Gondophares
Gondophares I was the founder of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom and its most prominent king, ruling from 19 to 46. A member of the House of Suren, he belonged to a line of local princes who had governed the Parthian province of Drangiana since its disruption by the Indo-Scythians in c. 129 BC. During his reign, his kingdom became independent from Parthian authority and was transformed into an empire, which encompassed Drangiana and Gandhara, he is known from the dubious Acts of Thomas, the Takht-i-Bahi inscription, coin-mints in silver and copper. He was succeeded in Drangiana and Arachosia by Ortaghnes, in Gandhara by his nephew Abdagases I; the name of Gondophares was not a personal name, but an epithet, the Middle Iranian version of the Old Iranian vindafarna, the name of one of the six nobles that helped the Achaemenid king of kings Darius the Great to seize the throne. In old Armenian, it is "Gastaphar". “Gundaparnah” was the Eastern Iranian form of the name. Ernst Herzfeld claims his name is perpetuated in the name of the Afghan city Kandahar, which he founded under the name Gundopharron.
Gondophares was a member of the House of Suren, one of the most esteemed families in Arsacid Iran, that not only had the hereditary right to lead the royal military, but to place the crown on the Parthian king at the coronation. In c. 129 BC, the eastern portions of the Parthian Empire Drangiana, was invaded by nomadic peoples by the Eastern Iranian Saka and the Indo-European Yuezhi, thus giving the rise to the name of the province of Sakastan. As a result of these invasions, the Suren family was given control of Sakastan in order to defend the empire from further nomad incursions. Gondophares ascended the throne in c. 19, declared independence from the Parthian Empire, minting coins in Drangiana where he assumed the Greek title of autokrator. Gondophares I has traditionally been given a date. Gondophares I took over the Kabul valley and the Punjab and Sindh region area from the Scythian king Azes. In reality, a number of vassal rulers seem to have switched allegiance from the Indo-Scythians to Gondophares I.
His empire was vast, but was only a loose framework, which fragmented soon after his death. His capital was the Gandharan city of Taxila. Taxila is located in Punjab to the west of the present Islamabad. On the coins of Gondophares, the royal names are Iranian, but the other legends of the coins are in Greek and Kharoṣṭhī. Ernst Herzfeld maintained; the name of Gondophares was translated in Armenian in "Gastaphar", in Western languages into "Gaspar". He may be the "Gaspar, King of Persia", according to apocryphal texts and eastern Christian tradition, was one of the three Biblical Magi who attended the birth of Christ. Through this interaction and association, Gaspar was adopted by the Europeans as a male first name; the apocryphical Acts of Thomas mentions one king Gudnaphar. This king has been associated with Gondophares I by many scholars, as it was not yet established that there were several kings with the same name. Richard N. Frye, Emeritus Professor of Iranian Studies at Harvard University, has noted that this ruler has been identified with a king called Caspar in the Christian tradition of the Apostle St Thomas and his visit to India.
Recent research by R. C. Senior shows with some certainty that the king who best fits these references was Gondophares-Sases, the fourth king using the title Gondophares. A. D. H. Bivar, writing in The Cambridge History of Iran, said that the reign dates of one Gondophares recorded in the Takht-i Bahi inscription are consistent with the dates given in the Apocryphal Acts of Thomas for the Apostle's voyage to India following the Crucifixion in c. 30 AD. B. N. Puri, of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology, University of Lucknow, India identified Gondophares with the ruler said to have been converted by Saint Thomas the Apostle; the same goes for the reference to an Indo-Parthian king in the accounts of the life of Apollonius of Tyana. Puri says that the dates given by Philostratus in his Life of Apollonius of Tyana for Apollonius' visit to Taxila, 43–44 AD, are within the period of the reign of Gondophares I, who went by the Parthian name, Phraotes. Saint Thomas was brought before King Gundaphar at Taxila.
"Taxila" is the Greek form of the contemporary Pali name for the city, “Takkasila”, from the Sanskrit “Taksha-sila”. The name of the city was transformed in subsequent legends concerning Thomas, which were consolidated into the Historia Trium Regum by John of Hildesheim, into "Silla", "Egrisilla", "Grisculla", so on, the name having undergone a process of metamorphosis similar to that which transformed “Vindapharnah” to “Caspar”. Hildesheim's Historia Trium Regum says: “In the third India is the kingdom of Tharsis, which at that time was ruled over by King Caspar, who offered incense to our Lord; the famous island Eyrisoulla lies in this land: it is there that the holy apostle St Thomas is buried”. "Egrisilla" appears on the globe made in Nuremberg b
South Asian Stone Age
The South Asian Stone Age covers the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods in South Asia. Evidence for the most ancient anatomically modern Homo sapiens in South Asia has been found in the cave sites of Cudappah of India and Belilena in Sri Lanka. In Mehrgarh, in what is today western Pakistan, the Neolithic began c. 7000 BCE and lasted until 3300 BCE and the first beginnings of the Bronze Age. In South India, the Mesolithic lasted until 3000 BCE, the Neolithic until 1400 BCE, followed by a Megalithic transitional period skipping the Bronze Age; the Iron Age began simultaneously in North and South India, around c. 1200 to 1000 BCE. Homo erectus lived on the Pothohar Plateau, in upper Punjab, Pakistan along the Soan River during the Pleistocene Epoch. Soanian sites are found in the Sivalik region across what are now India and Nepal. Biface handaxes and cleaver traditions may have originated in the middle Pleistocene; the beginning of the use of Acheulian and chopping tools of the lower Paleolithic may be dated to the middle Pleistocene.
Neolithic Stone Age of Indian subcontinent finds were excavated from Pinjore in Haryana on the banks of the stream flowing through HMT complex, by the Guy Ellcock Pilgrim, a British geologist and palaeontologist, who discovered 15 million years old prehistoric human teeth and part of a jaw denoting that the ancient people, who were intelligent hominins dating as far back as 1,500,000 ybp Acheulean period, lived in Pinjore region near Chandigarh. Quartzite tools of lower Paleolithic period were excavated in this region extending from Pinjore in Haryana to Nalagarh (Solan district in Himachal Pradesh. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA dates the immigration of Homo sapiens to South Asia to 75,000 to 50,000 years ago. An analysis of Y chromosome haplogroups found one man in a village west of Madurai to be a direct descendant of these migrators. Cave sites in Sri Lanka have yielded the earliest non-mitochondrial record of modern Homo sapiens in South Asia, they were dated to 34,000 years ago.. For finds from the Belan in southern Uttar Pradesh, India radiocarbon data have indicated an age of 18,000-17,000 years.
At the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka humans lived throughout the Upper Paleolithic, revealing cave paintings dating to c. 30,000 BCE, there are small cup like depressions at the end of the Auditorium Rock Shelter, dated to nearly 100,000 years. Chert and quartzite were used by humans during this period; the aceramic Neolithic lasts c. 7000 - 5500 BCE. The ceramic Neolithic lasts up to 3300 BCE. One of the earliest Neolithic sites in India is Lahuradewa in the Middle Ganges region and Jhusi near the confluence of Ganges and Yamuna rivers, both dating to around the 7th millennium BCE. Another site along the ancient Saraswati riverine system in the present day state of Haryana in India called Bhirrana has been discovered yielding a dating of around 7600 BCE for its Neolithic levels. In South India the Neolithic began by 3000 BCE and lasted until around 1400 BCE. South Indian Neolithic is characterized by Ashmounds since 2500 BCE in the Andhra-Karnataka region that expanded into Tamil Nadu. Comparative excavations carried out in Adichanallur in the Thirunelveli District and in Northern India have provided evidence of a southward migration of the Megalithic culture.
The earliest clear evidence of the presence of the megalithic urn burials are those dating from around 1000 BCE, which have been discovered at various places in Tamil Nadu, notably at Adichanallur, 24 kilometers from Tirunelveli, where archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India unearthed 12 urns containing human skulls and bones, grains of charred rice and Neolithic celts, confirming the presence of the Neolithic period 2800 years ago. Archaeologists have made plans to return to Adhichanallur as a source of new knowledge in the future. History of Afghanistan History of Bangladesh History of Bhutan History of India History of Nepal History of Pakistan History of Sri Lanka Prehistoric Asia Modern Humans Arrival In South Asia May Have Led To Demise Of Indigenous Populations
Kushan Empire
The Kushan Empire was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of Afghanistan, the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi, where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan Emperor Kanishka the Great. Emperor Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism, he played an important role in the establishment of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent and its spread to Central Asia and China. The Kushans were one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, a Iranian or Tocharian, Indo-European nomadic people who migrated from Gansu and settled in ancient Bactria; the Kushans used the Greek language 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 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 and facilitating the spread of Mahayana Buddhism to China.
The Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the Roman Empire, Sasanian Persia, the Aksumite Empire and the Han dynasty of China. While much philosophy and science was created within its borders, the only textual record of the empire's history today comes from inscriptions and accounts in other languages Chinese; the Kushan empire fragmented into semi-independent kingdoms in the 3rd century AD, which fell to the Sasanians invading from the west, establishing the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom in the areas of Sogdiana and Gandhara. In the 4th century, the Guptas, an Indian dynasty pressed from the east; the last of the Kushan and Kushano-Sasanian kingdoms were overwhelmed by invaders from the north, known as the Kidarites, the Hepthalites. Chinese sources describe the Guishuang, i.e. the Kushans, as one of the five aristocratic tribes of the Yuezhi, with some people claiming they were a loose confederation of Indo-European peoples, though many scholars are still unconvinced that they spoke an Indo-European language.
As the historian John E. Hill has put it: "For well over a century... There have been many arguments about the ethnic and linguistic origins of the Great Yuezhi or Da Yuezhi and the Tochari, still there is little consensus"; the Yuezhi were described in the Records of the Great Historian 史記 and the Book of Han 漢書 as living in the grasslands of Gansu, in the northwest of modern-day China, until their King was beheaded by the Huns from Siberia who were at war with China, which forced them to migrate west in 176–160 BCE. The five tribes constituting the Yuezhi are known in Chinese history as Xiūmì, Guìshuāng, Shuāngmǐ, Xìdùn, Dūmì; 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 and the Indus basin, occupying the western part of the Indo-Greek Kingdom; some traces remain of the presence of the Kushans in the area of Sogdiana. Archaeological structures are known in Takht-I-Sangin, Surkh Kotal, in the palace of Khalchayan.
Various sculptures and friezes are known, representing horse-riding archers, men with artificially deformed skulls, such as the Kushan prince of Khalchayan. The Chinese first referred to these people as the Yuezhi and said they established the Kushan Empire, although the relationship between the Yuezhi and the Kushans is still unclear. On the ruins of ancient Hellenistic cities such as Ai-Khanoum, the Kushans are known to have built fortresses; the earliest documented ruler, the first one to proclaim himself as a Kushan ruler, was Heraios. He calls himself a "tyrant" in Greek on his coins, exhibits skull deformation, he may have been an ally of the Greeks, he shared the same style of coinage. Heraios may have been the father of the first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises. Ban Gu's Book of Han tells us the Kushans divided up Bactria in 128 BC. Fan Ye's Book of the Later Han "relates how the chief of the Kushans, Ch'iu-shiu-ch'ueh, founded by means of the submission of the other Yueh-chih clans the Kushan Empire, known to the Greeks and Romans under the name of Empire of the Indo-Scythians."The Chinese Hou Hanshu 後漢書 chronicles gives an account of the formation of the Kushan empire based on a report made by the Chinese general Ban Yong to the Chinese Emperor c. 125 AD: More than a hundred years the prince of Guishuang established himself as king, his dynasty was called that of the Guishuang King.
He invaded Anxi, took the Gaofu region. He defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda and Jibin. Qiujiuque was more than eighty years old, his son, became king in his place. He defeated installed Generals to supervise and lead it; the Yuezhi became rich. All the kingdoms call the Guishuang king. In the 1st century BCE, the Guishuang gained prom
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art is an art museum in Cleveland, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian art, the museum houses a diverse permanent collection of more than 45,000 works of art from around the world; the museum provides general admission free to the public. With a $755 million endowment, it is the fourth-wealthiest art museum in the United States. With about 770,000 visitors annually, it is one of the most visited art museums in the world; the Cleveland Museum of Art was founded as a trust in 1913 with an endowment from prominent Cleveland industrialists Hinman Hurlbut, John Huntington, Horace Kelley. The neoclassical, white Georgian Marble, Beaux-Arts building was constructed on the southern edge of Wade Park, at the cost of $1.25 million. Wade Park and the museum were designed by the local architectural firm, Hubbell & Benes, with the museum planned as the park's centerpiece.
The 75-acre green space takes its name from philanthropist Jeptha H. Wade, who donated part of his wooded estate to the city in 1881; the museum opened its doors to the public on June 6, 1916, with Wade's grandson, Jeptha H. Wade II, proclaiming it, "for the benefit of all people, forever". Wade, like his grandfather, had a great interest in art and served as the museum's first vice-president. Today, the park, with the museum still as its centerpiece, is on the National Register of Historic Places. In March 1958, the first addition to the building opened; this addition, on the north side of the original building, was designed by the Cleveland architectural firm of Hayes and Ruth. They designed a new art library; the museum again expanded in 1971 with the opening of the North Wing. With its stepped, two-toned granite facade, the addition designed by modernist architect Marcel Breuer provided angular lines in distinct contrast with the flourishes of the 1916 building's neoclassical facade; the museum's main entrance was shifted to the North Wing.
The auditorium and lecture halls were moved into the North Wing, allowing their spaces in the Original Building to be renovated as gallery space. In 1983, a West Wing, designed by the Cleveland architectural firm of Dalton, van Dijk, Johnson, & Partners, was completed; this provided larger library space, as well as nine new galleries. Between 2001 and 2012, the 1958 and 1983 additions were demolished. A new wrap-around building, east and west wings were constructed. Designed by Rafael Viñoly, this $350 million project doubled the museum's size to 592,000 square feet. To integrate the new east and west wings with the Breuer building to the north, a new structure was built along the south side of the 1971 addition, creating extensive new gallery space on two levels, as well as providing for a museum store and other amenities. Viñoly covered the space created by the demolition of the 1958 and 1983 structures with a glass-roofed atrium; the east wing opened in 2009, the north wing and atrium in 2012.
The West Wing opened on January 2, 2014. The museum's building and renovation project, "Building for the Future", began in 2005 and was targeted for completion in 2012 at projected costs of $258 million; the museum celebrated the official completion of the renovation and expansion project with a grand opening celebration held on December 31, 2013, additional activities that continued through the first week of 2014. The $350 million project—two-thirds of, earmarked for the complete renovation of the original 1916 structure—added two new wings, was the largest cultural project in Ohio's history; the new east and west wings, as well as the enclosing of the atrium courtyard under a soaring glass canopy, have brought the museum's total floor space to 592,000 square feet. The first phase of the project had $9.3 million in cost overruns. Museum director Timothy Rub assured the public that the increase in quality would be worth both the wait and expense. In June 2008, after being closed for nearly three years for the overhaul, the museum reopened 19 of its permanent galleries to the public in the renovated 1916 building main floor.
On June 27, 2009, the newly constructed East Wing opened to the public. On June 26, 2010, the ground level of the 1916 building reopened, it now houses the collections of Greek, Egyptian, Sub-Saharan African and Medieval art. The expanded museum includes enhanced visitor amenities, such as new restrooms, an expanded store and café, a sit-down gourmet restaurant, parking capacity increased to 620 spaces, a 34,000 square feet glass-covered courtyard. Wade Park includes an outdoor gallery displaying part of the museum's holdings in the Wade Park Fine Arts Garden; the bulk of this collection is located between the original 1916 main entrance to the building and the lagoon. Highlights of the public sculpture include the large cast of Chester Beach's 1927 Fountain of the Waters. Rodin's The Thinker in installed at the top of the museum's main staircase. After being destroyed in a 1970 bombing, the statue was never restored. Art historians knew that Rodin was involved in the original casting of
History of Pakistan
The history of Pakistan encompasses the history of the region constituting modern-day Pakistan, intertwined with the history of the broader Indian Subcontinent and the surrounding regions of South Asia, East Asia, Central Asia and Middle East. Anatomically modern humans are thought to have arrived on the Pakistan between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Settled life, which involves the transition from foraging to farming and pastoralism, began in Pakistan around 7,000 BCE; the domestication of wheat and barley followed by that of goats and cattle, has been documented at Mehrgarh, Balochistan. By 4,500 BCE, settled life had become more prevalent, evolved into the Indus Valley Civilization, an early civilization of the Old world, larger in land area than both of its contemporaries Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia combined, it flourished between 2,500 BCE and 1,900 BCE with the headquarters of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, centred in Central and South Pakistan. Indus Valley Civilisation was noted for developed new techniques in handicraft, carnelian products, seal carving, urban planning, baked brick houses, efficient drainage systems, water supply systems and clusters of large non-residential buildings.
It was the first civilization to use wheeled transport in form of bullock carts and used boats. Indus civilisation depended on trade; the trade routes which traverse the Indus Valley linking the Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Orient have attracted people from as far as Greece and Mongolia. In the beginning of the second millennium BCE climate change, with persistent drought, led to the abandonment of the urban centers of the Indus Valley Civilisation, its population resettled in smaller villages and mixed with Indo-Aryan tribes, who moved into the other areas of Indian subcontinent in several waves of migration driven by the effects of this climate change. Gandhara grave culture started to emerge in 1,600 BCE which led to the evolution of Gandhara Civilization in early Vedic period; this Vedic period was marked by the composition of the Rigveda, spread to other parts of South Asia. Gandhara civilization flourished between 1,500 BCE and 500 BCE with the headquarters of Taxila and Peshawar centred in North-West Pakistan.
It was an educational center of Bactrian Hinduism. It became a major center for Greco-Buddhism under the Indo-Greeks and Gandharan Buddhism under dynasties. Famed for its local tradition of Greco-Buddhist Art, Gandhara attained its height under the rule of Kushan Empire, it "flourished at the crossroads of Asia," connecting trade routes and absorbing cultural influences from diverse civilizations. Gandhara laterly became part of Achaemenid Empire along with Indus Valley after the Persion invasions. Besides the Achaemenid presence in Indus Valley, Ror dynasty established in South and Southwest Pakistan. Central Pakistan became part of Macedonian Empire after the defeat of King Porus in the battle of Hydaspes from Alexander the Great. Most of the Pakistan conquered by Maurya Empire during 4th and 3rd centuries BCE. From the 3rd century BCE to 4th century AD, many kingdoms ruled Pakistan including Greco-Bactrian, Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian, Indo-Parthian and Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom; this era saw the emergence of Kushan coinage.
During 5th century, White Huns attacked Gandhara, sacked its cities and burnt down its many monasteries and centres of learning. After the White Huns, Gupta Empire promoted Hinduism and Sanskrit, but the invasions of Alchon Huns contributed to the fall of Gupta Empire. After the Gupta decline, for next two centuries until the arrival of Islam and Buddhist dynasties made hold over the region such as Rais in South Pakistan while Kabul Shahis in North-West Pakistan. Rais were succeeded to Brahmins in 7th century. Islam arrived in Pakistan with the conquest of Makran by the Rashidun Caliphate during the era of Caliph Umar. Next strong presence witnessed the conquest of Sindh and Multan led by Muhammad bin Qasim against the Raja Dahir of Brahmin dynasty. During the decline of Abbasid Caliphate in the 9th century, the control of Sindh and Balochistan gone to the Arab Muslim Habbari dynasty, in turn succeeded to Muslim Rajput Soomra dynasty in the 11th century. Mahmud Ghazni established the Islamic rule over Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by abolishing the rule of Hindu Shahis in the year of 1021 CE.
These conquests resulted the conversion of local population to Islam and propagation of Arabic and Persian languages in conquered lands. During the Ghaznavid Era, Lahore was established and became centre of Persian literature Persian poetry. After the fall of Lahore to Ghurid Empire, the permanent rule of Islam over the region was established by the Ghurids with their conquest in the second battle of Tarain. Ghurid Empire was succeeded to Delhi Sultanate, ruled by five successive dynasties named as Mamluk, Tughlaq and Lodi. During initial years of sultanate, Lahore served the capital of Indian subcontinent and laterly and Lahore after Delhi were the main administrative centres of the sultanate. Mongols attacked Punjab in 1297–98 and in 1306 while Sindh in 1298, but all times decisively defeated by Alauddin Khalji. Timur sacked many cities in 1398 during his campaign of South Asia. After the defeat of Ibrahim Lodhi in the battle of Panipat, the rule of Delhi Sultanate was ended in 1526; the 15th century is considered the "Golden age of Sindh".
The period of Delhi Sultanate saw the fusion of Persian and Indian aspects of civilisation, language and architecture that caused the formation of Indo-Persian culture, Indo-Islamic architecture, Delhi Sultanate literature and Hind
Monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone. A monastery includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel, church, or temple, may serve as an oratory. Monasteries vary in size, comprising a small dwelling accommodating only a hermit, or in the case of communities anything from a single building housing only one senior and two or three junior monks or nuns, to vast complexes and estates housing tens or hundreds. A monastery complex comprises a number of buildings which include a church, cloister, library and infirmary. Depending on the location, the monastic order and the occupation of its inhabitants, the complex may include a wide range of buildings that facilitate self-sufficiency and service to the community; these may include a hospice, a school, a range of agricultural and manufacturing buildings such as a barn, a forge, or a brewery. In English usage, the term monastery is used to denote the buildings of a community of monks.
In modern usage, convent tends to be applied only to institutions of female monastics communities of teaching or nursing religious sisters. A convent denoted a house of friars, now more called a friary. Various religions may apply these terms in more specific ways; the word monastery comes from the Greek word μοναστήριον, neut. of μοναστήριος – monasterios from μονάζειν – monazein "to live alone" from the root μόνος – monos "alone". The earliest extant use of the term monastērion is by the 1st century AD Jewish philosopher Philo in On The Contemplative Life, ch. III. In England the word monastery was applied to the habitation of a bishop and the cathedral clergy who lived apart from the lay community. Most cathedrals were not monasteries, were served by canons secular, which were communal but not monastic. However, some were run by monasteries orders, such as York Minster. Westminster Abbey was for a short time a cathedral, was a Benedictine monastery until the Reformation, its Chapter preserves elements of the Benedictine tradition.
See the entry cathedral. They are to be distinguished from collegiate churches, such as St George's Chapel, Windsor. In most of this article, the term monastery is used generically to refer to any of a number of types of religious community. In the Roman Catholic religion and to some extent in certain branches of Buddhism, there is a somewhat more specific definition of the term and many related terms. Buddhist monasteries are called vihara. Viharas may be occupied by men or women, in keeping with common English usage, a vihara populated by females may be called a nunnery or a convent. However, vihara can refer to a temple. In Tibetan Buddhism, monasteries are called gompa. In Thailand and Cambodia, a monastery is called a wat. In Burma, a monastery is called a kyaung. A Christian monastery may be a priory, or conceivably a hermitage, it may be a community of men or of women. A charterhouse is any monastery belonging to the Carthusian order. In Eastern Christianity, a small monastic community can be called a skete, a large or important monastery can be given the dignity of a lavra.
The great communal life of a Christian monastery is called cenobitic, as opposed to the anchoretic life of an anchorite and the eremitic life of a hermit. There has been under the Osmanli occupation of Greece and Cyprus, an "idiorrhythmic" lifestyle where monks come together but being able to own things individually and not being obliged to work for the common good. In Hinduism monasteries are called matha, koil, or most an ashram. Jains use the Buddhist term vihara. In most religions the life inside monasteries is governed by community rules that stipulate the gender of the inhabitants and require them to remain celibate and own little or no personal property; the degree to which life inside a particular monastery is separate from the surrounding populace can vary widely. Others focus on interacting with the local communities to provide services, such as teaching, medical care, or evangelism; some monastic communities are only occupied seasonally, depending both on the traditions involved and the local weather, people may be part of a monastic community for periods ranging from a few days at a time to an entire lifetime.
The life within the walls of a monastery may be supported in several ways: by manufacturing and selling goods agricultural products, by donations or alms, by rental or investment incomes, by funds from other organizations within the religion, which in the past formed the traditional support of monasteries. There has been a long tradition of Christian monasteries providing hospitable and hospital services. Monasteries have been associated with the provision of education and the encouragement of scholarship and research, which has led to the establishment of schools and colleges and the association with universities. Christian monastic life has adapted to modern society by offering computer services, accounting services and management as well as modern hospital and educational administration. Buddhist monasteries, known as vihāra i
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