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Bahlika People
The Bahlikas (; ''Bāhlika'') were the inhabitants of a location called Bahlika (, located in Bactria), mentioned in the Atharvaveda, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, Vartikka of Katyayana, Brhatsamhita, Amarkosha, and other ancient inscriptions. Other variations of Bahlika include Bahli, Balhika, Vahlika, Valhika, Bahlava, Bahlam/Bahlim, Bahlayana, and Bahluva. Locations In Bahlika According to the ''Bhuvanakosha'' section of the Puranas, Bahlika was a Janapada located in the ''Udichya'' (Uttarapatha) division. Some hymns of the Atharvaveda invoke fever to go to the Gandharis, Mahavrsas (a tribe of Punjab), Mujavants, and, further off, to the Bahlikas. Mujavant is the name of a hill (and the people) located in the Hindukush/ Pamir.Early Eastern Iran and the Atharvaveda, Persica-9, 1980, p. 87, Dr Michael Witzel ''Atharvaveda-Parisista'' juxtaposes the Vedic Bahlikas with the Kambojas (i.e., ''Kamboja-Bahlika'').Early East Iran and the Atharvaveda, Persica-9, 1980, p. 106, D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bactria
Bactria (; Bactrian language, Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization in Central Asia based in the area south of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) and north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an area within the north of modern Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Bactria was strategically located south of Sogdia and the western part of the Pamir Mountains. The extensive mountain ranges acted as protective "walls" on three sides, with the Pamir on the north and the Hindu Kush on south forming a junction with the Karakoram, Karakoram range towards the east. Called "beautiful Bactria, crowned with flags" by the Avesta, the region is considered, in the Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrian faith, to be one of the "Avestan geography, sixteen perfect Iranian lands" that the supreme deity, Ahura Mazda, had created. It was once a small and independent kingdom struggling to exist against nomadic Turya (Avesta), Turanians. One of the early centres of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Witzel
Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943) is a German-American philologist, comparative mythologist and Indologist. Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (volumes 50–100). He has researched a number of Indian sacred texts, particularly the Vedas. Biography Michael Witzel was born July 18, 1943, in Schwiebus, Germany (modern Świebodzin, Poland). He studied indology in West Germany from 1965 to 1971 under Paul Thieme, H.-P. Schmidt, K. Hoffmann, and J. Narten, as well as in Nepal (1972 to 1973) under Mīmāmsaka Jununath Pandit.Michael Witzel's curriculum vitae accessed September 13, 2007. From 1972 to 1978, he led the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project and the Nepal Research Centre in |
Iron Pillar Of Delhi
The iron pillar of Delhi is a metal structure high with a diameter that was constructed by Chandragupta II (reigned c. 375–415 Common Era, CE), and now stands in the Qutb complex at Mehrauli in Delhi, India.Finbarr Barry Flood, 2003"Pillar, palimpsets, and princely practices" Res, Xliii, New York University, pp97. The metals used in its construction have a rust-resistant composition. The pillar weighs more than six tonnes and is thought to have been erected elsewhere, possibly outside the Udayagiri Caves, and moved to its present location by Anangpal Tomar in the 11th century. Physical description The height of the pillar, from the top to the bottom of its base, is , of which is below ground. Its bell pattern capital is . It is estimated to weigh more than . The pillar has attracted the attention of archaeology, archaeologists and materials science, materials scientists because of its high resistance to corrosion and has been called a "testimony to the high level of sk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amu Darya
The Amu Darya ( ),() also shortened to Amu and historically known as the Oxus ( ), is a major river in Central Asia, which flows through Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. Rising in the Pamir Mountains, north of the Hindu Kush, the Amu Darya is formed by the confluence of the Vakhsh River, Vakhsh and Panj River, Panj rivers, in the Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and flows from there north-westwards into the South Aral Sea, southern remnants of the Aral Sea. In its upper course, the river forms part of Afghanistan's northern border with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. In ancient history, the river was regarded as the boundary of Greater Iran with Turan, which roughly corresponded to present-day Central Asia.B. SpulerĀmū Daryā in Encyclopædia Iranica, online ed., 2009 The Amu Darya has a flow of about 70 cubic kilometres per year on average. Names In classical antiquity, the river was known as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brahmanda Purana
The ''Brahmanda Purana'' () is a Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas, a genre of Hindu texts. It is listed as the eighteenth Maha-Purana in almost all the anthologies. The text is also referred in medieval Indian literature as the Vayaviya Purana or Vayaviya Brahmanda, and it may have been same as the Vayu Purana before these texts developed into two overlapping compositions. The text is named after one of the cosmological theories of Hinduism, namely the "Cosmic Egg" ( Brahma-Anda). It is among the oldest Puranas, the earliest core of text maybe from 4th century CE, continuously edited thereafter over time and it exist in numerous versions. The Brahmanda Purana manuscripts are encyclopedic in their coverage, covering topics such as Cosmogony, Sanskara (Rite Of Passage), Genealogy, chapters on ethics and duties (Dharma), Yoga, geography, rivers, good government, administration, diplomacy, trade, festivals, a travel guide to places such as Kashmir, Cuttack, Kanchi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jaxartes
The Syr Darya ( ),; ; ; ; ; /. historically known as the Jaxartes ( , ), is a river in Central Asia. The name, which is Persian, literally means ''Syr Sea'' or ''Syr River''. It originates in the Tian Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan and eastern Uzbekistan and flows for west and north-west through Uzbekistan, Sughd province of Tajikistan, and southern Kazakhstan to the northern remnants of the Aral Sea. It is the northern and eastern of the two main rivers in the endorheic basin of the Aral Sea, the other being the Amu Darya. In the Soviet era, extensive irrigation projects were constructed around both rivers, diverting their water into farmland and causing, during the post-Soviet era, the virtual disappearance of the Aral Sea, once the world's fourth-largest lake. The point at which the river flows from Tajikistan into Uzbekistan is, at above sea level, the lowest elevation in Tajikistan. Name The second part of the name (, ) means "lake" or "sea" in Persian and "river" in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Badakshan
Badakhshan is a historical region comprising the Wakhan Corridor in northeast Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic Badakhshan lies within Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in the southeastern part of the country. The music of Badakhshan is an important part of the region's cultural heritage. Name The name "Badakhshan" (, ''Badaxšân''; ; , ''Badakhshon''; ) is derived from the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian official title ''bēdaxš'' or ''badaxš'', which may be from an earlier *pati-axša; the suffix -''ān'' indicates that the country belonged, or had been assigned as a fief, to a person holding the rank of a ''Bidaxsh, badaxš''. People Badakhshan has a diverse ethnolinguistic and religious community of Badakhshanites. Tajiks and Pamiris are in the majority while a tiny minority of Kyrgyzs, Uzbeks, Hazaras, and Pashtuns are also found ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yavanas
The word Yona in Pali and the Prakrits, and the analogue Yavana in Sanskrit, were used in Ancient India to designate Greek speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians" (), who were probably the first Greeks to be known in India. Both terms appear in ancient Sanskrit literature. ''Yavana'' appears, for instance, in the ''Mahabharata'', while ''Yona'' appears in texts such as the Sri Lankan chronicle '' Mahavamsa''. The Yona are mentioned in the Ashoka inscriptions, along with the Kambojas, as two societies where there are only nobles and slaves. Examples of direct association of these terms with the Greeks include: * The mention of the "Yauna" in the Persepolis Administrative Archives (550–333 BC). * The mention of the "Yona king Aṃtiyoka" in the Edicts of Ashoka (280 BCE) * The mention of the "Yona king Aṃtalikitasa" in the Heliodorus pillar in Vidisha (110 BCE) * King Milinda and his bodyguard of "500 Yonas" in the Milinda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tusharas
The kingdom of Tushara, according to ancient Indian literature, such as the epic ''Mahabharata'', was a land located beyond north-west India. In the ''Mahabharata'', its inhabitants, known as the Tusharas, are depicted as '' mlechchas'' ("barbarians") and fierce warriors. Modern scholars generally see Tushara as synonymous with the historical " Tukhara", also known as Tokhara or Tokharistan – another name for Bactria. This area was the stronghold of the Kushan Empire, which ruled North India between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE. Tukhara The historical Tukhara appears to be synonymous with the land known by Ancient Chinese scholars as '' Daxia'', from the 3rd century BCE onwards. Its inhabitants were known later to Ancient Greek scholars as the ''Tokharoi'' and to the Ancient Romans as ''Tochari''. Modern scholars appear to have conflated the ''Tukhara'' with the so-called Tocharians – an Indo-European people who lived in the Tarim Basin, in present-day Xinjiang, China ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yavana
The word Yona in Pali and the Prakrits, and the analogue Yavana in Sanskrit, were used in Ancient India to designate Greek speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians" (), who were probably the first Greeks to be known in India. Both terms appear in ancient Sanskrit literature. ''Yavana'' appears, for instance, in the ''Mahabharata'', while ''Yona'' appears in texts such as the Sri Lankan chronicle '' Mahavamsa''. The Yona are mentioned in the Ashoka inscriptions, along with the Kambojas, as two societies where there are only nobles and slaves. Examples of direct association of these terms with the Greeks include: * The mention of the "Yauna" in the Persepolis Administrative Archives (550–333 BC). * The mention of the "Yona king Aṃtiyoka" in the Edicts of Ashoka (280 BCE) * The mention of the "Yona king Aṃtalikitasa" in the Heliodorus pillar in Vidisha (110 BCE) * King Milinda and his bodyguard of "500 Yonas" in the Milinda Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sakas
The Saka, old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: were a group of nomadic Eastern Iranian peoples who lived in the Eurasian Steppe and the Tarim Basin from the 9th century BC to the 5th century AD. "Modern scholars have mostly used the name Saka to refer specifically to Iranians of the Eastern Steppe and Tarim Basin" "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Central Asia and Eastern Turkestan to distinguish them from the related Massagetae of the Aral region and the Scythians of the Pontic steppes. These tribes spoke Iranian languages, and their chief occupation was nomadic pastoralism." The Saka were closely related to the Scythians, and both groups formed part of the wider Scythian cultures. However, they are distinguished from the Scythians by their specific geographical and cultural traits. The Saka languages formed part of the Scythi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
