Brahmi is the modern name for a writing system of ancient India. The Brahmi writing system, or script, appeared as a fully developed universal one in South Asia at least by the third century BCE, and is a forerunner of all writing systems that have found use in South Asia with the exception of the Indus script of the third millennium BCE, the Kharosthi script, which originated in what today is northwestern Pakistan in the fourth or possibly fifth century BCE, the Perso-Arabic scripts since the medieval period, and the Latin scripts of the modern period. Its descendants, the Brahmic scripts, continue to be in use today not only in South Asia, but also Southeast Asia. Brahmi is an abugida which uses a system of diacritical marks to associate vowels with consonant symbols.
Elephanta Caves are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a collection of cave temples predominantly dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. They are on Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri, in Mumbai Harbour, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of Mumbai in the Indian state of Mahārāshtra. The island, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) west of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port, consists of five Hindu caves and a few Buddhist stupa mounds that date back to the 2nd century BCE, as well as a small group of two Buddhist caves with water tanks.
Dasharatha was a Mauryan emperor from 232 to 224 BCE. He was a grandson of Ashoka and is commonly held to have succeeded him as the imperial ruler of India. Dasharatha presided over a declining imperium and several territories of the empire broke away from central rule during his reign. He had continued the religious and social policies of Ashoka. Dasharatha was the last ruler of the Mauryan dynasty to have issued imperial inscriptions—thus the last Mauryan Emperor to be known from epigraphical sources.
Ajivika is one of the nāstika or "heterodox" schools of Indian philosophy. Purportedly founded in the 5th century BCE by Makkhali Gosala, it was a śramaṇa movement and a major rival of Vedic religion, early Buddhism and Jainism. Ājīvikas were organised renunciates who formed discrete communities. The precise identity of the Ajivikas is not well known, and it is even unclear if they were a divergent sect of the Buddhists or the Jains.
Aihole, 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.Hunagunda Taluk Distance 35km
The Udayagiri Caves are twenty rock-cut caves near Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh from the early years of the 5th century CE. They contain some of the oldest surviving Hindu temples and iconography in India. They are the only site that can be verifiably associated with a Gupta period monarch from its inscriptions. One of India's most important archaeological sites, the Udayagiri hills and its caves are protected monuments managed by the Archaeological Survey of India.
The Maukhari dynasty was a post-Gupta royal Indian dynasty that controlled vast areas of Northern India for over six generations. They earlier served as vassals of the Guptas and later by Harsha's Vardhana dynasty. The Maukharis established their independence at Kannauj, during the 6th century. The dynasty ruled over much of Uttar Pradesh and Magadha. Around 606 CE, a large area of their empire was reconquered by the Later Guptas. According to Huien Tssng, the territory may have been lost to King Shashanka of Gauda, who declared independence circa 600 AD.
Indian rock-cut architecture is more various and found in greater abundance in that country than any other form of rock-cut architecture around the world. Rock-cut architecture is the practice of creating a structure by carving it out of solid natural rock. Rock that is not part of the structure is removed until the only rock left makes up the architectural elements of the excavated interior. Indian rock-cut architecture is mostly religious in nature.
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.
Devanampriya, also Devanampiya, was a Pali honorific epithet used by a few Indian monarchs, but most particularly the Indian Emperor Ashoka in his inscriptions. "Devanampriya" means "Beloved of the Gods". It is often used by Ashoka in conjunction with the title Priyadasi, which means "He who regards others with kindness", "Humane"
Nachna Hindu temples, also referred to as Nachana temples or Hindu temples at Nachna-Kuthara, are some of the earliest surviving stone temples in central India along with those at Bhumara and Deogarh. Their dating is uncertain, but comparing their style to structures that can be dated, some of the Nachna temples are variously dated to the 5th- or 6th-century Gupta Empire era. The Chaturmukha temple is dated to the 9th century. These temples illustrate a North Indian style of Hindu temple architecture.
The Lomas Rishi Cave, also called the Grotto of Lomas Rishi, is one of the man-made Barabar Caves in the Barabar and Nagarjuni hills of Jehanabad district in the Indian state of Bihar. This rock-cut cave was carved out as a sanctuary. It was built during the Ashokan period of the Maurya Empire in the 3rd century BC, as part of the sacred architecture of the Ajivikas, an ancient religious and philosophical group of India that competed with Jainism and became extinct over time. Ājīvikas were atheists and rejected the authority of the Vedas as well as Buddhist ideas. They were ascetic communities and meditated in the Barabar caves. Still, the Lomas Rishi cave lacks an explicit epigraphical dedication to the Ajivikas, contrary to most other Barabar Caves, and may rather have been built by Ashoka for the Buddhists.
The Vasishtha dynasty ruled in the Kalinga region of eastern India in the fifth century CE. Their territory included parts of the present-day northern Andhra Pradesh. They were one of the three minor dynasties that emerged after the decline of the Gupta power in the area, the other two being the Matharas and the Pitrbhaktas.
The Lakulisa Mathura Pillar Inscription is a 4th-century CE Sanskrit inscription in early Gupta script related to the Shaivism tradition of Hinduism. Discovered near a Mathura well in north India, the damaged inscription is one of the earliest evidences of murti (statue) consecration in a temple made to celebrate gurus. It is, according to the Indologist Michael Willis, crucial to understanding the "history of Pashupata Shaivism" and a floruit for the antiquity of its practices. The Lakulisha Mathura inscription is one of the earliest epigraphical evidence of a developed Shaiva initiation tradition.
The Gadhwa Stone Inscriptions, or Garhwa Stone Inscriptions, are early 5th-century CE Sanskrit inscriptions discovered in Uttar Pradesh relating to a series of charitable donations to various sattra (almshouses) by Gupta Empire rulers Chandragupta II and Kumaragupta I. The inscription is notable for including symbols for numerals "8, 10, 80 and 90" in the 5th-century, as well as mentioning the ancient city of Pataliputra.
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.
The Son Bhandar caves, also Sonebhandar, are two artificial caves located in Rajgir in the state of Bihar in India. They belonged to the Jains. The caves are generally dated to the 3rd or 4th century CE, based on the dedicatory inscription found in the largest cave which uses Gupta script of the 4th century CE, although some authors have suggested the caves could actually go back to the period of the Maurya empire from 319 to 180 BCE. The main cave is rectangular with a pointed ceiling, and the entrance is trapezoidal, reminiscent of the structure of the Barabar Caves. The quality of the "Mauryan polish" and the finish are nevertheless much inferior. The stone of Son Bhandar is also much less hard than the granite of the Barabar caves, and therefore did not require the same degree of effort and technique.
Mauryan polish describes one of the frequent characteristics of architecture and sculptures of the Maurya Empire in India, which gives a very smooth and shiny surface to the stone material, generally of sandstone or granite. Mauryan polish is found especially in the Ashoka Pillars as well as in some constructions like the Barabar Caves. The technique did not end with the empire, but continued to be "used on occasion up to the first or second century A.D.", although the presence of the polish sometimes complicates dating, as with the Didarganj Yakshi. According to the archaeologist John Marshall: the "extraordinary precision and accuracy which characterizes all Mauryan works, and which has never, we venture to say, been surpassed even by the finest workmanship on Athenian buildings".
The Buddhist caves in India form an important part of Indian rock-cut architecture, and are among the most prolific examples of rock-cut architecture around the world. There are more than 1,500 known rock cut structures in India, out of which about 1000 were made by Buddhists, 300 by Hindus, and 200 by Jains. Many of these structures contain works of art of global importance, and many later caves from the Mahayana period are adorned with exquisite stone carvings. These ancient and medieval structures represent significant achievements of structural engineering and craftsmanship.
Tikla, or Tikula, is an archeological site and ancient rock shelter in Madhya Pradesh, India, known for its petroglyphs. Tikla is situated around 170 km (110 mi) south of Mathura and 50 km (31 mi) southwest of Gwalior on the Agra to Mumbai road near the town of Mohana on the right bank of the Parvati river.
