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| 6142646502 | Ashoka | (r. 268-232 B.C.E.) The third king of the Mauryan dynasty (ca. 320-185 B.C.E.), the first Indian ruler to support Buddhism. | 0 | |
| 6142646503 | dharma | A Sanskrit term meaning correct conduct according to law or custom; Buddhists, including Ashoka, used this concept to refer to the teachings of the Buddha. | 1 | |
| 6142646504 | monsoon | A term referring both to seasonal winds in South Asia blowing northeast in spring and early summer and southwest in fall and winter, and to the heavy seasonal rains they bring. | 2 | |
| 6142649857 | Indus River Valley | Site of the earliest complex society on the indian subcontinent (2600-1700 B.C.E.), characterized by brick cities, drainage systems, open plazas, and broad avenues. | 3 | |
| 6142649858 | Sanskrit | A language, such as Latin, Greek, and English, belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken by Indo-Aryan migrants to north india around 1500-1000 B.C.E. | 4 | |
| 6142654732 | Rig Veda | A collection of 1,028 Sanskrit hymns, composed around 1500-1000 B.C.E. but written down 1000 C.E. One of the most revealing sources about Indo-Europeans who settled in north India. | 5 | |
| 6142654733 | Vedic religion | Religious belief system of Indo-European migrants to north India: involved animal sacrifice and elaborate ceremonies to ensure that all transitions in the natural world - day to night, or one season to the next - proceeded smoothly. | 6 | |
| 6142657300 | nomads | A term for people who migrate seasonally from place to place to find grass for their animals. They do not usually farm but tend their herds full-time. | 7 | |
| 6142657301 | varna | From the Sanskrit word for "color": the four major social groups of ancient Indian society, ranked in order of purity (not wealthy or power): Brahmin priests at the top, then warriors, then farmers and merchants, and finally dependent laborers. | 8 | |
| 6142657302 | jati | A term, sometimes translated as "subcaste," for groups of five thousand to fifteen thousand people in modern India. Many, but not all, Indians marry someone from the same jati and share meals on equal footing only with people of the same jati. | 9 | |
| 6142657303 | karma | The sum of one's deeds in this and all earlier existences that determines one's rebirth in the next life. | 10 | |
| 6142659712 | Jainism | An Indian religion founded around the same time as Buddhism that emphasizes right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct: a key tenet is not to harm any living beings. | 11 | |
| 6142659713 | Buddha | The founder of the Buddhist religion, Siddhartha Gautama (ca. 630-550 B.C.E.); also called the Buddha, or the enlightened one. | 12 | |
| 6142659714 | nirvana | A Sanskrit word that literally means "extinction," as when the flame on a candle goes out. In Buddhism the term took broader meanings: those who followed the Eightfold Path and understood the Four Noble Truths would gain true understanding. | 13 | |
| 6142662154 | Mauryan dynasty | (ca. 320-185 B.C.E.) A dynasty that unified much of the Indian subcontinent. Relying on trunk roads, it exercised more control in the cities than in the countryside. | 14 | |
| 6142666095 | chakravartin | Literally "turner of the wheel," a Buddhist term for the ideal ruler who patronized Buddhism but never became a monk. | 15 | |
| 6142667698 | ceremonial state | State whose ruler sponsored religious observances and construction of religious edifices in the hope that his subjects would willingly acknowledge him as ruler. Usually contrasted with rulers who depended on sheer force to govern. | 16 | |
| 6142667699 | lay Buddhist | A Buddhist devotee who observes the five precepts not to kill, steal, commit adultery, lie, or drink alcohol, but continues to live at home and does not join the Buddhist order. | 17 | |
| 6142668703 | dhows | Small sailboats used in the Indian Ocean made from teak planks laid edge to edge, fastened together with coconut fiber twine, and caulked to prevent leaking. | 18 |
