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Pratap Malla
Pratap Malla (1624–74 A.D.) was King of Kantipur from 1641 until his death in 1674. He attempted to unify Kathmandu Valley by conquering Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, but failed in the effort. He was successful in extending and securing the borders of Kantipur and was responsible for the monopoly over trade with Tibet. The resulting prosperity was responsible for the construction of majority of the buildings around Durbar Square during his reign. His reign is seen as a cultural and economical high point of the Malla dynasty. A statue of Pratap Malla is found standing on a column facing the palace in the square. His image can also be seen in the niche above the Hanuman Dhoka Palace gate. The niche above the gate is Krishna in his ferocious tantric aspect, flanked by more gentle, amorous Krishna surrounded by '' gopinis'', and by King Pratap Malla playing a lute, and his queen. Life He was born to his Maithali origin mother and a Malla origin father Lakshmi Narasinha Malla. Even w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kantipur
Kantipur (from kanti ''light'', pur ''city'') was a medieval kingdom in the Malla confederacy of Nepal. The name of the kingdom was derived from the Sanskrit name of its capital city, now known as Kathmandu. History The kingdom started after king Jayayakshya Malla divided his kingdom so that his sons could be the rulers of their own kingdom. After its formation, the kingdom replaced Bhaktapur as the main trading center. See also *Kathmandu Metropolitan City *Kathmandu District *Kathmandu Valley The Kathmandu Valley ( ne, काठमाडौं उपत्यका; also known as the Nepal Valley or Nepa Valley ( ne, नेपाः उपत्यका, Nepal Bhasa: 𑐣𑐾𑐥𑐵𑑅 𑐐𑐵𑑅, नेपाः गाः)), ... References 1826 disestablishments States and territories established in 1484 Malla dynasty Newar Former countries in South Asia Empires and kingdoms of Nepal 15th-century establishments in Nepal {{Nepal-hist-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Drawing From Athanasius Kircher's "China Illustrata", 1677 (1)
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the double-storey a and single-storey ɑ. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English grammar, " a", and its variant " an", are indefinite articles. History The earliest certain ancestor of "A" is aleph (also written 'aleph), the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, which consisted entirely of consonants (for that reason, it is also called an abjad to distinguish it fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Athanasius Kircher
Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fellow Jesuit Roger Joseph Boscovich and to Leonardo da Vinci for his enormous range of interests, and has been honoured with the title "Master of a Hundred Arts".Woods, p. 108. He taught for more than 40 years at the Roman College, where he set up a wunderkammer. A resurgence of interest in Kircher has occurred within the scholarly community in recent decades. Kircher claimed to have deciphered the hieroglyphic writing of the ancient Egyptian language, but most of his assumptions and translations in this field were later found to be incorrect. He did, however, correctly establish the link between the ancient Egyptian and the Coptic languages, and some commentators regard him as the founder of Egyptology. Kircher was also fascina ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agra
Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the fourth-most populous city in Uttar Pradesh and twenty-third most populous city in India. Agra's notable historical period began during Sikandar Lodi's reign, but the golden age of the city began with the Mughals. Agra was the foremost city of the Indian subcontinent and the capital of the Mughal Empire under Mughal emperors Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. Under Mughal rule, Agra became a centre for learning, arts, commerce, and religion, and saw the construction of the Agra Fort, Sikandra and Agra's most prized monument, the Taj Mahal, built by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his favourite empress. With the decline of the Mughal empire in the late 18th century, the city fell successively first to Marathas and later to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago., "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations average to between 73–55 ka.", "Modern human beings—''Homo sapiens''—originated in Africa. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peking
} Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city, with over 21 million residents. It has an city proper, administrative area of , the third in the country after Guangzhou and Shanghai. It is located in North China, Northern China, and is governed as a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality under the direct administration of the Government of the People's Republic of China, State Council with List of administrative divisions of Beijing, 16 urban, suburban, and rural districts.Figures based on 2006 statistics published in 2007 National Statistical Yearbook of China and available online at archive. Retrieved 21 April 2009. Beijing is mostly surrounded by Hebei Province with the exception of neighbor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Grueber
Johann Grueber (28 October 1623, Linz – 30 September 1680, Sárospatak, Hungary) was an Austrian Jesuit missionary and astronomer in China, and noted explorer. Life He joined the Society of Jesus in 1641 and went to China in 1656, where he was active at the court of Peking as professor of mathematics and assistant to Father Adam Schall von Bell. In 1661 his superiors sent him, together with the Belgian Father Albert Dorville (D'Orville), to Rome in order to defend Schall's work on the Chinese calendar (He was accused of encouraging 'superstitious practices'). As it was impossible to journey by sea on account of the blockade of Macau by the Dutch, they conceived the daring idea of going overland from Peking to Goa (India) by way of Tibet and Nepal. This led to Grueber's memorable journey (Dorville died on the way), which won him fame as one of the most successful explorers of the seventeenth century (Tonnier). They first travelled to Sinning-fu, on the borders of Kan-su; thence ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Dorville
Albert Dorville, (also known as ''Albert Le Comte d’Orville'') (12 August 1621 in Brussels, Belgium – 8 April 1662 in Agra, India) was a Belgian Jesuit priest, missionary in China and cartographer. Biography The young Albert, son of noblemen spent much of his youth at the court of the duke of Neuburg. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1646, and while studying theology at the Old University of Leuven, Catholic University of Leuven he attended the 'Chinese lectures' given by Martino Martini an Italian Jesuit missionary, then visiting the Old University of Leuven, University of Leuven. This evoked in him a strong desire to volunteer for the Jesuit China missions, China mission. Permission was granted by his Provincial and soon after being ordained Catholic priest, priest (in 1654) Dorville rejoined Martino Martini in Rome before accompanying him on his return journey to China. Leaving Lisbon in April 1657, Martini, Dorville and 17 other Jesuits (among whom Ferdinand Verbiest) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Drawing From Athanasius Kircher's "China Illustrata", 1677 (2)
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the double-storey a and single-storey ɑ. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English grammar, " a", and its variant " an", are indefinite articles. History The earliest certain ancestor of "A" is aleph (also written 'aleph), the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, which consisted entirely of consonants (for that reason, it is also called an abjad to distinguish it fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gorkha Kingdom
Gorkha Kingdom ( ne, गोरखा राज्य) was a member of the Chaubisi rajya, a confederation of 24 states on the Indian subcontinent ruled by Khas people. In 1743 CE, the kingdom began a campaign of military expansion, annexing several neighbors to become present-day Nepal. The Gorkha Kingdom extended to the Marshyangdi River in the west, forming its border with the Kingdom of Lamjung. To the east, the kingdom extended to the Trishuli River, forming its border with the Nepal Mandala. The Gorkha Kingdom was established in 1559 CE by Prince Dravya Shah, second son of King Yasho Brahma Shah of Lamjung. The prince replaced the Khadka chiefs who previously ruled the region. Origin According to legends, one of the earliest Shah rulers was Rishi-raj Rana-Ji, of the Lunar dynasty. He was made the ruler of Chittorgarh and received the title of ''Bhattarak''.Daniel Wright, ''History of Nepāl'', Cambridge University Press, 1877, NepalChapter X page 273 The lunar d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majority regions surrounding the Himalayan areas of India (such as Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and a minority in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), in much of Central Asia, in the southern Siberian regions such as Tuva, and in Mongolia. Tibetan Buddhism evolved as a form of Mahāyāna Buddhism stemming from the latest stages of Indian Buddhism (which also included many Vajrayāna elements). It thus preserves many Indian Buddhist tantric practices of the post-Gupta early medieval period (500 to 1200 CE), along with numerous native Tibetan developments. In the pre-modern era, Tibetan Buddhism spread outside of Tibet primarily due to the influence of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), founded by Kublai Khan, which had rul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gelugpa
240px, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Bodhgaya (India). The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous")Kay, David N. (2007). ''Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantation, Development and Adaptation,'' p. 39. Routledge. is the newest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It was founded by Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), a Tibetan philosopher, tantric yogi and lama and further expanded and developed by his disciples (such as Khedrup Je, Gyaltsap Je and Gendün Drubpa). The Gelug school is alternatively known as New Kadam (''bKa’-gdams gsar-pa''), since it sees itself as a continuation of the Kadam tradition of Atisha (c. 11th century). Furthermore, it is also called the Ganden school, after the first monastery established by Tsongkhapa. The Ganden Tripa ("Ganden Throne Holder") is the official head of the school, though its most influential figure is the Dalai Lama ("Ocean Teacher"). Allying ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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