4. India and Religion Flashcards
TWhat were the 4 indian social groups called? (not individual)
Varnas
What was the name of the top varna? What were they known for?
Brahmins - they were priests and teachers
2nd highest varna
Kshatriyas - warriors, kings, etc
Third highest varna
Vaisyas - most of the people - artisans, farmers, herdsmen
4th highest varna name
Sudras - serve the other classes
T or F: The caste system was meritocratic
Not even slightly. Birth = everything
T or F: Caste system has a lot of effects to this day
True (I feel like i’ve made this exact card before???)
T or F: It was ok for ppl of different castes to be friends but not marry
False - no socializing out of caste
What was the purest caste?
Brahmins
What was the least pure caste? (in or out of the system)
Untouchables/dalit - they had to walk with brooms behind them to erase their steps, do nasty jobs, and lived outside the cities
Hindu religious text
Vedas, used by aryas (noble ppl)
Where did the term Caste system come from?
Portuguese Casta
T or F The Vedas originated as a written text
False - it started out as orally passed down stuff and was then written down (indian scholars think it originated within indian subcontinent and Aryas are somewhat fraud-y)(DO NOT PUT THAT ON A TEST)(the oral transmission to written text is not disputed)
What was the single force of the universe/ultimate reality in Hinduism?
Brahman - individual self (atman) seeks to know this and merges with it after death
How would someone achieve oneness with Brahman?
Yoga - 4 types - Path of knowledge, path of love, path of work, path of meditation
What does yoga mean?
Union
T or F: Activating the mind, opening up your senses, and feeling alive will let you merge with Brahman
False, you gotta still the mind
T or F: Hinduism was monotheistic with Brahman as the only god
Trick question - there were a lot of anthropomorphic gods and goddesses (Brahma creator, Vishnu preserver, Shiva destroyer) but many regard these as representations of Brahman
T or F Hindus had temples but not really anymore
False, they did and still do
T or F: Reincarnation wasn’t always part of hinduism
True, introduced by 6th century (this seems like a control mechanism to me)
What was the Bhagavad Gita?
India’s great religious poem
What is Karma?
Force of a person’s actions in this life determining how the person will be reborn into the next life (this is deffo a control mechanism)
T or F A sudra could escape reincarnation
False, you gotta climb the ladder and become a more advanced soul (where do the new souls come from? I have not a clue)
T or F: Cow is a sacred hindu animal
True
What is Dharma?
Divine law requiring all ppl to do their duty in their caste
T or F All brahmins gotta be vegetarian
True so they don’t interrupt another animal’s karma
T or F: Dharma comes above family and friendship
True, look at Bhagavad Gita text abt Arjuna fighting his besties
T or F: Dharma was looked upon as making everything that’s good possible on earth
True
T or F: No reincarnation is chance, you deserve whatever your situation is
True (if that’s not a control mechanism I don’t know what is)
When was Siddhartha Gautama born? What kind of family did he have?
563 BC (overlapped hinduism), he had a princely family that sheltered him
What made Siddhartha’s world turn upside down as a young person?
He wanted to see the outside world, ran out to take a look, and saw that there was sickess, age, and death among them (he had been sheltered and didn’t know about this)
T or F Siddhartha gave up EVERYTHING when he tried ascetics
True, he even abandoned his wife and kid
What is ascetics?
Self denial to understand reality
Did ascetics work for Siddharta?
No, he almost died and then realized balance was better
What did siddhartha do after he tried ascetics?
INTENSE meditation - he sat under a tree for a good long time, gods were trying to stop him but failed, and he reached enlightenment
Who is Buddha?
Enlightened Siddhartha gautama
T or F Siddhartha definitely tried to make Buddhism a new religion bc Hinduism wasn’t working
False, he may have been trying to reform hinduism
T or F: Siddhartha didn’t see himself as a holy person
True, he said he was awake rather than a holy man or a god
How did Siddhartha see human afflictions?
He saw them as illusions that could be let go of once people detached themselves from the world
What is Bodhi?
Wisdom
What is nirvana?
Ultimate reality - end of self and reunion with Great World Soul
What are the 4 noble truths?
Ordinary life has a lot of suffering, satisfying ourselves causes suffering, ending desire for selfish goals and seeing other ppl as extensions of self ends suffering, ending desire happens by following the middle path
Other names for Middle path + what it entails
8-fold path - contains right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration
What did siddhartha think of reincarnation?
He believed that it was a thing, he believed that Karma affected ppl, but he also taught that anyone could reach Nirvana in this life by behaving well - this appealed to ppl in lower castes
T or F: Buddhism was monotheistic
False - no gods. At all.
T or F: Buddhism did not accept women as equal to men and saw them as distractions
True
However, he did eventually let them in
However, their inferior position was already established
However, they were still better off in buddhist societies than the rest of ancient India
T or F: Buddhism and Hinduism had to compete for followers
True
What was the first pan-india empire?
Mauryas - they came and won after Alexander the Great weakened small kingdoms and resistance and totally destroyed Seleucus (his kid) with elephants
Who was the founder of the Mauryan Empire?
Chandragupta Maurya
Where was the capital of the Mauryan empire?
Pataliputra (modern day Patna)
T or F Mauryan empire was very centralized
True - had provinces ruled by governors
T or F Chandragupta Maurya was paranoid
T - He had a terror book written by his advisor, he never slept 2 nights in a row in the same bed, and he didn’t eat food unless someone else tried it first
Who was asoka?
He was C.G.M.’s grandson and he was considered the greatest ruler in the history of India
What did Asoka think of violence and what did he do as a result of it?
He didn’t like it and converted to buddhism and set up hospitals and made good roads and had trees and shelters set up by roads and sponsored buddhist missionaries and was still tough, so he expanded trade from pacific to medeterranian
What happened after Asoka died?
His successors were weak and got conquered
Which empire came after the Mauryans?
Kushans - they spread a lot (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and northern India), traded a lot, used the silk road and ocean trade, had a sun and moon calendar, and practiced several religions
Who came after the Kushans, and who founded that empire?
Chandra Gupta founded the Gupta empire (he wasn’t related to Chandragupta Maurya) - he became buddies with the other powerful families and just came in
Where was the Gupta empire placed?
Pataliputra - site of decaying Maurya palace
T or F: Gupta empire controlled all of India
F - Only Northern and somewhat central (NOT southern)
T or F: Gupta empire was a golden age for India
True - there was good trade (with China, SE Asia, and Medeterranian and they traded cloth, salt, and Iron domestically), lots of new discoveries, and living conditions were pretty good
What was the main religion for the Mauryas?
Buddhism
What was the main religion for the Guptas?
Hinduism (but there was also some Buddhism)
T or F: Gupta rulers lived in LUXURY
True (really REALLY luxuriously)
T or F: Not many shrines and temples were built during the gupta empire
False
Who ended the Gupta empire and what happened after?
Hunas invaded (similar to huns, same ppl group?) and they took over and then there was a big split
What was the Mahabharata?
One of India’s 2 great epics - 5-6 century bc - longest written poem in any language - war between cousins for control but it’s also quite didactic - CONTAINS BHAGAVAD GITA
What is the Ramayana?
One of India’s 2 great epics - account of Rama (fictional ruler) - also very didactic
Who was Kalidasa?
Famous indian author that wrote the Cloud Messenger (in sanskrit)
3 main Indian architecture structures (hint - all relate to buddhism)
Pillar (talk about buddha’s life with big lion) , Stupa (housed relic from Buddha, familiar form of Buddhist architecture, tall lump with spire on top), rock chamber (rooms for Monks and religious ceremonies)
Big Indian contributions to science
astronomy - earth is round and goes around the sun
Big Indian contributions to math
Algebra used by Aryabhata, 0 and 0.5 became numbers, 1234567890 was used by Arab scholars and now it’s the Indian Arabic numerical system
T or F: Guptas made bank loans and interest
True
T or F: Guilds would do metallurgy, stonecutting, ivory carving, and more in Ancient India
True
T or F: There was not much art and stuff like that in the Gupta empire
False
T or F: Control wasn’t as centralized in the Gupta empire
True
