History 8 India Vocabulary

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1. Vedas

- Vedas, or knowledge, are the scriptures that the Hindus base their religion and practice on. These scriptures are "heard" or "seen" by something divine and then passed orally through a family tree. There are four Vedas, the the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda. These scriptures also have big influence on Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.The Vedas have hymns, incantations, and rituals from ancient India that are still used today. <http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/>

Paige Avery

2. Rig Veda

3. dharma

4. Braham

5. atman

6. Samsara

7. moksha

8. puja

-Puja, or worship, is the main ritual of popular theistic Hinduism. Puja is performed by common people and priests in temples and homes throughout India every day. In larger temples, puja is accompanied sometimes by beating drums, ringing bells, and loud chanting of sacred texts. <http://www.sjsu.edu/people/shantanu.phukan/courses/70B/s1/Fuller-Camphor%20Flame%20Puja.pdf>

For an image, click here--> <http://www.google.com/search?q=puja&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=JLt0T-DdMMry2QW0sLDUDg&biw=1280&bih=800&sei=Jrt0T5OLHuau2AXj4ZjUDg>

9. karma

What goes around comes around. What this means is if you do something bad something bad will happen to you in the future, you can make up for karma in another life. So if you have good karma then you have nothing to make up for.

10. bhakti

11. nirvana

12. enlightenment

13. dhamma

14. dhammapada

15. bodhisattva

16. ahimsa

17. Mahvira

Mahvira, the son of Siddartha, was the 24th Tirthankara. After living as a prince for thirty years, he gave up his royal life to become a monk, engaging in self-contemplation and meditation. He is recognized mostly for teaching his followers the main five ethical ways to elevate the quality of life.

    -Chastity
    -Non-stealing
    -Non-violence
    -Truthfulness
    -Non-attachmetn

Sources: http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/mahavira.html Image:

18. Amida Buddha

Amida Buddha literally means 'limitless light.' The Amida Buddha, a bodhisattva, is the main religious figure for the Pure Land Buddhists. Anyone who spoke his name would be able to to to the Pure Land, a place where one could reach nirvana more easily. Pure Land Buddhism began in the China and eventually migrated to Japan.

Sources: page 110 of the Manuel for Cultural Foundations of Ancient Civilizations
for more information visit: [[1]]
For a picture scroll down to reflections of June on the website: [[2]]

-Cameron Weiner