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Adalaj Stepwell
Adalaj Stepwell or Rudabai Stepwell is a stepwell located in the village of Adalaj, close to Gandhinagar city in Gandhinagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat, and considered a fine example of Indian architecture work. It was built in 1498 in the memory of Rana Veer Singh (the Vaghela dynasty of Dandai Des) by his wife, Queen Rudadevi. Introduction to stepwells While in Gujarati and Marwari language, the stepwell is called a ''vav'' (leading down to the level of water), in other Hindi-speaking regions of North India, it is known as a '' baoli'' (also spelt, 'bawdi', 'bawri' and 'bavadi'). Step wells like the one in Adalaj were once integral to the semi-arid regions of Gujarat, as they provided water for drinking, washing, and bathing. These wells were also venues for colorful festivals and sacred rituals. Stepwells, also called stepped ponds, built between the 5th and 19th centuries, are common in Western India; over 120 such wells are reported in the semi-arid region ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gandhinagar
Gandhinagar (, ) is the capital of the state of Gujarat in India. Gandhinagar is located approximately 23 km north of Ahmedabad, on the west central point of the Industrial corridor between Delhi, the political capital of India, and Mumbai, the financial capital of India. Gandhinagar lies on the west bank of the Sabarmati River, about 545 km (338 miles) north of Mumbai and 901 km (560 miles) southwest of Delhi. The Akshardham temple is located in Gandhinagar. There was a determination to make Gandhinagar a purely Indian enterprise, partly because the state of Gujarat was the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi. For this reason, the planning was done by two Indian town planners: Prakash M Apte and H. K. Mewada, who had apprenticed with Le Corbusier in Chandigarh. History The city was planned by Chief Architect H.K. Mewada, a Cornell University graduate, and his assistant Prakash M Apte. Demographics census of India, Gandhinagar had a population of 208,299. Males ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka."Indian subcontinent". '' New Oxford Dictionary of English'' () New York: Oxford University Press, 2001; p. 929: "the part of Asia south of the Himalayas which forms a peninsula extending into the Indian Ocean, between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. Historically forming the whole territory of Greater India, the region is now divided into three countries named Bangladesh, India and Pakistan." The terms ''Indian subcontinent'' and ''South Asia'' are often used interchangeably to denote the region, although the geopolitical term of South Asia frequently includes Afghanistan, which may otherwise be classified as Central Asian.John McLeod, The history of India', page 1, Greenwood Publishing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gujarat Sultanate
The Gujarat Sultanate (or the Sultanate of Guzerat), was a Medieval Indian kingdom established in the early 15th century in Western India, primarily in the present-day state of Gujarat, India. The dynasty was founded by Sultan Zafar Khan Muzaffar, whose ancestors were Tāṅks from southern Punjab. He rose to the nobility after marriage of his sister with Firuz Shah Tughlaq, the Delhi Sultan, and would become the Governor ( Naib) of Gujarat under the Delhi Sultanate. Zafar Khan defeated Farhat-ul-Mulk near Anhilwada Patan and made the city his capital. Following Timur's invasion of the Delhi Sultanate, the city was devastated and weakened considerably, so he declared himself independent from Delhi in 1407, and formally established the Sultanate of Guzerat. The next sultan, his grandson Ahmad Shah I moved the capital to Ahmedabad in 1411. His successor Muhammad Shah II subdued most Rajput chieftains. The prosperity of the sultanate reached its zenith during the rule of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islamic Architecture
Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic area historically ranging from western Africa and Europe to eastern Asia. Certain commonalities are shared by Islamic architectural styles across all these regions, but over time different regions developed their own styles according to local materials and techniques, local dynasties and patrons, different regional centers of artistic production, and sometimes different religious affiliations. Early Islamic architecture was influenced by Roman, Byzantine, Iranian, and Mesopotamian architecture and all other lands which the Early Muslim conquests conquered in the seventh and eighth centuries.: "As the Arabs did not have an architectural tradition suited to the needs of a great empire, they adopted the building methods of the defeated S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ganesha
Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu denominations worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains and Buddhists and includes Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia ( Java and Bali), Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, and Bangladesh and in countries with large ethnic Indian populations including Fiji, Guyana, Mauritius, and Trinidad and Tobago. Although Ganesha has many attributes, he is readily identified by his elephant head. He is widely revered, more specifically, as the remover of obstacles and thought to bring good luck; the patron of arts and sciences; and the deva of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rites and ceremonies. Ganesha is also invoked as a patron of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahmud Begada
Sultan Mahmud Begada or Mahmud Shah I (), was the most prominent Sultan of the Gujarat Sultanate. Raised to the throne at young age, he successfully captured Pavagadh and Junagadh forts in battles which gave him his name ''Begada''. He established Champaner as the capital. He was responsible for the destruction of the Dwarkadhish Temple in Dwarka, Gujarat, one of the Char Dhams considered sacred by Hindus. Names His full name was Abu'l Fath Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah I. He was born Fat'h Khan or Fateh Khan. He titled himself, ''Sultân al-Barr, Sultân al-Bahr'', Sultan of the Land, Sultan of the Sea. Of the origin of Mahmúd's surname Begra or Begarha, two explanations are given in ''Bird’s History of Gujarát'' (p. 202) and ''Mirăt-i-Ahmedi'' (Persian Text, pp. 74): # From his mustachios being large and twisted like a bullock's horn, such a bullock being called Begado. # That the word comes from the Gujaráti ''be'', two, and ''gadh'', a fort, the people giving hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanskrit Language
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 coll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hasta (unit)
The ''hasta'' ( sa, हस्त (hásta); ()) is a traditional Indian unit of length, measured from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It equals 24 ''aṅgulas'' orﾠ about 18 inches, about 45 centimetres. 4 ''hastas'' make one ''dhanus'', and 400 ''hastas'' make one ''nalva Nalva (from Sanskrit ) is a measure of distance equal to 400 Hastas (Cubits).According to Nīlakaṇṭha Caturdhara, nalvo - hasta-catuḥ-śataṃ That is equal to 9600 Aṅgula, which is believed to be equal to approximately 180&nbs ...''. 8 ''hastas'' make one ''rajju''. See also * Cubit Notes Units of length Customary units in India {{measurement-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harappan Civilization
Harappa (; Urdu/ pnb, ) is an archaeological site in Punjab, Pakistan, about west of Sahiwal. The Bronze Age Harappan civilisation, now more often called the Indus Valley Civilisation, is named after the site, which takes its name from a modern village near the former course of the Ravi River, which now runs to the north. The core of the Harappan civilization extended over a large area, from Gujarat in the south, across Sindh and Rajasthan and extending into Punjab and Haryana. Numerous sites have been found outside the core area, including some as far east as Uttar Pradesh and as far west as Sutkagen-dor on the Makran coast of Baluchistan, not far from Iran. The site of the ancient city contains the ruins of a Bronze Age fortified city, which was part of the Harappan civilisation centred in Sindh and the Punjab, and then the Cemetery H culture. The city is believed to have had as many as 23,500 residents and occupied about with clay brick houses at its greatest extent dur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mohenjodaro
Mohenjo-daro (; sd, موئن جو دڙو'', ''meaning 'Mound of the Dead Men';Mohenjo-Daro (archaeological site, Pakistan) on Encyclopedia Britannica website Retrieved 25 November 2019 ur, ) is an archaeological site in the province of , . Built around 2500 BCE, it was the largest settlement of the ancient , and one of the world's earliest majo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indus Valley Civilization
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE. Together with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of three early civilisations of the Near East and South Asia, and of the three, the most widespread. Its sites spanned an area from much of Pakistan, to northeast Afghanistan, and northwestern India. The civilisation flourished both in the alluvial plain of the Indus River, which flows through the length of Pakistan, and along a system of perennial monsoon-fed rivers that once coursed in the vicinity of the Ghaggar-Hakra, a seasonal river in northwest India and eastern Pakistan. The term ''Harappan'' is sometimes applied to the Indus civilisation after its type site Harappa, the first to be excavated early in the 20th century in what was then the Punjab province ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brick Lined Wells
A brick-lined well is a hand-dug water well whose walls are lined with bricks, sometimes called "Dutch bricks" if they are trapezoidal or made on site. The technique is ancient, but is still appropriate in developing countries where labor costs are low and material costs are high. Antiquity Hand-dug wells are mentioned in the Bible. Inscriptions in Mesopotamia tell of construction of brick-lined wells in the period before the rule of Sargon of Akkad (c. 2334 – 2279 BC). Brick-lined wells have been excavated at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa in the Indus Valley. Mature Harappan (2600–1900 BC) technology included brick-lined wells, perhaps derived from earlier designs. One well would have served a neighborhood. The clay bricks are trapezoidal in shape, with one end smaller than the other. The bricks are arranged in circles pointing inward. The smaller ends form the inside walls. In the settlement of Lothal a brick-lined building on an elevated mound included a well lined wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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