Early India and China: Ancient Indian Civilizations, Religions, and Empires

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the geography, Indus Valley civilization, Aryan migration, caste system, major religions (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism), foreign invasions, and the Mauryan and Gupta empires.

Indus Valley civilization

The earliest notable civilization in India, flourishing approximately from 2600 to 1900 BC along the Indus River and its tributaries, characterized by planned cities and extensive trade.

Sir John Marshall

A British archaeologist who served as director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1902 to 1928 and oversaw the first major excavations of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro.

Mohenjo-daro

A major planned city of the Indus Valley civilization situated close to the Indus River, featuring straight streets, brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, and a large public bath.

Stepwell

A deep subterranean water-management structure with stabilizing stone walls and flights of stairs descending to an aquifer pool, often featuring shaded pavilions for resting.

Harappan script

The undeciphered pictographic writing system of the Indus Valley civilization found inscribed on trade seals and pottery throughout the region.

Aryans

Nomadic pastoral herdsmen from central Asia who migrated into northern India after 1500 BC, introducing iron tools, Sanskrit, and Vedic traditions.

Vedas

A sacred collection of four volumes of Sanskrit religious writings meaning 'knowledge' that serves as the primary historical source for the Aryan period (ca. 1500 to 500 BC).

Rig Veda

The first, oldest, and most significant of the four Vedas, composed of a collection of sacred hymns that provide insight into early Aryan culture.

Joint family

A foundational Indian social institution consisting of extended relatives headed by the oldest male authority, where family obligations took priority over individual desires.

Caste system

A rigid social hierarchy that developed in ancient India, strictly dictating members' occupations, living quarters, dress, diet, and marriage partners.

Brahmin

The highest and most influential social class in the Indian caste system, composed of priests.

Kshatriyas

The second-ranking warrior and ruler class within the Indian caste system.

Vaishyas

The third class in the Indian caste system, consisting of merchants, traders, and farmers.

Sudras

The lowest of the four formal caste classes, composed of manual servants and serfs.

Untouchables

Outcastes who ranked below the caste system and were avoided by caste members while performing society's most menial tasks.

Upanishads

A collection of ancient Indian philosophical essays that elaborate upon and interpret the core teachings of the Vedas.

Brahman

In Hinduism, the eternal, unchanging, and impersonal world soul that permeates the universe and with which individual souls seek reunion.

Karma

The principle of cause and effect in Hinduism and Jainism asserting that the moral quality of one's actions determines status and form in the next reincarnation.

Vardhamana Mahavira

The religious leader (ca. 540–468 BC) who systematized Jainism through monastic self-denial and is revered as the twenty-fourth jina.

Ahimsa

The central Jain ethical doctrine of absolute nonviolence, based on the belief that all living creatures possess a sacred soul.

Muhapatti

A cloth mask worn over the mouth by Jain priests to guard against inhaling living organisms and to encourage wise speech.

Siddhartha Gautama

The Indian prince (ca. 563–ca. 483 BC) who abandoned a life of luxury, attained enlightenment through meditation, and founded Buddhism as the Buddha ('Enlightened One').

Four Noble Truths

The foundational teachings of Buddha asserting that suffering exists, is caused by selfish desires, can be overcome by eliminating cravings, and is ended by following the Eightfold Path.

Nirvana

The Buddhist ultimate goal of entering a changeless reality devoid of suffering, selfhood, and rebirth.

Darius

The Persian emperor who invaded the Indus Valley around 513 BC, bringing standardized weights, coined money, and Aramaic script into Indian administration.

Battle of Hydaspes

The 326 BC conflict in northwestern India where Alexander the Great faced the Indian ruler Porus and his war elephants before Alexander's army refused to advance farther.

Chandragupta Maurya

The founder of the Mauryan Empire who united northern India around 325–322 BC by defeating the Nanda dynasty and seizing territory vacated after Alexander's death.

Kautilya

The mentor and counselor to Chandragupta Maurya who helped establish the extensive bureaucracy, provinces, and road networks of the Mauryan Empire.

Asoka

The grandson of Chandragupta Maurya and renowned emperor who renounced military conquest after bloody battles, embraced Buddhism, and spread the faith via stone edicts and missionaries.

Stupa

A dome-shaped Buddhist monument or shrine housing sacred relics, thousands of which were commissioned across India by Emperor Asoka.

Gupta Empire

The dynasty that reunited northern India during the fourth century AD, ushering in a golden age of commerce, literature, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine.

Kalidasa

A brilliant poet and dramatist of the Gupta era celebrated as 'the Indian Shakespeare' for his imaginative plays and poetry.

Alchon Huns

A Central Asian group whose repeated sixth-century invasions collapsed the Gupta Empire, recognized in historical artifacts by their artificially elongated heads.

Theravada Buddhism

The branch of Buddhism adhering strictly to the original teachings of Gautama, emphasizing rigorous monastic discipline and personal effort to achieve nirvana.

Mahayana Buddhism

The adaptable branch of Buddhism emphasizing universal compassion and bodhisattvas who postpone their own enlightenment to assist others.

Pantaenus

A late-second-century Christian missionary whose journey to India was recorded by the church historian Eusebius, where he discovered believers using the Gospel of Matthew.