer, counsels the Warrior Arjuna who is torn by a moral dilemma - whether he should fight and kill, or follow the Hindu injunction which forbids killing. Krishna explains that his role as a Kshatriya determines his dharma (duty). As a warrior he must fight and kill courageously, and this is his path to unification with Brahman.

The Vishnu Puranas, collected around 500 CE, recount Krishna’s amorous adventures. He is related as seducing of a number of milkmaids who continue to meet him for trysts in spite of the admonitions of their husbands and families. These stories demonstrate the souls longing for union with Brahman and are not meant as an encouragement to licentiousness. 

Shiva is seen as not only the destroyer, but as a god of regeneration and the cycle of life. Shiva is thus known also as the lord of the dance; the dance represents the cycle and order of the universe which includes death, life, and regeneration. 

The Cultures of Africa 

The Ife culture is one of the oldest in West Africa, and it produced naturalistic sculptural commemorative portraits, probably of rulers, in clay, stone, and eventually brass (fig. 9.2).  The royal casters’ guild in Benin created lifelike images of ancestral rulers (fig. 9.3).

The Pre-Columbian Era 

The cultures of Mesoamerica were at once sophisticated - producing extraordinarily accurate calendars and magnificent cities - and backward - lacking beasts of burden, the wheel, bronze, and iron. The Olmec from Mexico, active around 1300BCE, developed pyramid like mounds as sacred precincts and carved larger than life basalt sculptures of their ruler mediators (fig. 9.5). In central Oaxaca, Mexico, the Zapotec culture most likely created the calendar system. The later city of Teotihuacan conveyed a sense of power and mastery with its pyramids and Avenue of the Dead (fig. 9.6). The Mayan culture was centered in the city of Palenque, but it was supplanted by the more warlike Toltecs and Aztecs, both of which practiced blood sacrifice.

The Spanish Empire 

From Madrid, King Philip II of Spain oversaw an empire in the Americas that had been founded by his ancestors, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.  Subsidized by the Spanish crown, Columbus arrived in the Americas in 1492, a voyage that inaugurated 125 years of nautical exploration by European explorers.  The Spanish conquistadors Cortez  and Pizarro conquered the Aztec Empire and the Incan culture of Peru, respectively.  The acquisition of gold and other treasure was the primary motivation for European colonization of the Americas. 

West African Culture and the Portuguese 

The Portuguese slave trade transported many millions of Africans across the Atlantic on the Middle Passage (map 9.3) and devastated the cultures of West Africa, but it did not transform them.  Many of the traditions in place when the Portuguese arrived remain in place today.  Nevertheless, the presence of the Portuguese is evident in much of the art produced in West Africa in the sixteenth century, including bronze objects from Benin that depict Portuguese solders (fig. 9.15) and images of Christ as Kongolese royalty from the Kongo (fig. 9.17), where the people were strongly attracted to Christianity.  In fact, Christian motifs mixed openly with African themes in many works of art. 

China and Its Influence

“The City of Heaven” described Hangzhou - a city of the Song dynasty and highlighted by Marco Polo - in his Travels. The city was run by a thriving merchant class, and their development of moveable type began a printing revolution that aided in education as well as preparation for civil service examinations. The prevailing religion was an amalgamation of Confucianism strengthened by relevant additions from Daoism and Buddhism. The artists and literati were drawn to Chan Buddhism and considered themselves instruments through which the spirit of nature expressed itself.

The Yuan dynasty, headed by the Mongol Kublai Khan, conquered the Song, though they were never fully accepted by the remaining Chinese. The scholar-painters of the Chinese court retreated into exile but demonstrated their continued resistance to the invaders through their art (fig. 9.8).

Nearly 100 years before the Portuguese sailed into the Indian Ocean, the Chinese emperor Zhu Di’s Treasure Fleet - commanded by Zheng He - conducted trade expeditions throughout the area (map 9.4).  Chinese porcelain (fig. 9.20) was in great demand.  One of the most important undertakings of Zhu Di’s reign was the construction of the royal compound in Beijing, known as the Forbidden City (fig. 9.19).  In the Ming court, Dong Qichang wrote an essay that has affected the way we look at the history of Chinese painting ever since, dividing the history of Chinese painting into two schools, northern and southern, each with different aesthetic priorities (figs. 9.21, 9.22).

The Flowering of Japan

The compatibility of Shinto - the native religion of Japan - and Buddhism - in regard to its reverence for nature - allowed for the conflation of their respective deities, so that by the Heian period Buddhist priests were using Shinto temples. The capital of Japan at this time was Heiankyo and it became the most densely populated city in the world.  The nobility lived elegant and refined lives surrounded by gardens and streams and were committed to the arts.  Both men and women were expected to contribute to the aesthetic of the Heian court, where poetry competitions were held. A distinctly Japanese writing form evolved, the hiragana, and was embraced by the women diary writers of the period. The world’s first novel, The Tale of Genji  was composed by Murasaki Shikibu; she competed with Sei Shonagon, a woman who authored Pillow Book, which was a selection of random notes or occasional writings.  The competition between these two helped to inspire literary innovations of the period.

The samurai and the shogunate stepped into the void caused by a weak central government.  The feudal code of conduct, the bushido, was based on fidelity to one’s superior, contempt for death, and total selflessness. The code required ritual suicide. The most powerful samurai, Minamoto no Yoritomo (fig. 9.24), took the title of shogun and inaugurated the Kamakura Dynasty.

During the Muromachi period, competing provincial daimyo ruled the country.  They were uncultured samurai swordsmen, but the principles and ethics of Daoist philosophy - with its emphasis on self-discipline and self-denial and its reliance on intuitive understanding unmediated by intellectual reasoning - appealed to them.  During the Muromachi period (1392-1573), the popularity of Zen Buddhism led to a renewed interest in Chinese painting (fig. 9.26).  Gardens designed to aid Zen meditation became popular, and the tea ceremony (fig. 9.27) was ritualized as a highly refined art of Zen mediation.  The court also supported the development of Noh drama.

After the introduction of gunpowder, firearms, and cannon by Portuguese traders in the Momoyama period (1573-1615), the Momoyama shoguns built larger, more defensible castles.  Screen painting became especially popular and depicted a wide variety of subjects, including the Portuguese traders (namban painting) (fig.9.28), and the large-scale landscapes of the Kano School.  By 1641, Japan had essentially closed its doors to foreign trade and influence.