Biography
The following outline shows the biography of several important people known in Ancient India. Those important people who made a difference in Ancient India include Prince Siddhartha, Ashoka, Chandragupta and the Gupta family.
(Images on top; outline below images)
(Images on top; outline below images)
Prince Siddhartha
I. Early Years
A. Birth and Family Background
• Prince Siddhartha, originally named Buddha Shakyamuni, was born in 624
BC
• Born into the royal family, “Shakya”; parents were Queen Mayadevi and King Shuddhodana
• Born in place called Lumbini (present-day Nepal)
• One night, Queen had dream about an elephant from heaven coming to her room the night she had her son; said to be a pure/powerful being
• When King saw child, he felt that all his wishes were complete; named prince Siddhartha; King told by Brahmin seer that Siddhartha would grow up to be a brilliant and powerful man or ruler; leader of important society
B. Childhood Life
• Prince was skilled at many subjects and matters for life without having instruction
• Mastered traditional arts/sciences with no guidance; knew 64 different languages including each of their alphabet without having to study
• Mastered sports (martial arts, archery)
• Prince would take any chance to inspire spiritual path following
• Thousands of people took faith in Siddhartha
C. Siddhartha’s Desiring to leave Palace
• Sometimes went into Father’s city to see how people were doing; after witnessing the suffer of them, he felt deep compassion for them and wanted to leave palace to find enlightment
• When King heard about this, he refused to let Prince leave
• Palace tried everything to make Prince stay, including marriage to Yasodhara, beautiful ladies and dancers, etc.
• Even with all of this, Siddhartha devoted his time and energy to help Shakya people in any way he could
II. Significant Events
A. Prince Siddhartha had vision where all of Buddhas encouraged him to help all living things; influenced Prince to leave palace and attain full enlightment
B. After King used many ways of trying to have his son stay, Prince escaped palace and found Bohd Gaya, India, where he could accomplish his goal; ordained himself as monk
C. Siddhartha was determined for full enlightment; sat under Bodhi Tree in India on the full moon day of fourth month of lunar calendar and focused on concentration of this matter
D. Devaputra Mara, ruler of demons, tried to interfere with his concentration; however, she failed as Siddhartha continued to develop deeper concentration
E. As dawn passed, Siddhartha continued with meditation and surpassed concentration, then fully enlightened and became official Buddha
III. Personal Attributes
A. Determined
• At all cost, he wanted to help Shakya
• Even with all the things his father did to make him stay at palace, he kept on going for the idea of escaping palace
• When Devaputra Mara, ruler of demons, tried everything to interfere his concentration, Siddhartha was determined and kept on focusing to achieve his goal
B. Generous
• helped Shakya people even if it meant to leave palace in future
• helped living things by attaining full enlightment
C. Wise
• listened to fellow Buddhas and made choice to help other living things
• achieved full enlightment as a Buddha; received a sensible life
IV. Contributions
A. Contributed to Shakya people by having compassion for them
B. Contributed to Buddhism by attaining full enlightment and becoming a Buddha himself
V. My Impresssions
A. I think that Siddhartha followed his own will of helping others and did everything to make his goal come true.
B. I believe that Siddhartha was a person who made the choices that he thought were right for the people whom he desired for compassion.
Ashoka
I. Early Years
A. Birth and Family Background
• born in 304 BC into royal family
• parents were Mauryan Emperor Bindusara and Queen Dharma
• birth predicted by Buddha
• had 1 younger sibling; 7 older half-brothers
B. Childhood Life
• skilled in field of weaponry
• skilled in academic subjects
C. Beginning of Accession to Throne
• grew into excelling warrior and astute statesman
• Ashoka’s succeeding years made his brothers suspicious, jealous, and insecure
• married fisherwoman Kaurwaki; when injured in battle, met Buddhist nurse Devi and married her
II. Significant Events
A. Ashoka became Emperor after his father’s death
B. Ashoka fought Battle of Kalinga; from then known as ‘Ashoka the Great’
C. After seeing what he had done in the Battle of Kalinga to the towns, he accepted becoming a Buddhist and started to spread Buddhism; included missions (Kashmir - Gandhara Majjhantika)
D. After ruling for 40 years, Emperor Ashoka died in 232 BC, as his empire thrived for 50 more years
III. Personal Attributes
A. Ambitious
• willing to do anything to achieve his goal, even when using brutal activity and the knowledge of risking many peoples’ lives
B. Compassionate
• realized his mistake and made it up by becoming Buddhist and spreading Buddhism
IV. Contributions
A. Contributed to the empire by becoming a powerful Emperor to take care of people
B. Contributed to Buddhism by becoming a Buddhist after realizing his mistake, and going on missions to spread Buddhism
V. My Impressions
A. I think that even if Ashoka sometimes was a harsh ruler, he was very confident in his act of what he wanted to be done in the empire.
B. I also believe that Ashoka was a very powerful but forgiving emperor because as he ruled all those people of the subcontinent India, he also realized his huge mistake he made and from there, he helped contribute to Buddhism and improved both his life and the empire into a greater impact.
Chandragupta
I. Early Life
A. Birth and Family Background
• Born in 340 BCE
• Not blessed with royal family and had no dynastic connection
• Father was chief of Moriya Clan; died in battle; Mother was widowed and took shelter in Pataliputra, where she gave birth to son Chandragupta
B. Childhood Life
• Was taken care of until adulthood by cowherds and hunters
• While Chandragupta was in mock trial court, Kautilya was impressed by the boy’s skills; bought him from his father and took him to city of Taxila through education of many arts, etc.
C. Beginning to Become a King
• Involved in political situation the day of Alexander the Great’s invasion
• Using the advantage of the vacuum of where the kings took power in much of India, Chandragupta went to become ruler of entire north India
• had to be involved in many dreadful wars to become ruler; made unsuccessful attempt to Nandas; afterwards, since Nandas’ power was too powerful for him, he decided to form alliance with Alexander the Great
• After Chandragupta trained an army of robbers, etc. for a while, he and his army went to confront Nandas
II. Significant Events
A. After overthrowing Nandas, Chandragupta emerged as king of Mauryan Kingdom in 326 BC
B. In 305 BC, Chandragupta signed treaty of protecting borders with Seleucus after Chandragupta took over large area of land (known today as Pakistan and Afghanistan)
C. Began campaign to conquer most of subcontinent India; would later be completed by Emperor Ashoka in 260 BCE
D. Emperor Chandragupta (because of the requests of Jainism) went into cave and starved himself to death; died because of suicidal hunger
III. Personal Attributes
A. Persevering
• never gave up to defeat his enemy, Nandas
B. Courageous
• Chandragupta’s courage with Kautilya’s intelligence created the Mauryan Empire into one of most powerful governments in India
C. Clever
• always found a smart way to take advantage of reaching his goals
IV. Contributions
A. Contributed to the Mauryan Empire because became emperor and helped expand empire into powerful government
B. Contributed to Jainism because he became a follower and gave up his life for the religion
V. My Impressions
A. I think that Emperor Chandragupta was a man who always tried to find an advantage that helped him reach his goals, and using that cleverness, he persevered into what he thought was right for the empire and people.
B. I also think that Chandragupta was pretty ambitious as well as courageous because he had the wit to expand his empire and give up his life for Jainism, a religion in India.
Gupta Family
I. Early Life
A. Family of landowners bought land in region of Magadha and parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh; set over rule and became kingdom
B. First King was Sri Gupta; second was Ghatotkacha/Maharaja
II. Significant Events
A. Chandragupta was first ruler of consequence in Gupta Family
B. Empire fell after invasion from Huna power
III. Personal Attributes
A. Controlled
• Empire was controlled well by a set of wise emperors
B. Prosperous
• Gupta Family was a small family but grew into a very big and powerful empire with wise set of emperors that expanded the empire to its limit
IV. Contributions
A. Contributed to India because was a powerful empire that influenced many Indian cultures
B. Contributed to Modern World because we are currently learning about Gupta Family and how it became an empire; Gupta Empire influenced our culture as well
V. My Impressions
A. I believe that the Gupta Family was very successful in its meanings because it came from a small family to a huge and powerful empire that expanded throughout India.
B. I also think that the Gupta Family was pretty influential because it conquered most of India and was a great influence to many countries, including the Modern Times.