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Kirata
The Kirāta ( sa, किरात) is a generic term in Sanskrit literature for people who had territory in the mountains, particularly in the Himalayas and Northeast India and who are believed to have been Sino-Tibetan in origin. The meaning of 'Kirata' referred by scholars as people with the lion's character, or mountain dwellers. Historical mention and mythology The ''Kirata''s often mentioned along with Cinas (Chinese), and slightly different from the Nishadas, are first mentioned in the Yajurveda (''Shukla'' XXX.16; ''Krisha'' III.4,12,1), and in the Atharvaveda (X.4,14). According to Suniti Kumar Chatterji, the name ''Kirata'' seems to be used for any non-Aryan hill-folk, however Manu (Hinduism), Manu's Dharmashastra (X.44) calls them "degraded Kshatriyas", which Chatterji infers to be a term for people who were advanced in military or civilization to some degree and not complete barbarians. It is speculated that the term is a Sanskritization of ...
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Kirātārjunīya
''Kirātārjunīya'' ( sa, किरातार्जुनीय, ''Of Arjuna and the Kirāta'') is an epic poem by Bhāravi, considered to be the most powerful poem in Sanskrit. Believed to have been composed in the 6th century or earlier, it consists of eighteen cantos describing the combat between Arjuna and Lord Shiva (in the guise of a '' kirāta'', or "mountain-dwelling hunter") at Indrakeeladri Hills in present-day Vijayawada. Along with the ''Naiṣadhacarita'' and the ''Shishupala Vadha'', it is one of the larger three of the six Sanskrit mahakavyas, or great epics. It is noted among Sanskrit critics both for its gravity or depth of meaning, and for its forceful and sometimes playful expression. This includes a canto set aside for demonstrating linguistic feats, similar to constrained writing. Later works of epic poetry followed the model of the ''Kirātārjunīya''. Synopsis Overview The ''Kirātārjunīya'' predominantly features the ''Vīra rasa'', or the mood ...
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Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in 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 impact on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Indo-Aryan lang ...
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Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pāṇḍava princes and their successors. It also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or ''puruṣārtha'' (12.161). Among the principal works and stories in the ''Mahābhārata'' are the ''Bhagavad Gita'', the story of Damayanti, the story of Shakuntala, the story of Pururava and Urvashi, the story of Savitri and Satyavan, the story of Kacha and Devayani, the story of Rishyasringa and an abbreviated version of the '' Rāmāyaṇa'', often considered as works in their own right. Traditionally, the authorship of the ''Mahābhārata'' is attributed to Vyāsa. There have been many attempts to unravel its historical growth ...
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Kirati People
The Kirati people, also spelled as Kirant or Kiranti, are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group. They are peoples of the Himalayas, mostly the Eastern Himalaya extending eastward from Nepal to North East India (predominantly in the Indian state of Sikkim and the northern hilly regions of West Bengal, that is, Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts). Etymology Kirat means lion-hearted people or people of a lion nature. It also means mountain people.The word Kirata is a derivation from Kirati or Kiranti to name the group of people in Eastern Nepal and Northeast India. History The Kirat ("Kiranti") are an ancient people who have been associated with the history of Nepal for thousands of years. Sources from the Kathmandu Valley describe the Kiratas as early rulers there whom may have been cattle-herding tribes. During the Kirat Dynasty Kathmandu was called Yela-khom. According to one of the legendary accounts, the primitive kiratis living in Nepal also lived in Sikkim. They are descenden ...
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Kingdoms Of Ancient India
The Mahājanapadas ( sa, great realm, from ''maha'', "great", and '' janapada'' "foothold of a people") were sixteen kingdoms or oligarchic republics that existed in ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE during the second urbanisation period. The 6th–5th centuries BCE is often regarded as a major turning point in early Indian history; during this period India's first large cities arose after the demise of the Indus Valley civilization. It was also the time of the rise of sramana movements (including Buddhism and Jainism), which challenged the religious orthodoxy of the Vedic period. Two of the Mahājanapadas were most probably s (oligarchic republics) and others had forms of monarchy. Ancient Buddhist texts like the '' Anguttara Nikaya'' make frequent reference to sixteen great kingdoms and republics which had developed and flourished in a belt stretching from Gandhara in the northwest to Anga in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. They include ...
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Kirata Kingdom
Kirata Kingdom (Kirat) in Sanskrit literature and Hindu mythology refers to any kingdom of the Kirati people, who were dwellers mostly in the Himalayas (mostly eastern Himalaya). They took part in the Kurukshetra War along with Parvatas (mountaineers) and other Himalayan tribes. References in Mahabharata The Kambojas, Gandharas, Kiratas and Barbaras were mentioned together as northern tribes at (12,206). The Yavanas, the Kiratas, the Gandharvas, the Chinas, the Savaras, the Barbaras, the Sakas, the Tusharas, the Kankas, the Pathavas, the Andhras, the Madrakas, the Paundras, the Pulindas, the Ramathas, the Kamvojas were mentioned together as tribes beyond the kingdoms of Aryavarta. The Aryavarta-kings had doubts on dealing with them. (12,64) Kiratas as a Mlechha tribe Kiratas were mentioned along with Pulindas and Chinas, Hunas, Pahlavas, Sakas, Yavanas, Savaras, Paundras, Kanchis, Dravidas, Sinhalas and Keralas. All these tribes were described as Mlechha tribes. ...
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Georg Pfeffer
Georg Pfeffer (17 January 1943 — 20 May 2020) was a German anthropologist. Born in 1943 in Berlin to a German sociologist father and a British mother, he was schooled in Hamburg. In 1959, he moved to Lahore with his family, and studied at the city's Forman Christian College for 3 years. Later, he moved back to Germany and studied at the University of Freiburg where he also completed his Ph.D. He served for 1 year as lecturer and for nearly 6 years as a professor of ethnology at the Heidelberg University. Later, he joined the Free University of Berlin and served as a professor at its Institute of Ethnology for nearly 23 years until his retirement in 2008. He had done fieldwork among the Adivasis of India's central regions, and in the eastern state Odisha. He also did field research in Pakistan. He was a co-founder of the European Association of Social Anthropologists and had worked at various editorial positions in a few anthropological journals. He died at the age of 77 years ...
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Sylvain Lévi
Sylvain Lévi (March 28, 1863 – October 30, 1935) was an influential French orientalist and indologist who taught Sanskrit and Indian religion at the École pratique des hautes études. Lévi's book ''Théâtre Indien'' is an important work on the subject of Indian performance art, and Lévi also conducted some of the earliest analysis of Tokharian fragments discovered in Western China. Lévi exerted a significant influence on the life and thought of Marcel Mauss, the nephew of Émile Durkheim. Co-Founds the École française d'Extrême-Orient in Hanoi, Vietnam Sylvain Lévi was a co-founder of the École française d'Extrême-Orient in Hanoi. According to the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Lévi was the (one of the) founder(s) of the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) (French School of the Far East) in Hanoi. The École française d'Extrême-Orient's website notes that the school was founded in Hanoi in 1902. One of his students, Suzanne Karpelès, the first fe ...
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Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular ''avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Being. Rama is said to have been born to Kaushalya and Dasharatha in Ayodhya, the ruler of the Kingdom of Kosala. His siblings included Lakshmana, Bharata (Ramayana), Bharata, and Shatrughna. He married Sita. Though born in a royal family, their life is described in the Hindu texts as one challenged by unexpected changes such as an exile into impoverished and difficult circumstances, ethical questions and moral dilemmas. Of all their travails, the most notable is the kidnapping of Sita by demon-king Ravana, followed by the determined and epic efforts of Rama and Lakshmana to gain her freedom and destroy the evil Ravana against great odds. The entire life story of Rama, Sita and their companions allegorically discusses duties, rights and social ...
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Dasa
''Dasa'' ( sa, दास, Dāsa) is a Sanskrit word found in ancient Indian texts such as the '' Rigveda'' and '' Arthasastra''. It usually means "enemy" or "servant" but ''dasa'', or ''das'', also means a "servant of God", "devotee," " votary" or "one who has surrendered to God". Dasa may be a suffix of a given name to indicate a "servant" of a revered person or a particular deity. ''Dasa'', in some contexts, is also related to ''dasyu'' and '' asura'', which have been translated by some scholars as "demon", "harmful supernatural forces", "slave", "servant" or "barbarian", depending on the context in which the word is used.Wash Edward Hale (1999), Ásura- in Early Vedic Religion, Motilal Barnarsidass, , pages 159-169 Etymology ''Dāsa'' first appears in Vedic texts from the second millennium BCE. There is no consensus on its origins. Karl Heinrich Tzschucke in 1806, in his translations of the Roman geographer Pomponius Mela, noted etymological and phonological parallels betwe ...
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