Thread: Ancient history of india
View Single Post
  #7 (permalink)  
Old 10-18-2007
amarjot's Avatar
amarjot amarjot is offline
Senior Member
Points: 6,037, Level: 8 Points: 6,037, Level: 8 Points: 6,037, Level: 8
Activity: 1% Activity: 1% Activity: 1%
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Age: 27
Gender: Undisclosed
Posts: 860
DesiPad-Buck: 56.00
Rep Power: 7
amarjot is a jewel in the roughamarjot is a jewel in the roughamarjot is a jewel in the roughamarjot is a jewel in the rough
Re: Ancient history of india PART 4
In 327 BC ALEXANDER THE GREAT (356-323),of Macedonia (modern Greece)crossed into northwest India.He conquered a large part of the indian territory before his disgruntled generals,tired of war,forced him to return home.Alexander left behind Greek governors to rule over indian territories won by him.These regions gradually got merged with the indian states owing to wars and political upheavals.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Click the image to open in full size.


hoeever ,the contact between the two cultures left an indelible impact on Indian art.The legendry Gandhara school of art flourished in the ghandhara region(modern Afghanistan).It was the hallmark of indu-greek fusion art

Indo-Greeks in the art of Gandhara
Click the image to open in full size. Click the image to open in full size.

Chandraguptas son Bindusara (ruled between 298-272 BC) further extended the Mauryan empire over the entire subcontinent.The greatest Mauryan emperor was ASHOKA THE GREAT (286 BC-231 BC)the watershed of whose political career was the gory,gruesome war of Kalinga (modern orissa)

ASHOKA THE GREAT

Click the image to open in full size. Click the image to open in full size.

Overcome by the horrors unleashed by this war,he renounced weapons and violence forever.He became a buddhist and zealously propagated and promoted the faith without any violence and coercin.he got his messages engraved on rocks and tablets using the local dialects and Brahmi apost-harappan script.

Click the image to open in full size. Click the image to open in full size. Click the image to open in full size.

Following Ashokas death in 232 BC , the Mauryan empire began to desintegrate .This situation encourage d invaders from centeral asia to enter india in quest of power and fortune.As a result,several small kingdoms came into being ,which soon passed into oblivion.