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Vishnu Nicolo Seal
The Vishnu Nicolo Seal is a "finely engraved" oval agate seal (1.4 inches by 1.05 inch) from the Gandhara region, dated to the 4th century CE. Since 1892 it has been in the British Museum. The seal depicts a four-armed deity, probably Vishnu or Vāsudeva, being prayed by a royal devotee. The deity holds Vishnu's classical attributes: the ''gada'' club, the ''chakra'' discus, the wheel and the lotus. There is a two-line inscription and a monogram by the worshipper's feet. The British Museum describes the inscription as " Bactrian", transliterating it: "(1) ''saso reo iastoo'' (2) ''algo''", translated as: "Sas-re(w) the leader of worship (?)". It was found in what was then the North-West Frontier Province of British India, now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan. Interpretations The seal was first reported by Alexander Cunningham in The Numismatic Chonicle of 1893.1893 Numismatic Choniclp.126/ref>Buddhism in Central Asia, by Baij Nath Puri, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1987p.131-1 ...
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Alexander Cunningham
Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (23 January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Engineer Group who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newly created position of archaeological surveyor to the government of India; and he founded and organised what later became the Archaeological Survey of India. He wrote numerous books and monographs and made extensive collections of artefacts. Some of his collections were lost, but most of the gold and silver coins and a fine group of Buddhist sculptures and jewellery were bought by the British Museum in 1894. He was also the father of mathematician Allan Cunningham. Early life and career Cunningham was born in London in 1814 to the Scottish poet Allan Cunningham (1784–1842) and his wife Jean née Walker (1791–1864). Along with his older brother, Joseph, he received his early education at Christ's Hospital, London. Through the influen ...
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Surya
Surya (; sa, सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a means to realise Brahman. Other names of Surya in ancient Indian literature include Aditya, Arka, Bhanu, Savitr, Pushan, Ravi, Martanda, Mitra, Bhaskara, Prabhakara, Kathiravan, and Vivasvan. The iconography of Surya is often depicted riding a chariot harnessed by horses, often seven in number which represent the seven colours of visible light, and the seven days of the week. During the medieval period, Surya was worshipped in tandem with Brahma during the day, Shiva at noon, and Vishnu in the evening. In some ancient texts and art, Surya is presented syncretically with Indra, Ganesha, and others. Surya as a deity is also found in the arts and literature of Buddhism and Jainism. In the Mahabharata and Ramayana, Surya is represented as the ...
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South Asia Bulletin
''Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering Comparative Studies on Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. It provides a "critical and comparative analyses of the histories, cultural productions, social and gender relations, politics, and economies" of these regions. It is published by the Duke University Press, and since 2012, edited at Columbia University. Abstracting and indexing The journal is abstracted and indexed in: *Arab World Research Source *CSA (Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts) * EBSCO databases (Historical Abstracts, Political Science Complete, Public Affairs Index) *Emerging Sources Citation Index *GEOBASE *Index Islamicus *International Bibliography of Periodical Literature *International Bibliography of the Social Sciences *Modern Language Association Database *ProQuest *Scopus History The journal came into existe ...
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Kidarite
The Kidarites, or Kidara Huns, were a dynasty that ruled Bactria and adjoining parts of Central Asia and South Asia in the 4th and 5th centuries. The Kidarites belonged to a complex of peoples known collectively in India as the Huna, and in Europe as the Chionites (from the Iranian names ''Xwn''/''Xyon''), and may even be considered as identical to the Chionites. The 5th century Byzantine historian Priscus called them Kidarite Huns, or "Huns who are Kidarites". The Huna/Xionite tribes are often linked, albeit controversially, to the Huns who invaded Eastern Europe during a similar period. They are entirely different from the Hephthalites, who replaced them about a century later. The Kidarites were named after Kidara (Chinese: 寄多羅 ''Jiduolo'', ancient pronunciation: ''Kjie-ta-la'') one of their main rulers. The Kidarites appear to have been a part of a Huna horde known in Latin sources as the "Kermichiones" (from the Iranian ''Karmir Xyon'') or "Red Huna". The Kidarites est ...
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Kushano-Sasanian
Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom (also called Kushanshahs, KΟÞANΟ ÞAΟ ''or Koshano Shao'' in Bactrian, or Indo-Sasanians) is a historiographic term used by modern scholars to refer to a branch of the Sasanian Persians who established their rule in Bactria during the 3rd and 4th centuries CE at the expense of the declining Kushans. They captured the provinces of Sogdiana, Bactria and Gandhara from the Kushans in 225 CE. The Sasanians established governors for the Sasanian Empire, who minted their own coinage and took the title of Kushanshas, i.e. "Kings of the Kushans". They are sometimes considered as forming a "sub-kingdom" inside the Sasanian Empire.The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila, Michael Maas, Cambridge University Press, 201p.284 ff/ref> This administration continued until 360-370 CE, when the Kushano-Sasanians lost much of its domains to the invading Kidarite Huns, whilst the rest was incorporated into the imperial Sasanian Empire. Later, the Kidarites were in turn ...
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Huna People
Hunas or Huna (Middle Brahmi script: ''Hūṇā'') was the name given by the ancient Indians to a group of Central Asian tribes who, via the Khyber Pass, entered the Indian subcontinent at the end of the 5th or early 6th century. The Huna Kingdom occupied areas as far south as Eran and Kausambi, greatly weakening the Gupta Empire. The Hunas were ultimately defeated by a coalition of Indian princes that included an Indian king Yasodharman and the Gupta emperor, Narasimhagupta. They defeated a Huna army and their ruler Mihirakula in 528 CE and drove them out of India. The Guptas are thought to have played only a minor role in this campaign. The Hunas are thought to have included the Xionite and/or Hephthalite, the Kidarites, the Alchon Huns (also known as the Alxon, Alakhana, Walxon etc.) and the Nezak Huns. Such names, along with that of the Harahunas (also known as the Halahunas or Harahuras) mentioned in Hindu texts, have sometimes been used for the Hunas in general; while ...
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Aureole
An aureola or aureole (diminutive of Latin ''aurea'', "golden") is the radiance of luminous cloud which, in paintings of sacred personages, surrounds the whole figure. In Romance languages, the noun Aureola is usually more related to the disc of light surrounding the head of sacred figures and that in English is called Halo or Nimbus. In art In the earliest periods of Christian art it was confined to the figures of the persons of the Christian Godhead, but it was afterwards extended to the Virgin Mary and to several of the saints. The aureola, when enveloping the whole body, generally appears oval or elliptical in form, but occasionally depicted as circular, vesica piscis, or quatrefoil. When it appears merely as a luminous disk round the head, it is called specifically a ''halo'' or ''nimbus'', while the combination of nimbus and aureole is called a '' glory''. The strict distinction between nimbus and aureole is not commonly maintained, and the latter term is most freq ...
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Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hinduism. Shiva is known as "The Destroyer" within the Trimurti, the Hindu trinity which also includes Brahma and Vishnu. In the Shaivite tradition, Shiva is the Supreme Lord who creates, protects and transforms the universe. In the goddess-oriented Shakta tradition, the Supreme Goddess ( Devi) is regarded as the energy and creative power (Shakti) and the equal complementary partner of Shiva. Shiva is one of the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta tradition of Hinduism. Shiva has many aspects, benevolent as well as fearsome. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient Yogi who lives an ascetic life on Mount Kailash as well as a householder with his wife Parvati and his three children, Ganesha, Kartikeya and A ...
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Mitra (Vedic)
Mitra (Sanskrit ') is a divinity of Indic culture, whose function changed with time. In the Mitanni inscription, Mitra is invoked as one of the protectors of treaties. In the Rigveda, Mitra appears primarily in the ''dvandva'' compound ''Mitra-Varuna'', which has essentially the same attributes as Varuna alone, e.g. as the principal guardian of "Truth, Order". In the late Vedic texts and the ''Brahmana''s, Mitra is increasingly associated with the light of dawn and the morning sun (while Varuna becomes associated with the evening, and ultimately the night). In the post-Vedic texts – in which Mitra practically disappears – Mitra evolved into the patron divinity of friendship, and because he is "friend", abhors all violence, even when sacred. Onomastics The Indo-Iranian common noun *''mitra'' means "(that which) causes trato bind i-, hence Sanskrit ''mitram'', "covenant, contract, oath", the protection of which is Mitra's role in both the Rigveda and in the Mitan ...
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Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent. The term ''"Hindu"'' traces back to Old Persian which derived these names from the Sanskrit name ''Sindhu'' (सिन्धु ), referring to the river Indus. The Greek cognates of the same terms are "''Indus''" (for the river) and "''India''" (for the land of the river). The term "''Hindu''" also implied a geographic, ethnic or cultural identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent around or beyond the Sindhu (Indus) River. By the 16th century CE, the term began to refer to residents of the subcontinent who were not Turkic or Muslims. Hindoo is an archaic spelling variant, whose use today is considered derogatory. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the local In ...
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Roman Ghirshman
Roman Ghirshman (, ''Roman Mikhailovich Girshman''; October 3, 1895 – 5 September 1979) was a Russian-born French archeologist who specialized in ancient Persia. Ghirshman spent nearly thirty years excavating ancient Persian archeological sites throughout Iran and Afghanistan. Biography Roman Ghirshman was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Kharkiv in the Sloboda Ukraine (present-day Ukraine) in 1895. Ghirshman moved to Paris in 1917 to study Archeology and Ancient Languages. He was mainly interested in the archeological ruins of Iran, specifically Teppe Gian, Teppe Sialk, Bagram in Afghanistan, Bishapur in Fars, and Susa. Explore the hills Giyan book, written Roman Ghirshman, in Iran, Tehran, by Mortza Kayani and SohrabiPileroodi translated into Farsi and in publications Safyrardhal, 2021AD has been published. In the 1930s, Girshman, together with his wife Tania Ghirshman, was the first to excavate Teppe Sialk. His studies on Chogha Zanbil have been printed in 4 ...
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