History Terms and Definition (Ancient, Medival and Modern)

Complete History Indian Vocabulary and Meanings

Ancient India glossary

Key terms in Medieval Indian History

This glossary of history is a list of topics relating to history. The list contains the frequently asked history terms in Various competitive exams (UPSC SSC CGL etc).

These History terms have covered all the terms from ancient to modern Indian History.

Terms/Glossary	Meaning
Agnikula	Certain Rajput clans who claim to have emerged from Yajna Havana-Kunda.
Agrahara	Donation of land or taxes from a village by the king to the learned brahmans./ Tax-free villages granted to the learned Brahmanas in ancient India were known as Agrahara.
Ajivika	A heterodox sect closer to Jainism which flourished at the time of the Buddha
Akot	A town, about 42 km from Akola, from where a stone idol of Lord Adinath, the first Jain Teerthankara, was found in 1993
Amarasimha	was one of the nine gems in the court of the legendary Vikramaditya. His work Amarkosha occupies a dominant position in Sanskrit lexicography.
Amatya	Official designation for a high official used right from the Mauryan Period.
Amoghavarsha-I	The long ruling Rashtrakuta king (A.D. 814-78). He represented the height of development of his dynasty.
Aranyakas	Vedic texts, traditionally composed by hermits.
Artha	Prosperity and well-being, one of the four aims of life of a Hindu.
Arthashastra	A treatise on polity by Kautilya, belonging to the Mauryan period.
Asanga	A Buddhist philosopher. He was the origi­nator of Buddhist Yogachara idealism.
Ashramas	The four stages of life; also a place where hermits live.
Ashvaghosha	The spiritual adviser of Kanishka (the Kushan emperor) who took a leading part in the Fourth Buddhist Council at Srinagar which was presided by Vasumitra. He was a renowned Mahayana Sanskrit scholar and author of Sariputra-prakarana and Buddha Charitam. He was the greatest literary figure at Kanishka’s court.
Atisa Dipankara	The most famous teacher of Vikramasila university founded in A.D. 810 by king Dharmapala of Pala dynasty.
Ayukta	Designation of an officer frequently used in the Mauryan period.
Battle of San Thomas	This battle during the Carnatic Wars (1746-61) definitely proved for the first time the superiority of European arms and discipline over the traditional Indian methods of warfare.
Battle of Waihand	was fought between Mahmud Ghaznavi and jaipala
Bhagavata	A sect devoted to Lord Vishnu.
Bhaskaravarman	The king of Kamarupa (Upper Assam). He was a contempo­rary of king Sasanka of Gauda and was his arch-enemy. Bhaskaravarman was the east­ern ally of king Harsha.
Bhukti	An administrative unit of a kingdom in the Gupta period.
Bilhana	A Sanskrit historian and poet born in Kashmir. He left Kashmir about A.D. 1065 and became the court poet at Kalyana where he wrote an epic, Vikramadeva-charita to celebrate the reign of Vikramaditya-VI, the Chalukya king of Kalyana
Blue Water Policy	The “Blue Water” policy is attrib­uted to Don Francisco de Almeida, the first Viceroy of the Portuguese possessions in India. His “Blue Water” policy was to be powerful at the sea instead of building fortresses on Indian land.
Bodhisattva	A person who attains nirvana by working for the welfare of the world and voluntarily postpones release from rebirth; also regarded as an incarnation of the Buddha, prior to his own birth in the world
Boghaz Koi inscriptions	are important in Indian history because inscriptions of the four­teenth century B.C. discovered here mention the names of Vedic gods and goddesses.here mentioned god and godesses are move towards east.
Brahmacharin	Celibate studentship, the first of the four stages (Ashramas) of life.
Brahmagupta	(598-660) of Ujjain, was a great mathemati­cian of his time.
Brahmanas	Vedic texts dealing with rituals and sacrifice.
Brahui	A language of Baluchistan. Linguistically, it is Dravidian.
Busa Munda Revolt	occurred in Bihar.
Catching the butterflies and setting them free	The prominent feature of the foreign policy of Samudragupta.
Chaitya	A sacred enclosure. The term is also used for a Buddhist place of worship.
Chandernagore	A French possession before its merger with India.
Charvaka	Charvaka is known as the greatest of the materialistic philosophers of ancient India./A religious sect following a materialist philosophy.
Chauth	A tax levied by Marathas—a contribution exacted by a military leader, which was justified by the exi­gencies of the situation
Coinage in Ancient India	Coins in ancient India were made of metal—copper, silver, gold, or lead. Nishka and Satamana in the Vedic texts were taken to be names of coins, but they seem to be only prestige objects. Coins made of metal first appeared in the age of Gautama Buddha. The earliest were made largely of silver though a few copper coins also appear. Coins made of burnt clay belong to the Kushan peri­od i.e., the first three Christian centuries.
Dadu	The saint from Gujarat who preached non-sec­tarianism in medieval times. He founded the “Brahma-Sampardaaya” (the sect of Brahma)
Dahar (or Dahir)	The Brahmana king of Sind who was defeated by the Arab inva­sion in A.D. 712 by Mohammad­bin-Kasim, nephew and son-in­law of al-Hajjaj, governor of Irak. The Indian ruler (Dahar) offered a brave resistance in the battle near Raor but was defeat­ed and killed.
Darius	The Iranian ruler who penetrated into north-west India in 516 B.C. and annexed Punjab, west of Indus, and Sindh
Devadana	Donated revenue assigned to a temple.
Devapala	(A.D. 830-850) was successor to Dharmapala, the famous Pala ruler. He estab­lished the third important Pala university of Somapura. He shifted his capital to Monghyr from where he maintained diplomatic relations with the Sailendra kings of Sumatra.
Dhammapada	The first major work to say that sal­vation by means of devotion is open to humans regardless of birth, gender or station in life
Dharma	Piety, Morality – a way of life.
Dharmachakra	In the Gandhara art, it is the preaching mudra associated with the Buddha’s First Sermon at Sarnath
Dharmasastras	Texts on laws relating to society and religious observances of the Hindus.
Digambara	A Jain sect whose followers do not believe in keeping even a small piece of cloth on themselves.
Doab	The area between two rivers.
Dvija	The twice-born; referring to the first birth which is the physical birth and the second the initiation into educational status.
First metal used by man	Copper.
First Muslim invaders of India	Arabs were the first Muslim invaders of India.
First Sultan of Delhi	was Qutb-ud-din who succeeded Muhammad Ghuri as sovereign of the new Indian conquests, and from 1206 may be reckoned as the first Sultan of Delhi
First to issue gold coins in India	Mauryas.
First to set up department of agriculture	Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq was the first to set up a department of agriculture in India.
First to start sea trade with India	Portugal.
Garbhagriha	The sanctum of the Hindu temple.
Gautamiputra Satakarni	The great king of Satavahana dynasty.
Gayatri mantra	is con­tained in Rig Veda.
Gayatrimantra	The verses of the RigVeda wherein the request has been made to illuminate one’s mind with knowledge.
Gopuram	It has been the main feature of the South Indian temple architecture.
Grama	A village.
Hasan Gangoo	entitled Zafar Khan was founder of the Bahmani kingdom in Deccan.
Hinayana	One of the two major Buddhist sects.
Ibadat Khana	A build­ing at Fatehpur Sikri where Akbar held discussions on reli­gious matters.
Ibn-Batuta	A great scholar and traveller from South Africa who came to India in A.D. 1333 during the reign of Mohammad Tughlak and wrote about him.
Iqta	It was the land-grant system adopted by Ala-ud-din Khilji to grant his officers as reward for services rendered. Qutabuddin Aibak was assigned the first iqta in India by Mohd of Ghor.
Jati	Family or a group of people defined by their profession.
Jimutavahana	A famous jurist of medieval India (fifteenth century). His work Dayabhaga is a commentary on the srutis, specially on Manu.
Kalachuri era	counted from A.D. 248, it was mostly current in Central India. Their capital was Tripuri near Jabalpur. Kalachuris were the feudatories of the Pratiharas but soon acquired independence.
Kaliyuga	The fourth and final age of the aeon.
Kalpa	A day- of Brahma equivalent to 4,320 million earth years.
Karma	Action or deed, and also the theory of conditioning one’s future births by the deeds of the present or the previous lives.
Karshapana	The most commonly used coin in the Chola kingdom.
Kayastha	A jati associated with revenue records, first found in the Mauryan period and frequently mentioned in the medieval period
Kharoshthi	A script in which Ashokan inscription of Shahbazgari and Manashera are written.
Khiraj	The land tax imposed by Mohd-bin-Qasim after the Arabs’ occupation of Sind.
Kottom	An administrative unit.
Kula	The clan or extended family.
Kumaramatya	An official designation of a high official.
Magazines started by National leaders	Young India (M.K. Gandhi); Kesari (B.G. Tilak); New India (Annie Besant); Bengali (S.N. Bannerji).
Mahakshatrapa	‘Great governor’, a title taken by rulers, mainly by Saka kings.
Maharajadhiraja	‘Great king of kings’, an imperial title.
Mandalam	An administrative unit, frequently used in south India.
Maski Rock edict	This minor Rock-edict is the only edict in which Ashoka refers to himself as the king of Magadha.
Matha	A centre of education attached to a temple or religious establishment.
Matsyanyaya	A political theory where, in a state of anarchy, the strong devour the weak.
Maya	Illusion.
Moksha	Release from the cycle of rebirth.
Moplah Rebellion	broke out in Malabar (Kerala) in August 1921.
Nadu	An administrative unit, frequently used in south India.
Nagara	Style of temple architecture developed in central and northern India.
Nastaliq	A Persian script used in medieval India.
Nauroj festival in India	Balban introduced the famous Persian festival of Nauroj in India.
Nicolo Conti	The Italian foreign traveller who vis­ited Vijayanagar about A.D. 1420 during the reign of Deva Raya-II.
Nirvana	Release from the cycle of rebirth.
Nishaka	The term used for a coin.
Palas	who controlled most of Bengal and Bihar, was the third power involved in the three-sided conflict between Rashtrakutas and Pratiharas over the control of Kanauj. Pala dynasty was established by Gopala in the eighth century A.D. He attained renown from the fact that he was not hereditary king but was elected.
Pali	A Sanskrit-based language in which the Buddhist scriptures were recorded in Ceylon.
Pana	A term used for coin.
Paragana	During the rule of the so-called Slave dynasty in India, the empire was divided into provincial units called Paraganas placed under the charge of a military officer.
Pasupata	A Saivite sect.
Prakrit	This language received royal patronage during the reign of Satavahanas.
Puranas	The Hindu text containing the history of various dynasties. Purohita Chief priest.
Rajsekhar	The Sanskrit poet who lived in the court of Mahendrapala-I.
Rajuka	An official designation used in the Mauryan period.
Rashtra	Country
Ratika	or rati is a weight between 1.5 to 3 Gunjas; between 5 to 8 grains of rice. It was the basic weight (measure) in ancient India.
Ratnakara	denoted the Arabiasn Sea in ancient Indian historical geography.
Rishabha	is supposed to be the mythical founder of Jainism.
Sabha	An assembly of a few select ones/elders first found in the RigVeda.
Samiti	A larger assembly.
Samkhya	One of the six major schools of philosophy in ancient India.
Sangam	The earliest phase of Tamil literature.
Sardeshmukhi	An additional levy of 10%, which Shivaji demanded on the basis of his claim as the hereditary Sardeshmukh (chief headman) of Maharashtra.
Satamana	A silver coin which weighed about 180 grains.
Sati	A virtuous woman; one who has immolated herself on the funeral pyre of her husband.
Senapati	Commander of the army.
Shahrukh	It was silver coin of the Mughals.
Sharada script	The Kashmiri language was origi­nally written in Sharada script.
Shikhara	Tower surmounting a temple.
Shreni	Guild, organisation of craftsmen and merchants.
Stupa	Domical structure containing relics of the Buddha.
Subuktigin	The first Turkish invader of India.
Svetambara	One of the two major Jaina sects, which follows the code of wearing white clothes.
Tanka	A silver coin of the Sultanate period of India. `
Tantne	A religious cult.
Tehqiq-i-Hind	Alberuni’s work on India. It contains obser­vations on Indian civilization which are remarkably incisive and acute.
Theravada	A Buddhist sect.
Turushkadanda	A tax collected by the Gahadavalas during the early medieval India.
Upanishads	The philosophical texts included in Vedic literature.
Vagbhata	is regarded as unrivalled in his knowledge of the basic principles of Ayurveda.
Varna	Four-fold division of Hindu society.
Vatapi (or Badami)	now in the Bijapur district of Karnataka, where Pulakesin I, founder of the Chalukya dynasty in the middle of the sixth century, established him­self as lord of Vatapi or Badami (capital of Chalukyas). It is well-known for Chalukyan sculpture found in the cave temples here.
Vedanta	One of the six major philosophical schools in ancient India.
Vidushaka	the constant companion and confidant of the hero in Sanskrit dramas, was nearly always a Brahmin.
Vihara	Buddhist monastery.
Vikramasila University	A great Tantrik University founded by the Pala king Dharmapala in A.D. 810. It was a hotbed of moral corruption, sorcery and idolatry. In A.D. 1198, the soldiers if Ikhtiar Khilji raised the structure to the ground and killed every monk in the University.
Wood's Despatch of 1854	It related to educational reforms. Lord Dalhousie took measures to carry out the scheme embodied in the famous despatch of Sir Charles Wood (July 1854) which embraced ver­nacular schools throughout the districts, and above all the glori­ous measures of grants-in-aid to all schools, without reference to caste or creed.
Yakshagana	The south Indian dance tradition that appeared for the first time in the Vijayanagar period.
Yavana	Term used in Indian sources for the people of western Asia, Greeks and Romans.
Yoga	One of the six major schools of philosophy in ancient India.
Yuga	Any of the four ages of the life of the world.
Zabti System	was intro­duced by Akbar for land rev­enue administration. In Zabti system, land was measured and assessment of land revenue was based upon it.

Glossary of Hinduism Terms and Meanings

Arjuna
was a warrior who felt discouraged when going into battle and took advice from his chariot driver without knowing that he was Krishna, an incarnation of the Indian deity Vishnu

AryIndo-European-speaking
king nomads who entered India from the Central Asian steppes between 1500 and 1000 BCE and greatly affected Indian society

Asceticism
the idea of self denial, self sacrifice, even self mutilation that was done to communicate with the gods and began to take the place of sacrifice in ancient India

Atman
the individual soul

Ashoka
a ruler of the Mauryan Empire who converted to Buddhism

Avatar
an incarnation of a god

Bodhisattva
a person who has attained enlightenment but who has postponed nirvana in order to help others achieve enlightenment

Brahmins
the priestly caste who led ceremonies

Brahman
in Hinduism he was the universal soul, and in the trinity of gods in Hinduism he was the Creator

Buddhism
a religion that was started by Siddhartha Gautama who is also known as Buddha whose purpose was to stop suffering

Bodhi
means wisdom; Bodhi is achieved when worldly matters are abandoned, and is the source of the term "Buddhism." Bodhi is a key step on the way to nirvana

Chandragupta Maurya
a king, founder of the Mauryan Empire

Caste
India's rigid social system in which all members of that society are assigned by birth to specific ranks and inherit specific roles and privileges

Dharma
duty

Dravidian
a language; people who speak it mainly live in Southern India and were probably pushed there by the Aryan invasions

Ganges
a river in India that flows into the Bay of Bengal; in Hinduism, it is known as a sacred river

Harappan
a civilization that based itself on the Indus River

Hinduism
the main religion in India, it emphasizes reincarnation, based on the results of the previous life, and the desirability of escaping this cycle. Its various forms feature both asceticism and the pleasures of ordinary life, and it encompasses a multitude of gods as different manifestations of ultimate reality

Indus
a river in Pakistan that flows into the Arabian Sea

Jainism
a religion that branched off from Hinduism and was founded by Mahavira; its belief is that everything has a soul, and its purpose was to cleanse the soul. Some were extreme aesthetics

Jati
sub castes; were groups of people within each caste that worked together for one economic function

Karma
consequences of actions that determine your reincarnation

Kautilya
political advisor to the Mauryans

Krishna
in Hinduism, the seventh incarnation of the god Vishnu

Kshatriya
the warrior caste

Law of Manu
a book in which the rules for social behavior were written down; Manu is the mythical founder of India

Majaraja
an Indian king or prince that was ranked higher than a raja

Mohenjo-Daro
a city in the Harappan civilization that is located on the Indus River

Monsoon
strong winds that change with the seasons. Monsoons symbolize the great god Indra

Mahavira
an extreme aesthetic who founded the religion Jainism and thought of several Hindu concepts, such as karma, in a very concrete way

Mahabharata
one of the two Sanskrit epics of Ancient India. It is the longest epic poem in the world. It is translated as "Great India" and is primarily about wars

Moksha
in Hinduism, it is seen as the liberation of the soul from the body

Nirvana
the Buddhist belief of the extinction of desire and individual consciousness, also spiritual enlightenment

Pariahs
the name of the group of people outside the caste system; they were the outcasts of society and untouchables, were not considered part of Indian society or the caste system

Raja
the title given in India to a king or prince

Ramayana
A Hindu epic written in Sanskrit that describes the adventures of the king Rama and his queen

Rigveda
a veda, which was a sacred writing of Hinduism that contained a collection of Hindu poems and hymns that were used for religious reasons

Rock Chambers
a room or building carved out of the side of a cliff. They were used for religious ceremonies and houses to monks and wandering ascetics

Samsara
the Hindu cycle of death and rebirth; in Buddhism means rebirth

Sanskrit
an Indo-European language that was the language of the Vedas

Sati
a ritual that required a woman to throw herself onto her late husband's funeral pyre or burn herself. This was done gladly and if a woman did not comply with this she would be disgraced

Shiva
an important Hindu deity who in the trinity of gods was the Destroyer

Siddhartha Gautama
founder of Buddhism who achieved enlightenment of the meaning of life while sitting under a tree and later preached his conclusions that came to be known as Buddhism

Stupas
religious buildings that originally housed Buddha relics. Stupas developed into familiar Buddhist architecture

Sudras
the second lowest of the five castes in the Indian social system and were not twice born; consisted of peasants and artisans which was most of the Indian population

Syncretism
mixed souce belief (religions that are a blend of two or more)

Upanishads
commentaries on the Vedas that are considered sacred texts in the Hindu religion

Untouchables
the name of the group of people in the caste system that were the outcasts of society; were not considered a part of Indian society of the caste system, also called pariahs

Vaisya
the third highest caste that was made up of merchants and commoners, twice born

Vedas
sacred texts in the Hindu religion, they are a set of four collections of hymns and religious ceremonies transmitted by memory through the centuries by Aryan priests

Vishnu
Vishnu is a Hindu god who, in the trinity of gods, is the Preserver