AP World History Ch. 2

Arjuna and Krishna

warrior and chariot driver pair; driver is secretly a god; advises the warrior that "there is more joy in doing one's own duty badly than in doing another man's duty well

Ganges and Indus rivers

India's two major rivers; one is its "holy river

Harappans

civilization in India from around 2000-3000 BCE

Mohenjo-Daro

One of the Harappan's two major cities; means "city of the dead

Harappan seals

seals depicting human figures and animals that were probably used to identify good of sale

Deccan Plateau

region of hills and an upland plateau that extends from the Ganges valley to the southern tip of Indian subcontinent

Dravidians

people descended from the Indus River culture that flourished at the dawn of Indian civilization

Aryans

people descended from the pastoral people who flooded southward from Central Asia in the second millennium BCE

raja and maharaja

chieftain; "prince" and "great prince

Rigveda

ancient work written down after the Aryans arrived in India

Alexander the Great

conquered Persia; briefly invaded India; left Greek administrators and cultural influence

Chandragupta Maurya

founder of the first dynasty to control much of the region

Arthasastra

political treatise that asserts that whenever dharma and practical politics collide, the latter should take precedence

varna/caste

color;" Indian classes

jati

system of extended families that originated in ancient India and still exists today

brahmins

the priests

kshatriya

the warriors

vaisya

the commoners/merchants

sudras

represents the great bulk of the Indian population

Law of Manu

a set of behavioral norms allegedly prescribed by India's mythical founding ruler, Manu

untouchables/pariahs

consists of those outside Indian society - prisoners of war, criminals, ethnic minorities, etc.; handled unpleasant tasks

the monsoon

seasonal wind pattern in southern Asia that blows from the southwest during the summer months and the northeast in winter

asceticism

abstinence from worldly pleasures; supposed to enable the practitioner to reach beyond material reality

sati

ritual that required a woman to throw herself upon her husband's funeral pyre

Hinduism

the main religion in India, it emphasizes reincarantion based on the results of the previous life and the desirability of escaping this system. Features in various forms both asceticism and the pleasures of ordinary life, and encompass a multitude of gods

Vedas

a set of four collections of hymns and religious ceremonies transmitted by memory through Aryan priests

Upanishads

a set of commentaries on the Vedas compiled in sixth century BCE

Kamasutra

textbook on sexual practices and techniques

Dyaus and Indra

parent god eventually overshadowed by the warrior god, who also declined in importance

Vishnu and Siva

Preserver and Destroyer; tends to take precedence in the devotional exercises of many Hindus

Brahman

ultimate reality

karma

determines one's rebirth in the next life

dharma

the law

reincarnation

the idea that the individual soul is reborn in a different form after death and progresses through several existences on the wheel of life until it reaches its final destination in a union with Brahman

Buddhism

the Middle Path

Siddhartha Gautama

son from a kshatriya family who founded Buddhism

sermon at deer park at Sarnath/Benares

Siddhartha transmitted his message about the Middle Path here

Nirvana

a form of release from the wheel of life

bodhi

wisdom; comes from abandoning worldly cares

Atman

the individual soul; denied by Siddhartha

Four Noble Truths

life is suffering; suffering is caused by desire; the way to end suffering is to end desire; the way to end desire is to avoid the extremes of a life of vulgar materialism and a life of self-torture and follow the Middle Path

Middle Path/Eightfold Way

right knowledge, purpose, speech, conduct, occupation, effort, awareness, meditation

Mahavira and Jainism

faith founded by this person; emphasized a life of poverty and thus never became popular

Mauryan Empire

empire in India founded by Maurya; lasted until after Asoka's, Maurya's grandson, death

Asokan pillars

stone pillars with official edicts and Buddhist inscriptions to instruct people in the proper way

Sanskrit and Prakrit

language of the Vedas; eventually replaced by another language

Panini

grammarian

Mahabharata and Ramayana

first one - tale of moral confrontations and an elucidation of the ethical precepts of dharma (in taking action, one must be indifferent to success or failure and consider only the moral rightness of the act itself); second one - much shorter than the fir

stupa and rock chambers

first - originally meant to house a relic of the Buddha, eventually became a place for devotion
second - chambers carved from cliff faces to provide a place for religious people and ceremonies

rule of the fishes

glorified warfare as the natural activity of kings and the aristocracy