Kali
Kali known as Kālikā or Shyāmā, is a Hindu goddess. Kali is one of a list which combines Sakta and Buddhist goddesses. Kali's earliest appearance is that of a destroyer of evil forces, she is the goddess of one of the four subcategories of a category of tantric Saivism. Over time, she has been worshipped by devotional movements and tantric sects variously as the Divine Mother, Mother of the Universe, Adi Shakti, or Adi Parashakti. Shakta Hindu and Tantric sects additionally worship her as Brahman, she is seen as divine protector and the one who bestows moksha, or liberation. Kali is portrayed standing or dancing on her consort, the Hindu god Shiva, who lies calm and prostrate beneath her. Kali is worshipped by Hindus throughout India in West Bengal. Kālī is the feminine form of "time" or "the fullness of time" with the masculine noun "kāla"—and by extension, time as "changing aspect of nature that bring things to life or death." Other names include Kālarātri, Kālikā. The homonymous kāla, "appointed time," is distinct from kāla "deep blue," but became associated through popular etymology.
The association is seen in a passage from the Mahābhārata, depicting a female figure who carries away the spirits of slain warriors and animals. She is called kālarātri and kālī. Kālī is the feminine form of Kāla, an epithet of Shiva, thus the consort of Shiva. Hugh Urban notes that although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra. Kali appears in the Mundaka Upanishad not explicitly as a goddess, but as the dark blue tongue of the seven flickering tongues of Agni, the Hindu god of fire. According to David Kinsley, Kāli is first mentioned in Hindu tradition as a distinct goddess around 600 AD, these texts "usually place her on the periphery of Hindu society or on the battlefield." She is regarded as the Shakti of Shiva, is associated with him in various Puranas. Her most well known appearance on the battlefield is in the sixth century Devi Mahatmyam; the deity of the first chapter of Devi Mahatmyam is Mahakali, who appears from the body of sleeping Vishnu as goddess Yoga Nidra to wake him up in order to protect Brahma and the World from two demons Madhu and Kaitabha.
When Vishnu woke up he started a war against the two demons. After a long battle with lord Vishnu when the two demons were undefeated Mahakali took the form of Mahamaya to enchant the two asuras; when Madhu and Kaitabha were enchanted by Mahakali, Vishnu killed them. In chapters the story of two demons can be found who were destroyed by Kali. Chanda and Munda attack the goddess Durga. Durga responds with such anger, causing her face to turn dark resulting in Kali appearing out of her forehead. Kali's appearance is dark blue, gaunt with sunken eyes, wearing a tiger skin and a garland of human heads, she defeats the two demons. In the same battle, the demon Raktabija is undefeated because of his ability to reproduce himself from every drop of his blood that reaches the ground. Countless Raktabija clones appear on the battlefield. Kali defeats him by sucking his blood before it can reach the ground, eating the numerous clones. Kinsley writes that Kali represents "Durga's personified wrath, her embodied fury."Other origin stories involve Parvati and Shiva.
Parvati is portrayed as a benign and friendly goddess. The Linga Purana describes Shiva asking Parvati to defeat the demon Daruka, who received a boon that would only allow a female to kill him. Parvati merges with Shiva's body, reappearing as Kali to defeat his armies, her bloodlust gets out of control. The Vamana Purana has a different version of Kali's relationship with Parvati; when Shiva addresses Parvati as Kali, "the dark blue one," she is offended. Parvati becomes Gauri, the golden one, her dark sheath becomes. Regarding the relationship between Kali and Shiva, Kinsley writes that: In relation to Shiva, she appears to play the opposite role from that of Parvati. Parvati calms Shiva, counterbalancing his destructive tendencies. Kali is Shiva's "other wife," as it were, provoking him and encouraging him in his mad, disruptive habits, it is never Shiva who must calm Kali. Kāli appears in the Death of the Mahabharata, she is called Kālarātri and appears to the Pandava soldiers in dreams, until she appears amidst the fighting during an attack by Drona's son Ashwatthama.
Another story involving Kali is her escapade with a band of thieves. The thieves wanted to make a human sacrifice to Kali, unwisely chose a saintly Brahmin monk as their victim; the radiance of the young monk was so much that it burned the image of Kali, who took living form and killed the entire band of thieves, decapitating them and drinking their blood. In Kāli's most famous legend and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him, they soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that is
Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar is the capital of the Indian state of Odisha. It is the largest city in Odisha and is a centre of economic and cultural importance in Eastern India. Along with the old town, the region was depicted as Ekamra Khetra. With the diverse ranges of heritage resources, it showcases significant sacred cultural landscape components which have evolved with the support of available natural resource base and cultural trigger. Although the modern city of Bhubaneswar was formally established in 1948, the history of the areas in and around the present-day city can be traced to the 3rd century BCE and earlier, it is a confluence of Hindu and Jain heritage boasting of some of the finest Kalingan temples. With many 6th-13th century CE Hindu temples, which span the entire spectrum of Kalinga architecture, Bhubaneswar is referred to as a "Temple City of India". With Puri and Konark it forms one of eastern India's most visited destinations. Bhubaneswar replaced Cuttack as the capital on 19 August 1949, 2 years after India gained its independence from Britain.
The modern city was designed by the German architect Otto Königsberger in 1946. Along with Jamshedpur and Chandigarh, it was one of modern India's first planned cities. Bhubaneswar and Cuttack are referred to as the'twin cities of Odisha'; the metropolitan area formed by the two cities had a population of 1.7 million in 2011. Bhubaneswar is categorised as a Tier-2 city. An emerging information technology and education hub, Bhubaneswar is one of the country's fastest-developing cities. Bhubaneswar is the anglicisation of the native name "Bhubaneswara", derived from the word Tribhubaneswara, which means the Lord of the Three Worlds, which refers to Shiva; the foundation of the modern Bhubaneswar city was laid in 1948, although the areas in and around the city have a history going back to 1st century BCE or earlier. Dhauli, near Bhubaneswar was the site of the Kalinga War, in which the Mauryan emperor Ashoka invaded and annexed Kalinga. One of the most complete edicts of the Mauryan Emperor, dating from between 272–236 BCE, remains carved in rock 8 kilometres to the southwest of the modern city.
After the decline of the Mauryan empire, the area came under the rule of Mahameghavahana dynasty, whose most well-known rule is Kharavela. His Hathigumpha inscription is located at the Khandagiri Caves near Bhubaneswar; the area was subsequently ruled by several dynasties, including Satavahanas, Guptas and Shailodbhavas. In 7th century, Somavamshi or Keshari dynasty established their kingdom in the area, constructed a number of temples. After the Kesharis, the Eastern Gangas ruled Kalinga area until 14th century CE, their capital Kalinganagara was located in present-day Bhubaneswar City. After them, Mukunda Deva of the Bhoi dynasty – the last Hindu ruler of the area until the Marathas – developed several religious buildings in the area. Most of the older temples in Bhubaneswar were built between 8th and 12th centuries, under Shaiva influence; the Ananta Vasudeva Temple is the only old temple of Vishnu in the city. In 1568, the Karrani dynasty of Afghan origin gained control of the area. During their reign, most of the temples and other structures were disfigured.
In the 16th century, the area came under pachamani Mughal control. The Marathas, who succeeded the Mughals in mid-18th century, encouraged pilgrimage in the region. In 1803, the area came under British colonial rule, was part of the Bengal Presidency and Orissa Province and Orissa Province; the capital of the British-ruled Orissa Province was Cuttack, vulnerabile to floods and suffered from space constraints. Because of this, on 30 September 1946, a proposal to move the capital to a new capital was introduced in the Legislative Assembly of the Orissa Province. After independence of India, the foundation of the new capital was laid by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on 13 April 1948; the name of the new capital came from "Tribhubaneswara" or "Bhubaneswara", a name of Shiva, the deity of the Lingaraja temple. The Legislative Assembly of Orissa was shifted from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar in 1949. Bhubaneswar was built as a modern city, designed by German architect Otto Königsberger with wide roads and parks.
Though part of the city followed the plan, it grew over the next few decades, outstripping the planning process. According to the first census of independent India, taken in 1951, the city's population was just 16,512. From 1952 to 1979, it was administered by a nagar panchayat. By the 1991 census, the population of Bhubaneswar had increased to 411,542. Accordingly, on 14 August 1994, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation was established. Bhubaneswar is in Khordha district of Odisha, it is along the axis of the Eastern Ghats mountains. The city has an average altitude of 45 m above sea level, it lies southwest of the Mahanadi River that forms the northern boundary of Bhubaneswar metropolitan area, within its delta. The city is bounded by the Daya River to the Kuakhai River to the east. Bhubaneswar is topographically divided into western uplands and eastern lowlands, with hillocks in the western and northern parts. Kanjia lake on the northern outskirts, affords rich biodiversity and is a wetland of national importance.
Bhubaneswar's soils are 65 per cent laterite, 25 per cent alluvial and 10 per
Shmashana
A shmashāna is a Hindu cremation ground, where dead bodies are brought to be burnt on a pyre. It is located near a river or body of water on the outskirts of village or town; the word has its origin from Sanskrit language: shma refers to shava, while shana refers to shanya. The other Indian religions like Sikhism and Buddhism use shmashana for the last rites of the dead; as per Hindu rites, the dead body is brought to shmashana for Antim Sanskar. At cremation ground, the chief mourner has to obtain the sacred fire from the Dom caste, who reside by the shmashana and light funeral pyres for a fee. Various Hindu scripts give details of how to select the site of shmashana: it should be on northern direction of village with land sloping towards south, it should be near a river or a source of water and should not be visible from a distance. Dead bodies are traditionally cremated on a funeral pyre made of wood. However, nowadays in many cities of India there are electric or gas based furnaces used in indoor crematoria.
The shmashana is said to be abode of ghosts, evil spirits, fierce deities, tantrics. Therefore, people in general prefer to avoid going near shmashan at night. Per Hindu rituals women do not go to shmashana, only males go to shmashana to perform last rites. Only the Doms and Chandalas reside near shmashana. Shmashana is a place, where followers of Vamamarga like Aghori, Kashmiri Shaivism, Kaula of now scarce Indian tantric traditions do sadahna and rituals to worship Kali, Bhairav, Dakini, etc. invoke occult powers within them. Shmashana is used for similar purpose by followers of Tibetan Buddhist traditions of Vajrayana, Dzogchen for sadhna of Chöd, Zhitro, etc; the deity called Shmashana Adhipati is considered to be lord of Shmashana. There are cases of sattvic worship on smashan. For example, Shailendra Sharma, a realized yogin, has been living on a smashan near the Govardhan hill since 1993, he found and installed a natural shivalingam there and began to perform daily puja of Shiva worshipping.
Shmashana Adhipati Charnel ground
Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism is one of the major traditions within Hinduism along with Shaivism and Smarthism. It is called Vishnuism, its followers are called Vaishnavas, it considers Vishnu as the Supreme Lord; the tradition is notable for its avatar doctrine, wherein Krishna is revered in one of many distinct incarnations. Of these, ten avatars of Vishnu are the most studied. Rama, Narayana, Hari, Kesava, Govinda, Sri Nathji and Jagannath are among the popular names used for the same supreme being; the tradition has traceable roots to the 1st millennium BCE, as Bhagavatism called Krishnaism. Developments led by Ramananda created a Rama-oriented movement, now the largest monastic group in Asia; the Vaishnava tradition has many sampradayas ranging from the medieval era Dvaita school of Madhvacharya to Vishishtadvaita school of Ramanuja. The tradition is known for the loving devotion to an avatar of Vishnu, it has been key to the spread of the Bhakti movement in South Asia in the 2nd millennium CE. Key texts in Vaishnavism include the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Pancaratra texts and the Bhagavata Purana.
Vaishnavism originates in the latest centuries BCE and the early centuries CE, as an amalgam of the heroic Krishna Vasudeva, the "divine child" Bala Krishna of the Gopala traditions, syncretism of these non-Vedic traditions with the Mahabharata canon, thus affiliating itself with Vedism in order to become acceptable to the orthodox establishment. Krishnaism becomes associated with bhakti yoga in the medieval period. Although Vishnu was a Vedic solar deity, he is mentioned more compared to Agni and other Vedic deities, thereby suggesting that he had a major position in the Vedic religion. Other scholars state that there are other Vedic deities, such as water deity Nara, who together form the historical roots of Vaishnavism. In the late-Vedic texts, the concept of a metaphysical Brahman grows in prominence, the Vaishnavism tradition considered Vishnu to be identical to Brahman, just like Shaivism and Shaktism consider Shiva and Devi to be Brahman respectively; the ancient emergence of Vaishnavism is unclear, the evidence inconsistent and scanty.
According to Dalal, the origins may be in Vedic deity Bhaga. According to Preciado-Solís, the Vedic deities Nara and Narayana form one of the Vedic roots of Vaishnavism. According to Dandekar, Vaishnavism may have emerged from merger of several ancient theistic traditions, where the various deities were integrated as different avatars of the same god. In Dandekar theory, Vaishnavism emerged at the end of the Vedic period before the second urbanisation of northern India, in the 7th to 4th century BCE. Vasudeva and Krishna, "the deified tribal hero and religious leader of the Yadavas," gained prominence, merged into Bhagavan Vasudeva-Krishna, due to the close relation between the Vrsnis and the Yadavas; this was followed by a merger with the cult of Gopala-Krishna of the cowherd community of the Abhıras at the 4th century CE. The character of Gopala Krishna is considered to be non-Vedic. According to Dandekar, such mergers consolidated the position of Krishnaism between the heterodox sramana movement and the orthodox Vedic religion.
The "Greater Krsnaism", states Dandekar merged with the Rigvedic Vishnu. Syncretism of various traditions and Vedism resulted in Vaishnavism. At this stage that Vishnu of the Rig Veda was assimilated into non-Vedic Krishnaism and became the equivalent of the Supreme God; the appearance of Krishna as one of the Avatars of Vishnu dates to the period of the Sanskrit epics in the early centuries CE. The Bhagavad Gita was incorporated into the Mahabharata as a key text for Krishnaism; the Narayana-cult was included, which further brahmanized Vaishnavism. The Nara-Narayana cult may have originated in Badari, a northern ridge of the Hindu Kush, absorbed into the Vedic orthodoxy as Purusa Narayana. Purusa Narayana may have been turned into Arjuna and Krsna; this complex history is reflected in the two main historical denominations of Vishnavism. The Bhagavats, worship Vasudeva-Krsna, are followers of brahmanic Vaishnavism, while the Pacaratrins regard Narayana as their founder, are followers of Tantric Vaishnavism.
According to Hardy, there is evidence of early "southern Krishnaism," despite the tendency to allocate the Krishna-traditions to the Northern traditions. South Indian texts show close parallel with the Sanskrit traditions of Krishna and his gopi companions, so ubiquitous in North Indian text and imagery. Early writings in Dravidian culture such as Manimekalai and the Cilappatikaram present Krishna, his brother, favourite female companions in the similar terms. Hardy argues that the Sanskrit Bhagavata Purana is a Sanskrit "translation" of the bhakti of the Tamil alvars. Devotion to southern Indian Mal may be an early form of Krishnaism, since Mal appears as a divine figure like Krishna with some elements of Vishnu; the Alvars, whose name can be translated "sages" or "saints", were devotees of Mal. Their poems show a pronounced orientation to the Vaishnava, Krishna, side of Mal, but they do not make the distinction between Krishna and Vishnu on the basis of the concept of the Avatars. Yet, according to Hardy the term "Mayonism" should be used instead of "Krishnaism" when referring to Mal or Mayon.
Most of the Gupta kings, beginning with Chandragupta II were known as Parama Bhagavatas or Bhagavata Vaishnavas. After the Gupta age, Krishnaism rose to a major current of Vaishnavism, Vaishnavism developed into various sects and subsects
Pandal
A pandal is a fabricated structure, either temporary or permanent, used at many places such as either outside a building or in an open area in a religious or other events that gathers people together, such as a wedding, exhibition or festival. In Hinduism, a pandal is a temporary structure set up to venerate the god and goddess such as Ganesha during Ganesh Chaturthi, Krishna during krishna janmashtami or the goddess Durga during Durga Puja, known as puja pandal. Pandal are used for non religious activities. In a ritual unique to Sri Lanka, Vesak thorana pandals are set up during the Vesak festival, with illuminated panels illustrated with episodes from the life of the Gautama Buddha and Jathaka Katha or stories based on Buddhist culture; the fundamental concept of a Vesak Pandal is a creatively made, massive structure, decorated with a large number of lights and paintings mounted on a huge supporting structure. This supporting structure is traditionally built with Puwak Gasa. Creating the structure requires creativity and the high-level expertise of a number of artists and light-system electricians, not to mention funding and planning in advance.
The goal is to create a beautiful and colorful experience. Many different and dedicated groups of experts participating pass down this work from generation to generation or master to student; the most significant part of this display uses simple techniques in an intelligent way to create lighting on the front of the pandal. Most of the time this is a 2D structure. Pandals are set up during Gammaduwa festivals, honouring the goddess Pattini. Pandal refers to platforms from which people splash water during the new year celebrations of the Thingyan festival. A pandal can be a ceremonial gate, built to welcome visitors. A city in the Nilgiris district of the state of Tamil Nadu is named Pandalur
West Bengal
West Bengal is an Indian state, located in eastern region of the country on the Bay of Bengal. With over 91 million inhabitants, it is India's fourth-most populous state, it has an area of 88,752 km2. A part of the ethno-linguistic Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, it borders Bangladesh in the east, Nepal and Bhutan in the north, it borders the Indian states of Odisha, Bihar and Assam. The state capital is Kolkata, the seventh-largest city in India, center of the third-largest metropolitan area in the country; as for geography, West Bengal includes the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region, the coastal Sundarbans. The main ethnic group are the Bengalis, with Bengali Hindus forming the demographic majority; the area's early history featured a succession of Indian empires, internal squabbling, a tussle between Hinduism and Buddhism for dominance. Ancient Bengal was the site of several major Janapadas, while the earliest cities date back to the Vedic period; the region was part including the Mauryans and Guptas.
It was a bastion of regional kingdoms. The citadel of Gauda served as the capital of the Gauda Kingdom, the Buddhist Pala Empire and Hindu Sena Empire. From the 13th century onward, the region was ruled by several sultans, powerful Hindu states, Baro-Bhuyan landlords, until the beginning of British rule in the 18th century; the British East India Company cemented their hold on the region following the Battle of Plassey in 1757, Calcutta served for many years as the capital of British India. The early and prolonged exposure to British administration resulted in an expansion of Western education, culminating in developments in science, institutional education, social reforms in the region, including what became known as the Bengali Renaissance. A hotbed of the Indian independence movement through the early 20th century, Bengal was divided during India's independence in 1947 along religious lines into two separate entities: West Bengal, a state of India, East Bengal, a province of Pakistan which became independent Bangladesh.
Between 1977 and 2011 the state was administered by the world's longest elected Communist government. The economy of West Bengal is the sixth-largest state economy in India with ₹13.14 lakh crore in gross domestic product and a per capita GDP of ₹108,000. The state's cultural heritage, besides varied folk traditions, includes authors in literature, such as Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Kolkata is known as the "cultural capital of India". West Bengal is known for its enthusiasm for the sport of association football, as well as cricket; the origin of the name Bengal is unknown. One theory suggests that the word derives from "Bang", a Dravidian tribe that settled the region around 1000 BCE; the Bengali word Bongo might have been derived from the ancient kingdom of Vanga. Although some early Sanskrit literature mentions the name Vanga, the region's early history is obscure. At the end of British rule over the Indian subcontinent, the Bengal region was partitioned in 1947 along religious lines into east and west.
The eastern part came to be known be as East Pakistan, the eastern wing of newly born Pakistan and the western part came to be known as West Bengal, which continued as an Indian state. In 2011 the Government of West Bengal proposed a change in the official name of the state to PaschimBanga; this is the native name of the state meaning western Bengal in the native Bengali language. In August 2016 the West Bengal Legislative Assembly passed another resolution to change the name of West Bengal to "Bengal" in English, "Bangla" in Bengali. Despite the Trinamool Congress government's efforts to forge a consensus on the name change resolution, the Indian National Congress, the Left Front, the Bharatiya Janata Party opposed the resolution. However, the central government has turned down the proposal stating that the state should have one single name for all languages instead of three and the name should not be the same as that of any other territory. Stone Age tools dating back 20,000 years have been excavated in the state, showing human occupation 8,000 years earlier than scholars had earlier thought.
The region was a part of the Vanga Kingdom, according to the Indian epic Mahabharata. Several Vedic realms were present in the Bengal region, including Vanga, Rarh and the Suhma Kingdom. One of the earliest foreign references to Bengal is a mention by the Ancient Greeks around 100 BCE of a land named Gangaridai, located at the mouths of the Ganges. Bengal had overseas trade relations with Suvarnabhumi. According to the Sri Lankan chronicle Mahavamsa, Prince Vijaya, a Vanga Kingdom prince, conquered Lanka and gave the name Sinhala Kingdom to the country; the kingdom of Magadha was formed in the 7th century BCE, consisting of the regions now comprising Bihar and Bengal. It was one of the four main kingdoms of India at the time of the lives of Mahavira, founder of Jainism, Gautama Buddha, founder of Buddhism, it kingdoms. Under Ashoka, the Maurya Empire of Magadha in the 3rd century BCE extended over nearly all of South Asia, including Afghanistan and parts of Balochistan. From the 3rd to the 6th centuries CE, the kingdom of Magadha served as the seat of the Gupta Empire.
Two kingdoms – Vanga or Samatata, Gauda –
Bihar
Bihar is state in eastern India. It is the thirteenth-largest Indian state, with an area of 94,163 km2; the third-largest state by population, it is contiguous with Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Bengal to the east, with Jharkhand to the south. The Bihar plain is split by the river Ganges. Three main regions converge in the state: Magadh and Bhojpur. On 15 November 2000, southern Bihar was ceded to form the new state of Jharkhand. Only 11.3% of the population of Bihar lives in urban areas, the lowest in India after Himachal Pradesh. Additionally 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, giving Bihar the highest proportion of young people of any Indian state. In ancient and classical India, the area, now Bihar was considered a centre of power and culture. From Magadha arose India's first empire, the Maurya empire, as well as one of the world's most adhered-to religions, Buddhism. Magadha empires, notably under the Maurya and Gupta dynasties, unified large parts of South Asia under a central rule.
Another region of Bihar is Mithila, an early centre of learning and the centre of the Videha kingdom. Since the late 1970s, Bihar has lagged far behind other Indian states in terms of social and economic development. Many economists and social scientists claim that this is a direct result of the policies of the central government, such as the Freight equalisation policy, its apathy towards Bihar, lack of Bihari sub-nationalism, the Permanent Settlement of 1793 by the British East India Company; the state government has, made significant strides in developing the state. Improved governance has led to an economic revival in the state through increased investment in infrastructure, better health care facilities, greater emphasis on education, a reduction in crime and corruption; the name Bihar is derived from the Sanskrit and Pali word vihāra, meaning "abode". The region encompassing the present state was dotted with Buddhist vihara, the abodes of Buddhist monks in the ancient and medieval periods.
Medieval writer Minhaj al-Siraj Juzjani records in the Tabaqat-i Nasiri that in 1198 Bakhtiyar Khalji committed a massacre in a town identified with the word known as Bihar Sharif, about 70 km away from Bodh Gaya. Chirand, on the northern bank of the Ganga River, in Saran district, has an archaeological record from the Neolithic age. Regions of Bihar—such as Magadha and Anga—are mentioned in religious texts and epics of ancient India. Mithila gained prominence after establishment of the Videha Kingdom in Āryāvarta. During the late Vedic period, Videha became one of the major political and cultural centers of South Asia, along with Kuru and Pañcāla; the kings of the Videha Kingdom were called Janakas. Sita, a daughter of one of the Janaks of Mithila is mentioned as the consort of Lord Rama, in the Hindu epic, written by Valmiki; the Videha Kingdom became incorporated into the Vajji confederacy which had its capital in the city of Vaishali, in Mithila. Vajji had a republican form of government. Based on the information found in texts pertaining to Jainism and Buddhism, Vajji was established as a republic by the 6th century BCE, before the birth of Gautama Buddha in 563 BCE, making it the first known republic in India.
The region of modern-day southwestern Bihar called Magadha remained the centre of power and culture in India for 1000 years. The Haryanka dynasty, founded in 684 BC, ruled Magadha from the city of Rajgriha; the two well-known kings from this dynasty were Bimbisara and his son Ajatashatru, who imprisoned his father to ascend the throne. Ajatashatru founded the city of Pataliputra which became the capital of Magadha, he conquered the Vajji. The Haryanka dynasty was followed by the Shishunaga dynasty; the Nanda Dynasty ruled a vast tract stretching from Bengal to Punjab. The Nanda dynasty was replaced by India's first empire; the Maurya Empire and the religion of Buddhism arose in the region. The Mauryan Empire, which originated from Magadha in 325 BC, was founded by Chandragupta Maurya, born in Magadha, it had its capital at Pataliputra. The Mauryan emperor, born in Pataliputra is believed to be one of the greatest rulers in the history of the world; the Gupta Empire, which originated in Magadha in 240 AD, is referred as the Golden Age of India in science, astronomy, commerce and Indian philosophy.
Bihar and Bengal was invaded by Rajendra Chola I of the Chola dynasty in the 11th century. Buddhism in Magadha went into decline due to the invasion of Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji, during which many of the viharas and the famed universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila were destroyed, it was claimed. D. N. Jha suggests, that these incidents were the result of Buddhist-Brahmin skirmishes in a fight for supremacy. After fall of Pala Empire, Chero dynasty ruled some parts of Bihar from 12th century to 16th century till Mughal rule. In 1540, the great Pathan chieftain, Sher Shah Suri, from Sasaram, took northern India from the Mughals, defeating the Mughal army of Emperor Humayun. Sher Shah declared Delhi his capital. From the 11th century to the 20th century, Mithila was ruled by various indigenous dynasties; the first of these were the Karnatas, followed by the Oinwar dynasty and Raj Darbhanga. It was during this period that the capital of Mithila was shi
