|
Saptarishi Tila Statue
The Saptarishi Tila statue, also called the Kambojika statue, is a statue of a woman found in the Saptarishi mound ("Saptarishi Tila") in Mathura. The statue is life-size and is now in the Mathura Museum. The statue was discovered by Bhagawanlal Indraji, at the same time and place as another important artifact, the Mathura lion capital, dated to the beginning of the 1st century CE.Hellenism in Ancient India, by Gauranga Nath Banerjep.89/ref> The statue wears a sleeved blouse, a full skirt, and a torque and necklace like those of the Gandharan Bodhisattvas. Origin The statue is an example of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara. It is made of the blue schist of Gandhara, and closely follows its style.The Dynastic art of the Kushans, John Rosenfiled, University of California Press, p.xiv Its excavation in Mathura shows that the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara was finding its way in Mathura, thereby potentially influencing local art. This statue demonstrates the close ties between th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathura
Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the states and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately north of Agra, and south-east of Delhi; about from the town of Vrindavan, and from Govardhan. In ancient times, Mathura was an economic hub, located at the junction of important caravan (travellers), caravan routes. The 2011 Census of India estimated the population of Mathura at 441,894. In Hinduism, Mathura is birthplace of Krishna, which is located at the Krishna Janmasthan Temple Complex. It is one of the Sapta Puri, the seven cities considered holy by Hindus, also called Mokshyadayni Tirth. The Kesava Deo Temple was built in ancient times on the site of Krishna's birthplace (an underground prison). Mathura was the capital of the kingdom of Surasena, ruled by Kamsa, Kansa, the maternal uncle of Krishna. Mathura is part of the Lord Krishna circuit (Mathura,Vrindavan,Barsana, Govardhan, 48 ko ... [...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] |
Mathura Museum
__NOTOC__ Government Museum, Mathura, commonly referred to as Mathura museum, is an archaeological museum in Mathura city of Uttar Pradesh state in India. The museum was founded by then collector of the Mathura district, Sir F. S. Growse in 1874. Initially, it was known as Curzon Museum of Archaeology, then Archaeology Museum, Mathura, and finally changed to the Government Museum, Mathura. Overview The museum houses artifacts pottery, sculptures, paintings, and coins primarily from in and around Mathura, plus discoveries made by noted colonial archaeologists like Alexander Cunningham, F. S. Growse, and Fuhrer. The museum is famous for ancient sculptures of the Mathura school dating from 3rd century BC to 12th century AD., during Kushan Empire and Gupta Empire. today it is one of the leading museums of Uttar Pradesh. The Government of India issued a postage stamp on 9 October 1974 on the centenary of the museum. Notable collections File:Archaic Mother Goddess - Terracotta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bhagawanlal Indraji
Bhagwan Lal Indraji or Bhagwanlal Indraji (1839–1888) was an Indian archaeologist and scholar. A member of the Royal Asiatic Society's Bombay branch, he made transcripts of several ancient Indian inscriptions, including the Hathigumpha inscription. He discovered many archaeological relics, including the Mathura lion capital, the Bairat and Sopara Ashokan inscription, the Nanaghat reliefs, the Mathura Vishnu image, drum miniature stupa with a frieze of eight metopes representing the four principal and four secondary scenes from Buddha's life, Jain Aayagpata, various Mathura railing pillars, Mankuwar Buddha, Besnagar coping stone depicting Bodhi Tree, and Gadava surya frieze. He was the first Indian to receive an honorary doctorate from a foreign University ( Leiden University). Early life Bhagwan Lal Indraji was born in 1839, in Junagadh. He obtained his primary education in Junagadh, and learnt Sanskrit from his father, a Prashnora Nagar Brahmin. Initiation into archaeol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathura Lion Capital
The Mathura lion capital is an Indo-Scythian sandstone capital (a part of a pillar) from Mathura in Northern India, dated to the first decade of the 1st century CE (1–10 CE). It was consecrated under the rule of Rajuvula, one of the Northern Satraps of the region of Mathura. The capital was unearthed at the Saptarishi mound of Mathura by Bhagwan Lal Indraji in 1869. It is covered with Prakrit inscriptions in the kharoshthi script of northwestern India. The capital was made on the occasion of the funeral of "the illustrious king Muki and his horse" (Muki has been conjectured to be Maues). The capital describes, among other donations, the gift of a stupa with a relic of the Buddha, by Queen Ayasia, the "chief queen of the Indo-Scythian ruler of Mathura, satrap Rajuvula". The Mathura lion capital, an Indo-Scythian sandstone capital from Mathura in Central India, and dated to the 1st century CE, describes in kharoshthi the gift of a stupa with a relic of the Buddha, by queen Nad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bodhisattvas
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools as well as modern Theravada Buddhism, a bodhisattva (Pali: ''bodhisatta'') refers to someone who has made a resolution to become a Buddha and has also received a confirmation or prediction from a living Buddha that this will be so. In Mahayana Buddhism, a bodhisattva refers to anyone who has generated '' bodhicitta'', a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. Mahayana bodhisattvas are spiritually heroic persons that work to attain awakening and are driven by a great compassion (''mahakaruṇā''). These beings are exemplified by important spiritual qualities such as the "four divine abodes" ('' brahmaviharas'') of loving-kindness (''metta''), compassion ('' karuṇā''), empath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greco-Buddhist Art
The Greco-Buddhist art or Gandhara art of the north Indian subcontinent is the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between Ancient Greek art and Buddhism. It had mainly evolved in the ancient region of Gandhara. The series of interactions leading to Gandhara art occurred over time, beginning with Alexander the Great's brief incursion into the area, followed by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka converting the region to Buddhism. Buddhism became the prominent religion in the Indo-Greek Kingdoms. However, Greco-Buddhist art truly flowered and spread under the Kushan Empire, when the first surviving devotional images of the Buddha were created during the 1st-3rd centuries CE. Gandhara art reached its zenith from the 3rd-5th century CE, when most surviving motifs and artworks were produced. Gandhara art is characterized by Buddhist subject matter, sometimes adapting Greco-Roman elements, rendered in a style and forms that are heavily influenced by Greco-Roman ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gandhara
Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Valley and Swat river valley, though the cultural influence of "Greater Gandhara" extended across the Indus river to the Taxila region in Potohar Plateau and westwards into the Kabul Valley in Afghanistan, and northwards up to the Karakoram range. Gandhara has a deep rooted history of Hinduism mentioned in Indian scripts and epics including Rig Veda, Ramayana and Mahabharata. Famed for its unique Gandharan style of art which is influenced by the classical Hellenistic styles, Gandhara attained its height from the 1st century to the 5th century CE under the Kushan Empire, who had their capital at Peshawar (''Puruṣapura''). Gandhara "flourished at the crossroads of India, Central Asia, and the Middle East," connecting trade routes an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, to royal parents of the Shakya clan, but renounced his home life to live as a wandering ascetic ( sa, śramaṇa). After leading a life of begging, asceticism, and meditation, he attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya in what is now India. The Buddha thereafter wandered through the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain, teaching and building a monastic order. He taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and severe asceticism, leading to Nirvana, that is, freedom from ignorance, craving, rebirth, and suffering. His teachings are summarized in the Noble Eightfold Path, a training of the mind that includes meditation and instruction in Buddhist ethics such as right effort, mindfulness, and '' jhana''. He die ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rajuvula
Rajuvula (Greek ; Brahmi: , ; Kharosthi: , ; , ; , ) was an Indo-Scythian Great Satrap (''Mahākṣatrapa''), one of the "Northern Satraps" who ruled in the area of Mathura in the northern Indian Subcontinent in the years around 10 CE. The Mathura lion capital was consecrated under the reign of Rajuvula. In central India, the Indo-Scythians had conquered the area of Mathura from Indian kings around 60 BCE. Some of their satraps were Hagamasha and Hagana, who were in turn followed by Rajuvula. Name Rajuvula's name is attested on his coins in the Brahmi form and the Kharosthi forms (), (), and (), which are derived from the Saka name , meaning "ruling king" Biography Rajuvula is thought to have invaded the last of the Indo-Greek territories in the eastern Punjab, and replaced the last of the Indo-Greek kings, Strato II and Strato III. The main coinage of Rajuvula imitated that of the Indo-Greek rulers he supplanted. The Mathura lion capital, an Indo-Scythian sandstone ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hariti
Hārītī (Sanskrit), also known as , ja, text=鬼子母神, translit=Kishimojin, is both a revered goddess and demon, depending on the Buddhist tradition. She is one of the Twenty-Four Protective Deities of Mahayana Buddhism. In her positive aspects, she is regarded for the protection of children, easy delivery and happy child rearing, while her negative aspects include the belief of her terror towards irresponsible parents and unruly children. In both Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, she is venerated as a protector deity, but in many folk traditions is often recognized as a female demon of misery and unhappiness towards children and parents. Iconography The iconography of Hārītī shows similarities to the Greek goddess Tyche and may have been transmitted to east Asia through the influence of Greco-Buddhism. In Greek art, Tyche was depicted in the presence of children, carrying a cornucopia (horn of plenty), an emblematic gubernaculum (ship's rudder), and the wheel of f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kambojas
Kamboja ( sa, कम्बोज) was a kingdom of Iron Age India that spanned parts of South and Central Asia, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature. Eponymous with the kingdom name, the Kambojas were an Indo-Iranian people of the Kshatriya caste inhabiting the Kamboja Mahajanapada region, forming one of the sixteen nations that made up ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE during the second urbanisation period. Earlier, during the late Vedic age, the Kambojas had emerged as an important part of the Indo Aryan Vedic people with a prominent place among the Kshatriya tribes of the Mahabharata. While historical boundaries of the Kambojas are varied, scholarly accounts altogether place the northern and western borders in present-day Tajikistan and eastern Uzbekistan, with eastern borders in present-day Jammu and Kashmir, and southern borders in present-day Iran and southern Afghanistan. Etymology The name ''Kamboja'' may derive from '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Buddha")
