I) India
 A) Harrapan Civilization
   1) were literate and able to write
     i) we are unable to read transcripts though
   2) 1500 bc the civ. ends for unknown reasons, possibly Aryan invasion
 B) Aryan conquest (1500 b.c.)
   1) succeeded in creating a great civ.
   2) Vedic age (1500 - 500 b.c.)
     i) contributions to western civilization
      a) great art, architexture
      b) mathematics was very advanced
      c) created chess
     ii) non-western influences (things that did not influence the west)
      a) Literature - Bhaghavad Gita, Ramayana
      b) these are not popular readings in the west
 C) Hinduism (road not taken by West)
   1) complex / contradictory religion
     i) Hindu argues that the world is filled with contradictions
      a) a religion must reflect reflect contradictions
   2) Polythiestic (many gods)
     i) west is monothiestic
     ii) India remains polythiestic
   3) Easy to embrace new ideas
     i) can add new gods easily
     ii) hindu's can worship christianity and Hinduism at the same time
       a) easily absorbes new ideas
   4) Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu
     i) Brahma is creator god
       a) upanishads
         1) says that Brahma is the only thing (Pantheism)
           i) everything is Brahma or god
           ii) Hindu regards world as an illusion (Maya)
           iii) goal is to see through maya
           iv) Nirvana is the ability to see world as it is, loss of personal identity
     ii) Shiva is destroyer god
       a) destroys evil, ignorance, maya (illusion)
       b) sometimes thought to be main god (Iswaria)
       c) Taraka is a demon god
         1) could only be killed by the son of Iswaria
         2) Tataka goes about breaking things, and causing bad things to happen
         3) Paravati goes to Shiva to try and reproduce (Shiva was an Iswaria)
         4) Shiva ignores Paravati
         5) Paravati gets Kama (god of love) to get Shiva
         6) Kama shoots Shiva with many love arrows
         7) Shiva wakes up and notices Paravati
         8) Shiva notices that something is up, opens his 3rd eye (all seeing eye) and see that they are up to something, Shiva then kills the Maya of Kama
         9) Paravati gives up and begins to pray with Shiva
        10) Shiva is impressed and they make a kid who destroys Taraka
        11) Kama's wife gets angry that she has no husband, Shiva makes him appear again
      iii) Vishnu (preserver god)
        a) sometimes takes on human form
         1) uses many different avatars (forms)
         2) one is Krishna (blue god)
           i) very mischievious
           ii) all women go to a river to bathe
           iii) Krishna sees clothes lying there and hides them in a tree
           iv) requires a kiss to get clothes, girls give him a kiss, except one who steals his clothes
           v) Krishna really saved girls from fire demons, but has fun while doing it
         3) Krishna likes chants (Bhagahvad)
           i) a guys throne is taken away by relatives
           ii) he does not want to fight relatives, yet, if he doesn't fight people will suffer
           iii) gives answer on what to do when 2 tough choices are to chose from
             a) says that man never dies, only the body dies, Maya is all that is killed, not he soul