| Vocab | Descriptions |
| subcontinent | a large land mass, that is part of a continent but is considered either georgraphically or politically as an independent entity. |
| Indo-Aryans | of, relating to, or being a member of an Indic-speaking people |
| Deccan Plateau | a vast plateau in India encompassing most of Central and Southern India (where cotton grows) |
| Khyber Pass | a narrow pass about 3000 km long through mountains on the border between eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. It has been a trade/invasion route |
| Mohenjo-Daro | a ruined prehistoric city of Pakistan in the Indus River Valley northeast of Karachi. Dates to 3000 BC |
| Harappa | a locality in the Indus River valley of the Punjab in Pakistan. Includes remains of a well laid out city that indicates a possible link between Indian and Sumerian cultures. 3rd millennium BC |
| Hinduism (Hindu) | the predominant religion of India; characterized by a caste system and belief in reincarnation |
| reincarnation | rebirth of the soul to another body |
| caste system | social sturcture in which classes are determined by heredity. |
| Brahman | a member of the highest of the four major castes of thraditional Indian society. Responsible fo studying/teaching the Vedas, officiating a religious rite |
| Kshatriyas | responsible for upholding justice and social harmony including people in governing and military positions |
| Vaisyas | comprising farmers, herders, merchants, and businessmen |
| Sudras | comprising artisans, laborers, and menials |
| Untouchables or Pariahs | a social outcast; untouchable. Considered unclean and defiling by the Hindu castes |
| Karma | the effect of a person's actions that determine his destiny in his next incarnation. |
| Rajah | a prince, chief, or ruler in India or the Eastern Indies |
| Maharajah | King of Kings |
| Vedas | any of the oldest and most authoritative Hindu sacred texts, composed in sanskrit and gathered into four collections (songs and chants of the Hindu religion) |
| Vedic Age | the time period of which sanskrit was written |
| Upanishads | any of a group of philosophical treatises contributing to the teology of ancient hinduism, elaborating on the earlier Vedas |
| Buddha | Indian mystic and founder of Buddhism |
| Buddhism | the teaching of Buddha that life is permeated with suffering caused by desire -- wisdom and meditation releasing |
| nirvana | the effable ultimate in which one has attained disinterested wisdom and compassion |
| Sanskrit | an ancient Indic language that is the language of Hinduism and the Vedas and is the classical literary language of India. |
| Silk Road | an ancient trade route between china and the Mediterranean Sea |
| Indus River | an Asian River flows into the Arabian Sea |
| Ganges River | an Asian river that rises in the Himalayas and flows east into the Bay of Bengal, a sacred river of the Hindus |
| Mauryas | Indian dynasty founded in 321 BC by Chandragupta Maurya which unified the subcontinent for the first time and contributed to the spread of Buddhism . |
| Guptas | a Hindu dynasty that ruled most of northern India from 320-520 under which the arts flourished and a unified code of laws were put into effect; This period is regarded as the golden age of Indian culture. |
| Huns | a member of a nomadic pastoral people who invaded Europe in the fourth and fifth centuries AD |
| Asoka | King of Magadha who united most of the Indian subcontinent under one rule and was converted to Buddhism, adopting it as the state religion |
| rajput | a member of any of several powerful Hindu landowning and military lineages inhabiting northern and central India |
| Himalayan Mountains | a mountain system of south-central Asia extending through Kashmir, northern India, Tibet,Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan |
| Hindu Kush | a mountain range of southwest Asia extending from northern Pakistan to northeastern Afghanistan |
| Western and Eastern Ghats | two mountain ranges of southern India separated by the Deccan Plateau |
| Kashmir | a historical region of northwest India and northeast Pakistan |
