Lost Cities of India

8/6/2019 Lost Cities of India

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MEENA KUMARI M.MEENA KUMARI M.Department of Kannada

Govt. First Grade College,

Maluru, Kolara, Karnataka





KALYANI

near Mahanvami Dibba

STONE CHARIOT



� Vijayanagar, the capital of one of the largest Hindu empires ever, was founded

by Sangama dynasty princes Harihara and Bukka in 1336. Its power peaked

under Krishnadevaraya (1509-29), when it controlled nearly the whole of the

peninsula south of the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers. Comparable to Delhi

in the 14th century, the city, with an estimated population of half a million,

covered 33 sq km and was surrounded by several concentric lines of fortification. Its wealth derived from the control of spice trade and the cotton

industry. Its busy bazaars, described by travelers such as Portuguese Nunez

and Paes, were centers of international commerce. The empire collapsed after

the battle of Talikota in 1565 when the city was ransacked by the confederacy of

Deccan sultans (Bidar, Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmednagar and Berar), thus

opening up southern India for Muslim conquest.

� The ruins are set in a strange and beautiful boulder strewn landscape with analmost magical quality. The undisputed highlight, the 16th century Vittala

Temple, is a World Heritage Monument. Started by Krishnadevaraya, it was

never finished or consecrated; its incredible sculptural work is the pinnacle of

Vijayanagar art. The outer pillars are known as musical pillars as they

reverberate when tapped. An ornate stone chariot in the temple courtyard

containing an image of Garuda.





CA VE

BHUTBHUT

ANAT ANAT

HAHATEMPTEMP

AL AL



� Badami lies at the foot of a rugged, red sandstone outcrop that

surrounds Agastya Tirtha tank (an artificial lake) on three

sides. It was founded by Pulakesin I of the Chalukya dynasty.

Once the capital of the Chalukyas, Badami, called Vatapi back

then, is best known today for its rock-cut cave temples. Thecaves, sculpted in the 6th and 7th centuries CE, depict Hindu,

Buddhist and Jain iconography. Cave 1 is devoted to Shiva,

caves 2 and 3 are dedicated to Vishnu, and cave 4 displays

reliefs of Jain Tirthankaras. A natural cave nearby is

dedicated to the Buddha. Carvings of Hindu Gods are strewnacross the area in other caverns and on boulders. Two

Bhutanatha temples stand facing the lake. Together, these

monuments represent the early styles and stages of south

Indian temple architecture.

CHALUKYA EMPIRECHALUKYA EMPIRE





� Khajuraho is a famous tourist and archaeological site known for its

sculptured temples dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu, and Jain patriarchs.

Khajuraho was one of the capitals of the Chandela kings, who from the

9th to the 11th century CE developed a large realm, which at its height

included almost all of what is now Madhya Pradesh state. Khajuraho

extended over 21 sq. km and contained about 85 temples built by

multiple rulers from about 950 to 1050. In the late 11th century the

Chandela, in a period of chaos and decline, moved to hill forts

elsewhere. Khajuraho continued its religious importance until the 14th

century (Ibn Batuta was impressed by it) but was afterwards largely

forgotten; its remoteness probably saved it from the desecration thatMuslim conquerors generally inflicted on Hindu monuments. In 1838 a

British army captain, TS Burt, employed by the Asiatic Society in

Calcutta, came upon information that led him to the rediscovery of the

complex of temples in the jungle in Khajuraho.

KHAJURAHOKHAJURAHO



� Of the 85 original temples-most constructed of hard river sandstone-

about 20 are still reasonably well preserved. Both internally and

externally the temples are richly carved with excellent sculptures

that are frequently sensual and, at times, sexually explicit. The

temples are divided into three complexes-the western is the largestand best known, containing the magnificent Shaivite temple

Kandariya Mahadev, a 31m high agglomeration of porches and

turrets culminating in a spire. Modern Khajuraho is a small village,

serving the tourist trade with hotels and an airport. Khajuraho's

name derives from the prevalence of khajur, or date palms, in the

area.

KHAJURAHOKHAJURAHO





� Nalanda was a famous Buddhist monastery and university. The region's

traditional history dates to the time of the Buddha and Mahavira (6th-5th cent.

BCE). Nagarjuna, it is said, studied there. Excavations by the Archaeological

Survey of India (ASI) reveal that the monasteries belong to the Gupta period (5th

cent. CE), now considered the beginning of Nalanda University, where subjects

like theology, grammar, logic, philosophy, metaphysics, astronomy, and

medicine were taught. The Gupta kings were a major patron of Nalanda, as was

Harshavardhana, the powerful 7th-century ruler of Kannauj. During his reign,

the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang visited Nalanda and left a vivid account of the

curriculum and of the general features of the community. I-ching, another

pilgrim a generation later, also left an account of the life of the monks.

� Between 8th-12th cent., Nalanda flourished under the Pala dynasty as a centre of

learning and the arts (stone and bronze sculpture in particular), even as

Buddhism began a broad decline in India. Nalanda was put to a brutal and

decisive end by Bakhtiyar Khilji, a Turkish invader (c. 1200), who is said to have

looted and burned the monastery and killed its senior monks. Local legend has it

that the three libraries of Nalanda were so large that they burned for six months.

KHAJURAHOKHAJURAHO



� 10,000 monks and 1,500 teachers once inhabited Nalandain 108 monasteries, which often had two or more floors.Excavations have revealed a row of ten monasteries of oblong red bricks; each has rooms (single or doubleoccupancy, with wooden doors back then) lining foursides of a courtyard, a main entrance on one side, and ashrine facing the entrance in the courtyard. A row of larger shrines, or stupas, in brick and plaster, stand infront of the monasteries. Teachers lived among thestudents in each monastery, other common features of which include a podium for lectures, a communal brick

oven, a bathroom, a water well (often with octagonalcross-section, supposedly inspired by the Eightfold Path).

KHAJURAHOKHAJURAHO





STUPA STUPA

YA KSHI YA KSHIEastern gateEastern gate



� A UNESCO world heritage site in central India near the BetwaRiver. On a flat-topped sandstone hill, 90m above thecountryside, stands the best-preserved group of Buddhistmonuments in India. Most noteworthy is the Great Stupa,discovered in 1818. It was probably begun by the emperor

A oka in the mid-3rd century BCE and later enlarged. Solidthroughout, it is enclosed by a massive stone railing pierced

by four gateways on which are elaborate carvings depictingthe life of the Buddha. The stupa itself consists of a basebearing a hemispherical dome representing the dome of heaven enclosing the Earth; it is surmounted by a squared railunit, the world mountain, from which rises a mast to symbolizethe cosmic axis. The mast bears umbrellas that represent the

various heavens. Other remains include several smallerstupas, an assembly hall (caitya), an A okan pillar withinscription, and several monasteries (4th-11th cent. CE).Several relic baskets and more than 400 epigraphical recordshave also been discovered.

SANCHI STUPA SANCHI STUPA





Cave 26 sculptureCave 26 sculpture

Cave 19Cave 19 stupastupa



� Ajanta, a UNESCO world heritage site, is famous forits Buddhist rock-cut cave temples and monasteries with their extraordinary wall paintings. The templesare hollowed out of granite cliffs on the inner side of a

20-meter ravine in the Wagurna River valley, 105 kmnortheast of A urangabad, at a site of great scenicbeauty. A bout 30 caves were excavated between the1st century BCE and the 7th century CE and are of two types, caityas ("sanctuaries") and viharas("monasteries"). A lthough the sculpture, particularly

the rich ornamentation of the caitya pillars, isnoteworthy, it is the fresco-type paintings that are thechief interest of Ajanta. These paintings depictcolorful Buddhist legends and divinities with anexuberance and vitality that is unsurpassed in Indian

art.

AJANTHA C AVE AJANTHA C AVE





The cave temples of Ellora, a UNESCO world heritage site , are the pinnacle of

Deccan rock cut architecture. Over five centuries, generations of Buddhist,

Hindu and Jain monks carved chapels, monasteries, and temples from a 2 km

long escarpment and decorated them with a profusion of sculptures of remarkable imagination and detail. In all there are 34 caves at Ellora: 12

Buddhist (600-800 CE), 17 Hindu (600-900 CE) and 5 Jain (800-1000 CE). Ellora

represents the renaissance of Hinduism under the Chalukya and Rashtrakuta

dynasties, the subsequent decline of Indian Buddhism, and a brief resurgence

of Jainism under official patronage. The sculpture shows the increasing

influence of Tantric elements in India's three great religions, and their

coexistence at one site indicates a prolonged period of religious tolerance.The masterpiece of Ellora is the Kailasa Temple, one of the most audacious

feats of architecture ever conceived. Dedicated to Shiva, it is the world's largest

monolithic sculpture, hewn from the rock by 7000 laborers over a 150 year

period. Attributed to king Krishna I of the Rashtrakuta dynasty c. 760 AD, the

idea was not only to build an enormous and fantastically carved representation

of Mt. Kailasa, Shiva's home in the Himalaya, but to create it from a single

piece of stone by first cutting three huge trenches into the rock of the Ellora cliff

face and then 'releasing' the shape of the temple using hammers and chisels.

Of overwhelming scale, it covers twice the area of the Parthenon in Athens, is 1-

1/2 times as high, and entailed removing 200,000 tons of rock. Around the

temple are a variety of dramatic and finely carved panels, depicting scenes

from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the life of Krishna.



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Lost Cities of India