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Vaishali (ancient City)
Vaishali, Vesali or Vaiśālī was a city in present-day Bihar, India, and is now an archaeological site. It is a part of the Tirhut Division. It was the capital city of the Vajjika League of Vrijji mahajanapada, considered one of the first examples of a republic around the 6th century BCE. Gautama Buddha preached his last sermon before his death in c. 483 BCE, then in 383 BCE the Second Buddhist council was convened here by King Kalasoka, making it an important place in both Jain and Buddhist religions. It contains one of the best-preserved of the Pillars of Ashoka, topped by a single Asiatic lion. Vaishali is also home to possibly the earliest known example of a stupa, the Buddha relic stupa which is said to contain the ashes of the Buddha. The city finds mention in the travel accounts of Chinese explorers, Faxian (4th century CE) and Xuanzang (7th century CE), which were later used in 1861 by British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham to first identify Vaiśālī with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
City
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be defined as a permanent and densely settled place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks. Cities generally have extensive systems for housing, transportation, sanitation, utilities, land use, production of goods, and communication. Their density facilitates interaction between people, government organisations and businesses, sometimes benefiting different parties in the process, such as improving efficiency of goods and service distribution. Historically, city-dwellers have been a small proportion of humanity overall, but following two centuries of unprecedented and rapid urbanization, more than half of the world population now lives in cities, which has had profound consequences for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shanti Stupa @ Vaishali - Panoramio
Shanti may refer to: In Sanskrit * Inner peace, a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress * Kshanti, one of the paramitas of Buddhism * Shanti Mantras or "Peace Mantras”, Hindu prayers or sacred utterances believed by practitioners to have religious, magical or spiritual powers People Real * Shanti Devi (1926–1987), Indian woman at the center of a case of supposed reincarnation * Shanti Devi (politician) (born 1937), Indian politician * Shanti Roney (born 1970), Swedish actor * Shanti Snyder (born 1981), Japanese/English lyricist, singer, songwriter, and music TV host * Oliver Shanti (born 1948), New Age musician * Shanti Wintergate, musician/actress/writer * Shanthi Krishna (born 1960), Tamil and Malayalam movie actress * Shanthi Lekha or Rita Irene Quyn (1929–2009), Sri Lankan actress * Santhi Soundarajan or Santhi Soundararajan (born 1981), Indian athlete * Pri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pandava, Pāṇḍava princes and their successors. It also contains Hindu philosophy, philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or ''purusharthas, 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 (sage), Kacha and Devayani, the story of Rishyasringa and an abbreviated version of the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa'', often considered as works in their own right. Traditionally, the authorship of the ''M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Vishal
Vishala ( sa, विशाल, translit=Viśāla) is a king in Hinduism, featured in the Ramayana. He is the son of Ikshvaku and his queen, Alambusha. He is said to have built a city called Viśālā, near which Ahalya was transformed into stone. He had a son named Hemachandra. The name of Vishala is also mentioned in one of the Puranas as well as the ''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 K ...''. References {{Hindu-myth-stub Characters in the Ramayana Hindu mythology Characters in the Mahabharata ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaishali District
Vaishali district is a district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is a part of Tirhut division. Vaishali is known for being the birthplace of Mahavira of the Jain religion. Hajipur, its largest city and district headquarters, is known for its banana forest. The district is connected via the NH-77 and NH-322 highways, which connect the state capital Patna, the division headquarters Muzaffarpur, and the eastward district Samastipur. History Ancient Vaishali According to legend, Vaishali derives its name from King Vishal, a son of Ikshvaku who founded the city. Vaishali was the capital of the vibrant Licchavi republic and was closely associated with the early histories of both Buddhism and Jainism. In that period, Vaishali was an ancient metropolis and the capital city of the republic of the Vajji confederation of Mithila, which covered most of the Himalayan Gangetic region of present-day Bihar. Magadh rulers of the Shishunaga dynasty shifted its capital from Pataliputra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basarh
Basarh is a village in the Vaishali district of Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Ben ..., India. It is the location of the ancient Vaishali city. According to the 2011 census of India, Basarh has 14,084 people in 2,667 households. The population includes 7,289 males and 6,795 females. The effective literacy rate (that is, literacy rate of the population aged 6 years and above) of the village is 56.84%. The area of the village is 10.01 km2. File:Basarh lion, DGASI, before 1929.jpg, The Basarh lion pillar References Villages in Vaishali district Archaeological sites in Bihar {{Bihar-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 influ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xuanzang
Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of his journey to India in 629–645 CE, his efforts to bring over 657 Indian texts to China, and his translations of some of these texts.Li Rongxi (1996), ''The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions'', Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Berkeley, , pp. xiii-xiv Xuanzang was born on 6 April 602 in Chenliu, what is now Kaifeng municipality in Henan province. As a boy, he took to reading religious books, and studying the ideas therein with his father. Like his elder brother, he became a student of Buddhist studies at Jingtu monastery. Xuanzang was ordained as a ''śrāmaṇera'' (novice monk) at the age of thirteen. Due to the political and social unrest caused by the fall of the Sui dynasty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Faxian
Faxian (法顯 ; 337 CE – c. 422 CE), also referred to as Fa-Hien, Fa-hsien and Sehi, was a Chinese Buddhist monk and translator who traveled by foot from China to India to acquire Buddhist texts. Starting his arduous journey about age 60, he visited sacred Buddhist sites in Central, South and Southeast Asia between 399 and 412 CE, of which 10 years were spent in India. He described his journey in his travelogue, ''A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms'' (''Foguo Ji'' 佛國記). His memoirs are notable independent record of early Buddhism in India. He took with him a large number of Sanskrit texts, whose translations influenced East Asian Buddhism and which provide a ''terminus ante quem'' for many historical names, events, texts, and ideas therein.Faxian ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'', 2019. Biography ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stupa
A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circumambulation or '' pradakhshina'' has been an important ritual and devotional practice 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 the dome is a thin vertical element, with one of more horizontal discs sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asiatic Lion
The Asiatic lion is a population of '' Panthera leo leo'' that today survives in the wild only in India. Since the turn of the 20th century, its range has been restricted to Gir National Park and the surrounding areas in the Indian state of Gujarat. Historically, it inhabited much of southwest Asia to northern India. The first scientific description of the Asiatic lion was published in 1826 by the Austrian zoologist Johann N. Meyer, who named it ''Felis leo persicus''. On the IUCN Red List, it is listed under its former scientific name ''Panthera leo persica'' as Endangered because of its small population size and area of occupancy. Until the 19th century, it occurred in Saudi Arabia, eastern Turkey, Iran, Mesopotamia, Pakistan, and from east of the Indus River to Bengal and the Narmada River in Central India. The population has steadily increased since 2010. In May 2015, the 14th Asiatic Lion Census was conducted over an area of about ; the lion population was estimated at 523 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
