Lumbinī is a Buddhist pilgrimage site in the Rupandehi District of Lumbini Province in Nepal. It is the place where, according to Buddhist tradition, queen Maya gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama at around 566 BCE. Gautama, who, according to Buddhist tradition, achieved Enlightenment some time around 528 BCE, became Shakyamuni Buddha and founded Buddhism. Lumbini is one of many magnets for pilgrimage that sprang up in places pivotal to the life of the Buddha.
The Mahabodhi Temple or the Mahābodhi Mahāvihāra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is an ancient, but rebuilt and restored Buddhist temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India, marking the location where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. Bodh Gaya is 15 km from Gaya and is about 96 km (60 mi) from Patna. The site contains a descendant of the Bodhi Tree under which the Buddha gained enlightenment, and has been a major pilgrimage destination of Buddhists for over two thousand years.
A chaitya, chaitya hall, chaitya-griha, refers to a shrine, sanctuary, temple or prayer hall in Indian religions. The term is most common in Buddhism, where it refers to a space with a stupa and a rounded apse at the end opposite the entrance, and a high roof with a rounded profile. Strictly speaking, the chaitya is the stupa itself, and the Indian buildings are chaitya halls, but this distinction is often not observed. Outside India, the term is used by Buddhists for local styles of small stupa-like monuments in Nepal, Cambodia, Indonesia and elsewhere. In Thailand a stupa, not a stupa hall, is called a chedi. In the historical texts of Jainism and Hinduism, including those relating to architecture, chaitya refers to a temple, sanctuary or any sacred monument.
Aihole (ಐಹೊಳೆ), also referred to as Aivalli, Ahivolal or Aryapura, is a historic site of ancient and medieval era Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monuments in Karnataka, India that dates from the sixth century through the twelfth century CE. Most of the surviving monuments at the site date from the 7th to 10th centuries. Located around an eponymous small village surrounded by farmlands and sandstone hills, Aihole is a major archaeological site featuring over one hundred and twenty stone and cave temples spread along the Malaprabha river valley, in Bagalakote district.
The Sun Temple of Modhera is a Hindu temple dedicated to the solar deity Surya located at Modhera village of Mehsana district, Gujarat, India. It is situated on the bank of the river Pushpavati. It was built after 1026-27 CE during the reign of Bhima I of the Chaulukya dynasty. No worship is offered now and is protected monument maintained by Archaeological Survey of India. The temple complex has three components: Gūḍhamanḍapa, the shrine hall; Sabhamanḍapa, the assembly hall and Kunḍa, the reservoir. The halls have intricately carved exterior and pillars. The reservoir has steps to reach the bottom and numerous small shrines.
Hoysaleswara temple, also referred simply as the Halebidu temple, is a 12th-century Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is the largest monument in Halebidu, a town in the state of Karnataka, India and the former capital of the Hoysala Empire. The temple was built on the banks of a large man-made lake, and sponsored by King Vishnuvardhana of the Hoysala Empire. Its construction started around 1121 CE and was complete in 1160 CE. During the early 14th century, Halebidu was twice sacked and plundered by the Muslim armies of the Delhi Sultanate from northern India, and the temple and the capital fell into a state of ruin and neglect. It is 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Hassan city and about 210 kilometres (130 mi) from Bengaluru.
Bhojpur is a town of historical and religious importance in Raisen District of Madhya Pradesh, India.
Vishnupad Temple is an ancient Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu in Gaya, Bihar, India, located on the banks of Phalgu river. The temple is believed to be built upon the site where Vishnu had purportedly killed the demon Gayasura or pinned him underground. The temple features a 40-cm footprint purported to be of Lord Vishnu incised into a block of basalt, known as Dharmasila which was retained when the deity stepped on Gayasura's chest before pinning him underground.
Ruins of Kachari Rajbari are a set of medieval monuments located in Dimapur, Nagaland, in Northeast India. Their history dates back to the 10th century when they appeared during the Kachari civilization. The Kachari Rajbari Ruins are a series of mushroom domed pillars. They were created by the Kachari Kingdom, which ruled Dimapur before the Ahom invasion into the territory during the 13th century. Their origin and purpose are largely mysterious. The pillars are not well maintained. Some pillars still stand in all their glory but others have crumbled down. It is believed that a game similar to chess was played there with the mushroom domes.
Choto Shona Mosque is located in Chapai Nawabganj district of Bangladesh. The mosque is situated about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of the Kotwali Gate and 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) to the south-east of the Mughal Tahakhana complex in the Firozpur Quarter.
The Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram is a collection of 7th- and 8th-century CE religious monuments in the coastal resort town of Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) south of Chennai.
Nakula Sahadeva Ratha is a monument in the Pancha Rathas complex at Mahabalipuram, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, in the Kancheepuram district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is an example of monolith Indian rock-cut architecture. Dating from the late 7th century, it is attributed to the reign of King Mahendravarman I and his son Narasimhavarman I of the Pallava Kingdom. The entire complex is under the auspices of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and is one of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram that were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984.
Panchapandava Cave Temple is a monument at Mahabalipuram, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, in the Kancheepuram district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The mandapa is part of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is the largest cave temple in Mahabalipuram. It is an example of Indian rock-cut architecture dating from the late 7th century. The temple is one of the finest testimonial to the ancient Vishwakarma Sthapathis, of rock-cut cave architecture, out of many such caves also called mandapas. Part of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, the temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as inscribed in 1984 under criteria i, ii, iii and iv.
Akkanna Madanna caves are a group of rock-cut Hindu cave temples in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India. Dated to mid 7th-century and dedicated to Shiva, they were excavated by the Eastern Chalukya dynasty. They consist of the upper (larger) and lower caves. The upper cave is better preserved, and has an important 7th-century inscription.
There is a group of temples of Jainism on Mount Girnar near Junagadh in Junagadh district, Gujarat, India. These temples are sacred to both Digambara and the Svetambara branches of Jainism.
The Gopika Cave Inscription, also called the Nagarjuni Hill Cave Inscription II of Anantavarman or formerly the Gya inscription, is a 5th- or 6th-century CE Sanskrit inscription in Late Brahmi found in the Nagarjuni hill cave of the Barabar Caves group in Gaya district, Bihar, India.
Bairat Temple is a freestanding Buddhist temple, a Chaityagriha, located about a mile southwest of the city Viratnagar, Rajasthan, India, on a hill locally called "Bijak-ki-Pahari". The temple is of a circular type, formed of a central stupa surrounded by a circular colonnade and an enclosing wall. It was built during the time of Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE, and near it were found two of Ashoka's Minor Rock Edicts, the Bairat and the Calcutta-Bairat Minor Rock Edicts. It is the earliest circular Buddhist shrine and therefore, Bairat temple is an important marker of the architecture of India.
Deulghata, near Baram in the Arsha in the Purulia Sadar subdivision of the Purulia district of West Bengal, India, has ancient/ medieval temples.
Nameswara Temple, also known as Parvati Mahadeva Nameswara temple, is a Saivite Hindu temple located in Pillalamarri, Suryapet district of Telangana, India. It is a double temple, with the Trikuteswara Temple aligned in parallel to it on the immediate north. The Nameswara temple was constructed on the banks of the Musi river in c. 1202 CE by Namireddi of the Recherla family, who ruled this region and served as the feudatories of Kakatiyas. The genealogy of Namireddi is given in the inscription on the pillar.
Rajiv Lochan Temple is a temple located in Rajim, in the Indian state of Chattisgarh. It is dated to the 8th century CE.
