Lord Mahavir

Lord Mahavir was the twenty-fourth and the last Tirthankara of the Jain religion. According to Jain philosophy, all Tirthankaras were born as human beings but they have attained a state of perfection or enlightenment through meditation and self realization. They are the Gods of Jains. Tirthankaras are also known as Arihants or Jinas.
1. Tirthankara - One who establishes the four fold order (Monk, Nun, Layman, and Laywoman) of religion.
 2. Arihant - One who destroys his inner enemies like anger, greed, passion, ego, etc.
3. Jina - One who conquers his inner enemies like anger, greed, passion, ego, etc. The followers of Jina are known as Jains.
Mahavir was born in 599 B.C. as a prince in Bihar, India. At the age of 30, he left his family and royal household, gave up his worldly possessions, including clothing and become a monk.
He spent the next twelve years in deep silence and meditation to conquer his desires and feelings. He went without food for long periods. He carefully avoided harming or annoying other living beings including animals, birds, and plants. His ways of meditation, days of austerities, and mode of behavior furnish a beautiful example for monks and nuns in religious life. His spiritual pursuit lasted for twelve years. At the end he realized perfect perception, knowledge, power, and bliss. This realization is known as keval-jnana.
He spent the next thirty years travelling on bare feet around India preaching to the people the eternal truth he realized. He attracted people from all walks of life, rich and poor, kings and commoners, men and women, princes and priests, touchables and untouchables.
He organized his followers, into a four fold order, namely monk (Sadhu), nun (Sadhvi), layman (Shravak), and laywoman (Shravika). Later on they are known as Jains.
The ultimate objective of his teaching is how one can attain the total freedom from the cycle of birth, life, pain, misery, and death, and achieve the permanent blissful state of one's self. This is also known as liberation, nirvana, absolute freedom, or Moksha.
He explained that from eternity, every living being (soul) is in bondage of karmic atoms, that are accumulated by its own good or bad deeds. Under the influence of karma, the soul is habituated to seek pleasures in materialistic belongings and possessions. Which are the deep rooted causes of self-centered violent thoughts, deeds, anger, hatred, greed, and such other vices. These result in accumulating more karma.
He preached that right faith (samyak-darshana), right knowledge (samyak-jnana), and right conduct (samyak-charitra) together will help attain the liberation of one's self.
At the heart of right conduct for Jains lie the five great vows:
1. Nonviolence (Ahimsa) - not to cause harm to any living beings
  2.Truthfulness (Satya) - to speak the harmless truth only
3. Non-stealing (Asteya) - not to take anything not properly given
  4.Chastity (Brahmacharya) - not to indulge in sensual pleasure
5. Non-possession/Non-attachment (Aparigraha) - complete detachment from people, places, and material things.
Jains hold these vows at the center of their lives. The monks and nuns follow these vows strictly and totally, while the common people try to follow the vows as far as their life styles will permit.
At the age of 72 (527 B.C.), Lord Mahavir died and his purified soul left the body and achieved complete liberation. He became a Siddha, a pure consciousness, a liberated soul, living for ever in a state of complete bliss. On the night of his salvation, people celebrated the Festival of Lights (Dipavali) in his honor.

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THE TEACHINGS  OF  MAHAVIR

The spiritual power and moral grandeur of Mahavir's teachings impressed the masses. He made religion simple and natural, free from elaborate ritual complexities. His teachings reflected the popular impulse towards internal beauty and harmony of the soul.
His message of nonviolence (Ahimsa), truth (Satya), non-stealing (Achaurya), celibacy (Brahma-charya), and non-possession (Aparigraha) is full of universal compassion. He said that, "A living body is not merely an integration of limbs and flesh but it is the abode of the soul which potentially has perfect perception (Anant-darshana), perfect knowledge (Anant-jnana), perfect power (Anant-virya), and perfect bliss (Anant-sukha)." Mahavir's message reflects freedom and spiritual joy of the living being.
Mahavir was quite successful in eradicating from human intellect the conception of God as creator, protector, and destroyer. He also denounced the worship of gods and goddesses as a means of salvation. He taught the idea of supremacy of human life and stressed the importance of the positive attitude of life.
Lord Mahavir also preached the gospel of universal love, emphasizing that all living beings, irrespective of their size, shape, and form how spiritually developed or under-developed, are equal and we should love and respect them.
Jainism existed before Mahavir, and his teachings were based on those of his predecessors. Thus, unlike Buddha, Mahavir was more of a reformer and propagator of an existing religious order than the founder of a new faith. He followed the well established creed of his predecessor Tirthankara Parshvanath. However, Mahavir did reorganize the philosophical tenets of Jainism to correspond to his times. Lord Mahavir preached five great vows while Lord Parshva preached four great vows.
In the matters of spiritual advancement, as envisioned by Mahavir, both men and women are on an equal footing. The lure of renunciation and liberation attracted women as well. Many women followed Mahavir's path and renounced the world in search of ultimate happiness.
In a few centuries after Mahavir's nirvana, Jain religious order (Sangha) grew more and more complex. There were schisms on some minor points although they did not affect the original doctrines as preached by the Tirthankars. Later generations saw the introduction of ritualistic complexities which almost placed Mahavir and other Tirthankars on the throne of Hindu deities.
Idol Worship
The idols of twenty-four Tirthankaras in the temple are the same because they represent the quality and virtues of Tirthankaras not the physical body. However, at the bottom of each idol a unique symbol is placed to differentiate them. Lord Mahavir's idol is recognized by the symbol of a lion.
Prayer of Jain religion:
Every day Jains bow their heads and say their universal prayer, the Navkar-mantra. All good work and events start with this prayer of salutation and worship.
1. Namo Arihantanam: - I bow to the enlightened souls
  2.Namo Siddhanam: - I bow to the liberated souls
3. Namo Ayariyanam: - I bow to religious leaders
4. Namo Uvajjayanam: - I bow to religious teachers
 5.Namo Loe Savva Sahunam: - I bow to all monks of the world
 6.Eso Panch Namukkaro:   - These five salutations are capable of
Savva Pava Panasano:    destroying all the sins and this is
Mangalancha Savvesin    the first happiness among all forms
Padhamam Havai Mangalam:   of happiness.
In the above prayer, Jains do not ask for any favors or material benefits from their Gods, the Tirthankaras or from monks and nuns. They do not pray to a specific Tirthankara or monk by name. By saluting them, Jains receive the inspiration from the five benevolent for the right path of true happiness and total freedom from the misery of life.

AJATASHATRU

There is not a great deal known about Ajatashatru. What is known is that he became a King of Magadha and the adjoining areas by murdering his father,Seniya/Bimbisara. Also, he was a contemporary of Buddha, was a patron of the then-new religion of Buddhism, and he let the Sangha function in his Kingdom.

Some details of his life are given in the earliest Buddhist scriptures of the Pali Canon. In the Sutta, Gautama Buddha said that if Ajatasattu hadn't killed his father, he would have attained sotapannahood, a degree of enlightenment. But because he had killed his father he could not attain it. This is also recorded in the Buddhist scripture, the Contemplation Sutra.

Kingdom

He was a great warrior, who conquered 36 republican states surrounding his kingdom and firmly established the predominance of Magadha in Eastern India. The most important war waged by Ajatashatru to gain supremacy over his neighbours was that with the powerful Lichchhavi Republic, ruled democratically by a group of noblemen.They had a powerful leader in Chetaka, in whom Ajatashatru found a formidable adversary. So strong was the Lichchhavi republic that Buddha himself is known to have pronounced it invincible, provided the citizens retained their unity, their liberal and democratic ways and their respect for tradition and elders. He also pursued a sixteen-year war against the Vriji confederacy of Vaishali, what is today north Bihar and Nepal.After the death of his father he enjoyed the revenues of the Kashi which was given to his mother as a dowry in marriage. But his maternal uncle, Prasenjit immediately confiscated the revenues of the Kashi. This resulted into hostilities between two. Next, Ajatashatru, undertook the annexation of the kingdoms of Kosala and Kashi. In return, Ajatashatru married Vajira, the daughter of Prasenjit. Legends say that the one who masterminded Ajatashatru's usurping of the throne was the schismaticmonk Devadatta, the reasons being that Ajatashatru was said to have been convinced by Devadatta to help fund his schismatic sangha. Ajatashatru employed two of his ministers, Sunidh and Varshakara, to build a fortress at the village of Patli(called Patligama or Patligrama) as a bulwark to repel attacks of the licchavis and other clan of North Bihar on Magadha, later he shifted his capital toPatligrama which was later known as Patliputra.

Later life

Years of restless yearning, war and violence tormented Ajatashatru's soul and his profound sorrow ultimately brought him to the feet of Lord Buddha, where he found peace. So completely was Ajatashatru converted to the faith that he was chosen as the chief claimant of Buddha's relics after the latter's death. Ajatashatru subsequently built stupas all over the capital and renovated 18 monasteries in memory of Buddha. Later, he convened the first Buddhist General Council.

Legacy

According to some historians, Ajatashatru was responsible for building Pataliputra and strengthening the defences of the Magadhan capital, Rajagriha.

Assassination

Ajatashatru also suffered the same miserable fate as his father, being put to death by his son Udayi-Bhadda/UdayiBhadra in 459 B.C.

ARYABHATTA : THE GREAT SCHOLAR OF BIHAR

While there is a tendency to misspell his name as "Aryabhatta" by analogy with other names having the "bhatta" suffix, his name is properly spelled Aryabhata: every astronomical text spells his name thus,including Brahmagupta's references to him "in more than a hundred places by name".Furthermore, in most instances "Aryabhatta" does not fit the metre either.

Birth

Aryabhata mentions in the Aryabhatiya that it was composed 3,600 years into theKali Yuga, when he was 23 years old. This corresponds to 499 CE, and implies that he was born in 476 CE .

Aryabhata provides no information about his place of birth. The only information comes from Bhāskara I, who describes Aryabhata as āśmakīya, "one belonging to the aśmaka country." It is widely attested that, during the Buddha's time, a branch of the Aśmaka people settled in the region between the Narmada and Godavari rivers in central India, today the South Gujarat–North Maharashtra region. Aryabhata is believed to have been born there.^]However, early Buddhist texts describe Ashmaka as being further south, in dakshinapath or the Deccan, while other texts describe the Ashmakas as having fought Alexander, which would put them further north.

Work

It is fairly certain that, at some point, he went to Kusumapura for advanced studies and that he lived there for some time. Both Hindu and Buddhist tradition, as well as Bhāskara I (CE 629), identify Kusumapura as Pāṭaliputra, modern Patna. A verse mentions that Aryabhata was the head of an institution (kulapa) at Kusumapura, and, because the university of Nalanda was in Pataliputra at the time and had an astronomical observatory, it is speculated that Aryabhata might have been the head of the Nalanda university as well. Aryabhata is also reputed to have set up an observatory at the Sun temple in Taregana, Bihar 

Works

Aryabhata is the author of several treatises on mathematics and astronomy, some of which are lost. His major work, Aryabhatiya, a compendium of mathematics and astronomy, was extensively referred to in the Indian mathematical literature and has survived to modern times. The mathematical part of the Aryabhatiya covers arithmetic, algebra, plane trigonometry, and spherical trigonometry. It also contains continued fractions, quadratic equations, sums-of-power series, and a table of sines.

The Arya-siddhanta, a lost work on astronomical computations, is known through the writings of Aryabhata's contemporary, Varahamihira, and later mathematicians and commentators, including Brahmagupta and Bhaskara I. This work appears to be based on the older Surya Siddhanta and uses the midnight-day reckoning, as opposed to sunrise in Aryabhatiya. It also contained a description of several astronomical instruments: the gnomon (shanku-yantra), a shadow instrument (chhAyA-yantra), possibly angle-measuring devices, semicircular and circular (dhanur-yantra / chakra-yantra), a cylindrical stick yasti-yantra, an umbrella-shaped device called the chhatra-yantra, and water clocks of at least two types, bow-shaped and cylindrical.

A third text, which may have survived in the Arabic translation, is Al ntf or Al-nanf. It claims that it is a translation by Aryabhata, but the Sanskrit name of this work is not known. Probably dating from the 9th century, it is mentioned by the Persian scholar and chronicler of India,Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī.

Aryabhatiya

Direct details of Aryabhata's work are known only from the Aryabhatiya. The name "Aryabhatiya" is due to later commentators. Aryabhata himself may not have given it a name. His disciple Bhaskara I calls it Ashmakatantra (or the treatise from the Ashmaka). It is also occasionally referred to as Arya-shatas-aShTa (literally, Aryabhata's 108), because there are 108 verses in the text. It is written in the very terse style typical of sutra literature, in which each line is an aid to memory for a complex system. Thus, the explication of meaning is due to commentators. The text consists of the 108 verses and 13 introductory verses, and is divided into four pādas or chapters:

1. Gitikapada: (13 verses): large units of time—kalpa, manvantra, and yuga—which present a cosmology different from earlier texts such as Lagadha's Vedanga Jyotisha (c. 1st century BCE). There is also a table of sines (jya), given in a single verse. The duration of the planetary revolutions during a mahayuga is given as 4.32 million years.
2. Ganitapada (33 verses): covering mensuration (kṣetra vyāvahāra), arithmetic and geometric progressions, gnomon / shadows (shanku-chhAyA), simple, quadratic, simultaneous, and indeterminate equations (kuTTaka)
3. Kalakriyapada (25 verses): different units of time and a method for determining the positions of planets for a given day, calculations concerning the intercalary month (adhikamAsa), kShaya-tithis, and a seven-day week with names for the days of week.
4. Golapada (50 verses): Geometric/trigonometric aspects of the celestial sphere, features of the ecliptic, celestial equator, node, shape of the earth, cause of day and night, rising of zodiacal signs on horizon, etc. In addition, some versions cite a few colophons added at the end, extolling the virtues of the work, etc.

The Aryabhatiya presented a number of innovations in mathematics and astronomy in verse form, which were influential for many centuries. The extreme brevity of the text was elaborated in commentaries by his disciple Bhaskara I (Bhashya, c. 600 CE) and by Nilakantha Somayajiin his Aryabhatiya Bhasya, (1465 CE).

Mathematics

Place value system and zero

The place-value system, first seen in the 3rd century Bakhshali Manuscript, was clearly in place in his work. While he did not use a symbol for zero, the French mathematician Georges Ifrah argues that knowledge of zero was implicit in Aryabhata's place-value system as a place holder for the powers of ten with null coefficients

However, Aryabhata did not use the Brahmi numerals. Continuing the Sanskritic tradition from Vedic times, he used letters of the alphabet to denote numbers, expressing quantities, such as the table of sines in a mnemonic form.

Approximation of π

Aryabhata worked on the approximation for pi (π), and may have come to the conclusion that π is irrational. In the second part of theAryabhatiyam (gaṇitapāda 10), he writes:

caturadhikam śatamaṣṭaguṇam dvāṣaṣṭistathā sahasrāṇāmayutadvayaviṣkambhasyāsanno vṛttapariṇāhaḥ."Add four to 100, multiply by eight, and then add 62,000. By this rule the circumference of a circle with a diameter of 20,000 can be approached."

This implies that the ratio of the circumference to the diameter is ((4 + 100) × 8 + 62000)/20000 = 62832/20000 = 3.1416, which is accurate to five significant figures.

It is speculated that Aryabhata used the word āsanna (approaching), to mean that not only is this an approximation but that the value is incommensurable (or irrational). If this is correct, it is quite a sophisticated insight, because the irrationality of pi was proved in Europe only in 1761 by Lambert.

After Aryabhatiya was translated into Arabic (c. 820 CE) this approximation was mentioned in Al-Khwarizmi's book on algebra.

 Mensuration And trigonometry

In Ganitapada 6, Aryabhata gives the area of a triangle as

tribhujasya phalashariram samadalakoti bhujardhasamvargah

that translates to: "for a triangle, the result of a perpendicular with the half-side is the area."

Aryabhata discussed the concept of sine in his work by the name of ardha-jya. Literally, it means "half-chord". For simplicity, people started calling it jya. When Arabic writers translated his works from Sanskrit into Arabic, they referred it as jiba. However, in Arabic writings, vowels are omitted, and it was abbreviated as jb. Later writers substituted it with jiab, meaning "cove" or "bay." (In Arabic, jiba is a meaningless word.) Later in the 12th century, when Gherardo of Cremona translated these writings from Arabic into Latin, he replaced the Arabic jiab with its Latin counterpart, sinus, which means "cove" or "bay". And after that, the sinus became sine in English.

Indeterminate equations

A problem of great interest to Indian mathematicians since ancient times has been to find integer solutions to equations that have the form ax + by = c, a topic that has come to be known as diophantine equations. This is an example from Bhāskara's commentary on Aryabhatiya:

Find the number which gives 5 as the remainder when divided by 8, 4 as the remainder when divided by 9, and 1 as the remainder when divided by 7

That is, find N = 8x+5 = 9y+4 = 7z+1. It turns out that the smallest value for N is 85. In general, diophantine equations, such as this, can be notoriously difficult. They were discussed extensively in ancient Vedic text Sulba Sutras, whose more ancient parts might date to 800 BCE. Aryabhata's method of solving such problems is called the kuṭṭaka (कुट्टक) method. Kuttaka means "pulverizing" or "breaking into small pieces", and the method involves a recursive algorithm for writing the original factors in smaller numbers. Today this algorithm, elaborated by Bhaskara in 621 CE, is the standard method for solving first-order diophantine equations and is often referred to as the Aryabhata algorithm.The diophantine equations are of interest in cryptology, and the RSA Conference, 2006, focused on the kuttaka method and earlier work in the Sulbasutras.

Algebra

In Aryabhatiya Aryabhata provided elegant results for the summation of series of squares and cubes:

and

Astronomy

Aryabhata's system of astronomy was called the audAyaka system, in which days are reckoned from uday, dawn at lanka or "equator". Some of his later writings on astronomy, which apparently proposed a second model (or ardha-rAtrikA, midnight) are lost but can be partly reconstructed from the discussion in Brahmagupta's khanDakhAdyaka. In some texts, he seems to ascribe the apparent motions of the heavens to the Earth's rotation. He also treated the planet's orbits as elliptical rather than circular.

Motions of the solar system

Aryabhata correctly insisted that the earth rotates about its axis daily, and that the apparent movement of the stars is a relative motion caused by the rotation of the earth, contrary to the then-prevailing view that the sky rotated. This is indicated in the first chapter of theAryabhatiya, where he gives the number of rotations of the earth in a yuga, and made more explicit in his gola chapter:

In the same way that someone in a boat going forward sees an unmoving [object] going backward, so [someone] on the equator sees the unmoving stars going uniformly westward. The cause of rising and setting [is that] the sphere of the stars together with the planets [apparently?] turns due west at the equator, constantly pushed by the cosmic wind.

Aryabhata described a geocentric model of the solar system, in which the Sun and Moon are each carried by epicycles. They in turn revolve around the Earth. In this model, which is also found in the Paitāmahasiddhānta (c. CE 425), the motions of the planets are each governed by two epicycles, a smaller manda (slow) and a larger śīghra (fast).  The order of the planets in terms of distance from earth is taken as: theMoon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the asterisms.

The positions and periods of the planets was calculated relative to uniformly moving points. In the case of Mercury and Venus, they move around the Earth at the same mean speed as the Sun. In the case of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, they move around the Earth at specific speeds, representing each planet's motion through the zodiac. Most historians of astronomy consider that this two-epicycle model reflects elements of pre-Ptolemaic Greek astronomy. Another element in Aryabhata's model, the śīghrocca, the basic planetary period in relation to the Sun, is seen by some historians as a sign of an underlying heliocentric model.

Eclipses

Solar and lunar eclipses were scientifically explained by Aryabhata. Aryabhata states that the Moon and planets shine by reflected sunlight. Instead of the prevailing cosmogony in which eclipses were caused by pseudo-planetary nodes Rahu and Ketu, he explains eclipses in terms of shadows cast by and falling on Earth. Thus, the lunar eclipse occurs when the moon enters into the Earth's shadow (verse gola.37). He discusses at length the size and extent of the Earth's shadow (verses gola.38–48) and then provides the computation and the size of the eclipsed part during an eclipse. Later Indian astronomers improved on the calculations, but Aryabhata's methods provided the core. His computational paradigm was so accurate that 18th century scientist Guillaume Le Gentil, during a visit to Pondicherry, India, found the Indian computations of the duration of the lunar eclipse of 30 August 1765 to be short by 41 seconds, whereas his charts (by Tobias Mayer, 1752) were long by 68 seconds.

Sidereal periods

Considered in modern English units of time, Aryabhata calculated the sidereal rotation (the rotation of the earth referencing the fixed stars) as 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.1 seconds; the modern value is 23:56:4.091. Similarly, his value for the length of the sidereal year at 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, and 30 seconds (365.25858 days) is an error of 3 minutes and 20 seconds over the length of a year (365.25636 days).

Heliocentrism

As mentioned, Aryabhata advocated an astronomical model in which the Earth turns on its own axis. His model also gave corrections (theśīgra anomaly) for the speeds of the planets in the sky in terms of the mean speed of the sun. Thus, it has been suggested that Aryabhata's calculations were based on an underlying heliocentric model, in which the planets orbit the Sun, though this has been rebutted. It has also been suggested that aspects of Aryabhata's system may have been derived from an earlier, likely pre-Ptolemaic Greek, heliocentric model of which Indian astronomers were unaware, though the evidence is scant.The general consensus is that a synodic anomaly (depending on the position of the sun) does not imply a physically heliocentric orbit (such corrections being also present in late Babylonian astronomical texts), and that Aryabhata's system was not explicitly heliocentric.

Legacy

Aryabhata's work was of great influence in the Indian astronomical tradition and influenced several neighbouring cultures through translations. The Arabic translation during the Islamic Golden Age (c. 820 CE), was particularly influential. Some of his results are cited by Al-Khwarizmiand in the 10th century Al-Biruni stated that Aryabhata's followers believed that the Earth rotated on its axis.

His definitions of sine (jya), cosine (kojya), versine (utkrama-jya), and inverse sine (otkram jya) influenced the birth of trigonometry. He was also the first to specify sine and versine (1 − cos x) tables, in 3.75° intervals from 0° to 90°, to an accuracy of 4 decimal places.

In fact, modern names "sine" and "cosine" are mistranscriptions of the words jya and kojya as introduced by Aryabhata. As mentioned, they were translated as jiba and kojiba in Arabic and then misunderstood by Gerard of Cremona while translating an Arabic geometry text toLatin. He assumed that jiba was the Arabic word jaib, which means "fold in a garment", L. sinus (c. 1150).

Aryabhata's astronomical calculation methods were also very influential. Along with the trigonometric tables, they came to be widely used in the Islamic world and used to compute many Arabic astronomical tables (zijes). In particular, the astronomical tables in the work of theArabic Spain scientist Al-Zarqali (11th century) were translated into Latin as the Tables of Toledo (12th c.) and remained the most accurateephemeris used in Europe for centuries.

Calendric calculations devised by Aryabhata and his followers have been in continuous use in India for the practical purposes of fixing thePanchangam (the Hindu calendar). In the Islamic world, they formed the basis of the Jalali calendar introduced in 1073 CE by a group of astronomers including Omar Khayyam, versions of which (modified in 1925) are the national calendars in use in Iran and Afghanistantoday. The dates of the Jalali calendar are based on actual solar transit, as in Aryabhata and earlier Siddhanta calendars. This type of calendar requires an ephemeris for calculating dates. Although dates were difficult to compute, seasonal errors were less in the Jalali calendar than in the Gregorian calendar.

India's first satellite Aryabhata and the lunar crater Aryabhata are named in his honour. An Institute for conducting research in astronomy, astrophysics and atmospheric sciences is the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) near Nainital, India. The inter-school Aryabhata Maths Competition is also named after him, as is Bacillus aryabhata, a species of bacteria discovered by ISROscientists in 2009.

Amrapali: Buddha’s gorgeous disciple

BURIED in the sleepy little village of Ambara in Bihar lies the legend of Amrapali, who was a rare combination of beauty and talent with unmatchable skills in classical art, greatly admired 25 centuries ago.

 (court dancer) in the ancient democracy of Vaishali, had attracted and influenced even Lord Buddha with her charm.Amrapali, the celebrated 

However, her story remains unnoticed for want of proper research.

Even after several steps taken by the Centre as well as the state government to boost tourism in Vaishali, the historical facts of her existence still lie buried.

An ambitious announcement made by the government to develop the birthplace of Amrapali into Amrapali Kanan still hangs in balance. The birthplace of Amrapali, now famous as Ambara village, is still to see the light of development.

The government had also announced to install a statue of Amrapali in the Amrapali Kanan.

However, the assurances proved to be an eyewash as nothing had so far been done.

Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who represents Vaishali constituency in Parliament, has been endeavouring to shift the "urns" of Lord Buddha to Vaishali from Patna. However, Amrapali’s potential of attracting tourists to the sleepy hamlet of Ambara still remains neglected.

According to historians, Amrapali, whose beauty had built and destroyed kingdoms, was born 2,500 years ago in a mango orchard in Vaishali. A feudal named Mahanaman of Vaishali, now a district on the bank of River Ganga, had traced the rare beauty of Amrapali when she was a child. Lured by the beauty of Amrapali, Mahanaman abandoned his kingdom and shifted to Ambara village, a small hamlet in Vaishali.

. Soon after being conferred the title of nagarvadhu, Amrapali became the court dancer as per the rules of Vaishali democracy. and The historians opined that Amrapali was declared the "most beautiful" girl at the age of 11 and was later made 

The charismatic beauty of Amrapali and her aesthitic sense had been noticed by Lord Buddha as well as the famous Chinese travellers Fahayana and Huen Sang.

Chinese scholors Fahayana and Huen Sang, who studied extensively on the democarcy of Vaishali, had also mentioned about the beauty of Amrapali.

. The age-old literature records that several kings use to camp around the palace of Amrapali only to be enchanted by her glimpse.In their book, they had discussed the existing rules of Vaishali, in which the most beautiful woman used to become the court dancer. As Amrapali was a rare beauty she was crowned with title of 

As the story goes, Amrapali, adorned with all ornaments, went to welcome Lord Buddha on his arrival at Vaishali after his enlightenment.

However, Lord Buddha, after getting a glimpse of the beauty of Amrapali, asked his disciples to close their eyes.

Historian R K Singh said Lord Buddha was very much aware of the fact that it would be difficult for his disciples to have spiritual control over themselves if they saw this earthly beauty.

Amrapali had also formed an organisation in the name of Bhikhshuni Sangh through which she earned name and fame by establishing the importance of women in life and society. This was considered a unique achievement of Amrapali, which later changed her profession and lifestylen of a court dancer. She had great love for classical songs and dance, which was a part of her life.

Attracted by the beauty of Amrapali, Emperor of Magadha Bimbisar had attacked Vaishali.

Fortunately before his formal attack King Bimbisar had a chance meeting with Amrapali and from there their courtship began.

Impressed with Amrapali’s dance, King Bimbisar also introduced the system of rajnartaki in his court.

Amrapali and Bimbisar were blessed with a son who later converted himself into a Buddhist monk.

ASHTAVAKRA THE GREAT GURU OF VIDEHA ( RAJA JANAK )

we will learn about a famous rishi (sage) called Ashtavakra who was the spiritual advisor to King Janaka who ruled over the" Videha "empire, in the present day Bihar region. Ashtavakra was a child prodigy, well versed in the Vedas and the scriptures even as a child. He was the son of the famous sage Kahoda, who lived and preached in Bihar. When Kahoda’s wife was pregnant, she would sit in on all lectured given by Kahoda, so that her baby was charged with positive vibrations from the lectures. The young foetus in his mother’s womb would sincerely listen to all the lectures and absorb all the teachings. One day Kahoda made a mistake when pronouncing some verses from the Vedas, and the foetus kicked from within his mother’s womb as a sign of noticing the mistake. When Kahoda’s wife mentioned this to her husband, Kahoda, instead of feeling proud about his son’s learning, took offense at the foetus’ impudence and cursed that the boy be born with eight deformities in his body. This is why the child was named Ashtavakra (meaning, eight deformities).There was a rumor that another profound scholar called Bandi was finding other philosophers and defeating them in philosophical debates. Scholars wanted to stay away from Bandi because, Bandi would force his losers to drown in the Ganges and give up their bodies. One day, Bandi travelled to Bihar and met Kahoda and challenged him. Kahoda was a proud man, and he accepted the challenge. As one would guess, Kahoda was defeated and had to give up his body. Ashtavakra’s mother had to raise the young boy.

Even at a very young age, the scholars and sages who lived in the hermitage began to notice how sharp Ashtavakra was in learning Sanskrit, and understanding the philosophy in the scriptures. Everyone began to regard Ashtavakra to be a child prodigy. Ashtavakra was curious to find out what had happened to his father. When the sages told him the fatal encounter with Bandi, Ashtavakra vowed to defeat Bandi and ask him to give his father back. After a decade of intensive learning and rigorous training from various masters, Ashtavakra felt confident that he would be able to defeat Bandi at this stage. And, as one would again guess, he did. It was a shame that the old and wise Bandi was defeated by a mere child! Now, being the winner, Ashtavakra could ask for a boon that Bandi cannot refuse. Instead of asking for the revival of his father alone, he asked that all the sages and philosophers that were defeated by Bandi be revived. Such was his kind heart!

Now Bandi explained to Ashtavakra, that he was not really the philosopher Bandi, but infact, the son of Varuna (the water God). Varuna was performing a yagna (sacrifice) and needed the smartest scholars from across the country to help him perform the task. Therefore Bandi was sent on the mission to collect the smartest people from earth and bring them to Varuna’s abode – the water. The yagna had lasted several years and had come to an end by the time Ashtavakra defeated Bandi. So Bandi immediately brought back all the sages from the water back to earth, to go back and continue their respective preaching. Kahoda was also revived now, and he felt ashamed at seeing how his cursed son had grown up to a deformed boy. He repented, and prayed to Bandi to lift the curse on his son, Ashtavakra. Bandi obliged and transformed the deformed Ashtavakra into a handsome young lad.

Ashtavakra stayed in his father’s hermitage until he completed his formal education as a Brahmin, and then embarked on a journey to the Himalayas where he meditated and attained the Brahman (realization). Following that, Ashtavakra realized that his duty was to spread his teachings to the world, and he came back to Bihar and instructed King Janaka on the Brahman and the Atman. The dialogue between Ashtavakra and King Janaka has been recorded in our scriptures as the Ashtavakra Samhita, commonly refered to as the Ashtavakra gita. The Ashtavakra Samhita contains deep philosophical teachings on Sanatana Dharma philosophy.

There is yet another wonderful anecdote about King Janaka’s devotion to his guru, Ashtavakra. King Janaka would go to Ashtavakra’s hermitage everyday to listen to his teachings. On certain days, due to kingly duties, King Janaka would be a few minutes late. The other disciples who always showed up on time and followed a rigorously ascetic life were discontent about the rich King Janaka also being a disciple to the great Ashtavakra. The others also felt that Ashtavakra was being partial to King Janaka. One day, Ashtavakra decided to show the others how Janaka’s devotion to learning, was far superior than theirs. As Janaka walked in late one day, Ashtavakra started the lecture saying that he was seeing a vision of Mithila (the capital city where Janaka was ruling) going down in flames that very moment, due to a random fire. After hearing this, all the other disciples panicked and rushed back home to protect their possessions and their families. On the other hand, Janaka, calmly came and sat down for the lecture. When Ashtavakra questioned him as to why he did not run to protect his belongings from his palace, he said “The only thing that is worth protecting and preserving is learning. Everything else is just material illusion.” Ashtavakra was pleased to hear this answer. After an hour, the other disciples returned to the hermitage, when they found no fire. Janaka had been sitting there all along. When they learnt of Janaka’s devotion, they were ashamed of their lowly thoughts and jealousy feelings towards Janaka.

ASHOKA THE GREAT KING OF MAURYA DYNESTY

Ashoka The Great
One of the greatest emperors known to Indian history, Ashoka, was the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya and the son of Bindusar. The land he ruled stretched from the Himalayas, Nepal and Kashmir to Mysore in the South. From Afghanistan in the N.E. to the banks of the River Brahmaputra in the East. In the West his territory covered Saurashtra and Junagarh.
 
Ashoka's Reign
Born in 294 BC as second son to Bindusar, the King of Patliputra, Ashoka was not heir apparent. After his father died, his elder brother Suman was to take over the reins of the Kingdom. But as most of the ministers found Ashoka more efficient, they helped him attain power.
Ashoka was a good administrator and at first set about restoring peace in his kingdom. This took about 3 years, after which he formally accepted the throne and was crowned King in 273 BC.  During his reign, the country made progress in terms of science and technology as well as advanced in medicine and surgery. Religion was emphasized and so the people were honest and straightforward and truthful. Stealing was unheard of.
Ashoka, himself was a great philanthropist and worked day and night for the welfare of his people. He knew exactly what was going on in each part of his vast territory. He would not partake any of his meals until and unless he had fed a thousand Brahmins.
 
The Kalinga War
This was the first and last battle that Ashoka ever fought and serves as a watermark in his life as it changed his course forever. It was during this war that he earned the title Ashoka the Great.
Kalinga was a prosperous little kingdom lying between the river Godavari and Mahanadi, close to the Bay of Bengal. It had an infantry of 60,000 men, 10,000 horsemen and 600 elephants. Ashoka wanted to capture this fertile land, and so had it surrounded. But the brave and loyal people of Kalinga did not want to lose their independence.
A fierce battle followed, in which there were too many casualties. There were more than a lakh prisoners of war. In the midst of the battlefield, Ashoka stood with the wounded, crippled and the dead all around him. This was the consequence of his greed. A new light dawned on him, and he swore that he would never wage war again.
 
Ashoka's Conversion
Ashoka was initiated into Buddhism, after which his life was completely transformed. He religiously followed the principles of Buddhism - that of truth, charity, kindness, purity and goodness.
He did his bit towards the propagation of this religion by engraving it's principles on pillars throughout his kingdom. The Ashoka pillars, as they are now called, were over 40 feet high and extremely heavy. He also attempted to spread this religion to Syria, Egypt and Macedonia, and sent his son Mahendra and daughter Sangamitra to Sri Lanka for this purpose.
Ashoka opened charitable hospitals and dispensaries for the welfare of the poor. He planted trees to provide shade and opened inns for the shelter of travelers and laid out green parks and gardens to beautify his kingdom. Wells and tanks were also constructed for the benefit of his people.  He believed in non-violence and so he banned the sacrifice of animals. Besides this he opened clinics for birds and animals too. His good works earned him the name of Devanamapriya Priyadarshi.
 
Ashoka Chakra
He died in 232 BC. After doing a great deal of good for his kingdom and the world at large. His fame has spread far and wide. To commemorate his rule and its implications the Government of India has adopted the Ashoka Chakra as its national symbol, which can be seen till today on the national flag.

THE LION KING SHER SHAH SURI

Sher Shah Suri, "The Lion King", founder of the Suri Dynasty, was born in 1472 in Punjab. His original name was Farid. He was the son of a petty Afghan Jagirdar. Ill-treated by his stepmother, he left home at an early age. He went to Jaunpur where he set himself to serious study and there he acquired good command over the Arabic and Persian languages. Because of his abilities, he was soon appointed by his father to manage the family Jagir. But again because of his stepmother, he left his father's Jagir and went to Bihar where he later joined the service of Babur.
Seeing the weaknesses in the Mughal rule and military organization, Sher Shah took advantage of the problems faced by Humayun. Eventually he managed to overthrow the Mughal rulers. His reign barely spanned five years, but is a landmark in the history of the Sub-continent. With his deep knowledge and practical experience, he made many brilliant additions and improvements to the existent system. Sher Shah was a capable military and civilian administrator. He set up reforms in various areas. Akbar later built on these reforms and extended them further. Many of these reforms pertained to the army, but the principal reforms for which he is remembered are those connected with revenue administration. Numerous civil works were carried out during his short reign.
Sher Shah ruled for a short period of five years in which he not only consolidated his power but also brought about important reforms. He died in 1545 from a gunpowder explosion. He was a practical and farsighted ruler who was way ahead of his contemporaries. He is remembered in history for the numerous reforms that he undertook to strengthen the government. He was in truth the greatest ruler that sat upon the throne of Delhi.

Administration of Sher Shah Suri

A brave warrior and a successful conqueror, Sher Shah was the architect of a brilliant administrative system. In fact, his qualities as a ruler were more remarkable than his victories on the battlefields. His brief reign of five years was marked by the introduction of wise and salutary changes in every conceivable branch of administration. Some of these were by way of revival and reformation of the traditional features of the old administrative systems of India, Hindu as well as Muslim, while others were entirely original in character, and form, indeed, a link between ancient and modern India. Sher Shah’s government was a highly centralized system with real power concentrated in the hands of the King, but he was not an unbridled autocrat, regardless of the rights and interests of the people. In the spirit of an enlightened despot, he attempted to found an empire broadly based upon the people’s will.

For administrative convenience, the whole empire was divided into forty-seven units (Sarkars), each of which was again subdivided into several parganas. The pargana has one Amin, one Shiqdar, one treasurer, one Hindu writer and one Persian writer to keep accounts. Over the next higher administrative unit, the sarkar, were placed a Shiqdar-i-Shiqdaran and a Munsif-i-Munsifan to supervise the work of the pargana officers. To check undue influence of the officers in their respective jurisdictions, the King devised a plan of transferring them every two or three years. Every branch of the administration was subjected to Sher Shah’s personal supervisions.

Sher Shah’s land revenue reforms, based on wise and humane principles, have unique importance in the administrative history ofIndia; for they served as the model for future agrarian systems. After a careful and proper survey of the lands, he settled the land revenue directly with the cultivators, the State demand being fixed at one-fourth or one-third of the average produce, payable in kind or cash. For actual collection of revenue, the government utilized the services of the officers like the Amins, the Maqadam, theShiqdars, the Qanungos and the Patwaris. Punctual and full payment of the revenue was insisted. Sher Shah instructed the revenue officials to show leniency at the time of assessment and to be strict at the time of collection of revenues. The rights of the tenants were duly recognized and the liabilities of each were clearly defined in the Kabuliyat (deed of agreement), which the State took from him, and the patta (title-deed), which it gave him in return. Remissions of rents were made, and probably loans were advanced to the tenants in case of damage of crops, caused by the encampment of soldiers, or the insufficiency of rain. These revenue reforms increased the resources of the state and at the same time conduced to the interest of the people.

The currency and tariff reforms of Sher Shah were also calculated to improve the general economic conditions of his Empire. He introduced some specific changes in the mint of coins. He reformed the tariff by removing vexatious customs and permitting the imposition of customs on articles of trade only at the frontiers and in the places of sale.

Trade and commerce was greatly increase by the improvement of communications. For the purpose of imperial defense, as well as for the convenience of the people, Sher Shah connected the important places of his kingdom by chain of excellent roads. The longest of these, the Grand Trunk Road, which still survives, extended for 1500 kos from Sonargaon in Eastern Bengal to the Indus. Shade-giving trees were planted on both side of the roads. Sarais or rest houses were built at different stages and separate arrangements were provided for the Muslims and the Hindus.  These sarais also served as the purpose of post-houses, which facilitated quick exchange of news and supplied the government with information from different parts of the Empire. The maintenance of an efficient system of espionage also enabled the ruler to know what happened in his kingdom.

To secure peace and order, the police system was re-organized, and the principle of local responsibility for local crimes was enforced. The village headmen were made responsible for the maintenance of law and order in the rural areas.

Sher Shah has a strong sense of justice and no distinctions were made between the high and the low. In the paragana / pargana, civil suits were disposed off by the Amin, and other cases mostly criminal by the Qazi and Mir-i-Adal. In some parganas, civil cases were tried by Munsif-i-Munsifan. At the capital city there were the chief Qazi, the imperial Sadr, and above all, the Emperor as the highest authority in judicial as in other matters.

Though a pious Muslim, Sher Shah was not a fierce bigot. His treatment of the Hindus in general was tolerant and just.

Sher Shah realized the importance of maintaining a strong and efficient army, and so re-organized it. He maintained a regular army as such the soldiers were bound to him through their immediate-commanding officer by the strong tie of personal devotion and discipline. He had under him a direct command of a large force consisting of 150,000 cavalry, 25,000 infantry, 300 elephants and artillery. Garrisons were maintained at different strategic points of the kingdom; each of these called a fauj, was under the command of a faujdar. Sher Shah enforced strict discipline in the army and took ample precautions to prevent corruption among the soldiers. Besides, duly supervising the recruitment of soldiers, he personally fixed their salaries and took their descriptive rolls. He also revived the practice of branding horse.

From the above account we can conclude that Sher Shah was one of the greatest monarchs that had ever ruled India. He was truly a great commander as a well as one the greatest administrator in India

ARCHITECTURE OF SHER SHAH SURI

MILITARY ARCHITECTURE
The Purana Quila is a good example of medieval military architecture. Like its predecessor, the Tughlaqabad fort, it is a massive fort. Purana Quila is a monument of bold design, which is strong, straightforward and every inch a fortress. It is different from the well-planned, carefully decorated, and palatial forts of the later Mughal rulers. Purana Quila is also different from the later forts of the Mughals, as it does not have a complex of palaces, administrative and recreational buildings, as is generally found in the forts built later on. The main purpose of this now-dilapidated fort was its utility, with less emphasis on decoration.

PURANA QUILA
The Lodhi dynasty was the last dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. The kingdom of Delhi finally ended in 1526 when the armies from a small Central Asian kingdom, led by Zahir-ud-din Babur defeated the last Lodhi ruler, Ibrahim Lodhi in the First battle of Panipat. After extinguishing the rule of the Delhi Sultanate, Babur did not return to Central Asia, but established the Mughal Empire, in India. Babur chose Agra as the capital of the Mughals, but his son Humayun decided in favor of Delhi.

The political life of the Mughal emperor Humayun was not stable. Humayun became the Mughal Emperor after the death of his father Babur in 1530 and established the capital at Dinpanah, which was the sixth fort city of Delhi. Within five years, massive gateways and lofty ramparts of this fort city were completed. However, Humayun could not rule there for long as Sher Shah Suri, an Afghan chieftain, drove him out from Delhi and India. Sher Shah destroyed much of Humayun's buildings in the fort. He called his city Shergarh. Two gateways of his city, Lal Darwaza and Khooni Darwaza, can still be seen in their original grandeur. Within the fort, Sher Shah Suri built a grand mosque (Qal'a-I-Kunha Masjid) and an octagonal tower called Sher Mandal. Meanwhile, Humayun spent a life of exile in the court of the Persian ruler of Iran. He returned to Delhi, after the death of Sher Shah Suri and regained his former capital. He hardly built any new structures within the fortifications of Dinpanah. However, Humayun did not live long and died unexpectedly when he fell from the Sher Mandal, which he used as a library, on January 24, 1556. Thus ended the story of a king who loved the city of Delhi and who could never rule from it in the true sense of the word. The city of Dinpanah or the Purana Quila (as it is now known) is thus the reflection of the tragic life of emperor Humayun. Humayun was succeeded by his son, Akbar, who went on to become the greatest Mughal ruler. However, the city of Dinpanah lost its importance as Akbar soon shifted the Mughal capital from Delhi to Agra.

At present, the Purana Quila is in a bad state due to neglect. However, one can still see the grandeur of this massive fort, which sprawls over an area of 3 km. It has three grand gateways. One can appreciate this simple and rugged edifice, which dominates its surroundings from far.

IMPORTANT MONUMENTS WITHIN THE FORT
Though not many buildings within the crumbling walls of the Purana Quila have survived, there are two monuments of architectural importance within it that have survived the ravages of time: the Qal'a-I-Kunha Masjid and the Sher Mandal. Both these monuments were built by Sher Shah Suri.

Qal'a-I-Kunha Masjid
The Qal'a-I-Kunha Masjid is a superb but austere building, with sparse, sophisticated ornamentation in sandstone and a little marble. This mosque belongs to the Indo-Islamic style of architecture. It has a single dome, which is not pronounced and lacks the grandeur of the bulbous onion-shaped domes generally seen on Islamic buildings.

Sher Mandal
To the south of the Qal'a-I-Kunha mosque is an octagonal two-storied structure called the Sher Mandal. It was built by Sher Shah Suri, probably as a pavilion, and has a tile and inlay work in red sandstone. The Sher Mandal is an intriguing structure and the purpose of building it is not clear. This monument also conforms to the Indo-Islamic style of architecture. The Sher Mandal has a touch of sadness attached to it, as it was here that the second Mughal emperor Humayun fell to his death.