| A | B |
|---|
| Indo-Europeans | group of nomadic peoples who came from the steppes |
| steppes | dry grasslands |
| migration | movement of people from one region to another |
| Hittites | Indo-European speakers who took control of Anatolia |
| Anatolia | Asia Minor; peninsula in modern-day Turkey |
| Aryans | Indo-European people; enter Indus River Valley around 1500 BC |
| Vedas | sacred writing of Aryans |
| Brahmin | priests in Indian caste system |
| caste | social class system developed by Aryans |
| Mahabharata | great Indian epic; reflexts blending of Aryan and non-Aryan culture |
| reincarnation | process by which an individual spirit is reborn |
| karma | good or bad deeds that follow the soul from one reincarnation to another |
| Jainism | religion whose members will not harm any creature |
| Siddhartha Gautama | founder of Buddhism |
| enlightenment | wisdom, escape from human suffering |
| nirvana | a perfect state of understanding; a release from selfishness and pain |
| Hinduism | taught that religion can liberate the soul from earthly problems |
| Buddhism | religion which teaches that the way to end all suffering is to end all desires |
