Historical Terms – VI

India and the Wider World
Himalayan Mountains: region marking the northern border of the Indian subcontinent; site of Aryan settlements that formed small kingdoms or warrior republics.
Varnas: the categories organising Indian society into a functional hierarchy; four groups;
related to but distinct from the caste system.
Untouchables: lowest caste in Indian society; performed tasks that were considered polluting (street sweeping, removal of human waste, tanning).
Rama: major figure in the popular Indian epic Ramayana.
Dharma: the caste position determined by an individual’s birth; the Hindu system required that one accept one’s caste and perform to the best of one’s ability in order to advance to a better position in the next life.
Karma: the sum of merits accumulated by an individual; determined the caste one would be born into in the next life.
Transmigration: the belief in the successive reincarnation of the soul in different bodies.
Reincarnation: the successive rebirth of the soul according to merits earned in previous lives.
Mahabharata, Ramayana: Indian epics, deeply imbued with Hindu teachings.
Buddha: creator of a major Indian and Asian religion; born in the 6th century B.C.E.; taught that enlightenment could be achieved only by abandoning desires for earthly things.
Nirvana: the Buddhist state of enlightenment; a state of tranquillity.
Maurya dynasty: established in Indian subcontinent in 4th century B.C.E. following the
invasion of Alexander the Great.
Chandragupta Maurya: founder of the Mauryan dynasty, the first empire in the Indian
subcontinent; first centralized government since Harappan civilization.
Kautilya: political advisor to Chandragupta Maurya; one of the authors of Arthashastra;
believed in the scientific conduct of warfare.
Arthashastra: political treatise written during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya; advocated the use of all tactics in scientific conduct of warfare.
Ashoka: grandson of Chandragupta Maurya; extended conquests of the dynasty; converted to Buddhism and sponsored its spread throughout his empire.
Stupas: stone shrines built to house relics of the Buddha; preserved Buddhist architectural forms.
Upanishads: later books of the Vedas; combined sophisticated and sublime philosophical ideas.
Shiva, Vishnu, Kali, and Lakshmi: the most important Hindu deities.
Gupta dynasty: built an empire in the 3rd century C.E. that included all but southern Indian regions; less centralized then Mauryan Empire.
The Signet Ring of Rakshasa (Mudra Rakshasa): 9th century play by Vishakhadatta based on the life of Chandragupta.
Mandalas: figures representing the cosmos; used in Buddhist practice.
Gurus: brahmins who served as teachers to the imperial Gupta court.
Sanskrit: the classical and sacred Indian language.
Kalidasa: foremost Sanskrit author during the Gupta era.
Kamasutra: written by Vatsayana during the Gupta era; offered instructions on all aspects of life for higher-caste males.
Skanda Gupta: (d. 467); last prominent Gupta ruler.