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Abdul Ghaffar Khan: He was popularly known as 'Frontier Gandhi'. Refer Red Shirts and also under Civil Disobedience Movement.

Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan: lived during the reign of Akbar. He translated Babar's Memoirs from Turki to Persian.

Abdur Razzaq: was a Persian traveller who visited Vijayanagar during the reign of Deva Raya II (1425-46).

Abdussamad: He was honoured with the award of "zari-qalam" by Akbar.

Abhinav Bharat Society: It was a secret terrorist organisation formed by V.D. Savarkar.

Abhiras: were an immigrant non-Aryan tribe of ancient India. They were Central Asian nomads of Scythian stock.

Acharya Narendra Dev: was a prominent leader of the Congress Socialist Party.

Agha Khan: He ia known to have led the deputation of Muslim leaders to the Viceroy, Lord Minto II, in 1906, seeking separate electorates for Muslims in any representative system which might be introduced.

Ahmad Shah Abdali: The invasion of Ahmed Shah Abdali in the third battle of Panipat in 1761, gave a death blow to the political fortunes of Marhattas.

Ahmadnagar: is associated with Nizam Shahi.

Ahmedabad city: on the left bank of the Sabarmati river, was built by Ahmad Shah.

Aihole : in Karnataka contains chief sites of Chalukyan architecture.
Aihole inscription gives information regarding Pulakesin-II.

Ajanta Paintings: depict scenes from the Jataka stories which form the main theme of these paintings.

Ajivika : Ajivika sect was founded by Gosala Maskriputra who flourished during the Mauryan period and had lived with Mahavira for six years and subsequently left him and became the leader of the Ajivika sect.

Akbar: He was not influenced by earlier rulers so far as religious tolerance was concerned.

Akbarnama: It was written by Abul Fazl, the celebrated Mughal court poet and councillor of Akbar.

Akot: is a town, about 42 km from Akola, from where a stone idol of Lord Adinath, the first Jain Teerthankar, was found in 1993.

Ala-ud-din Khilji: He introduced price control covering almost the entire market. Grain was rationed and the price fixed.
Khalsah (crown land) increased considerably under Ala-ud-din Khilji. According to historian V.A. Smith, "Ala-ud-din Khilji introduced economic policy to check Mongol invaders".
'Iqta' , a land-grant system, was introduced by him.
He challenged the authority of 'Khalifa'.
Copper coins were started by him. Jaziya tax was collected from non-Muslims during his reign.
He sent Malik Kafur to Deccan for conquest.

Alberuni: He was a celebrated Muslim historian who visited India in company with the armies of Mahmud of Ghazni. He was also a Sanskrit scholar. He wrote 'Tahqiq-i-Hind'

Alexander: invaded India in 326 B.C.

Alfonso-de-Albuquerque: was the real founder of the Portuguese Empire in India. He was the first governor of Portuguese possessions in the East. He conquered Goa in 1510 and made it his capital. He died in 1515.

Aligarh Muslim University: was founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.

Allahabad Pillar inscription: provides us useful information about Samudragupta.

Amarasimha: was one of the nine gems in the court of the legendary Vikramaditya. His work Amarkosha occupies a dominant position in Sanskrit lexicography.

Amir Khusrau: (1255-1325) wrote prose and poetic works in Persian, Hindi, and Arabic. Surnamed as the "Parrot of India", he was a contemporary of Sultan Balban.

Amri Culture: flourished in Baluchistan.

Amritsar city: was founded by Guru Ram Dass in 1577. The place for Amritsar was given to Guru Ram Dass by the Mughal Emperor Akbar.

Angkor Vat: a ruined city in Kampuchia (Cambodia) where beautiful specimens of ancient Indian art
and culture are found. Here Indian expertise has been used in archaeological restoration of the monuments.

Anglo-Mysore War, Third: was fought between the English under Cornwallis and Tipu Sultan in 1790-92. Tipu Sultan had to submit and was compelled to sign the Treaty of Seringapattam.

Anushilan Samiti: was formed by Sri Aurobindo Ghosh.

Apabhramsa: This t erm was used in medieval Sanskrit texts to denote early forms of some of the modern Indian languages.

Apastamba: is named after a native of Andhra, whose rules are observed mainly in Andhra state; his sutras are based on a Black Yajur-veda of South India.

Arjun Dev, Guru: He was the fifth Guru of the Sikhs. He was put to death by the Mughal emperor Jehangir. He is associated with Adi Granth.

Arsha: "rishi-like" marriage current only among priestly families. A cow or a bull is given as a token bride-price.

Arthasastra: by Kautilya or Chanakya is a compendium of almost all the ancient works on artha (economics). The text was discovered only in 1905. It is divided into fifteen books treating of a variety of political topics.
As per Arthasastra, permanent peace is not possible.

Arya Samaj: was founded by Dayanand Saraswati. It opposed idolatry; encouraged conversion to Hinduism and condemned casteism.

Aryabhatta: (476-520 A.D.) after whom India's first scientific satellite has been named, was a great Indian astronomer and mathematician. He was a contemporary of Chandra Gupta-II.
He was the first Indian scholar who treated Mathematics as a distinct subject and pointed out the importance of "Zero". He is also credited with the invention of Algebra.

Aryans: Aryans originally came from Central Asia. Cattle-rearing was their main occupation. For them, cow was the measure of value and an object of veneration.

Aryans and Non-Aryans: We acquire the knowledge of the battle between the Aryans and the non-Aryans from Vedas

Asanga: was a Buddhist philosopher. He was the originator of Buddhist Yogachara idealism.

Ashoka, the Great: (264-228 B.C.) Indian Emperor, grandson of Chandragupta. He denounced war, embraced and preached Buddhism after the bloody battle of Kalinga.
The mighty empire of the Mauryans began to decline after the death of Ashoka.

Ashokan inscriptions: were first deciphered in 1837 by James Prinsep, a civil servant in the employ of the East India Company in Bengal. These Ashokan Inscriptions were engraved in Brahmi script in Prakrit language.
In Rock Edict-I, Ashoka forbids the slaughter and sacrifice of animals.
In Rock Edict-II, the Pandyas, the Keralaputras and the Satyaputras are mentioned as Ashoka's neighbouring powers.
In his inscriptions at Maski and Gujarra, Ashoka has been metioned by name.
In Junagarh inscription, Ashoka and Chandragupta Maurya have been mentioned together.

Ashta Pradhan: A council of ministers which helped Shivaji in discharge of State Affairs.

Ashtadhyaya:was written by Panini.

Ashtapradhan: was the Council of Ministers during the reign of Shivaji.

Ashvaghosha: was 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.
He was the greatest literary figure of Kanishka's court.

Asiatic Society: Of Calcutta, was founded in 1784 by Sir William Jones to enquire into history, antiquities, arts, science and literature of Asia.

Asura: named after the Asuras, is marriage by sale of the bride. The Asura marriage was condemned by Manu and the law books as immoral.

Atharva Veda: deals with charms and spells to ward off evils and disease.

Atharvaveda: Principles and poractice of medical science can be traced back to Atharvaveda.

Attlee, Clement : was the Prime Minister of England at the time of grant of independence to India in 1947.

Aurangzeb : was the third son of Shah Jahan, who ruled as Mughal Emperor (1658-1707). He levied higher trade duties on Hindu traders in 1679. He re-imposed Jaziya. He is known for his ruinous Deccan policy. He made a serious mistake in conquering the Muslim kingdoms of Bijapur and Golkonda in the Deccan. Had he befriended them, these states could have served as a check upon the Marathas.

Ayas: This term in Rid Veda means iron.