In scholarship, term most frequently referring to the Indo-Aryan family of languages and their scripts — including Sanskrit, Brahmi and Kharoshthi — or more generally to the classical, Sanskritic culture of the Indian subcontinent. Precursors of Sanskrit, known only through linguistic reconstruction, have been given names such as Old Indic and Middle Indic by specialists. The word ‘Indic’ derives from the Latin Indicus, meaning ‘of India’, and has been in use since the seventeenth century at least, often used loosely to mean ‘having to do with India’.
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Tamil (language)
Language of the Dravidian family, originating in present-day Tamil Nadu in southern India; and among the oldest languages of the…
Brahmi Script
A writing system or script that appeared as a fully developed universal system in Asia c. third century BCE. It…
Lotus Sutra
A collection of scriptures associated with Mahayana Buddhism, which influenced the creation of the Tiantai, Tendai, Cheontae and Nichiren schools.…
Prakriti
In the Hindu religious tradition, it is a theological concept that describes the primary principle, or source, of matter. In…
Satyagraha
A form of non-violent resistance pioneered by MK Gandhi. It translates to "an appeal for truth" and is based on…
Baburnama
The memoir of Zahiruddin Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire. Written in the Chagatai language in an autobiographical style,…
Upanishad
A body of texts written in Sanskrit and considered to be the latter part of the Vedas. They cover issues…
stambha
Sanskrit for ‘pillar’, historically appearing in various contexts, including Vedic liturgy, Brahmanical mythology, and Brahmanical treatises on architecture, theatre and…