HOME



picture info

Gangadhar Stone Inscription Of Viśvavarman
The Gangadhar Stone Inscription of Viśvavarman is an epigraphic record documenting that documents of a temple at Gangadhar town in the fifth century during the reign of the Aulikara king Viśvavarman. Location Gangadhar is located in Jhalawar district, Kota division, Rajasthan, India. The town occupies an old fortified and moated site on the banks of the Kali Sindh River. Publication The text of the Gangadhar inscription was edited and published by John Faithfull Fleet in 1888. It was subsequently edited by D. C. Sircar. Description and Contents The inscription, written in Sanskrit, records the building of a temple of Viṣṇu and an accompanying shrine for the mother goddesses or Mātṛkas by a king's minister named Mayūrākṣaka. The goddess shrine is specifically described as a "terrifying abode of the divine Mothers" (''mātṛṇāṃ veśmātyugraṃ''). The inscription is dated anno 480, on the bright thirteenth day of the month Kārttika. The year corresponds t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Dakini
A ḍākinī (; ; ; ; alternatively 荼枳尼, ; 荼吉尼, ; or 吒枳尼, ; Japanese: 荼枳尼 / 吒枳尼 / 荼吉尼, ''dakini'') is a type of goddess in Hinduism and Buddhism. The concept of the ḍākinī somewhat differs depending on the context and the tradition. For example, in earlier Hindu texts and East Asian esoteric Buddhism, the term denotes a race of demonesses who ate the flesh and/or vital essence of humans. In Hindu Tantric literature, Ḍākinī is the name of a goddess often associated with one of the six chakras or the seven fundamental elements ('' dhātu'') of the human body. In Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhism, meanwhile, 'ḍākinī' (also wisdom ḍākinī) can refer to both what can be best described as fierce-looking female embodiments of enlightened energy, and to human women with a certain amount of spiritual development, both of whom can help Tantric initiates in attaining enlightenment. In Japan, the ḍākinīs – held in the East Asian Bud ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Gupta And Post-Gupta Inscriptions
Gupta () is a common surname of Indian origin, meaning "guardian" or "protector". Origins and distribution The name is based on the Sanskrit word गोप्तृ ''goptṛ'', which means "guardian" or "protector". According to historian R. C. Majumdar, the surname ''Gupta'' was adopted by several different communities in northern and eastern India at different times. The Rāmpāl plate of the Chandra dynasty ruler Srichandra mentions a line of Brahmins who had Gupta as their surname. In Bengal region, the surname is found among Baidyas (mainly) as well as Kayasthas. According to Tej Ram Sharma, the name '' Sri Gupta'', "Sri" serves as an honorific title, similar to its usage for other Gupta emperors mentioned in inscriptions. If the first ruler's name had indeed been ''Sri Gupta'', it would likely have been recorded as ''Sri Sri Gupta'', as seen in the Deo-Barnark inscription of Jivitagupta II, where the name '' Srimati'' appears in a similar format. Therefore, if ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Sanskrit Inscriptions In India
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. It was a link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture, and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting effect on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Old Indo-Aryan language varieties. The most archaic of these is the Vedic Sanskrit found in the Rigveda, ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Indian Inscriptions
The earliest deciphered epigraphy found in the Indian subcontinent are the Edicts of Ashoka of the 3rd century BCE, in the Brahmi script. If epigraphy of proto-writing is included, undeciphered markings with symbol systems that may or may not contain linguistic information, there is substantially older epigraphy in the Indus script, which dates back to the mid 4th millennium BCE. Two other important archeological classes of symbols are found from the 1st millennium BCE, Megalithic graffiti symbols and symbols on punch-marked coins, though most scholars do not consider these to constitute fully linguistic scripts, and their semiotic functions are not well understood. Writing in Sanskrit (Epigraphical Hybrid Sanskrit, EHS) appears in the 1st to 4th centuries CE. Indian epigraphy becomes more widespread over the 1st millennium, engraved on the faces of cliffs, on pillars, on tablets of stone, drawn in caves and on rocks, some gouged into the bedrock. Later they were also in ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

The Archaeology Of Hindu Ritual
''The Archaeology of Hindu Ritual: Temples and the Establishment of the Gods'' is an archaeology, archaeological study focusing on the early development of Hinduism within the Gupta Empire between the 4th and 6th centuries CE. It was written by the British archaeologist Michael D. Willis who was the curator of the South Asian and Himalayan collection at the British Museum at the time of the book being published by Cambridge University Press in 2009. Considered to be the first major archaeological study to deal with the origins of Hinduism, ''The Archaeology of Hindu Ritual'' takes an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, making use of epigraphy, iconology and ethnography. The first chapter, "The Archaeology and Politics of Time at Udayagiri", pays particular attention to the ritual site at the Udayagiri Caves in Madhya Pradesh. The second, "Establishment of the Gods", looks at the development of temples and ''Puja (Hinduism), puja'' in India. Willis' book was positively revie ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Michael D
Michael D may refer to: * Mike D (born 1965), founding member of the Beastie Boys Arts * Michael D. Cohen (actor) (born 1975), Canadian actor * Michael D. Ellison, African American recording artist * Michael D. Fay, American war artist * Michael D. Ford (1928–2018), English set decorator * Michael D. Roberts, American actor Business * Michael D. Dingman (1931–2017), American businessman * Michael D. Ercolino (1906–1982), American businessman * Michael D. Fascitelli, (born c. 1957), American businessman * Michael D. Penner (born 1969), Canadian lawyer and businessman Education * Michael D. Cohen (academic) (1945–2013), professor of complex systems, information and public policy at the University of Michigan * Michael D. Hanes, American music educator * Michael D. Hurley (born 1976), British Professor of Literature and Theology * Michael D. Johnson, a former President of John Carroll University * Michael D. Knox (born 1946), American antiwar activist and educator * Michael D ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Tantra
Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the India, Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, first within Shaivism and later in Buddhism. The term ''tantra'', in the Greater India, Indian traditions, also means any systematic broadly applicable "text, theory, system, method, instrument, technique or practice". A key feature of these traditions is the use of mantras, and thus they are commonly referred to as Mantramārga ("Path of Mantra") in Hinduism or Mantrayāna ("Mantra Vehicle") and Guhyamantra ("Secret Mantra") in Buddhism. In Buddhism, the Vajrayana traditions are known for tantric ideas and practices, which are based on Indian Tantras (Buddhism), Buddhist Tantras. They include Tibetan Buddhism, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, Japanese Shingon Buddhism and Nepalese Newar Buddhism. Although Southern Esoteric Buddhism does not directly reference the tantras, its practices and ideas parallel them. In Bud ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Shaivism
Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu denominations, Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Para Brahman, supreme being. It is the Hinduism#Demographics, second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million Hindus, found widely across South Asia (predominantly in South India, Southern India), Sri Lanka, and Nepal.Keay, p.xxvii. The followers of Shaivism are called Shaivas or Shaivites. According to Chakravarti, Shaivism developed as an amalgam of pre-Aryan religions and traditions, Vedic Rudra, and post-Vedic traditions, accommodating local traditions and Yoga, puja and bhakti. According to Bisschop, early shaivism is rooted in the worship of vedic deity Rudra. The earliest evidence for sectarian Rudra-Shiva worship appears with the Pasupata (early CE), possibly owing to the Origins of Hinduism, Hindu synthesis, when many local traditions were aligned with the Brahmanism, Vedic-Brahmanical fold. The Pāśupata movement rapidly expanded through ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Matrikas
Matrikas (Sanskrit: मातृका (singular), IAST: mātṛkā, lit. "mothers") also called Mataras or Matri, are a group of mother goddesses in Hinduism. The Matrikas are often depicted in a group of seven, the Saptamatrika(s) (Seven Mothers). However, they are also depicted as a group of eight, the Ashtamatrika(s). In the '' Brihat Samhita'', Varahamihira says that "Matrikas are forms of Parvati taken by her with cognizance of (different major Hindu) gods corresponding to their names." They are associated with these gods as their energies (''Shaktis''). Brahmani emerged from Brahma, Vaishnavi from Vishnu, Maheshvari from Shiva, Indrani from Indra, Kaumari from Kartikeya, Varahi from Varaha and Chamunda from Chandi. And additionals are Narasimhi from Narasimha and Vinayaki from Ganesha. Originally the seven goddesses of the seven stars of the star cluster of the Pleiades, they became quite popular by the seventh century CE and a standard feature of the Hindu goddes ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Aulikaras
The Aulikaras (Late Brahmi script: ''Au-li-ka-rā''), were an ancient clan that ruled the Kingdom of Malwa between the 4th-century CE and 6th-century CE. Epigraphical discoveries have brought to light two royal lines, who call themselves as the Aulikaras and ruled from Dashapura (present-day Mandsaur). The first royal house, which ruled from Dashapura comprised the following kings in the order of succession: Jayavarma, Simhavarma, Naravarma, Vishvavarma and Bandhuvarma. The Rīsthal inscription, Rīsthal stone slab inscription discovered in 1983 has brought to light another royal house, which comprised the following kings in the order of succession: Drumavardhana, Jayavardhana, Ajitavardhana, Vibhishanavardhana, Rajyavardhana and Prakashadharma, who defeated Toramana. In all probability, Yashodharman also belonged to this house and he was the son and successor of Prakashadharma.Agarwal, Ashvini (1989). ''Rise and Fall of the Imperial Guptas'', Delhi:Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion, diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age#South Asia, Bronze Age. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. It was a lingua franca, link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture, and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting effect on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Indo-Aryan languages# ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]