Chapter 08 Self-Assessment

. In the early first millennium BCE, the emerging states along the Ganges River valley developed political systems ranging from_______ to centralized monarchies.

. Contemporary accounts of ______________'s court and the structure of his government suggest a strong connection to the political practices idealized in the Arthashastra.

. _________ is considered to be perhaps India's most dominant ruler until the nineteenth century CE.

. Departing somewhat from the Bhagavad Gita's concept of dharma as duty, dharma for Ashoka was simply________.

. In spite of his advocacy of the peaceful principles of dharma, Ashoka's empire seems to have been an early version of a(n) ________.

. The continual arrival of new peoples from central Asia expanded the cultural resources of northern India and greatly aided the spread of Buddhism, but it also:

. The _____ era is considered to be the classical age of Indian culture and religion.

. During this era, a collection of religious traditions derived from Vedic, Brahmanic, and Upanishadic practices, among others, and collectively called________, flourished, becoming India's dominant faith.

. Gupta power began to wane as groups seeking greater autonomy in the vicinity of Malwa in central India began to assert themselves, and as a new wave of central Asian nomads, the___________, began to arrive.

. The following was not one of India's southern kingdoms:

. In devotional branches of Hinduism, a worshipper dedicates himself to practices that venerate, honor, or adore:

. The authors of the Upanishads and main reformist visionaries of the Vedic tradition were Mahavira and Gautama, the latter also known as_________ or Enlightened One.

. The Upanishads, which favored monism over polytheism, proclaimed a(n) ___________ first principle as universal truth.

. These Indian visionaries sought not only to understand the unity of the universe, but also to attain this unity by merging their personal selves, or_______, into the universal self, or______, and thereby achieve salvation.

. Nigantha Nataputta was the founder of the ascetic religious doctrine known as:

. The founding principle of Jain doctrine is the belief that all things possess jiva, a kind of______ that yearns to be free from the prison of the material world.

. Jain doctrine teaches followers that the only thing standing between their jiva and freedom from material bondage is something called______.

. Which of the following is not a characteristic belief of Jain doctrine?

. In a deer park in Sarnath, Gautama preached a sermon to his disciples outlining what became known as the ________, a path of moderation.

. Which of the following is not one of Guatama's Four Noble Truths?

. In Buddhism, the final stage of enlightenment reached through meditation and "right mindfulness" is described as the "blowing out" of all karmic traces of past lives, thus achieving an uncluttered state of calm non-attached "nothingness" or ________.

. Which of the following is not a characteristic belief of Buddhist doctrine?

. _______ is the practice of acting in an unselfish manner for the good of others.

. The Pali Canon, written in Pali, the sacred language of Buddhism, is a collection of texts that constitutes the foundation of________ Buddhism and serves as the fundamental body of scriptures for nearly all Buddhist schools.

. Which of the following is not a text in the Pali Canon?

. Around the first century CE, all of these ideas took shape in what ultimately became the largest branch of Buddhism, ________, the "Greater Vehicle."

. The idea that the Indian subcontinent was a land united by faith was one of the most consistent Hindu beliefs and led to the name by which India is now universally recognized, ______.

. The incarnated form of a Hindu deity, such as Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, is known as a(n):

. With the decline of the Mauryans and the adoption of Buddhism by peoples of the northwest, the region around Taxila became the nexus of a caravan trade linking all of Eurasia, from:

. By this time, southern India's Indian Ocean trade had grown highly profitable from the spice trade in such rare spices as nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves, but especially________, a spice which would drive what ultimately became the world's first global trading system.

. Not until the arrival of the______, in the fourteenth century CE, did Indian supremacy in the Indian Ocean trade begin to wane.

. Perhaps the most distinctive marker of Hinduism as a religious civilization is the ______system.

. The idea of __________results from unsanctioned contact with someone from a lower caste.

. As a classical language, Sanskrit was used in a staggering variety of works of poetry, prose, and drama, as well as in the Puranas, which were______________.

. Known for such works as the romance Shakuntala and the epic The Cloud Messenger, __________ is the most influential poet and dramatist of the Sanskrit language and is widely referred to as "India's Shakespeare."

. In addition to Buddhism, the most profound intellectual influences from India on the surrounding regions were in the realm of________.

Back to top