One of the key components of any successful civilization throughout history is political control. It has proven itself absolutely necessary when it comes to maintaining order in any society. Political organization began to become much more elaborate during the Classical period, offering government leaders more control over the population. We see many different approaches to maintaining this control throughout the classical period civilizations. The Classical period Han and Mauryan dynasty sought and achieved political control through both religion and social hierarchy. Both civilizations ingeniously wove people's beliefs with politics, giving the people moral reason to obey and respect the political decisions made by the heads of their governments.
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He was the first to integrate the philosophies of Confucianism with Legalism to rule his people. The 2 philosophies come together rather harmoniously due to the fact that they support and justify the ideas expressed in one another, here is an excerpt from the Confucian Analects that express both Legalist and Confucian values: “Lead them by means of regulations and keep order among them through punishments, and the people will evade them and will lack any sense of shame. Lead them through moral force (de) and keep order among them through rites (li), and they will have a sense of shame and will also correct themselves.” Wu abolished all non-Confucian leaders and scholars forcing the population into Confucianism. In 124 BCE the Imperial University was created to teach the 5 classics of Confucianism to prepare students for jobs within the government. These jobs were the most desirable and were the highest paying jobs someone could get. Children were forced to start studying Confucianism at the age of 6, further ingraining Confucian values into their minds. Wu had successfully taken control of the population by giving the people no other choice but to embrace …show more content…
Similar to Emperor Wu’s endorsement of Confucianism, Ashoka enthusiastically took to Buddhism during his reign. However before Ashoka’s embracement of Buddhism the Arthashastra contained predominant political philosophy. Living under a government with Buddhist values was a drastic difference from the uses of force and demanding policies encouraged by the Arthashastra. Part of the success of promoting Buddhism and Buddhist values throughout Mauryan India was the fact that though Ashoka made Buddhism the state religion, he remained tolerant of all religions. People took to Buddhism on their own not by force. Like Emperor Wu’s, a large part of Ashoka's court consisted of priests and ministers, however unlike Wu’s, Ashoka included many Hindu leaders, further proving his tolerance of differing religions. Religion connected the people with their political leaders, people in charge were open and honest with the population, hinduism brought peace, Jainism and Buddhism both expressed anti-caste values, giving the people more social and career-related freedoms. The idea of Ahimsa becoming popular also attributed to The peoples relatively docile attitude toward the government can also be attributed to the popularization of Ahimsa, an idea which encouraged nonviolence to all living things. A large part of Indian society was the Caste system. The Caste system defined people’s place in society, it
He was the first to integrate the philosophies of Confucianism with Legalism to rule his people. The 2 philosophies come together rather harmoniously due to the fact that they support and justify the ideas expressed in one another, here is an excerpt from the Confucian Analects that express both Legalist and Confucian values: “Lead them by means of regulations and keep order among them through punishments, and the people will evade them and will lack any sense of shame. Lead them through moral force (de) and keep order among them through rites (li), and they will have a sense of shame and will also correct themselves.” Wu abolished all non-Confucian leaders and scholars forcing the population into Confucianism. In 124 BCE the Imperial University was created to teach the 5 classics of Confucianism to prepare students for jobs within the government. These jobs were the most desirable and were the highest paying jobs someone could get. Children were forced to start studying Confucianism at the age of 6, further ingraining Confucian values into their minds. Wu had successfully taken control of the population by giving the people no other choice but to embrace …show more content…
Similar to Emperor Wu’s endorsement of Confucianism, Ashoka enthusiastically took to Buddhism during his reign. However before Ashoka’s embracement of Buddhism the Arthashastra contained predominant political philosophy. Living under a government with Buddhist values was a drastic difference from the uses of force and demanding policies encouraged by the Arthashastra. Part of the success of promoting Buddhism and Buddhist values throughout Mauryan India was the fact that though Ashoka made Buddhism the state religion, he remained tolerant of all religions. People took to Buddhism on their own not by force. Like Emperor Wu’s, a large part of Ashoka's court consisted of priests and ministers, however unlike Wu’s, Ashoka included many Hindu leaders, further proving his tolerance of differing religions. Religion connected the people with their political leaders, people in charge were open and honest with the population, hinduism brought peace, Jainism and Buddhism both expressed anti-caste values, giving the people more social and career-related freedoms. The idea of Ahimsa becoming popular also attributed to The peoples relatively docile attitude toward the government can also be attributed to the popularization of Ahimsa, an idea which encouraged nonviolence to all living things. A large part of Indian society was the Caste system. The Caste system defined people’s place in society, it