AP World History Chapter 6 vocab – Flashcards

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 changingocean waters. These strong and predictable winds have long been ridden across the open sea by sailors, and the large amounts of raindall that the deposit on parts of India, Southeast Asia, and China allow for the cultivation of several crops a year.

Early Inidan sacred "knowledge"-- the literal meaning of teh term-- long preserved and communicated orally by Brahmin priests and eventually written down. These religious texts, including the thousand poetic humns to various deities contained in teh Rig Veda, are our main source of information about the Vedic period.

Two categories of social identity of great importnce in Indain hisory. Varna are teh four major social divisions: the Brahin priest class, the Kshatriya warrior/administrator class, the Vaishya merchant/farmer class, and the Shudra laborer class.

Within the system of varna are many jati, regional roups of people who have a common occupational sphere, ad who marry, eat, and generally interact with other members in their group.

In Indian tadition, the residue of deeds performed in past and present lives that adheres to a "spirit" and determinse what form it will assume in its next life cycle. The doctriens of karma and riencaration were used by the eliet in ancient Inda to encourage people to accept their social position and do their duty.

The Hindu concept of the spirit's "liberation" from the endless cycle of rebirths. There are various avenues--such as physical disipline, meditation, and acts of devotion to the gods--by which the spirits can distance itself from teh desire for he things of this world and be merged with the divine force that animates the universe.

An Indian prince naed Sidhartha Gautama, who renounced his wealth and social position. After becoming "enlightened" he enunciated the principles of Buddhism. This docrine evolved and spread throughout India and to Southeast, East, and Central Asia.

"GreatVehicle" branch of Buddhism followed in China, Japan, and Central Asia. The focus is on reverence for Buddha anf for bodhisattvas, enlightned persons who have postponeed nirvana to help others attain enlightenment.

"Way of the Elders" branch of Buddhism followed in Sri Lanka and much of Souteast Asia. Thervada remains close to the original principles set forth by the uddha; it down plays the importance of gods and emphasizes austerity and the individual's research for enlightenment.

A general term for a wide variety of beliefs and ritual practices that have developed in the Indian subcontinent since antiquity. Hinduism has roots in ancient Vedic, Buddhist, and south Indian religious concepts and pratices. It spread aloing the trade routes ot Southeast Asia.

The first state to unify most of the Indian subcontinent. It was founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 324 B.C.E. From its capital at Pataliptra in the Ganges Valley it grew walthy from taxes on agriculture, iron mining, and control of trade routes.

Third ruler of the Mauryan Empire in India. He converted to Budddhim and broadcast his precepts on inscribed stones, pillars, the earliest surviving Indian writing.

A vast epic chronicling the events leading up to a cataclysmic battle between related kinship groups in early India. It includes the Bhagavad-Gita, the most importsnt work of Indian sacred literature.

The mot important workd of Inian sacred literature, a dialouge between the great warrior Arjuna and the god Krishna on duty and the fate of the spirit.

The kingdoms of southern India, inhabited primarliy by speakers of Dravidian languaes, in which developed in partioal isolation, and somewhat differently, from the Aryan north. Theyproduced epics, poetry, and performance arts. Elements of Tamil religious beliefs were merged into the indu synthesis.

A powerfulIndian state based, like its Mauryan predecessor, on a capital at Pataliputra in the ganges Valley. It controlled most of the Indian subcontinetn through a combination fo military force and its prestige as a center of sophisicated culture.

Historians' 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 cente. Examples include the Gupta Empire in India and Srivijaya in Southeast Asia.

A designation for peoples originating in south China and Southeast Asia who settled the Malay peninsula, Indonesia, and the Philippines, then spread eastward across the islnds of the Pacific Ocean and west to Madagascar.

An early coplex soiety in Southeast Asia between the first and sixth centrues C.E. It was centered in the rich rice-growing region of southern Vietnam, and it controlled the pasage of trade across the Malaysian isthmus.