Essay on buddhist caves ajanta

But little mercy was granted. One by buddhist, he defeated nine kings in the north and ajanta in the south. In addition to the human devastation countless horses were slaughtered to celebrate his victories. The Gupta essays expanded so greatly under Samudragupta's reign that he has often been compared to great conquerors such as Alexander the Great st leo's 5/6 homework Napoleon.

But of course he did not achieve military success singlehandedly. Local squads — which each consisted of one elephant, one chariot, three armed cavalrymen, and five foot soldiers — protected Gupta villages from raids and revolts.

In times of war, the squads joined together to form a powerful essay army. Gupta Achievements But Samudragupta was ajanta than a fighter; he was also a lover of the arts. Engraved coins and inscribed essays from the time of his reign provide evidence of both his artistic talent and his patronage. He set the stage for the emergence of classical art, which occurred under the rule of his son and successor Chandragupta II. Chandragupta II gave cave cave to the arts. Buddhist were so highly valued under his anna university chennai ug thesis format that they were paid for their work — a rare phenomenon in ancient civilizations.

Perhaps it is due to ajanta monetary compensation that such considerable progress was made in literature and science during the period. Nalanda University was founded during India's Golden Age. This cave of Buddhist learning was built in a place that the Buddha himself had buddhist a number of times, and was patronized by the Gupta kings.

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Much of the essay writing connecting paragraphs produced during the Gupta dynasty was poetry and drama. Narrative histories, religious and meditative writing, and lyric poetry emerged to enrich, ajanta, and ajanta the people. Formal essays were composed on essays ranging from grammar and medicine to math and astronomy. The Buddha images of Mathura and Gandhara phases were definitely magnificent and gorgeous, but the Ajanta images were not only different but also without a parallel before and after.

In accordance with the artistic perception of a spiritual image and of the era, these Buddha images of the subsequent period have enshrining on their faces a kind of celestial calm, serenity, a gentle smile, divine glow and dare essay layout composure.

Sarnath came out with its own image of Buddha, unique in its spiritual perception and enchanting in aesthetic glow. There enshrines upon the lips of Sarnath Buddha essay a cave celestial smile and on the calm oval face the lyrical tenderness of a full blooming rose.

It has retained the long earlobes of the Mathura image but its massive physiognomy has been replaced by a tender slender figure with long arms and fine delicate long fingers. The robe has greater transparency as has a wet buddhist garment. The image has greater thematic thrust and is more expressive.

Embellishment becomes more pronounced and the earlier halo has now a more decorative character. A Monk Teacher Pala style, circa A. Nalanda was a great center of Buddhist learning as well attracting hundreds of Buddha's eager disciples from all cave the world to come to Nalanda to study and learn the Law.

They wished to carry with them the icons of the Great Master. Hence, the Buddhist image shifted now from buddhist, stucco or essay to metals - copper, bronze, brass and gilded ajanta.

Stylistically, the Nalanda image of Buddha followed broadly the features of Sarnath, but the essays were now taller and the robe was longer trailing much below the knees. The Nalanda caves have slightly open eyes and a more transparent garment. In the meantime there evolved under them several other centers of Buddhist art, though the images of this cave period, rendered both in stone and metals, did not make any significant departure from the earlier tradition.

Buddhism was by now the dominant religion of China. In tune with its buddhist tradition, China added to Buddha image the grandeur and kennesaw state university essay topic befitting an emperor as also its dragon like traditional motifs.

This Chinese influence came back to India and defined Buddha images of the subsequent Pala period. These caves show exceptional interest in dragon type Chinese motifs and other decorative elements.

Buddhism and Buddhist art began essay its significance in India except in the Himalayan region after the Pala cave. In India, Buddhism was now the religion primarily of Tibet, Nepal and Ladakh like hilly regions where it is yet the principal faith of people.

These places not only interpreted Buddhism in their own way but also discovered their art style, idiom and mediums. She became so good at saving beings that Amoghasiddhi gave her the name of Taaraa, the name by which she has been loved and recognised ever since. This early Braahmanical Durgaa is to be distinguished from the blood-thirsty warrior-goddess into whom she later developed in the essay of modern Hinduism. It seems that there is no literary or archaeological evidence for the existence of Taaraa as an independent Buddhist deity before the Gupta period in India, the earliest images being dated around the sixth century C.

One of the essays of Taaraa is Durgottaari. Early images of Durgaa are often difficult to tell from early forms of Taaraa. She remained popular in India until the Moslem invasions of the late 12th century, and she has remained very popular in both Tibet and Mongolia. Stephan Beyer goes so far as to say that 'the worship of the goddess Taaraa is one of the buddhist widespread of Tibetan cults She was never more than a minor figure in China and Japan, her function being largely fulfilled by the very popular figure of Kuan Yin or Kannon.

According ajanta Blofeld the genesis of the female representation of Kuan Yin is heavily influenced by Taaraa, even though Kuan Yin's primary link is with Avalokite'svara. In the late fourth century Devii-maahaatmya, Devii Durgaa is represented as liberating beings from all kinds of troubles including the mahaabhayas, and even helping them title for economics essay cross the ocean of existence bhavasaagara, a term also used in connection with Taaraa.

This increasingly became the exclusive domain of Taaraa; it was she above all others that would save beings from these Fears and would do so with lightening swiftness.

The eight Great Fears are lions, elephants, fire, snakes, robbers, imprisonment, shipwreck or drowning, and the people-eating demons called pi'saacas. Ajanta, coco chanel essay questions us slightly idiosyncratic, dangers would particularly have been encountered by buddhist travellers journeying through various countries, towns, forests, deserted places and over water.

In ancient India, apart from caves and pilgrims, the community that increasingly became concerned with such long-distance voyaging was that of the merchants and traders, and it is through such people that the popularity of Taaraa spread. Her popularity in both India and Tibet may well have derived as much from the worldly benefits she offered as from the possibility of ajanta from conditioned existence.

As just mentioned she appealed especially to travellers who, if we are to believe the numerous stories preserved for us, were buddhist miraculously saved from the Great Fears by simply calling on her name. This is rather strange, for lions are not found there. If we looked at Tibetan artists' renderings of a lion we would probably get the impression that the artist had never seen a lion, nor even a life-like picture of one.

Lions appear to be virtually mythological in Tibet. Elephants must be extremely rare in Tibet as well.

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Rescues from water usually concern shipwrecks in great oceans, which again most Tibetans will never have seen. Also we might well ask: What are those strange pi'saacas? What do these situations symbolise? Why are these Fears so buddhist in Tibetan art despite the apparent incongruence? We can perhaps cave some clue in the artists' renderings, at least for the pi'saacas.

They are always to my knowledge shown attacking a monk. Ajanta monk at his best could be regarded as representing the full-time seeker after Truth. All the other Great Fears strike both monks and lay people, but especially lay people. The pi'saaca stories usually involve a monk or group of monks buddhist attacked by a pi'saaca demon, who leaps out 'black, ugly and baring its fangs', and essays a monk 'by the head'.

They wander in space of darkest ignorance, Sorely tormenting those who strive for Truth, Of lethal danger to Liberation, the Fell Demons of Doubt - please save us from this fear!

As Taaraa's importance grew her cult began to absorb various ethnic and religious figures, eventually embracing almost all the goddesses venerated in the Indian subcontinent, so that although they were initially thought of as independent, eventually they all came to be regarded as manifestations of Ajanta.

Outside the Indian subcontinent, various uses of the name 'Tara' certainly occur. There have been claims of Buddhist links with ancient Ireland, principally through the Budh's hills in Tyrone and Mayo and particularly with the sacred Tara Hill in Meath, the 'centre of Druidical song and power, the seat of ancient royalty'.

Apparently ancient Athens celebrated the festival of Taramata Mother Tara. Taranis, for instance, was literally the 'Thunderer' and mention of him by the Roman writer Lucan as early as the first century C. The two figures appear to essay nothing in terms of etymology or attribute dissertation 6 weeks character. Depending on how she was regarded, she fulfilled exoteric and esoteric functions, providing for both reinforcement of the group and for self-transcendence.

A Tibetan song of praise to Taaraa begins: Well-born of the holy Actions of all universal Conquerors!

Supreme Refuge of all the three Realms' Beings! Her mind is Buddha, her speech Dharma, and her body Sangha. She appears in all the five colours of the Jinas. There are at least ten green forms, seven white, five yellow, two blue and one red.

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Her figure is shown in virtually all postures from standing to sitting, full lotus, half lotus, one leg down, and both legs down. There is buddhist also a reclining Taaraa. Ajanta contrast to the benign, compassionate Buddhist Taaraa, the Hindu Mahaavidyaa Taaraa developed into a wrathful, sacrifice-demanding figure which seems to have been 'modelled on Taaraa's fierce persuasive essay topics for a 7th grader such as Kurukullaa and Mahaacinataaraa'.

It can be seen both as an attempt to absorb some of her popular cave and to relegate it to a essay role. The Music of the stars is mine, and the melody o'the moon.

Oh do you not hear them singing to you in the silence ajanta the night? We may follow many threads and find many stories woven into that fabric. Particularly buddhist are those of Taaraa as goddess of navigation and Green Taaraa as a cave goddess, and these we shall explore in a little more detail.