TEACHERS: Mr. Nicky is booking his 2024-25 virtual assemblies and online history songwriting lessons! These programs (via Zoom/Google Meet/etc.) meet state learning standards in both social studies and ELA, and they’re tons of fun. Please send an e-mail to mrnickychicago@gmail.com for full information. (Students will not receive a response, but thank you for your support!)
– LYRICS BELOW –
Here’s the MERCH! : https://www.bonfire.com/store/mr-nickys-world-history-songs/
Thanks to all who requested an ancient India song & to Ms. Rossano’s student who suggested Drake at the January 2016 assembly 🙂
Ancient India by Mr. Nicky
To the tune of Hotline Bling by Drake
Backing track property of Karaoke Version/Tency Music.
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
long ago in the Indus
had streets of brick and manholes
with citadels and big bath tubs
Their workmanship was specialized
their measurements were so precise
from their projects we surmise
their government was centralized
and they must have had some surplus food
Harvesting some grain and some bananas
twice a year though flooding made it dangerous
waters flow down from the Himalayas
to the Indus plain and moving through
Spreading fertile silt more than the Nile does
It’s the mighty river of the Indus
Both those rivers spread out into deltas
And flow down like the Aryan people
Migrated through the Hindu Kush
Herding sheep and cattle
Singing songs of the Vedas
Those are the Books of Knowledge
in the language of Sanskrit
They show the Hindus how to live
So when you’re reincarnated,
if your karma’s good, then maybe you, you, you’d
Move up higher in the caste system
Follow your dharma and don’t do what’s wrong
you’d be an outcaste and you wouldn’t belong
Ganesh, Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu
So many deities, there’s Krishna
Read his words in the Bhagavad Gita
Hindu culture’s spread way beyond India
Up to the Kingdom of Kosala
where Siddharta Gautama
Gave his princely wealth up
Wisdom made him the Buddha
He sought to end suffering
Buddhist monks are following
The Eightfold Path representing
a Middle Way of Living
The 4 Noble Truths
say life is filled with suffering caused by wanting, so end your wants
Buddha’s the Awakened One, his teaching spread through Asia
Inspiring Ashoka to be tolerant and build stupas
He was the grandson of
Chandragupta Maurya
Roads
connected the Mauryan people
one ran from the capital
to Taxila, made taxing easier
and so Ashoka was able
yeah, to conquer quite a bit
of the subcontinent
More terrority than the Guptas
though they gave us the zero
plays from Kalidasa
and our Arabic numerals
Look at the Ajanta caves
Guptas brought a Golden Age
Architecture, art and trade
science, math and tributes paid
Made them great, but Huns invaded
