The Mahabharata or Mahābhārata

The Mahabharata or Mahābhārata (US /məhɑːˈbɑrətə/;^[1] UK /ˌmɑːhəˈbɑːrətə/;^[2] Sanskrit: महाभारतम्, Mahābhāratam,pronounced [məɦaːˈbʱaːrət̪əm]) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Ramayana.^[3]

Besides its epic narrative of the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pandava princes, the Mahabharatacontains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or purusharthas (12.161). Among the principal works and stories in the Mahabharata are the Bhagavad Gita, the story of Damayanti, an abbreviated version of the Ramayana, and the Rishyasringa, often considered as works in their own right.

Traditionally, the authorship of the Mahabharata is attributed to Vyasa. There have been many attempts to unravel its historical growth and compositional layers. The oldest preserved parts of the text are thought to be not much older than around 400 BCE, though the origins of the epic probably fall between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE.^[4] The text probably reached its final form by the early Gupta period (c. 4th century CE).^[5] The title may be translated as "the great tale of the Bhārata dynasty". According to the Mahabharata itself, the tale is extended from a shorter version of 24,000 verses called simply Bhārata.^[6]

Puranas usually give prominence to a particular deity

The Puranas (/pʊˈrɑːnəz/;^[1] singular: Sanskrit: पुराण purāṇa, "of ancient times") are ancient Hindu texts eulogizing various deities, primarily the divine Trimurti God in Hinduism through divine stories. Puranas may also be described as a genre of important Hindu religious texts alongside some Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.^[2] The Puranas are frequently classified according to the Trimurti (Trinity or the three aspects of the divine).^[3] The Padma Purana classifies them in accordance with the three gunas or qualities as Sattva (Truth and Purity), Rajas(Dimness and Passion) and Tamas (Darkness and Ignorance).^[4]

The Sātavāhana Empire was an Indian dynasty

The Sātavāhana Empire was an Indian dynasty based from Dharanikota and Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh as well as Junnar (Pune) and Prathisthan (Paithan) in Maharashtra.^[1] The territory of the empire covered much of India from 230 BCE onward. Although there is some controversy about when the dynasty came to an end, the most liberal estimates suggest that it lasted about 450 years, until around 220 CE. The Satavahanas are credited for establishing peace in the country, resisting the onslaught of foreigners after the decline of Mauryan Empire.

The Sātavāhanas were vassals to the Mauryan dynasty until the decline of the latter. They are known for their patronage of Hinduism. The Sātavāhanas were early issuers of Indian state coinage struck with images of their rulers. They formed a cultural bridge and played a vital role in trade and the transfer of ideas and culture to and from the Indo-Gangetic Plain to the southern tip of India.

The Ajanta Caves

The Ajanta Caves (Ajiṇṭhā leni; Marathi: अजिंठा लेणी) in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India are about 29rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 or 650 CE.^[1] The cavesinclude paintings and sculptures described by the government Archaeological Survey of India as "the finest surviving examples of Indian art, particularly painting",^[2] which are masterpieces of Buddhist religious art, with figures of the Buddha and depictions of the Jataka tales.^[3] The caves were built in two phases starting around the 2nd century BCE, with the second group of caves built around 400–650 CE according to older accounts, or all in a brief period of 460 to 480 according to the recent proposals of Walter M. Spink.^[4] The site is a protected monument in the care of the Archaeological Survey of India,^[5] and since 1983, the Ajanta Caves have been aUNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Great Temple of the Aten

The Great Temple of the Aten (or the pr-Jtn, House of the Aten^[1]) was located in the city of el-Amarna, Egypt, and was the main temple for the worship of the god Aten during the reign of Akhenaten (c. 1353-1336 BCE^[2]).^[3] Akhenaten ushered in a unique period of ancient Egyptian history by establishing the new religious cult dedicated to the sun-disk Aten. Akhenaten shut down traditional worship of other deities like Amun-Ra and brought in a new era, though short-lived, of seeming monotheism where the Aten was worshipped as a sun god and Akhenaten and his wife, Nefertiti, represented the divinely royal couple that connected the people with the god.^[3] Although he began construction at Karnak during his rule, the association the city had with other gods drove Akhenaten to establish a new city and capital at Amarna (then called Akhetaten) for the Aten. Akhenaten built the city along the east bank of the Nile River, setting up workshops, palaces, suburbs and temples. The Great Temple of the Aten was located just north of the Central City and, as the largest temple dedicated to the Aten, was where Akhenaten fully established the proper cult and worship of the sun-disk.^[3]