Ancient India 
Indus Valley Civilization
Geography
Indus River #
Harappa
Monsoons
Monsoons are big storms that occur in India seasonally. Monsoons can cause violent flooding during June and July.
• The Indus River is one of the longest rivers in Asia.
The society was built along this river.
Harappa was one of the largest sites in the Indus Valley Civilization. Harappa's ancient ruins represent the traces of one of the earliest cities of the world.
Himalayan Mountains
The Himalayan Mountains are separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau.
Ganges River
The Ganges river is a trans-boundary river of Asia which flows through the nations of India and Bangladesh.
Subcontinent
Mohenjo-daro
Mohenjo - Daro was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley civilization.
A subcontinent is not a full continent but a smaller one.
Social Structure
Jati / Caste
Brahmans
Kshatriyas
Untouchables
Sudras
Vaisyas
Hereditary
Aryans
Religion
Sanskrit
Rig - Veda
Migrated
Nomads
Contribution
Hinduism
Dharma
Moksha
Samsara
Reincarnation
Sanskrit was the Aryans' language which was used to compose formalized poetry.
The Aryans migrated to different places and eventually migrated into the Indus Valley.
The Rig - Veda is an ancient Indian collection of Vadic Sanskrit hymns. It is one of the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism known as the Vedas.
Nomads are people who don't have a permanent home and travel from place to place.
a gift or payment to a common fund or collection.
Samsara means reincarnation. Hindus believe that life is a ceaseless cycle of events with no beginning or end. Death and birth are both just phases of the cycle.
Dharma means the belief that one should live according to his or her own moral duties appropriate to one's station in life.
Each person must live several lives, learning along the way, before achieving a final supreme goal of Absolute called Moksha. It is reached only when the individual has overcome all evils and all earthly desires.
the rebirth of a soul in a new body.
Because daily life was governed by religion and its rituals, the priests and scholars became the highest class known as Brahmans.
Caste is each of the hereditary classes of Hindu society.
The Kshatriyas included nobles and warriors.
There were people that did not follow the religious practices and were considered unacceptable by the Aryans. They were totally shunned by society and they were forced to live "outside" the class system.
The Sudras were made up of servants and peasants.
The Vaisyas was the third class, made up of commoners.
Holding a position by inheritance.
Vedas
The Vedas were a large body of texts originating in the ancient Indian subcontinent. The texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism.
Other
Rangoli
Rangoli is an art form originating in the Indian subcontinent, in which patterns are created on the floor in living rooms or courtyards using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals. ... The purpose of rangoli is decoration, and it is thought to bring good luck.
Polytheism
the belief in or worship of more than one god.
Hinduism
a major religious and cultural tradition of South Asia, developed from Vedic religion.
Aryans
a major religious and cultural tradition of South Asia, developed from Vedic religion. a member of the ancient Aryan people
Gods
Brahma is the creator of the universe who creates everything. .. Brahma is the first god in the Hindu triumvirate, or trimurti. The triumvirate consists of three gods who are responsible for the creation, upkeep and destruction of the world. The other two gods are Vishnu and Shiva.
Shiva is the destroyer. Shiva is the third member of the Hindu trinity. Destroying the universe in order to prepare for its renewal at the end of each cycle of time. // the auspicious one) is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being within Shaivism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Shiva is the "destroyer of evil and the transformer" within the Trimurti, the Hindu trinity that includes Brahma and Vishnu.
Vishnu is the second god in the Hindu triumvirate (orTrimurti). The triumvirate consists of three gods who are responsible for the creation, upkeep and destruction of the world. The other two gods are Brahma and Shiva. Brahma is the creator of the universe and Shiva is the destroyer. Vishnu preserves the universe and protects it.
Karma is the belief that everything a person does has a consequence. Both good and bad deeds have an effect on a person's happiness or misery.
Buddhism
The Middle Way
The Silk Road
The Silk Road was an ancient network of trade routes that connected the East and the West
Buddhism
Meditation
Mindfulness of body, sensations, mind and mental phenomena. The Four Immeasurables – including compassion karuna and loving-kindness Metta.
Monk
In buddhism, a monk is religious leader typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Enlightenment
In Buddhism, enlightenment is when a Buddhist finds the truth about life and stops being reborn because he has reach Nibana and once you get to Nibana you are not born again. Buddhists believe a person can become enlightened by following the Middle Way.
a religion, originated in India by Buddha (Gautama) and later spreading to China, Burma, Japan, Tibet, and parts of southeast Asia, holding that life is full of suffering caused by desire and that the way to end this suffering is through enlightenment that enables one to halt the endless sequence of births and deaths.
The Buddha
The Buddha is the same person as Siddhartha Gautama. He became The Buddha by finding the path to Enlightenment.
The Eightfold Path
The Noble Eightfold Path is an early summary of the path of Buddhist practices leading to liberation from samsara, the painful cycle of rebirth.
Siddhartha Gautama
Siddhartha Gautama is the person who founded Buddhism. He became known as The Buddha by finding the path to Enlightenment and he went from pain and suffering to rebirth and towards the path of Enlightenment. #
The Four Noble Truths
The Four Noble Truths comprise the essence of Buddha's teachings, though they leave much left unexplained. They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering.
Parinirvana
In Buddhism, the term parinirvana is commonly used to refer to nirvana-after-death, which occurs upon the death of the body of someone who has attained nirvana during his or her lifetime.
Nirvana
It is the ultimate spiritual goal in Buddhism and marks the soteriological release from rebirths in samsāra.
the Buddha describes the Noble Eightfold Path as the middle way of moderation, between the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification: Monks, these two extremes ought not to be practiced by one who has gone forth from the household life.
Emperor Ashoka
The lethal war with Kalinga transformed the vengeful Emperor Ashoka to a stable and peaceful emperor and he became a patron of Buddhism. ... Nevertheless, his patronage led to the expansion of Buddhism in the Mauryan empire and other kingdoms during his rule, and worldwide from about 250 BCE.
Mudras
A mudra is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers.