India Study Guide Questions

Question 1

What is a subcontinent, and why is India considered one?

Answer 1

A subcontinent is a large landmass that is smaller than a continent. Subcontinents are usually separated from the rest of the continent by physical features. Mountains largely separate India from the rest of Asia. India is a huge peninsula, so large it is called a subcontinent.

Question 2

What mountain range runs along the northern border of India?

Answer 2

Among the mountains of northern India are the Himalayas, the highest mountains in the world.

Question 3

What river valley is the location of India’s first civilization?

Answer 3

The Indus River Valley

Question 4

What was the name of the first civilization that developed in the Indus River Valley?

Answer 4

The Harappan civilization

Question 5

Where did the Aryans come from before they invaded the Indus Valley?

Answer 5

Some historians believe they came from Central Asia, but others disagree

Question 6

The Aryans were once nomads (people who followed their herds of animals from place to place and did not settle down). Why did they eventually stop being nomads?

Answer 6

They settled into villages and began to farm

Question 7

What language did the Aryans use to write down their poems and hymns?

Answer 7

The language in which the Aryan sacred texts were composed was Sanskrit

Question 8

What were the Vedas?

Answer 8

The Vedas were collections of poems, hymns, myths, and rituals written by Aryan priests.

Question 9

Describe the Varnas. Be sure to list the names of each group, and who was a member of that group. You also need to know the order from highest in society to the lowest.

Answer 9

According to the Vedas, there were four main varnas, or social divisions, in Aryan society. These varnas were:

1) Brahmins: India’s priests and seen as the highest varna
2) Kshatriyas: Rulers and warriors
3) Vaisyas: Farmers, craftspeople, and traders
4) Sudras: Workers and servants

Question 10

What were the Vedic texts? How were they related to the Vedas?

Answer 10

Aryan Brahmins wrote down their thoughts about the Vedas. In time these thoughts were compiled into collections called Vedic texts.

1) One collection of Vedic texts describes Aryan religious rituals
2) A second collection of Vedic texts describes secret rituals that only certain people could perform
3) The final group of Vedic texts are the Upanishads, these are reflections on the Vedas by religious students and teachers

Question 11

How did Hinduism develop in India?

Answer 11

The Vedas, the Upanishads, and the other Vedic texts remained the basis of Indian religion for centuries. Eventually, the ideas of these sacred texts began to blend with ideas from other cultures. This blending of ideas created the religion called Hinduism.

Question 12

What is the name of the universal spirit that Hindus believe all of their gods are a part of?

Answer 12

The universal spirit is called Brahman

Question 13

Hindus believe in reincarnation. They believe that the form you are reborn into depends on what?

Answer 13

The form you are reborn into depends upon his or her karma, the effects that good or bad actions have on a person’s soul

Question 14

What are the four main principles the Jains try to live by?

Answer 14

The Jains try to live by four principles:

1) injure no life
2) tell the truth
3) do not steal
4) own no property

Question 15

Who was Siddhartha Gautama? Why did he leave his home when he was a young man?

Answer 15

Siddhartha was a prince who grew up in luxury. Born a Kshatriya, a member of the warrior class, Siddhartha never had to struggle with the problems that many people of his time faced. He felt something was missing in his life. He saw how others around him had to work and suffer and grieving lost loved ones; and he wondered why there was so much pain in the world. He left his family and home to look for answers.

Question 16

What are the Four Noble Truths?

Answer 16

The Four Noble Truths are:

1) Suffering and unhappiness are a part of human life. No one can escape sorrow.
2) Suffering comes from our desires for pleasure and material goods. People cause their own misery because they want things they cannot have
3) People can overcome desire and ignorance and reach nirvana, a state of perfect peace. Reaching nirvana frees the soul from suffering and from the need for further reincarnation
4) People can overcome ignorance and desire by following an Eightfold path that leads to wisdom, enlightenment, and salvation

Question 17

Why did many people from lower social classes support the ideas of Buddhism?

Answer 17

The Buddha was opposed to the caste system. He didn’t think that people should be confined to a particular place in society. Everyone who followed the Eightfold Path properly could achieve enlightenment.

Question 18

Hindus and Buddhists both believe in ________.

Answer 18

Hindus and Buddhists both believe in reincarnation.

Question 19

What was the name of the founder of the Mauryan Empire? What religion did he eventually convert to?

Answer 19

In the 320s BC a military leader named Chandragupta Maurya seized control of the entire northern part of India and by doing so he founded the Mauryan Empire. In 301 BC Chandragupta decided to become a Jainist monk. (Jainism)

Question 20

Who was Asoka? What religion did he convert to?

Answer 20

Asoka was Chandragupta’s grandson and he was king. Asoka converted to Buddhism.

Question 21

What caused Asoka to stop fighting wars?

Answer 21

When he converted to Buddhism he swore he would not launch any more wars of conquest

Question 22

Who was the first Gupta emperor?

Answer 22

The first Gupta emperor was Chandragupta I. Although their names are similar, he was not related to Chandragupta Maurya.

Question 23

What religion did the Gupta rulers follow? Did they tolerate other religions in their empire?

Answer 23

The Gupta rulers were Hindu, so Hinduism became India’s major religion. Although they were Hindus, the Gupta rulers also supported the religious beliefs of Buddhism and Jainism

Question 24

Describe Indian art. What was the focus of many of these works of art?

Answer 24

Most of the art was religious and their paintings and sculptures illustrated either Hindu or Buddhist teachings. Most Indian paintings from the Gupta period are clear and colorful. Some of them show graceful Indians wearing fine jewelry and stylish clothes. Many fine paintings are found in temples. Sculptors made statues and columns for Buddhist cave temples.

Question 25

What languages was literature written in during the Maurya and Gupta Empires?

Answer 25

During the Maurya and Gupta periods, many works of Sanskrit literature were created.

Question 26

Describe Indian achievements in mathematics.

Answer 26

Gupta scholars developed many elements of the modern math system including the numbers used today called Hindu-Arabic numerals. Indians were the first people to create the zero (0).

Question 27

Describe Indian achievements in medicine.

Answer 27

The Indians made medicines from plants and minerals and they practiced inoculation. Indian doctors could perform surgery to repair broken bones, treat wounds, remove infected tonsils, reconstructed broken noses and reattached torn earlobes.

Question 28

Describe Indian achievements in astronomy.

Answer 28

The Indians knew of seven of the nine planets in our solar system. They knew the sun was a star and the planets revolved around it. They also knew the earth was a sphere and that it rotates on its axis. They could predict eclipses of the sun and moon.