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| 2168457501 | Alexander the Great | Successor of Philip II; successfully conquered Persian Empire prior to his death in 323 B.C.E.; attempted to combine Greek and Persian cultures. | 0 | |
| 2168457694 | Aryans | Indo-European nomadic pastoralists who replaced Harappan civilization; militarized society. | 1 | |
| 2168458784 | Maurya dynasty | Dynasty established in Indian subcontinent in the 4th century B.C.E. following invasion by Alexander the Great. | 2 | |
| 2168459275 | Ashoka | Grandson of Chandragupta Maurya; completed conquests of Indian subcontinent; converted to Buddhism and sponsored spread of new religion throughout his empire. | 3 | |
| 2168459557 | Gupta | Dynasty that succeeded the Kushans in the 3rd century C.E.; built empire that extended to all but the southern regions of the Indian sub-continent; less centralized than Mauryan Empire. | 4 | |
| 2168460217 | Caste system | Began to take shape during the Vedic and Epic ages. Perhaps initially as a means of establishing relationships between Aryan invaders and the indigenous people, whom the Aryan regarded as inferior. | 5 | |
| 2168460598 | Untouchables | Low social caste in Hindu culture; performed tasks that were considered polluting, street sweeping, removal of human waste, and tanning. | 6 | |
| 2168461443 | Hinduism | Religion of India's majority. Developed gradually over a period of many centuries. No single founder, no central holy figure from whom the basic religious beliefs stemmed. Promoted several different religious approaches. Characteristically tolerant, coexisting with several offshoot religions that garnered minority acceptance in India. | 7 | |
| 2168461869 | Sanskrit | The sacred and classical Indian language. | 8 | |
| 2168462320 | Upanishads | Later books of the Vedas; contained sophisticated and sublime philosophical ideas; utilized by Brahmans to restore religious authority. | 9 | |
| 2168463836 | Dharma | The caste position and career determined by a person's birth; Hindu culture required that one accept one's social position and perform occupation to the best of one's ability tin order to have a better situation in the next life. | 10 | |
| 2168464205 | Vishnu | The Brahman, later Hindu, god of sacrifice; widely worshipped. | 11 | |
| 2168464680 | Shiva | Hindu, god of destruction and reproduction; worshipped as the personification of cosmic forces of change. | 12 | |
| 2168465028 | Buddhism | Founded by Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha). Buddhism stressed that enlightenment could only be achieved by abandoning desires for all earthly things. Rejected the Hindu caste system, rituals, and also priests. | 13 | |
| 2168467240 | Panchatantra | One of India's most influential contributions to world literature, the Panchatantra (also spelled Pañcatantra or Pañca-tantra) consists of five books of animal fables and magic tales (some 87 stories in all), The tales' self-proclaimed purpose is to educate the sons of royalty. | 14 | |
| 2168467597 | Buddha | Creator of a major Indian and Asian religion; born in the 6th century B.C.E. 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. | 15 | |
| 2168468492 | Himalayas | Mountain region marking the northern boundary of the Indian subcontinent; site of the Aryan settlements that formed small kingdoms or warrior republics. | 16 | |
| 2168468860 | Vedas | Aryan hymns originally transmitted orally but written down in sacred books from the 6th century B.C.E. | 17 | |
| 2168471601 | Mahabharata | Indian epic of war, princely honor, love, and social duty; written down in the last centuries B.C.E.; previously handed down in oral form. | 18 | |
| 2168471602 | Ramayana | One of the great epic tales from classical India; traces adventures of King Rama and his wife, Sita; written 4th to 2nd centuries B.C.E. | 19 | |
| 2168472136 | Varnas | Clusters of caste groups in Aryan society; four social castes. Brahmans (priests), warriors, merchants, and peasants; beneath four Aryan castes was group of socially untouchable Dasas. | 20 | |
| 2168472336 | Jati | Sub-caste groups each with distinctive occupations and each tied to its social station by birth. | 21 | |
| 2168472620 | Indra | Chief deity of Aryans; depicted as colossal, hard-drinking warrior. | 22 | |
| 2168473035 | Chandragupta Maurya | Founder of the Maurya dynasty; established first empire in Indian subcontinent; first centralized government since Harappan civilization. | 23 | |
| 2168473569 | Kushans | People living in the state of Kush that developed along the upper reaches of the Nile c. 1000 B.C.E.; conquered Egypt and ruled it for several centuries. | 24 | |
| 2168473758 | Kautilya | Political advisor to Chandragupta Maurya; one of the authors of Arthashastra; believed in scientific application of warfare. | 25 | |
| 2168473955 | Gurus | Originally referred to as Brahmans who served as teachers for the princes of the imperial court of the Guptas. | 26 | |
| 2168474320 | Brahma | Basic holy essence | 27 | |
| 2168474493 | Reincarnation | The successive attachment of the soul to some animate form according to merits earned in previous lives. | 28 | |
| 2168474669 | Yoga | School of Hindu philosophy advocating and prescribing a course of physical and mental disciplines for attaining liberation from the material world and union of the self with the Supreme Being or ultimate principle. | 29 | |
| 2168474888 | Bhagavad Gita | Sacred classic hymn. A warrior sent to do battle against his own relatives. | 30 | |
| 2168475032 | Nirvana | The Buddhist state of enlightenment, a state of tranquility. | 31 | |
| 2168475264 | 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 lovemaking. | 32 | |
| 2168475482 | Stupas | Stone shrines built to house pieces of bone or hair and personal possessions said to be relics of the Buddha; preserved Buddhist architectural forms. | 33 | |
| 2168476569 | Cyrus the Great | Established massive Persian Empire by 550 B.C.E.; successor state to Mesopotamian empires. | 34 | |
| 2168476869 | Zoroastrianism | Animist religion that saw material existence as battle between forces of good and evil; stressed the importance of moral choice; righteous lived on after death in "House of Song"; chief religion of Persian Empire. | 35 | |
| 2168478265 | Olympic Games | One of the Pan-Hellenic rituals observed by all Greek city states; involved athletic competitions and ritual celebrations. | 36 | |
| 2168481035 | Pericles | Athenian political leader during the 5th century B.C.E.; guided development of Athenian Empire; died during early stages of Peloponnesian War. | 37 |
