1.
Yudhishthira
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In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Yudhishthira was the eldest son of King Pandu and Queen Kunti and the king of Indraprastha and later of Hastinapura. He was the leader of the successful Pandava side in the Kurukshetra War, at the end of the epic, he ascended to heaven. By the description of Vyasa and Krishna, the king was fair and lotus-eyed, with a long and stout nose, tall and strong, the word Yudhishthira means the one who is steady in the war, from the words, yuddha meaning war, and sthira meaning steady. Before dying, Kindama cursed the king to die when he engages in intercourse with any woman, due to this curse, Pandu was unable to father children. As an additional penance for the murder, Pandu abdicated the throne of Hastinapura, as the child was born the sages and the deities predicted that he would be the most virtuous, honest and truthful king of all times. Yudhishthiras four younger brothers were Bhima, Arjuna, and the twins Nakula, if Karna, the son of Kunti born before her marriage by invoking Surya is counted, Yudhishthira would be the second-eldest of Kuntis children. Yudhishthira was trained in religion, science, administration and military arts by the Kuru preceptors, Kripa, specifically, he became a master in using the spear and war chariot. It is said that his spear was so strong that it could penetrate a wall as though it were a piece of paper. His chariot always flew at a 4 finger distance above the ground due to his piety, after the Lakshyagriha episode, the Pandavas disguised as Brahmins went to the kingdom of Panchala. Here, they attended the Swayamwara of Draupadi, who was the princess of Panchala, Arjuna, the younger brother of Yudhishthira, participated in her swayamwara and succeeded in winning her hand in marriage. After the swayamvara, Arjuna along with his brothers, treaded towards the hut where their mother Kunti was waiting for them, as soon as they reached the hut, Arjuna called his mother in delight and said, “Look what we have got as alms”. Kunti who was praying at that moment, without looking what exactly it was, commanded “Whatever Arjuna has received as alms should be distributed amongst the five brothers. ”Hence Draupadi was married off to all the five brothers. Draupadi also became the chief queen-consort of Yudhishthira upon his coronation as the King, Draupadi bore Yudhishthira a son named Prativindhya. Prativindhya was killed by Aswatthama as a revenge for his father Dronas death at the end of the Kurukshetra war, another wife of Yudhishthira was Devika, the daughter of Govasana of the Saivya tribe, who bore him a son named Yaudheya. After the coronation at Indraprastha, Yudhishthira set out to perform the Rajasuya yagna to become the Emperor of the World and his motives were not to obtain power for himself, but to establish dharma and defend religion all over the world. Arjuna, Bhima, Nakula, and Sahadeva led armies across the four corners of the world to obtain tributes from all kingdoms for Yudhishthiras sacrifice, the non-compliant Magadha king, Jarasandha was defeated by Bhima and Krishna. At his sacrifice, Yudhishthira chose Krishna as his honoured guest, Yudhishthira succumbed to Shakunis challenge in the Pachisi. He lost his kingdom, his brothers and Draupadi, while playing for second time, he lost all his kingdom in the game and was forced into exile for 13 years, which included one year in anonymity
2.
Sanskrit
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Sanskrit is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, a philosophical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and a literary language and lingua franca of ancient and medieval South Asia. As a result of transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia and parts of Central Asia, as one of the oldest Indo-European languages for which substantial written documentation exists, Sanskrit holds a prominent position in Indo-European studies. The body of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical, the compositions of Sanskrit were orally transmitted for much of its early history by methods of memorization of exceptional complexity, rigor, and fidelity. Thereafter, variants and derivatives of the Brahmi script came to be used, Sanskrit is today one of the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which mandates the Indian government to develop the language. It continues to be used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist practice in the form of hymns. The Sanskrit verbal adjective sáṃskṛta- may be translated as refined, elaborated, as a term for refined or elaborated speech, the adjective appears only in Epic and Classical Sanskrit in the Manusmṛti and the Mahabharata. The pre-Classical form of Sanskrit is known as Vedic Sanskrit, with the language of the Rigveda being the oldest and most archaic stage preserved, Classical Sanskrit is the standard register as laid out in the grammar of Pāṇini, around the fourth century BCE. Sanskrit, as defined by Pāṇini, evolved out of the earlier Vedic form, the present form of Vedic Sanskrit can be traced back to as early as the second millennium BCE. Scholars often distinguish Vedic Sanskrit and Classical or Pāṇinian Sanskrit as separate dialects, although they are quite similar, they differ in a number of essential points of phonology, vocabulary, grammar and syntax. Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, a collection of hymns, incantations and theological and religio-philosophical discussions in the Brahmanas. Modern linguists consider the metrical hymns of the Rigveda Samhita to be the earliest, for nearly 2000 years, Sanskrit was the language of a cultural order that exerted influence across South Asia, Inner Asia, Southeast Asia, and to a certain extent East Asia. A significant form of post-Vedic Sanskrit is found in the Sanskrit of Indian epic poetry—the Ramayana, the deviations from Pāṇini in the epics are generally considered to be on account of interference from Prakrits, or innovations, and not because they are pre-Paninian. Traditional Sanskrit scholars call such deviations ārṣa, meaning of the ṛṣis, in some contexts, there are also more prakritisms than in Classical Sanskrit proper. There were four principal dialects of classical Sanskrit, paścimottarī, madhyadeśī, pūrvi, the predecessors of the first three dialects are attested in Vedic Brāhmaṇas, of which the first one was regarded as the purest. In the 2001 Census of India,14,035 Indians reported Sanskrit to be their first language, in India, Sanskrit is among the 14 original languages of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. The state of Uttarakhand in India has ruled Sanskrit as its official language. In October 2012 social activist Hemant Goswami filed a petition in the Punjab. More than 3,000 Sanskrit works have been composed since Indias independence in 1947, much of this work has been judged of high quality, in comparison to both classical Sanskrit literature and modern literature in other Indian languages
3.
Horse sacrifice
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Many Indo-European religious branches show evidence for horse sacrifice, and comparative mythology suggests that they derive from a Proto-Indo-European ritual. Often horses are sacrificed in a context, and interred with the deceased. There is evidence but no explicit myths from the three branches of Indo-Europeans of a horse sacrifice ritual based on a mythical union of Indo-European kingship. The Indian Aśvamedha is the clearest evidence preserved, but vestiges from Latin, some scholars, including Edgar Polomé, regard the reconstruction of a PIE ritual as unjustified due to the difference between the attested traditions. The Gaulish personal name Epomeduos is from ekwo-medhu-, while aśvamedha is either from ekwo-mad-dho- or ekwo-mey-dho-, the reconstructed myth involves the coupling of a king with a divine mare which produced the divine twins. In the presence of all the people of land in one place. Thereupon he who is to be elevated, not to a prince but to a beast, not to a king but to an outlaw, steps forward in beastly fashion and exhibits his bestiality. Right thereafter the mare is killed and boiled piecemeal in water and he gets into the bath and eats of the flesh that is brought to him, with his people standing around and sharing it with him. He also imbibes the broth in which he is bathed, not from any vessel, nor with his hand, when this is done right according to such unrighteous ritual, his rule and sovereignty are consecrated. The Norse ceremony according to the description in Hervarar saga of the Swedish inauguration of Blot-Sweyn,1080, the horse is dismembered for eating the blood is sprinkled on the sacred tree at Uppsala. The Völsa þáttr mentions a Norse pagan ritual involving veneration of the penis of a slaughtered stallion, a freshly cut horse head was also used in setting up a nithing pole for a Norse curse. The primary archaeological context of horse sacrifice are burials, notably chariot burials, herodotus describes the execution of horses at the burial of a Scythian king, and Iron Age kurgan graves known to contain horses number in the hundreds. There are also frequent deposition of horses in burials in Iron Age India, the custom is by no means restricted to Indo-European populations, but is continued by Turkic tribes. Animal sacrifice Domestication of the horse Epona Horse worship Horse burial Kurgan hypothesis Parilia Proto-Indo-European religion Dearborn, J. P. Mallory and Douglas Q. DuBois, Thomas A. Rituals, Witnesses, and Sagas, in Andrén, Anders, Jennbert, Kristina, et al. Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives, Origins, Changes, hoernle, August Friedrich Rudolf, Stark, Herbert Alick. Mallory, J. P. Adams, Douglas Q, the Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World. Northern Antiquities, or, An Historical Account of the Manners, Customs, and Laws, Maritime Expeditions and Discoveries, Language and Literature, of the Ancient Scandinavians
4.
Historical Vedic religion
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The religion of the Vedic period was the religion of the Indo-Aryans of northern India. It is a predecessor of modern Hinduism, though significantly different from it. The Vedic liturgy is conserved in the portion of the four Vedas. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering rites, the complex Vedic rituals of Śrauta continue in coastal Andhra. The commonly proposed period of earlier Vedic age is dated back to 2nd millennium BCE, the Vedic religion was the religion of the Indo-Aryans, and existed in northern India from c.1750 to 500 BCE. The Indo-Aryans were a branch of the Indo-European language family, which originated in the Kurgan culture of the Central Asian steppes, the Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion, and the Indo-Iranian religion. According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the zone between the Zeravshan River and Iran. It was a mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements. At least 383 non-Indo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra, Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a stimulant drug probably borrowed from the BMAC religion and his rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers. The oldest inscriptions in Old Indic, the language of the Rig Veda, are not in northwestern India and Pakistan, but in northern Syria. The Mitanni kings took Old Indic throne names, and Old Indic technical terms were used for horse-riding and chariot-driving, the Old Indic term rta, meaning cosmic order and truth, the central concept of the Rig Veda, was also employed in the Mitanni kingdom. Old Indic gods, including Indra, were known in the Mitanni kingdom. David Gordon White cites three other scholars who have emphatically demonstrated that Vedic religion is partially derived from the Indus Valley Civilizations. Texts dating to the Vedic period, composed in Vedic Sanskrit, are mainly the four Vedic Samhitas, the Vedas record the liturgy connected with the rituals and sacrifices performed by the 16 or 17 Śrauta priests and the purohitas. According to traditional views, the hymns of the Rigveda and other Vedic hymns were divinely revealed to the rishis, in addition the Vedas are said to be apauraṣaya, a Sanskrit word meaning uncreated by man and which further reveals their eternal non-changing status. The mode of worship was worship of the elements like fire and rivers, worship of gods like Indra, chanting of hymns. The priests performed the rituals for the noblemen and wealthy commoners Vaishyas
5.
Lakshmisa
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Lakshmisa was a noted Kannada language Brahmin writer who lived during the mid–16th or late–17th century period. His most important writing, Jaimini Bharata is a version of the Hindu epic Mahabharata, the writing focuses on the events following the battle of Indraprastha between the Pandavas and Kauravas, using the Ashvamedha conducted by Yudhishthira as the topic of the epic narrative. The writing is in the metre and was inspired by the Sanskrit original written by sage Jaimini. The place, time and religious sect that Lakshmisa belonged to has been a subject of controversy among historians, some historians believe he was a native of Devanur in modern Kadur taluk, Chikkamagaluru district, Karnataka state. It is claimed that his family deity was Lakshmiramana to whom he dedicated his writing, Devanur was called by multiple names in his writing, Surapura and Girvanapura. Other historians feel Surapura is located in the erstwhile Hyderabad region, however, despite these invocations, he may have been a Srivaishnava, there being examples of other Srivaishnava poets who praised the God Shiva, Parvati and Ganapati in their writings. There is also controversy about when he wrote Jaimini Bharata, scholars have assigned him various dates, the earliest being c. 1415, but more generally mid–16th century, and late 17th century, whereas, authors who do mention Lakshmisa regularly in their writings are from the 18th century. The Jaimini Bharata, one of the most well known stories in Kannada literature was written in the tradition of sage Jaimini and it has remained popular through the centuries. In a writing full of similes and metaphors, puns and alliterations, Lakshmisa created a human tale out of an epic, the writing focusses on the events following the battle when the victorious Pandavas conducted the Ashvamedha Yagna to expiate the sin of fratricide. The writing differs entirely from Kumara Vyasas rendering of the epic of c. 1430, both in metre and content, Kumara Vyasa had used the flexible bhamini shatpadi metre and followed the Vyasa tradition whereas Lakshmisa used the vardhaka shatpadi metre which is well suited for figures of speech. The work has been criticised though, for failing to achieve the level of devotion towards Hindu God Krishna that Kumara Vyasa managed in the stages of his story. The writing has been considered an asset to the reader as well as those not so educated. Lakshmisa authored some poems reminiscent of the Haridasa poetry but without the same success, encyclopaedia of Indian literature - vol 2. A history of South India from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar, new Delhi, Indian Branch, Oxford University Press. New Delhi, Madras, Asian Educational Services, Kannada Jaimini Bharata by Lakshmisha Kavi and its English translation
6.
Raja
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Raja, is a title for a Monarch or princely ruler in South and Southeast Asia. The female form Rani applies equally to the wife of a Raja, usually as queen consort and occasionally as regent. The title has a history in the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia, being attested from the Rigveda, where a rājan- is a ruler, see for example the dāśarājñá. Sanskrit rājan- is cognate to Latin rēx King, Gaulish rīx, Gaelic rí, etc. originally denoting heads of petty kingdoms and it is believed to be ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European *h3rēǵs, a vrddhi formation to the root *h3reǵ- to straighten, to order, to rule. The Sanskrit n-stem is secondary in the title, apparently adapted from the female counterpart rājñī which also has an -n- suffix in related languages. Cognates of the word Raja in other Indo-European languages include English reign, rather common, practically equivalent variants in Rajasthani, Marathi and Hindi, used as equivalent royal style in parts of India include Rana, Rao, Raol, Rawal and rawat and Yuvraj prince heir. Maharaja, or great king, is literally a title for more significant rulers in India, hence during the British raj, precedence was rather determined by the gun salute. Raja රජ means King in Sri Lanka, Rajamanthri is the Prince lineage of Kings generation in Sri Lanka. Rajamanthri title is aristocracy of the Kandiyan Kingdom මහනුවර in Sri Lanka, badan Singh was styled Raja Mahendra and founded the city and state Bharatpur, which his dynasty ruled as Maharajas. Raja Sahib was the style in Bansda until its upgrade from c.1829 to higher counterpart Maharaja Sahib. Raja-i Rajgan was notably the royal style of, the former Rajas of Jind from * until their 1911 upgrade to Maharaja, the former Rajas of Kapurthala from 1861 until their 1911 upgrade to Maharaja. Two consecutive rulers of Patiala, the first of which was originally styled Maharaja, Raja Bahadur, and remained the rulers of Raigarh. as 1763 upgrade from the family title Raja Sar Desai in Maratha state Savantvadi. e. Third prince in line for succession, there were many more Rajas among the feudatory states, such as jagirs. In Pakistan, Raja is still used by Muslim Rajput clans as hereditary titles, Raja is also used as a given name by Hindus and Sikhs. Most notably Raja is used in Hazara division of Pakistan for the descendants of a Turkic dynasty and these Rajas ruled that part of Pakistan for decades and they still possess huge land in Hazara division of Pakistan and actively participate in the politics of the region. In Sinhalese, the title Raja means King of Sri Lanka, Rajamanthri is the Prince lineage of Kings generation especially Rajamanthri is aristocracy of the Kingdom of Kandy in Sri Lanka history. Indonesian has the word raja for king, leaders of local tribes and old Hindu kingdoms had that title before Indonesia became an independent nation. Various traditional princely states in Indonesia still style their ruler Raja, in the Malay language, the word raja also means king
7.
Horse
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The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus. It is an ungulate mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature, Eohippus, into the large, humans began to domesticate horses around 4000 BC, and their domestication is believed to have been widespread by 3000 BC. Horses in the subspecies caballus are domesticated, although some domesticated populations live in the wild as feral horses. There is an extensive, specialized vocabulary used to describe equine-related concepts, covering everything from anatomy to life stages, size, colors, markings, breeds, locomotion, and behavior. Horses anatomy enables them to use of speed to escape predators and they have a well-developed sense of balance. Related to this need to flee from predators in the wild is an unusual trait, female horses, called mares, carry their young for approximately 11 months, and a young horse, called a foal, can stand and run shortly following birth. Most domesticated horses begin training under saddle or in harness between the ages of two and four and they reach full adult development by age five, and have an average lifespan of between 25 and 30 years. There are more than 300 breeds of horse in the world today, horses were historically used in warfare, from which a wide variety of riding and driving techniques developed, using many different styles of equipment and methods of control. Many products are derived from horses, including meat, milk, hide, hair, bone, humans provide domesticated horses with food, water and shelter, as well as attention from specialists such as veterinarians and farriers. Specific terms and specialized language are used to describe equine anatomy, different life stages, colors, depending on breed, management and environment, the modern domestic horse has a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years. Uncommonly, a few animals live into their 40s and, occasionally, the oldest verifiable record was Old Billy, a 19th-century horse that lived to the age of 62. In modern times, Sugar Puff, who had listed in Guinness World Records as the worlds oldest living pony. The exception is in endurance riding, where the age to compete is based on the animals actual calendar age. The following terminology is used to describe horses of various ages, Colt, a common terminology error is to call any young horse a colt, when the term actually only refers to young male horses. Filly, A female horse under the age of four, foal, A horse of either sex less than one year old. A nursing foal is sometimes called a suckling and a foal that has been weaned is called a weanling, most domesticated foals are weaned at five to seven months of age, although foals can be weaned at four months with no adverse physical effects. Gelding, A castrated male horse of any age, mare, A female horse four years old and older
8.
Sun
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The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a perfect sphere of hot plasma, with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process. It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. Its diameter is about 109 times that of Earth, and its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth, accounting for about 99. 86% of the total mass of the Solar System. About three quarters of the Suns mass consists of hydrogen, the rest is mostly helium, with smaller quantities of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon. The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star based on its spectral class and it formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud. Most of this matter gathered in the center, whereas the rest flattened into a disk that became the Solar System. The central mass became so hot and dense that it eventually initiated nuclear fusion in its core and it is thought that almost all stars form by this process. The Sun is roughly middle-aged, it has not changed dramatically for more than four billion years and it is calculated that the Sun will become sufficiently large enough to engulf the current orbits of Mercury, Venus, and probably Earth. The enormous effect of the Sun on Earth has been recognized since prehistoric times, the synodic rotation of Earth and its orbit around the Sun are the basis of the solar calendar, which is the predominant calendar in use today. The English proper name Sun developed from Old English sunne and may be related to south, all Germanic terms for the Sun stem from Proto-Germanic *sunnōn. The English weekday name Sunday stems from Old English and is ultimately a result of a Germanic interpretation of Latin dies solis, the Latin name for the Sun, Sol, is not common in general English language use, the adjectival form is the related word solar. The term sol is used by planetary astronomers to refer to the duration of a solar day on another planet. A mean Earth solar day is approximately 24 hours, whereas a mean Martian sol is 24 hours,39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds. From at least the 4th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the Sun was worshipped as the god Ra, portrayed as a falcon-headed divinity surmounted by the solar disk, and surrounded by a serpent. In the New Empire period, the Sun became identified with the dung beetle, in the form of the Sun disc Aten, the Sun had a brief resurgence during the Amarna Period when it again became the preeminent, if not only, divinity for the Pharaoh Akhenaton. The Sun is viewed as a goddess in Germanic paganism, Sól/Sunna, in ancient Roman culture, Sunday was the day of the Sun god. It was adopted as the Sabbath day by Christians who did not have a Jewish background, the symbol of light was a pagan device adopted by Christians, and perhaps the most important one that did not come from Jewish traditions
9.
Chariot
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A chariot is a type of carriage driven by a charioteer using primarily horses to provide rapid motive power. Chariots were used by armies as transport or mobile platforms, for hunting or for racing. The word chariot comes from the Latin carrus, itself a loanword from Gaulish, a chariot of war or one used in military parades was called a car. In ancient Rome and some other ancient Mediterranean civilizations, a required two horses, a triga three, and a quadriga four. The critical invention that allowed the construction of light, horse-drawn chariots was the spoked wheel, the earliest spoke-wheeled chariots date to ca.2000 BCE. The use of chariots peaked around 1300 BCE, Chariots had lost their military importance by the 1st century CE, but chariot races continued to be popular in Constantinople until the 6th century. The domestication of the horse was an important step toward civilization, an increasing amount of evidence supports the hypothesis that horses were domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes approximately 4000-3500 BCE. The invention of the used in transportation most likely took place in Europe. Evidence of wheeled vehicles appears from the mid 4th millennium BCE near-simultaneously in the Northern Caucasus, the earliest vehicles may have been ox carts. Starokorsunskaya kurgan in the Kuban region of Russia contains a grave of the Maikop Culture. The two solid wooden wheels from this kurgan have been dated to the half of the fourth millennium. Soon thereafter the number of burials in this Northern Caucasus region multiplied. As David Anthony writes in his book The Horse, the Wheel and Language, in Eastern Europe and it is a clay pot excavated in a Funnelbeaker settlement in Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship in Poland. The oldest securely dated real wheel-axle combination in Eastern Europe is the Ljubljana Marshes Wheel, horses were introduced to Transcaucasia at the time of the Kura-Araxes culture, beginning about 3300 BCE. Prior to that, horse bones were not found, during the Kura-Araxes period, horses seem to become rather widespread, with signs of domestication. It is widely believed that wheeled transport was invented in Mesopotamia, nevertheless, recent archaeological evidence seems to indicate otherwise, pointing to Neolithic Europe. At the same time, in Mesopotamia, some intriguing early pictograms of a sled that rests on wooden rollers or wheels have been found and they date from about the same time as the early wheel discoveries in Europe and may indicate knowledge of the wheel. The earliest depiction of vehicles in the context of warfare is on the Standard of Ur in southern Mesopotamia, the hybrids were used by the Eblaite, early Sumerian, Akkadian and Ur III armies
10.
Rigveda
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The Rigveda is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It is one of the four sacred texts of Hinduism known as the Vedas. The text is a collection of 1,028 hymns and 10,600 verses, a good deal of the language is still obscure and many hymns as a consequence seem unintelligible. The hymns are dedicated to Rigvedic deities, for each deity series the hymns progress from longer to shorter ones, and the number of hymns per book increases. In the eight books that were composed the earliest, the hymns predominantly discuss cosmology, Rigveda is one of the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language. 1700–1100 BC has also been given, some of its verses continue to be recited during Hindu rites of passage celebrations such as weddings and religious prayers, making it probably the worlds oldest religious text in continued use. This redaction also included some additions and orthoepic changes to the Vedic Sanskrit such as the regularization of sandhi, the Padapatha and the Pratisakhya anchor the texts fidelity and meaning, and the fixed text was preserved with unparalleled fidelity for more than a millennium by oral tradition alone. In order to achieve this the oral tradition prescribed very structured enunciation, involving breaking down the Sanskrit compounds into stems and inflections and this interplay with sounds gave rise to a scholarly tradition of morphology and phonetics. The Rigveda was probably not written down until the Gupta period, the oral tradition still continued into recent times. The text is organized in 10 books, known as Mandalas, of varying age, the family books, mandalas 2–7, are the oldest part of the Rigveda and the shortest books, they are arranged by length and account for 38% of the text. Within each book, the hymns are arranged in collections each dealing with a deity, Agni comes first, Indra comes second. They are attributed and dedicated to a rishi and his family of students, within each collection, the hymns are arranged in descending order of the number of stanzas per hymn. If two hymns in the collection have equal numbers of stanzas then they are arranged so that the number of syllables in the metre are in descending order. The second to seventh mandalas have a uniform format, the eighth and ninth mandalas, comprising hymns of mixed age, account for 15% and 9%, respectively. The first and the tenth mandalas are the youngest, they are also the longest books, of 191 suktas each, however, adds Witzel, some hymns in Mandala 8,1 and 10 may be as old as the earlier Mandalas. The first mandala has an arrangement not found in the other nine mandalas. The ninth mandala is arranged by both its structure and hymn length, while the first eighty four hymns of the tenth mandala have a structure different than the remaining hymns in it. Each mandala consists of hymns called sūkta intended for various rituals, the sūktas in turn consist of individual stanzas called ṛc, which are further analysed into units of verse called pada
11.
Ghee
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Ghee is a class of clarified butter that originated in ancient India and is commonly used in South Asian, Iranian and Arabic cuisines, traditional medicine, and religious rituals. Spices can be added for flavor, the texture, color, and taste of ghee depend on the quality of the butter, source of the milk used in the process and the duration of the boiling. Fire sacrifices have been performed dating back over 5,000 years and they are thought to be auspicious for ceremonies such as marriage, funerals, etc. In the Mahabharata, the kaurava were born from pots of ghee, finding ghee pure enough to use for sacred purposes is a problem these days for devout Hindus, since many large-scale producers add salt to their product. Ghee is also used in bhang in order to heat the cannabis to cause decarboxylation, Ghee is common in Indian and Pakistani cuisine, including traditional rice preparations. In Rajasthan, ghee often accompanies baati, all over north India, ghee tops roti. In Tamil Nadu, ghee tops pongal, Dosa, and Kesari Bhath. In Bengal and Gujarat, khichdi is an evening meal of rice with lentils, cooked in curry made from yogurt, cumin seeds, curry leaves, cornflour, turmeric, garlic, salt. It is also an ingredient in kadhi and Indian sweets, such as Mysore pak and varieties of halva, South Indians have a habit of adding ghee to their rice before eating it with pickles and curries. South Indians are one of the biggest consumers of Ghee. the people from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh especially use ghee for preparation of savoury, Ghee is important to traditional Punjabi cuisine, with parathas, daals and curries often using ghee instead of oil for a richer taste. Ghee is a fat for deep frying because its smoke point is 250 °C. Ghee differs slightly in its production, the process of creating traditional clarified butter is complete once the water is evaporated and the fat is separated from the milk solids. However, the production of ghee includes simmering the butter, which makes it nutty-tasting, a traditional Ayurvedic recipe for ghee is to boil raw milk, let it cool to 110 °F. After letting it sit covered at room temperature for around 12 hours, add a bit of yogurt to it and this is churned with water, to obtain cultured butter, which is used to simmer into ghee. Ayurveda considers pure un-adulterated ghee to be sāttvik or sattva-guṇi, when used as food and it is the main ingredient in some of the Ayurvedic medicines, and is included under catuh mahā sneha along with sesame oil, muscle fat, and bone marrow. Ghee is used preferentially for diseases caused by Pitta Dosha, many Ayurvedic formulations contain ghee, for example, Brāhmi ghṛta, Indukānta ghṛta, Phala ghṛta, etc. Though eight types of ghee are mentioned in Ayurvedic classics, ghee made of human breast milk, further, cows ghee has medhya and rasāyana properties. Ghee is also used in Ayurvedas for constipation and ulcers, in Sri Lankan indigenous medical traditions, ghee is included in pas tel. Indian restaurants and some households may use partially hydrogenated vegetable oil in place of ghee because of its lower cost and this vegetable ghee may contain trans fat
12.
Goat
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The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the family Bovidae and is related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over 300 distinct breeds of goat, Goats are one of the oldest domesticated species, and have been used for their milk, meat, hair, and skins over much of the world. In 2011, there were more than 924 million live goats around the globe, according to the UN Food, female goats are referred to as does or nannies, intact males are called bucks or billies, and juveniles of both sexes are called kids. Goat meat from animals is called kid or cabrito, while meat from older animals is known simply as goat or sometimes called chevon. To refer to the male, Old English used bucca until ousted by hegote, hegoote in the late 12th century, nanny goat originated in the 18th century and billy goat in the 19th. Goats are among the earliest animals domesticated by humans, the most recent genetic analysis confirms the archaeological evidence that the wild Bezoar ibex of the Zagros Mountains is the likely original ancestor of probably all domestic goats today. The earliest remnants of domesticated goats dating 10,000 years before present are found in Ganj Dareh in Iran. Goat remains have been found at sites in Jericho, Choga Mami Djeitun and Çayönü. Studies of DNA evidence suggests 10,000 years BP as the domestication date, historically, goat hide has been used for water and wine bottles in both traveling and transporting wine for sale. It has also used to produce parchment. Goats are considered small livestock animals, compared to animals such as cattle, camels and horses, but larger than microlivestock such as poultry, rabbits, cavies. Each recognized breed of goats has specific weight ranges, which vary from over 140 kg for bucks of larger breeds such as the Boer, within each breed, different strains or bloodlines may have different recognized sizes. At the bottom of the range are miniature breeds such as the African Pygmy. Most goats naturally have two horns, of various shapes and sizes depending on the breed, Goats have horns unless they are polled or the horns have been removed, typically soon after birth. There have been incidents of polycerate goats, although this is a genetic rarity thought to be inherited, the horns are most typically removed in commercial dairy goat herds, to reduce the injuries to humans and other goats. Unlike cattle, goats have not been bred to be reliably polled, as the genes determining sex. Breeding together two genetically polled goats results in a number of intersex individuals among the offspring, which are typically sterile
13.
Gaur
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The gaur, also called Indian bison, is the largest extant bovine, native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. The species has listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. Population trends are stable in well-protected areas, and are rebuilding in a few areas which had been neglected, the gaur is the tallest species of wild cattle. The Malayan gaur is called seladang, and the Burmese gaur is called pyoung ပြောင်, the domesticated form of the gaur is called gayal or mithun. The gaur is a strong and massively built species with a high ridge on the forehead between the horns, which bends forward, causing a deep hollow in the profile of the upper part of the head. There is a prominent ridge on the back, the ears are very large, the tail only just reaches the hocks, and in old bulls the hair becomes very thin on the back. The cows and young bulls are paler, and in some instances have a rufous tinge, the tail is shorter than in the typical oxen, reaching only to the hocks. They have a ridge running from the shoulders to the middle of the back. This ridge is caused by the length of the spinous processes of the vertebrae of the fore-part of the trunk as compared with those of the loins. The hair is short, fine and glossy, and the hooves are narrow, the gaur has a head-and-body length of 250 to 330 cm with a 70 to 105 cm long tail, and is 165 to 220 cm high at the shoulder. The average weight of adult gaur is 650 to 1,000 kg, males are about one-fourth larger and heavier than females. In general measurements are derived from gaurs surveyed in India and China, the Seladang, or Malayasian subspecies, may average larger but no scientifically published measurements are known. Gaur do not have a dewlap on the throat and chest. Both sexes carry horns, which grow from the sides of the head, between the horns is a high convex ridge on the forehead. At their bases they present an elliptical cross-section, a characteristic that is strongly marked in bulls than in cows. The horns are decidedly flattened at the base and regularly curved throughout their length, the colour of the horns is some shade of pale green or yellow throughout the greater part of their length, but the tips are black. The horns, of size by large bovid standards, grow to a length of 60 to 115 cm. The cow is considerably lighter in make and in colour than the bull, the horns are more slender and upright, with more inward curvature, and the frontal ridge is scarcely perceptible
14.
Manusmriti
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The Manusmṛti, also spelled as Manusmriti, is an ancient legal text among the many Dharmaśāstras of Hinduism. It was one of the first Sanskrit texts translated during the British rule of India in 1794, by Sir William Jones, the texts fame spread outside India, long before the colonial era. The medieval era Buddhistic law of Myanmar and Thailand are also ascribed to Manu, Manusmriti is also called the Mānava-Dharmaśāstra or Laws of Manu. The title Manusmriti is a modern term and a late innovation. The over fifty manuscripts discovered of the text, never use this title, in modern scholarship, these two titles refer to the same text. Later scholarship, shifted the chronology of the text to between 200 BCE and 200 CE, Olivelle adds that numismatics evidence, and the mention of gold coins as a fine, suggest that text may date to the 2nd or 3rd century CE. Most scholars consider the text a composite produced by many authors put together over a long period, Olivelle states that the various ancient and medieval Indian texts claim revisions and editions were derived from the original text with 100,000 verses and 1,080 chapters. However, the version in modern use, according to Olivelle, is likely the work of a single author or a chairman with research assistants. Manusmriti, Olivelle states, was not a new document, it drew on other texts, the root of theoretical models within Manusmriti rely on at least two shastras that pre-date it, artha, and dharma. Its contents can be traced to Kalpasutras of the Vedic era, the foundational texts of Manusmriti include many of these sutras, all from an era preceding the common era. Most of these ancient texts are now lost, and only four of have survived, the modern version of the text has been subdivided into twelve Adhyayas, but the original text had no such division. The text covers different topics, and is unique among ancient Indian texts in using “transitional verses” to mark the end of one subject, the text can be broadly divided into four, each of different length. The first 58 verses are attributed by the text to Manu, the Dharmasya Yonih has twenty-four verses, and one transition verse. Translation 2, The root of the religion is the entire Veda, and the tradition and customs of those who know, and the conduct of virtuous people, and what is satisfactory to oneself. Translation 2, The Veda, tradition, the conduct of good people and this section of Manusmriti, like other Hindu law texts, includes fourfold sources of Dharma, states Levinson, which include Atmana santushti, Sadachara, Smriti and Sruti. Olivelle notes instances of likely interpolation and insertions in the notes to this section, the verses 12.1,12.2 and 12.82 are transitional verses. This section is in a different style than the rest of the text, while there is evidence that this chapter was extensively redacted over time, however it is unclear whether the entire chapter is of a later era. The text dedicates 1,034 verses, the largest portion, on laws for and expected virtues of Brahmins, the statement of rules for the Vaishyas and the Shudras in the text is extraordinarily brief
15.
Hindu mythology
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As such, it is a subset of mainstream Indian and Nepali culture. The roots of mythology that evolved from classical Hinduism come from the times of the Vedic civilization, the four Vedas, notably the hymns of the Rigveda, contain allusions to many themes. The characters, philosophy and stories make up ancient Vedic myths are indelibly linked with Hindu beliefs. The Vedas are four in number, namely RigVeda, YajurVeda, SamaVeda, in the period of Classical Sanskrit, much material is preserved in the Sanskrit epics. Besides mythology proper, the voluminous epics also provide a range of information about ancient Nepali and Indian society, philosophy, culture, religion. The two great Hindu Epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata tell the story of two incarnations of Vishnu. These two works are known as Itihasa, the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana serve as both religious scriptures and a rich source of philosophy and morality. The most famous of these chapters is the Bhagavad Gita in the Mahabharata, in which Lord Krishna explains the concepts of duty and these stories are deeply embedded in Hindu philosophy and serve as parables and sources of devotion for Hindus. The Mahabharata is the worlds longest epic in verse, running to more than 2,000,000 lines, the epics themselves are set in different Yugas, or periods of time. The Ramayana, written by the Maharshi Valmiki, describes the life and times of Lord Rama, the Mahabharata, describing the life and times of the Pandavas, occurs in the Dvapara Yuga, a period associated with Lord Krishna. In total, there are 4 Yugas and these are the Satya or Krita Yuga, the Treta Yuga, the Dvapara Yuga, and the Kali Yuga. The avatara concept, however, belongs to the Puranic times, the Puranas deal with stories that are old and do not appear in the epics. They contain legends and stories about the origins of the world, and the lives and adventures of a variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines. They contain traditions related to ancient kings, seers, incarnations of God and legends about holy places, the Bhagavata Purana is probably the most read and popular of the Puranas. It chronicles the legends of the god Vishnu and his avatars on earth, the act of creation was thought of in more than one manner. One of the oldest cosmogonic myth in the Rigveda had come into existence as a cosmic egg, the Purusha Sukta narrates that all things were made out of the mangled limbs of Purusha, a magnified non-natural man, who was sacrificed by the gods. In the Puranas, Vishnu, in the shape of a boar, plunged into the cosmic waters, the Shatapatha Brahmana says that in the beginning, Prajapati, the first creator or father of all, was alone in the world. He differentiated himself into two beings, husband and wife, the wife, regarding union with her producer as incest, fled from his embraces assuming various animal disguises
16.
Subhash Kak
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Subhash Kak is an Indian American computer scientist. Kak is also notable for his Indological publications on the history of science, the philosophy of science, ancient astronomy, alan Sokal labeled Kak one of the leading intellectual luminaries of the Hindu-nationalist diaspora. His brother is the computer scientist Avinash Kak, Subhash Kak completed his BE from Regional Engineering College, Srinagar and Ph. D. from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 1970. During 1975-1976, he was a faculty at Imperial College, London. In 1977, he was a researcher at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. In 1979 joined Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, where he was the Donald C. and Elaine T. Delaune Distinguished Professor of Electrical, in 2007, he joined the Computer Science department at Oklahoma State University–Stillwater. His research is in the fields of cryptography, random sequences, artificial intelligence, quantum mechanics and he proposed a test of algorithmic randomness and a type of instantaneously trained neural networks. He was the first to formulate the discrete and the number theoretic Hilbert transforms and he claims to be amongst the first to apply information metrics to quantum systems. He was featured as one of the pioneers of quantum learning in the journal Neuroquantology edited by Cheryl Fricasso and he is featured as one of the interviewees in the area of mathematics and information in the long-standing PBS series Closer to Truth. Kak proposed a fast matrix multiplication algorithm for cross-wired meshes and he proposed the use of repeating decimals and other random sequences for error correction coding and cryptography. In cryptography, he has advanced new methods of sharing that are of importance in distributed systems such as wireless. Kak has argued there are limits to the intelligence machines can have. He asserts that. machines fall short on two counts as compared to brains, firstly, unlike brains, machines do not self-organize in a recursive manner. Secondly, machines are based on logic, whereas Natures intelligence may depend on quantum mechanics. If machines with consciousness are created, they would be living machines, second, the material world is not causally closed, and consciousness influences its evolution. Matter and minds complement each other and he is also the author of several books of poems. The training algorithm for binary data creates links to the new node that simply reflects the binary values in the training vector. Kaks three-stage protocol is a protocol for quantum cryptography suggested by Kak and this method consists of random rotations of the polarization by both parties
17.
Kali Yuga
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Kali Yuga is the last of the four stages the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas described in the Sanskrit scriptures, within the present Mahayuga. The other ages are called Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Kali Yuga is associated with the demon Kali. The Kali of Kali Yuga means strife, discord, quarrel or contention, according to Puranic sources, Krishnas departure marks the end of Dvapara Yuga and the start of Kali Yuga, which is dated to 17/18 February 3102 BCE. According to the Surya Siddhanta, Kali Yuga began at midnight on 18 February 3102 BCE and this is also considered the date on which Lord Krishna left the earth to return to his heavenly abode. This information is placed at the temple of Bhalka, the place of this incident, according to the astronomer and mathematician Aryabhatta the Kali Yuga started in 3102 BCE. He finished his book “Aryabhattiya” in 499 CE, in which he gives the year of the beginning of Kali Yuga. He writes that he wrote the book in the year 3600 of the Kali Age at the age of 23. As it was the 3600th year of the Kali Age when he was 23 years old, and given that Aryabhatta was born in 476 CE, according to KD Abhyankar, the starting point of Kaliyuga is an extremely rare planetary alignment, which is depicted in the Mohenjo-Daro seals. Going by this alignment the year 3102 BCE is slightly off, the actual date for this alignment is February 7 of 3104 BCE. There is also sufficient proof to believe that Vrdhha Garga knew of precession at least by 500 BCE, Garga had calculated the rate of precession to within 30% of what the modern scholars estimate. The Kali Yuga is thought by some authors to last 6480 years although other durations have been proposed, hindus believe that human civilization degenerates spiritually during the Kali Yuga, which is referred to as the Dark Age because in it people are as far away as possible from God. Hinduism often symbolically represents morality as an indian bull, in Satya Yuga, the first stage of development, the bull has four legs, but in each age morality is reduced by one quarter. By the age of Kali, morality is reduced to only a quarter of that of the golden age, the Mahabharata War and the decimation of Kauravas thus happened at the Yuga-Sandhi, the point of transition from one yuga to another. A discourse by Markandeya in the Mahabharata identifies some of the attributes of Kali Yuga, in relation to rulers, it lists, Rulers will become unreasonable, they will levy taxes unfairly. Rulers will no longer see it as their duty to promote spirituality, or to protect their subjects, people will start migrating, seeking countries where wheat and barley form the staple food source. (Srimad-Bhagavatam With regard to relationships, Markandeyas discourse says, Avarice. Humans will openly display animosity towards each other, people will have thoughts of murder with no justification and will see nothing wrong in that. Lust will be viewed as acceptable and sexual intercourse will be seen as the central requirement of life
18.
Indo-European languages
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The Indo-European languages are a language family of several hundred related languages and dialects. There are about 445 living Indo-European languages, according to the estimate by Ethnologue, the most widely spoken Indo-European languages by native speakers are Spanish, English, Hindustani, Portuguese, Bengali, Russian, and Punjabi, each with over 100 million speakers. Today, 46% of the population speaks an Indo-European language as a first language. The Indo-European family includes most of the languages of Europe, and parts of Western, Central. It was also predominant in ancient Anatolia, the ancient Tarim Basin and most of Central Asia until the medieval Turkic migrations, all Indo-European languages are descendants of a single prehistoric language, reconstructed as Proto-Indo-European, spoken sometime in the Neolithic era. Several disputed proposals link Indo-European to other language families. In the 16th century, European visitors to the Indian subcontinent began to notice similarities among Indo-Aryan, Iranian, in 1583, English Jesuit missionary Thomas Stephens in Goa wrote a letter to his brother in which he noted similarities between Indian languages and Greek and Latin. Another account to mention the ancient language Sanskrit came from Filippo Sassetti, a merchant born in Florence in 1540, writing in 1585, he noted some word similarities between Sanskrit and Italian. However, neither Stephens nor Sassettis observations led to further scholarly inquiry and he included in his hypothesis Dutch, Albanian, Greek, Latin, Persian, and German, later adding Slavic, Celtic, and Baltic languages. However, Van Boxhorns suggestions did not become known and did not stimulate further research. Ottoman Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi visited Vienna in 1665–1666 as part of a diplomatic mission, gaston Coeurdoux and others made observations of the same type. Coeurdoux made a comparison of Sanskrit, Latin and Greek conjugations in the late 1760s to suggest a relationship among them. Thomas Young first used the term Indo-European in 1813, deriving from the extremes of the language family. A synonym is Indo-Germanic, specifying the familys southeasternmost and northwesternmost branches, a number of other synonymous terms have also been used. Franz Bopps Comparative Grammar appeared between 1833 and 1852 and marks the beginning of Indo-European studies as an academic discipline, the classical phase of Indo-European comparative linguistics leads from this work to August Schleichers 1861 Compendium and up to Karl Brugmanns Grundriss, published in the 1880s. Brugmanns neogrammarian reevaluation of the field and Ferdinand de Saussures development of the theory may be considered the beginning of modern Indo-European studies. This led to the laryngeal theory, a major step forward in Indo-European linguistics. Isolated terms in Luwian/Hittite mentioned in Semitic Old Assyrian texts from the 20th and 19th centuries BC, Hittite texts from about 1650 BC, Armenian, writing known from the beginning of the 5th century AD
19.
Proto-Indo-European religion
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The hypothesized reconstructions below are based on linguistic evidence using the comparative method. Archaeological evidence is difficult to match to any specific culture in the period of early Indo-European culture in the Chalcolithic, other approaches to Indo-European mythology are possible, such as the trifunctional hypothesis of Georges Dumézil. Linguists are able to reconstruct the names of deities in the Proto-Indo-European language from many types of sources. Some of the proposed deity names are more accepted among scholars than others. The term for a god was *deiwos, reflected in Hittite, sius, Latin, deus, divus, Sanskrit, deva, Avestan, daeva, Welsh, duw, Irish, dia, Old Norse, tívurr, Lithuanian, Dievas, Latvian, Dievs. The supreme ruler of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon was the god *Dyḗus Pḥɑtḗr and he is believed to have been worshipped as the god of the daylit skies. He is, by far, the most well-attested of all the Proto-Indo-European deities, the Greek god Zeus, the Roman god Jupiter, and the Illyrian god Dei-Pátrous all appear as the head gods of their respective pantheons. The Norse god Týr, however, seems to have been demoted to the role of a minor war-deity, *Dyḗus Pḥɑtḗr is also attested in the Rigveda as Dyáus Pitā, a minor ancestor figure mentioned in only a few hymns. The names of the Latvian god Dievs and the Hittite god Attas Isanus do not preserve the exact translation of the name *Dyḗus Pḥɑtḗr. *Hɑéusōs has been reconstructed as the Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn, derivatives of her found throughout various Indo-European mythologies include the Greek goddess Eos, the Roman goddess Aurōra, the Vedic goddess Uṣás, and the Lithuanian goddess Auštrine. The form Arap Ushas appears in Albanian folklore, but as a name for the Moon, an extension of the name may have been *H2eustro, but see also the form *as-t-r, with intrusive -t- in northern dialects. *Seh2ul and *Meh1not are reconstructed as the Proto-Indo-European goddess of the Sun, *Meh1not is reconstructed based off the Norse god Máni, the Hittite god Myesyats, and the Lithuanian god *Meno, or Mėnuo. They are often seen as the children of various deities. The usual scheme is one of these celestial deities is male. The original Indo-European lunar deity appears to have masculine, with feminine lunar deities like Selene, Minerva. Even in these traditions, remnants of male deities, like Menelaus. The word *prihxeha-, meaning wife has been reconstructed based off the Sanskrit word priyā, meaning wife, the Old Norse word frī, meaning beloved, and the Old English word frēo, meaning woman. The name of the Norse goddess Frigg is derived from this root, Analysis of different Indo-European tales indicate the Proto-Indo-Europeans believed there were two progenitors of mankind, *Manu- and *Yemo-, his twin brother
20.
Celts
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The history of pre-Celtic Europe remains very uncertain. According to one theory, the root of the Celtic languages, the Proto-Celtic language, arose in the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture of Central Europe. Thus this area is called the Celtic homeland. The earliest undisputed examples of a Celtic language are the Lepontic inscriptions beginning in the 6th century BC. Continental Celtic languages are attested almost exclusively through inscriptions and place-names, Insular Celtic languages are attested beginning around the 4th century in Ogham inscriptions, although it was clearly being spoken much earlier. Celtic literary tradition begins with Old Irish texts around the 8th century, coherent texts of Early Irish literature, such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge, survive in 12th century recensions. Between the 5th and 8th centuries, the Celtic-speaking communities in these Atlantic regions emerged as a cohesive cultural entity. They had a linguistic, religious and artistic heritage that distinguished them from the culture of the surrounding polities. By the 6th century, however, the Continental Celtic languages were no longer in wide use, Insular Celtic culture diversified into that of the Gaels and the Celtic Britons of the medieval and modern periods. A modern Celtic identity was constructed as part of the Romanticist Celtic Revival in Great Britain, Ireland, today, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton are still spoken in parts of their historical territories, and Cornish and Manx are undergoing a revival. The first recorded use of the name of Celts – as Κελτοί – to refer to a group was by Hecataeus of Miletus, the Greek geographer, in 517 BC. In the fifth century BC Herodotus referred to Keltoi living around the head of the Danube, the etymology of the term Keltoi is unclear. Possible roots include Indo-European *kʲel ‘to hide’, IE *kʲel ‘to heat’ or *kel ‘to impel’, several authors have supposed it to be Celtic in origin, while others view it as a name coined by Greeks. Linguist Patrizia De Bernardo Stempel falls in the group. Yet he reports Celtic peoples in Iberia, and also uses the ethnic names Celtiberi and Celtici for peoples there, as distinct from Lusitani, pliny the Elder cited the use of Celtici in Lusitania as a tribal surname, which epigraphic findings have confirmed. Latin Gallus might stem from a Celtic ethnic or tribal name originally and its root may be the Proto-Celtic *galno, meaning “power, strength”, hence Old Irish gal “boldness, ferocity” and Welsh gallu “to be able, power”. The tribal names of Gallaeci and the Greek Γαλάται most probably have the same origin, the suffix -atai might be an Ancient Greek inflection. Proto-Germanic *walha is derived ultimately from the name of the Volcae and this means that English Gaul, despite its superficial similarity, is not actually derived from Latin Gallia, though it does refer to the same ancient region
21.
October Horse
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In ancient Roman religion, the October Horse was an animal sacrifice to Mars carried out on October 15, coinciding with the end of the agricultural and military campaigning season. The rite took place during one of three horse-racing festivals held in honor of Mars, the others being the two Equirria on February 27 and March 14. Two-horse chariot races were held in the Campus Martius, the area of Rome named for Mars, after which the horse of the winning team was transfixed by a spear. Most scholars see an Etruscan influence on the formation of the ceremonies. The October Horse is the instance of horse sacrifice in Roman religion. The sacred topography of the rite and the role of Mars in other festivals also suggest aspects of initiation. The complex or even contradictory aspects of the October Horse probably result from overlays of traditions accumulated over time, the rite of the October Horse took place on the Ides of October, but no name is recorded for a festival on that date. The grammarian Festus describes it as follows, The October Horse is named from the sacrifice to Mars in the Campus Martius during the month of October. It is the horse of the winning team in the two-horse chariot races. Its tail was transported to the Regia with sufficient speed that the blood from it could be dripped onto the hearth for the sake of becoming part of the sacred rite. In a separate passage, the Augustan antiquarian Verrius Flaccus adds the detail that the head is adorned with bread. The Calendar of Philocalus notes that on October 15 the Horse takes place at the Nixae, according to Roman tradition, the Campus Martius had been consecrated to Mars by their ancestors as horse pasturage and an equestrian training ground for youths. The sacred rite that the blood became part of is usually taken to be the Parilia, a festival of rural character on April 21. The Romans did not use horses as draft animals for work, nor chariots in warfare. Propertius may imply that this horse was not a part of the preparation. Ovid specifies that the blood was used for the suffimen. Although no other horse sacrifice in Rome is recorded, Georges Dumézil, another important ingredient for the suffimen was the ash produced from the holocaust of an unborn calf at the Fordicidia on April 15, along with the stalks from which beans had been harvested. One source, from antiquity and not always reliable, notes that beans were sacred to Mars
22.
Puranas
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The word Puranas literally means ancient, old, and it is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly myths, legends and other traditional lore. Composed primarily in Sanskrit, but also in languages, several of these texts are named after major Hindu deities such as Vishnu, Shiva. The Puranas genre of literature is found in both Hinduism and Jainism, the content is highly inconsistent across the Puranas, and each Purana has survived in numerous manuscripts which are themselves inconsistent. The Hindu Puranas are anonymous texts and likely the work of authors over the centuries, in contrast, most Jaina Puranas can be dated. There are 18 Maha Puranas and 18 Upa Puranas, with over 400,000 verses, the first versions of the various Puranas were likely composed between the 3rd- and 10th-century CE. The Puranas do not enjoy the authority of a scripture in Hinduism and they have been influential in the Hindu culture, inspiring major national and regional annual festivals of Hinduism. The religious practices included in them are considered Vaidika, because they do not preach initiation into Tantra, the Bhagavata Purana has been among the most celebrated and popular text in the Puranic genre, and is of non-dualistic tenor. The Puranic literature wove with the Bhakti movement in India, vyasa, the narrator of the Mahabharata, is hagiographically credited as the compiler of the Puranas. The date of the production of the written texts does not define the date of origin of the Puranas and they existed in an oral form before being written down, and were incrementally modified well into the 16th century. An early occurrence of the term purana is found in the Chandogya Upanishad, translated by Patrick Olivelle as the corpus of histories, importantly, the most famous form of itihāsapurāṇaṃ is the Mahabharata. The term also appears in the Atharvaveda 11.7.24, the extant Puranas, states Coburn, are not identical to the original Puranas. In the 19th century, F. E. Pargiter believed the original Purana may date to the time of the redaction of the Vedas. Wendy Doniger, based on her study of indologists, assigns approximate dates to the various Puranas and she dates Markandeya Purana to c.250 CE, Matsya Purana to c. 250–500 CE, Vayu Purana to c.350 CE, Harivamsa and Vishnu Purana to c.450 CE, 350–950 CE, Vamana Purana to c. 450–900 CE, Kurma Purana to c, 550–850 CE, and Linga Purana to c. Of the many texts designated Puranas the most important are the Mahāpurāṇas or the major Puranas and these are said to be eighteen in number, divided into three groups of six, though they are not always counted in the same way. The difference between Upapuranas and Mahapuranas has been explained by Rajendra Hazra as, a Mahapurana is well known, the Upapuranas are eighteen in number, with disagreement as to which canonical titles belong in that list of eighteen. The Ganesha and Mudgala Puranas are devoted to Ganesha, the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, which extols the goddess Durga, has become a basic text for Devi worshipers
23.
Mahabharata
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The Mahābhārata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa. The Mahābhārata is a narrative of the Kurukṣetra War and the fates of the Kaurava. It also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four goals of life or puruṣārtha, traditionally, the authorship of the Mahābhārata is attributed to Vyāsa. There have been attempts to unravel its historical growth and compositional layers. The oldest preserved parts of the text are thought to be not much older than around 400 BCE, the text probably reached its final form by the early Gupta period. The title may be translated as the tale of the Bhārata dynasty. According to the Mahābhārata itself, the tale is extended from a version of 24,000 verses called simply Bhārata. The Mahābhārata is the longest known epic poem and has described as the longest poem ever written. Its longest version consists of over 100,000 śloka or over 200,000 individual verse lines, and long prose passages. About 1.8 million words in total, the Mahābhārata is roughly ten times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined, or about four times the length of the Rāmāyaṇa. W. J. Johnson has compared the importance of the Mahābhārata in the context of civilization to that of the Bible, the works of Shakespeare. The epic is traditionally ascribed to the sage Vyāsa, who is also a character in the epic. Vyāsa described it as being itihāsa and he also describes the Guru-shishya parampara, which traces all great teachers and their students of the Vedic times. The first section of the Mahābhārata states that it was Gaṇeśa who wrote down the text to Vyasas dictation, the epic employs the story within a story structure, otherwise known as frametales, popular in many Indian religious and non-religious works. It is recited by the sage Vaiśampāyana, a disciple of Vyāsa, the text has been described by some early 20th-century western Indologists as unstructured and chaotic. Hermann Oldenberg supposed that the poem must once have carried an immense tragic force. Moritz Winternitz considered that only unpoetical theologists and clumsy scribes could have lumped the parts of disparate origin into an unordered whole, Research on the Mahābhārata has put an enormous effort into recognizing and dating layers within the text. Some elements of the present Mahābhārata can be traced back to Vedic times, the background to the Mahābhārata suggests the origin of the epic occurs after the very early Vedic period and before the first Indian empire was to rise in the third century B. C
24.
Bharata (emperor)
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In Hindu scriptures, Bharata is a legendary emperor and the founder of the Bhārata dynasty and thus an ancestor of the Pandavas and the Kauravas in the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata. Though the Bhāratas are a prominent tribe in the Rigveda, the story of Bharata is first told in the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata, wherein he is the son of Dushyanta, the story of his parents and his birth is also related in Kalidasas famous play Abhijñānashākuntala. India has been called Bharatavarṣa after him and Bhārat is a name of the Republic of India. According to the Mahābhārata, Bharata was the son of King Dushyanta and Shakuntala and he was originally named Sarvadamana, the Mahābhārata traces the events in his life by which he came to be known as Bharata. Bharatas exploits as a child prince are dramatised in Kalidasas poetic play Abhijñānaśākuntalam, according to a dramatized version of the events by the poet Kalidasa, the king Dushyanta married Shakuntala on his hunting expeditions in forests. He was captivated by Shakuntalas beauty, courted her in royal style and he then had to leave to take care of affairs in the capital. She was given a ring by the king, to be presented to him when she was ready to appear in his court and she could then claim her place as queen. Shakuntala gave birth to his child who was named by the Sage Kanwa named as Sarvadamana, surrounded only by wild animals, Sarvadamana grew to be a strong child and made a sport of opening the mouths of tigers and lions and counting their teeth. This narrative varies dramatically from the version in the epic Mahabharata and he ruled virtuously and earned great fame and was known by the titles of Chakravarti and Sarvabhauma. Bharata performed many sacrifices and Sage Kanva was the chief priest at those sacrifices, Bharata performed a hundred Horse sacrifices on the banks of the Yamuna, three hundred on the banks of Saraswati and four hundred on the banks of the Ganga. He again performed a thousand Horse sacrifices and a hundred Rajasuya and he also conducted sacrifices such as Agnishtoma, Atiratra, Uktha and Viswajit. He also performed many thousands of Vajapeyas, Bharata had a son named Bhúmanyu. In the Adi Parva of Mahabharata, it tells two different stories about Bhúmanyus birth, the first story says that Bharata married Sunanda, the daughter of Sarvasena, the King of Kasi Kingdom and begot upon her the son named Bhumanyu. According to the story, Bhúmanyu was born out of a great sacrifice that Bharata performed for the sage Bharadwaja. Emperor Bharata gave his name to the dynasty of which he was the founder and it was in the Bharatas dynasty that later the Pandavas of epic Mahabharata were born. com
25.
Yamuna
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It is the longest river in India which does not directly flow to the sea. Most importantly it creates the highly fertile alluvial, Yamuna-Ganges Doab region between itself and the Ganges in the Indo-Gangetic plain, nearly 57 million people depend on the Yamuna waters. With an annual flow of about 10,000 cubic billion metres and usage of 4,400 cbm, just like the Ganges, the Yamuna too is highly venerated in Hinduism and worshipped as goddess Yamuna, throughout its course. One official describes the river as a drain with biochemical oxygen demand values ranging from 14 to 28 mg/l. Yamunotri temple, a dedicated to the goddess, Yamuna is one of the holiest shrines in Hinduism. Also standing close to the temple, on its 13-kilometre trek route, that follows the bank of the river, lies the Markendeya Tirtha. Large terraces formed over a period of time can be seen in the lower course of the river. Kalanag is the highest point of the entire Yamuna basin, other tributaries in the region are the Giri, Rishi Ganga, Kunta, Hanuman Ganga and Bata tributaries, which drain the Upper Catchment Area of the vast Yamuna basin. Thereafter the river descends on to the plains of Doon Valley, the Yamuna also creates natural state borders between the Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand states, and further down between the state of Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. The plain itself supports one-third of Indias population through its farming, here pilgrims travel by boats to platforms erected mid stream to offer prayers. During the Kumbh Mela, held every 12 years, the ghats around the Sangam are venue of large congregation of people, the cities of Baghpat, Delhi, Noida, Mathura, Agra, Firozabad, Etawah, Kalpi, Hamirpur, Allahabad lie on its banks. At Etawah, it meets it another important tributary, Chambal, followed by a host of tributaries further down, including, Sindh, the Betwa, and Ken. Tons River, Yamunas largest tributary, rises in the 20,720 ft high Bandarpoonch mountain and it meets Yamuna below Kalsi near Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Sasur Khaderi River, known as Sasur Khaderi is a tributary in Fatehpur district, the name Yamuna seems to be derived from the Sanskrit word yama, meaning twin, and it may have been applied to the river because it runs parallel to the Ganges. The Yamuna is mentioned at many places in the Rig Veda, 1700–1100 BC, and also in the later Atharvaveda, and the Brahmanas including Aitareya Brahmana and Shatapatha Brahmana. In Rig Veda, the story of the Yamuna describes her love for her twin, Yama, who in turn asks her to find a suitable match for herself. It is also said that lord shiva was the reason for the colour of the Yamuna river. After the death of Sati Devi, lord shiva couldnt tolerate the sadness around him, and At last when he went to Yamuna river, it became so black as it absorbed all his sorrow
26.
Rajasuya
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Rajasuya is a Śrauta ritual of the Vedic religion. It is a consecration of a king and it is described in the Taittiriya corpus, including Apastamba Srauta Sutra 18. 8–25.22. It involves soma pressing, a drive, the king shooting arrows from his bow, and a brief cattle “raid. ”There is a telling of the tale of Shunahshepa. Also included is a game of throwing dice by which the king is enthroned and this yaga can be included under the list of other complex yagas like ishti, pashuyaga, somayaga darvihoma etc. This is a very complex yaga including 129 ishti yaga,2 pashu yaga,7 darvi homas and 6 soma yagas. There are most amazing type of gifts that are given to the priests who are performing this yaga. Two gold-coated mirrors should be given to the adhwaryu, the main priest called brahma should ge given 12 healthy cows. Maithra varuna -the second most important priest should be presented by a pregnant cow, the brahmanajhamsi priest should be presented by a healthy Ox. neshta and potha should be given a couple of two precious silks. The achavaka priest should be presented by a full of yava a type of cereal. Finally the agneeth priest should be presented by a healthy ox, there are special fees that should be given to the priests who are performing this yaga for the king. Rajasuya yajna should be performed only by kings, who are eligible to rule the whole world. This yajna is performed as an inauguration to the king who is going to become the ruler of entire world, after the performance of this yajna, the respected king will be admitted as rajadhiraja means the king of all kings. He will achieve honour and respect from even celestials too and fixes his reputation over the entire world, Rajasuya yajna is a highly expensive one, and most popular than all other yajnas that are described in vedas. Only those kings are eligible to perform this yajna, who is the most powerful, inorder to perform this yajna, the king should defeated all other kings in the world and make them under subjection. If anyone of kings who is not under his subjection, then Rajasuya fails, conquering the entire world is called as digvijaya and acquiring money from those defeated kings are called as karam means tribute. By that huge money, this yajna should be performed, dakshinas means fees or gifts should be given to the priests who were performing this yaga scientifically. After this yajna, an agra puja should be given to him who is most respected by knowledge, faith, agra puja means special honour to the top most person in the kingdom. In Yudhishtiras Rajasuya, agra puja was given to Lord Krishna, another yajna equivalent to this yajna is called as vaishnava yajna. Rajasuya is performed by king Yudhishtira in mahabharatha and Vaishnava yajna is performed by king Duryodhana in mahabharatha, in this way, both of them became equally praised by celestials in heaven
27.
Gupta Empire
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The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire founded by Sri Gupta. The empire existed at its zenith from approximately 320 to 550 CE, the peace and prosperity created under the leadership of the Guptas enabled the pursuit of scientific and artistic endeavors. Chandragupta I, Samudragupta, and Chandragupta II were the most notable rulers of the Gupta dynasty, the high points of the period is great cultural developments which took place during the reign of Chandragupta II. Science and political administration reached new heights during the Gupta era, strong trade ties also made the region an important cultural center and set the region up as a base that would influence nearby kingdoms and regions in Burma, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia. The earliest available Indian epics are also thought to have committed to written texts around this period. After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century, a minor line of the Gupta clan continued to rule Magadha after the disintegration of the empire. These Guptas were ultimately ousted by Vardhana ruler Harsha, who established his empire in the first half of the 7th century, according to many historians, the Gupta dynasty was a Vaishya dynasty. Historian Ram Sharan Sharma asserts that the Vaishya Guptas appeared as a reaction against oppressive rulers, brannigan, the rise of the Gupta Empire was one of the most prominent violations of the caste system in ancient India. There is controversy among scholars about the homeland of the Guptas. Jayaswal has pointed out that the Guptas were originally inhabitants of Prayaga, Uttar Pradesh, in north India, another scholar, Gayal supported the theory of Jaiswal, suggesting that the original home of the Guptas was Antarvedi embracing the regions of Oudh and Prayag. However another historian of this time in Indian history, Ganguli, has offered a different view about the original Gupta homeland, according to him the Guptas homeland is further south, the Murshidabad region of Bengal, and not Magadha in Bihar. He based his theory on the statement of the Chinese Buddhist monk, Yijing, fleet and other historians however criticize Gangulis theory because Sri Gupta ruled during the end of the 3rd century, but Yijing placed him at the end of the 2nd century. Hence the theory of historians, who have provided their views based on the accounts of Yijing, are considered less valid than theories based on sources such as coinage. From these theories, several conflicting opinions about the original homeland, according to Allan and a few other scholars, the Guptas were initially concentrated in the region of Magadha and from there they extended their sway to Bengal. According to other groups, the homeland of the Guptas was Varendri or the Varendra Bhumi in Bengal. Whatever the theory is, the rule of the Guptas initiated the Golden Age in history of ancient India, bengali historians like HC Raychoudhuri the Guptas originated from the Varendri region which is now part of Rangpur and Rajshahi Division of modern-day Bangladesh. DC Ganguly, on the hand, considers the surrounding region of Murshidabad as the original home of the Guptas. The most likely time for the reign of Sri Gupta is c, the Murundas who were feudal lords of Kushans provided or granted land to Srigupta
28.
Chalukya dynasty
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The Chalukya dynasty was an Indian royal dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties, the earliest dynasty, known as the Badami Chalukyas, ruled from Vatapi from the middle of the 6th century. The Badami Chalukyas began to assert their independence at the decline of the Kadamba kingdom of Banavasi, after the death of Pulakeshin II, the Eastern Chalukyas became an independent kingdom in the eastern Deccan. They ruled from Vengi until about the 11th century and these Western Chalukyas ruled from Kalyani until the end of the 12th century. The rule of the Chalukyas marks an important milestone in the history of South India, the political atmosphere in South India shifted from smaller kingdoms to large empires with the ascendancy of Badami Chalukyas. A Southern India-based kingdom took control and consolidated the entire region between the Kaveri and the Narmada rivers, the rise of this empire saw the birth of efficient administration, overseas trade and commerce and the development of new style of architecture called Chalukyan architecture. Kannada literature, which had enjoyed royal support in the 9th century Rashtrakuta court found eager patronage from the Western Chalukyas in the Jain, the 11th century saw the birth of Telugu literature under the patronage of the Eastern Chalukyas. While opinions vary regarding the origins of the Chalukyas, the consensus among noted historians such as John Keay. Sircar, Hans Raj, S. Sen, Kamath, K. V. Ramesh, a theory that they were descendants of a 2nd-century chieftain called Kandachaliki Remmanaka, a feudatory of the Andhra Ikshvaku was put forward. This according to Kamath has failed to explain the difference in lineage, the Kandachaliki feudatory call themselves Vashisthiputras of the Hiranyakagotra. The Chalukyas, however, address themselves as Harithiputras of Manavyasagotra in their inscriptions, which is the lineage as their early overlords. This makes them descendants of the Kadambas, the Chalukyas took control of the territory formerly ruled by the Kadambas. A later record of Eastern Chalukyas mentions the northern origin theory and claims one ruler of Ayodhya came south, defeated the Pallavas and she had a child called Vijayaditya who is claimed to be the Pulakeshin Is father. However, according to the historians K. V. Ramesh, Chopra and Sastri, there are Badami Chalukya inscriptions that confirm Jayasimha was Pulakeshin Is grandfather and Ranaranga, his father. Kamath and Moraes claim it was a practice in the 11th century to link South Indian royal family lineage to a Northern kingdom. The Badami Chalukya records themselves are silent with regards to the Ayodhya origin, while the northern origin theory has been dismissed by many historians, the epigraphist K. V. Ramesh has suggested that an earlier southern migration is a distinct possibility which needs examination. Hence, the place of origin of their ancestors may have been of no significance to the kings of the empire who may have considered themselves natives of the Kannada speaking region. The writing of 12th century Kashmiri poet Bilhana suggests the Chalukya family belonged to the Shudra caste while other sources claim they were Kshatriyas, the historians Jan Houben and Kamath, and the epigraphist D. C
29.
Pushyamitra Shunga
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Pushyamitra Shunga was the founder and first ruler of the Shunga Empire in North India. Pushyamitra was originally a Senapati General of the Maurya Empire, in 185 BCE he assassinated the last Mauryan Emperor, Brihadratha Maurya, during an army review, and proclaimed himself King. He then performed Ashvamedha and brought much of North India under his rule, inscriptions of the Shungas have been found as far as the Jalandhar in the Punjab, and the Divyavadana mentions that his rule extended as far as Sagala. Several sources suggest that Pushyamitra was a Brahmin, and the 16th century Buddhist scholar Taranatha explicitly calls him a Brahmin king, however, the various sources offer differing suggestions about which Brahmin gotra Pushyamitra belonged to. A Puranic manuscript mentions persons who were born of Shunga, a descendant of Bharadvaja, by a woman married in the family of Kata, a descendant of Vishvamitra. Based on this, K. P. Jayaswal theorized that Shunga was a Brahmin with two gotras, his family traced their ancestry to both Bharadvaja and Vishvamitra lineages, the Pravara Kanda of the Apastamba mentions a Shunga-Shaishiri gotra. Ghosh theorized that Shunga family derived from Shunga of the Bharadvaja gotra, however, the Matsya Purana mentions the Shunga-Shaishiri dwaimushyayana gotra as a combination of the Bharadvaja and Kashyapa gotras. The Harivamsa mentions a twice-born general of the Kashyapa gotra who performed Ashvamedha sacrifice, some scholars, such as Jayaswal identify this general with Pushyamitra. The Malavikagnimitra describes Pushyamitra as a Baimbaki, raychaudhuri, who read this term as Baimbika identified it with Baimbakayah of the Baudhayana Shrauta Sutra, who was of Kashyapa gotra. Bela Lahiri theorizes that the constituents of a dwaimushyayana gotra may have differed during different periods, according to the Puranas, Pushyamitra became the king after killing his master Brihadratha, the last Mauryan king. However, the Buddhist text Divyavadana names Pushyamitra as the last Mauryan king and this text appears to have confused Brihadratha with Pushyamitra. Raychaudhuri theorized that the name Shunga is derived from the Sanskrit word for the fig tree, Buddhist texts state that Pushyamitra cruelly persecuted the Buddhists. The earliest source to mention this is the 2nd Century CE text Ashokavadana, according to this account, Pushyamitra wanted to be famous. His ministers advised him that as long as Buddhism remained the dominant faith, he would never be as famous as his ancestor Ashoka, one advisor told him that he could become famous by destroying Buddhism. Pushyamitra then tried to destroy the Kukkutarama monastery, but it was saved by a miracle and he then proceeded to Shakala in the north-west, where he offered a prize of hundred dinaras for every head of a Buddhist monk brought to him. Next, he proceeded to the Koshthaka kingdom, where a Buddhist yaksha named Damshtranivasin killed him, vibhasa, another 2nd century text, states that Pushyamitra burned Buddhist scriptures, killed Buddhist monks, and destroyed 500 monasteries in and around Kashmir. In this campaign, he was supported by yakshas, kumbhandas, however, when he reached the Bodhi tree, the deity of that tree took the form of a beautiful woman and killed him. Shariputrapariprichha, translated into Chinese between 317 and 420 CE also mentions this legend, but this particular version is more detailed, and describes eastern India as the center of Pushyamitras anti-Buddhist campaign
30.
Shunga Empire
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The Shunga Empire was an ancient Indian dynasty from Magadha that controlled vast areas of the Indian subcontinent from around 187 to 78 BCE. The dynasty was established by Pushyamitra Shunga, after the fall of the Maurya Empire and its capital was Pataliputra, but later emperors such as Bhagabhadra also held court at Besnagar in eastern Malwa. Pushyamitra Shunga ruled for 36 years and was succeeded by his son Agnimitra, the empire is noted for its numerous wars with both foreign and indigenous powers. They fought the Kalinga, the Satavahana dynasty, the Indo-Greek Kingdom, Shunga rulers helped to establish the tradition of royal sponsorship of learning and art. The script used by the empire was a variant of Brahmi script and was used to write Sanskrit, the Shunga Empire played an imperative role in patronizing culture at a time when some of the most important developments in Hindu thought were taking place. Patanjalis Mahābhāṣya was composed in this period, artistry also progressed with the rise of the Mathura art style. The Kanva dynasty succeeded the Shungas around 73 BCE, Pushyamitra Shunga then ascended the throne. Pushyamitra Shunga became the ruler of Magadha and neighbouring territories, the empire of Pushyamitra was extended to the Narmada River in the south, controlled Jalandhar and Sialkot in the Punjab region in the northwest and the city of Ujjain in Central India. Kabul and much of the Punjab passed into the hands of the Indo-Greeks, Pushyamitra died after ruling for 36 years. He was succeeded by son Agnimitra and this prince is the hero of a famous drama by one of Indias greatest playwrights, Kālidāsa. Agnimitra was viceroy of Vidisha when the story takes place, the power of the Shungas gradually weakened. It is said there were ten Shunga emperors. The Shungas were succeeded by the Kanva dynasty around 73 BCE, buddhist scripture Divyavdan and ancient Tibbatan historian Taranath have written about persecution of Buddhists, However, there is doubt as to whether he did persecute Buddhists actively. Later Shunga emperors were seen as amenable to Buddhism and as having contributed to the building of the stupa at Bharhut, some writers believe that Brahmanism competed in political and spiritual realm with Buddhism in the Gangetic plains. Buddhism flourished in the realms of the Bactrian kings, some Indian scholars are of the opinion that the orthodox Shunga emperors were not intolerant towards Buddhism and that Buddhism prospered during the time of the Shunga emperors. The existence of Buddhism in Bengal in the Shunga period can also be inferred from a tablet that was found at Tamralipti and is on exhibit at the Asutosh Museum in Kolkata. An inscription at Bodh Gaya at the Mahabodhi Temple records the construction of the temple as follows, another inscription reads, The gift of Kurangi, the mother of living sons and the wife of Emperor Indragnimitra, son of Kosiki. The gift also of Srima of the palace shrine
31.
Kanva dynasty
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The Kanva dynasty or Kanvayana was a Brahmin dynasty that replaced the Shunga dynasty in Magadha, and ruled in the Eastern part of India from 75 BCE to 30 BCE. The last ruler of the Shunga dynasty, Devabhuti, was overthrown by Vasudeva of the Kanva dynasty in 75 BC, the Kanva ruler allowed the kings of the Shunga dynasty to continue to rule in obscurity in a corner of their former dominions. Magadha was ruled by four Kanva rulers, according to the Puranas, their dynasty was brought to an end by the Satavahanas. The first ruler of Kanva dynasty was Vasudeva and he was succeeded by his son Bhumimitra. Coins bearing the legend Bhumimitra have been discovered from Panchala realm, Bhumimitra ruled for fourteen years and was later succeeded by his son Narayana. He was succeeded by his son Susharman who was the last king of Kanva dynasty, Vasudeva Bhumimitra Narayana Susharman List of Brahmin dynasties and states Raychaudhuri, Hemchandra Political History of Ancient India, University of Calcutta,1972
32.
Satakarni
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Satakarni was the third of the Satavahana kings, who ruled the Deccan region of India. His reign dated variously as 70-60 BCE, or 187-177 BCE, according to the Puranas, the Satavahana king Simuka was succeeded by his brother Krishna. According to Matsya Purana, Krishna was succeeded by Mallakarni, but according to other Puranas, the Nanaghat cave inscription of Satakarni lists his family members, it mentions Simukas name, but not that of Krishna. Based on this, multiple historians conclude that Satakarni was Simukas son, G. V. Rao, however, believes that the inscription is that of a different king Satakarni II, Simuka is mentioned in the inscription as the founder of the dynasty. According to the Matsya Purana, Satakarni enjoyed a reign of about 56 years. He seems to have conquered Western Malwa region from the Shungas and he married Nayanika, daughter of the Maharathi Tranakayiro Kalalaya, scion of the Amgiya family. She wrote the Naneghat inscription, in which she describes Satakarni as Lord of Dakshinapatha, the Naneghat inscription of Naganika suggests that Satakarni performed two horse sacrifices, to proclaim his sovereignty. The Hathigumpha inscription of the Kalinga king Kharavela mentions a king named Satakani or Satakamini, the inscription describes dispatching of an army and Kharavelas threat to a city variously interpreted as Masika, Musika or Asika. NK Sahu identifies Asika as the capital of Assaka janapada, according to Ajay Mitra Shastri, Asika-nagara was located in the present-day Adam village in the Nagpur district, where a seal mentioning the Assaka has been found. The inscription also mentions a river, variously identified with Krishna or with the flow of Kanha-Wainganga. Since the inscription is only partially legible, different scholars interpret the events described in the inscription differently, jayaswal and R. D. Banerji, Kharavela sent an army against Satkarani. Sailendra Nath Sen also states that Kharavela sent out an army that advanced up to river Krishna, according to Bhagwal Lal, Satakarni wanted to avoid an invasion of his kingdom by Kharavela. So, he sent horses, elephants, chariots and men to Kharavela as a tribute, in the same year, Kharavela captured the city of Masika with assistance of Kusumba Kshatriyas. According to Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya, Kharavelas army failed to advanced against Satakarni, according to Alain Daniélou, Kharavela was friendly with Satakarni, and only crossed his kingdom without any clashes. He was succeeded by his two young sons Vedasri and Sakti-Sri or Haku-Siri, under the regency of their mother Nayanika
33.
Satavahana dynasty
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The Satavahanas were an ancient Indian dynasty based in the Deccan region. The Satavahana kingdom mainly comprised the present-day Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, at different times, their rule extended to parts of modern Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka. The dynasty had different capital cities at different times, including Pratishthana, the origin of the dynasty is uncertain, but according to the Puranas, their first king overthrew the Kanva dynasty. In the post-Maurya era, the Satavahanas established peace in the Deccan region, in particular their struggles with the Saka Western Satraps went on for a long time. The dynasty reached its zenith under the rule of Gautamiputra Satakarni, the kingdom fragmented into smaller states by the early 3rd century CE. The Satavahanas were early issuers of Indian state coinage struck with images of their rulers and they formed a cultural bridge and played a vital role in trade and the transfer of ideas and culture to and from the Indo-Gangetic Plain to the southern tip of India. They supported Brahmanism as well as Buddhism, and patronised Prakrit language instead of Sanskrit, the date and place of origin of the Satavahanas, as well as the meaning of the dynastys name, are a matter of debate among the historians. According to one theory, the word Satavahana is a Prakrit form of the Sanskrit Sapta-Vahana and this would indicate that the Satavahanas originally claimed association with the legendary solar dynasty, as was common in ancient India. According to Inguva Kartikeya Sarma, the name is derived from the words sata and vahana. Another theory connects their name to the earlier Satiyaputa dynasty, yet another theory derives their name from the Munda words Sadam and Harpan, implying son of the performer of a horse sacrifice. Several rulers of the dynasty bear the name or title Satakarni, Satavahana, Satakarni, Satakani and Shalivahana appear to be variations of the same word. Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi theorized that the word Satakarni is derived from the Munda words sada, the Puranas use the name Andhra or Andhra-Bhritya for the Satavahanas. The term Andhra may refer to ethnicity or territory of the dynasty and it does not appear in the dynastys own records. The use of the name Andhra in the Puranas has led scholars to believe that the dynasty originated in the eastern Deccan region. At Kotilingala in Telangana, coins bearing the legend Rano Siri Chimuka Satavahanasa were found, coins attributed to Simukas successors Kanha and Satakarni I were also discovered at Kotilingla. Based on these discoveries, historians such as D. R. Reddy, S. Reddy, however, the coin samples from Kotlingala are small, and it is not certain if these coins were minted there or reached there from somewhere else. Sastry also later changed his view, and stated that the two kings were different, as for the Puranas, these texts were compiled much later, during the Gupta period, and it is not certain if the Satavahanas were referred to as Andhras during their time. Another section of scholars believe that the Satavahanas originated in western Deccan, all of the four extant inscriptions from the early Satavahana period have been found in and around this region
34.
Naneghat
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Naneghat is a mountain pass in the Western Ghats range near Junnar in Pune district of Maharashtra, India. During the reign of the Satavahana, the pass was used as a trade route between Kalyan and Junnar. Literally, the name nane means coin and ghat means pass, the name is given because this path was used as a tollbooth to collect toll from traders crossing the hills. The location is ideal for star gazing and star photography, the inscriptions in the caves indicate that they are the work of the consorts of the Satavahana ruler Satakarni. These inscriptions are dated between 60 and 70 BCE and it is believed that Satakarnis wife Naganika commissioned the cave, the statues and the inscriptions. Brahmi inscriptions in the cave mention her and her family members, one of the caves originally contained life-size relief sculptures of eight persons. These sculptures have now faded, but some of them can be identified using the Brahmi labels carved over their heads, the first name is that of Raya-si Simuka Satavahana. Next appear Sirimato Devi Naganika/Nayanika and Rano Satakarni, the fourth name is that of Kumara Bhayala. The fifth name is lost, while the name is that of the Maharathi Tranakayira. The last two names are of the princes Haku-shri and Satavahana, the walls of the same cave contain a long, partially-damaged inscription of a queen, whose name is unclear. The queen is believed to be Naganika, mentioned in the described above. According to the inscription, the queen was the wife of Satakarni and mother of Vedashri, the inscription suggests that she was leading a life befitting a widow, and describes 18 sacrifices she had participated in. Some of these sacrifices would have been performed when her husband was still alive, in the Pratima-nataka of Bhāsa, Bharata realizes that his father Dasharatha is dead when he sees his statue with that of his other ancestors in a pratima-griha. Based on this reference, some argue that Naneghat portrait gallery was created when the kings. V V Mirashi suggests that the figures were carved in instalments, the first six during the reign of Satakarni, the Naneghat records have proved very important in establishing the history of the region. Vedic Gods like Yama Indra, Chandra and Surya are mentioned here, the mention of Samkarsana and Vasudeva indicate the prevalence of Bhagavata form of Hinduism in the Satavahana dynasty. There is a big stone cut Pot meant for collection of the toll from the traders, there are many rock cut water cisterns along the pass. The entire path of the Nane Ghat has stone pavement from top of the hill to the bottom, the inscriptions are preserved by the Archaeological Survey of India
35.
Andhra Ikshvaku
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Andhra Ikshvakus were one of the earliest recorded ruling dynasties of the Guntur-Krishna-Nalgonda regions of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. They ruled the Telugu country along the Godavari and Krishna River during the half of the 2nd century CE. It is a common belief that Andhra Ikshvakus were related to the mythological ikshvakus. The region they ruled came to be known as Kammanadu, the term Kammanadu was first found in 3rd century A. D. in the inscription of Ikshvaku king Purushadatta at Bethavolu near modern day Vijayawada. Archaeological evidence has suggested that the Andhra Ikshvakus immediately succeeded the Satavahanas in the Krishna river valley, Ikshvakus have left inscriptions at Nagarjunakonda, Jaggayyapeta, Amaravati and Bhattiprolu. The Puranas mention them as the Sriparvatiyas, Rulers of Sriparvata, the Satavahanas were also known as Andhras but Several Kings of House described themselves as Satavahanas and Never as Andhras. Ikshvaku Ikshvaku Dynasty Satavahana The Andhras Through the Ages by Kandavalli Balendu Sekharam
36.
Vakataka dynasty
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The Vakataka Empire was a dynasty from the Indian subcontinent that originated from the Deccan in the mid-3rd century CE. They were the most important successors of the Satavahanas in the Deccan, the Vakataka dynasty was a Brahmin dynasty. Little is known about Vindhyashakti, the founder of the family, territorial expansion began in the reign of his son Pravarasena I. It is generally believed that the Vakataka dynasty was divided into four branches after Pravarasena I, two branches are known and two are unknown. The known branches are the Pravarapura-Nandivardhana branch and the Vatsagulma branch, the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II married his daughter into Vakataka royal family and with their support annexed Gujarat from the Saka Satraps in 4th century CE. The Vakataka power was followed by that of the Chalukyas of Badami in Deccan, the Vakatakas are noted for having been patrons of the arts, architecture and literature. They led public works and their monuments are a visible legacy, the rock-cut Buddhist viharas and chaityas of Ajanta Caves were built under the patronage of Vakataka emperor, Harishena. The founder of the dynasty was Vindhyashakti, whose name is derived from the name of the goddess Vindhya, the dynasty may be originated there. Almost nothing is known about Vindhyashakti, the founder of the Vakatakas, in the Cave XVI inscription of Ajanta he was described as the banner of the Vakataka family and a Dvija. It is stated in this inscription that he added to his power by fighting great battles, but no regal title is prefixed to his name in this inscription. The Puranas say that he ruled for 96 years and he was placed variously at south Deccan, Madhya Pradesh and Malwa. Jayaswal attributes Bagat, a village in the Jhansi district as the home of Vakatakas, but after refuting the theory regarding the northern home of the Vakatakas, V. V. This Grihapati in all probability was the progenitor of Vidhyashakti and it appears from the Puranas that Vindhyasakti was a ruler of Vidisha but that is not considered to be correct. As per Dr Mirashi, who has rejected the identification of Rudra deva in the Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudra Gupta with Rudra sena I and he has also pointed out there are no coins of Vakataka and there are no inscriptions of them in the north of Vindhyas. Hence, a home of Vakatakas is correct. However, it is true that they have ruled on some of these places, the next ruler was Pravarasena I, who maintained the realm as a great power, he was the first Vakataka ruler, who called himself a Samrat and conducted wars with the Naga kings. He has become an emperor in his own right, perhaps the only emperor in the dynasty, with his kingdom embracing a portion of North India. He carried his arms to the Narmada in the north and annexed the kingdom of Purika which was being ruled by a king named Sisuka, in any case, he certainly ruled from Bundelkhand in the north to the present Andhra Pradesh in the south
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Pallava dynasty
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The Pallava dynasty was a South Indian dynasty that existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a portion of what is today southern India. They gained prominence after the eclipse of the Satavahana dynasty, whom the Pallavas served as feudatories, Pallavas are most noted for their patronage of architecture, the finest example being the Shore Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mahabalipuram. The Pallavas, who left behind magnificent sculptures and temples, established the foundations of medieval South Indian architecture and they developed the Pallava script from which Grantha ultimately descended. The Pallava script gave rise to other southeast Asian scripts. Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang visited Kanchipuram during Pallava rule and extolled their benign rule, the Pallavas themselves claimed to descend from Brahma and Ashvatthama. Though Manimekalai posits Ilam Tiriyan as a Chola, not a Pallava, thence, came into existence the race of Pallavas. Vīrakūrcha, of celebrated name, who simultaneously with the daughter of the chief of serpents grasped also the insignia of royalty. The Proceedings of the First Annual Conference of South Indian History Congress also notes, The word Tondai means a creeper, historian K. R. Subramanian says the Pallavas were originally a Telugu power rather than a Tamil one. Telugu sources know of a Trilochana Pallava as the earliest Telugu king, the first Chalukya king is said to have been met, repulsed and killed by the same Trilochana near Mudivemu. A Buddhist story describes Kala the Nagaraja, resembling the Pallava Kalabhartar as a king of the region near Krishna district, the Pallava Bogga may be identified with the kingdom of Kala in Andhra which had close and early maritime and cultural relations with Ceylon. K. A. K. P. Jayaswal also proposed a North Indian origin, the Pallavas captured Kanchi from the Cholas as recorded in the Velurpalaiyam Plates, around the reign of the fifth king of the Pallava line Kumaravishnu I. Thereafter Kanchi figures in inscriptions as the capital of the Pallavas, the Cholas drove the Pallavas away from Kanchi in the mid-4th century, in the reign of Vishugopa, the tenth king of the Pallava line. The Pallavas re-captured Kanchi in the century, possibly in the reign of Simhavishnu, the fourteenth king of the Pallava line. Thereafter the Pallavas held on to Kanchi until the 9th century, until the reign of their last king, the Pallavas were in conflict with major kingdoms at various periods of time. A contest for political supremacy existed between the early Pallavas and the Kadambas, numerous Kadamba inscriptions provide details of Pallava-Kadamba hostlities. During the reign of Vishnugopavarman II, political convulsion engulfed the Pallavas due to the Kalabhra invasion of the Tamil country, towards the close of the 6th century, the Pallava Simhavishnu stuck a blow against the Kalabhras. Thereafter the Tamil country was divided between the Pallavas in the north with Kanchipuram as their capital, and Pandyas in the south with Madurai as their capital, the royal custom of using a series of descriptive honorific titles, Birudas, was particularly prevalent among the Pallavas. The birudas of Mahendravarman I are in Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu, the Telugu birudas show Mahendravarmans involvement with the Andhra region continued to be strong at the time he was creating his cave-temples in the Tamil region
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Samudragupta
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Samudragupta was the fourth ruler of the Gupta Empire and the son and successor of Chandragupta I. Much of the knowledge of Samudraguptas military exploits comes from the Allahabad Pillar of Ashoka which includes a prashasti extolling the deeds, Samudragupta was the son of Chandragupta I and the Lichchhavi princess, Kumaradevi. He is believed to have been his fathers chosen successor even though he had several elder brothers, therefore, some believe that after the death of Chandragupta I, there was a struggle for succession in which Samudragupta prevailed. It is said that Samudragupta became the ruler after subduing his rival, Kacha, Samudragupta is depicted on his coins both as a muscular warrior flaunting the marks of hundreds of wounds received in battle as well as a poet and a musician. His reign marked the beginning of what is referred to as the golden age of Indian history. Chandragupta I, a Magadha king, was the ruler of the Gupta Dynasty and married a Lichhavi princess. This enabled him to gain a hold over the Ganges river-basin and he ruled from his capital at Pataliputra for about ten years in north-central India with his son, Samudragupta, as an apprentice. After his death, Samudragupta assumed the throne and did not rest until he had conquered almost the whole of India and his reigning period may be described as a vast military campaign. To begin with, he attacked the kingdoms of Ahichchhatra. He conquered the whole of Bengal, some kingdoms in Nepal and he absorbed some tribal states like the Malvas, the Yaudheyas, the Arjunayanas, the Abhiras and the Maduras. The rulers of what is now Afghanistan and Kashmir were also added to the empire, the main source of Samudraguptas history is an inscription engraved on the Allahabad pillar. In this inscription is detailed Samudraguptas conquests, the inscription to Samudraguptas martial exploits states that its author is Harisena, who was an important poet of Samudraguptas court. Eran Inscription of Samudragupta presently stored in Kolkata National Museum, the beginning of Samudraguptas reign was marked by the defeat of his immediate neighbours, Achyuta, ruler of Ahichchhatra, and Nagasena. Following this Samudragupta began a campaign against the kingdoms to the south and this southern campaign took him south along the Bay of Bengal. Here, however, he did not attempt to direct control. After capturing his enemies he reinstated them as kings, an act which is a testament to his abilities as a statesman. His ambition was inspired by becoming Raja Chakravarti or greatest emperor and Ekrat, in the North, he adopted the policy of Digvijaya which meant the conquest and annexation of all territories. In the South, his policy was Dharma Vijaya which meant conquest, Samudragupta was chosen as emperor by his father over other contenders and apparently had to repress revolts in the early years of his rule
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Kumaragupta I
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Kumaragupta I, also known as Shakraditya and Mahendraditya, was an emperor of the Gupta Empire in 415–455 CE. He was the son of his predecessor, Chandragupta II, and he was an able ruler and retained, intact, the vast empire, which extended from Bengal to Kathiawar and from the Himalayas to the Narmada. He ruled efficiently for nearly forty years, however, the last days of his reign were not good. The Gupta Empire was threatened by the rebellion of Pushyamitras of central India, but, Kumaragupta was successful in defeating both threats and performed the Ashvamedha to celebrate his victory. He issued new coins with images of his namesake, Lord Kumara, during his reign, Chiratadatta was the governor of Pundravardhana Bhukti. A prince, Ghatotkachagupta was the governor of Eran and a third governor, the Karmadande inscription mentions Prithivishena, who was initially mantrin and kumaramatya of Kumaragupta I, but later became his mahabaladhikrita. Modern scholars are divided in opinion regarding the successor of Kumaragupta I. While some believe that he was succeeded by his son Skandagupta, others contend that he was succeeded by his other son, some even think that Skandagupta and Purugupta are the same person. The full significance of this passage is obscure, the continuous attacks of the Huns weakened the Gupta empire. After his death, the Gupta empire began to decline, an inscription on a figure of a yaksha from Mathura in the reign of Kumaragupta has been dated to 432 CE, and a pedestal has been dated to 442 CE. The Bilsad inscription is the oldest record of his reign and it dates to Gupta year 96, inscriptions prove that the Gupta sovereignty was acknowledged in the Jabalpur region in the Narmada valley as late as CE528, and in North Bengal till CE 543–544. Kumaragupta II is believed to have been ruling in 473–474 CE, the Gupta empire began to disintegrate and by the middle of the sixth century CE, they had merely become petty chiefs. The last known date of his reign occurs on an inscription on one of his silver coins, corresponding to 445 CE
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Vishnukundina
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The Vishnukundina dynasty was an Indian imperial power controlling the Deccan, Orissa and parts of South India during the 5th and 6th centuries, carving land out from the Vakataka Empire. It played an important role in the history of the Deccan during the 5th and 6th centuries, by 514, the Vakatakas were reduced to the areas of present-day Telangana area. The area north of the Godavari, Kalinga, became independent, the area south of the Krishna River fell to the Pallavas. The Vishnukundin reign came to an end with the conquest of the eastern Deccan by the Chalukya, Pulakeshin appointed his brother Kubja Vishnuvardhana as Viceroy to rule over the conquered lands. Eventually Vishnuvardhana declared his independence and started the Eastern Chalukya dynasty, Vishnukundina is a Sanskritised name for Vinukonda. Several attempts have been made by scholars to find out the origins of this dynasty, the early rulers of the dynasty migrated to the west in search of employment and under the Vakatakas they might have attained feudatory status. During the reign of Madhava Varma, they became independent and conquered coastal Andhra from the Salankayanas, the Vishnukundin reign might be fixed between the end of the Salankayana and the rise of the Eastern Chalukyan power in 624. Some historians mention Vishnukundins reign was from 420 to 624, while some other historian say there reign was from early 5th century to the 7th century, according to the Indra Pala Nagara plates, Indra Varma is considered to be the first ruler of the Vishnukundin dynasty. He might have carved out a principality for himself probably as a subordinate of the Vakatakas sometime about the last quarter of the 4th century. He adorned the title of priyaputra, parabrama shastry, Indravermas capital was Indrapalapuram in Nalgonda district of Telangana State. Not much information is known about the two kings, Madhav Varma I and his son Govinda Varma. They might have kept intact the inheritance or extended their sway to some extent, by the middle of the 5th century, the dynasty began its imperial expansion under its most efficient ruler Madhav Varma II who ruled for nearly half a century. The reign of Madhav Varma was an age in the history of the Vishnukundins. It was during this period, the small Vishnukundin dynasty rose to imperial heights, a princess of the then powerful ruling family of the Deccan the Vakatakas was given in marriage to Madhav Varmas son, Vikramendra Varma. This alliance gave them power and made it easy for them to extend their influence to the east coast. Madhav Varma II led his arms against Ananda Gotrikas who were ruling over Guntur, Tenali and Ongole, after occupying these areas from the Ananda Gotrikas, Madhav Varma II made Amarapura his capital. Madhav Varma II next turned his attention against the Vengi kingdom which was under the Salankayanas, the Godavari tract became part of the Vishnukundin territory. After these conquests the capital might have shifted to Bezwada
