Compare and contrast the Upanishads (Document 3-3) and The Laws of Manu (Document 3-4). What aspects of Hinduism did each stress? How would you explain their differences in tone and emphasis?
Compare and contrast Buddhist and Hindu views on the quest for enlightenment. What similarities and differences do you note?
Compare Ashoka’s edict in this chapter (Document 3-5) with Hammurabi’s code (Document 2-2) and Ashur-Nasir-Pal II’s résumé (Document 2-4) in Chapter 2. Are there more similarities or more differences between Indian styles of rule and those in Mesopotamia?
What are the differences between ancient Indian religion and the religions practiced in the ancient Near East? (See Chapter 2.)
William Theodore de Bary, Stephen N. Hay, Royal Weiler, and Andrew Yarrow, eds., Sources of Indian Tradition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1958), 146–147.