Guides: Ancient Civilizations: Asia

India

Indus Valley civilization
Ancient civilization that flourished from about 2500 B.C. to about 1500 B.C. in the valley of the Indus River and its tributaries.
Sanskrit literature
Literary works written in Sanskrit constituting the main body of the classical literature of India.
Ganges River (India and Bangladesh)
Major river of India and Bangladesh; length 2,510 km/1,560 mi. It drains a fertile and densely populated basin, approximately a quarter of the total area of India, and is the most sacred river for Hindus.

China

China
Since the 2d millennium B.C. a unique and fairly uniform culture has spread over almost all of China.
Chinese Dynasties pre-1000AD
From Chambers Dictionary of World History
Shang Dynasty (1766–1122 BC);Zhou (Chou) Dynasty (1122/1066–256 BC); Qin (Ch'in) Dynasty (221–206 BC);Han Dynasties (206 BC–AD 220); Jin (Chin/Tsin) Dynasty (AD 266–317); Sui Dynasty (581–618); Tang Dynasty (618–907); Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907–60)
Yangtze River
Longest river of China and Asia. The official name for the entire length of the river is Chang Jiang; the Yangtze refers to a 650 km/400 mi stretch of the river identified with the Yang Kingdom of the 10th century BC.

Japan

Japan
The divine design of the empire—supposedly founded in 660 B.C. by the emperor Jimmu, a lineal descendant of the sun goddess and ancestor of the present emperor—was held as official dogma until 1945.

Religion and Philosophy

Buddha
[Skt.,=the enlightened One], usual title given to the founder of Buddhism. He is also called the Tathagata [he who has come thus], Bhagavat [the Lord], and Sugata [well-gone]. He probably lived from 563 to 483 B.C.
Buddhism
Religion and philosophy founded in India c.525 B.C. by Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha. The basic doctrines of early Buddhism include the "four noble truths": existence is suffering (dukhka); suffering has a cause, namely craving and attachment (trishna); there is a cessation of suffering, which is nirvana; and there is a path to the cessation of suffering.
Confucianism
Moral and religious system of China. Its origins go back to the Analects, the sayings attributed to Confucius, and to ancient commentaries. In its early form (before the 3d cent. B.C.) Confucianism was primarily a system of ethical precepts for the proper management of society.
Bhagavad Gita
Sanskrit poem incorporated into the Mahabharata, one of the greatest religious classics of Hinduism
Hinduism
The Western term for a religious tradition developed during the first millennium and intertwined with the history and social system of India.
Mahabharata
Classical Sanskrit epic of India, probably composed between 200 B.C. and A.D. 200.
Shintoism
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Ancient native religion of Japan still practiced in a form modified by the influence of Buddhism and Confucianism.
Taoism
The philosophical system stems largely from the Tao-te-ching, a text traditionally ascribed to Lao Tzu but probably written in the mid-3d cent. B.C.
Vedas
Oldest scriptures of Hinduism and the most ancient religious texts in an Indo-European language.
Vedic Religion
From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Ancient religion of India that was contemporary with the composition of the Vedas and was the precursor of Hinduism.
Yin and Yang
The Chinese concept that everything is explicable in terms of two complementary but opposing principles. It was developed in a sophisticated form by Han times (3rd Century BC–AD 3rd Century).

Books

Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy by Brian Carr and Indira Mahalingam
Covers the main traditions within Asian thought: Persian; Indian; Buddhist; Chinese; Japanese; and Islamic philosophy. Each section provides comprehensive coverage of the origins of the tradition, its approaches to, for example, logic and languages, and to questions of morals and society. Also contains useful histories of the lives of the key influential thinkers, as well as a thorough analysis of the current trends.
Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend
Provides accessible, informative and authoritative entries to answer any major question about Hinduism, its mythology, practices, customs and laws.