Early Historic
c. 600 – 200 BCE
The mahājanapadas, the Buddha and Mahāvīra, the Mauryas and Aśoka.
HinduAll Hindu →
- AgastyaAgastya is a rishi credited with authorship of Vedic hymns, with bringing Vedic and Tamil lea…
- The agni-parīkṣāThe agni-parīkṣā is the passage in the Rāmāyaṇa in which Rāma, after winning the war, repudia…
- AhalyāAhalyā is the wife of the sage Gautama in the Rāmāyaṇa, seduced by Indra in her husband's for…
- AhimsaAhimsa is the principle of non-harm to living beings, central to Jain ethics and important in…
- AkampanaAkampana is the rākṣasa in the Rāmāyaṇa who escaped the destruction of Janasthāna and first p…
- AlakāAlakā is the city of Kubera, lord of wealth, in the Rāmāyaṇa — the seat he withdrew to on Mou…
- AṅgadaAṅgada is the son of Vālī and Tārā in the Rāmāyaṇa, made crown prince of Kiṣkindhā at his fat…
- The anuṣṭubh and the first verseThe anuṣṭubh or śloka is the thirty-two-syllable verse in which the Rāmāyaṇa is composed, and…
- Araṇya KāṇḍaThe Araṇya Kāṇḍa is the third book of the Rāmāyaṇa, covering the years in the Daṇḍaka forest,…
- The ascetic's sonThe ascetic's son is the youth in the Rāmāyaṇa whom the young Daśaratha killed by shooting at…
- The aśoka groveThe aśoka grove is the garden in Laṅkā where Sītā was held for a year in the Rāmāyaṇa, guarde…
- The astrasThe astras of the Rāmāyaṇa are weapons belonging to particular gods, invoked and recalled by…
- The aśvamedha and the singing of the poemAt Rāma's horse sacrifice in the Rāmāyaṇa's last book, two boys raised at Vālmīki's hermitage…
- AtikāyaAtikāya is the colossal son of Rāvaṇa in the Rāmāyaṇa, armoured by Brahmā and schooled in the…
- AtriOne of the seven seers;
- Atri and AnasūyāAtri and Anasūyā are the aged sage and his wife in the Rāmāyaṇa who received the exiles at th…
- Āy dynastyThe Āys were a dynasty of the far south of Kerala, beginning as Sangam-age hill chieftains an…
- AyodhyāAyodhyā is the capital of Kosala and the city of Rāma in the Rāmāyaṇa, on the river Sarayū, d…
- Ayodhyā KāṇḍaThe Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa is the second book of the Rāmāyaṇa, in which Kaikeyī's two boons send Rāma…
- Bāla KāṇḍaThe Bāla Kāṇḍa is the first book of the Rāmāyaṇa, covering Rāma's birth, his first expedition…
- The banishment of SītāThe banishment of Sītā in the Rāmāyaṇa's seventh book is Rāma's decision, on hearing that his…
- Bhagavad GitaThe Bhagavad Gita is a 700-verse Sanskrit dialogue between the warrior prince Arjuna and the…
- BharadvājaBharadvāja is the sage of Prayāga in the Rāmāyaṇa, who received the exiles at the confluence…
- BharataBharata is Rāma's younger brother in the Rāmāyaṇa, whose mother Kaikeyī won him the throne an…
- Bharata and the sandalsBharata's taking of Rāma's sandals in the Rāmāyaṇa, after failing to bring his brother home f…
- BhriguProgenitor-sage who tested and marked the three great gods.
- Boons and curses in the RāmāyaṇaBoons and curses are the machinery of the Rāmāyaṇa's plot: a promise that cannot be revoked,…
- The breaking of Śiva's bowThe breaking of Śiva's bow at Mithilā is the episode in the Rāmāyaṇa by which Rāma wins Sītā,…
- The building of the bridgeThe building of the causeway to Laṅkā in the Rāmāyaṇa follows Rāma's three-day appeal to the…
- The burning of LaṅkāThe burning of Laṅkā in the Rāmāyaṇa is Hanumān's exit from the city — allowing himself to be…
- ChyavanaThe aged sage restored to youth by the Aśvins.
- CitrakūṭaCitrakūṭa is the hill in the Rāmāyaṇa where the exiles settled first, where Daśaratha's death…
- DadhichiThe sage who gave his own bones to forge Indra’s thunderbolt.
- DadhimukhaDadhimukha is the keeper of Sugrīva's honey grove in the Rāmāyaṇa, whose complaint that the r…
- The Daṇḍaka forestThe Daṇḍaka is the great forest south of the Vindhyas in the Rāmāyaṇa, where the exiles spent…
- DaśarathaDaśaratha is the king of Ayodhyā and father of Rāma in the Rāmāyaṇa, destroyed by two boons h…
- Dating the RāmāyaṇaThe Rāmāyaṇa has no securely fixed date;
- The death of DaśarathaDaśaratha dies of grief in the Rāmāyaṇa on the sixth night after Rāma's departure, understand…
- DelhiDelhi is the capital of India and one of the longest continuously inhabited urban regions in…
- Dharma-saṅkaṭa in the RāmāyaṇaDharma-saṅkaṭa is a conflict of obligations with no clean exit, and the Rāmāyaṇa is largely b…
- DhūmrākṣaDhūmrākṣa is the rākṣasa general in the Rāmāyaṇa sent out through the western gate of Laṅkā u…
- DurvasaThe short-tempered sage whose curses and boons drive many tales.
- DūṣaṇaDūṣaṇa is the marshal of Khara's forces at Janasthāna in the Rāmāyaṇa, killed with the whole…
- Early CherasThe early Cheras ruled the Malabar coast and the western Tamil country in the Sangam age, and…
- Early CholasThe early Cholas were one of the three crowned dynasties of the Tamil country in the Sangam a…
- The exile of RāmaThe exile of Rāma is the departure of the prince, his wife and his brother from Ayodhyā for f…
- The fourteen yearsThe fourteen years of Rāma's exile in the Rāmāyaṇa are counted exactly by everyone in the poe…
- GandharaGandhara was an ancient region centred on the Peshawar Valley, Swat Valley, and Taxila in pre…
- Gautama MaharṣiGautama is the sage of the Rāmāyaṇa whose curse condemned his wife Ahalyā to live unseen and…
- The geography of the RāmāyaṇaThe Rāmāyaṇa's landscape is precise in the north and schematic in the south, and the pattern…
- The golden deer and the abductionThe golden deer is the disguise in the Rāmāyaṇa by which the rākṣasa Mārīca drew Rāma away fr…
- GuhaGuha is the Niṣāda chief of Śṛṅgaverapura in the Rāmāyaṇa, a hunter-fisher king who was alrea…
- HanumānHanumān is the vānara minister of Sugrīva in the Rāmāyaṇa who leaps the ocean to find Sītā in…
- Hanumān's leap to LaṅkāHanumān's leap across a hundred yojanas of ocean to Laṅkā opens the fifth book of the Rāmāyaṇ…
- The Ikṣvāku lineThe Ikṣvākus are the solar dynasty of the Rāmāyaṇa, ruling Kosala from Ayodhyā, whose genealo…
- IndrajitIndrajit is Rāvaṇa's eldest son in the Rāmāyaṇa, who defeated Indra and took his name from it…
- JāmbavānJāmbavān is the ancient king of the bears in the Rāmāyaṇa, the oldest of Rāma's allies, who r…
- JanakaJanaka is the king of Videha and the father of Sītā in the Rāmāyaṇa, who found her as an infa…
- Janapadas after the KurusThe Janapadas were the polities of Iron Age North India that succeeded the Vedic-era Kuru kin…
- JanasthānaJanasthāna is the district of the Daṇḍaka forest in the Rāmāyaṇa held by the rākṣasa commande…
- JaṭāyuJaṭāyu is the aged vulture king in the Rāmāyaṇa, an old friend of Daśaratha, who attacked Rāv…
- KabandhaKabandha is the headless, one-eyed, long-armed creature of the Rāmāyaṇa who seizes both broth…
- KaikasīKaikasī is the rākṣasī mother of Rāvaṇa, Kumbhakarṇa, Śūrpaṇakhā and Vibhīṣaṇa in the Rāmāyaṇ…
- KaikeyīKaikeyī is the second queen of Daśaratha in the Rāmāyaṇa, the wife he loved best, who called…
- Kaikeyī's two boonsKaikeyī's two boons are the demand in the Rāmāyaṇa that sets the whole story in motion — that…
- KashyapaThe primal patriarch;
- KausalyāKausalyā is the senior queen of Daśaratha and the mother of Rāma in the Rāmāyaṇa, whose posit…
- KekayaKekaya is the north-western kingdom of the Rāmāyaṇa from which Kaikeyī came, and where Bharat…
- Kesarī and AñjanāKesarī and Añjanā are the parents of Hanumān in the Rāmāyaṇa — a vānara chieftain and an apsa…
- KharaKhara is the rākṣasa commander of Janasthāna in the Rāmāyaṇa, Rāvaṇa's kinsman, whose army of…
- The killing of VālīRāma's killing of the vānara king Vālī from behind cover, during a wrestling match with his b…
- Kirāta dynastyThe Kirātas are the dynasty Nepali tradition places before the Licchavis in the Kathmandu val…
- KiṣkindhāKiṣkindhā is the vānara kingdom of the Rāmāyaṇa, ruled by Vālī and then by Sugrīva, where Rām…
- Kiṣkindhā KāṇḍaThe Kiṣkindhā Kāṇḍa is the fourth book of the Rāmāyaṇa, in which Rāma allies with the exiled…
- KosalaKosala is the kingdom of the Ikṣvāku line in the Rāmāyaṇa, ruled from Ayodhyā on the Sarayū,…
- KumbhakarṇaKumbhakarṇa is Rāvaṇa's giant brother in the Rāmāyaṇa, cursed to sleep for half the year, who…
- KuśadhvajaKuśadhvaja is Janaka's younger brother in the Rāmāyaṇa, ruler of Sāṅkāśyā, whose two daughter…
- Kuśāvatī and ŚrāvastīKuśāvatī and Śrāvastī are the cities in the Rāmāyaṇa's last book where Rāma installed his son…
- LakṣmaṇaLakṣmaṇa is Rāma's younger brother in the Rāmāyaṇa, who follows him into exile and serves fou…
- LaṅkāLaṅkā is Rāvaṇa's island city in the Rāmāyaṇa, taken from his half-brother Kubera, burned by…
- Lava and KuśaLava and Kuśa are the twin sons of Rāma and Sītā in the Rāmāyaṇa, born at Vālmīki's hermitage…
- MahabharataThe Mahabharata is a Sanskrit epic of ancient India, traditionally ascribed to the sage Vyasa…
- MahasthangarhMahasthangarh is the earliest known city in Bengal, a fortified site on the Karatoya in north…
- MahodaraMahodara is the courtier-general of Laṅkā in the Rāmāyaṇa who answered Kumbhakarṇa's blunt wa…
- Mainda and DvividaMainda and Dvivida are the vānara brothers of the Rāmāyaṇa, sons of the Aśvins, counted among…
- MālavaThe Mālavas were a people who fought Alexander in the Punjab, migrated southeast into Rajasth…
- Māṇḍavī and ŚrutakīrtiMāṇḍavī and Śrutakīrti are the daughters of Kuśadhvaja in the Rāmāyaṇa, cousins of Sītā, marr…
- MandodarīMandodarī is the chief queen of Rāvaṇa in the Rāmāyaṇa and the mother of Indrajit, whose lame…
- MantharāMantharā is the hunchbacked maidservant of Kaikeyī in the Rāmāyaṇa who persuades her mistress…
- MārīcaMārīca is the rākṣasa in the Rāmāyaṇa who took the form of the golden deer that drew Rāma awa…
- MarkandeyaThe ever-youthful sage who survived the cosmic dissolution.
- MātaliMātali is Indra's charioteer in the Rāmāyaṇa, sent down with the god's own chariot so that Rā…
- MathuraMathura is an ancient city on the Yamuna River in western Uttar Pradesh, revered in Hindu tra…
- Mount MahendraMount Mahendra is the peak in the Rāmāyaṇa from which Hanumān launched himself across the oce…
- The mutilation of ŚūrpaṇakhāThe mutilation of Śūrpaṇakhā at Pañcavaṭī in the Rāmāyaṇa — her nose and ears cut off by Lakṣ…
- NalaNala is the vānara engineer in the Rāmāyaṇa, a son of the divine architect Viśvakarman, who b…
- NandigrāmaNandigrāma is the village outside Ayodhyā in the Rāmāyaṇa from which Bharata governed Kosala…
- NaradaThe wandering divine sage and musician;
- Narāntaka and DevāntakaNarāntaka and Devāntaka are sons of Rāvaṇa in the Rāmāyaṇa who fought in the great sortie aft…
- NīlaNīla is the commander-in-chief of the vānara army in the Rāmāyaṇa, a son of the fire god, who…
- PañcavaṭīPañcavaṭī is the place on the Godāvarī in the Rāmāyaṇa where the exiles built their hut on Ag…
- Pandya dynastyThe Pandya dynasty was an ancient Tamil dynasty centered on Madurai in southern Tamil Nadu, w…
- PaniniPanini was an ancient Sanskrit grammarian of Gandhara, active around the 4th century BCE, who…
- ParasharaSage-father of Vyāsa;
- PatanjaliCodifier of the Yoga Sūtras;
- PinākaPināka is the bow of Śiva in the Rāmāyaṇa, kept by the kings of Videha, which no suitor could…
- PrāgjyotiṣaPrāgjyotiṣa is the name the epics give to the kingdom of the Brahmaputra valley, ruled by Nar…
- PrahastaPrahasta is Rāvaṇa's chief minister and commander-in-chief in the Rāmāyaṇa, held back until t…
- PrayāgaPrayāga is the confluence of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā in the Rāmāyaṇa, where the sage Bharadv…
- PushkalavatiPushkalavati, at modern Charsadda in Pakistan, was the earliest capital of the Gandhara regio…
- The Puṣpaka vimānaThe Puṣpaka is the flying chariot of the Rāmāyaṇa, made for Kubera and seized by Rāvaṇa, whic…
- The rākṣasasThe rākṣasas are the people of Laṅkā in the Rāmāyaṇa — night-ranging, shape-shifting, flesh-e…
- RāmaRāma is the prince of Ayodhyā at the centre of the Rāmāyaṇa, exiled for fourteen years by his…
- Rāma SetuRāma Setu is the causeway built across the sea to Laṅkā in the Rāmāyaṇa, identified in tradit…
- Rāma-rājyaRāma-rājya is the reign of Rāma described at the end of the Rāmāyaṇa — a kingdom without want…
- Rāma's departureRāma's departure at the end of the Rāmāyaṇa is his walk into the river Sarayū, with the popul…
- RāmāyaṇaThe Rāmāyaṇa is the Sanskrit epic attributed to Vālmīki, in seven books, telling how Rāma of…
- RāvaṇaRāvaṇa is the ten-headed rākṣasa king of Laṅkā in the Rāmāyaṇa, a brahmin's son, a scholar an…
- Ṛṣyamūka and Lake PampāṚṣyamūka is the hill in the Rāmāyaṇa where the exiled Sugrīva sheltered from his brother, abo…
- ṚśyaśṛṅgaṚśyaśṛṅga is the antelope-horned ascetic of the Rāmāyaṇa, raised without ever seeing a woman,…
- RumāRumā is the wife of Sugrīva in the Rāmāyaṇa, taken by his brother Vālī after he drove him out…
- ŚabarīŚabarī is the forest ascetic of the Rāmāyaṇa who waited at Lake Pampā on her teachers' word t…
- Sagara and the descent of the GaṅgāSagara and his sixty thousand sons are the ancestors of Rāma in a story told within the Rāmāy…
- ŚambūkaŚambūka is the śūdra ascetic in the Rāmāyaṇa's seventh book whom Rāma beheads for performing…
- SampātiSampāti is the elder vulture brother in the Rāmāyaṇa, wingless since he shielded Jaṭāyu from…
- The sañjīvanī and the mountainThe sañjīvanī episode in the Rāmāyaṇa is Hanumān's flight to a mountain in the north for four…
- SāṅkāśyāSāṅkāśyā is the city of Kuśadhvaja in the Rāmāyaṇa, a satellite kingdom of Videha, whose two…
- ŚāntāŚāntā is the princess of Aṅga in the Rāmāyaṇa, given in marriage to the ascetic Ṛśyaśṛṅga whe…
- SaptarishiThe seven great seers of the age: Kaśyapa, Atri, Vasiṣṭha, Viśvāmitra, Gautama, Jamadagni, Bh…
- ŚarabhaṅgaŚarabhaṅga is the sage of the Daṇḍaka forest in the Rāmāyaṇa who kept Brahmā's world waiting…
- SaramāSaramā is the rākṣasī of the Rāmāyaṇa who befriended Sītā in captivity, exposed Rāvaṇa's illu…
- The SarayūThe Sarayū is the river of Ayodhyā in the Rāmāyaṇa, on which the city stands, where Daśaratha…
- ŚatrughnaŚatrughna is the youngest of the four brothers of the Rāmāyaṇa, Lakṣmaṇa's twin and Bharata's…
- Science in ancient IndiaA survey of scientific and technical achievement in ancient and early medieval India, across…
- ShukraVenus;
- SītāSītā is the wife of Rāma in the Rāmāyaṇa, found by King Janaka in a furrow, carried off by Rā…
- Sītā's ordeal and the epic's own doubtsSītā's treatment after the war — the public repudiation, the fire, the banishment and her fin…
- ŚṛṅgaverapuraŚṛṅgaverapura is the town of the Niṣāda chief Guha on the Gaṅgā in the Rāmāyaṇa, where the ex…
- SubāhuSubāhu is the rākṣasa in the Rāmāyaṇa who with Mārīca defiled Viśvāmitra's sacrifices, and wh…
- SugrīvaSugrīva is the vānara king of Kiṣkindhā in the Rāmāyaṇa, driven out by his brother Vālī over…
- Śuka and SāraṇaŚuka and Sāraṇa are Rāvaṇa's spies in the Rāmāyaṇa, caught counting the besieging army, relea…
- SumantraSumantra is Daśaratha's charioteer and chief counsellor in the Rāmāyaṇa, who drove Rāma out o…
- SumitrāSumitrā is the middle queen of Daśaratha in the Rāmāyaṇa, mother of Lakṣmaṇa and Śatrughna, w…
- Sundara KāṇḍaThe Sundara Kāṇḍa is the fifth book of the Rāmāyaṇa, in which Hanumān leaps the ocean, finds…
- Śuṅga dynastyThe Śuṅgas were the dynasty that replaced the Mauryas in 185 BCE, ruling Magadha and central…
- ŚūrasenaŚūrasena was a mahājanapada of the Mathurā country, the kingdom in whose territory the Kṛṣṇa…
- ŚūrpaṇakhāŚūrpaṇakhā is Rāvaṇa's sister in the Rāmāyaṇa, who desired Rāma in the forest, was mocked and…
- SuryavanshaSuryavansha, or the Solar Dynasty, is the Puranic and epic genealogical lineage tracing desce…
- SuṣeṇaSuṣeṇa is the vānara physician in the Rāmāyaṇa, father of Tārā, who identified the healing he…
- SutīkṣṇaSutīkṣṇa is the forest ascetic of the Rāmāyaṇa who offered Rāma the heaven he had earned by a…
- SvayamprabhāSvayamprabhā is the ascetic woman of the Rāmāyaṇa who guards an enchanted underground palace,…
- Tārā of KiṣkindhāTārā is the queen of Vālī in the Rāmāyaṇa, the shrewdest counsellor in Kiṣkindhā, who warned…
- TāṭakāTāṭakā is the yakṣī turned rākṣasī in the Rāmāyaṇa whose killing is the first act of violence…
- TaxilaTaxila, or Takshashila, was an ancient city in the Gandhara region of the northwestern subcon…
- TrijaṭāTrijaṭā is the rākṣasī in the Rāmāyaṇa who guards Sītā in the aśoka grove and protects her, r…
- TriśirasTriśiras is the three-headed rākṣasa of Khara's command in the Rāmāyaṇa who asked to face Rām…
- UjjainUjjain is a city on the Shipra River in Madhya Pradesh, continuously inhabited since at least…
- UpanishadsThe Upanishads are a body of Sanskrit philosophical texts, composed over several centuries fr…
- ŪrmilāŪrmilā is Sītā's sister and the wife of Lakṣmaṇa in the Rāmāyaṇa, left in Ayodhyā for fourtee…
- Uttara KāṇḍaThe Uttara Kāṇḍa is the seventh book of the Rāmāyaṇa, covering Rāvaṇa's ancestry, the banishm…
- VajradaṃṣṭraVajradaṃṣṭra is the rākṣasa general in the Rāmāyaṇa sent against the southern gate of Laṅkā a…
- VālīVālī is the vānara king of Kiṣkindhā in the Rāmāyaṇa, the strongest of his kind, who drove ou…
- VālmīkiVālmīki is the sage to whom the Rāmāyaṇa is attributed, called the ādi-kavi or first poet, an…
- The vānarasThe vānaras are the forest people of the Rāmāyaṇa who supply Rāma's army — described as monke…
- VaranasiVaranasi, traditionally known as Kāśī or Banaras, is a city on the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh reg…
- VasiṣṭhaVasiṣṭha is one of the seven great sages (saptarṣi) of Hindu tradition and, in the Rāmāyaṇa,…
- Vēḷir chieftainciesThe Vēḷir were the chieftains of the Tamil country who ruled the hill and forest tracts betwe…
- VibhīṣaṇaVibhīṣaṇa is Rāvaṇa's youngest brother in the Rāmāyaṇa, who told him in open council to retur…
- Videha and MithilāVideha is the kingdom of Janaka in the Rāmāyaṇa, north of the Ganges, ruled from Mithilā — th…
- VishwamitraKing who became a brahmarṣi;
- ViśravasViśravas is the brahmin sage of the Rāmāyaṇa's seventh book who fathered both Kubera, the lor…
- ViśvāmitraViśvāmitra is the sage in the Rāmāyaṇa who took the boy Rāma from his father's house to guard…
- VyasaCompiler of the Vedas and author of the Mahābhārata.
- The waking of KumbhakarṇaThe waking of Kumbhakarṇa in the Rāmāyaṇa is the set piece in which Rāvaṇa's giant brother is…
- Yadu and the Yādava lineageYadu was a Ṛgvedic people whose name became, in later tradition, the great Yādava lineage of…
- Yuddha KāṇḍaThe Yuddha Kāṇḍa is the sixth and longest book of the Rāmāyaṇa, covering the bridging of the…
VedicAll Vedic →
- AṅgaAṅga was a mahājanapada east of Magadha with its capital at Campā, and the first of the great…
- AssakaAssaka was the southernmost of the sixteen mahājanapadas, a kingdom of the Godāvarī valley an…
- AtriOne of the seven seers;
- AvantiAvanti was a mahājanapada of the Malwa plateau ruled from Ujjayinī, the strongest of Magadha'…
- BhriguProgenitor-sage who tested and marked the three great gods.
- ChediChedi was a mahājanapada of the Bundelkhand country south of the Yamuna, known from the epics…
- ChyavanaThe aged sage restored to youth by the Aśvins.
- DadhichiThe sage who gave his own bones to forge Indra’s thunderbolt.
- DurvasaThe short-tempered sage whose curses and boons drive many tales.
- Janapadas after the KurusThe Janapadas were the polities of Iron Age North India that succeeded the Vedic-era Kuru kin…
- KambojaKamboja was a people of the Kabul valley and the northwestern highlands, counted among the ma…
- KashyapaThe primal patriarch;
- KāśīKāśī was a mahājanapada of the middle Ganga around Vārāṇasī, an old and wealthy kingdom that…
- MadraMadra was a kingdom of the central Punjab around Śākala, named in later Vedic literature and…
- MarkandeyaThe ever-youthful sage who survived the cosmic dissolution.
- MatsyaMatsya was a mahājanapada of eastern Rajasthan with its capital at Virāṭanagara, best known a…
- NaradaThe wandering divine sage and musician;
- PanchalaPanchala was a later Vedic kingdom of the upper Ganga–Yamuna Doab that, with its neighbour Ku…
- PaniniPanini was an ancient Sanskrit grammarian of Gandhara, active around the 4th century BCE, who…
- ParasharaSage-father of Vyāsa;
- PatanjaliCodifier of the Yoga Sūtras;
- ŚālvaŚālva was a people of the country between Rajasthan and Haryana, named in the later Vedic lit…
- SaptarishiThe seven great seers of the age: Kaśyapa, Atri, Vasiṣṭha, Viśvāmitra, Gautama, Jamadagni, Bh…
- ShukraVenus;
- ŚūrasenaŚūrasena was a mahājanapada of the Mathurā country, the kingdom in whose territory the Kṛṣṇa…
- UpanishadsThe Upanishads are a body of Sanskrit philosophical texts, composed over several centuries fr…
- Uśīnara and the ŚibiUśīnara and Śibi were related peoples of the Punjab, remembered in Vedic and Buddhist literat…
- VatsaVatsa was a mahājanapada at the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna, ruled from Kauśāmbī,…
- VishwamitraKing who became a brahmarṣi;
- VyasaCompiler of the Vedas and author of the Mahābhārata.
- Yadu and the Yādava lineageYadu was a Ṛgvedic people whose name became, in later tradition, the great Yādava lineage of…
BuddhistAll Buddhist →
- AhimsaAhimsa is the principle of non-harm to living beings, central to Jain ethics and important in…
- AjatashatruAjatashatru was a king of Magadha's Haryanka dynasty, traditionally dated to about 492–460 BC…
- AmaravatiAmaravati in Andhra Pradesh was a great Buddhist stupa on the Krishna river, whose limestone…
- AnattaAnatta is the Buddhist doctrine that no permanent, independent self is to be found in or behi…
- AnuradhapuraAnuradhapura was the capital and namesake of Sri Lanka's first major kingdom, a Buddhist stat…
- AshokaAshoka (reigned c.
- Ashokan edictsThe Ashokan edicts are inscriptions on rocks and pillars across the subcontinent issued by th…
- AssakaAssaka was the southernmost of the sixteen mahājanapadas, a kingdom of the Godāvarī valley an…
- AvantiAvanti was a mahājanapada of the Malwa plateau ruled from Ujjayinī, the strongest of Magadha'…
- BharhutBharhut in Madhya Pradesh was a Buddhist stupa of the second century BCE whose sculpted raili…
- Bodh GayaBodh Gaya in Bihar is where the Buddha is held to have attained awakening beneath the bodhi t…
- BuddhismBuddhism is a religious and philosophical tradition founded in northern India in the 5th cent…
- Buddhist councilsThe Buddhist councils were assemblies of the monastic community held to recite and settle the…
- Buddhist rock-cut architectureBuddhist rock-cut architecture comprises the chaitya halls and viharas excavated into the bas…
- ChaityaA chaitya is a Buddhist shrine hall containing a stupa, most familiar in the rock-cut halls o…
- Dasaratha JātakaThe Dasaratha Jātaka is the Pāli birth-story in which the Bodhisatta is born as Rāma-paṇḍita,…
- Dependent originationDependent origination is the Buddhist doctrine that phenomena arise in dependence on conditio…
- Early CherasThe early Cheras ruled the Malabar coast and the western Tamil country in the Sangam age, and…
- Four Noble TruthsThe Four Noble Truths are the framework of the Buddha's teaching — that there is suffering, t…
- GandharaGandhara was an ancient region centred on the Peshawar Valley, Swat Valley, and Taxila in pre…
- Gautama BuddhaGautama Buddha, born Siddhartha Gautama, was a Shakya prince of ancient India whose renunciat…
- Greco-Bactrian KingdomThe Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was a Hellenistic state in northern Afghanistan and Central Asia,…
- Jataka talesThe Jatakas are stories of the Buddha's previous births, numbering some 547 in the Pali colle…
- Kalinga WarThe Kalinga War (c.
- KambojaKamboja was a people of the Kabul valley and the northwestern highlands, counted among the ma…
- KāśīKāśī was a mahājanapada of the middle Ganga around Vārāṇasī, an old and wealthy kingdom that…
- Kirāta dynastyThe Kirātas are the dynasty Nepali tradition places before the Licchavis in the Kathmandu val…
- MagadhaMagadha was an ancient kingdom of the eastern Gangetic plain, centered on present-day Bihar,…
- MahasthangarhMahasthangarh is the earliest known city in Bengal, a fortified site on the Karatoya in north…
- MallaThe Mallas were a clan people of eastern Uttar Pradesh, organised as two gaṇa-saṅghas around…
- MathuraMathura is an ancient city on the Yamuna River in western Uttar Pradesh, revered in Hindu tra…
- Maurya EmpireThe Maurya Empire was the first state to rule most of the Indian subcontinent, founded by Can…
- NirvanaNirvana is the goal of Buddhist practice, the extinction of craving, aversion and delusion an…
- Noble Eightfold PathThe Noble Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths, setting out eight f…
- Pali CanonThe Pali Canon is the scriptural collection of Theravada Buddhism, the only early Buddhist ca…
- PataliputraPataliputra was the capital of the Magadha kingdom and later of the Mauryan and, intermittent…
- PushkalavatiPushkalavati, at modern Charsadda in Pakistan, was the earliest capital of the Gandhara regio…
- SanchiSanchi in Madhya Pradesh is a hilltop complex of Buddhist stupas and monasteries, whose Great…
- SanghaThe sangha is the Buddhist monastic community, the third of the three refuges, and the instit…
- SarnathSarnath, near Varanasi, is where the Buddha is said to have given his first discourse, and th…
- ShramanaShramana was the general term for the wandering renouncers of early India who rejected Vedic…
- Śiśunāga dynastyThe Śiśunāgas were a Magadhan dynasty of the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, credited with th…
- The six teachersThe six teachers are the rival contemporaries of the Buddha whose doctrines are set out and d…
- StupaA stupa is a solid domed monument raised over relics, the earliest form of Buddhist architect…
- Śuṅga dynastyThe Śuṅgas were the dynasty that replaced the Mauryas in 185 BCE, ruling Magadha and central…
- TaxilaTaxila, or Takshashila, was an ancient city in the Gandhara region of the northwestern subcon…
- TripitakaThe Tripitaka is the threefold division of the Buddhist canon into discipline, discourses and…
- Uśīnara and the ŚibiUśīnara and Śibi were related peoples of the Punjab, remembered in Vedic and Buddhist literat…
- Vajji confederacyThe Vajji confederacy was a league of clans in north Bihar governed by an assembly at Vaiśālī…
- VaranasiVaranasi, traditionally known as Kāśī or Banaras, is a city on the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh reg…
- VatsaVatsa was a mahājanapada at the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna, ruled from Kauśāmbī,…
- ViharaA vihara is a Buddhist monastery, originating as shelter for the rainy-season retreat and dev…
- VinayaThe Vinaya is the body of monastic discipline in Buddhism, one of the three divisions of the…
JainAll Jain →
- AhimsaAhimsa is the principle of non-harm to living beings, central to Jain ethics and important in…
- AjatashatruAjatashatru was a king of Magadha's Haryanka dynasty, traditionally dated to about 492–460 BC…
- AṅgaAṅga was a mahājanapada east of Magadha with its capital at Campā, and the first of the great…
- AvantiAvanti was a mahājanapada of the Malwa plateau ruled from Ujjayinī, the strongest of Magadha'…
- Āy dynastyThe Āys were a dynasty of the far south of Kerala, beginning as Sangam-age hill chieftains an…
- BhadrabahuBhadrabahu was a Jain teacher of the early period, remembered as the last to know the full ca…
- Chandragupta Maurya and JainismJain tradition holds that Chandragupta Maurya abdicated, became a mendicant under Bhadrabahu,…
- Early CherasThe early Cheras ruled the Malabar coast and the western Tamil country in the Sangam age, and…
- JainismJainism is an Indian religion holding that every living thing possesses an eternal soul bound…
- KharavelaKharavela was a king of Kalinga, known almost entirely from the Hathigumpha inscription, whic…
- MagadhaMagadha was an ancient kingdom of the eastern Gangetic plain, centered on present-day Bihar,…
- Mahāmeghavāhana dynastyThe Mahāmeghavāhanas were the dynasty that restored Kalinga after its devastation by Aśoka, a…
- MahaviraMahavira was the twenty-fourth and last tirthankara of the present cycle in Jain tradition, a…
- MallaThe Mallas were a clan people of eastern Uttar Pradesh, organised as two gaṇa-saṅghas around…
- MathuraMathura is an ancient city on the Yamuna River in western Uttar Pradesh, revered in Hindu tra…
- Maurya EmpireThe Maurya Empire was the first state to rule most of the Indian subcontinent, founded by Can…
- Nanda dynastyThe Nandas were the dynasty that ruled Magadha immediately before the Mauryas, remembered for…
- Pandya dynastyThe Pandya dynasty was an ancient Tamil dynasty centered on Madurai in southern Tamil Nadu, w…
- ParshvanathaParshvanatha was the twenty-third tirthankara of Jain tradition, and the earliest for whom hi…
- ShramanaShramana was the general term for the wandering renouncers of early India who rejected Vedic…
- Śiśunāga dynastyThe Śiśunāgas were a Magadhan dynasty of the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, credited with th…
- SthulabhadraSthulabhadra was a Jain teacher who, tradition holds, convened the council at Pataliputra tha…
- Udayagiri and KhandagiriUdayagiri and Khandagiri are two hills near Bhubaneswar in Odisha honeycombed with rock-cut c…
- Vajji confederacyThe Vajji confederacy was a league of clans in north Bihar governed by an assembly at Vaiśālī…
- Vēḷir chieftainciesThe Vēḷir were the chieftains of the Tamil country who ruled the hill and forest tracts betwe…
IslamicAll Islamic →
HeterodoxAll Heterodox →
- AjivikaThe Ajivikas were an ascetic order of ancient India holding that everything is determined by…
- AjnanaAjnana was the sceptical current among the shramana movements, holding that knowledge of meta…
- Makkhali GosalaMakkhali Gosala was the teacher regarded as the founder of the Ajivika order, known only thro…
- NiyatiNiyati is the principle of unalterable fate that governed Ajivika doctrine, holding that ever…
- Pakudha KaccayanaPakudha Kaccayana was a teacher of the Buddha's period who held that reality consists of seve…
- Purana KassapaPurana Kassapa was a teacher contemporary with the Buddha, reported as holding that actions h…
- Sanjaya BelatthiputtaSanjaya Belatthiputta was a sceptical teacher of the Buddha's time, characterised in the Pali…
- ShramanaShramana was the general term for the wandering renouncers of early India who rejected Vedic…
- The six teachersThe six teachers are the rival contemporaries of the Buddha whose doctrines are set out and d…
Folk & RegionalAll Folk & Regional →
Other FaithsAll Other Faiths →
- Achaemenid satrapies in IndiaThe Achaemenid satrapies in India were the northwestern provinces of the Persian empire, esta…
- Greco-Bactrian KingdomThe Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was a Hellenistic state in northern Afghanistan and Central Asia,…
- Macedonian satrapies in IndiaThe Macedonian satrapies in India were the short-lived provinces Alexander established in the…
Political & SecularAll Political & Secular →
- Achaemenid satrapies in IndiaThe Achaemenid satrapies in India were the northwestern provinces of the Persian empire, esta…
- AjatashatruAjatashatru was a king of Magadha's Haryanka dynasty, traditionally dated to about 492–460 BC…
- AṅgaAṅga was a mahājanapada east of Magadha with its capital at Campā, and the first of the great…
- AshokaAshoka (reigned c.
- Ashokan edictsThe Ashokan edicts are inscriptions on rocks and pillars across the subcontinent issued by th…
- AssakaAssaka was the southernmost of the sixteen mahājanapadas, a kingdom of the Godāvarī valley an…
- AvantiAvanti was a mahājanapada of the Malwa plateau ruled from Ujjayinī, the strongest of Magadha'…
- Āy dynastyThe Āys were a dynasty of the far south of Kerala, beginning as Sangam-age hill chieftains an…
- Chandragupta Maurya and JainismJain tradition holds that Chandragupta Maurya abdicated, became a mendicant under Bhadrabahu,…
- ChediChedi was a mahājanapada of the Bundelkhand country south of the Yamuna, known from the epics…
- DelhiDelhi is the capital of India and one of the longest continuously inhabited urban regions in…
- Early CherasThe early Cheras ruled the Malabar coast and the western Tamil country in the Sangam age, and…
- Early CholasThe early Cholas were one of the three crowned dynasties of the Tamil country in the Sangam a…
- GandharaGandhara was an ancient region centred on the Peshawar Valley, Swat Valley, and Taxila in pre…
- Greco-Bactrian KingdomThe Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was a Hellenistic state in northern Afghanistan and Central Asia,…
- India and Rome comparedA comparative framework used by historians of the ancient world to pair successive Indian emp…
- Kalinga WarThe Kalinga War (c.
- KambojaKamboja was a people of the Kabul valley and the northwestern highlands, counted among the ma…
- KāśīKāśī was a mahājanapada of the middle Ganga around Vārāṇasī, an old and wealthy kingdom that…
- Kirāta dynastyThe Kirātas are the dynasty Nepali tradition places before the Licchavis in the Kathmandu val…
- KṣudrakaThe Kṣudrakas were a martial clan people of the central Punjab who, in alliance with the Māla…
- Macedonian satrapies in IndiaThe Macedonian satrapies in India were the short-lived provinces Alexander established in the…
- MadraMadra was a kingdom of the central Punjab around Śākala, named in later Vedic literature and…
- MagadhaMagadha was an ancient kingdom of the eastern Gangetic plain, centered on present-day Bihar,…
- Mahāmeghavāhana dynastyThe Mahāmeghavāhanas were the dynasty that restored Kalinga after its devastation by Aśoka, a…
- MālavaThe Mālavas were a people who fought Alexander in the Punjab, migrated southeast into Rajasth…
- MallaThe Mallas were a clan people of eastern Uttar Pradesh, organised as two gaṇa-saṅghas around…
- MatsyaMatsya was a mahājanapada of eastern Rajasthan with its capital at Virāṭanagara, best known a…
- Maurya EmpireThe Maurya Empire was the first state to rule most of the Indian subcontinent, founded by Can…
- Nanda dynastyThe Nandas were the dynasty that ruled Magadha immediately before the Mauryas, remembered for…
- PanchalaPanchala was a later Vedic kingdom of the upper Ganga–Yamuna Doab that, with its neighbour Ku…
- PataliputraPataliputra was the capital of the Magadha kingdom and later of the Mauryan and, intermittent…
- The Paurava kingdom of PorusThe Paurava kingdom was a Punjab state between the Jhelum and the Chenab whose king, called P…
- PrāgjyotiṣaPrāgjyotiṣa is the name the epics give to the kingdom of the Brahmaputra valley, ruled by Nar…
- ŚālvaŚālva was a people of the country between Rajasthan and Haryana, named in the later Vedic lit…
- Science in ancient IndiaA survey of scientific and technical achievement in ancient and early medieval India, across…
- Śiśunāga dynastyThe Śiśunāgas were a Magadhan dynasty of the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, credited with th…
- Śuṅga dynastyThe Śuṅgas were the dynasty that replaced the Mauryas in 185 BCE, ruling Magadha and central…
- ŚūrasenaŚūrasena was a mahājanapada of the Mathurā country, the kingdom in whose territory the Kṛṣṇa…
- TaxilaTaxila, or Takshashila, was an ancient city in the Gandhara region of the northwestern subcon…
- Uśīnara and the ŚibiUśīnara and Śibi were related peoples of the Punjab, remembered in Vedic and Buddhist literat…
- Vajji confederacyThe Vajji confederacy was a league of clans in north Bihar governed by an assembly at Vaiśālī…
- VatsaVatsa was a mahājanapada at the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna, ruled from Kauśāmbī,…
- Vēḷir chieftainciesThe Vēḷir were the chieftains of the Tamil country who ruled the hill and forest tracts betwe…
- Warfare in ancient IndiaWarfare in ancient India spans the tribal conflicts described in the Rigveda and the epics th…
- Wari-BateshwarWari-Bateshwar is an early historic fortified settlement in central Bangladesh, ancient India…
- Wootz steelWootz steel is a high-carbon crucible steel developed in South India by the mid-first millenn…
- Yadu and the Yādava lineageYadu was a Ṛgvedic people whose name became, in later tradition, the great Yādava lineage of…