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Religion > Hinduism > Flashcards

Hinduism Flashcards

1
Q

Aryans

A

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

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2
Q

Bhakti

A

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

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3
Q

Brahman

A

Original being or essence

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4
Q

Hinduism

A

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

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5
Q

Indian subcontinent

A

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

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6
Q

Indus Valley

A

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

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7
Q

Indus Valley Civilization

A

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

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8
Q

Ramayana

A

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

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9
Q

Rig Veda

A

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

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10
Q

Suttee

A

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

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11
Q

Bhagavad Gita

A

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

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12
Q

Brahma

A

A Hindu god who is the sustaining force behind all things

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13
Q

Brahmins

A

A class of Hindu holy men who are priests

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14
Q

Diwali

A

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

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15
Q

Hanuman

A

The divine monkey king in Ramayana

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16
Q

Hare Krishna

A

The most famous Hindu religious organization in the Western world

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17
Q

Karma

A

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

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18
Q

Krishna

A

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

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19
Q

Mahabarata

A

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

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20
Q

Puja

A

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

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21
Q

Puranaa

A

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

22
Q

Ramayana

A

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

23
Q

Rsis

A

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

24
Q

Sacred Books of the East

A

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

25
Q

Sakti

A

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.]]

26
Q

Samsara

A

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

27
Q

Shiva

A

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

28
Q

Smri

A

What is remembered and taught in Hindu religion

29
Q

Upanishads

A

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

30
Q

Varanas

A

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

31
Q

Veda

A

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

32
Q

Vedanta

A

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

33
Q

Vishnu

A

A Hindu god whose existence takes many forms

34
Q

Yoga Sutras

A

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

35
Q

Prabhupada

A

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

36
Q

Ram Mohan Roy

A

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

37
Q

Ramakrishna

A

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

38
Q

Sankara

A

Hindu philosopher (788-838) who helped develop Vedanta

39
Q

Sanskrit

A

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

40
Q

Sutras

A

The writings of the six orthodox Hindu schools of philosophy

41
Q

Vivekanada

A

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

42
Q

Ashram

A

community of mystics following one teacher

43
Q

Ascetic

A

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

44
Q

Atman

A

the soul of all beings

45
Q

Avatars

A

Incarnations

46
Q

Avidya

A

Ignorance

47
Q

Dharma

A

Social responsibility depending on caste

48
Q

Maya

A

the illusion that reality consists of many particular things

49
Q

Moksha

A

escape from the Karma-enforced cycle of death and rebirth

50
Q

Yoga

A

means for uniting with the divine

Religion (1 decks)

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