TNPSC Free Notes History – Cultural Florescence

இந்தக் கட்டுரையில், TNPSC குரூப் 1, குரூப் 2, குரூப் 2A, குரூப் 4 மாநிலப் போட்டித் தேர்வுகளான TNUSRB, TRB, TET, TNEB போன்றவற்றுக்கான  முறைகள் இலவசக் குறிப்புகளைப் பெறுவீர்கள்.தேர்வுக்கு தயாராவோர் இங்குள்ள பாடக்குறிப்புகளை படித்து பயன்பெற வாழ்த்துகிறோம்.

Cultural Florescence

Art and Architecture
By evolving the Nagara and the Dravida styles, the Gupta art ushers in a formative and creative
age in the history of Indian architecture

Rock-cut and Structural Temples
 The rock-cut caves continue the old forms to a great extent but possess striking novelty
by bringing about extensive changes in the ornamentation of the facade and in the
designs of the pillars in the interior.
 The most notable groups of the rock-cut caves are found at Ajanta and Ellora
(Maharashtra) and Bagh (Madhya Pradesh), Udayagiri caves (Odisha).
 The structural temples have the following attributes:
 Flat-roofed square temples;
 Flat-roofed square temple with a vimana (second storey);
 Square temple with a curvilinear tower (shikara) above;
 Rectangular temple
 Circular temple.
 The second group of temples shows many of the characteristic features of the Dravida
style.
 The importance of the third group lies in the innovation of a shikhara that caps the
sanctum sanctorum, the main feature of the Nagara style.
Stupas:
The best are found at Samat (Uttar Pradesh), Ratnagiri (Odisha) and Mirpur Khas (Sind).
Sculpture:
Stone Sculpture:
 A good specimen of stone sculpture is the well-known erect Buddha from Sarnath.
 Of the puranic images, perhaps the most impressive is the great Boar (Varaha) at the
entrance of a cave at Udayagiri.
Metal statues:
Two remarkable examples of Gupta metal sculpture are
 A copper image of the Buddha about eighteen feet high at Nalanda in Bihar
 The Sultanganj Buddha of seven-and-a-half feet in height.
Painting:
 The mural paintings of this period are found at Ajanta, Bagh, Badami and other places.

 The mural paintings of Ajanta are not true frescoes, for frescoes is painted while the
plaster is still damp and the murals of Ajanta were made after it had set.
 The art of Ajanta and Bagh shows the Madhyadesa School of painting at its best.
Terracotta and Pottery:
 Clay figurines were used both for religious and secular purposes.
 We have figurines of Vishnu, Karttikeya, Durga, Naga and other gods and goddesses.
 Gupta pottery remains found at Ahchichhatra, Rajgarh, Hastinapur and Bashar afford
proof of excellence of pottery.
 The most distinctive class of pottery of this period is the “red ware”.

Sanskrit Literature
 The Guptas made Sanskrit the official language and all their epigraphic records were
written in it. The period saw the last phase of the Smriti literature.
 Smritis are religious texts covering a wide range of subjects such as ethics, politics,
culture and art. Dharmasastras and puranas form the core of this body of literature.
 The Gupta period also saw the development of Sanskrit grammar based on Panini who
wrote Ashtadhyayi and Patanjali who wrote Mahabhashya on the topic.
 This period is particularly memorable for the compilation of the Amarakosa, a thesaurus
in Sanskrit, by Amarasimha.
 A Buddhist scholar from Bengal, Chandrogomia, composed a book on grammar named
Chandravyakaranam.
Puranas and Ithihasas:
 The Puranas, were originally composed by bards (professional storytellers), but now,
having come into priestly hands, they were rewritten in classical Sanskrit.
 Details on Hindu sects, rites and customs were added in order to make them sacrosanct
religious documents.
 The succession of dynasties was recorded in the form of prophesies. Thus what began as
popular memories of the past were revived and rewritten in prophetic form and became
the Brahmanical interpretation of the past.
 The Mahabharata and the Ramayana also got their final touches and received their
present shape during this period.
 Eighteen major puranas are listed. Of them the well known are:
1. Brahma Purana
2. Padma Purana

3. Vishnu Purana
4. Skanda Purana
5. Shiva Maha Purana
6. Markendeya Purana,
7. Agni Purana
8. Bhavishya Purana
9. Matsya Purana and
10. Shrimad Bhagavat Purana.
Buddhist Literature
 The earliest Buddhist works are in Pali, but in the later phase, Sanskrit came to be used
to a great extent. Most of the works are in prose with verse passages in mixed Sanskrit.
 Arya Deva and Arya Asanga of the Gupta period are the most notable writers. The first
regular Buddhist work on logic was written by Vasubandhu.
 Vasubandhu’s disciple, Dignaga, was also the author of many learned works.
Jaina Literature
 The Jaina canonical literature at first took shape in Prakrit dialects.
 Within a short time, Jainism produced many great scholars and by their efforts the
Hindu itihasa and puranas were recast in Jaina versions to popularise their doctrines.
 Vimala produced a Jaina version of Ramayana. Siddasena Divakara laid the foundation
of logic among the Jainas.
Secular Literature
 Samudragupta himself had established his fame as Kaviraja. It is widely believed that his
court was adorned by the celebrated navaratnas like Kalidasa, Amarasimha, Visakadatta
and Dhanvantri.
 Kalidasa’s famous dramas are Sakunthalam, Malavikagnimitram and
Vikramaurvashiyam.
 The works of Sudraka (Mrichchhakatika), Visakhadatta (Mudraraksasa and
Devichandraguptam) was written in this classical age.
Prakrit Language and Literature
 In Prakrit, there was patronage outside the court circle.

 The Gupta age witnessed the evolution of many Prakrit forms such as Suraseni used in
Mathura and its vicinity, Ardh Magadhi spoken in Awadh and Bundelkhand and Magadhi
in modern Bihar.
Nalanda University
 Nalanda was an acclaimed Mahavihara, a large Buddhist monastery in the ancient
kingdom of Magadha in India. The site is located about ninety five kilometres southeast
of Patna near the town of Bihar Sharif and was a centre of learning from the fifth
century CE to c. 1200 CE.
 It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
 The highly formalised methods of Vedic learning helped inspire the establishment of
large teaching institutions such as Taxila, Nalanda and Vikramashila, which are often
characterised as India’s early universities.
 Nalanda flourished under the patronage of the Gupta Empire in the fifth and sixth
centuries and later under Harsha, the emperor of Kanauj.
 The liberal cultural traditions inherited from the Gupta age resulted in a period of
growth and prosperity until the ninth century.
 The subsequent centuries were a time of gradual decline, a period during which
Buddhism became popular in eastern India patronised by the Palas of Bengal.
 At its peak, the Nalanda attracted scholars and students from near and far with some
travelling all the way from Tibet, China, Korea and Central Asia.
 Archaeological findings also confirm the contact with the Shailendra dynasty of
Indonesia, one of whose kings built a monastery in the complex.
 Nalanda was ransacked and destroyed by an army of the Mamluk dynasty of the Delhi
Sultanate under Bakhtiyar Khalji in c. 1200 CE. While some sources note that the
Mahavihara continued to function in a makeshift fashion for a little longer, it was
eventually abandoned and forgotten.
 The site was accidentally discovered when the Archaeological Survey of India surveyed
the area.
 Systematic excavations commenced in 1915, which unearthed 11 monasteries and 6
brick temples situated on 12 hectares (30 acres) of land.
 A trove of sculptures, coins, seals and inscriptions have also been discovered since then
and all of them are on display in the Nalanda Archaeological Museum situated nearby.
 Nalanda is now a notable tourist destination.

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