Chapter 3 Flashcards

114603997	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	0
114603998	Aryans	Indo European nomadic pastoralists who replaced Harappan civilization; militarized society	1
114603999	Mauryan Dynasty	dynasty established in Indian subcontinent in 4th century BCE following invasion by Alexander the Great	2
114604000	Ashoka	Grandson of Chandragupta Maurya; completed conquests of Indian subcontinent; converted to Buddhism and sponsored spread of new religion throughout his empire	3
114604001	caste system	rigid system of social classification first introduced into Indian subcontinent by Aryans	4
114604002	Hinduism	a religion of India that emphasizes freedom from the material world through purification of desires and elimination of personal identity; Hindu beliefs include reincarnation	5
114604003	Buddhism	a religion, founded by the Buddha, that emphasizes physical and spiritual discipline as a means of liberation from the physical world; the goal for the Buddhist is to attain nirvana, a state of complete peace in which one if free from the distraction of desire and self-consciousness; Buddhists are found in the greatest numbers in eastern Asia	6
114604004	untouchables	low social caste in Hindu culture; performed tasks that were considered polluting- street sweeping, removal of human waste, and tanning	7
114604005	Ramayana	one of the great epic tales from classical India; traces adventures of King Rama and his wife, Sita; written 4th to 2nd centuries	8
114604006	gurus	originally referred to as Brahmans who served as teachers for the princes of the imperial court of the Guptas	9
114604007	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 in order to have a better situation in the next life	10
114604008	Upanishads	later books of the Vedas; contained sophisticated and sublime philosophical ideas; utilized by Brahmans to restore religious authority	11
114604009	karma	the sum of merits accumulated by a soul at any given point in time; determined the caste to which the soul would be assigned in the next life	12
114604010	Mahabharata	Indian epic of war, princely honor, love, and social duty; written down in the last centuries BCE; previously handed down in oral form	13
114604011	reincarnation	the successive attachment of the soul to some animate form according to merits earned in previous lives	14
114604012	nirvana	the Buddhist state of enlightenment, a state of tranquility	15
114604013	Guptas	Dynasty that 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	16
114604014	Sanskrit	the sacred and classical Indian language	17
114604015	Buddha	creator of a 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	18
114604016	Chandragupta Maurya	(332-298 BCE) founder of Maurya dynasty; established first empire in Indian subcontinent; first centralized government since Harappan civilization	19
114604017	Himalayas	mountain region marking the northern border of the Indian subcontinent; site of the Aryan settlements that formed small kingdoms of warrior republics	20
114604018	monsoons	seasonal winds crossing Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia; during summer bring rains	21
114604019	Vedas	Aryan hymns originally transmitted orally but written down in sacred books from the 6th century BCE	22
114604020	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	23
114604021	Kushans	dynasty that succeeded the Mauryas in northwestern India; sponsors of Buddhism; empire did not extend to Ganges River valley	24
114604022	Bhadavad Gita	a portion of the sacred books of Hinduism; the name means "the song of God"; It contains a discussion between the deity Krishna and the Indian hero Arjuna on human nature and human purpose	25