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Thotagamuwe Sri Rahula Thera
Thotagamuwe Sri Rahula Thera (1408 – 1491) was a Buddhist monk and an eminent scholar, who lived in the 15th century in Sri Lanka. He was a polyglot who was given the title "''Shad Bhasha Parameshwara''" due to his mastery in six oriental languages which prevailed in the Indian subcontinent. Sangharaja Thotagamuwe Sri Rahula Thera was also a distinguished author, veteran astrologer and a proficient ayurvedic physician. Biography Thotagamuwe Sri Rahula Thera was born in 1408 at Dematana(dethawa), a village close to Dambadeniya in Kurunegala District. His lay name was Jayabahu. Though his parentage is uncertain, some sources reveal that his mother was the elder sister of queen Keerawelle Kumari, who was the chief consort of King Parakkramabahu VI of Kotte. Accordingly, his mother was princess Seelawathi and his father was prince Wickramabahu pathiraja(prince Manikka Pathiraja). Since prince Jayabahu 's mother died when he was an infant, he was kept under the guardianship of Kin ...
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Maurya
The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. Quote: "Magadha power came to extend over the main cities and communication routes of the Ganges basin. Then, under Chandragupta Maurya (c.321–297 bce), and subsequently Ashoka his grandson, Pataliputra became the centre of the loose-knit Mauryan 'Empire' which during Ashoka's reign (c.268–232 bce) briefly had a presence throughout the main urban centres and arteries of the subcontinent, except for the extreme south." The Maurya Empire was centralized by the conquest of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, and its capital city was located at Pataliputra (modern Patna). Outside this imperial center, the empire's geographical extent was dependent on the loyalty of military commanders who controlled the armed cities sprinkling it. During Asho ...
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King Vijayabahu I
Vijayabahu I (born ''Prince Keerthi'') (ruled 1055–1110), also known as Vijayabahu the Great, was a medieval king of Sri Lanka. Born to a royal bloodline, Vijayabahu grew up under Chola occupation. He assumed rulership of the Ruhuna principality in the southern parts of the country in 1055. Following a seventeen-year-long campaign, he successfully drove the Cholas out of the island in 1070, "In their expulsion from the island" reuniting the country for the first time in over a century. During his reign, he re-established Buddhism in Sri Lanka and repaired much of the damage caused to infrastructure during the wars. He offered the Thihoshin Pagoda(Lord of Sri Lanka Buddha image) to Burma king Alaungsithu and it is now still in Pakokku. Early life Vijayabahu was born around 1039, by the name of Kitti (Keethi) in Ruhuna principality, under Chola occupation. ''Indian History with Objective Questions and Historical Maps Twenty-Sixth Edition 2010, South India page 59'' As a result t ...
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Paisachi
Paishachi or Paisaci () is a largely unattested literary language of the middle kingdoms of India mentioned in Prakrit and Sanskrit grammars of antiquity. It is generally grouped with the Prakrits, with which it shares some linguistic similarities, but is still not considered a spoken Prakrit by the grammarians because it was purely a literary language, and because of its archaicism. Identity The etymology of the name suggests that it is spoken by piśācas, "ghouls". In works of Sanskrit poetics such as Daṇḍin's ''Kavyadarsha'', it is also known by the name of , an epithet which can be interpreted either as a "dead language" (i.e. with no surviving speakers), or as "a language spoken by the dead" (i.e. ghouls or ghosts), the former interpretation being more realistic and the latter being the more fanciful. Evidence which lends support to the former interpretation is that literature in Paiśācī is fragmentary and extremely rare but may have been once common. The Siddha- ...
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Shauraseni
Shauraseni Prakrit (, ) was a Middle Indo-Aryan language and a Dramatic Prakrit. Shauraseni was the chief language used in drama in northern medieval India. Most of the material in this language originates from the 3rd to 10th centuries, though it was probably a spoken vernacular around the 2nd century BCE in the ancient state of Surasena. Among the Prakrits, Shauraseni is said to be the one most closely related to Classical Sanskrit in that it "is derived from the Old Indian Indo-Aryan dialect of the Madhyadeśa on which Classical Sanskrit was mainly based." Its descendants include the languages of the Hindi Belt, the Central Zone of modern Indo-Aryan or Hindi languages, the standard registers of the Hindustani language based on the Delhi dialect. See also *Saurashtra language *Apabhraṃśa *Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from arou ...
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Magadhi
The Magahi language (), also known as Magadhi (), is a language spoken in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal states of eastern India, and in the Terai of Nepal. Magadhi Prakrit was the ancestor of Magahi, from which the latter's name derives. It has a very rich and old tradition of folk songs and stories. It is spoken in nine districts of Bihar ( Gaya, Patna, Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Nalanda, Sheikhpura, Nawada, Lakhisarai, Arwal), eight districts of Jharkhand (Hazaribag, Palamu, Chatra, Koderma, Jamtara, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Giridih) and in West Bengal's Malda district. There are around 20,700,000 speakers of Magahi, including speakers 12 million Magahi and 8 million Khortha which is considered a dialect of Magahi. Magahi derived from the ancient Magadhi Prakrit, which was created in the ancient kingdom of Magadha, the core of which was the area south of the Ganges and east of Son River. Though the number of speakers in Magahi is about 12.6 million, it has not been const ...
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Prakrit
The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usually applied to the middle period of Middle Indo-Aryan languages, excluding earlier inscriptions and the later Pali. ''Prākṛta'' literally means "natural", as opposed to ''saṃskṛta'', which literally means "constructed" or "refined". Prakrits were considered the regional spoken (informal) languages of people, and Sanskrit was considered the standardized (formal) language used for literary, official and religious purposes across Indian kingdoms of the subcontinent. Literary registers of Prakrits were also used contemporaneously (predominantly by śramaṇa traditions) alongside Classical Sanskrit of higher social classes. Etymology The dictionary of Monier Monier-Williams (1819–1899), and other modern authors however, interpret ...
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Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late 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 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 Old Indo-Aryan language varieties. The most archaic of these is the Vedic Sanskrit found in the Rig Veda, a colle ...
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Matara District
Matara ( si, මාතර දිස්ත්‍රික්කය ''Mātara distrikkaya''; ta, மாத்தறை மாவட்டம் ''Māttaṛai māvaṭṭam'') is a district in Southern Province, Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary (previously known as a Government Agent) appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. Geography Matara District is located in the south west of Sri Lanka and has an area of . It is represented in the Sri Lankan Parliament following the 2010 Sri Lankan parliamentary election by former Sri Lankan national Cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya who stood for the United People's Freedom Alliance. Administrative units Matara District is divided into 16 Divisional Secretary's Division (DS Divisions), each headed by a Divisional Secretary (previously known as an Assistant Government Agent). ...
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Dickwella
Dikwella, also known as Dickwella and as Dikwella South, is a small coastal market town in the Matara district in Southern province of Sri Lanka. It is located east of the city of Matara. Dikwella is noted for its long sandy beach which is protected by headlands, reefs and sand-bars, making it safer for swimming. Dikwella is the location of Sri Lanka's largest seated Buddha statue, which is tall. Walls in the rooms of the building behind the statue are decorated with a 'library' of colourful pictures depicting scenes from the life of the Buddha and punishments of miscreants. Dikwella Market Market Day is Saturday. Dikwella Market is held next to the beach. It has been rebuilt after destruction in the 2004 Asian tsunami. Fortunately, Dikwella Market was not open that day, although traders and customers who'd travelled to nearby markets were lost. Dikwella Peraheras Dikwella usually has Peraheras to celebrate Vesak, Poson Poson, also known as Poson Poya, is an annual fes ...
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Monaragala District
Monaragala (, ) is a district in Uva Province of Sri Lanka. It is the second largest of the 25 districts in Sri Lanka, with an area of . Main Towns * Monaragala * Bibile * Buttala * Wellawaya * Kataragama * Siyambalanduva * medagama * Thanamalvila * Badalkubura * Sevanagala * madulla Other towns * Siyambalanduwa * Ethimale * Medagama * Thanamalwila * Badalkumbura * Madulla * Okkampitiya Statistics Religion Buddhism is the predominant religion in Moneragala. Ethnicity In 2008 - Source Natural parks * Gal Oya National Park * Yala National Park * Udawalawe National park Major reservoirs * Senanayake Reservoir * Muthukandiya Reservoir * Weheragala Reservoir * Handapanagala Reservoir * Udawalawa Reservoir * Alikota ara Reservoir Rivers * Menik Ganga * Hulanda oya * Gal oya * Heda oya * Wila oya * Kumbukkan Oya * Kirindi oya * ranwanna oya Tourist attractions * Katharagama * Maligawila * Buduruwagala * Goviduhela rock * Yala National Park * Galoya National P ...
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Bhikkhu
A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics ("nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist community). The lives of all Buddhist monastics are governed by a set of rules called the prātimokṣa or pātimokkha. Their lifestyles are shaped to support their spiritual practice: to live a simple and meditative life and attain nirvana. A person under the age of 20 cannot be ordained as a bhikkhu or bhikkhuni but can be ordained as a śrāmaṇera or śrāmaṇērī. Definition ''Bhikkhu'' literally means "beggar" or "one who lives by alms". The historical Buddha, Prince Siddhartha, having abandoned a life of pleasure and status, lived as an alms mendicant as part of his śramaṇa lifestyle. Those of his more serious students who renounced their lives as householders and came to study full-time under his supervision also adopte ...
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