October 10th: Ashoka

Today we talked about Emperor Ashoka, the first ruler to unite India over 2,000 years ago. We covered some of his accomplishments, the symbols that are part of modern India's symbols, and his edicts inscribed in rock.

Here are some of the things Ashoka did:

1) United India through war

2) Renounced Violence

3) Spread Buddhism

The symbols used by modern India:

Ashoka Chakra (wheel) is on the Indian flag

The wheel symbolizes unity

Ashoka Pillar (Lion Capital) is the national symbol

We then discussed the Ashokan edicts that he put up throughout the country. Here are a few examples (paraphrased):

1) No animals are to be killed in sacrifice.

2) Respect for father and mother is good.

3) To do good is difficult.

4) All religions should be respected.

Finally students were asked to make their own edicts. Students came up with many different ideas expressing the same kind of high-minded ideals that Ashoka wrote down so many years ago.

India Maps!

10/03/09

Today we talked about how in India there are many languages, and that most states are divided by language. Of course, all of these states have to work together, so to communicate India chose two national languages: Hindi and English. Why Hindi and English? Hindi is the single language spoken by the largest number of Indians. English is the language of the country, England (not the U.S.!), that ruled India for many years.

Next we labeled out BIG blank maps that we put together the week before. (I apologize to those who did not receive the map. I had printed out 10 copies and thought that would be enough. I encourage those who did not receive a map to print out the map linked below and label it.)

MAP!

These are the states we labeled:

1) Uttar Pradesh

2) Maharashtra

3) Bihar

4) West Bengal

5) Andhra Pradesh

6) Tamil Nadu

7) Madhya Pradesh

8) Rajasthan

9) Karnataka

10) Gujarat

11) Orissa

12) Kerala

13) Jharkhand

14) Assam

15) Punjab

These are the countries we labeled:

1) Pakistan

2) Nepal

3) Bangladesh

These are the cities:

1) Delhi

2) Mumbai

3) Bengalooru (Banglore)

4) Chennai

5) Hyderabad

6) Kolkata (Calcutta)

And the bodies of water:

1) Arabian Sea

2) Indian Ocean

3) Bay of Bengal