A 5th century Ganesha statue found in Gardez, Afghanistan

A 5th century Ganesha statue found in Gardez, Afghanistan, now at Dargah Pir Rattan Nath.
IndianHistory 
Hinduism Mother of all civilization and oldest human civilization...Balochistan.

Vishnu's avatar Mohini has been uncovered in Bangladesh

Hindu god Vishnu's only female avatar Mohini has been uncovered in Bangladesh

Temple, unique goddess idol unearthed in Bangladesh.

A full-scale excavation by a JU archaeology team, with funding from the Cultural Affairs Ministry and the University Grants Commission, has been going on the site for the last 3 months
An at least 800-years-old temple has been unearthed in Dinajpur’s Kaharol that has a unique architecture and includes a unique idol, that of the Vishnu avatar Mohini.

This goddess is well-known across South and West India, but the Kaharol temple is the first of its kind discovered in the eastern subcontinent. Experts say the implications of this finding may change predominant ideas about the region’s history and traditions.

A Jahangirnagar University archaeology team began survey in Madhabgaon of Dabor Union in April this year and found the temple. A full-scale excavation funded by the Cultural Affairs Ministry and the University Grants Commission has been going on for the last three months.

Madhabgaon temple’s architecture contains a feature called Navarath, sets of nine facets on all four sides. In fact this temple contains two additional sub-facets, or Uparath, behind each outermost facet.

This is the only such temple in Bangladesh, the team said. It is characteristic of Kalinga architecture of the 11th and 12th century eastern India.

Apart from the unique Mohini idol, excavators have also found a Shankha in Vishnu’s hand, a Sudarshana Chakra, a mace and a part of a Vishnu idol’s foot adorned in garland.

The excavation team’s workers include 13 veterans of the Mahasthangarh archaeological site as well as 26 locals. The 10 archaeology students from JU are engaged in drawing up the design of the temple that can be used in future research.

Excavation team chief JU Assistant Professor Dr Shadhin Sen said the temple is divided into two parts. There is a 12 by 12 metre chamber on the west side where worship was possibly held.

“This is the first Navarath temple in Bangladesh. Earlier a Pancharath [five-faceted] temple was found in Dinajpur’s Nababganj,” he said.

The team had spoken to Indian archaeologist Dipak Ranjan Das who had remarked that the upper portion of the temple was similar to the Siddheswara Shiva temple in Bankura, West Bengal.

Claudine Bautze-Picron, an expert of East Indian iconography, has identified the idol recovered from the eastern part of the temple as that of Mohini, the Vishnu Avatar, he said.

“According to her this is the first stone-made Mohini idol in the eastern subcontinent, which leads us to reconsider the history of this region.”

In Hindu mythology, Mohini is the only female Avatar of the god Vishnu, who appears in the Samudra Manthan myth. The goddess is worshiped widely in South and West India.

After excavation, photography and documentation, the team will cover the temple with soil once again for its preservation, a standard practice for archaeological preservation. But locals have demanded that the temple be opened to the public.

Dr Sen said this would require preservation and maintenance by the Archaeology Department. Madhabgaon residents have filed an application with the government for the approval.

Legendary Six Pagodas of Mahabalipuram Has Been Discovered

Incredible India: Legendary Six Pagodas of Mahabalipuram Has Been Discovered

"Seven Pagodas" has served as a nickname for the south Indian city of Mahabalipuram, also called Mamallapuram, since the first European explorers reached it. The phrase "Seven Pagodas" refers to a myth that has circulated in India, Europe, and other parts of the world for over eleven centuries. Mahabalipuram’s Shore Temple, built in the 8th century CE under the reign of Narasimhavarman II, stands at the shore of the Bay of Bengal. Legend has it that six other temples once stood with it

The ruins of a temple were glimpsed during the 2004 Asian Tsunami when the shoreline receded in Mamallapuram (also known as Mahabalipuram), India. More than 10 years later, divers and scientists have confirmed the existence of at least one ancient temple and the possibility of many more constructions off the Indian coast.

According to the Times of India, when the shoreline receded during the tsunami, people saw a long row of granite boulders emerge from the sea. Following that event, a group of scientists began their expeditions off Mamallapuram’s coastline.

These explorations of the site have provided evidence for the theory of some legendary structures – known as the ‘Seven Pagodas of Mahabalipuram’ in this area. Of the seven temples, only one - the Shore Temple, remains visible on the coast today. However, the divers have confirmed what eyewitnesses saw during the tsunami -the waters cover the vestiges of an ancient port. Underwater explorations of the historic town of Mamallapuram, near Chennai (old Madras), will continue.
A group from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) found the remains. Until now, the group of the 10-member team, including the geologists, archaeologists, and divers, have found a 10m (32.8 ft) long wall, a short flight of stairs, and chiseled stone blocks scattered on the seabed. The structures were found 800m (2624.7 ft) from the shoreline at a depth of nearly 8.5m (27.9 ft).

The expedition was led by Rajiv Nigam, the head of the marine archeology unit of NIO. He told the Times of India that the divers found it difficult to identify many of the structures as they were covered with thick aquatic growth. He also explained to the same source that “Some of them are badly damaged due to strong underwater currents and swells.

As for the date of the structures, Nigam said that they believe they are about 1,100-1,500 years old, but ''We also found some brick structures, which were sighted more during the Sangam period (300 BC- 200 AD).

From the Gujarat experience, we know the sea level around 3,500 years ago was lower than what we see now. But 6,000 years ago it was higher. We wanted to see if the pattern is the same at other costs.''
The NIO also worked in 2001 in another underwater site, the 9,000-year old town in the Gulf of Cambay (Khambhat) near Gujarat. The remains of a huge lost city were located about 36 meters (120 feet) under the water. The city is 8 km (5 miles) long, and 3.5 km (2 miles) wide. It is believed to be the oldest known remains of a city in the subcontinent.
The main tool which helped in discovering the city was a side scan sonar, which sends a beam of sound waves down to the bottom of the ocean. The artifacts discovered underwater, including pottery, sections of walls, beads, sculptures, and human remains, allowed the team to confirm that the city as 9000 or even 9500 years old.

With the advances in modern technology and also the increasing number of archaeologists who search for ancient underwater sites, many sunken buildings had been discovered recently. Some of the sites were made only a few decades ago, but they still hold many secrets.

Japan.s past before communism was Hinduism

In the Iwase Bunko Depository Library lies a document called Hyouryuukishuu, which is translated as the ‘Tales of Castaways’. - On February 22, 1803, near the J...apanese village of Harashagahama, a strange craft, having 5 - 6m (16 - 20ft) in diameter and 3m (9ft 10in) in height, was washed ashore. The bottom of the craft was metallic and strong, while the top was made of a crystal-like material, making it possible to look straight inside it. This created a stir in the village and people rushed down to see the unusual object. This object became known as "Utsuro-bune" (Japanese for the “Hollow ship”). Looking inside the craft, the villagers were astounded to see a beautiful, young woman. They have estimated her age to be around 18 - 20 y/o, her height around 5 shaku (1,51m or 4ft 11in) and she was unlike any woman they have ever seen before: she had pink-pale skin and red eyebrows and hair. Her clothing was unfamiliar in style and was made from fabrics they had never seen before. She spoke a foreign language, which the villagers were not able to understand or identify. Inside the craft, the villagers saw a series of strange symbols/writing, which they had replicated (left side of drawing): The woman was holding in her arms a mysterious box (60cm in length), and allowed nobody to touch it. The villagers thought that the woman may be a foreign princess, who was banished by her family because she was caught cheating on her noble husband. And because she was so protective about her box, they thought that it may contain the severed head of the man she loved (often done in Japan during that time). Fearing repressions from the Japanese government, the villagers decided to put her back into the ship, and push the vessel back into the sea.

There are other written records and drawings from the early 1800’s of this story and craft which leads us to believe the story is true. There are some people say this was a UFO craft but more likely explanation is that it was from a more advanced culture on earth that is now gone or hidden. This story would be like a primitive tribe during the world war in 1944 seeing an airplane for the first time; they thought it was Gods going from the sky.
ancient-code

Taj Mahal and its Hindu Origin-Why world was duped!!!!

Taj Mahal is original Shiva Temple-

Kedareshwar cave temple (Ahmednagar)- Ancient prediction concealed in four columns

Kedareshwar cave temple (Ahmednagar) - an ancient prediction concealed in four columns

Kedareshwar cave temple is a small but very unusual shrine located in an underground cavern (on the banks of a sacred river known under the name Malganga) at Harishchandragad fort that is situated in Ahmednagar district.

This holy place is most remarkable and popular for its lingam (12 feet high Shiv ling) - a symbol of Lord Shiva, placed in the center upon a circular base that is surrounded by four stone columns and ice - cold water (4 feet deep).

According to the Indian legends, each of these columns is a queer representation of the four periods of development of the world within a four age cycle - the four Yugas, namely Satya Yuga (सत्य युग - epoch of truth), Treta Yuga (त्रेता युग - age of morality), Dwapar Yuga (aeon of understanding, love, mercy, kindness and truthfulness) and Kali Yuga (कलियुग - characterized as the era of darkness, vice and lies * this Yuga is our present time).

The duration of each Yuga decreases from the previous to the next (amount of years is shortened - they have a different length of time) - moral qualities such as knowledge, truth and goodness are reduced and negative virtues such as ignorance and evil increase.
Taken together, the four Yugas form a Mahayuga and seventy-one Mahayugas form a Manvantara - it is claimed that Manvantara is the period of the first man and legislator - Manu. Each Manvantara has its own king of the Devas - Indra, its specific Manu, its several deities and seven sages.

Fourteen Manvantaras create a Kalpa, after which the whole world approaches to its periodic destruction called Pralaya. The Yuga is regarded as a certain era or epoch, before which there is a period of twilight - Sandhi and after that a period of partial twilight - Sandhyansa.

There is a belief which states that at the end of each Yuga one of the columns breaks off - now there is only one pillar that is still intact - the one of Kali Yuga. The people in India believe that when this final pillar breaks, then the end of the world will come to pass. The walls of the cave are enriched with beautiful stone sculptures and various wall carvings depicting mythological scenes.

Indian rock-cut architecture-Kailasha Temple

An Outstanding Indian Skill: Solid Rock Cut And Carvings, Great Architecture. The Best And Unique In The World.

Indian rock-cut architecture is more various and found in greater abundance than any other form of rock-cut architecture around the world. Rock-cut architecture is the practice of creating a structure by carving it out of solid natural rock. Rock that is not part of the structure is removed until the only rock left is the architectural elements of the excavated interior. Indian rock-cut architecture is mostly religious in nature.

There are more than 1,500 known rock cut structures in India. Many of these structures contain artwork of global importance, and most are adorned with exquisite stone carvings. These ancient and medieval structures represent significant achievements of structural engineering and craftsmanship.

In India, caves have long been regarded as places of sanctity. Caves that were enlarged or entirely man-made were felt to hold the same sanctity as natural caves. In fact, the sanctuary in all Indian religious structures, even free-standing ones, retains the same cave-like feeling of sacredness, being small and dark without natural light. The oldest rock-cut architecture is found in the Barabar caves, Bihar built around the 3rd century BC. Other early cave temples are found in the western Deccan, mostly Buddhist shrines and monasteries, dating between 100 BC and 170 AD. Originally, they were probably accompanied by wooden structures, which would have deteriorated over time. Historically, rock-cut temples have retained a wood-like theme in adornment; skilled craftsmen learned to mimic timber texture, grain, and structure. The earliest cave temples include the Bhaja Caves, the Karla Caves, the Bedse Caves, the Kanheri Caves, and some of the Ajanta Caves. Relics found in these caves suggest a connection between the religious and the commercial, as Buddhist missionaries often accompanied traders on the busy international trading routes through India. Some of the more sumptuous cave temples, commissioned by wealthy traders, included pillars, arches, and elaborate facades during the time maritime trade boomed between the Roman Empire and south-east Asia.

Although free standing structural temples were being built by the 5th century, rock-cut cave temples continued to be built in parallel. Later rock-cut cave architecture became more sophisticated as in the Ellora Caves, culminating ultimately in the monolithic Kailash Temple. Although cave temples continued to be built until the 12th century, rock-cut architecture became almost totally structural in nature, made from rocks cut into bricks and built as free standing constructions. Kailash was the last spectacular rock-cut excavated temple. There are also a number of rock reliefs, relief sculptures carved into rock faces, outside caves, or another sites.

The earliest caves employed by humans were natural caves used by local inhabitants for a variety of purposes, such as shrines and shelters. Evidence suggests that the caves were first occupied and altered during the Mesolithic period (6000 BC). Early examples included overhanging rock decorated with rock-cut designs. The Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, a World Heritage Site, are located on the edge of the Deccan Plateau, where dramatic erosion has left massive sandstone outcrops. The area's many caves and grottos have yielded primitive tools and decorative rock paintings, reflections of the ancient tradition of human interaction with the landscape.

When Buddhist missionaries arrived, they naturally gravitated to caves for use as temples and abodes, in accord with their religious ideas of asceticism and the monastic life. The Western Ghats topography, with its flat-topped basalt hills, deep ravines, and sharp cliffs, was suited to their cultural inclinations. The earliest of the Kanheri Caves were excavated in the 1st and 2nd centuries B.C., as were those at Ajanta, which were occupied continuously by Buddhist monks from 200 BCE to 650 AD. As the Buddhist ideology encouraged involvement in trade, monasteries often became stopovers for inland traders and provided lodging houses along trade routes. As mercantile and royal endowments grew, cave interiors became more elaborate, with interior walls decorated in paintings, reliefs, and intricate carvings. Facades were added to the exteriors while the interiors became designated for specific uses, such as monasteries (viharas) and worship halls (chaityas). Over the centuries, simple caves began to resemble free-standing buildings, needing to be formally designed and requiring highly skilled artisans and craftsmen to complete. Theses artisans had not forgotten their timber roots and imitated the nuances of a wooden structure and the wood grain in working with stone.

Badami Cave Temples - Sanctum sanctorum inside Cave No.1
Early examples of rock cut architecture are the Buddhist and Jain cave basadi, temples and monasteries, many with chandrashalas. The ascetic nature of these religions inclined their followers to live in natural caves and grottos in the hillsides, away from the cities, and these became enhanced and embellished over time. Although many temples, monasteries and stupas had been destroyed, by contrast cave temples are very well preserved as they are both less visible and therefore less vulnerable to vandalism as well as made of more durable material than wood and masonry. There are around 1200 cave temples still in existence, most of which are Buddhist. The residences of monks were called Viharas and the cave shrines, called Chaityas, were for congregational worship. The earliest rock-cut garbhagriha, similar to free-standing ones later, had an inner circular chamber with pillars to create a circumambulatory path (pradakshina) around the stupa and an outer rectangular hall for the congregation of the devotees.

The Ajanta Caves in Maharashtra, a World Heritage Site, are 30 rock-cut cave Buddhist temples carved into the sheer vertical side of a gorge near a waterfall-fed pool located in the hills of the Sahyadri mountains. Like all the locations of Buddhist caves, this one is located near main trade routes and spans six centuries beginning in the 2nd or 1st century B.C. A period of intense building activity at this site occurred under the Vakataka king Harisena between 460 and 478 A profuse variety of decorative sculpture, intricately carved columns and carved reliefs are found, including exquisitely carved cornices and pilaster. Skilled artisans crafted living rock to imitate timbered wood (such as lintels) in construction and grain and intricate decorative carving, although such architectural elements were ornamental and not functional in the classical sense.

Later many Hindu kings from southern India patronize many cave temples dedicated to Hindu gods and goddesses. One such prominent example of cave temple architecture are the Badami Cave Temples at Badami, the early Chalukya capital, carved out in the 6th century. There are four cave temples hewn from the sides of cliffs, three Hindu and one Jain, that contain carved architectural elements such as decorative pillars and brackets as well as finely carved sculpture and richly etched ceiling panels. Nearby are many small Buddhist cave shrines.

The Pallava architects started the carving of rock for the creation of a monolithic copies of structural temples. A feature of the rock-cut cave temple distribution until the time of the early Pallavas is that they did not move further south than Aragandanallur, with the solitary exception of Tiruchitrapalli on the south bank of the Kaveri River, the traditional southern boundary between north and south. Also, good granite exposures for rock-cut structures were generally not available south of the river.

A rock cut temple is carved from a large rock and excavated and cut to imitate a wooden or masonry temple with wall decorations and works of art. Pancha Rathas is an example of monolith Indian rock cut architecture dating from the late 7th century located at Mamallapuram, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ellora cave temple 16, the Kailash Temple, is singular in that it was excavated from the top down rather than by the usual practice of carving into the scarp of a hillside. The Kailash Temple was created through a single, huge top-down excavation 100 feet deep down into the volcanic basaltic cliff rock. It was commissioned in the 8th century by King Krishna I and took more than 100 years to complete. The Kailash Temple, or cave 16 as it is known at Ellora Caves located at Maharashtra on the Deccan Plateau, is a huge monolithic temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. There are 34 caves built at this site, but the other 33 caves, Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain, were carved into the side of the plateau rock. The effect of the Kailash Temple is that of a free-standing temple surrounded by smaller cave shrines carved out of the same black rock. The Kailash Temple is carved with figures of gods and goddesses from the Hindu Puranas, along with mystical beings like the heavenly nymphs and musicians and figures of good fortune and fertility. Ellora Caves is also a World Heritage Site.

There is no time line that divides the creation of rock-cut temples and free-standing temples built with cut stone as they developed in parallel. The building of free-standing structures began in the 5th century, while rock cut temples continued to be excavated until the 12th century.

en.wikipedia.org