Ancient History Terms Flashcards
Agnikula
Certain Rajput clans who claim to have emerged from Yajna Havana-Kunda.
Agrahara
Donation of land or taxes from a village by the king to the learned brahmans.
Ajivika
A heterodox sect closer to Jainism which flourished at the time of the Buddha.
Amatya
Official designation for a high official used right from the Mauryan Period.
Aranyakas
Vedic texts, traditionally composed by hermits.
Artha
Prosperity and well-being, one of the four aims of life of a Hindu.
Arthashastra
A treatise on polity by Kautilya, belonging to the Mauryan period.
Ashramas
The four stages of life; also a place where hermits live.
Yukta
Designation of an revenue officer of the king used in the Mauryan period.
Bhagavata
A sect devoted to Lord Vishnu.
Bhukti/ Bhogika
An administrative fiscal unit of a kingdom in the Gupta period.
Bodhisattva
A person who attains nirvana by working for the welfare of the world and voluntarily postpones release from rebirth; also regarded as an incarnation of the Buddha, prior to his own birth in the world.
Brahmacharin
Celibate studentship, the first of the four stages (Ashramas) of life.
Brahmanas
Vedic texts dealing with rituals and sacrifice.
Chatiya
A sacred enclosure. The term is also used for a Buddhist place of worship.
Charvaka
A religious sect following a materialist philosophy.
Devadana
Donated revenue assigned to a temple.
Dharma
Piety, Morality – a way of life.
Dharmasastras
Texts on laws relating to society and religious observances of the Hindus.
Digambara
A Jain sect whose followers do not believe in keeping even a small piece of cloth on themselves.
Doab
The area between two rivers.
Dvija
The twice-born; referring to the first birth which is the physical birth and the second the initiation into educational status.
Garbhagriha
The sanctum of the Hindu temple.
Gayatrimantra
The verses of the RigVeda wherein the request has been made to illuminate one’s mind with knowledge.
Grama
A village.
Hinayana
One of the two major Buddhist sects.
Jati
Family or a group of people defined by their profession.
Kaliyuga
The fourth and final age of the aeon.
Kalpa
A day of Brahma equivalent to 4,320 million earth years.
Karma
Action or deed, and also the theory of conditioning one’s future births by the deeds of the present or the previous lives.
Kayastha
A jati associated with revenue records, first found in the Mauryan period and frequently mentioned in the medieval period.
Kharoshthi
A script in which Ashokan inscription of Shahbazgari and Manashera are written.
Kottom
Group of villages during Cholas
Kula
The clan or extended family.
Kumaramatya
An official designation of a high official.
Mahakshatrapa
‘Great governor’, a title taken by rulers, mainly by Saka kings.
Maharajadhiraja
‘Great king of kings’, an imperial title.
Mandalam
An administrative unit, frequently used in south India.
Matha
A centre of education attached to a temple or religious establishment.
Matsyanyaya
A political theory where, in a state of anarchy, the strong devour the weak.
Maya
Illusion.
Moksha
Release from the cycle of rebirth.
Nadu
An administrative unit, frequently used in south India.
Nagara
Style of temple architecture developed in central and northern India.
Nirvana
Release from the cycle of rebirth.
Nishaka
The term used for a gold coin during mauryan empire.
Pali
A Sanskrit-based language in which the Buddhist scriptures were recorded in Ceylon.
Pana
A term used for coin.
Pasupata
A Saivite sect.
Puranas
The Hindu text containing the history of various dynasties.
Purohita
Chief priest.
Rajuka
An official designation used in the Mauryan period.
Rashtra
Country.
Sabha
An assembly of a few select ones/elders first found in the RigVeda.
Samiti
A larger assembly.
Samkhya
One of the six major schools of philosophy in ancient India.
Sangam
The earliest phase of Tamil literature.
Satamana
A silver coin which weighed about 180 gram.
Sati
A virtuous woman; one who has immolated herself on the funeral pyre of her husband.
Senapati
Commander of the army.
Shikhara
Tower surmounting a temple.
Shreni
Guild, organisation of craftsmen and merchants.
Stupa
Domical structure containing relics of the Buddha.
Svetambara
One of the two major Jaina sects, which follows the code of wearing white clothes.
Tantne
A religious cult.
Theravada
A Buddhist sect.
Upanishads
The philosophical texts included in Vedic literature.
Varna
Four-fold division of Hindu society.
Vedanta
One of the six major philosophical schools in ancient India.
Vihara
Buddhist monastery.
Yavana
Term used in Indian sources for the people of western Asia, Greeks and Romans.
Yoga
One of the six major schools of philosophy in ancient India.
