India: Notable Concepts (Political, Economic, Social, Militaristic, etc.; Systems, Processes, Technologies, Tools, Objects, Animals, etc.) and Notable Groups (inc. Tribes, Civilizations, Peoples, Alliances, Leagues, Types of People, Types of Places, Types of Professions, Military Groups, etc.)

Indo-Aryans (All Facts)

• Tribe that arrived in Punjab, they emerged around the same time the Indus River Valley Civilization collapsed, around 1500 BCE

  • Having first appeared in modern-day India and Pakistan, they spread through northern India having eventually reached the Ganges River Valley where, after clearing dense forests, laid the basis of an urban civilization around 800 BCE

  • As the populations near the Ganges plains expanded rapidly, they create numerous small kingdoms

    • Each of these states centered on a capital city, surrounded by ramparts and moats

    • In these states, there was a tendency towards specialized employments, with workers becoming artisans, merchants, or artists

    • In these states, the royal power’s influence was limited early on by the Brahmans, palace officers, and courtiers

• Characterized by their use of the tough little Steppe horse

  • As a result of its use, their small peasant farmers gave up tilling the soil for the wide open spaces of the Steppe and became nomads, taking their flocks and herds with them hundreds of miles

  • Used it for riding and pulling chariots, in which they showed their military superiority by using war chariots

  • Revered it, evident due to the fact that they were buried along with their wealthy owners

  • Had changed their way of life entirely while in the grassland and semi-desert from the Black Sea to India to Syria

  • Had allowed them to introduce a new culture into the namesake region

  • Had thus made them become pastoral nomads as well as animal breeders

• Its tribes traded with the cities and towns on the fringe of the steppe

• Learned many skills and were able to cast their own bronze tools and weapons by 1400 BCE

• Integrated with the local agricultural population and established permanent farming settlements by 800 BCE

• After having settled in India, they summarized their religious beliefs via the composition of the “Rig-Veda”

  • Worshipped the ancient gods of Mitra, Varuna, and Indra

Caste System (All Facts)

• System and structure of hierarchical (social) class in India, originating around the 500’s BCE that was organized based on a complex mixture of religious, social, and ethnic factors

• System in which marriage and vocation was already decided for someone at birth and in which one could not change out of their inheritance because it was hereditary

• Over time, the rise of cities brought different groups to specialize in certain professions, thus creating new castes and sub-castes

Caste (All Facts)

• Social unit or category that was determined at birth that was part of the namesake system

• For someone belonging to a particular one of these, marriage was forbidden outside the one they belonged to

• Certain professions were restricted to one of these

• Was supposed to be impossible to change from one of these to another because they were inherited at birth

• Traditionally, there were four of them: the Brahmans, the Kshatriya, the Vaisyas, and the Sudra

Brahmans (All Facts)

• Highest class in the Indian Caste System, they were the priestly class

• Were thought to wield divine power

• Had the duties of

  • studying and teaching the Rig-Veda

  • offering sacrifices via the Sacrificial Offering

Kshatriya (All Facts)

• Second highest class in the Indian Caste System (below the Brahmans), they were the military class

• Their chief task was to bear arms

• Had the right to offer sacrifices and study the Rig-Veda (like the Brahmans)

Vaisyas (All Facts)

• Third highest class in the Indian Caste System (below the Kshatriya), they were the working class

• Had the right to offer sacrifices and study the Rig-Veda (like the Brahmans)

• Their chief task was to generate the wealth and means of support for the superior castes through commerce and agriculture

Dvija (All Facts)

• Term used to refer to the “twice-born” status of the highest three castes of the Indian Caste System in which members of these castes were eligible for a ritual “second birth” at their initiation ceremony

Sudra (All Facts)

• Lowest class in the Indian Caste System, they were the slave / “untouchable” class

• Had the status of being “once-born”

• Were the most numerous among the four castes

• Their sole function was to serve the three superior castes without taining them

Elephants (All Facts)

• Used in Indian warfare by 600 BCE