Nagari, also Nagri, is a village situated 12 km north of

Chittorgarh Chittorgarh (also Chittor or Chittaurgarh) is a major city in Rajasthan state of western India. It lies on the Berach River, a tributary of the Banas, and is the administrative headquarters of Chittorgarh District. It was a major stronghol ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

state in India. Its ancient name was Madhyamika. It was a flourishing town from the Mauryan period up to

Gupta period The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed from the early 4th century CE to late 6th century CE. At its zenith, from approximately 319 to 467 CE, it covered much of the Indian subcontinent. This period is considered as the Gold ...

. The excavations here have shown some ancient archaeological structure with few believed to be religious in nature. The excavated Nagari temple too has been dated to the second half of the 1st-millennium BCE. A large number of punch marked and other old coins have been discovered here. In the 2nd century BC Nagari was probably attacked by the

Indo-Greeks The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Graeco-Indian Kingdom, also known historically as the Yavana Kingdom (Yavanarajya), was a Hellenistic period, Hellenistic-era Ancient Greece, Greek kingdom covering various parts of Afghanistan and the northwestern r ...

who were ruling North-Western of India. As per

Patanjali Patanjali ( sa, पतञ्जलि, Patañjali), also called Gonardiya or Gonikaputra, was a Hindu author, mystic and philosopher. Very little is known about him, and while no one knows exactly when he lived; from analysis of his works it i ...

(150 BC) the great grammarian, Madhyamika was besieged by a Yavana king in 150 BC.

describes in the '' Mahābhāsya'', the invasion in two examples using the imperfect tense of

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 ...

, denoting a recent event:"Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian coins in the Smithsonian institution", Bopearachchi, p16. * "''Arunad Yavanah Sāketam''" ("The

Yavana The word Yona in Pali and the Prakrits, and the analogue Yavana in Sanskrit and Yavanar in Tamil, were words used in Ancient India to designate Greek speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians" ( grc, ...

s (Greeks) were besieging Saketa") * "''Arunad Yavano Madhyamikām''" ("The Yavanas were besieging Madhyamika" (the "Middle country"). Hathiwada enclosure

In the 1st century BC Nagari was probably occupied by the Sibis. Coins of Sibi tribe found here have the legend ‘majhamikaya sibi-janapadasa’. Nagari came under the influence of

Western Kshatrapas The Western Satraps, or Western Kshatrapas (Brahmi:, ''Mahakṣatrapa'', "Great Satraps") were Indo-Scythian (Saka) rulers of the western and central part of India ( Saurashtra and Malwa: modern Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Prades ...

in the 2nd century. In the 3rd century Nagari was ruled by Malavas. Later Huna king conquered it. One

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, circumamb ...

has been discovered at Nagari. It is constructed of moulded bricks and decorated with terracotta tiles of high artistic merit.

References

{{Commonscat, Nagari, Rajasthan

External links

History of Rajasthan Ancient Indian cities Villages in Chittorgarh district Tourist attractions in Chittorgarh district