All the terms from Chapter 3 (Period 2)
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| 779058936 | Buddha | creator of major Indian and Asian religion; born in 6th century BCE as son of local ruler among Aryan tribes located near Himalayas; became an ascetic; found enlightenment under bo tree; taught that enlightenment could be achieved only by abandoning desires for all earthly things | |
| 779058937 | Alexander the Great | Successor of Philip II; successfully conquered Persian Empire prior to his death in 323 BCE; attempted to combine Greek and Persian cultures | |
| 779058938 | Himalayas | Mountain region marking the northern border of the Indian subcontinent; site of the Aryan settlements that formed small kingdoms or warrior republics | |
| 779058939 | monsoons | Seasonal winds crossing Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia; during summer bring rains | |
| 779058940 | Aryans | Indo-European nomadic pastoralists who replaced Harappan civilization; militarized society | |
| 779058941 | Sanskrit | The sacred and classical Indian language | |
| 779058942 | Vedas | Aryan hymns originally transmitted orally but written down in sacred books from the 6th century | |
| 779058943 | Mahabharata | Indian epic of war, princely honor, love, and social duty; written down in the last centuries BCE; previously handed down in oral form | |
| 779058944 | Ramayana | One of the great epic tales from classical India; traces adventures of King Rama and his wife, Sita; written 4th to 2nd centuries BCE | |
| 779058945 | Upanishads | later books of the Vedas; contained sophisticated and sublime philosophical ideas; utilized by Brahmans to restore religious authority | |
| 779058946 | varnas | clusters of caste groups in Aryan society; four social castes - Brahmans (priests), warriors, merchants, and peasants; beneath the 4 Aryan castes was a group of socially untouchable dasas | |
| 779058947 | untouchables | Lowest caste in Indian society; performed tasks that were considered polluting (street sweeping, removal of human waste, tanning) | |
| 779058948 | Indra | Chief deity of the Aryans; depicted as a colossal, hard- drinking warrior | |
| 779058949 | Chandragupta Maurya | (r. 322-298 BCE) founder of Maurya dynasty; established first empire in Indian subcontinent; first centralized government since Harappan civilization | |
| 779058950 | Mauryan | Dynasty established in Indian subcontinent in 4th century B.C.E. following invasion by Alexander the Great. | |
| 779058951 | Ashoka | grandson of Chandragupta Maurya; completed conquests of Indian subcontinent; converted to Buddhism and sponsored spread of new religion throughout his empire | |
| 779058952 | Kushans | people of the African state that developed along the upper reaches of the Nile c. 1000 BCE; conquered Egypt and ruled it for several centuries | |
| 779058953 | Guptas | dynasty the succeeded the Kushans in the 3rd century CE; built empire that extended to all but the southern regions of Indian subcontinent; less centralized than Mauryan Empire | |
| 779058954 | Kautilya | (350-275 BCE) Political advisor to Chandragupta Maurya; one of the authors of Arthashastra; believed in scientific application of warfare. | |
| 779058955 | Gurus | Originally referred to as Brahmans who served as teachers for the princes of the imperial court of the Guptas | |
| 779058956 | Vishnu | The Brahman, later Hindu, god of sacrifice; widely worshipped | |
| 779058957 | Shiva | Hindu god of destruction and reproduction Worshipped as personification of cosmic forces of change | |
| 779058958 | reincarnation | the successive attachment of the soul to some animate form according to merits earned in previous lives | |
| 779058959 | nirvana | the Buddhist state of enlightenment; a state of tranquility. | |
| 779058960 | Kamasutra | Written by Vatsayana during Gupta era; offered instructions on all aspects of life for higher caste males, including grooming, hygiene, etiquette, selection of wives, and instruction on love making | |
| 779058961 | stupas | Stone shrines built to house pieces of bone and personal possessions said to be relics of the Buddha; preserved Buddhist architectural forms. | |
| 779058962 | scholar-gentry | Chinese class created by the marital linkage of the local land-holding aristocracy with the office-holding shi; superseded shi as governors of China. |
