Gandhi Circuit

Gandhi Circuit is started by Government of Gujarat to retrace the important places related to Mahatma Gandhi's life.

• Kirti Mandir, Porbandar : Birthplace of Gandhi. He was born in blue haveli which is now called as Kirti Mandir. It has been converted into all museum.
• Gandhi Ashram, Sabarmati : It was gandhi's home for several years. Now converted into a museum.
• Kaba Gandhi no Delo, Rajkot : Displays the pictorial tour of Gandhi's everyday routine.
• Gandhi Smriti, Bhavnagar : It is a memorial built in remembrance of Gandhi. it displays a collection of rare photographs.
• Dandi : Gandhi ended his his historic dandi march here by braking salt law.

How Buddhist texts were prepared and preserved

The Buddha (and other teachers) taught orally – through discussion and debate. Men and women (perhaps children as well) attended these discourses and discussed what they heard.

None of the Buddha’s speeches were written down during his lifetime. After his death (c fifth-fourth century BCE) his teachings were compiled by his disciples at a council of “elders” or senior monks at Vesali (Pali for Vaishali in present-day Bihar).

These compilations were known as Tipitaka – literally, three baskets to hold different types of texts. They were first transmitted orally and then written and classified according to length as well as subject matter.

The Vinaya Pitaka included rules and regulations for those who joined the sangha or monastic order;

the Buddha’s teachings were included in the Sutta Pitaka; and

the Abhidhamma Pitaka dealt with philosophical matters.

Each pitaka comprised a number of individual texts. Later, commentaries were written on these texts by Buddhist scholars.

As Buddhism travelled to new regions such as Sri Lanka, other texts such as the Dipavamsa (literally, the chronicle of the island) and Mahavamsa (the great chronicle) were written, containing regional histories of Buddhism.

Many of these works contained biographies of the Buddha. Some of the oldest texts are in Pali, while later compositions are in Sanskrit. When Buddhism spread to East Asia, pilgrims such as Fa Xian and Xuan Zang travelled all the way from China to India in search of texts. These they took back to their own country, where they were translated by scholars.

Indian Buddhist teachers also travelled to faraway places, carrying texts to disseminate the teachings of the Buddha.

Buddhist texts were preserved in manuscripts for several centuries in monasteries in different parts of Asia. Modern translations have been prepared from Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan texts.

Types of Marriages in ancient indian literature and society

Types of Marriages in ancient indian literature :

Endogamy refers to marriage within a unit – this could be a kin group, caste, or a group living in the same locality.

Exogamy refers to marriage outside the unit.

Polygyny is the practice of a man having several wives.

Polyandry is the practice of a woman having several husbands.

kanyadana or the gift of a daughter in marriage was an important religious duty of the father.

Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras recognised as many as eight forms of marriage. Of these, the first four were considered as “good” while the remaining were condemned.

Gotra : Each gotra was named after a Vedic seer, and all those who belonged to the same gotra were regarded as his descendants. Two rules about gotra were particularly important:

1. women were expected to give up their father’s gotra and adopt that of their husband on marriage and
2. members of the same gotra could not marry.

Major Periods in Early Indian Archaeology

2 million BP (BEFORE PRESENT)	Lower Palaeolithic
80000	Middle Palaeolithic
35000	Upper Palaeolithic
12000	Mesolithic
10000	Neolithic (early agriculturists and pastoralists)
6000	Chalcolithic (first use of copper)
2600 BCE	Harappan civilisation
1000 BCE	Early iron, megalithic burials
600 BCE - 400 CE	Early Historic

Rise of magadha

Magadha became the most important mahajanapada in about two hundred years. Many rivers such as the Ganga and Son flowed through Magadha. This was important for (a) transport, (b) water supplies (c) making the land fertile. Parts of Magadha were forested. Elephants, which lived in the forest, could be captured and trained for the army. Forests also provided wood for building houses, carts and chariots. Besides, there were iron ore mines in the region that could be tapped to make strong tools and weapons.

Magadha had two very power ful rulers, Bimbisara and Ajatasattu, who used all possible means to conquer other janapadas. Mahapadma Nanda was another important ruler. He extended his control up to the north-west part of the subcontinent. Rajagriha (present-day Rajgir) in Bihar was the capital of Magadha for several years. Later the capital was shifted to Pataliputra (present-day Patna).

A closer look of Inamgaon

Inamgaon is a site on the river Ghod, a tributary of the Bhima. It is a megalithic site. It was occupied between 3600 and 2700 years ago. Here,adults were generally buried in the ground, laid out straight, with the head towards the north. Sometimes burials were within the houses. Vessels that probably contained food and water were placed with the dead.

Archaeologists have found seeds of wheat, barley, rice, pulses, millets, peas and sesame. Bones of a number of animals, many bearing cut marks that show they may have been used as food, have also been found. These include cattle, buffalo, goat, sheep, dog, horse, ass, pig, sambhar, spotted deer, blackbuck, antelope, hare, and mongoose, besides birds, crocodile, turtle, crab and fish. There is evidence that fruits such as ber, amla, jamun, dates and a variety of berries were collected.

Some Important Dates in Ancient Indian History

Some Important Dates in Ancient Indian History

• Cotton cultivation at Mehrgarh (about 7000 years ago)
• Beginning of cities (about 4700 years ago)
• Beginning of the end of these cities (about 3900 years ago)
• The emergence of other cities (about 2500 years ago)

• Beginning of the composition of the Vedas (about 3500 years ago)
• Beginning of the building of megaliths (about 3000 years ago)
• Settlement at Inamgaon (between 3600 and 2700 years ago)
• Charaka (about 2000 years ago)

• New kinds of rajas (about 3000 years ago) 
• Mahajanapadas (about 2500 years ago)
• Alexander’s invasion, composition of the Digha Nikaya (about 2300 years ago)
• End of the ganas or sanghas (about 1500 years ago)

• Upanishadic thinkers, the Jaina teacher Mahavira and the
  Buddha (about 2500 years ago).
• Writing down of the Jaina texts (about 1500 years ago)
• Beginning of the Mauryan empire (more than 2300 years ago)
• Beginning of the use of iron in the subcontinent (about 3000 years ago)
• Increase in the use of iron, cities, punch marked coins (about 2500 years ago)
• Beginning of the composition of Sangam literature (about 2300 years ago)
• Settlement in Arikamedu (between 2200 and 1900 years ago)
  
  
  
   

Harappan towns in Gujarat

Harappan cities of Gujarat, India

City of Dholavira : located on Khadir Beyt in the Rann of Kutch. Dholavira was divided into three parts, and each part was surrounded with massive stone walls. There was also a large open area in the settlement. Large letters of the Harappan script that were carved out of white stone and perhaps inlaid in wood were found.

City of Lothal : stood beside a tributary of the Sabarmati, in Gujarat, close to the Gulf of Khambat. It was situated near areas where raw materials such as semi-precious stones were easily available. This was an important centre for
making objects out of stone, shell and metal. There was also a store house in the city. Many seals and sealings (the impression of seals on clay) were found in this storehouse. A dockyard was excavated at Lothal. This huge tank may have been used as a dockyard, where boats and ships came in from the sea and through the river channel. Goods were probably loaded and unloaded here.

The Earliest cities in subcontinent

The Earliest cities in subcontinent

These cities were found in the Punjab and Sind in Pakistan, and in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and the Punjab in India. Archaeologists have found a set of unique objects in almost all these cities: red pottery painted with designs in black, stone weights, seals, special beads, copper tools, and long stone blades.

A closer look of Mehrgarh

Beginning of settlement at Mehrgarh (about 8000 years ago). This site is located in a fertile plain, near the Bolan Pass, which is one of the most important routes into Iran. Mehrgarh was probably one of the places where women and men learnt to grow barley and wheat, and rear sheep and goats for the first time in this area. It is one of the earliest villages that we know about.

Archaeologists who excavated the site found evidence of many kinds of animal bones from the earliest levels. These included bones of wild animals such as the deer and pig. In later levels, they found more bones of sheep and goat, and in still later levels, cattle bones are most common, suggesting that this was the animal that was generally kept by the people.

Other finds at Mehrgarh include remains of square or rectangular houses. Each house had four or more compartments, some of which may have been used for storage. Several burial sites have been found at Mehrgarh. In one instance, the dead person was buried with goats, which were probably meant to serve as food in the next world.

Some important archaeological sites in India

Some important archaeological sites in India

Many sites were located near sources of water, such as rivers and lakes.

Bhimbetka (in present-day Madhya Pradesh).Some sites, known as habitation sites, are places where people lived. These include caves and rock shelters such as the one shown here. People chose these natural caves because they provided shelter from the rain, heat and wind. Natural caves and rock shelters are found in the Vindhyas and the Deccan plateau. These rock shelters are close to the Narmada valley.

Traces of ash have been found in Kurnool caves. This suggests that people were familiar with the use of fire.

A number of early Palaeolithic sites were found at Hungsi. At some sites, a large number of tools, used for all sorts of activities, were found. These were probably
habitation-cum factory sites.

Sites of grain and bones of domesticated animals

Grain and Bones	Sites
Wheat, barley, sheep, goat, cattle	Mehrgarh (in present day-Pakistan)
Rice, fragmentary animal bones	Koldihwa (in present-day Uttar Pradesh)
Rice, cattle (hoof marks on clay surface)	Mahagara (in present-day Uttar Pradesh)
Wheat and lentil	Gufkral (in present-day Kashmir)
Wheat and lentil, dog, cattle, sheep, goat, buffalo	Burzahom (in present-day Kashmir)
Wheat, green gram, barley, buffalo, ox	Chirand (in present-day Bihar)
Millet, cattle, sheep, goat, pig	Hallur (in present-day Andhra Pradesh)
Black gram, millet, cattle, sheep, pig	Paiyampalli (in present-day Andhra Pradesh)

Domestication of plants and animals

Domestication was a gradual process that took place in many parts of the world. It began about 12,000 years ago. Virtually all the plant and animal produce that we use as food today is a result of domestication. Some of the earliest plants to be domesticated were wheat and barley. The earliest domesticated animals include sheep and goat.

Amongst animals, those that are relatively gentle are selected for breeding. As a result, gradually, domesticated animals and plants become different from wild animals and plants.

Paleolitic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods

Palaeolithic period (old stone age): The Palaeolithic period extends from 2 million years ago to about 12,000 years ago. This long stretch of time is divided into the Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. This long span of time covers 99% of human history.

Mesolithic period (middle stone age): From 12,000 years to 10,000 ago. Stone tools found during this period are generally tiny, and are called microliths.

Neolithic period : from 10,000 years ago.

What are BC, AD, CE, BCE and BP ?

BC  stands for Before Christ

AD stands for Anno Domini meaning ‘in the year of the Lord’ (i.e. Christ).

Sometimes CE is used instead of AD and BCE instead of BC. The letters CE stand for ‘Common Era’ and BCE for ‘Before Common Era’.

BP stands for Before Present

The Kandhahar bi lingual inscription of Ashoka

The Kandhahar bi lingual inscription of Ashoka

This inscription was written in two different scripts and languages, Greek (top) and Aramaic (below), which were used in this area.