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Mṛgaśikhāvana
Mi-li-kia-si-kia-po-no, believed to be a Chinese transcription of Mṛgaśikhāvana (Mriga-shikha-vana), was the site of a Buddhist establishment in eastern India. It is mentioned in the writings of the Chinese traveler Yijing, who states that king Che-li-ki-to (identified with the 3rd century king Gupta) had constructed a temple for Chinese Buddhist pilgrims near it. Yijing's description Yijing mentions Mṛgaśikhāvana (as "Mi-li-kia-si-kia-po-no") while describing the itinerary of the earlier Korean traveler Hwui-lun alias Prajnavarma, stating that in ancient times, king Che-li-ki-to built a temple for Chinese pilgrims near it. The king is said to have endowed the temple with the revenue of 24 villages for its maintenance. Only the brick foundation of this temple survived in Yijing's time. Location Translations of Yijing's work Contradictory translations of Yijing's ''Kau-fa-kao-sang-chuen'', which refers to Mṛgaśikhāvana, have led to debates among historians ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gupta (king)
Gupta (Gupta script: ''Gu-pta'', fl. late 3rd century CE) was the founder of the Gupta dynasty of northern India. He is identified with king Che-li-ki-to (believed to be the Chinese transcription of "''Shri''-Gupta"), who, according to the 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk Yijing (monk), Yijing, built a temple near Mi-li-kia-si-kia-po-no (Mṛgaśikhāvana) for Chinese pilgrims. This temple was located somewhere in eastern India: based on the identification of its location, modern scholars variously locate Gupta's territory in present-day Western Bihar. Name Gupta is not attested by his own inscriptions or coins, although some seals and coins have been wrongly attributed to him. The earliest description of him occurs in his great-grandson Samudragupta's Allahabad Pillar, Prayagraaj Pillar inscription, and is repeated verbatim in several later records of the dynasty: The Allahabad Pillar inscription names Samudragupta's ancestors as ''Shrī'' Gupta ( ''shri gu-pta''), ''S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gupta Dynasty
The Gupta Empire was an Indian empire during the classical period of the Indian subcontinent which existed from the mid 3rd century to mid 6th century CE. At its zenith, the dynasty ruled over an empire that spanned much of the northern Indian subcontinent. This period has been considered as the Golden Age of India by some historians, although this characterisation has been disputed by others. The ruling dynasty of the empire was founded by Gupta. The high points of this period are the great cultural developments which took place primarily during the reigns of Samudragupta, Chandragupta II and Kumaragupta I. Many Hindu epics and literary sources, such as the Mahabharata and Ramayana, were canonised during this period. The Gupta period produced scholars such as Kalidasa, Aryabhata, Varahamihira and Vatsyayana, who made significant advancements in many academic fields. Science and political administration reached new heights during the Gupta era. The period, sometimes d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yijing (monk)
Yijing (635–713CE), formerly romanized as or , born Zhang Wenming, was a Tang-era Chinese Buddhist monk and renowned travel writer. His account of his travels are an important source for the history of the medieval kingdoms along the sea route between China and India, especially Srivijaya in Indonesia. He also gave accounts of the Gupta Period. A student of the Buddhist university at Nālandā (now in Bihar, India), he was also responsible for the translation of many Buddhist texts from Sanskrit and Pali into Chinese. Journey Srivijaya and Nālandā Yijing was born . He became a monk at age 14 and was an admirer of Faxian, a famed monk who traveled to India in the 4th and 5th centuries CE. Provided funding by an otherwise unknown benefactor named Fong, he decided to visit the renowned Buddhist university of Nālandā, in Bihar, India, to further study Buddhism. Traveling by a boat out of Guangzhou, he arrived in Srivijaya (today's Palembang in Sumatra) after 22 da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism () ), also called Vishnuism, is one of the major Hindu denominations, Hindu traditions, that considers Vishnu as the sole Para Brahman, supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, that is, ''Mahavishnu''. It is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. Its followers are called Vaishnavites or ''Vaishnava''s (), and it includes sub-sects like Krishnaism and Ramanandi Sampradaya, Ramaism, which consider Krishna and Rama as the supreme beings respectively. According to a 2020 estimate by The World Religion Database (WRD), hosted at Boston University’s Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (CURA), Vaishnavism is the largest Hindu sect, constituting about 399 million Hindus. The ancient emergence of Vaishnavism is unclear, and broadly hypothesized as a History of Hinduism, fusion of various regional non-Vedic religions with worship of Vishnu. It is considered a merger of several popular non-Vedic theistic traditio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified by adherence to the concept of ''dharma'', a Ṛta, cosmic order maintained by its followers through rituals and righteous living, as expounded in the Vedas. The word ''Hindu'' is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, it has also been described by the modern term ''Sanātana Dharma'' () emphasizing its eternal nature. ''Vaidika Dharma'' () and ''Arya dharma'' are historical endonyms for Hinduism. Hinduism entails diverse systems of thought, marked by a range of shared Glossary of Hinduism terms, concepts that discuss God in Hinduism, theology, Hindu mythology, mythology, among other topics in Hindu texts, textual sources. Hindu texts have been classified into Śruti () and Smṛti (). The major Hin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century Before the Common Era, BCE. It is the Major religious groups, world's fourth-largest religion, with about 500 million followers, known as Buddhists, who comprise four percent of the global population. It arose in the eastern Gangetic plain as a movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia. Buddhism has subsequently played a major role in Asian culture and spirituality, eventually spreading to Western world, the West in the 20th century. According to tradition, the Buddha instructed his followers in a path of bhavana, development which leads to Enlightenment in Buddhism, awakening and moksha, full liberation from ''Duḥkha, dukkha'' (). He regarded this path as a Middle Way between extremes su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shri
Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific. The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Assamese, Meitei ( Manipuri), Marathi, Malay (including Indonesian and Malaysian), Javanese, Balinese, Sundanese, Sinhalese, Thai, Tamil, Telugu, Odia, Assamese, Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, Malayalam, Kannada, Sanskrit, Pali, Khmer, and also among Philippine languages. It is usually transliterated as ''Sri'', ''Sree'', ''Shri'', ''Shiri'', ''Shree'', ''Si'', or ''Seri'' based on the local convention for transliteration. In Tamil it evolved to Tiru. The term is used in Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia as a polite form of address equivalent to the English "Mr." in written and spoken language. "Shri" is also used as a title of veneration for deities or as honorific title for individuals. "Shri" is also an epithet for Hindu goddess Lakshmi, while a '' yantra'' or a mystica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bindeshwari Prasad Sinha
Bindeshwari Prasad Sinha (1919–2002) was an Indian archaeologist and historian specialising in ancient Indian history. Sinha was a professor and head of the Department of History and Archaeology at Patna University. He was the founder of Bihar state's Directorate of Archaeology and Museums. He was also the director of the K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute in Patna. B. P. Sinha was born in Bihar Sharif in 1919. He obtained an M.A. degree from the Patna University. He obtained a Ph.D. from SOAS, University of London in 1948. His guide was Lionel Barnett, and his thesis was on the topic ''Decline of the Kingdom of Magadh''. After returning to India, he taught at the Patna College, and later Patna University. He became the university's Head of department in 1958, and a professor in 1959. He also taught as a visiting professor in Bulgaria, the United States and Yugoslavia. Sinha is known for having carried out the first excavations at Vikramashila, the site of an ancient Buddhis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Varendra
Varendra (), also known as Barind (), was an ancient and historical territory of Northern Bengal, now mostly in Bangladesh and a little portion in the Indian state of West Bengal and Eastern Bihar. It formed part of the Pundravardhana or Pundra Kingdom region currently part of the Rajshahi and Rangpur division of Bangladesh and included the districts of Bogra, Rajshahi, Pabna and Dinajpur of Bangladesh and West Dinajpur and Malda of West Bengal, India. According to Cunningham, the boundary of Varendra was the Ganges and the Kosi river on the west, the Karatoya on the east, the Padma River on the south and the land between Cooch Behar and included the Terai Literature and inscriptions According to R. C. Majumdar, the term Varendra-mandala occurs in the '' Ramacharitam'', which places it between the Ganges and Karatoya rivers. He writes, "Its inclusion with Pundravardhana is proved by the Silimpur, Tarpandighi and Madhainagar inscriptions. The ''Tabaquat-i-nasiri'' mentions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stupa
In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and meditation. Walking around a stupa in a clockwise direction, known as '' pradakhshina'', has been an important ritual and devotional practice in Buddhism since the earliest times, and stupas always have a ''pradakhshina'' path around them. The original South Asian form is a large solid dome above a tholobate, or drum, with vertical sides, which usually sits on a square base. There is no access to the inside of the structure. In large stupas, there may be walkways for circumambulation on top of the base as well as on the ground below it. Large stupas have, or had, ''vedikā'' railings outside the path around the base, often highly decorated with sculpture, especially at the torana gateways, of which there are usually four. At the top of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rajshahi District
Rajshahi District () is a district in mid-western Bangladesh. It is a part of Rajshahi Division. The metropolitan city of Rajshahi is in Rajshahi District. Geography Rajshahi District is bounded by Naogaon District to the north, Natore District to the east, Chapai Nababganj District to west and a small part of Kushtia District and the river Padma to the south. The district consists of alluvial plain. Rivers There are ten rivers in this district, totaling 146 km in length. The main river is the Padma (Ganges). Other rivers include Mahananda, Baral and Barnai. History The Mughal Emperor Akbar appointed the Puṭhia Raj family to govern the Rajshahi region under the governor "Pitambar". In 1772, the Rajshahi District was established. Parts of it eventually became the districts of Bogura, Malda, Natore, Naogaon, Nawabganj, and Pabna. On 1 April 1876, Rajshahi town was made as a municipal town. During the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971, the town was the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bengal
Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Bengal proper is divided between the modern-day sovereign nation of Bangladesh and the States and union territories of India, Indian states of West Bengal, and Karimganj district of Assam. The ancient Vanga Kingdom is widely regarded as the namesake of the Bengal region. The Bengali calendar dates back to the reign of Shashanka in the 7th century CE. The Pala Empire was founded in Bengal during the 8th century. The Sena dynasty and Deva dynasty ruled between the 11th and 13th centuries. By the 14th century, Bengal was absorbed by Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent. An independent Bengal Sultanate was formed and became the eastern frontier of the Islamic world. During this period, Bengal's rule and influence spread to Assam, Arakan, Tri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
