Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent known as the Asian subcontinent and Indo subcontinent, is a southern region and peninsula of Asia situated on the Indian Plate and projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geologically, the Indian subcontinent is related to the land mass that rifted from Gondwana and merged with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago. Geographically, it is the peninsular region in south-central Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, the Arakanese in the east. Politically, the Indian subcontinent includes Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Sometimes, the geographical term'Indian subcontinent' is used interchangeably with'South Asia', although that last term is used as a political term and is used to include Afghanistan. Which countries should be included in either of these remains the subject of debate. According to Oxford English Dictionary, the term "subcontinent" signifies a "subdivision of a continent which has a distinct geographical, political, or cultural identity" and a "large land mass somewhat smaller than a continent".
It is first attested in 1845 to refer to the North and South Americas, before they were regarded as separate continents. Its use to refer to the Indian subcontinent is seen from the early twentieth century, it was convenient for referring to the region comprising both British India and the princely states under British Paramountcy. The term Indian subcontinent has a geological significance. Similar to various continents, it was a part of the supercontinent of Gondwana. A series of tectonic splits caused formation of various basins, each drifting in various directions; the geological region called "Greater India" once included Madagascar, Seychelles and Austrolasia along with the Indian subcontinent basin. As a geological term, Indian subcontinent has meant that region formed from the collision of the Indian basin with Eurasia nearly 55 million years ago, towards the end of Paleocene; the geographical region has simply been known as "India". Other related terms are South Asia, and the terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are sometimes used interchangeably.
There is no globally accepted definition on which countries are a part of South Asia or the Indian subcontinent. The less common term "South Asian subcontinent" has seen occasional use since the 1970s. Geologically, the Indian subcontinent was first a part of so-called "Greater India", a region of Gondwana that drifted away from East Africa about 160 million years ago, around the Middle Jurassic period; the region experienced high volcanic activity and plate subdivisions, creating Madagascar, Antarctica and the Indian subcontinent basin. The Indian subcontinent drifted northeastwards, colliding with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago, towards the end of Paleocene; this geological region includes Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The zone where the Eurasian and Indian subcontinent plates meet remains one of the geologically active areas, prone to major earthquakes; the English term "subcontinent" continues to refer to the Indian subcontinent. Physiographically, it is a peninsular region in south-central Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, the Arakanese in the east.
It extends southward into the Indian Ocean with the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast. Most of this region rests on the Indian Plate and is isolated from the rest of Asia by large mountain barriers. Using the more expansive definition – counting India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Maldives as the constituent countries – the Indian subcontinent covers about 4.4 million km2, 10% of the Asian continent or 3.3% of the world's land surface area. Overall, it is home to a vast array of peoples; the Indian subcontinent is a natural physical landmass in South Asia, geologically the dry-land portion of the Indian Plate, isolated from the rest of Eurasia. Given the difficulty of passage through the Himalayas, the sociocultural and political interaction of the Indian subcontinent has been through the valleys of Afghanistan in its northwest, the valleys of Manipur in its east, by maritime routes. More difficult but important interaction has occurred through passages pioneered by the Tibetans.
These routes and interactions have led to the spread of Buddhism out of the Indian subcontinent into other parts of Asia. And the Islamic expansion arrived into the Indian subcontinent in two ways, through Afghanistan on land and to Indian coast through the maritime routes on the Arabian Sea. Whether called the Indian subcontinent or South Asia, the definition of the geographical extent of this region varies. Geopolitically, it had formed the whole territory of Greater India. In terms of modern geopolitical boundaries, the Indian subcontinent comprises the Republic of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, besides, by convention, the island nation of Sri Lanka and other islands of the Indian Ocean, such as the Maldives; the term "Indian continent" is first introduced in the early 20th century, when most of the territory was part of British India. The Hindu Kush, centered on eastern Afghanistan, is the boundary connecting the Indian subcontinent with Central Asia to the northwest, the Persian Plateau to the west.
The socio-religious history of Afghanistan are related to the Turkish-influenced Central Asia and no
Rajkot district
Rajkot district is one of the 33 districts of the Indian state of Gujarat. Located in Saurashtra peninsula, Rajkot city is the administrative headquarters of the district, it is the third-most advanced district in the fourth most populus. This district is surrounded by Morbi district in north and Botad districts in east and Junagadh districts in south and Porbandar Jamnagar district in west; the district occupies an area of 11203 km². The district is named after Rajkot city; the name of the city of Rajkot was derived from Raju Sandhi, the co-founder of the erstwhile princely state of Rajkot in 1620. The city is situated between 23°08' North latitude and 20º58' North latitude and 71º40' East longitude and 70º20' East longitude. Rajkot has pleasant climate; the climate does not exhibit a lot of extremities. The summer spans from March to June; the temperature at this time varies between 20 °C and 40 °C. The rainy season spans from July to September; the average amount of rainfall received by the place is 550 mm.
The winter months are October to February. The district comprises 10 talukas; these are Paddhari, Dhoraji, Jam Kandorna, Jetpur, Kotda Sangani and Gondal. Panchpipla is one of the village of Rajkot Dist. from many villages. There are 8 Vidhan Sabha constituencies in this district: Rajkot East, Rajkot West, Rajkot South, Rajkot Rural, Gondal and Dhoraji. Tankara, Rajkot East, Rajkot West, Rajkot South, Rajkot Rural and Jasdan constituencies are part of Rajkot Lok Sabha constituency. Gondal and Dhoraji are part of Porbandar Lok Sabha constituency. Morbi is part of Kachchh Lok Sabha constituency. Rajkot Airport, located near Rajkot city provides air connectivity with Mumbai; the only port of this district, the Port of Navlakhi is an all-weather lighterage port located on the southwest end of the Gulf of Kutch. The National Highway 8A links Morbi with Kandla; the National Highway 8B connects Rajkot with Porbandar. The National Highway 8D links Jetpur with Junagadh. According to the 2011 census Rajkot district has a population of 3,799,770 equal to the nation of Liberia or the US state of Oregon.
This gives it a ranking of 68th in India. The district has a population density of 339 inhabitants per square kilometre, its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 19.87%. Rajkot has a sex ratio of 924 females for every 1000 males, a literacy rate of 82.2%. It had a population of 3,169,881 of which 51.29% were urban as of 2001. The literacy rate is 74.85%. The District has a considerable population of Sindhi Speaking people and Sindhi tribes such as Sammas, Jadejas etc. There are some graves of Samma princes of Sindh from Samma Dynasty, that ruled Sindh from 1350 AD to 1520 AD. Dhumaketu Writer. Born in Virpur. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Born in Porbandar, Mahatma Gandhi grew up in Rajkot and maintained his permanent home in Rajkot for majority of his life. Jalaram Bapa: Hindu saint. Born in Virpur. Cheteshwar Pujara: Indian National Cricketer. Karsan Ghavri: Indian National Cricketer. Pankaj Udhas: Notable Ghazal and Bollywood Singer. Manhar Udhas: Notable Ghazal and Bollywood Singer. Ravindra Jadeja: Indian National Cricketer.
Rajkot district collectorate website
Well
A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers; the well water is drawn by a pump, or using containers, such as buckets, that are raised mechanically or by hand. Wells were first constructed at least eight thousand years ago and vary in construction from a simple scoop in the sediment of a dry watercourse to the qanats of Iran, the stepwells and sakiehs of India. Placing a lining in the well shaft helps create stability, linings of wood or wickerwork date back at least as far as the Iron Age. Wells have traditionally been sunk by hand digging, as is the case in rural areas of the developing world; these wells are inexpensive and low-tech as they use manual labour, the structure can be lined with brick or stone as the excavation proceeds. A more modern method called caissoning uses pre-cast reinforced concrete well rings that are lowered into the hole.
Driven wells can be created in unconsolidated material with a well hole structure, which consists of a hardened drive point and a screen of perforated pipe, after which a pump is installed to collect the water. Deeper wells can be excavated by hand drilling methods or machine drilling, using a bit in a borehole. Drilled wells are cased with a factory-made pipe composed of steel or plastic. Drilled wells can access water at much greater depths than dug wells. Two broad classes of well are shallow or unconfined wells completed within the uppermost saturated aquifer at that location, deep or confined wells, sunk through an impermeable stratum into an aquifer beneath. A collector well can be constructed adjacent to a freshwater lake or stream with water percolating through the intervening material; the site of a well can be selected by a hydrogeologist, or groundwater surveyor. Water may be hand drawn. Impurities from the surface can reach shallow sources and contamination of the supply by pathogens or chemical contaminants needs to be avoided.
Well water contains more minerals in solution than surface water and may require treatment before being potable. Soil salination can occur as the water table falls and the surrounding soil begins to dry out. Another environmental problem is the potential for methane to seep into the water. Wood-lined wells are known from the early Neolithic Linear Pottery culture, for example in Kückhoven, dated 5090 BC and Eythra, dated 5200 BC in Schletz in Austria; some of the earliest evidence of water wells are located in China. The neolithic Chinese made extensive use of deep drilled groundwater for drinking; the Chinese text The Book of Changes a divination text of the Western Zhou dynasty, contains an entry describing how the ancient Chinese maintained their wells and protected their sources of water. Archaeological evidence and old Chinese documents reveal that the prehistoric and ancient Chinese had the aptitude and skills for digging deep water wells for drinking water as early as 6000 to 7000 years ago.
A well excavated at the Hemedu excavation site was believed to have been built during the neolithic era. The well was cased by four rows of logs with a square frame attached to them at the top of the well. 60 additional tile wells southwest of Beijing are believed to have been built around 600 BC for drinking and irrigation. In Egypt and sakiehs are used; when compared to each other however, the Sakkieh is much more efficient, as it can bring up water from a depth of 10 metres. The Sakieh is the Egyptian version of the Noria; some of the world's oldest known wells, located in Cyprus, date to 7000-8500 BC. Two wells from the Neolithic period, around 6500 BC, have been discovered in Israel. One is in Atlit, on the northern coast of Israel, the other is the Jezreel Valley. Wells for other purposes came along much historically; the first recorded salt well was dug in the Sichuan province of China around 2,250 years ago. This was the first time that ancient water well technology was applied for the exploitation of salt, marked the beginning of Sichuan’s salt drilling industry.
The earliest known oil wells were drilled in China, in 347 CE. These wells had depths of up to about 240 metres and were drilled using bits attached to bamboo poles; the oil was burned to produce salt. By the 10th century, extensive bamboo pipelines connected oil wells with salt springs; the ancient records of China and Japan are said to contain many allusions to the use of natural gas for lighting and heating. Petroleum was known as Burning water in Japan in the 7th century; until recent centuries, all artificial wells were pumpless hand-dug wells of varying degrees of sophistication, they remain a important source of potable water in some rural developing areas where they are dug and used today. Their indispensability has produced a number of literary references and figurative, to them, including the reference to the incident of Jesus meeting a woman at Jacob's well in the bible and the "Ding Dong Bell" nursery rhyme about a cat in a well. Hand-dug wells are excavations with diameters large enough to accommodate one or more people with shovels digging down to below the water table.
The excavation is braced horizontally to avoid erosion endangering the people digging. They can be lined with brick. A more modern method called caissoning
Ox
An ox known as a bullock in Australia and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal or riding animal. Oxen are castrated adult male cattle. Cows or bulls may be used in some areas. Oxen are used for plowing, for transport, for threshing grain by trampling, for powering machines that grind grain or supply irrigation among other purposes. Oxen may be used to skid logs in forests in low-impact, select-cut logging. Draft oxen are yoked in pairs. Light work such as carting household items on good roads may only require one pair, while for heavier work, further pairs would be added as necessary. A team used for a heavy load over difficult ground might exceed ten pairs. Oxen are thought to have first been harnessed and put to work around 4000 BC. Working oxen are taught to respond to the signals of the ox-driver; these signals are given by verbal command and body language, reinforced by a goad, whip or a long pole. In pre-industrial times, most teamsters were known for their loud voices and forthright language.
Verbal commands for working animals vary throughout the world. In North America, the most common commands are: Back: back up Gee: turn to the right Get up: go Haw: turn to the left Whoa: stopIn the New England tradition, young castrated cattle selected for draft are known as working steers and are painstakingly trained from a young age, their teamster makes or buys as many as a dozen yokes of different sizes for each animal as it grows. The steers are considered trained at the age of four and only become known as oxen. A tradition in south eastern England was to use oxen as dual-purpose animals: for beef. A plowing team of eight oxen consisted of four pairs aged a year apart; each year, a pair of steers of about three years of age would be bought for the team and trained with the older animals. The pair would be kept for about four years sold at about seven years old to be fattened for beef – thus covering much of the cost of buying that year's new pair. Use of oxen for plowing survived in some areas of England until the early twentieth century.
Pairs of oxen were always hitched the same way round, they were given paired names. In southern England it was traditional to call the near-side ox of a pair by a single-syllable name and the off-side one by a longer one. Ox trainers favor larger animals for their ability to pull heavier loads, they are therefore of larger breeds, are males because they are larger. Females can be trained as oxen, but they are smaller. Bulls are used in many parts of the world as oxen Asia and Africa. Working oxen have oxshoes, which are metal devices nailed into their hooves, used to protect them from excessive wear; the continual strain borne on their feet by the weight they carry may injure and lead to cracking of the hooves, just as with horses. Despite this, in England, not all working oxen were shod. Since their hooves are cloven, two separate parts are required for each hoof, unlike the single shoe of a horse. Oxshoes are of a flat shape with an outline similar to a half-moon or a banana, either have or do not have caulkins, are fitted in symmetrical pairs to the hooves.
Unlike horses, oxen are not able to balance on three legs while a farrier shoes the fourth. In England, shoeing was accomplished by laying the ox on the ground and lashing all four feet to a heavy wooden tripod until the shoeing was complete. A similar technique was used in Serbia and, in a simpler form, in India, where it is still practiced. In Italy, where oxen may be large, shoeing is accomplished using a massive framework of beams in which the animal can be or lifted from the ground by slings passed under the body; such devices may today be of metal. Similar devices are found in France, Germany, Spain and the United States, where they may be called ox slings, ox presses or shoeing stalls; the system was sometimes adopted in England where the device was called a crush or trevis. The shoeing of an ox lifted in a sling is the subject of John Singer Sargent's painting Shoeing the Ox, while A Smith Shoeing an Ox by Karel Dujardin shows an ox being shod standing, tied to a post by the horns and balanced by supporting the raised hoof.
While less efficient and sensibly less prevalent than horses, the riding of cattle as a means of transportation has happened throughout history, the act is sometimes known as ox riding and oxback riding. There are many forms of riding equipment used by oxen, some differ from those used by horses. A wide-girthed saddle is mounted on the ox’s back for the rider to sit on. A bridle may attach to reins. While horses may have a bit, the near-equivalent for cattle is the nose ring, although this procedure is painful to the ox; as mentioned, they are not only controlled by being steered using reins.
Delhi
Delhi the National Capital Territory of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. It is bordered by Haryana by Uttar Pradesh to the east; the NCT covers an area of 1,484 square kilometres. According to the 2011 census, Delhi's city proper population was over 11 million, the second-highest in India after Mumbai, while the whole NCT's population was about 16.8 million. Delhi's urban area is now considered to extend beyond the NCT boundaries and include the neighboring satellite cities of Faridabad, Gurgaon and Noida in an area now called Central National Capital Region and had an estimated 2016 population of over 26 million people, making it the world's second-largest urban area according to United Nations; as of 2016, recent estimates of the metro economy of its urban area have ranked Delhi either the most or second-most productive metro area of India. Delhi is the second-wealthiest city in India after Mumbai, with a total private wealth of $450 billion and is home to 18 billionaires and 23,000 millionaires.
Delhi has been continuously inhabited since the 6th century BCE. Through most of its history, Delhi has served as a capital of various empires, it has been captured and rebuilt several times during the medieval period, modern Delhi is a cluster of a number of cities spread across the metropolitan region. A union territory, the political administration of the NCT of Delhi today more resembles that of a state of India, with its own legislature, high court and an executive council of ministers headed by a Chief Minister. New Delhi is jointly administered by the federal government of India and the local government of Delhi, serves as the capital of the nation as well as the NCT of Delhi. Delhi hosted the first and ninth Asian Games in 1951 and 1982 1983 NAM Summit, 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup, 2010 Commonwealth Games, 2012 BRICS Summit and was one of the major host cities of the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Delhi is the centre of the National Capital Region, a unique'interstate regional planning' area created by the National Capital Region Planning Board Act of 1985.
There are a number of legends associated with the origin of the name Delhi. One of them is derived from Dhillu or Dilu, a king who built a city at this location in 50 BCE and named it after himself. Another legend holds that the name of the city is based on the Hindi/Prakrit word dhili and that it was used by the Tomaras to refer to the city because the iron pillar of Delhi had a weak foundation and had to be moved; the coins in circulation in the region under the Tomaras were called dehliwal. According to the Bhavishya Purana, King Prithiviraja of Indraprastha built a new fort in the modern-day Purana Qila area for the convenience of all four castes in his kingdom, he ordered the construction of a gateway to the fort and named the fort dehali. Some historians believe that Dhilli or Dhillika is the original name for the city while others believe the name could be a corruption of the Hindustani words dehleez or dehali—both terms meaning'threshold' or'gateway'—and symbolic of the city as a gateway to the Gangetic Plain.
The people of Delhi are referred to as Dilliwalas. The city is referenced in various idioms of the Northern Indo-Aryan languages. Examples include: Abhi Dilli door hai or its Persian version, Hanuz Dehli dur ast meaning Delhi is still far away, generically said about a task or journey still far from completion. Dilli dilwalon ka shehr or Dilli Dilwalon ki meaning Delhi belongs to the large-hearted/daring. Aas-paas barse, Dilli pani tarse meaning it pours all around, while Delhi lies parched. An allusion to the sometimes semi-arid climate of Delhi, it idiomatically refers to situations of deprivation when one is surrounded by plenty; the area around Delhi was inhabited before the second millennium BCE and there is evidence of continuous inhabitation since at least the 6th century BCE. The city is believed to be the site of Indraprastha, the legendary capital of the Pandavas in the Indian epic Mahabharata. According to the Mahabharata, this land was a huge mass of forests called'Khandavaprastha', burnt down to build the city of Indraprastha.
The earliest architectural relics date back to the Maurya period. Remains of eight major cities have been discovered in Delhi; the first five cities were in the southern part of present-day Delhi. King Anang Pal of the Tomara dynasty founded the city of Lal Kot in 736 CE. Prithviraj Chauhan renamed it Qila Rai Pithora; the king Prithviraj Chauhan was defeated in 1192 by Muhammad Ghori, a Muslim invader from Afghanistan, who made a concerted effort to conquer northern India. By 1200, native Hindu resistance had begun to crumble, the Muslims were victorious; the newfound dominance of foreign Turkic Muslim dynasties in north India would last for the next five centuries. The slave general of Ghori, Qutb-ud-din Aibak, was given the responsibility of governing the conquered territories of India until Ghori returned to his capital, Ghor; when Ghori died without a heir in 1206 CE, his territories fractured, with various generals claiming sovereignty over different areas. Qutb-ud-din assumed control of Ghori's Indian possessions, laid the foundation of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mamluk dynasty.
He began construction of the Qutb Minar and Quwwat-al-Islam mosque, the earlie
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan plateau. It is third-largest state by area in India. Spread over 307,713 km2, it is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south and Chhattisgarh to the east and Dadra and Nagar Haveli to the north west, Madhya Pradesh to the north, it is the world's second-most populous subnational entity. It was formed by merging the western and south-western parts of the Bombay State and Vidarbha, the north-western parts of the Hyderabad State and splitting Saurashtra by the States Reorganisation Act, it has over 112 million inhabitants and its capital, has a population around 18 million making it the most populous urban area in India. Nagpur hosts the winter session of the state legislature. Pune is known as'Oxford of the East' due to the presence of several well-known educational institutions; the Godavari and the Krishna are the two major rivers in the state.
The Narmada and Tapi Rivers flow near Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Maharashtra is the third-most urbanized state of India. Prior to Indian independence, Maharashtra was chronologically ruled by the Satavahana dynasty, Rashtrakuta dynasty, Western Chalukyas, Deccan sultanates and Marathas, the British. Ruins, tombs and places of worship left by these rulers are dotted around the state, they include the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of the Ellora caves. The numerous forts are associated with the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Maharashtra is the wealthiest state by all major economic parameters and the most industrialized state in India; the state continues to be the single largest contributor to the national economy with a share of 15% in the country's gross domestic product. Maharashtra accounts for 17% of the industrial output of the country and 16% of the country's service sector output; the economy of Maharashtra is the largest state economy in India with ₹27.96 lakh crore in GDP and a per capita GDP of ₹180,000.
The modern Marathi language developed from the Maharashtri Prakrit, the word Marhatta is found in the Jain Maharashtri literature. The terms Maharashtra, Maharashtri and Maratha may have derived from the same root. However, their exact etymology is uncertain; the most accepted theory among the linguistic scholars is that the words Maratha and Maharashtra derived from a combination of Maha and rashtrika, the name of a tribe or dynasty of petty chiefs ruling in the Deccan region. Another theory is that the term is derived from Maha and ratha / rathi, which refers to a skilful northern fighting force that migrated southward into the area. An alternative theory states that the term derives from Rashtra. However, this theory is somewhat controversial among modern scholars who believe it to be the Sanskritised interpretation of writers. Chalcolithic sites belonging to the Jorwe culture have been discovered throughout the state. Maharashtra was ruled by the Maurya Empire in the fourth and third centuries BCE.
Around 230 BCE, Maharashtra came under the rule of the Satavahana dynasty for 400 years. The greatest ruler of the Satavahana dynasty was Gautamiputra Satakarni. In 90 CE, son of the Satavahana king Satakarni, the "Lord of Dakshinapatha, wielder of the unchecked wheel of Sovereignty", made Junnar, 30 miles north of Pune, the capital of his kingdom; the state was ruled by Western Satraps, Gupta Empire, Gurjara-Pratihara, Kadambas, Chalukya Empire, Rashtrakuta Dynasty, Western Chalukya before the Yadava rule. The Buddhist Ajanta Caves in present-day Aurangabad display influences from the Satavahana and Vakataka style; the caves were excavated during this period. The Chalukya dynasty ruled from the sixth to the eighth centuries CE, the two prominent rulers were Pulakeshin II, who defeated the north Indian Emperor Harsha, Vikramaditya II, who defeated the Arab invaders in the eighth century; the Rashtrakuta dynasty ruled Maharashtra from the eighth to the tenth century. The Arab traveller Sulaiman described the ruler of the Rashtrakuta Dynasty as "one of the four great kings of the world".
Shilahara dynasty began as vassals of the Rashtrakuta dynasty which ruled the Deccan plateau between the eighth and tenth centuries. From the early 11th century to the 12th century, the Deccan Plateau, which includes a significant part of Maharashtra, was dominated by the Western Chalukya Empire and the Chola dynasty. Several battles were fought between the Western Chalukya empire and the Chola dynasty in the Deccan Plateau during the reigns of Raja Raja Chola I, Rajendra Chola I, Jayasimha II, Someshvara I, Vikramaditya VI. In the early 14th century, the Yadava Dynasty, which ruled most of present-day Maharashtra, was overthrown by the Delhi Sultanate ruler Ala-ud-din Khalji. Muhammad bin Tughluq conquered parts of the Deccan, temporarily shifted his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad in Maharashtra. After the collapse of the Tughluqs in 1347, the local Bahmani Sultanate of Gulbarga took over, governing the region for the next 150 years. After the break-up of the Bahamani sultanate in 1518, Maharashtra split into five Deccan Sultanates: Nizamshah of Ahmednagar, Adilshah of Bijapur, Qutubshah of Golkonda, Bidarshah of Bidar and Imadshah of Elichpur.
These kingdoms fought with each other. United, they decisively defeated the
Temple tank
Temple tanks are wells or reservoirs built as part of the temple complex near Indian temples. They are called pushkarini, kunda, tirtha, pukhuri, etc. in different languages and regions of India. Some tanks are said to cure various maladies when bathed in, it is possible that these are cultural remnants of structures such as the Great Bath of Mohenjo-daro or Dholavira, part of the Indus Valley Civilization. Some are stepwells with many steps at the sides. Since ancient times, the design of water storage has been important in India's temple architecture in western India where dry and monsoon seasons alternate. Temple tank design became an art form in itself. An example of the art of tank design is the large, geometically spectacular Stepped Tank at the Royal Center at the ruins of Vijayanagara, the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire, surrounding the modern town of Hampi, it has no drain. It was filled by aqueduct; the tanks are used during rites of consecration. The water in the tank is deemed to be sacred water from the Ganges River.
In India, a stepwell is a deep masonry well with steps going down to the water level in the well. It is called a vav in a baoli in north India; some were richly ornamented. They were built by nobility, some being for secular use from which anyone could obtain water. Haridra Nadhi is the largest temple tank in India, maybe in the world, it is in Thiruvarur District of Tamil Nadu. It is the temple tank of one of the largest Hindu temples, Mannargudi; the area of the temple tank is 23 acres. It is called as Daughter of Kaveri river. Kalyani called pushkarni, are ancient Hindu stepped bathing wells; these wells were built near Hindu temples to accommodate bathing and cleansing activities before prayer. They are used for immersion of Ganesha idols during Ganesha Chaturthi. In Sikhism temple tanks are called "Sarovar". Brahma Sarovar Ghat Baray C. P. R. Environmental Education Centre. Sacred tanks of South India. Pp. 328. ENVIS Centre for Conservation of Ecological Heritage and Sacred Sites of India: Sacred Waterbodies of India
Media related to Stepwells at Wikimedia Commons
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