Studied by 9 people
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
Note
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