INDIA VOCAB SLIDESHOW

Monsoon – winds that mark seasons in India. Bring rain for crops.

Citadel – strong central fortress of a city – holds grain

Pictographs – Harappan Language – pictograms undecoded

Indo-Aryans – People from Europe, cross Khyber Pass and settle into IRV

Sanskrit – Indo-Aryan language. Used to record Vedas.

Epics – Long poem that tells a story

Vedas – sacred writing/holy book of Indo-Aryans. Written in Sanskrit.

Upanishads – Epics to explain the Vedas. Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana

Bhagavad Gita – Epic of great battle in Northern India.

Caste System – social classes, complex and strict social organization

Varnas – social classes in Indo-Aryan society

Raja – Ruler of Indo-Aryans. Military leader, lawmaker, judge, chief

Brahmins-priests who knew religious ceremonies

Brahman – divine essence in everything

Vishnu - preserver Brahma – creator Siva – destroyer Maya – illusion of the world

of senses around you Polytheism – belief in

many gods Monism – God and

creation is unified

Yoga – spiritual practice mind + body

Cow – sacred animal in India/Hinduism

Siddhartha Gautama – royal Hindu prince, finds the truth of life, become enlightened

Buddha – “the enlightened one”

Nirvana- perfect spiritual peace – “heaven”

Moksha- Nirvana in Hinduism

Dharma – Duty in life to follow

Karma- good/bad forces created by one’s actions

Reincarnation – rebirth of souls

Polygamy – man having more than one wife

Suttee – wife committing suicide on husband’s funeral pyre

Inoculation – vaccine/shot, being infected with mild form of disease to not become ill.