History of India 1

HISTORY

Subject : History
(For under graduate student)

Paper No. : Paper - I

History of India

Topic No. & Title : Topic - 7

Janapadas & Mahajanapadas

Lecture No. & Title : Lecture - 5

Early Indian Trade

GLOSSARY

Mahajanapadas
The sixteen monarchies and republics that stretched
across the Indo-Gangetic plains from modern day
Afghanistan to Bangladesh in the 6th century BCE.

Parinirvana
The state of nirvana attained by a Buddhist in death, in
contrast to the nirvana he/she has attained in life.
History of India 2

Jatakas
Five hundred and forty seven previous birth stories of the
Buddha, which constitute one of the earliest Buddhist
literatures and provides information on the socio-economic
conditions that prevailed.

Ashtadhyayi
One of the earliest known Sanskrit grammars, written by
Panini in the 6th century BCE.

Arthashastra
An ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy
and military strategy book on politics and economics
written by Kautilya.

Suttanipata
One of the earliest texts of the Pali canonical literature of
Theravada Buddhism; contains an account of Baveru’s
journey from Pratisthana to Sravasti.

Anathapindika
One of the chief lay disciples of the Buddha and one of his
History of India 3

wealthiest patrons; famous for his munificence to monks

and poor alike.

Varna system
The original four-fold Vedic social division into four
classes,- Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya, Sudra according to
their occupations.

Jeevaka
A legendary physician and surgeon who treated even the
Buddha and Bimbisara and was praised by the former as
an ideal lay follower of Buddhism.

Herodotus (c.484-425 BCE)

An ancient Greek historian, known as the ‘Father of
History’, famous for his work ‘Histories’; one of the leading
sources of information about the ancient world.