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Janapadas
The Janapadas () (c. 1500–600 BCE) were the realms, republics (ganapada) and kingdoms (saamarajya) of the Vedic period on the Indian subcontinent. The Vedic period reaches from the late Bronze Age into the Iron Age: from about 1500 BCE to the 6th century BCE. With the rise of sixteen ''Mahajanapadas'' ("great janapadas"), most of the states were annexed by more powerful neighbours, although some remained independent. Etymology The Sanskrit term ''janapada'' is a tatpurusha compound term, composed of two words: ''janas'' and ''pada''. ''Jana'' means "people" or "subject" (cf. Latin cognate ''genus'', English cognate ''kin''). The word ''pada'' means "foot" (cf. Latin cognate ''pedis''); from its earliest attestation, the word has had a double meaning of "realm, territory" and "subject population" (cf. Hittite ''pedan'', "place"). Linguist George Dunkel compares the Greek ''andrapodon'' "slave", to PIE "fetters" (i.e. "what is attached to the feet"). Sanskrit ''padám'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jana (Vedic Period)
This is a list of ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes that are mentioned in the literature of Indic religions. From the second or first millennium BCE, ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes turned into most of the population in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent – Indus Valley (roughly today's Punjab), Western India, Northern India, Central India, and also in areas of the southern part like Sri Lanka and the Maldives through and after a complex process of migration, assimilation of other peoples and language shift.Mallory, J.P.; Douglas Q. Adams (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. . Ancestors *Proto-Indo-Europeans (Proto-Indo-European speakers) **Proto-Indo-Iranians (common ancestors of the Iranian, Nuristani and Indo-Aryan peoples) (Proto-Indo-Iranian speakers) *** Proto-Indo-Aryans ( Proto-Indo-Aryan speakers) Vedic tribes * Alina people (RV 7.18.7) * Andhras * Anu (RV 1.108.8, RV 8.10.5) * Āyu * Bhajerath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahajanapadas
The Mahājanapadas ( sa, great realm, from ''maha'', "great", and ''janapada'' "foothold of a people") were sixteen kingdoms or oligarchic republics that existed in ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE during the second urbanisation period. The 6th–5th centuries BCE is often regarded as a major turning point in early Indian history; during this period India's first large cities arose after the demise of the Indus Valley civilization. It was also the time of the rise of sramana movements (including Buddhism and Jainism), which challenged the religious orthodoxy of the Vedic period. Two of the Mahājanapadas were most probably s (oligarchic republics) and others had forms of monarchy. Ancient Buddhist texts like the '' Anguttara Nikaya'' make frequent reference to sixteen great kingdoms and republics which had developed and flourished in a belt stretching from Gandhara in the northwest to Anga in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. They included p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kosala
The Kingdom of Kosala (Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indian kingdom with a rich culture, corresponding to the area within the region of Awadh in present-day Uttar Pradesh to Western Odisha. It emerged as a small state during the late Vedic period, with connections to the neighbouring realm of Videha. Kosala belonged to the Northern Black Polished Ware culture (c. 700–300 BCE), and the Kosala region gave rise to the Sramana movements, including Jainism and Buddhism. It was culturally distinct from the Painted Grey Ware culture of the Vedic period of Kuru- Panchala west of it, following independent development toward urbanisation and the use of iron. During the 5th century BCE, Kosala incorporated the territory of the Shakya clan, to which the Buddha belonged. According to the Buddhist text '' Aṅguttara Nikāya'' and the Jaina text, the ''Bhagavati Sutra'', Kosala was one of the ''Solasa'' (sixteen) Mahajanapadas (powerful realms) in 6th to 5th centuries BCE, and its cul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the sound and the meaning of a word, cognates may not be obvious, and often it takes rigorous study of historical sources and the application of the comparative method to establish whether lexemes are cognate or not. Cognates are distinguished from loanwords, where a word has been borrowed from another language. The term ''cognate'' derives from the Latin noun '' cognatus blood relative'. Characteristics Cognates need not have the same meaning, which may have changed as the languages developed independently. For example English '' starve'' and Dutch '' sterven'' 'to die' or German '' sterben'' 'to die' all descend from the same Proto-Germanic verb, '' *sterbaną'' 'to die'. Cognates also do not need to look or sound sim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samhita
Saṃhitā literally means "put together, joined, union", a "collection", and "a methodically, rule-based combination of text or verses". Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, page 1123 ''Saṃhitā'' also refers to the most ancient layer of text in the Vedas, consisting of s, hymns, prayers, litanies and benedictions.Lochtefeld, James G. "Samhita" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 2: N-Z, Rosen Publishing, , page 587 Parts of ''Ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vedas
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda. Each Veda has four subdivisions – the Samhitas ( mantras and benedictions), the Aranyakas (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), the Brahmanas (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices), and the Upanishads (texts discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge).Gavin Flood (1996), ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', Cambridge University Press, , pp. 35–39A Bhattacharya (2006), ''Hindu Dharma: Introduction to Scriptures and Theology'', , pp. 8–14; George M. Williams (2003), Handbook of Hindu Mythology, Oxford University P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brahmana
The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of Sanskrit texts embedded within each Veda, which explain and instruct on the performance of Vedic rituals (in which the related Samhitas are recited). In addition to explaining the symbolism and meaning of the Samhitas, Brahmana literature also expounds scientific knowledge of the Vedic Period, including observational astronomy and, particularly in relation to altar construction, geometry. Divergent in nature, some Brahmanas also contain mystical and philosophical material that constitutes Aranyakas and Upanishads. Each Veda has one or more of its own Brahmanas, and each Brahmana is generally associated with a particular Shakha or Vedic school. Less than twenty Brahmanas are currently extant, as most have been lost or destroyed. Dating of the final codification of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shatapatha Brahmana
The Shatapatha Brahmana ( sa, शतपथब्राह्मणम् , Śatapatha Brāhmaṇam, meaning 'Brāhmaṇa of one hundred paths', abbreviated to 'SB') is a commentary on the Śukla (white) Yajurveda. It is attributed to the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya. Described as the most complete, systematic, and important of the Brahmanas (commentaries on the Vedas), it contains detailed explanations of Vedic sacrificial rituals, symbolism, and mythology. Particularly in its description of sacrificial rituals (including construction of complex fire-altars), the Shatapatha Brahmana (SB) provides scientific knowledge of geometry (e.g. calculations of pi and the root of the Pythagorean theorem) and observational astronomy (e.g. planetary distances and the assertion that the Earth is circular) from the Vedic period. The Shatapatha Brahmana is also considered to be significant in the development of Vaishnavism as the origin of several Puranic legends and avatars of the RigVedic god Vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aitareya Brahmana
The Aitareya Brahmana ( sa, ऐतरेय ब्राह्मण) is the Brahmana of the Shakala Shakha of the Rigveda, an ancient Indian collection of sacred hymns. This work, according to the tradition, is ascribed to Mahidasa Aitareya. Authorship Sayana of Vijayanagara, a 14th century commentator, attributes the entire ''Aitareya Brahmana'' to a single man: Mahidasa Aitareya. In his introduction to the text, Sayana suggests that "Aitareya" is a matronymic name. Mahidasa's mother was "Itaraa" (इतरा), whose name is derived from the Sanskrit word "itara". She was one of the wives of a great rishi (sage). The rishi preferred sons from his other wives over Mahidasa. Once he placed all his other sons on his lap, but ignored Mahidasa. On seeing tears in the eyes of her son, Itara prayed to the earth goddess Bhūmi, her kuladevi (tutelary deity). Bhūmi then appeared and gifted Mahidasa the knowledge contained in the ''Aitareya Brahmana''. Mahidasa is mentioned in other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Journal Of Indo-European Studies
The ''Journal of Indo-European Studies'' (JIES) is a peer-reviewed academic journal of Indo-European studies. The journal publishes papers in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, mythology and linguistics relating to the cultural history of the Indo-European-speaking peoples. It is published every three months. The editor-in-chief is Emily Blanchard West. It also publishes the ''Journal of Indo-European Studies'' Monograph Series. ''JIES'' was founded in 1973 by Marija Gimbutas, Edgar C. Polomé, Raimo Aulis Anttila, and Roger Pearson, and published through Pearson's Institute for the Study of Man. Scholars of the far-right have criticised the journal's ongoing association with Pearson, "one of Americas foremost Nazi apologists", and the Institute for the Study of Man, a publisher of "debunked psuedoanthropological claims of a racial Aryanist diaspora". Chip Berlet and Matthew Nemiroff Lyons have described it as a "racialist" and "Aryanist" journal. William H. Tucker note ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dvandva
A dvandva ('pair' in Sanskrit) is a linguistic compound in which multiple individual nouns are concatenated to form an agglomerated compound word in which the conjunction has been elided to form a new word with a distinct semantic field. For instance, the individual words 'brother' and 'sister' may in some languages be agglomerated to 'brothersister' to express "siblings". The grammatical number of such constructs is often plural or dual. The term dvandva was borrowed from Sanskrit, a language in which these compounds are common. Dvandvas also exist in Avestan, the Old Iranian language related to Sanskrit, as well as in numerous Indo-Aryan languages descended from the Prakrits. Several far-eastern languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Atong (a Tibeto-Burman language of India and Bangladesh) and Korean also have dvandvas. Dvandvas may also be found occasionally in European languages, but are relatively rare. Examples include: * Sanskrit ''mātāpitarau'' "parents" (lit. 'moth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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