1.
Kushan Empire
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The Kushan Empire was a syncretic empire, formed by Yuezhi, in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. Emperor Kanishka was a patron of Buddhism, however, as Kushans expanded southward. The Kushans were one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, the Kushans possibly used the Greek language initially for administrative purposes, but soon began to use Bactrian language. Kanishka sent his armies north of the Karakoram mountains, capturing territories as far as Kashgar, Khotan and Yarkant, in the Tarim Basin of modern-day Xinjiang, China. A direct road from Gandhara to China remained under Kushan control for more than a century, encouraging travel across the Karakoram, the Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the Roman Empire, Sasanian Persia, Aksumite Empire and Han China. The Kushan empire fragmented into semi-independent kingdoms in the 3rd century AD, in the 4th century, the Guptas, an Indian dynasty also pressed from the east. The last of the Kushan and Sasanian kingdoms were overwhelmed by invaders from the north. Historian H. G. Rawlinson states that the Kushana Period is a prelude to the age of Guptas. Chinese sources describe the Guishuang, i. e, as the historian John E. Hill has put it, For well over a century. There have been arguments about the ethnic and linguistic origins of the Da Yuezhi, Kushans, and the Tochari. The five tribes constituting the Yuezhi are known in Chinese history as Xiūmì, Guìshuāng, Shuāngmǐ, Xìdùn, the Yuezhi reached the Hellenic kingdom of Greco-Bactria around 135 BC. The displaced Greek dynasties resettled to the southeast in areas of the Hindu Kush, some traces remain of the presence of the Kushans in the area of Bactria and Sogdiana. Archaeological structures are known in Takht-I-Sangin, Surkh Kotal, and in the palace of Khalchayan, various sculptures and friezes are known, representing horse-riding archers, and significantly men with artificially deformed skulls, such as the Kushan prince of Khalchayan. The Chinese first referred to people as the Yuezhi and said they established the Kushan Empire. On the ruins of ancient Hellenistic cities such as Ai-Khanoum, the Kushans are known to have built fortresses, the earliest documented ruler, and the first one to proclaim himself as a Kushan ruler, was Heraios. He calls himself a tyrant on his coins, and also exhibits skull deformation and he may have been an ally of the Greeks, and he shared the same style of coinage. Heraios may have been the father of the first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises, Ban Gus Book of Han tells us the Kushans divided up Bactria in 128 BC. He invaded Anxi, and took the Gaofu region and he also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda and Jibin
2.
Gold coin
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A gold coin is a coin that is made mostly or entirely of gold. Traditionally, gold coins have been circulation coins, including coin-like bracteates, since recent decades, however, gold coins are mainly produced as bullion coins to investors and as commemorative coins to collectors. While also modern gold coins are legal tender, they are not observed in financial transactions. For example, the American Gold Eagle, given a denomination of 50 USD, has a value of more than 1,000 USD. The gold reserves of banks are dominated by gold bars. Gold has been used as money for many reasons and it is fungible, with a low spread between the prices to buy and sell. Gold is also easily transportable, as it has a value to weight ratio, compared to other commodities. Gold can be re-coined, divided into units, or re-melted into larger units such as gold bars. The density of gold is higher than most other metals, making it difficult to pass counterfeits, additionally, gold is extremely unreactive, hence it does not tarnish or corrode over time. Gold was used in commerce in the Ancient Near East since the Bronze Age, the name of king Croesus of Lydia remains associated with the invention. In 546 BC, Croesus was captured by the Persians, who adopted gold as the metal for their coins. Ancient Greek coinage contained a number of coins issued by the various city states. The Ying yuan is a gold coin minted in ancient China. Larger units such as the various talent measures were used for high value exchanges, the German gold mark was introduced in 1873 in the German Empire, replacing the various local Gulden coins of the Holy Roman Empire. Gold coins then had a long period as a primary form of money. Most of the world stopped making gold coins as currency by 1933, gold-colored coins have made a comeback in many currencies. However, gold coin always refers to a coin that is made of gold, furthermore, many countries continue to make legal tender gold coins, but these are primarily meant for collectors and investment purposes and are not meant for circulation. Many factors determine the value of a coin, such as its rarity, age, condition
3.
British Museum
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The British Museum is dedicated to human history, art and culture, and is located in the Bloomsbury area of London. The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician, the museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759, in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. Although today principally a museum of art objects and antiquities. Its foundations lie in the will of the Irish-born British physician, on 7 June 1753, King George II gave his formal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. They were joined in 1757 by the Old Royal Library, now the Royal manuscripts, together these four foundation collections included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf. The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public, sloanes collection, while including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests. The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary, the body of trustees decided on a converted 17th-century mansion, Montagu House, as a location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The Trustees rejected Buckingham House, on the now occupied by Buckingham Palace, on the grounds of cost. With the acquisition of Montagu House the first exhibition galleries and reading room for scholars opened on 15 January 1759. During the few years after its foundation the British Museum received several gifts, including the Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts. A list of donations to the Museum, dated 31 January 1784, in the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts dominated the antiquities displays. Gifts and purchases from Henry Salt, British consul general in Egypt, beginning with the Colossal bust of Ramesses II in 1818, many Greek sculptures followed, notably the first purpose-built exhibition space, the Charles Towneley collection, much of it Roman Sculpture, in 1805. In 1816 these masterpieces of art, were acquired by The British Museum by Act of Parliament. The collections were supplemented by the Bassae frieze from Phigaleia, Greece in 1815, the Ancient Near Eastern collection also had its beginnings in 1825 with the purchase of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities from the widow of Claudius James Rich. The neoclassical architect, Sir Robert Smirke, was asked to draw up plans for an extension to the Museum. For the reception of the Royal Library, and a Picture Gallery over it, and put forward plans for todays quadrangular building, much of which can be seen today. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished and work on the Kings Library Gallery began in 1823, the extension, the East Wing, was completed by 1831. The Museum became a site as Sir Robert Smirkes grand neo-classical building gradually arose
4.
Vima Kadphises
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Vima Kadphises was a Kushan emperor from approximately 90–100 CE. According to the Rabatak inscription, he was the son of Vima Takto, emperor Vima Kadphises expanded the Kushan territory in Afghanistan, Pakistan and north-west India. He was the Kushan emperor to first introduce gold coinage, in addition to the copper and silver coinage. Most of the gold seems to have obtained through trade with the Roman Empire. The gold weight standard of eight grams corresponds to that of Roman coins of the 1st century. Gold bullion from Rome would be melted and used for the Kushan mints, the Kushan were able to maintain and protect the Silk road, allowing silk, spices, textiles or medicine to move between China, India and the West. In particular, many goods were sent by ship to the Roman empire, creating a flow of gold coins, Greek wine. Works of arts were imported from all directions, as indicated by the variety and quality of the artefacts found in the Kushan summer capital of Bagram in Afghanistan. A strong artistic syncretism was stimulated, as indicated by the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, Roman history relates the visit of ambassadors from the Indian kings to the court of Trajan, bearing presents and letters in Greek, which were sent either by Vima Kadphises or his son Kanishka. Most of Vimas coins feature the Buddhist symbol of the Triratana on the reverse, together with Hindu representations of Shiva, often time, a Trishul is depicted along with Shiva. The connection of Vima Kadphises with other Kushan rulers is described in the Rabatak inscription, through the Jade Gate to Rome, A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. The Greeks in Bactria and India, ISBN 0-89005-524-6 Coins of Vima Kadphises Catalogue of coins of Vima Kadphises
5.
Huvishka
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Huvishka was the emperor of the Kushan Empire from the death of Kanishka until the succession of Vasudeva I about forty years later. His rule was a period of retrenchment and consolidation for the Empire, Huvishka was the son of Kanishka. His reign is known as the golden age of Kushan rule. The statue is dated to the 28th year of the reign of Huvishka, there is little evidence that Huvishka himself was a follower of Mahāyāna Buddhism. A Sanskrit manuscript fragment in the Schøyen Collection describes Huvishka as one who has set forth in the Mahāyāna, compared to his predecessor Kanishka, Huvishka was worshipper of Shiva. He also incorporates in his coins for the first and unique time in Kushan coinage the Hellenistic-Egyptian Serapis, one of the great remaining puzzles of Huvishkas reign is the devaluation of his coinage. Early in his reign the copper coinage plunged in weight from a standard of 16g to about 10-11g, the quality and weight then continued to decline throughout the reign until at the start of the reign of Vasudeva the standard coin weighed only 9g. The devaluation led to a production of imitations, and an economic demand for the older. The king tried to destroy Indian economy by devaluation of Indian coins, online Catalogue of Huvishkas Coinage Coins of Huvishka Was Huvishka sole king of the Kushan Empire The Devaluation of the Coinage of Kanishka
6.
Peshawar
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Peshawar is the capital of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It also serves as the centre and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Situated in a valley near the eastern end of the historic Khyber Pass, close to the border with Afghanistan. Making it the oldest city in Pakistan and one of the oldest in South Asia, Peshawar is the largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. According to the last census, it is also the ninth-largest city of Pakistan, the earliest settlement established in the area of Peshawar was called Puruṣapura, from which the current name Peshawar is derived. The Arab historian and geographer Al-Masudi noted that by the mid 10th century, after the Ghaznavid invasion, the citys name was again noted to be Parashāwar by Al-Biruni. The city became to be known as as Peshāwar by the era of Emperor Akbar, a name which is traditionally said to have been given by Akbar himself. The new name is said to have been based upon the Persian for frontier town, or more literally, forward city, though transcription errors and linguistic shifts may also account for the citys new name. Akbars bibliographer, Abul-Fazl ibn Mubarak, lists the name by both its former name Parashāwar, transcribed in Persian as پَرَشاوَر, and Peshāwar. Peshawar was founded as the ancient city of Puruṣapura, on the Gandhara Plains in the broad Valley of Peshawar, the city likely first existed as a small village in the 5th century BCE, within the cultural sphere of eastern ancient Persia. Puruṣapura was founded near the ancient Gandharan capital city of Pushkalavati, in the winter of 327-26 BCE, Alexander the Great subdued the Valley of Peshawar during his invasion of ancient India, as well as the nearby Swat and Buner valleys. Following Alexanders conquest, the Valley of Peshawar came under suzerainty of Seleucus I Nicator, a locally-made vase fragment that was found in Peshawar depicts a scene from Sophocles play Antigone. Following the Seleucid–Mauryan war, the region was ceded to the Mauryan Empire in 303 BCE, as Mauryan power declined, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom based in modern Afghanistan declared its independence from the Seleucid Empire, and quickly seized Puruṣapura around 190 BCE. The city was ruled by several Iranic Parthian kingdoms. Puruṣapura was then captured by Gondophares, founder of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom, Gondophares established the nearby Takht-i-Bahi monastery in 46 CE. In the first century of the Common era, came under control of Kujula Kadphises, the city was made the empires winter capital. The Kushans summer capital at Kapisi was seen as the capital of the empire. Ancient Peshawars population was estimated to be 120,000, which would make it the seventh-most populous city in the world at the time, around 128 CE, Puruṣapura was made sole capital of the Kushan Empire under the rule of Kanishka
7.
Pakistan
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Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a federal parliamentary republic in South Asia on the crossroads of Central Asia and Western Asia. It is the sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 200 million people, in terms of area, it is the 33rd-largest country in the world with an area covering 881,913 square kilometres. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistans narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, Pakistan is unique among Muslim countries in that it is the only country to have been created in the name of Islam. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and it is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with a similarly diverse geography and wildlife. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic, an ethnic civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh. The new constitution stipulated that all laws were to conform to the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran. Pakistan has an economy with a well-integrated agriculture sector. The Pakistani economy is the 24th-largest in the world in terms of purchasing power and it is ranked among the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world, and is backed by one of the worlds largest and fastest-growing middle classes. The post-independence history of Pakistan has been characterised by periods of military rule, the country continues to face challenging problems such as illiteracy, healthcare, and corruption, but has substantially reduced poverty and terrorism and expanded per capita income. It is also a member of CERN. Pakistan is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, the name Pakistan literally means land of the pure in Urdu and Persian. It is a play on the word pāk meaning pure in Persian and Pashto, the letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation and form the linguistically correct and meaningful name. Some of the earliest ancient human civilisations in South Asia originated from areas encompassing present-day Pakistan, the earliest known inhabitants in the region were Soanian during the Lower Paleolithic, of whom stone tools have been found in the Soan Valley of Punjab. The Vedic Civilization, characterised by Indo-Aryan culture, laid the foundations of Hinduism, Multan was an important Hindu pilgrimage centre. The Vedic civilisation flourished in the ancient Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā, the Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent under Menander, prospering the Greco-Buddhist culture in the region. Taxila had one of the earliest universities and centres of education in the world. At its zenith, the Rai Dynasty of Sindh ruled this region, the Pala Dynasty was the last Buddhist empire, which, under Dharampala and Devapala, stretched across South Asia from what is now Bangladesh through Northern India to Pakistan. The Arab conqueror Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Indus valley from Sindh to Multan in southern Punjab in 711 AD, the Pakistan governments official chronology identifies this as the time when the foundation of Pakistan was laid
8.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
9.
Buddhism
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Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhism originated in India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, from where it spread through much of Asia, two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars, Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is the worlds fourth-largest religion, with over 500 million followers or 7% of the global population, Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. In Theravada the ultimate goal is the attainment of the state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering. Theravada has a following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, rather than Nirvana, Mahayana instead aspires to Buddhahood via the bodhisattva path, a state wherein one remains in the cycle of rebirth to help other beings reach awakening. Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, may be viewed as a branch or merely a part of Mahayana. Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of Buddha, the details of Buddhas life are mentioned in many early Buddhist texts but are inconsistent, his social background and life details are difficult to prove, the precise dates uncertain. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother queen Maya, and he was born in Lumbini gardens. Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, Buddha was moved by the innate suffering of humanity. He meditated on this alone for a period of time, in various ways including asceticism, on the nature of suffering. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He reached enlightenment, discovering what Buddhists call the Middle Way, as an enlightened being, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his teaching the Dharma he had discovered. Dukkha is a concept of Buddhism and part of its Four Noble Truths doctrine. It can be translated as incapable of satisfying, the unsatisfactory nature, the Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism, we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, incapable of satisfying and painful. This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, the cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha
10.
Sanskrit language
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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
11.
Kujula Kadphises
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Kujula Kadphises was a Kushan prince who united the Yuezhi confederation during the 1st century CE, and became the first Kushan emperor. According to the Rabatak inscription, he was the grandfather of the great Kushan king Kanishka I. He is considered as the founder of the Kushan Empire, the origins of Kujula Kadphises are quite obscure, and it is usually considered he was a descendant of the Kushan ruler Heraios, or possibly identical with him. Interestingly however, Kujula shares his name some of the last Indo-Scythian rulers, such as Liaka Kusulaka, or his son Patika Kusulaka. He established himself as king, and his dynasty was called that of the Guishuang King and he invaded Anxi, and took the Gaofu region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda and Jibin, qiujiuque was more than eighty years old when he died. He defeated Tianzhu and installed Generals to supervise and lead it, the Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call the Guishuang king, but the Han call them by their original name and this invasion of Kujula Kadphises is thought to have occurred during the reign of Abdagases and Sases, the successors of Gondophares, after 45 CE. The connection of Kujula with other Kushan rulers is described in the Rabatak inscription, discovered in Rbatak, Afghanistan some years ago, most of Kujulas coins were Hellenic or Roman in inspiration. Some coins used the portrait, name and title of the Indo-Greek king Hermaeus on the obverse, indicating Kujulas wish to relate himself to the Indo-Greek king. These coins bear the name of Kujula Kadphises in Kharoṣṭhī, with representations of the Greek demi-god Heracles on the back, and titles presenting Kujula as a ruler, Later coins, possibly posthumous, did describe Kujula as Maharajasa, or Great King. The Greek script on the coins of Kujula is barbarized, for example, ΣΤΗΡΟΣΣΥ on his Hermaeus coins is thought to be a deformation of ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ, the traditional title of Hermaeus on his coins. The Greek word for king is written ΒΑϹΙΛΕΩΣ, with both a lunate sigma and a normal sigma in the same word, the Kushans also added one character to the Greek script, it is the letter Ϸ, corresponding to the sound Sh, as in Kushan. Some coins of Kujula also represent a seated figure, formerly said to be one of the first known representations of the Buddha on a coin. Unfortunately, Whiteheads attribution of this coin to Kujula, and the claim that the figure on the obverse represents the Buddha, is now known to be incorrect. The correct attribution of this coin is to the Kushan king Huvishka, the obverse shows Huvishka seated on a couch. The first known coins carrying a representation of the Buddha were issued by Kujulas Great-grandson Kanishka I, some fewer coins of Kujula Kadphises also adopted a Roman style, with effigies closely resembling Caesar Augustus, although all the legends were then associated with Kujula himself. Such influences are linked to exchanges with the Roman Empire around that date, catalogue of coins in the Panjab Museum, Lahore
12.
Turpan
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Turpan, also known as Turfan or Tulufan, is a prefecture-level city located in the east of Xinjiang, Peoples Republic of China. It has an area of 69,324 square kilometres and a population of 570,000, Turpan has long been the centre of a fertile oasis and an important trade centre. It was historically located along the Silk Road, at that time other kingdoms of the region included Korla, the name Turfan itself however was not used until the end of the Middle Ages - its use became widespread only in the post-Mongol period. The center of the region has shifted a number of times, from Yar-Khoto to Qocho, historically, many settlements in the region have been given a number of different names, some of which refer to more than one place – Turpan/Turfan/Tulufan is one such example. Others include Jushi/Gushi, Gaochang/Qocho/Karakhoja, and Jiaohe/Yarkhoto, Korla, Kucha, and Turfan were inhabited by Tocharians. The peoples of the Kingdoms of Nearer and Further Jushi were closely related and it was originally one kingdom called Gushi, which the Chinese conquered in 107 BC. It was subdivided into two kingdoms by the Chinese in 60 BC, during the Han era the city changed hands several times between the Xiongnu and the Han, interspersed with short periods of independence. Nearer Jushi has been linked to the Turpan Oasis, while Further Jushi to the north of the mountains near modern Jimasa, after the fall of the Han dynasty in 220, the region was virtually independent but tributary to various dynasties. Until the 5th century AD, the capital of this kingdom was Jiaohe, many Han Chinese along with Sogdians settled in Turfan during the post Han dynasty era. The Chinese character dominated Turfan in the eyes of the Sogdians, kuchean-speakers made up the original inhabitants before the Chinese and Sogdian influx. The oldest evidence of Chinese characters were found in Turfan from a document dated to 273 AD, from 487 to 541 AD, Turpan was an independent Kingdom ruled by a Turkic tribe known to the Chinese as the Tiele. The Rouran Khaganate defeated the Tiele and subjugated Turpan, but soon afterwards the Rouran were destroyed by the Göktürks. The Tang dynasty had reconquered the Tarim Basin by the 7th century AD, Sogdians and Chinese engaged in extensive commercial activities with each other under Tang rule. The Sogdians were mostly Mazdaist at this time, in Astana, a contract written in Sogdian detailing the sale of a Sogdian girl to a Chinese man was discovered dated to 639 AD. Individual slaves were common among silk route houses, early documents recorded an increase in the selling of slaves in Turpan, twenty-one 7th-century marriage contracts were found that showed, where one Sogdian spouse was present, for 18 of them their partner was a Sogdian. The only Sogdian men who married Chinese women were highly eminent officials. Several commercial interactions were recorded, for example a camel was sold priced at 14 silk bolts in 673, five men swore that the girl was never free before enslavement, since the Tang Code forbade commoners to be sold as slaves. The Tang dynasty became weakened due to the An Lushan Rebellion, and the Tibetans took the opportunity to expand into Gansu
13.
Tarim Basin
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The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in northwest China occupying an area of about 1,020,000 km2. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its boundary is the Kunlun Mountains on the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Taklamakan Desert dominates much of the basin, the historical Uyghur name for the Tarim Basin is Altishahr, which means six cities in Uyghur. They were governed separately until 1884, north side, The Chinese called this the Tien Shan Nan Lu or Tien Shan South Road, as opposed to the Bei Lu north of the mountains. Along it runs the modern highway and railroad while the middle Tarim River is about 100 km south, Kashgar was where the caravans met before crossing the mountains. Center, Most of the basin is occupied by the Taklamakan Desert which is too dry for permanent habitation, the Yarkand, Kashgar and Aksu Rivers join to form the Tarim River which runs along the north side of the basin. Formerly it continued to Loulan, but some time after 330AD it turned southeast near Korla toward Charkilik, the Tarim ended at the now-dry Lop Nur which occupied a changing position east of Loulan. Eastward is the fabled Jade Gate which the Chinese considered the gateway to the Western Regions, beyond that is Dunhuang with its ancient manuscripts and then Anxi at the west end of the Gansu Corridor. The modern road continues east to Tibet, there is no current road east across the Kumtag Desert to Dunhuang, but caravans somehow made the crossing thru the Yangguan pass south of the Jade Gate. Roads and passes, rivers and caravan routes, The Southern Xinjiang Railway branches from the Lanxin Railway near Turpan, follows the side of the basin to Kashgar. Roads, The main road from eastern China reaches Urumchi and continues as highway 314 along the side to Kashgar. Highway 315 follows the side from Kashgar to Charkilik and continues east to Tibet. There are currently four north-south roads across the desert,218 runs from Charkilik to Korla along the former course of the Tarim forming an oval whose other end is Kashgar. The Tarim Desert Highway, an engineering achievement, crosses the center from Niya to Luntai. The new Highway 217 follows the Khotan River from Khotan to near Aksu, a road follows the Yarkand River from Yarkand to Baqu. East of the Korla-Charkilik road travel continues to be very difficult, Rivers coming south from the Tien Shan join the Tarim, the largest being the Aksu. Rivers flowing north from the Kunlun are usually named for the town or oasis they pass through, Most dry up in the desert, only the Hotan River reaching the Tarim in good years. An exception is the Qiemo River which flowed northeast into Lop Nor, ruins in the desert imply that these rivers were once larger
14.
Pataliputra
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Pataliputra, adjacent to modern-day Patna, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE as a small fort near the Ganges river. Extensive archaeological excavations have been made in the vicinity of modern Patna, excavations early in the 20th century around Patna revealed clear evidence of large fortification walls, including reinforcing wooden trusses. The etymology of Pataliputra is unclear, putra means son, and pāţali is a species of rice or the plant Bignonia suaveolens. One traditional etymology holds that the city was named after the plant, another tradition says that Pāṭaliputra means the son of Pāṭali, who was the daughter of Raja Sudarshan. As it was known as Pāṭali-grāma originally, some believe that Pāṭaliputra is a transformation of Pāṭalipura. There is no mention of Pataliputra in written sources prior to the early Buddhist texts, in 303 BCE, Greek historian and ambassador Megasthenes mentioned Pataliputra as a city in his work Indika. The city of Pataliputra was formed by fortification of a village by Haryanka ruler Bimbisara and its central location in north eastern India led rulers of successive dynasties to base their administrative capital here, from the Nandas, Mauryans, Shungas and the Guptas down to the Palas. Situated at the confluence of the Ganges, Gandhaka and Son rivers, Pataliputra formed a water fort and its position helped it dominate the riverine trade of the Indo-Gangetic plains during Magadhas early imperial period. It was a centre of trade and commerce and attracted merchants and intellectuals, such as the famed Chanakya. Jain and Brahmanical sources identify Udayabhadra, son of Ajatashatru, as the king who first established Pataliputra as the capital of Magadha. During the reign of Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE, it was one of the worlds largest cities, with a population of 150, 000–400,000. The city is estimated to have had a surface of 25.5 square kilometers, and a circumference of 33.8 kilometers, Pataliputra reached the pinnacle of prosperity when it was the capital of the great Mauryan Emperors, Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka. Arrian, The Indica Strabo in his Geographia adds that the city walls were made of wood and these are thought to be the wooden palisades identified during the excavation of Patna. At the confluence of the Ganges and of another river is situated Palibothra, in length 80 and it is in the shape of a parallelogram, surrounded by a wooden wall pierced with openings through which arrows may be discharged. In front is a ditch, which serves the purpose of defence, in the parks, tame peacocks and pheasants are kept. Aelian, Characteristics of animals Ashokas Palace in Pataliputra and the monument columns everywhere in India were built to imitate the Achaemenid palaces, the architecture of Pataliputras enclosures and the monumental columns of Ashoka had been affected by Persian Achaemenid architecture. The design of the Pataliputra palace capital has been described as Perso-Iionic, with a strong late-archaic Greek stylistic influence, including volute, bead and reel, the city also became a flourishing Buddhist centre boasting a number of important monasteries. It remained the capital of the Gupta dynasty and the Pala Dynasty, the city was largely in ruins when visited by Xuanzang, and suffered further damage at the hands of Muslim raiders in the 12th century
15.
Indo-Gangetic Plain
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The region is named after the Indus and the Ganges, and encompasses a number of large urban areas. The Indus-Ganga plain is bound on the north by the Himalayas which feed its numerous rivers and are the source of the alluvium deposited across the region by the two river systems. The southern edge of the plain is marked by the Chota Nagpur Plateau, on the west rises the Iranian Plateau. The region is known for the Indus Valley Civilization, which was responsible for the birth of ancient South Asian culture, during the Vedic and Epic eras of Indian history, this region was referred to as Aryavarta. According to Manusmṛti, Aryavarta is the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the Eastern Sea to the Western Sea. During the Islamic period, the Turkish, Afghan and Iranian rulers referred to this region as Hindustan, some geographers subdivide the Indo-Gangetic Plain into several parts, the Sindh, Punjab, Doab, and Bengal regions. This divide is only 300 metres above sea level, causing the perception that the Indus-Ganga Plain appears to be continuous between the two drainage basins, the middle Ganga plain extends from the Yamuna River in the west to the state of West Bengal in the east. The lower Ganges plain and the Assam Valley are more verdant than the middle Ganga plain, the lower Ganga is centered in West Bengal, from which it flows into Bangladesh. After joining the Jamuna, a distributary of Brahmaputra, both form the Ganges Delta. The Brahmaputra rises in Tibet as the Yarlung Zangbo River and flows through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, as a large plain, the exact extent can vary from source to source. The fertile Terai region is the Nepalese extension of the Plain, the rivers encompassed are the Beas, the Chambal, the Chenab, the Ganga, the Gomti, the Indus, the Ravi, the Sutlej and the Yamuna. The soil is rich in silt, making the one of the most intensely farmed areas of the world. Even rural areas here are densely populated, the Indus-Ganga plains, also known as the Great Plains, are large floodplains of the Indus and the Ganga–Brahmaputra river systems. They run parallel to the Himalaya mountains, from Jammu and Kashmir in the west to Assam in the east, the plains encompass an area of 700,000 km² and vary in width through their length by several hundred kilometres. The major rivers of this system are the Ganga and the Indus along with their tributaries, Beas, Yamuna, Gomti, Ravi, Chambal, Sutlej, extent of the Indo-Gangetic plain across South Asia. As the porosity of this belt is very high, the streams flow underground, the bhabar is generally narrow about 7–15 km wide. The Terai belt — lies next to the Bhabar region and is composed of newer alluvium, the underground streams reappear in this region. The region is excessively moist and thickly forested and it also receives heavy rainfall throughout the year and is populated with a variety of wildlife
16.
History of Peshawar
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The history of Peshawar, a region of modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, covers thousands of years. The region was known as Puruṣapura in Sanskrit, literally meaning city of men and it also found mention in the Zend Avesta as Vaēkərəta, the seventh most beautiful place on earth created by Ahura Mazda. It was known as the jewel of Bactria and also held sway over Takshashila. Being among the most ancient cities of the region between Central and South Asia, Peshawar has for centuries been a center of trade between Bactria, South Asia, and Central Asia, Peshawar was known in Sanskrit as Puruṣapura, literally meaning city of men. It also found mention in the Zend Avesta as Vaēkərəta, the seventh most beautiful place on earth created by Ahura Mazda It was known as the jewel of Bactria. Being among the most ancient cities of the region between Central and South Asia, Peshawar has for centuries been a center of trade between Bactria, South Asia and Central Asia, as an ancient center of learning, the 2nd century BC. Bakhshali Manuscript used in the Bakhshali approximation was found nearby, Vedic mythology refers to an ancient settlement called Pushkalavati in the area, after Pushkal, presently known as Charsadda. The city that would become Peshawar, called Puruṣapura, was founded by the Kushans. Prior to this period the region was affiliated with Gandhara and was annexed first by the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the city passed into the rule of Alexanders successor, Seleucus I Nicator who ceded it to Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Indian Maurya Empire. The inhabitants of Peshewar were mostly Hindu and Buddhist before the arrival of Islam, the area that Peshawar occupies was then seized by the Greco-Bactrian king Eucratides I, and was controlled by a series of Greco-Bactrian kings. Peshawar formed the capital of the empire of Gandhara under the Kushan emperor Kanishka I who reigned from at least 127 CE and, perhaps. Peshawar also became a centre of Buddhist learning. Kanishka built what was probably the tallest building in the world at the time, the Kanishka stupa was said to be an imposing structure as one travelled down from the mountains of Afghanistan onto the Gandharan plains. Of all the stûpas and temples seen by the travellers, none can compare with this for beauty of form and it was destroyed by lightning and repaired several times. It was still in existence at the time of Xuanzangs visit in 634, the stupa was roughly cruciform in shape with a diameter of 286 ft and heavily decorated around the sides with stucco scenes. The relics contained in the famous Kanishka casket, said to be those of the Buddha, were removed to Mandalay, sometime in the 1st millennium BCE, the group that now dominates Peshawar began to arrive from the Suleiman mountains to the south and southwest, the Pakhtuns. It is debatable as to whether or not the Pakhtuns existed in the even earlier as evidence is difficult to attain. The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was – along with the Indo-Greek Kingdom – the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world, covering Bactria and it was centered around the north of present-day Afghanistan and North Pakistan
17.
Gandhara
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Gandhara is also an ancient name for Kandahar, Afghanistan. Gandhāra was an ancient Indic kingdom situated in the region of Pakistan. It encompassed the Peshawar valley and later extended to both Jalalabad district of modern-day Afghanistan as well as Taxila, in Pakistan. During the Achaemenid period and Hellenistic period, its city was Charsadda. It is mentioned in the Zend Avesta as Vaēkərəta, the sixth most beautiful place on earth and it was known as the crown jewel of Bactria and also held sway over Takṣaśilā. Gandhara existed since the time of the Rigveda and formed part of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC, after it was conquered by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1001 AD, the name Gandhara disappeared. During the Muslim period, the area was administered from Lahore or from Kabul, during Mughal times, it was an independent district which included the Kabul province. The name Gāndhāra occurs later in the classical Sanskrit of the epics and it is recorded in Avestan as Vaēkərəta. The Gandhari people are a tribe mentioned in the Rigveda, the Atharvaveda, one proposed origin of the name is from the Sanskrit word gandha, meaning perfume and referring to the spices and aromatic herbs which they traded and with which they anointed themselves. Some authors have connected the modern name Kandahar to Gandhara, Herodotus records that those Iranic tribes, which were adjacent to the city of Caspatyrus and the district of Pactyïce, had customs similar to the Bactrians, and are the most warlike amongst them. These are also the people who obtain gold from the ant-hills of the adjoining desert, on the identity of Caspatyrus, there have been two opinions, one equating it with Kabul, the other with the name of Kashmir. The boundaries of Gandhara varied throughout history, sometimes the Peshawar Valley and Taxila were collectively referred to as Gandhara, sometimes the Swat Valley was also included. The heart of Gandhara, however, was always the Peshawar Valley, the kingdom was ruled from capitals at Kapisa, Pushkalavati, Taxila, Puruṣapura and in its final days from Udabhandapura on the River Indus. Evidence of the Stone Age human inhabitants of Gandhara, including stone tools, the artifacts are approximately 15,000 years old. More recent excavations point to 30,000 years before the present, the region shows an influx of southern Central Asian culture in the Bronze Age with the Gandhara grave culture, and the nucleus of Vedic civilisation. This culture flourished from 1500 to 500 BC and its evidence has been discovered in the hilly regions of Swat and Dir, and even at Taxila. The name of the Gandhāris is attested in the Rigveda and in ancient inscriptions dating back to Achaemenid Persia, the Behistun inscription listing the 23 territories of King Darius I includes Gandāra along with Bactria and Sattagydia. In the book Histories by Herodotus, Gandhara is named as a source of tax collections for King Darius, the Gandhāris, along with the Balhika, Mūjavants, Angas, and the Magadhas, are also mentioned in the Atharvaveda, as distant people
18.
Ancient Kapisa
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The first references to ancient Kapisa, or the present-day Bagram town of the Parwan Province of Afghanistan, appear in the writings of 5th-century BCE Indian scholar Achariya Pāṇini. Pāṇini refers to the city of Kapiśi, a city of the Kapisa kingdom, Pāṇini also refers to Kapiśayana, a famous wine from Kapisa. The city of Kapiśi also appeared as Kaviśiye on Graeco-Indian coins of Appolodotus/Eucratides, the grapes and wine of the area are referred to by several works of ancient Indian literature. The Mahabharata also noted the practice of slavery in the city. Hiuen Tsang notes the Shen breed of horses from the area, Kapisa is related to and included Kafiristan. Scholar community holds that Kapisa is equivalent to Sanskrit Kamboja, in other words, Kamboja and Kapisa are believed to be two attempts to render the same foreign word. Dr S Levi further holds that old Persian Kabujiya or Kaubojiya, Sanskrit Kamboja as well as Kapisa, even according to illustrious Indian history series, History and Culture of Indian People, Kapisa and Kamboja are equivalent. Scholars like Dr Moti Chandra, Dr Krishna Chandra Mishra etc. also write that the Karpasika, thus, both Karpasika and Kapisa are essentially equivalent to Sanskrit Kamboja. And Pāṇinian term Kapiśi is believed to have been the capital of ancient Kamboja, Kapisa, in fact, refers to the Kamboja kingdom, located on the south-eastern side of the Hindukush in the Paropamisadae region. It was anciently inhabited by the Aśvakayana, and the Aśvayana sub-tribes of the Kambojas, even the Komoi clan of Ptolemy, inhabiting towards Sogdiana mountainous regions, north of Bactria, is believed by scholars to represent the Kamboja people. Front ranking scholars like Dr S. Levi, Dr Michael Witzel and numerous others accept the identity of Tambyzoi, obviously, the Ptolemian Ambautai formed parts of the Kapisa kingdom under sway of Aśvakayana/Aśvayana Kambojas. e. Some scholars call Parama Kamboja as Uttara-Kamboja i. e. northern Kamboja or Distant Kamboja, the Kapisa-Kamboja equivalence as suggested by scholars like Dr Levi applies to the Paropamisan Kamboja settlement. According to the etymology, the name Kafir derives from Arabic Kafir. Kafiristan then would be The Land of the Infidels and this explanation would justify the renaming of the country after its Islamization. That name, unrelated to the Arabic word, is believed to have, at some point and this linguistic phenomenon is not unusual for this region. The name of King Kanishaka, who ruled over this region, is also found written as Kanerika. In a similar way, Kapiś – the name of the people of Kapiś/Kapiśa, is believed to have changed to Kapir, one of the dominant clan of the Kafirs till recently was known as Katir. The second change from Kapir to Kafir may have been the result of confusion or intentional wordplay with the Arabic word, Kafiristan then derives from -stan which in Iranian language means country, abode or place
19.
Silk Road
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While the term is of modern coinage, the Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk carried out along its length, beginning during the Han dynasty. The Han dynasty expanded Central Asian sections of the routes around 114 BCE, largely through missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy. The Chinese took great interest in the safety of their trade products, though silk was certainly the major trade item exported from China, many other goods were traded, as well as religions, syncretic philosophies, and various technologies. Diseases, most notably plague, also spread along the Silk Routes, in addition to economic trade, the Silk Road was a route for cultural trade among the civilizations along its network. The main traders during antiquity included the Chinese, Arabs, Turkmens, Indians, Persians, Somalis, Greeks, Syrians, Romans, Georgians, Armenians, Bactrians, in June 2014, UNESCO designated the Changan-Tianshan corridor of the Silk Road as a World Heritage Site. The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative Eurasian silk and horse trade, the German terms Seidenstraße and Seidenstraßen were coined by Ferdinand von Richthofen, who made seven expeditions to China from 1868 to 1872. The term Silk Route is also used, although the term was coined in the 19th century, it did not gain widespread acceptance in academia or popularity among the public until the 20th century. The first book entitled The Silk Road was by Swedish geographer Sven Hedin in 1938, the fall of the Soviet Union and Iron Curtain in 1989 led to a surge of public and academic interest in Silk Road sites and studies in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. Use of the term Silk Road is not without its detractors and he notes that traditional authors discussing East-West trade such as Marco Polo and Edward Gibbon never labelled any route as a silk one in particular. From the 2nd millennium BCE, nephrite jade was being traded from mines in the region of Yarkand, some remnants of what was probably Chinese silk dating from 1070 BCE have been found in Ancient Egypt. The Great Oasis cities of Central Asia played a role in the effective functioning of the Silk Road trade. This style is reflected in the rectangular belt plaques made of gold and bronze, with other versions in jade. The tomb of a Scythian prince near Stuttgart, Germany, dated to the 6th century BCE, was excavated and found to have not only Greek bronzes but also Chinese silks. Scythians accompanied the Assyrian Esarhaddon on his invasion of Egypt, soghdian Scythian merchants played a vital role in later periods in the development of the Silk Road. By the time of Herodotus, the Royal Road of the Persian Empire ran some 2,857 km from the city of Susa on the Karun to the port of Smyrna on the Aegean Sea. It was maintained and protected by the Achaemenid Empire and had postal stations, by having fresh horses and riders ready at each relay, royal couriers could carry messages the entire distance in nine days, while normal travellers took about three months. The next major step in the development of the Silk Road was the expansion of the Greek empire of Alexander the Great into Central Asia and this later became a major staging point on the northern Silk Route. They continued to expand eastward, especially during the reign of Euthydemus, there are indications that he may have led expeditions as far as Kashgar in Chinese Turkestan, leading to the first known contacts between [China and the West around 200 BCE
20.
Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
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Buddhism entered Han China via the Silk Road, beginning in the 1st or 2nd century CE. Direct contact between Central Asian and Chinese Buddhism continued throughout the 3rd to 7th century, well into Tang period, much of the land route connecting northern India with China at that time was ruled by the Buddhist Kushan Empire, and later the Hephthalite Empire, see Gandhara. China was later reached by the Indian form of tantra esoteric Buddhism in the 7th century, tibetan Buddhism was likewise established as a branch of Vajrayana, in the 8th century. But from about this time, the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism began to decline with the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana, Buddhism was brought to China via the Silk Road. Buddhist monks travelled with merchant caravans on the Silk Road, to preach their new religion, the powerful Greco-Bactrian Kingdoms in Afghanistan and the later Indo-Greek Kingdoms practiced Greco-Buddhism and formed the first stop on the Silk Road, after China, for nearly 300 years. 100 BC, must remain open to question, the earliest direct references to Buddhism concern the 1st century AD, but they include hagiographical elements and are not necessarily reliable or accurate. The first missionaries and translators of Buddhists scriptures into Chinese were either Parthian, Kushan, Sogdian or Kuchean and they promoted both Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna scriptures. Thirty-seven of these early translators of Buddhist texts are known, according to the earliest reference to him, by Yang Xuanzhi, he was a monk of Central Asian origin whom Yang Xuanshi met around 520 at Loyang. Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is depicted as a rather ill-tempered and he is referred to as The Blue-Eyed Barbarian in Chinese Chan texts. Five monks from Gandhāra who traveled in 485 CE to the country of Fusang, an Shigao translated Buddhist texts on basic doctrines, meditation and abhidharma. An Xuan, a Parthian layman who worked alongside An Shigao, Mahāyāna Buddhism was first widely propagated in China by the Kushan monk Lokakṣema, who came from the ancient Buddhist kingdom of Gandhāra. Lokakṣema translated important Mahāyāna sūtras such as the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, as well as rare, early Mahāyāna sūtras on topics such as samādhi and these translations from Lokakṣema continue to give insight into the early period of Mahāyāna Buddhism. From the 4th century onward, Chinese pilgrims also started to travel on the Silk Road to India, according to Chinese sources, the first Chinese to be ordained was Zhu Zixing, after he went to Central Asia in 260 to seek out Buddhism. It is only from the 4th century CE that Chinese Buddhist monks started to travel to India to discover Buddhism first-hand, faxians pilgrimage to India is said to have been the first significant one. He left along the Silk Road, stayed six years in India, Xuanzang and Hyecho traveled from Korea to India. The most famous of the Chinese pilgrims is Xuanzang, whose large and precise translation work defines a new translation period and he also left a detailed account of his travels in Central Asia and India. The legendary accounts of the holy priest Xuanzang were described in the famous novel Journey to the West, during the fifth and sixth centuries C. E. Merchants played a role in the spread of religion, in particular Buddhism
21.
Karakoram
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The Karakoram, or Karakorum is a large mountain range spanning the borders of Pakistan, India, and China, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. It is located in the regions of Gilgit–Baltistan, Ladakh, and southern Xinjiang, a part of the complex of ranges from the Hindu Kush to the Himalayan Range, it is one of the Greater Ranges of Asia. The Karakoram is home to the four most closely located peaks over 8000m in height on earth, K2, the range is about 500 km in length, and is the most heavily glaciated part of the world outside the polar regions. The Siachen Glacier at 76 kilometres and the Biafo Glacier at 63 kilometres rank as the worlds second, the Karakoram is bounded on the northeast by the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, and on the north by the Pamir Mountains. Karakoram is a Turkic term meaning black gravel, the name was first applied by local traders to the Karakoram Pass. Due to its altitude and ruggedness, the Karakoram is much less inhabited parts of the Himalayas further east. European explorers first visited early in the 19th century, followed by British surveyors starting in 1856, the Muztagh Pass was crossed in 1887 by the expedition of Colonel Francis Younghusband and the valleys above the Hunza River were explored by General Sir George K. Cockerill in 1892. Explorations in the 1910s and 1920s established most of the geography of the region, the name Karakoram was used in the early 20th century, for example by Kenneth Mason, for the range now known as the Baltoro Muztagh. The term is now used to refer to the range from the Batura Muztagh above Hunza in the west to the Saser Muztagh in the bend of the Shyok River in the east. Floral surveys were carried out in the Shyok River catchment and from Panamik to Turtuk village by Chandra Prakash Kala during 1999 and 2000, the Karakoram is in one of the worlds most geologically active areas, at the plate boundary between the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate. A significant part, 28-50% of the Karakoram Range is glaciated, compared to the Himalaya, mountain glaciers may serve as an indicator of climate change, advancing and receding with long-term changes in temperature and precipitation. Karakoram glaciers are mostly stagnating or enlarging, because, unlike in the Himalayas, where there is no such insulation, the rate of retreat is high. In the last ice age, a series of glaciers stretched from western Tibet to Nanga Parbat. To the south, the Indus glacier was the valley glacier. In the north, the Karakoram glaciers joined those from the Kunlun Mountains, while the current valley glaciers in the Karakoram reach a maximum length of 76 kilometres, several of the ice-age valley glacier branches and main valley glaciers, had lengths up to 700 kilometres. During the Ice age, the snowline was about 1,300 metres lower than today. Baltistan has more than 100 mountain peaks exceeding 6,100 metres height from sea level. K1, Masherbrum K2 K3, Gasherbrum IV K3a, Gasherbrum III K4, Gasherbrum II K5, Gasherbrum I K6, Baltistan Peak K7,6,934 m peak near Charakusa Valley K9, approx
22.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
23.
Shaka era
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This is about the historical calendar era. For the Śaka calendar of 1957, see Indian national calendar, the Shaka era is a historical calendar era, corresponding to Julian year 78. It is also known as Shalivahana Śaka era or rtgs, Mahasakkarat Greater Era), the origin of the Shaka era is highly controversial. The other is called Saka Era of 78 AD, or simply Saka Era, a parallel northern India system is the Vikrama Era, which is related to the Bikrami calendar linked to Vikramaditya. The beginning of the Shaka era is now equated to the ascension of king Chashtana in 78 CE. His inscriptions, dated to the years 11 and 52, have found at Andhau in Kutch region. These years are interpreted as Shaka years 11 and 52, a previously more common view was that the beginning of the Shaka era corresponds to the ascension of Kanishka I in 78 CE. However, the latest research by Henry Falk indicates that Kanishka ascended the throne in 127 CE, moreover, Kanishka was not a Shaka, but a Kushana ruler. Other historical candidates have included such as Vima Kadphises, Vonones. Sircar also suggests that the association of the northern king Vikramaditya with Vikrama era might have led the southern scholars to fabricate a similar legend of their own. Another similar account claims that the legendary emperor Vikramaditya defeated the Shakas in 78 CE, and this legend has been mentioned in the writings of Brahmagupta, Al-Biruni, and others. However, this is an obvious fabrication, over time, the word Shaka became generic, and came to be mean an era, the era thus came to be known as Shalivahana Shaka. The earliest known users of the era are the Western Satraps, from the reign of Rudrasimha I, they recorded the date of minting of their coins in the Shaka era, usually written on the obverse behind the kings head in Brahmi numerals. The use of the era survived into the Gupta period. It was in use by the 6th to 7th centuries, e. g. in the works of Varāhamihira and Brahmagupta. The calendar era remained in use in India and Southeast Asia throughout the medieval period and it was used by Javanese courts until 1633, when it was replaced by Anno Javanico, a hybrid Javanese-Islamic system. It was adopted as the era of the Indian national calendar in 1957, the Shaka era is the vernal equinox of the year AD78. The year of the modern Shaka Calendar is tied to the Gregorian date of 22 March every year, except in Gregorian leap years when it starts on 21 March
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Government Museum, Mathura
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Government Museum, Mathura commonly referred as Mathura museum is an archaeological museum in Mathura city of Uttar Pradesh state in India. The museum was founded by then collector of the Mathura district, initially it was known as Curzon Museum of Archaeology, then Archaeology Museum, Mathura, and finally changed to the Government Museum, Mathura. The museum is famous for ancient sculptures of the Mathura school dating from 3rd century BC to 12th century AD. during Kushan Empire, today it is one of the leading museums of Uttar Pradesh. The Government of India issued a stamp on October 9,1974 on the centenary of the museum. Mathura lion capital Bharat Online - Mathura Museum Sharma, R. C.1976, Mathura Museum Mathura, a District Memoir
