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Around the world in 2000,
via Asia and Madagascar.
Gwalior(India )
Bec2004-09-18 17:54:09
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Gwalior
The three kilometer long sandstone hill rising abruptly a hundred meters above the surrounding plain was an ideal site to build a fortress. A sun temple was erected on it as early as the 5th century and the first fort was built in the 8th by the Rajput chieftain Suraj Sen. The Urwahi gorge forming the western access to the fort is defended by strong gates at the top and bottom levels. This picture shows the wall closing the gorge at the bottom and on the right, the site of Jain sculptures dating from the 7th to the 15th centuries.
Easily defended Gwalior was the key to the control of the central Indian plateau which was incorporated into a succession of states from the empire of Asoka (3rd C. BC) to that of the Moguls (16th C.), and to the 19th century British Raj.
Here is a view of some of the Jain sculptures that were carved in the cliffs of Urwali gorge during the reign of the Tomar dynasty..
The Jain religion was founded by a Kshatrya prince called Mahavir born in 599 BC in Vaishali 45 kms north of Patna in northern India (36 years before the Kshatrya prince Gautama who founded of Buddhism). Respect for all forms of life (Ahimsa), is the essence of Jainism. Consequently, the Jain have been vegetarian from the beginning (Brahmins became vegetarian only in the 4th century AD).
At that time the rivalry between the Brahmin priestly caste and the Kshatrya warrior caste had not yet been settled in favour of the former and the founding of Jainism and of Buddhism is seen by some scholars as a reaction against the Brahmin's claim to supremacy as was clearly the case with the founding of Sikhism some nine centuries later.
The 25 meter Teli-ka Mandir dedicated to Vishnu was built in mid-6th century.
Gwalior was in the hands of Hindu Rajputs from the 8th until it fell to the Muslim invaders in the 12th century. Then, control passed from one to the other as the tides of war rolled over the
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See photographs from:
India Gallery
