India and Southeast Asia, 1500 BCE - 600 CE
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| 219976746 | monsoon | Seasonal winds in the Indian Ocean | 0 | |
| 219976747 | Vedas | Early Indian sacred "knowledge" - the literal meaning of the term - long preserved and communicated orally by Brahmin priests and eventually written down; religious texts | 1 | |
| 219976748 | varna | The four major social divisions: the Brahmin priest class, the Kshatriya warrior/administrator class, the Vaishya merchant/farmer class, and the Shudra laborer class | 2 | |
| 219976749 | jati | Regional groups of people who have a common occupational sphere and who marry, eat, and generally interact only with other members of their group; within the system of varna | 3 | |
| 219976750 | karma | In Indian tradition, the residue of deeds performed in the past and present lives that adheres to a 'spirit' and determines what form it will assume in its next life cycle | 4 | |
| 219976751 | moksha | The Hindu concept of the spirit's 'liberation' from the endless cycle of rebirths | 5 | |
| 219976752 | Buddha | An Indian prince who renouced his wealth and social position. After becoming "enlightened" (literal meaning of the term), he enunciated the principles of Buddhism. | 6 | |
| 219976753 | Mahayana Buddhism | "Great Vehicle" branch of Buddhism followed in China, Japan, and Central Asia. THe focus is on reverence for Buddha and bodhisattvas, enlightened persons who postponed nirvana to help others attain enlightenment | 7 | |
| 219976754 | Theravada Buddhism | "Way of the Elders" branch of Buddhism. Remains close to the traditional principles of Buddha; Downplays the importance of gods and emphasized austerity and the individual's search for enlightenment | 8 | |
| 219976755 | Hinduism | A general term for a wide variety of beliefs and rituals that developed in the Indian subcontinent. Evolved from ancient Vedic, Buddhist, and south Indian religious concepts and practices | 9 | |
| 219976756 | Mauryan Empire | The first state to unify most of the Indian subcontinent. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 324 BCE and survived until 184 BCE. Grew wealthy from taxes on agriculture, iron mining, and the control of trade routes | 10 | |
| 219976757 | Ashoka | Third ruler of the Mauryan Empire in India. He converted to Buddhism and broadcast his precepts on inscribed stones and pillars, the earliest suviving Indian writing | 11 | |
| 219976758 | Mahabharata | A vast epic chronicled the events leading up to a catalysmic battle betwenn related kinship groups in early India. Includes the Bhagavad-Gita, the most important work of Indian sacred literature | 12 | |
| 219976759 | Bhagavad-Gita | The most important work of Indian sacred litrature, a dialogue between the great warrior Arijana and the god Krishna on duty and the fate of the spirit | 13 | |
| 219976760 | Tamil kingdoms | The kingdoms of southern India, inhabited primarily by speakers of Dravidian languages, which developed in partial isolation, and somewhat differently, from the Aryan north | 14 | |
| 219976761 | Gupta Empire | A powerful Indian state based, like its Mauryan predecessor, on a capital at Pataliputra in the Ganges Valley. Controlled most of the Indian subcontinent through a combination of miliatry force of its prestige as a centre of sophisticated culture | 15 | |
| 219976762 | theatre-state | Historians' term for a state that aquires prestige and power by developing attractive cultural forms and staging elaborate public ceremonies to attract and bind subjects to the centre | 16 | |
| 219976763 | Malay peoples | Became the dominant population in Southern Asia. | 17 | |
| 219976764 | Funan | An early complex society in Soughteast Asia between the first and sixth centuries CE. Centered in the rich, rice-growing region of southern Vietnam, and controlled the passage of trade across the Malaysian isthmus | 18 |
