| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Siddharta Gautama (Buddha) | born in Nepal as a prince, spent 29 years being spoiled until he confronts the realities of life... meditates under the Bodhi tree and is ENLIGHTENED |
| Alexander the Great | fought down the Indus then died on his journey... Mauryans were inspired by him and tried to mimick his military ways; his Greek culture also influenced India Quickly |
| Asoka | coined Buddhism as he practiced it; ruled by kindness and did a lot for his people (public kitchens, plant trees, rest homes, etc.) |
| Mohammed | founder of Islam, born in Mecca in 570... revelations from the angel Gabriel and recorded 23 years worth of revelations in the Qur'an |
| Kalidasa | Shakespeare of India |
| Shah Jahan | grandson of Asoka; built Taj Mahal for his favorite wife |
| Akbar | Mughal Dynasty reached the highest point under this ruler; he tried to created a synthesis religion after meeting in Agra; abolished Jizya, had great tolerance |
| Aryans | Caucasian people of central asia, starting coming through Khyber Pass around 1500BC; fierce fighters... social order (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras) |
| Harappans | Indus River Valley; fine brick houses, drainage systems, trade, ox-drawn carts, language not yet deciphered |
| Dravidians | indigeneous population... native original people with very dark skin who were not used to warfare |
| Mohenjo-Daro | excavated site-- archaeological place that historians look at today |
| Mauryan Empire | ruled by Asoka (Buddhist) |
| Gupta Empire | Chandragupta started the dynasty, much material culture; universities, literature, construction, intellectual refinement, etc... |
| Jainism | "cult"-ish of Hinduism... takes ahimsa to the Nth degree |
| Mughal | great or powerful person |
| Taj Mahal | tomb built by Shah Jahan for his favorite wife... built all out of white marble |
| Vedic Literature | where Hinduism emerged from... Ramayana, Mahabharata (Bhagavad Gita), Four Vedas |
| Sanskrit | India's classical language |
| raja | ruler |
| Sikhism | dsdmen wear turbans, in Punjab state, soldiers, farmers, business people... 1500AD; fuses Islam and Hinduism |
| Sutra | ds |
| Eightfold Path | Sila (right speech, actions, livelihood); Samadhi (right effort, mindfulness, concentration); Prajna (right understanding, thoughts) |
| nirvana | enlightenment... this day marks Buddha's death |
| Four Noble Truths | 1) there is suffering in the world, 2) suffering is caused by desire, 3) suffering can be removed by eliminating desire, 4) we can escape it through the eightfold path |
| Islam | the baby of the world's major religions... founded by Mohammed in 570AD |
| Moslem | one who practices Islam |
| Koran (Qur'an) | the holy book of Islam |
| Imam | d |
| Five Pillars of Islam | Shahadah (declaration of faith), Salat (prayer 5x a day), Sawn (fasting), Zakah (offerings), Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) |
| muezzin | one who chants from a minaret five times a day for prayer |
| minaret | tower where the muezzin shouts from for prayer times |
| Ramadan | a month of fasting from sunrise to sunset for Moslems to forgive them for their sins |
| Ka'aba (Mecca) | cube in the center of Mecca where, during the Hajj, Moslems circle around 7 times |
| hajj | pilgrimage to Mecca once a year that all Moslems should make at some point in their lifetime |
| Dome of the Rock | gold Dome with tuquoise in Jerusalem; it is the place that Mohammed is believed to have desceded into heaven |
| caliph | successors to Mohammed... lead to the split of Sunnis and Shiites |
| jihad | holy war... literally means "struggle" |
| purdah | terms about women being covered in Islam |
| Sunnis | majority of the islamic population |
| Shi'ah (Shiite) | minority of the islamic population; more strict |
Combine with other sets
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