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SECTION 1
India is a subcontinent because it is
separated from the rest of Asia by the
Himalayas the highest mountain in the
world.
The Indian subcontinent contains five
nations: India, Pakistan, Bhutan,
Bangladesh, and Nepal.
India has two fertile river valleys created
by the Ganges and the Indus River.

A monsoon is a strong wind that blows

one direction in winter and the opposite
direction in summer.
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were large,
well planned cities in ancient India.
Most Indus Valley people resided in
farming villages surrounding the cities.
They grew rice, barley, wheat, peas, and
cotton.

The Aryans were not a race or ethnic group. Many historians

believe that the Aryan people's language was part of a large
language family known as Indo-European. A language family
is a group of similar languages.
They later conquered all of the Indian subcontinent except the
southern tip of India.

The Aryans invented the iron plow and

built canals to improve farming.
Their written language is called Sanskrit.
Aryan tribes were led by a raja or prince.
Vedas are ancient sacred writings of
India.
Guru- a teacher of wealthy Indian boys.

A caste is a social group that someone is born

into and cannot change.
The Aryans believed in four levels(varnas) of
society:
1. priests( Brahmins)
2. Warriors and Rulers( Kshatriyas)
3.Common people (Vaisyas)
4. laborers and servants ( Sudras)
* untouchables

SECTION 2
Hinduism the worlds third largest
religion, is one of the oldest religions.
Hinduism roots are in the Aryan religion,
which changed after borrowing ideas
from conquered people of India.
The Brahman is the universal spirit made
up of thousands of gods and
goddesses.

4._____ is the idea of passing through many lives to reach the

Brahman.
5._____ is the divine law of Hindus. This law states that Hindus
must perform the duties of their caste.
The consequences of how a person lives is called 6._____.

Buddhism is the religion founded by

Siddhartha Guatama also known as
Buddha.
Nirvana a state of wisdom, occurs when a
person gives up all desires.
The core of Buddhas teaching is called
the Four Noble Truths.The Eight Fold
Path describes the steps to eliminate
suffering.

Theravada Buddhism believes the Buddha

was a great teacher. Mahayana believe
Buddha was a god who came to save the
people and spread to Tibet, China, Korea,
and Japan.
Tibet is a country in central Asia where
Mahayana Buddhism mixed with the
traditional Tibetan religion and Hinduism to
create a special kind of Mahayana
Buddhism.

In Tibet religious leaders

called Dalai Lama
headed the
government. Dalai
Lama was the
government leader and
Panchen Lama was the
religious leader.
Theocracy is a form of

Along with Hinduism and Buddhism,

another Indian faith known as Jainism.
The exact origins of Jainism are unknown.
Its current form was developed by a
religious leader named Mahavira.
Mahavira became known as the jina or
the conqueror. His followers came to be
known as Jains.

SECTION 3
Chandra Gupta an Indian prince, founded Indias
first empire after Alexander the Great left India.
This empire was called the Mauryan dynasty.
Chandragupta controlled his dynasty by retaining
a strong army and using spies.
The Mauryan Empire reached the height of its
glory under Ashoka After he was a strong
military leader, Ashoka turned away from
violence. He made a vow to live a peaceful life
and follow Buddhism.

Ashoka also had thousands of stupas built throughout

India. Stupas are Buddhist shrines shaped like a dome
or burial mound. The stupas contained religious objects
and served as a place of worship.
After Ashoka died in 232 b.c., the Mauryan Empire
declined. The kings who came after Ashoka lacked his
kindness and skills. The new rulers made merchants pay
heavy taxes and took lands from the peasants. The
Indian people rebelled against the harsh treatment. In
183 b.c., the last Mauryan king was murdered by one of
his own generals. The land of the Mauryan Empire split
into many small warring kingdoms.

After 500 years of fighting, another

Chandragupta took power and founded
the Gupta dynasty. The Gupta empire
thrived on trading goods such as salt,
cloth and iron.
Pilgrims were people who often used the
trade routes to travel to a religious shrine
or site. The Guptas were Hindus, and they
made Hinduism the official religion.

The Vedas of India are hymns and

prayers used in religious ceremonies.
The Vedas were recorded in Sanskrit
after the Aryan people came to India.

The epics Mahabharata and

Ramayana are two poems that
tell about warriors and their
brave deeds.

Mathematicians in the Gupta empire developed the symbols for

the numbers 1 to 9 that we use today.
They also invented algorithms and the idea of zero.
Indians also developed ideas in astronomy and medicine.
Like the ancient Greeks, Indian astronomers proposed the
earth was round and revolved around the sun.