Hinduism

Question 1

Aryans

Answer 1

An Indo-European-speaking warrior community equipped with horses, chariots, armor, and
metal weapons that invaded India from the NW c. 1500 BC

Question 2

Bhakti

Answer 2

Personal deities of the Vedic tradition were combined with ideas found in Upanishads to
create devotional movements known as Bhakti

Question 3

Brahman

Answer 3

Original being or essence

Question 4

Hinduism

Answer 4

The term used by most Indians to refer to their religious beliefs and practices

Question 5

Indian subcontinent

Answer 5

The entire region of South Asia that consists of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan

Question 6

Indus Valley

Answer 6

Large geographical region in NW India and SE Pakistan where evidence was found in the
1920s of a previously unknown civilization

Question 7

Indus Valley Civilization

Answer 7

Large geographical region in NW India and SE Pakistan where evidence was found in the
1920s of a previously unknown civilization

Question 8

Ramayana

Answer 8

A popular epic which predated the emergence of full-blown Bhakti

Question 9

Rig Veda

Answer 9

A popular epic which predated the emergence of full-blown Bhakti

Question 10

Suttee

Answer 10

The Hindu practice of expecting widows to accompany their husbands to
the grave, often by cremating them on the husband’s funeral pyre

Question 11

Bhagavad Gita

Answer 11

Regarded by many, including Gandhi, as the most important of all Hindu religious
books. [[This book is but a part of the Mahabharata.]]

Question 12

Brahma

Answer 12

A Hindu god who is the sustaining force behind all things

Question 13

Brahmins

Answer 13

A class of Hindu holy men who are priests

Question 14

Diwali

Answer 14

The most popular Hindu feast; a festival of lights which is celebrated around the fall with
lanterns and fireworks

Question 15

Hanuman

Answer 15

The divine monkey king in Ramayana

Question 16

Hare Krishna

Answer 16

The most famous Hindu religious organization in the Western world

Question 17

Karma

Answer 17

The belief that all things are embraced by a universal law of cause and effect that stretches
through time

Question 18

Krishna

Answer 18

A Hindu god who is central in the story of the Mahabharata

Question 19

Mahabarata

Answer 19

An enormously long epic depicting the trials of descendants of Bharata and of the
Great War between the Kauravas and Pandavas clans

Question 20

Puja

Answer 20

The offering of food, drink, and devotion to images of deities found in Hindu homes

Question 21

Puranaa

Answer 21

Represent the popular expression of Hindu piety; written works that glorify gods, provide
lineages, and develop rich mythology supplementing epics

Question 22

Ramayana

Answer 22

Shortest of Hindu epics, it forms the basis of plays, dances, and numerous artistic
expressions

Question 23

Rsis

Answer 23

Seers who transmitted the content of the Vedas without human intervention, simply reciting
the divine revelation

Question 24

Sacred Books of the East

Answer 24

Max Müller’s fifty-volume work published between 1879 and 1894
established the study of Indian religions in universities of Europe/North America

Question 25

Sakti

Answer 25

Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and their female consorts—pairs of leading gods who represent the vital forces of creation in Indian thought. [[KR: This definition is poor. Think of “Shakti” as the feminine divine energy and, then, as the goddess associated with a god.]]

Question 26

Samsara

Answer 26

The ever-turning wheel of time in Hinduism to which all living things are bound

Question 27

Shiva

Answer 27

Along with Brahma and Vishnu at the top of the Hindu hierarchy of gods as a trinity of beings

Question 28

Smri

Answer 28

What is remembered and taught in Hindu religion

Question 29

Upanishads

Answer 29

The interpretive texts that explain the meaning of all other Hindu literature; interprets and reinterprets Vedic and epic themes; written as conversations

Question 30

Varanas

Answer 30

Social divisions, castes, in Hindu society, believed to originally be based on racial differences expressed in terms of skin color

Question 31

Veda

Answer 31

Veda means "knowledge"; a written document or collection thereof; four main collections of Vedas constitute the Vedic corpus; and are authoritative

Question 32

Vedanta

Answer 32

The dominant school of Indian philosophy and by far the best known in the West

Question 33

Vishnu

Answer 33

A Hindu god whose existence takes many forms

Question 34

Yoga Sutras

Answer 34

A systematic interpretation of the practice of Yoga making clear the significance of Yoga that develops out of the Upanishads

Question 35

Prabhupada

Answer 35

(1896-1977) one of Hindu's greatest missionaries in the twentieth century; established Hare Krishna in America in 1966

Question 36

Ram Mohan Roy

Answer 36

One of the first and most influential Hindu reformers (1772-1833) who founded the Divine Society in 1828 and sought to remove suttee from Hinduism

Question 37

Ramakrishna

Answer 37

(1836-1886) provided modern Hindus with a contemporary creed to live by in the modern world

Question 38

Sankara

Answer 38

Hindu philosopher (788-838) who helped develop Vedanta

Question 39

Sanskrit

Answer 39

Most classical Hindu texts are written in this artificial language created for a literary task; this gives us a clue to their dating, but nothing more

Question 40

Sutras

Answer 40

The writings of the six orthodox Hindu schools of philosophy

Question 41

Vivekanada

Answer 41

Disciple of Ramakrishna who advanced the notion that behind the illusory nature of our world lies its true reality.

Question 42

Ashram

Answer 42

community of mystics following one teacher

Question 43

Ascetic

Answer 43

characterized by or suggesting the practice of severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.

Question 44

Atman

Answer 44

the soul of all beings

Question 45

Avatars

Answer 45

Incarnations

Question 46

Avidya

Answer 46

Ignorance

Question 47

Dharma

Answer 47

Social responsibility depending on caste

Question 48

Maya

Answer 48

the illusion that reality consists of many particular things

Question 49

Moksha

Answer 49

escape from the Karma-enforced cycle of death and rebirth

Question 50

Yoga

Answer 50

means for uniting with the divine