_The Earth And Its Peoples Terms: Chapter 7, India And Southeast Asia, 1500 Bce-1100 Ce

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Ashoka

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Third ruler of the Mauryan Empire in India (r. 270-232 BCE). He converted to Buddhism and broadcast his precepts on inscribed stones and pillars, the earliest surviving Indian writing.

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_Bhagavad-Gita_

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The most important work of Indian sacred literature, a dialogue between the great warrior Arjuna and the god Krishna on duty and the fate of the spirit.

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Borobodur

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A massive stone monument on the Indonesian island of Java, erected by the Sailendra kings around 800 CE. The winding ascent through ten levels, decorated with rich relief carving, is a Buddhist allegory for the progressive stages of enlightenment.

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Buddha (563-483 BCE)

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AN Indian prince named Siddharta Gautama, who renounced his wealth and social position. After becoming "enlightened" (the meaning of "Buddha") he enunciated the principles of Buddhism. This doctrine evolved and spread throughout India and to Southeast, East, and Central Asia.

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Funan

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AN early complex society in Southeast Asia between the first and sixth centuries CE. It was centered in the rich rice-growing region of southern Vietnam, and it controlled the passage of trade across the Malaysian isthmus.

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Gupta Empire (320-550 CE)

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A powerful Indian state based, like its Mauryan predecessor, on a capital at Pataliputra in the Ganges Valley. It controlled most of the Indian subcontinent through a combination of military force and its prestige a s a center of sophisticated culture.

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Hinduism

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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 practices. IT spread along the trade routes to Southeast Asia.

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Karma

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In Indian tradition, the residue of deeds performed in past and present lives that adheres to a "spirit" and determines what form it will assume its next life cycle. The doctrines of karma and reincarnation were used by the elite in ancient India to encourage people to accept their social position and do their duty.

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_Mahabharata_

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

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Bahayana Buddhism

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"Great Vehicle" branch of Buddhism followed in China, Japan, and Central Asia. The focus is on reverence for Buddha and for bodhisattvas, enlightened persons who have postponed nirvana to help others attain enlightenment.

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Malay peoples

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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 islands of the Pacific Ocean and west to Madagascar.

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Mauryan Empire

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The first state to unify most of the Indian subcontinent. It was founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 324 BCE and survived until 184 BCE. From its capital at Pataliputra in the Ganges Valley it grew wealthy from taxes on agriculture, iron mining, and control of trade routes.

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Moksha

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

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Monsoon

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Seasonal winds in the Indian Ocean caused by the differences in temperature between rapidly heating and cooling lancmasses of Africa and Asia and the slowly changing ocean waters. These strong and predictable winds have long been ridden across the open sea by sailors , and the large amounts of rainfall that they deposit on parts of India, Southeast Asia, and China allow for the cultivation of several crops a year.

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Srivijaya

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A state based on the Indonesia island of Sumatra, between the seventh and eleventh centuries CE. It amassed wealth and power by a combination of selective adaptation of Indian technologies and concepts, control of the lucrative trade routes between India and China, and skillful showmanship and diplomacy in holding together a disparate realm of inland coastal territories.

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Tamil kingdoms

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The kingdoms of southern India, inhabited primarily by speakers of Dravidian languages, which developed in partial isolation, and somewhat differently, from the Aryan north. They produced epics, poetry, and performance arts. Element s of Tail religious beliefs were merged into the Hindu synthesis.

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Theater-state

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Historians' term for a state that acquires prestige and power by developing attractive cultural forms and staging elaborate public ceremonies (as well as redistributing valuable resources) to attract and bind subjects to the center. Examples include the Gupta Empire in India and Srivijaya in Southeast Asia.

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Theravada Buddhism

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"Way of the Elders" branch of Buddhism followed in Sri Lanka and much of Southeast Asia. Theravada remains close to the original principles set forth by the Buddha; it downplays the importance of gods and emphasizes austerity and the individual's search for enlightenment.

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Varna/jati

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Two categories of social identity of great importance in Indian history. Varna are the four major social divisions; the Brahmin 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 groups of people who have a common occupational sphere, and who marry, eat, and generally interact with other members of their group.

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Vedas

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Early Indian sacred "knowledge" - the literal meaning of the term - long preserved and communicated orally by Brahmin priests and eventually written down. These religious texts, including the thousand poetic hymns to various deities contained in the RigVeda, are our main source of information about the Vedic period (ca. 1500-500 BCE).