Geography
This massive mountain range, over 1,500 miles long and nearly 5 miles high, separates India from the rest of Asia.
What are the Himalayas?
The surplus of these two crops allowed the population of the Indus valley to grow and villages to develop into planned cities.
What is wheat and grain?
This group of nomadic herders migrated from central Asia to India, and they overwhelmed India using horse-drawn chariots.
Who are the Aryans?
About how many years ago did people begin to settle in the Indus River Valley in South Asia, developing farming and herding communities?
What is 5,000-6,000 years ago?
This symbol, named after Ashoka, was chosen for India's flag in 1947 and features 24 spokes representing the hours in a day and the ever-changing nature of life.
What is the Ashoka Chakra?
India is called this type of landmass because it is large and extends south from the Himalayas into the Indian Ocean.
What is a Subcontinent?
Name one of the two major planned cities that flourished in the Indus River valley from around 2500 to 1500 B.C.
What is Harappa or Mohenjo-Daro?
One group in India's social class system was thought to do work considered impure and had a very low social status. What were they called?
Who are The Untouchables?
This major world religion developed from the religious beliefs of the Aryans and is based on the idea that all living things have many lives.
What is Hinduism?
Ashoka ruled this empire from 268 BCE until his death in 232 BCE, making him the founder of most of what later became India.
What is the Mauryan Empire?
This weather pattern dominates India's climate and brings essential rain in the summer but can cause famine if it arrives late or weak, or floods if it brings too much rain.
What are monsoons?
Mohenjo-Daro was built above ground level built this and this advanced system to carry waste away from the city. What is it?
What is a drainage system (or clay pipes)?
By 800 B.C., people in northern India used this metal to make tools and weapons that allowed them to clear rain forests and build new settlements.
What is iron (or wootzsteel)
This man, whose name means "the Enlightened one," founded Buddhism by teaching a new way of life to end suffering and reach nirvana.
Who is Siddhartha Guatama (or the Buddha)?
As a young prince, Ashoka enjoyed a lavish lifestyle with expensive horses and great feasts, but he was also deeply interested in these two areas. Name one.
What are nature and spiritual matters?
These openings in the Hindu Kush mountain range served as pathways for thousands of years, allowing the earliest people of northern India to enter the Indus River valley through migration and invasion.
What are mountain passes?
This feature ran along the Indus River and helped control flooding by catching overflow from the river and directing water where it was needed.
What are canals (or levees)?
According to the Vedas, early Aryan society was organized into three classes. Name the class made up of priests who performed religious services and composed hymns and prayers (at the top).
What are Brahmans?
Buddhism and Hinduism share many core ideas and principles. Name one.
Reincarnation – Both believe in a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
Karma – A person’s actions affect their future lives.
Goal of ending suffering – Both aim to break free from the cycle of rebirth.
Spiritual growth – Both emphasize living a good, moral life.
Meditation – Both use meditation as a way to reach understanding and peace.
After conquering this region on the southeast coast of India, Ashoka experienced a spiritual transformation and turned away from war to embrace nonviolence and Buddhism. Name the region he conquered.
What is Kalinga?
Name the two major rivers that flow from the Himalayas across northern India, fed by melting snow and rain, making agriculture possible in their fertile valleys.
What are the Indus River and the Ganges River?
Experts have been unable to decode the images on square seals found in Mohenjo-Daro, but there are many more mysteries about the city. Name one more thing about the city's people that remain a mystery.
-Why it was abandoned
-Their language/writing system
-Their form of government
-Their religion
By 500 B.C., this strict social system developed in India where people were locked into their parents' class for life and performed the same occupations as their family members. Name the system.
What is the caste system?
This empire that emerged after the Mauryans created a golden age in India when culture and science thrived. Though they were Hindu, they tolerated the spread of Buddhism, and Indian traders introduced Buddhism to faraway places. Name the empire.
What is the Gupta Empire?
This practice can be described as a set of physical stretches OR a mental, spiritual practice designed to transform the individual and achieve peace.
What is Yoga?