India II

The Vedas

Early religious texts that are the foundation of Hinduism

Brahman

The universal spirit of the Hindu faith; the goal of a Hindu person is to become one with Brahman

Reincarnation

Upon death, being reborn as another living being

Samsara

The cycle of repeated reincarnation; the goal of a Hindu person is to live a good enough life to end the cycle and become one with Brahman

Moksha

Release from the cycle of repeated reincarnation.

When one achieves this, they become one with the Brahman

Dharma

One’s role and responsibility in society;

Fulfilling one’s ___ will result in reincarnation at a level closer to Brahman

Karma

The consequences of how a person lives; doing good things will result in good things happening to you.

What goes around comes around

Siddhartha Gautama

Birth name of the founder of the Buddhist faith;

At age 29 began a quest for truth and enlightenment

Buddha

Name literally means “teacher”

Four Noble Truths

The basic principles of Buddha’s teachings;

The achieve enlightenment, stop desiring fame, money, and material things

EightFold Path

Further Buddhist instruction on how to eliminate suffering.

Theravada & Mahayana

Two groups that Buddhism split into as it expanded into South East Asia

Nirvana

State of wisdom; goal of Buddhist people.

Similar to Hindu idea of Brahman

Chandragupta Maurya

Founder of India’s First Empire

Started a few years after Alexander the Great’s army went back to Macedonia.

Conquered/unified/organized several existing city states/small kingdoms.

Large army, used battle elephants

Divided empire into provinces that sent taxes to Pataliputra

Ashoka

Grandson of Chandragupta Maurya

Became peaceful ruler, expanded Buddhism

Provided hospitals and medicine 

Built roads

Allowed Hindus to worship freely, even though he was Buddhist

Kalinga

Famous battle won by Ashoka’s army

Over 100,000 killed

Ashoka was so pained by the death and destruction, he stopped participating in all forms of violence

Pataliputra

Capital city of the Mauryan and Gupta Empires

Stupas

dome-shaped Buddhist shrine.

Chandragupta I

First ruler of Gupta Empire.

___ is a very common name

Aryabhata

Famous mathematician

Able to approximate the value of pi (3.14…)

Developed early explanations for gravity

calculated the length of the solar year with amazing accuracy

Helped develop the decimal system

Chaturanga

Early version of chess

Kalidasa

Greatest writer of Sanskrit language