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Neolithic Ashmounds (India)
Neolithic ashmounds (sometimes termed as cinder mounds) are man-made landscape features found in some parts of southern India (chiefly around Bellary) that have been dated to the Neolithic period (3000 to 1200 BC). They have been a puzzle for long and have been the subject of many conjectures and scientific studies. They are believed to be of ritual significance and produced by early pastoral and agricultural communities by the burning of wood, dung and animal matter. Hundreds of ashmound sites have been identified and many have a low perimeter embankment and some have holes that may have held posts. These ashmounds were traditionally given mythological explanations as the burnt remains of rakshasas described in epics like the ''Mahabharata''. A scientific explanation was first attempted by T. J. Newbold who sent notes on Būdigunta, one of the largest such mounds, to James Prinsep who published it in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1836. Newbold suggested that thes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bellary
Bellary, officially Ballari, in the eponymous Bellary district, is a city in the state of Karnataka, India. History Bellary was a part of Rayalaseema (Ceded Districts) which was part of Madras Presidency till 1 November 1956. The Ballari city municipal council was upgraded to a city corporation in 2004. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India approved a proposal to rename the city in October 2014 and Bellary was renamed to "Ballari" on 1 November 2014. Geography Bellari is located at . The city stands in the midst of a wide, level plain of black cotton soil. Granite rocks and hills form a prominent feature of Bellari. The city is spread mainly around two hills of granite composition, the ''Bellary Hill'' and the ''Kumbara Gudda''. ''Bellary Hill'' has a circumference of nearly and a height of . The length of this rock from north-east to south-west is about . To the east and south lies an irregular heap of boulders, to the west there is an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts of the world. This "Neolithic package" included the introduction of farming, domestication of animals, and change from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of settlement. It began about 12,000 years ago when farming appeared in the Epipalaeolithic Near East, and later in other parts of the world. The Neolithic lasted in the Near East until the transitional period of the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) from about 6,500 years ago (4500 BC), marked by the development of metallurgy, leading up to the Bronze Age and Iron Age. In other places the Neolithic followed the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) and then lasted until later. In Ancient Egypt, the Neolithic lasted until the Protodynastic period, 3150 BC.Karin Sowada and Peter Grave. Egypt in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rakshasa
Rakshasas ( sa, राक्षस, IAST: : Pali: ''rakkhaso'') lit. 'preservers' are a race of usually malevolent demigods prominently featured in Hindu mythology. According to the Brahmanda Purana, the rakshasas were created by Brahma when he assumed a body of ''tamas'' (darkness), the beings springing forth and promising to protect the waters of creation. They are often depicted to be man-eaters (''nri-chakshas'', ''kravyads''), acting as embodiments of the powers of evil in the Vedic scriptures. They are offered a distinction from yakshas, their cousins who are depicted to be forces of destruction. The term is also used to describe asuras, a class of power-seeking beings that oppose the benevolent devas. They are often depicted as antagonists in Hindu scriptures, as well as in Buddhism and Jainism. The female form of rakshasa is rakshasi. Hinduism In Vedas The Hymn 87 of the tenth mandala of the ''Rigveda'' mentions about Rakshasas. They are classified amongst the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas John Newbold
Thomas John Newbold (8 February 1807 – 29 May 1850) was an English soldier in the service of the East India Company, known as a traveller and orientalist. Life The son of Francis Newbold, a surgeon of Macclesfield, he was born there on 8 February 1807. He obtained a commission as ensign in the 23rd regiment Madras light infantry under the East India Company in 1828. Arriving in India in that year, he passed an examination in Hindustani in 1830, and in Persian in 1831. From 1830 to 1835 Newbold was quartermaster and interpreter to his regiment. Moved to Malacca in 1832, he became lieutenant in 1834. While in command of the port at Lingy, he detained a boat supplying a belligerent, in a conflict in relation to which government of Malacca desired to maintain a strict neutrality. On his prosecution by the owner, the legality of the seizure could not be maintained; but Newbold's conduct was approved by the court, and he was reimbursed his expenses. Arriving at the presidency with a de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Prinsep
James Prinsep FRS (20 August 1799 – 22 April 1840) was an English scholar, orientalist and antiquary. He was the founding editor of the ''Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal'' and is best remembered for deciphering the Kharosthi and Brahmi scripts of ancient India. He studied, documented and illustrated many aspects of numismatics, metallurgy, meteorology apart from pursuing his career in India as an assay master at the mint in Benares. Early life James Prinsep was the seventh son and the tenth child of John Prinsep (1746–1830) and his wife, Sophia Elizabeth Auriol (1760–1850). John Prinsep went to India in 1771 with almost no money and became a successful indigo planter. He returned to England in 1787 with a fortune of £40,000 and established himself as an East India merchant. He moved to Clifton in 1809 after incurring losses. His connections helped him find work for all his sons and several members of the Prinsep family rose to high positions in India. John P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scoria
Scoria is a pyroclastic, highly vesicular, dark-colored volcanic rock that was ejected from a volcano as a molten blob and cooled in the air to form discrete grains or clasts.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackson, eds. (2005) ''Glossary of Geology'' (5th ed.). Alexandria, Virginia, American Geological Institute. 779 pp. It is typically dark in color (generally dark brown, black or purplish-red), and basaltic or andesitic in composition. Scoria is relatively low in density as a result of its numerous macroscopic ellipsoidal vesicles, but in contrast to pumice, all scoria has a specific gravity greater than 1, and sinks in water. The holes or vesicles form when gases that were dissolved in the magma come out of solution as it erupts, creating bubbles in the molten rock, some of which are frozen in place as the rock cools and solidifies. Scoria may form as part of a lava flow, typically near its surface, or as fragmental ejecta (lapilli, blocks and bombs), for inst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Buchanan-Hamilton
Francis Buchanan (15 February 1762 – 15 June 1829), later known as Francis Hamilton but often referred to as Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, was a Scottish physician who made significant contributions as a geographer, zoologist, and botanist while living in India. He did not assume the name of Hamilton until three years after his retirement from India. The standard botanical author abbreviation Buch.-Ham. is applied to plants and animals he described, though today the form "Hamilton, 1822" is more usually seen in ichthyology and is preferred by Fishbase. Early life Francis Buchanan was born at Bardowie, Callander, Perthshire where Elizabeth, his mother, lived on the estate of Branziet; his father Thomas, a physician, came in Spittal and claimed the chiefdom of the name of Buchanan and owned the Leny estate. Francis Buchanan matriculated in 1774 and received an MA in 1779. As he had three older brothers, he had to earn a living from a profession, so Buchanan studied medicine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colin Mackenzie
Colonel Colin Mackenzie CB (1754–8 May 1821) was Scottish army officer in the British East India Company who later became the first Surveyor General of India. He was a collector of antiquities and an orientalist. He surveyed southern India, making use of local interpreters and scholars to study religion, oral histories, inscriptions and other evidence, initially out of personal interest, and later as a surveyor. He was ordered to survey the Mysore region shortly after the British victory over Tipu Sultan in 1799 and produced the first maps of the region along with illustrations of the landscape and notes on archaeological landmarks. His collections consisting of thousands of manuscripts, inscriptions, translations, coins and paintings, which were acquired after his death by the India Office Library and are an important source for the study of Indian history. He was awarded a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 4 June 1815. Early life Colin Mackenzie was born in Storno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sati (practice)
Sati or suttee is a Hindu practice, now largely historical, in which a widow sacrifices herself by sitting atop her deceased husband's funeral pyre. Quote: Between 1943 and 1987, some thirty women in Rajasthan (twenty-eight, according to official statistics) immolated themselves on their husband's funeral pyre. This figure probably falls short of the actual number. (p. 182) Although it is debated whether it received scriptural mention in early Hinduism, it has been linked to related Hindu practices in the Indo-Aryan speaking regions of India which diminished the rights of women, especially those to the inheritance of property. A cold form of sati, or the neglect and casting out of Hindu widows has been prevalent in India from ancient times. Quote: Sati is a particularly relevant social practice because it is often used as a means to prevent inheritance of property by widows. In parallel, widows are also sometimes branded as witches – and subjected to violent expulsion fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Bruce Foote
Robert Bruce Foote (22 September 1834 – 29 December 1912) was a British geologist and archaeologist who conducted geological surveys of prehistoric locations in India for the Geological Survey of India. For his contributions to Indian archaeology, he is called ''the father of Indian prehistory'' Foote joined the Geological Survey of India (GSI) on 29 December 1858 was posted in the Madras Presidency, Hyderabad region and Bombay. In 1887 he became a Director of the GSI and on retiring in 1891, he joined the state of Baroda. In later life, he settled in Yercaud where his father-in-law Reverend Peter Percival had worked and lived. An interest in paleolithic life was inspired by the work of Joseph Prestwich in 1859. In 1863, the year after his archaeological survey began, he discovered the first conclusive Paleolithic stone tool (a hand axe) in India. He found the tool in southern India (Pallavaram, near Madras). After the discovery he, along with William King, went on to disc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zariba
A zariba (from ar, زَرِيْـبَـة, zarībah, lit=cattle-pen) is a fence which is made of thorns. Historically, it was used to defend settlements or property against perpetrators in Sudan and neighbouring places in Africa. An example would be as a pen to protect cattle and other livestock from predators such as lions, albeit often unsuccessfully. See also * Boma (enclosure) * Compound (enclosure) * Kraal * Stockade A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall. Etymology ''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived ... References Fences {{Architecturalelement-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vigna Radiata
The mung bean (''Vigna radiata''), alternatively known as the green gram, maash ( fa, ماش٫ )٫ mūng (), monggo, or munggo (Philippines), is a plant species in the legume family.Brief Introduction of Mung Bean. Vigna Radiata Extract Green Mung Bean Extract Powder Phaseolus aureus Roxb Vigna radiata L R Wilczek. MDidea-Extracts Professional. P054. http://www.mdidea.com/products/proper/proper05402.html The mung bean is mainly cultivated in East, Southeast and South Asia. It is used as an ingredient in both savoury and sweet dishes. Description The green gram is an annual vine with yellow flowers and fuzzy brown pods. The English word ''mung'' originated from the Hindi word (), which is derived from the Sanskrit word (). Morphology Mung bean (''Vigna radiata'') is a plant species of Fabaceae which is also known as green gram. It is sometimes confused with black gram (''Vigna mungo'') for their similar morphology, though they are two different species. The green ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
