Bharhut
Village located in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, central India.
- Bharhut85 related topics
Sanchi
Buddhist complex, famous for its Great Stupa, on a hilltop at Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the State of Madhya Pradesh, India.
Bharhut is 300 km to the northeast.
Shunga Empire
Ancient Indian dynasty from Magadha that controlled areas of the central and eastern Indian subcontinent from around 185 to 73 BCE.
Art, education, philosophy, and other forms of learning flowered during this period including small terracotta images, larger stone sculptures, and architectural monuments such as the stupa at Bharhut, and the renowned Great Stupa at Sanchi.
Stupa
Mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as śarīra – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation.
In effect, many stupas are thought to date originally from the time of Ashoka, such as Sanchi or Kesariya, where he also erected pillars with his inscriptions, and possibly Bharhut, Amaravati or Dharmarajika in Gandhara.
Indian Museum, Kolkata
Ninth oldest museum in the world, the oldest and largest museum in India.
The large collection of ancient and medieval Indian artifacts include the complete railings and gateways of the Buddhist stupa from Bharhut (the bare stupa is still at Bharhut, near Satna, MP).
Jataka tales
The Jātakas (meaning "Birth Story", "related to a birth") are a voluminous body of literature native to South Asia which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form.
Some of the earliest such illustrations can be found at Sanchi and Bharhut.
Indian art
Indian art consists of a variety of art forms, including painting, sculpture, pottery, and textile arts such as woven silk.
Some key sites are Sanchi, Bharhut and Amaravati, some of which remain in situ, with others in museums in India or around the world.
Alexander Cunningham
British Army engineer with the Bengal Engineer Group who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India.
Other major works included the first volume of Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum (1877) which included copies of the edicts of Ashoka, The Stupa of Bharhut (1879) and the Book of Indian Eras (1883) which allowed the dating of Indian antiquities.
Dharmachakra
Widespread symbol used in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and especially Buddhism.
In the Buddhist Art at early sites such as Bharhut and Sanchi, the dharmachakra was often used as a symbol of Gautama Buddha himself.
Art of Mathura
The Art of Mathura refers to a particular school of Indian art, almost entirely surviving in the form of sculpture, starting in the 2nd century BCE, which centered on the city of Mathura, in central northern India, during a period in which Buddhism, Jainism together with Hinduism flourished in India.
Before the creation of an image of the Buddha, probably around the 1st century CE, Indian Buddhist art, as seen in Bharhut or Sanchi, had essentially been aniconic, avoiding representation of the Buddha, but rather relying on its symbols, such as the Wheel of the Law or the Bodhi tree.
Gautama Buddha
Ancient Indian philosopher, ascetic and spiritual teacher of South Asia who lived during the latter half of the first millennium BCE.
"Sakamuni" is also mentioned in the reliefs of Bharhut, dated to c. 100 BCE, in relation with his illumination and the Bodhi tree, with the inscription Bhagavato Sakamunino Bodho ("The illumination of the Blessed Sakamuni").