Tag: from gathering food to growing food - the earliest people

A twelfth-century inscription from Uyyakondan Udaiyar, in Tiruchirapalli taluka (in present-day Tamil Nadu), describes the deliberations in a sabha of Brahmanas. They deliberated on the status of a group known as rathakaras (literally, chariot makers). They laid down their occupations, which were to include architecture, building coaches and chariots, erecting gateways for temples with images in them, preparing wooden equipment used to perform sacrifices, building mandapas, making jewels for the king.

A twelfth-century inscription from Uyyakondan Udaiyar, in Tiruchirapalli taluka (in present-day Tamil Nadu), describes the deliberations in a sabha of Brahmanas. They deliberated on the status of a group known as rathakaras (literally, chariot makers). They laid down their occupations, which were to include architecture, building coaches and chariots, erecting gateways for temples with images in them, preparing wooden equipment used to perform sacrifices, building mandapas, making jewels for the king.

A twelfth-century inscription from Uyyakondan Udaiyar, in Tiruchirapalli taluka (in present-day Tamil Nadu), describes the deliberations in a sabha of Brahmanas. They deliberated on the status of a group known as rathakaras (literally, chariot makers). They laid down their occupations, which were to include architecture, building coaches and chariots, erecting gateways for temples with images in them, preparing wooden equipment used to perform sacrifices, building mandapas, making jewels for the king.

The Stupas of Sanchi were constructed on the orders of Emperor Ashoka to preserve and spread the Buddhist philosophy. This stupa was originally a low structure of brick, half the diameter of the present edifice hemispherical in shape with raised terraces at the base. It was enclosed by a wooden railing and a stone umbrella at the top. This Great Stupa served as a nucleus to the large Buddhist establishment during the later period.

Amaravati Stupa in Guntur district is the most famous one in Andhra Pradesh. This was built during the rule of Satavahanas about 1900 years ago. The stupa was covered with panels of sculptures depicting the Buddha and his teachings. These panels were found by the British and were taken away by them to London. Some of the panels that could not be transported were kept  in Madras Museum.

Excavation undertaken in the year 1870 at Bhattiprolu stupa unearthed three mounds while the one carried out in 1892 led to the discovery of three inscribed stone relic caskets containing crystal caskets, relics of Buddha and jewels. The diameter of the stupa measures around 40 m with an additional basement of 2.4 m wide running all around. The most important discovery is the crystal relic casket of sarira dhatu of the Buddha from the central mass of the stupas.

In Viharas, monks taught Buddhist scriptures to disciples. Apart from imparting education in Viharas, monks were also treating the physical ailments of people. We find many inscriptions from these Viharas which tell us that ordinary men and women farmers,traders, soldiers, and artisans made liberal donations for building and expenses of these Viharas.

Chaitya was a rectangular prayer hall with a stupa placed in the centre. The purpose of Chaityas was prayer. The Chaitya was divided into three parts, and had an apsidal ending, i.e, a semicircular rear end. The central part of the hall (also called the nave) was separated from the two aisles by two rows of pillars, The Chaityas also had polished interior walls, semicircular roofs and horse-shoe shaped windows called the Chaitya windows.

Nalanda, a large Buddhist monastery, now in ruins, was one of the most publicly acknowledged Mahaviharas of ancient India located in ancient Magadha kingdom (modern Bihar). It remained a learning centre from 7th century BCE through c. 1200 CE and is many a time categorised as one of the early universities of India along with other institutions like Vikramashila and Taxila. Pilgrims like Hu-en-Tsang, and others spent time studying in Nalanda (Bihar) the most famous Buddhist monastery of the period.