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

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

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

state in India. Its ancient name was Madhyamika. It was a flourishing town from the

Mauryan period The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary sourc ...

up to

Gupta period The Gupta Empire was an Indian empire during the classical period of the Indian subcontinent which existed from the mid 3rd century to mid 6th century CE. At its zenith, the dynasty ruled over an empire that spanned much of the northern Indian ...

. 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, also known as the Yavana Kingdom, was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India. The term "Indo-Greek Kingdom" loosely describes a number of var ...

who were ruling North-Western of India. As per

Patanjali Patanjali (, , ; also called Gonardiya or Gonikaputra) was the name of one or more author(s), mystic(s) and philosopher(s) in ancient India. His name is recorded as an author and compiler of a number of Sanskrit works. The greatest of these a ...

(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 (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

, denoting a recent event:"Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian coins in the Smithsonian institution",

Bopearachchi Osmund Bopearachchi (born 1949) is a Sri Lankan historian and numismatist who has specialized notably standardized the coinage of the Indo-Greek and Greco-Bactrian kingdoms. He is currently Emeritus Director of the CNRS at the École normale sup� ...

, p16. * "''Arunad Yavanah Sāketam''" ("The

Yavana The word Yona in Pali and the Prakrits, and the analogue Yavana in Sanskrit, were used in Ancient India to designate Greek speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians" (), who were probably the first Gre ...

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 The Self-Injurious Behavior Inhibiting System (SIBIS) is an apparatus designed to reduce Self-harm, self-injurious behavior (SIB) directed at the head, such as banging the head against walls and other objects or hitting oneself in the head. Inven ...

. 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 parts of India (extending from Saurashtra in the south and Malwa in the east, covering moder ...

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

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

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

Ancient Indian cities Villages in Chittorgarh district Tourist attractions in Chittorgarh district Archaeological sites in Rajasthan