|
Videha
Videha ( Prākrit: ; Pāli: ; Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of north-eastern Indian subcontinent whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The population of Videha, the Vaidehas, were initially organised into a monarchy but later became a (an aristocratic republic), presently referred to as the Videha Republic, which was part of the larger Vajjika League. Location The borders of the Videha kingdom were the Sadānirā river in the west, the Kauśikī river in the east, the Gaṅgā river in the south, and the Himālaya mountains in the north. To the west of the Sadānirā river, the neighbour of the Vaidehas was the kingdom of Kosala. The Sadānirā and Kauśikī rivers remained the respective western and eastern boundaries of the later Videha republic, although its territory covered only the northern part of that of the former Videha kingdom, with the latter hence being called Mahā-Videha ("greater Videha"). The Videha republic was located along ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vajjika League
The Vajjika (Pāli: ) or Vrijika () League, Confederacy, or Sangha, also called simply Vajji (Pāli: ) or Vriji (), was an ancient Indo-Aryan league which existed during the later Iron Age period in the north-eastern Indian subcontinent. Name The Vajjika League was named after one of its constituent tribes, the Vajjikas proper, who had once been the most powerful tribe in the region of the league's capital of Vesālī. According to Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, the name , meaning "united Vajjis," was given by the peoples of northern South Asia to the Vajjika League. The larger region of the former Mahā-Videha kingdom in which the Vajjika League was located was in turn named after the confederacy. Constituent tribes The Vajjika League was a league of republican tribal states under the leadership of the Licchavikas centred around the city of Vesālī. The other members of the league were the Vaidehas in the Mithila region, the Nāyikas (Skt. *Jñātrika) of Kuṇḍapura, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Videgha Mathava
Videgha Mathava (Sanskrit: विदेघ माथव, ''videgha māthava''; Maithili: विदेह माधव, ''videha mādhav'') was the founder and first king of the Videha kingdom in the ancient Indian subcontinent. Videha is the ancient name of Mithila. Videgha Mathava previously lived on the banks of the holy Sarasvati river with his philosophical teacher Gotama Râhûgana. According to Shatapatha Brahmana, Mathava came to Mithila with his teacher and established the kingdom of Videha. Etymology Videgha Mathava is made of two Sanskrit words ''Videgha'' and ''Mathava''. According to the commentary of Sayana, ''Mathava'' was the name of a son from the King ''Mathu'' from ''Videgha''. Similarly Gautama was a son from the Rishi ''Rahugana''. It is believed that the name of the kingdom came to be known as ''Videha'' after the tribal name ''Videgha'' of ''Mathava''. Story of Videgha Mathava The story of Videgha Mathava is narrated in Yajurveda. According to Shata ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kosala
Kosala, sometimes referred to as Uttara Kosala () was one of the Mahajanapadas of ancient India. It emerged as a small state during the Late Vedic period and became (along with Magadha) one of the earliest states to transition from a lineage-based society to a monarchy. By the 6th century BCE, it had consolidated into one of the four great powers of ancient northern India, along with Magadha, Vatsa, and Avanti. Kosala belonged to the Northern Black Polished Ware culture (c. 700–300 BCE) and was culturally distinct from the Painted Grey Ware culture of the neighboring Kuru- Panchala region, following independent development toward urbanisation and the use of iron. The presence of the lineage of Ikshvaku—described as a raja in the Ṛgveda and an ancient hero in the Atharvaveda—to which Rama, Mahavira, and the Buddha are all thought to have belonged—characterized the Kosalan realm. One of India's two great epics, Ramayana is set in the "Kosala- Videha" realm i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Janakpur
Janakpurdham or Janakpur (), is the capital city of Madhesh Province. This sub-metropolitan city is a central hub for the Maithili language, as well as for religious and cultural tourism in Nepal. The city was founded in the early 18th century but was retrospectively designated as the location of the capital of the Videha kingdom, although there is no archaeological evidence to support this. Janakpur is located about southeast of Kathmandu. , the city had a population of 195,438, with a density of 2,125/km². Janakpur is currently the fourth most densely populated city in Nepal. Janakpur is located about 23 km from the Shrikhandi Bhittha, Bhitthamore border with India. Nepal Railways operates a service between Janakpur and Jainagar, Bihar, Jainagar in India. Etymology Janakpurdham, popularly known as Janakpur is named after the ancient King of the Videha kingdom in the Mithila region - ''Janaka''.The rulers of the Videha kingdom were accorded the title Janaka, meaning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vedic Period
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the end of the urban Indus Valley Civilisation and a second urbanisation, which began in the central Indo-Gangetic Plain BCE. The Vedas are liturgical texts which formed the basis of the influential Brahmanical ideology, which developed in the Kuru Kingdom, a tribal union of several Indo-Aryan tribes. The Vedas contain details of life during this period that have been interpreted to be historical and constitute the primary sources for understanding the period. These documents, alongside the corresponding archaeological record, allow for the evolution of the Indo-Aryan and Vedic culture to be traced and inferred. The Vedas were composed and orally transmitted with precision by speakers of an Old Indo-Aryan language who had migrated into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mithila (ancient City)
Mithila was the capital city of the Kingdom of the Videhas. The location of Mithila is disputed among Janakpur in present-day Nepal, Baliraajgadh in present-day Madhubani district Madhubani district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar, India, and is a part of Darbhanga division. Its administrative headquarters are located in Madhubani. The district has an area of and has a population of 4,487,379 (as of 20 ..., Bihar, India, Sitamarhi in present-day Bihar, India, and Mukhiyapatti of Mukhiyapatti Musharniya rural municipality of Dhanusha in present-day Nepal. Disputed location Janakpur, in present-day Nepal, has been mentioned in Ramayana to be the location of the ancient city of Mithila. However, very few archaeological evidence has been found to support these claims. Some scholars have claimed Baliraajgadh in present-day Madhubani district of Bihar, India to be the location of Mithila. Some archaeological evidences have been found in Baliraajgadh, howeve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nepal
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China China–Nepal border, to the north, and India India–Nepal border, to the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a Geography of Nepal, diverse geography, including Terai, fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten List of highest mountains#List, tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and List of cities in Nepal, its largest city. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious, and multi-cultural state, with Nepali language, Nepali as the official language. The name "Nepal" is first record ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indo-Aryan Peoples
Indo-Aryan peoples are a diverse collection of peoples predominantly found in South Asia, who (traditionally) speak Indo-Aryan languages. Historically, Aryans were the Indo-Iranian speaking pastoralists who migrated from Central Asia into South Asia and introduced the Proto-Indo-Aryan language. The early Indo-Aryan peoples were known to be closely related to the Indo-Iranian group that have resided north of the Indus River; an evident connection in cultural, linguistic, and historical ties. Today, Indo-Aryan speakers are found south of the Indus, across the modern-day regions of Bangladesh, Nepal, eastern-Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and northern-India. History Proto-Indo-Iranians The introduction of the Indo-Aryan languages in the Indian subcontinent was the outcome of a migration of Indo-Aryan people from Central Asia into the northern Indian subcontinent (modern-day Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). These migrations started appr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aristocracy
Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense Economy, economic, Politics, political, and social influence. In Western Christian countries, the aristocracy was mostly equal with magnates, also known as the titled or higher nobility, however the members of the more numerous social class, the untitled lower nobility (petty nobility or gentry) were not part of the aristocracy. Classical aristocracy In ancient Greece, the Greeks conceived aristocracy as rule by the best-qualified citizens—and often contrasted it favorably with monarchy, rule by an individual. The term was first used by such ancient Greeks as Aristotle and Plato, who used it to describe a system where only the best of the citizens, chosen through a careful process of selection, would become rulers, and hereditary monarchy, hereditary rule would actually have been f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. (subscription required) Although the terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are often also used interchangeably to denote a wider region which includes, in addition, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, the "Indian subcontinent" is more of a geophysical term, whereas "South Asia" is more geopolitical. "South Asia" frequently also includes Afghanistan, which is not considered part of the subcontinent even in extended usage.Jim Norwine & Alfonso González, ''The Third World: states of mind and being'', pages 209, Taylor & Francis, 1988, Quote: ""The term "South Asia" also signifies the Indian Subcontinent""Raj S. Bhopal, ''Ethnicity, race, and health in multicultural societies'', pages 33, Oxford University Press, 2007, ; Q ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iron Age In India
In the prehistory of the Indian subcontinent, the Iron Age succeeded Bronze Age India and partly corresponds with the megalithic cultures of South India. Other Iron Age archaeological cultures of north India were the Painted Grey Ware culture (1300–300 BCE) and the Northern Black Polished Ware (700–200 BCE). This corresponds to the transition of the Janapadas or principalities of the Vedic period to the sixteen Mahajanapadas or region-states of the early historic period, culminating in the emergence of the Maurya Empire towards the end of the period. The earliest evidence of iron smelting predates the emergence of the Iron Age proper by several centuries. Region Northern India R. Tewari (2003) radiocarbon dated iron artefacts in Uttar Pradesh, including furnaces, tuyeres, and slag between c. 1000 BCE to 1800 BCE. Antiquity of iron in India was pushed back from following the excavations at Malhar, Raja Nala ka Tila, Dadupur and Lauhradewa in Uttar Pradesh from 1996-200 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
