Ancient India Flashcards
Grade 6 · Social Studies · Flashcards
Essential terms and concepts from the civilizations, religions, and empires of ancient India.
Flashcards
- Indus Valley Civilization
- One of the world's first urban civilizations (c. 2500 BCE) located along the Indus River, known for grid cities and drainage systems.
- Mohenjo-Daro
- Major Indus Valley city featuring multi-story buildings, public baths, and an advanced sewer system.
- Harappa
- Another major Indus Valley city that showed evidence of trade, craft specialization, and urban planning.
- Aryans
- Indo-European peoples who migrated into India around 1500 BCE, bringing Sanskrit and early Hindu traditions.
- Vedas
- The oldest sacred scriptures of Hinduism, composed in Sanskrit by the Aryans.
- Hinduism
- Ancient religion of India with beliefs in dharma, karma, reincarnation, and moksha; no single founder.
- Siddhartha Gautama
- Prince who renounced wealth, attained enlightenment, and founded Buddhism in the 6th century BCE.
- Four Noble Truths
- Core Buddhist teaching: life involves suffering, suffering has a cause, suffering can end, and the Eightfold Path leads to its end.
- Caste System
- Hereditary social hierarchy in ancient India dividing society into groups based on birth.
- Maurya Empire
- First empire to unify most of India (322–185 BCE); Emperor Ashoka was its most famous ruler.
- Ashoka
- Maurya emperor who converted to Buddhism and spread its teachings through carved rock and pillar edicts.
- Gupta Empire
- Indian empire (320–550 CE) known as a golden age for advances in math, astronomy, and literature.
- Zero
- Mathematical concept developed by Indian scholars during the Gupta period; essential to the modern number system.
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