Ancient Indian History: Indus Valley, Vedic Age, and Empires

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the Indus Valley Civilization, India's Vedic Age, and the Maurya and Gupta Empires.

Subcontinent

A large landmass that is set apart from the rest of the continent.

River system

A main river and all of the other rivers and streams that drain into it.

Monsoon

Seasonal winds that help shape life in a region.

Granary

A special building used to hold grain.

Citadel

A fortified area within a city that may have served as a center of government, religion, or both.

Teak

A valuable wood from a tree that grows in India.

Aryans

A group of former nomadic herders who migrated into the Indus River Valley around 1500 B.C.E. and composed the Vedas.

Veda

A sacred scripture containing hundreds of hymns that teach about Aryan religion and customs.

Caste

A fixed social class into which a person is born.

Province

A region with its own government.

Bureaucracy

A system of offices that carries out government rules and regulations.

Dharma

Moral law promoted by Ashoka based on principles of ahimsa, tolerance, and well-being.

Citizenship

Status with political rights and obligations.

Fables

Short stories with lessons or morals at the end.

Numeral

A symbol used to represent a number.

Decimal system

A counting system based on units of ten.

Metallurgy

The science that deals with extracting metal from ore and using it to create useful objects.

Aryabhata

A Gupta astronomer who stated that the Earth rotates on its axis and discovered that the moon reflects light from the sun.