Borrowed with thanks from ‘Know Your Bharat’
Aerial view of the Vijay Stambha, Chittorgarh fort, Rājasthān. It was constructed by Mewār king Rānā Kumbha in 1448 to commemorate his victory over the Islamic armies led by Mahmūd Khiljī. The tower is dedicated to Lord Viśnū. The tower is 37.19m high and was built by architect ‘Sutradhara’ Jaita.
Image A:
This is a photograph of same ‘Vijaya Stambha’ from 1875. Now spot the difference. Shikhara of tower which was ‘typical Bhāratīya dome’ in 1875 had been replaced with pyramidal Shikhara. This is just one example as to how British ASI altered monuments to suite its devious agenda.
Image B:
Images of same ‘Vijaya Stambha’ placed side by side for an easy comparison. Left: This is how it looks like today Right: Photo from 1875. In the older photo we see that typical ‘Hindū dome (Aṇḍa)’ is in quite good condition.
Source: https://t.co/Ru9Zdo54Qe
Image C:
A military duel between male and female warriors carved inside Udayagiri Caves (2nd century BC) Orissā. Such duels during public festivals are mentioned by Sattasai (an ancient collection of poems).
These duels took place in open spaces and were curiously followed. Such duels must have been widely prevalent.
Source:https://t.co/T0F8WRjoYs
Aerial photograph of Sūrya Devasthāna, Modherā (Gujarāt). Patron: King Bhimadeva:
Simply stunning geometrical precision! No wonder, Al-beruni (the Islamic scholar who traveled Bhārat in 11th Century) said, “Our people when they see them, wonder at them and are unable to describe them, much less to construct anything like them.”
Source: https://t.co/08cRfbAhol
Those interested in detailed album view of the Devasthāna may check:
https://www.esamskriti.com/a/Gujarat/Surya-Temple-Modhera-.aspx
This 10th century Sati (Memorial) stone inscription from Śravaṇabeḷagola depicts the Karnāṭakā Warrior woman ‘Saviyabbe’ who fought along with her husband in battle. She avenged his death and later herself fell fighting. She is shown charging against an elephant rider.
A Vietnamese depiction of Shiva dating from the 9-10th century. Note the serpent hanging from Shiva’s left shoulder as his sacred thread.The dhāraṇī describes Nīlakaṇṭha as kṛṣṇa-sarpopavīta or kṛṣṇa-sarpa-kṛta-yajñopavīta, “one who has black serpent as a yajñopavīta.”
Source: https://t.co/xSxdaybAkW
Sculptures of female warriors of ancient Bhārata. Megasthenes tells us female warriors were employed by ancient Bhāratīya kings and as bodygaurds and assassins. They also accompanied the king in hunting and war and formed his innermost defence circle in battles.
Source: https://t.co/Nnh9FAkVul
Narasimha devouring HiranyaKashipu from Chennakeshava Temple, Belur.
Note the details of shield held by HiranyaKashipu. See the body lock performed by Narasimha. Presence of Vetala(?) is somewhat unusual. See the details of Makara-Torana arch. Note individual details of bow. Source:
https://t.co/8NeNWaHyPS
Many people ask about Narasimha’s chopped hands in the picture. The temple was subjected to desecration and plunder on more than one occasion by Islamic invaders, especially in 14th century.
Bhārat’s Achievements in the field of Shipping:
An archaeological reconstruction of the ancient city of Lothal (Gujarat, Indus Valley Civilization) as it existed 4500 years ago. Lothal was world’s earliest known port city with a dockyard equipped to berth and service ships. A city that was way ahead of its time!
Source: https://t.co/3NBSBZlhGx
Out of the four great civilizations of the ancient world, three of them, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China, have been extensively studied and well-known to almost every individual. Lost to human memory was the fourth civilization of equal importance and much more sophisticated Indus Valley Civilization that thrived along the flood plains of rivers Indus and Gaggar-Hakra. It was not until the twentieth century that this lost and forgotten civilization was rediscovered and acknowledged and was placed together in equal importance with Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China.
Read more: http://www.ancient-civilizations.com/lesser-known-facts-indus-valley-civilization/#ixzz5HSPj4VGq
According to Alan Villiers – an expert mariner who wrote 44 books on shipping and seafaring and many other related subjects – Indian Ocean is the birth place of sailing in the world. Bhārat has been blessed with bounties of nature, making it a ‘land of desire’ to which many people from across the globe flocked. The seas of Bhārat enjoyed the unique feature of having clear skies over the entire region for at least eight months in a year, which also encouraged the study of mathematics and astronomy. With the help of these sciences emerged details like ‘nakshatras’, their degrees, solstices, equinoxes and so on, that are so essential for navigation. There are numerous references to nautical terms in the Vedic literature. From the very early period, the Bharatiyas and the Arabs collaborated in the development of navigation. The Arabs acted as the intermediaries in the Bharatiya trade with the neighboring countries and then with the Europe.
Since the days of Buddha, Bharatiya Merchants and missionaries had been going to various parts of the world, particularly to Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka) and Southeast Asian Countries in Ships. Prince Vijaya’s visit to Ceylon in the sixth century BCE is well attested and forms a favorite subject of Bharatiya Artists.
Shipping and shipbuilding was a flourishing industry during the reign of the Mauryas when a full-fledged department of shipping was set up. The traditions were further streamlined in the regime of imperial Guptas. In the beginning of Christian era, or a little earlier, Bharatiya sailors went to Southeast Asian region in large numbers.
Ref: Baldeo Sahai’s ‘Indian Shipping – A Historical Survey’ , published by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of Bhārat.
From ancient times nature has been a lavish in bestowing its bounties on this land. The country could boast of agricultural surplus many millenniums before the birth of Christ which is an essential prerequisite for the growth of any civilization. That gave the people a lot of leisure to indulge in various arts and sciences. The country abounded in a large number of tantalizing products, some of them unique to Bharat. Teak timber for example, a large variety of trees growing at different heights on the Himalayas and the eastern and Western Ghats. The Himalayan Pine, locally known as ‘deva dāru’ (corrupted as deodār) meaning “the tree of Gods”, having trunks up to a circumference of 25 feet and rising to such great heights that they appear to be slim!
Alexander the Great is said to have used it this number to build his fleet. According to Śri Srīdharan, the author of ‘A Maritime History of India’, under orders from Alexander, Admiral Nearchus acquired a fleet of river boats built in the Punjab by a tribe known as ‘Kastri’ , to make a sea voyage of nearly 1500 miles. The fleet sailed along the Persian gulf coast to reach its destination, which is a testimony to the hardy structure of the Bhāratīya built boats of those days.
Today evidence is available to support the findings that high precision, sea sailing ships were constructed in Bhārat atleast 4500 years ago. Shipping vessels were anchored with circular/triangular stone anchors. Somewhat similar stone anchors have been found off the coast of Modern city of Dwārakā through marine archaeology in 1984.
The shipping dock at Lothal (Gujarat) is the earliest archaeological evidence for marine activity in Bhārat. This is also considered to be the oldest port in the world (atleast 4500 years old). Today it is found that there existed atleast a dozen such ports around Gujarāt Coast line.
Archaeologists have found that ships laden with Bhāratīya merchandize were leaving this port and vessels from other countries were regularly visiting these ports. Around 2000 BCE, Lothal extended its overseas trade to Egypt, Bahrain and Sumerian cities of Ur and Barak as attested by gold beads and terracotta models of Mummy found.
Lothal was famous for its bead-making factories that were perhaps unique to it. Its beads have now been discovered in present day Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran, proving that they were in great demand by the women in those countries. Lothal goldsmiths made the most attractive item of costume jewellery in the world, according to archaeologist Dr. S R Rao.
Ornate interior of a temple, Jaisalmer fort, Rājasthān.
Lintel is decorated with lotus and Kīrtimukha pattern. Manḍapa is octagonal in plan having a domical ceiling. Ceiling of temple can be compared to those of Ranakpur temple, Jama Masjid of Champaner and Ahmedabad, Delwara etc.
Ornate Kirtimukha/Kala(कीर्तिमुख) at Amriteshwara temple in Amruthapura, Chikkamagaluru, Karnataka.
Cycle of time within cycle of time! Nothing could have communicated the the message better than this piece of art and symbolism!
Dated: ~12th century CE.
According to art historian Gerard Foekema, the wall panel images (one hundred and forty in all), and the reliefs and friezes that abound in this temple have a relaxed quality of workmanship about them, and in no Hoysala temple do these appear more “folkish in character”.
The temple is a Trikuta variety of temple. Any building or temple can be called Trikuta which has three Kuta(s) which can be pyramidal Shikhara or dome. Kutaka is multistorey Pavillion atop Mandapam. C.13th century CE. Here are few more images of Lakshmi-Narasimha Temple, Javagal.
Close-up view of ornate Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, Javagallu (Karnataka).
The decorative plan of the outer walls of the shrines and the mantapa (hall) is of the “new kind”, with two eaves that run around the temple. Photo credit: Bikash Das
Drawing of an ancient Hindu bridge over Bornadi, Assam by a British officer. The bridge probably dating all the way back to 9th CE was still in an excellent condition till 19th century when earthquake destroyed it.
It was probably the bridge mentioned in Islamic chronicles which was crossed by the army of Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1243 CE and dismantled by King of Kamarupa to prevent retreat of Islamic army.
Interestingly one of the best surviving example of such traditional Hindū bridge architecture comes from Cambodia. Also from same time period.
Apparently with invasion of South East Asia, native rulers there also adopted Indian construction methods.
Interesting information on Bridges of ancient Bhārat by @vajrayudha11 on Twitter:
1000 years old Atharnala bridge in vicinity of Purī, Odisha. It’s a rare surviving example of bridges that dotted parts of medieval Bhārat.
The bridge was originally built by Eastern Ganga rulers of Kalinga to serve as an entrance to the Holy city of Purī.
It is said that road from Bengal to Puri was dotted by such bridges. Only two of them survive today.
Ornate interior of Sas-Bahu Temple, Nagda (Rajasthan) Dated: ~10th century CE or older. The temple derived its name from thousand armed form of Vishnu (SahastraBahu).
Note profusely carved Torana(s) which not only enhanced its beauty but also provided greater structural stability.
Photo credit: Kevin Standage
Fantastic musical pillars of ancient Nellaiappar Temple, Tirunelveli. When tapped these pillars produce the sound of classical music notes.
These pillars are testimony to ancient Hindu understanding of sound and physical properties of rocks. PC: @brakoo
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