Terms : Hide Images
| 7350462552 | Atman | This refers to the real self beyond ego or false self. It is often referred to as 'spirit' or 'soul' and indicates our true self or essence which underlies our existence. |  | 0 |
| 7350463523 | Aryans | Indo-European migrants who settled in India after 1500 b.c.e.; their union with indigenous Dravidians formed the basis of Hinduism. |  | 1 |
| 7350469513 | Brahman | The belief in which a person participates in a larger cosmic order and forms a small part of a universal soul. The highest goal of the individual soul is to escape the reincarnation cycle and enter permanent union with this. | 2 | |
| 7350465816 | Brahmins | Hindu caste of priests | 3 | |
| 7350469172 | Caste | Refers to the [Indian] social class of hereditary and usually unchangeable statuses. This specific system consists of five primary parts: Brahmins: priests and priestesses Kshatriyas: warriors and aristocrats Vaishyas: cultivators, artisans, and merchants Shudras: landless peasants and surfs Untouchables: People who performed dirty, unpleasant tasks and whose touch was believed to defile wealthier and higher-ranked individuals |  | 4 |
| 7350523938 | Dasas | Ancient Aryan-Indian term for enemies or subject peoples, relating back to the hostile relations between both the Dravidians and the Aryan societies. | 5 | |
| 7350531454 | Dravidians | A family of languages spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, or the peoples who speak them. Some scholars believe these people were the original inhabitants of India prior to Aryan settlement, though this is controversial. These specific peoples and the Indo-Eurpoeans were known to have hostile relations, although, at times, they were of influences to one another. | 6 | |
| 7350534017 | Harappan society | Developed in the Indus River Valley, this specific civilization generated considerable wealth through engagement of domestic and foreign trade with the Mesopotamians and other neighboring regions. Each individual city within this region served as a political and economical center on its own, similar to the Sumerians, and rulers wielded great authority from cities such as Mohenjo-daro. Decline of this society came as a result of ecological degradation and natural catastrophes. | 7 | |
| 7350549846 | Indra | Early Indian god associated with the Aryans; Indra was the king of the gods and was associated with warfare and thunderbolts. | 8 | |
| 7350585652 | Indus River | This specific water source draws water from the Hindu Kush and Himalayan Mountains and made agricultural society possible I'm India, although it came with occasional flooding disasters. | 9 | |
| 7350587253 | Jati | This term refers to an Indian word for a Hindu subcaste. These subcastes were occupation-based, and were so influential/important throughout ancient India that elaborate rules dictated address and behavior among different castes and subcastes. Violation of the rules resulted in expulsion and shunning from the community. | 10 | |
| 7350593220 | Karma | ____________ was/is a Hindu concept that states that the sum of good and bad in a person's life will determine his or her status in the next life. It held that individuals who lived virtuous lives and fulfilled all their duties could rebirth into a purer and more honorable existence. | 11 | |
| 7350594748 | Kshatriyas | Hindu caste of warriors and aristocrats. | 12 | |
| 7350598897 | Lawbook of Manu | Book of verses in the Hindu canon that spells out the norms of religious, domestic, and social life in ancient India. | 13 | |
| 7350600624 | Mohenjo-Daro | Set of ancient cities in modern southeast Pakistan, near the Indus river, that flourished in the third millennium b.c.e. | 14 | |
| 7350605892 | Moksha | Hindu concept of the salvation of the soul. | 15 | |
| 7350606475 | Nirvana | Buddhist and early-Indian concept of a state of spiritual perfection and enlightenment in which distracting passions are eliminated. | 16 | |
| 7350632350 | Pariah | An outcast. | 17 | |
| 7350633304 | Raja | An Indian king or prince. |  | 18 |
| 7350636882 | Samsara | Hindu term for the concept of transmigration, that is, the soul passing into a new incarnation. | 19 | |
| 7350637960 | Sandskrit | The primary liturgical language of Hindiuism |  | 20 |
| 7350638906 | Sati | Also known as suttee, this revolves around Indian practice of a widow throwing herself on the funeral pyre of her husband. | 21 | |
| 7350656640 | Shudras | Hindu caste of landless peasants and serfs. | 22 | |
| 7350657107 | Untouchables | Treated as outcasts and essentially shunned from society, these people performed dirty/unpleasant tasks and were said to "defile" the wealthier and higher individuals with their touch. | 23 | |
| 7350658758 | Upanishads | Indian reflections and dialogues (800-400 b.c.e.) that reflected basic Hindu concepts. These writings were cynical ideologies designed to justify the social inequalities of the caste system, and reinforced social order, as signs were offered to further explain the nature of an ultimate reality. | 24 | |
| 7350665321 | Vaishyas | Hindu caste of cultivators, artisans, and merchants. | 25 | |
| 7350665969 | Varna | Hindu word for caste. | 26 | |
| 7350667379 | Vedas | "Wisdom," early collections of prayers and hymns that provide information about the Indo-European Aryans who migrated into India around 1500 b.c.e.; Rig Veda is the most important collection. | 27 |
