Indian History Questions

A stupa is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics that is used as a place of meditation.Buddhist sources claim that during the 3rd century BCE, the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka the Great ordered these eight stupas to be opened, further distributed the relics of the Buddha into 84,000 portions, and had stupas built over them all over the expanding Buddhist world.They were located on trade routes in order to propagate Buddhism.However, there were no evidence of them being located in rural areas.

The contents of the Mahavamsa can be broadly divided into four categories:

The Buddha's Visits to Ceylon: This material recounts three legendary visits by the Buddha to the island of Ceylon.

Chronicles of Kings of Ceylon: This material consists of genealogies and lineages of kings of Ceylon, sometimes with stories about their succession or notable incidents in their reigns

History of the Buddhist Sangha: This section of the Mahavamsa deals with the mission sent by Emperor Ashoka to Ceylon, the transplantation of the bodhi tree, and the founding of the Mahavihara. It includes the names of prominent monks and nuns in the early Sri Lankan sangha. It also includes accounts of the early Buddhist councils and the first recording of the Pali canon in writing.

Chronicles of Ceylon: This material begins with the immigration of King Vijaya from India with his retinue and continues until the reign of King Mahasena, recounting wars, succession disputes, building of stupas and reliquaries, and other notable incidents.

Abul Fazl placed Mughal kingship as the highest station in the hierarchy of objects receiving light emanating from God (farr-i izadi). Abul Fazl was inspired by a famous Iranian Sufi, Shihabuddin Suhrawardi who first developed this idea. According to this idea, there was a hierarchy in which the Divine Light was transmitted to the king who then became the source of spiritual guidance for his subjects.

Dasara Dibba or the Mahanavami Dibba is a beautiful stone platform located within the Royal Enclosure of Hampi. It was built during the Vijayanagara period by King Krishnadevaraya to commemorate his victory over Udaygiri. It was here where the King of Vijayanagar used to celebrate the festival of Dasara (Dussehra)

The Phoenix Settlement, established by Gandhiji near Durban in 1904, was formally reopened on February 27, 2000, at a ceremony attended by the President of South Africa, the Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini and many other leaders.The settlement -the first Ashram of Gandhiji -had been damaged in 1985 riots when some African squatters occupied much of the settlement and named it Bambayi. Though the Indian community was deeply distressed, it refrained from seeking the forcible eviction of the squatters. The Phoenix Settlement Trust, with financial assistance from the Government of India, recently restored Gandhiji's house and established aclinic, an HIV/Aids Centre and other facilities to serve all the people in the area, African and Indian

According to Gandhiji, A sound body means one which bends itself to the spirit and is always a ready instrument at its service. Such bodies are not made, in my opinion, on the football field. They are made on cornfields and farms.

The Nalayira Divya Prabandham is a collection of 4,000 Tamil verses composed by the 12 Alvars and was compiled in its present form by Nathamunigal during the 9th -10th centuries. These were sung by the Alwars indevotional estacy in varrious shirineas of Vishnu, made famous as Magalashasana sthalas.

Ginans are devotional hymns or poems recited by Shia Ismaili Muslims.Although ginanscan be recited, studied, and listened to by non-Nizari Ismailis, ginans hold a special role in the cultural practice and rituals of Nizari Ismailis, specifically the community of Khojas, a caste of south asians of whom the majority now identify as Nizari Ismaili.