Ch. 6: India and Southeast Asia, 1500 B.C.E.

Ch. 6: India and Southeast Asia, 1500 B.C.E. - 600 C.E. Flashcards

19642741	monsoon	Seasonal winds in the Indian Ocean caused by the differences in temperature between the rapidly heating and cooling landmasses of Africa and Asia and the slowly changing ocean waters.	0
19642742	Vedas	Early Indian sacred knowledge long preserved and communicated orally by Brahmin priests and eventually written down. Our main source of information about the Vedic period along with Rig Veda.	1
19642743	varna	Four major social divisions.	2
19642744	jati	Within the system of varna. Regional groups of people who have a common occupational sphere, and who marry, eat, and generally interact with other members of their group.	3
19642745	karma	Residue of deeds performed in past and present lives that adheres to a "spirit" and determines what form it will assume in its next life cycle.	4
19651011	moksha	Hindu concept of the spirit's "liberation" from the endless cycle of rebirths.	5
19651012	Buddha	Indian prince named Siddhartha Gautama, who renounced his wealth and social position. After becoming "enlightened" he enunciatedthe principles of Buddhism.	6
19651013	Mahayana Buddhism	Branch of Buddhism followed in China, Japan, and Central Asia. Focuses on reverence for Buddha.	7
19651014	Theravada Buddhism	Branch of Buddhism followed in Sri Lanka and much of Southeast Asia. It downplays the importance of gods and emphasizes austerity and the individual's search for enlightenment.	8
19651015	Hinduism	Term for a wide variety of beliefs and ritual practices that have developed in the Indian subcontinent since antiquity.	9
19651016	Mauryan Empire	First state to unify most of the Indian subcontinent. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya.	10
19651017	Ashoka	Third ruler of the Mauryan Empire in India. He converted to Buddhism and broadcast his precepts on inscribed stones and pillars, the earliest surviving Indian writing.	11
19651018	Mahabharata	Vast epic chronicling the events leading up to a cataclysmic battle between related kinship groups in early India.	12
19651019	Bhagavad-Gita	Most important work of Indian sacred literature, a dialogue between the great warrior Arjuna and the god Krishna on duty and the fate of the spirit.	13
19651020	Tamil kingdoms	Kingdoms of southern India, inhabited primarily by speakers of Dravidian languages, which developed in partial isolation, and somewhat differently, from the Aryan north.	14
19651021	Gupta Empire	Powerful Indian state based on a capital at Pataliputra in the Ganges Valley. Controlled most of the Indian subcontinent through a combination of military force and its prestige as a center of sophisticated culture.	15
19651022	theater-state	Term for a state that acquires prestige and power by developing attractive cultural forms and staging elaborate public ceremonies to attract and bind subjects to the center.	16
19651023	Malay peoples	Became the dominant population in Southern Asia.	17
19651024	Funan	Early complex society in Southeast Asia between the first and sixth centuries C.E.	18