| A | B |
|---|
| Subcontinent | a large landmass smaller than a continent; especially : a major subdivision of a continent |
| Monsoon | a periodic wind especially in the Indian Ocean and southern Asia |
| Dialect | a regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and constituting together with them a single language |
| Caste | one of the hereditary social classes in Hinduism that restrict the occupation of their members and their association with the members of other |
| Rajah | an Indian or Malay hereditary prince or chief |
| Aryan | Warlike society that conquered the Indus Valley |
| Himalayas | mountains S Asia on border between India & Tibet & in Kashmir, Nepal, & Bhutan |
| Indus River | River that runs through present day Pakistan; home of early civilizations |
| Ganges River | Most holy river for a Hindu |
| Hinduism | the dominant religion of India that emphasizes dharma with its resulting ritual and social observances and often mystical contemplation and ascetic practices |
| Islam | the religious faith of Muslims including belief in Allah as the sole deity and in Muhammad as his prophet; main religion of Pakistan |
| Sikhism | a monotheistic religion of India founded about 1500 by Guru NAnak and marked by rejection of idolatry and caste |
| Karma | the force generated by a person's actions held in Hinduism and Buddhism to perpetuate transmigration and in its ethical consequences to determine the nature of the person's next existence; you are who you are because of how you lived your past life |
| Dharma | conformity to one's duty and nature |
| Reincarnation | Rebirth of the soul |
| Brahma | the creator god of the Hindu sacred triad -- compare SIVA, VISHNU: the ultimate ground of all being in Hinduism |
| Buddhism | a religion of eastern and central Asia growing out of the teaching of Gautama Buddha that suffering is inherent in life and that one can be liberated from it by mental and moral self-purification |
| Jainism | a religion of India originating in the 6th century B.C. and teaching liberation of the soul by right knowledge, right faith, and right conduct |
| Purdah | seclusion of women from public observation among Muslims and some Hindus especially in India |
| Monopoly | exclusive possession or control ex. British East India Company |
| Sepoy | a native of India employed as a soldier by a European power (bitish) |
| Nirvana | a place or state of oblivion to care, pain, or external reality; goal of every Buddhist |
| Mughals | an Indian Muslim of or descended from one of several conquering groups of Mongol, Turkish, and Persian origin |
| Untouchables | a member of a large formerly segregated hereditary group in India having in traditional Hindu belief the quality of defiling by contact a member of a higher caste: bottom of the caste system |
| Satyagraha | pressure for social and political reform through friendly passive resistance practiced by M. K. Gandhi and his followers in India |
| Civil Disobedience | Refusal to obey unjust laws; Gandhi |
| Gandhi | Indian civil rights leader who preached non-violence |
| Tenant Farm | A farmer that does not own the land he is farming and owes part of his crops to his landlord |
| Bangladesh | Country that lies to the East of India; mainly muslim; once known as East Pakistan |
| Pakistan | Country that lies to the West of India; mainly muslim |
| Kashmir | disputed territory N India (subcontinent); |
