The Ajanta Caves are approximately thirty rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments dating from the second century BCE to about 480 CE in the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar District of Maharashtra state in India. The caves include paintings and rock-cut sculptures described as among the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art, particularly expressive paintings that present emotions through gesture, pose and form.
Madhya Pradesh is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar and Satna being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the second largest Indian state by area and the fifth largest state by population with over 72 million residents. It borders the states of Uttar Pradesh to the northeast, Chhattisgarh to the east, Maharashtra to the south, Gujarat to the west, and Rajasthan to the northwest.
Chandragupta II, also known by his title Vikramaditya, as well as Chandragupta Vikramaditya, was the third ruler of the Gupta Empire in India, and was one of the most powerful emperors of the Gupta dynasty.
Dhar is a city located in Dhar district of the Malwa region in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of the Dhar district. Before Indian independence from Great Britain, it was the capital of the Dhar princely state.
The Bagh Caves are a group of nine rock-cut monuments, situated among the southern slopes of the Vindhyas in Bagh town of Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh state in central India. These monuments are located at a distance of 97 km from Dhar town. These are renowned for mural paintings by master painters of ancient India. The use of the word "cave" is a bit of a misnomer, since these are not natural, but instead examples of Indian rock-cut architecture.
The Western Satraps, or Western Kshatrapas were Indo-Scythian (Saka) rulers of the western and central part of India, between 35 to 415 CE. The Western Satraps were contemporaneous with the Kushans who ruled the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, and were possibly vassals of the Kushans. They were also contemporaneous with the Satavahana (Andhra) who ruled in Central India. They are called "Western Satraps" in modern historiography in order to differentiate them from the "Northern Satraps", who ruled in Punjab and Mathura until the 2nd century CE.
The Vakataka dynasty was an ancient Indian dynasty that originated from the Deccan in the mid-3rd century CE. Their state is believed to have extended from the southern edges of Malwa and Gujarat in the north to the Tungabhadra River in the south as well as from the Arabian Sea in the west to the edges of Chhattisgarh in the east. They were the most important successors of the Satavahanas in the Deccan and contemporaneous with the Guptas in northern India.
Pashupatinath Temple at Mandsaur, also referred to as the Mandsaur Shiva temple, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, India. It belongs to Pashupatinath tradition which is one of 6 major tradition within Shaivism. It is located on Shivna River, and is known for its eight-faced Shiva Linga. The temple sculpture is dated to the 5th or 6th century based on inscriptions, with some referring to the site as Dashapura. It is near the Rajasthan border in the historic region of Malwa, about 200 kilometres (120 mi) from Indore, about 340 kilometres (210 mi) west of Udaigiri Caves and about 220 kilometres (140 mi) east of Shamalaji ancient sites, both a significant source of Gupta Empire era archaeological discoveries. The site has been important to dating and the architectural studies of some distant sites such as the Elephanta Caves.
Anupa is an ancient Indian region roughly corresponds to the areas around ancient Mahishmati city in the present-day Madhya Pradesh. The Vayu Purana mentions a janapada (realm) of Anupa, located on the Vindhyaprishtha. The Nasik cave inscription of Gautami Balashri claims that her son Gautamiputra Satakarni's dominion included Anupa. The Junagarh rock inscription of Rudradaman I mentions Anupa as a part of his kingdom.
The Barabar Hill Caves are the oldest surviving rock-cut caves in India, dating from the Maurya Empire, some with Ashokan inscriptions, located in the Makhdumpur region of Jehanabad district, Bihar, India, 24 km (15 mi) north of Gaya.
The history of the Indian state Madhya Pradesh is divided into three periods - the ancient period, the medieval period and modern period.
Harishena was the last known ruler of the Vatsagulma branch of the Vakataka dynasty. He succeeded his father Devasena. Harishena was a great patron of Buddhist architecture, art and culture, with the World Heritage monument of Ajanta being his greatest legacy. He is also credited with many conquests. The end of Harishena's reign and the ultimate fate of the Vatsagulma branch is shrouded in mystery, as it seems the Vakataka dynasty came to an end not long after the death of Harishena.
The Kalachuris, also known as Kalachuris of Mahishmati, were an Indian dynasty that ruled in west-central India between 6th and 7th centuries. They are also known as the Haihayas or as the Early Kalachuris to distinguish them from their later namesakes, especially the Kalachuris of Tripuri.
The Maharajas of Valkha were part of a central Indian dynasty that ruled the historical Valkha region. They are known from several inscriptions dated to the years 38-134 of an unspecified calendar era. Based on the identification of this era with the Gupta era, they are believed to have ruled during 4th and 5th centuries CE. These rulers of Valkha were probably vassals of the Gupta emperors.
Abdul Kadar Khatri (1961–2019) was an Indian master craftsman in the sector of traditional hand block printing known as Bagh Print. He was the son of Ismail Sulemanji Khatri, founder of Bagh print. He along with his father saved the tradition of Textile printing of Bagh from extinction and taken it to new heights. His artifacts have brought laurels to India and particular to Madhya Pradesh state from across the globe by showcasing his exceptional talent in Bagh Print in many countries. His family has been working in the trade of Traditional Bagh Hand Block print since the 7th century.
Sirpur Group of Monuments are an archaeological and tourism site containing Hindu, Jain and Buddhist monuments from the 5th to 12th centuries in Mahasamund district of the state of Chhattisgarh, India. Located near an eponymous village, it is 78 kilometres (48 mi) east of Raipur, the capital of the state. The site is spread near the banks of the river Mahanadi.
Devnimori, or Devni Mori, is a Buddhist archaeological site in northern Gujarat, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the city of Shamlaji, in the Aravalli District of northern Gujarat, India. The site is variously dated to the 3rd century or 4th century CE, or circa 400 CE. Its location was associated with trade routes and caravans in the area of Gujarat. Site excavations have yielded Buddhist artifacts dated prior to 8th-century in the lowest layer, mixed Buddhist and Hindu artwork from the Gurjara-Pratihara period in the middle, topped by Muslim glazed ware attributed to the 14th century. The site was excavated between 1960 and 1963. The site became flooded by the Meswo reservoir, a project started in 1959 and completed over 1971–1972 over the nearby Meshwo River.
Tewar is a village in the Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the site of Tripuri, an ancient city-state, and the capital of the later Kalachuris during the 8th–13th centuries.
Gupta art is the art of the Gupta Empire, which ruled most of northern India, with its peak between about 300 and 480 CE, surviving in much reduced form until c. 550. The Gupta period is generally regarded as a classic peak and golden age of North Indian art for all the major religious groups. Gupta art is characterized by its "Classical decorum", in contrast to the subsequent Indian medieval art, which "subordinated the figure to the larger religious purpose".
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