| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Arjuna | was a warrior who felt discouraged when going into battle and took advice from his chariot driver without knowing that he was Krishna, an incarnation of the Indian deity Vishnu |
| Aryans | Indo-European speaking nomads who entered India from the Central Asian steppes between 1500 and 1000 BCE and greatly affected Indian society |
| Asceticism | the idea of self denial, self sacrifice, even self mutilation that was done to communicate with the gods and began to take the place of sacrifice in ancient India |
| Atman | the individual soul |
| Ashoka | a ruler of the Mauryan Empire who converted to Buddhism |
| Avatar | an incarnation of a god |
| Bodhisattva | a person who has attained enlightenment but who has postponed nirvana in order to help others achieve enlightenment |
| Brahmins | the priestly caste who led ceremonies |
| Brahman | in Hinduism he was the universal soul, and in the trinity of gods in Hinduism he was the Creator |
| Buddhism | a religion that was started by Siddhartha Gautama who is also known as Buddha whose purpose was to stop suffering |
| Bodhi | means wisdom; Bodhi is achieved when worldly matters are abandoned, and is the source of the term "Buddhism." Bodhi is a key step on the way to nirvana |
| Chandragupta Maurya | a king, founder of the Mauryan Empire |
| Caste | India's rigid social system in which all members of that society are assigned by birth to specific ranks and inherit specific roles and privileges |
| Dharma | duty |
| Dravidian | a language; people who speak it mainly live in Southern India and were probably pushed there by the Aryan invasions |
| Ganges | a river in India that flows into the Bay of Bengal; in Hinduism, it is known as a sacred river |
| Harappan | a civilization that based itself on the Indus River |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace