Geography & Early Civilizations
The natural land features and mountain ranges, such as the Himalayas, that served to keep regions separated from the rest of Asia.
What is geography?
One of the oldest spiritual traditions worldwide, practiced by most people in India without a single founder.
What is Hinduism?
The continuous pattern where a soul leaves the body after death to be born anew.
What is reincarnation?
The title given to Siddhartha Gautama after he sat beneath a tree and transformed into the "Enlightened One".
Who is the Buddha?
A ruling house that took power after defeating the Shang and created the Mandate of Heaven.
What is the Zhou Dynasty?
Seasonal winds that brought either wet, warm air or dry, cold air, making flooding and drought constant issues.
What are monsoons?
Sanskrit writings translating to "knowledge" that reference the Aryans.
What are the Vedas?
A combination of previous actions and spiritual duties that must be followed to achieve liberation.
What are karma and dharma?
Foundational concepts stating that living brings inescapable misery caused by cravings for pleasure and material goods.
What are the Four Noble Truths?
The political concept that divine forces support only just and fair leaders.
What is the Mandate of Heaven?
Ancient urban ruins featuring community wells, public waste-removal systems, and structured grid patterns.
What are Harappa and Mohenjo Daro?
The four societal divisions that established people's functional roles in community life.
What are Varnas?
The term for liberation from the ongoing cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
What is Moksha?
Principles like right view, right speech, and right concentration designed to overcome desires.
What is the Eightfold Path?
Teachings from Kongfuzi focusing on love, respect, humaneness, and honoring ancestors.
What is Confucianism?
China's early ruling house supported by a court of wealthy nobles and an army defending borders and inner rebellions.
What is the Shang Dynasty?
Smaller subdivisions within broader societal classes that fixed people into specific occupations.
What are castes?
A movement created by Mahavira after breaking away from traditional Hindu rituals.
What is Jainism?
A state of total inner peace where the soul is free of suffering.
What is Nirvana?
The compiled volume preserving the ideas and maxims of Kongfuzi.
What are the Analects?
Animal materials used by Shang priests who applied hot metal to read the resulting cracks for guidance from the ancestors.
What are oracle bones?
Positioned at the lowest level, individuals here worked with dead bodies and performed the worst jobs.
Who are the Untouchables?
The guiding principle practiced by vegetarians who avoided harming all living things.
What is ahimsa?
An imperial ruler who sent out missionaries to carry teachings past the Himalaya Mountains into other regions.
Who is Emperor Ashoka?
A philosophical system focusing on a limitless force in nature, finding one's place in nature, and balancing Yin and Yang.
What is Daoism?