holy texts Flashcards
Acheulian tools
an assemblage of stone tools marked by advanced and increasingly symmetrical handaxes and cleavers; primarily associated with the lower palaeolithic, they continue into later parts of the stone age as well
Agrahara
land or village gifted by a king
Ahimsa
non-injury, non-violence
Ajivikas
An ancient religious sect, associated with Makkhali Gosala
Akam
Sangam love poems
Alvars
the Vaishnava saint-poet of early medieval South India
Amphorae
a type of Roman pottery—jars with a large oval body, narrow cylindrical neck, and two handles
Anekantavada
the Jaina doctrine of the manifold nature of reality
Animal domestication
the process of selective breeding of animals, which involves removing them from their natural habitat and rearing them under artificial conditions under human control for purposes of human gain
Antarala
the vestibule or antechamber of a temple
Anvikshiki
literally, ‘looking at’; logical reasoning
Apabhramsha
a stage of the later development of the Prakrit language up to the end of the 1st millennium CE
Araghatta
the Persian wheel, or a similar contrivance
Aramaic
a language and script. The Aramaic or North Semitic script was the official script of the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Achaemenid empires; Ashokan inscriptions indicate the use of the language and script in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent
Aranyakas
literally ‘forest books’; part of the Vedic corpus
Archaeo-botany
the study of ancient plant remains
Archaeological sources
all tangible, material remains
Archaeology
the study of the human past through material remains
Archaeometry
techniques that use measurement in order to analyse ancient objects or materials
Ardha-Magadhi
an eastern dialect of Prakrit; the earliest Jaina texts are written in this dialect
Ardhamandapa
the hall preceding the sanctum in a temple
Arhat
a person who has attained enlightenment
Ariya-sachchani
the Four Noble Truths related to suffering; an important part of the Buddha’s teaching
Artefact
a portable object made or altered by human hands
Ashrama(s)
the four stages of life—brahmacharya (celibate studenthood), grihastha (the householder stage), vanaprastha (partial renunciation), and sannyasa (complete renunciation); can also mean a hermitage
Assemblage
in archaeology, refers collectively to all the industries found at a site
Astika schools
philosophical schools that accepted the authority of the Vedas, comprising those that later came to be described as the six classical systems of Hindu philosophy
Atman
the imperishable ultimate reality within the self, according to the Upanishads
Australopithecus
a hominid genus
Avatara
an incarnation of the god Vishnu
Ayyavole
a powerful merchant guild of early medieval South India
Bands
small and usually nomadic communities, usually related to each other through kinship
Bhagavata
a worshipper of Vasudeva Krishna
Bhikkhu
Pali (Sanskrit bhikshu), literally ‘one who lives by begging alms’; a Buddhist monk
