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Muga Silk
Muga silk is a variety of wild silk geographically tagged to the state of Assam in India. The silk is known for its extreme durability and has a natural yellowish-golden tint with a shimmering, glossy texture. It was previously reserved for the use of royalty. Muga is one of the three major types of indigenous wild silks produced in Assam, and is a key variety of Assam silk renowned for its natural golden color and durability. In the Brahmaputra Valley, the larvae of the Assam silkmoth feed on aromatic ''Som'' ('' Machilus bombycina'') and ''Sualu'' ('' Litsea polyantha'') leaves. Muga silk can be dyed after bleaching. This silk can be hand-washed with its lustre increasing after every wash. Muga silk, like other Assam silks, is used in products like saris, mekhalas and chadors. History Sericulture in Assam is an ancient industry without a precise time of origin. Assam was well known for the production of high quality silk since ancient times. The craft of weaving goes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jaapi
Jaapi or Japi ( Bodo: Khofri) is an Asian conical hat. It is made from tightly woven bamboo and/or cane and ''tokou paat'' ( Trachycarpus martianus) a large, palm leaf. The word ''jaapi'' derives from ''jaap'' meaning a bundle of ''tokou'' leaves. In the past, plain jaapis were used by ordinary people in Assam and by farmers for protection from the sun, while ornate decorative jaapis were worn as a status symbol by the royalty and nobility. Decorative ''sorudoi jaapi'' are made with intricate cloth designs (primarily red, white, green, blue, and black) that are integrated into the weaving. History The medieval Sutiya kings used the jaapi as a cultural symbol. The last Sutiya king gifted gold and silver embroidered Jaapis (Kup-ngiun-kham) to the Ahom king Suhungmung (1497–1539) as presents in his attempts for a treaty in the year 1523. After annexing Sadiya in 1524, the Ahom king received a lot of treasure and bounty, which included Jaapis. In the year 1525, the Ahom kin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magadha (Mahajanapada)
Magadha was a region and kingdom in ancient India, based in the eastern Ganges Plain. It was one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas during the Second Urbanization period. The region was ruled by several dynasties, which overshadowed, conquered, and incorporated the other Mahajanapadas. Magadha played an important role in the development of Jainism and Buddhism and formed the core of the Maurya Empire (ca. 320–185 BCE). Geography The territory of the Magadha kingdom proper before its expansion was bounded to the north, west, and east respectively by the Gaṅgā, Son, and Campā rivers, and the eastern spurs of the Vindhya mountains formed its southern border. The territory of the initial Magadha kingdom thus corresponded to the modern-day Patna and Gaya districts of the Indian state of Bihar. The region of Greater Magadha also included neighbouring regions in the eastern Gangetic plains and had a distinct culture and belief. History Vedic period (semi-legendary) (ca. 170 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harshacharita
The ''Harshacharita'' (, ; English: ''The deeds of Harsha'') is the biography of Indian emperor Harsha by Banabhatta, also known as Bana, who was a Sanskrit writer of seventh-century CE India. He was the ''Asthana Kavi'', meaning ''Court Poet'', of Harsha. The ''Harshacharita'' was the first composition of Bana and is considered to be the beginning of writing of historical poetic works in the Sanskrit language. Historical Biography The ''Harshacharita'' ranks as the first historical biography in Sanskrit although it is written in a florid and fanciful style. Bana's detailed and vivid descriptions of rural India's natural environment as well as the extraordinary industry of the Indian people exudes the vitality of life at that time. Since he received the patronage of the emperor Harsha, his descriptions of his patron are not an unbiased appraisal and presents the emperor's actions in an overly favourable light. Contents The ''Harṣacharita'', written in ornate poetic pros ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tibeto-Burman Languages
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non- Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people speak Tibeto-Burman languages. The name derives from the most widely spoken of these languages, Burmese and the Tibetic languages, which also have extensive literary traditions, dating from the 12th and 7th centuries respectively. Most of the other languages are spoken by much smaller communities, and many of them have not been described in detail. Though the division of Sino-Tibetan into Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman branches (e.g. Benedict, Matisoff) is widely used, some historical linguists criticize this classification, as the non-Sinitic Sino-Tibetan languages lack any shared innovations in phonology or morphology to show that they comprise a clade of the phylogenetic tree. History During the 18th century, several scholars noticed paral ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sadiya
Sadiya is a town in Tinsukia district, Assam, in India. It was the capital of the Chutia Kingdom but after the downfall of the kingdom, Prasengmung Borgohain was appointed as the Sadiya-khowa-Gohain of the Ahom kingdom. Extensive remains of buildings and fortifications built during the Chutia rule near Sadiya point to the importance of the region in the past. Historically Sadiya referred to the Chutiya kingdom which included at times the districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Tinsukia. It is claimed to be the center of development of the eastern Assamese dialects, the inscription here are written in a Tai script. Its stands on a grassy plain, almost surrounded by forested Himalayan mountains, on the right bank of Lohit River which is locally (but erroneously) considered the main stream of the Brahmaputra River. The deepest point of the Brahmaputra River is located near this village. It is famous for a flower named ''satphul'' (the word means "blessing" or a "desert flower"), w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamreswari Temple
Tamreswari temple (also Dikkaravasini) is a temple for the tribal goddess called Kecaikhati is situated about 18 km away from Sadiya in Tinsukia district, Assam, India. The temple was in the custody of non-Brahmin tribal priests called Deoris. Some remains suggest that a Chutiya king built a wall or the temple itself in the year 1442. There were four different kinds of Deori priest who looked after the temple. The Bar Bharali and the Saru Bharali collected dues of the temple and provides animals for sacrifice. The Bar Deori (Deori Dema) and the Saru Deori (Deori Surba) performs the sacrifice and sung hymns. The temple was dedicated to Kechaikhati/Pishasi (''kechai'' means ''raw'' and ''khati'' means ''eat''), a powerful tribal deity or the Buddhist deity Tara, commonly found among different Bodo-Kachari groups. The worship of the goddess even after coming under Hindu influence was performed according to her old tribal customs. The temple was abandoned during the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalika Purana
The Kalika Purana (), also called the Kali Purana, Sati Purana or Kalika Tantra, is one of the eighteen minor Puranas (''Upapurana'') in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism. The text was likely composed in Assam or Cooch Behar district, Cooch Behar: "This story is recounted also in the Kālikāpurāṇa—the earliest text devoted to the worship of Kāmākhyā, probably compiled no later than the tenth–eleventh century in a region between Assam and Koch Bihar (a district of West Bengal)." region of India and is attributed to the sage Markandeya. It exists in many versions, variously organized in 90 to 93 chapters. The surviving versions of the text are unusual in that they start abruptly and follow a format not found in either the major or minor Purana-genre mythical texts of Hinduism. Various types of Animal sacrifice in Hinduism, animal sacrifices for devi are detailed in the Purana. Content The text starts off with the legends of Devi trying to bring Shiva back from ascetic l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amara-kosha
The Amarakosha (Devanagari: अमरकोशः, IAST: ''Amarakośaḥ'', ISO: ''Amarakōśaḥ'') is the popular name for ''Namalinganushasanam'' (Devanagari: नामलिङ्गानुशासनम्, IAST: ''Nāmaliṅgānuśāsanam'', ISO: ''Nāmaliṅgānuśāsanam'', which means "instruction concerning nouns and gender") a thesaurus in Sanskrit written by the ancient Indian scholar Amarasimha. The name Amarakosha derives from the Sanskrit words ''amara'' ("immortal") and ''kosha'' ("treasure, casket, pail, collection, dictionary"). According to Arthur Berriedale Keith, this is one of the oldest extant Sanskrit lexicons (kosha). According to Keith, Amarasiṃha, who possibly flourished in the 6th century, " knew the Mahāyāna and used Kālidāsa." The author himself mentions 18 prior works, but they have all been lost. There have been more than 40 commentaries on the ''Amarakosha''. Author Amarasimha is said to have been one of the Navaratnas ("nine gems") ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moraceae
Moraceae is a family of flowering plants comprising about 48 genera and over 1100 species, and is commonly known as the mulberry or fig family. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates; however, their distribution is cosmopolitan overall. The only common characteristics within the family are the presence of latex-producing glands in the leaves and stems, and milky sap in the soft tissues; but generally useful field characters include two carpels sometimes with one reduced, compound inconspicuous flowers, and compound fruits. The family includes well-known plants such as the common fig, breadfruit, jackfruit and mulberry. The 'flowers' of Moraceae are often pseudanthia (reduced inflorescences). Description Overall The family varies from colossal trees like the Indian Banyan ('' Ficus benghalensis'') which can cover of ground, to '' Dorstenia barnimiana'' which is a small stemless, bulbous succulent 2–5 cm in diameter that pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnolia
''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendron'', ''Manglietia'', ''Michelia'', ''Elmerrillia'', ''Kmeria'', ''Parakmeria'', ''Pachylarnax'' (and a small number of monospecific genera) all belong within the same genus, ''Magnolia'' s.l. (s.l. = ''sensu lato'': 'in a broad sense', as opposed to s.s. = ''sensu stricto'': 'in a narrow sense'). The genus ''Magnolia'' s.s. contains about 120 species. See the section Nomenclature and classification in this article. flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. The natural range of ''Magnolia'' species is disjunct, with a main center in east, south and southeast Asia and a secondary center in eastern North America, Central America, the West Indies, and some species in South America. Magnolias are eve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ericales
The Ericales are a large and diverse order of flowering plants in the asterid group of the eudicots. Well-known and economically important members of this order include tea and ornamental camellias, persimmon, ebony, blueberry, cranberry, lingonberry, huckleberry, kiwifruit, Brazil nut, argan, sapote, azaleas and rhododendrons, heather, heath, impatiens, phlox, Jacob's ladder, primroses, cyclamens, shea, sapodilla, pouterias, and trumpet pitchers. The order includes 22 families, according to the APG IV system of classification. The Ericales include trees, bushes, lianas, and herbaceous plants. Together with ordinary autophytic plants, they include chlorophyll-deficient mycoheterotrophic plants (e.g., '' Sarcodes sanguinea'') and carnivorous plants (e.g., genus '' Sarracenia''). Mycorrhizal associations are quite common among the order representatives, and three kinds of mycorrhiza are found exclusively among Ericales (namely, ericoid, arbutoid and monotro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kumārila Bhaṭṭa
Kumarila Bhatta (IAST: Kumārila Bhaṭṭa; fl. roughly 7th century CE) was a Hindu philosopher and a scholar of Mimamsa school of philosophy from early medieval India. He is famous for many of his various theses on Mimamsa, such as ''Mimamsaslokavarttika''. Bhaṭṭa was a staunch believer in the supreme validity of Vedic injunction, a champion of Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā and a confirmed ritualist. The ''Varttika'' is mainly written as a subcommentary of Sabara's commentary on Jaimini's Purva Mimamsa Sutras. His philosophy is classified by some scholars as existential realism. Scholars differ as regards Kumārila Bhaṭṭa's views on a personal God. For example, Manikka Vachakar believed that Bhaṭṭa promoted a personal God (saguna brahman), which conflicts with the Mīmāṃsā school. In his ''Varttika'', Kumārila Bhaṭṭa goes to great lengths to argue against the theory of a creator God and held that the actions enjoined in the Veda had definite results without an ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
