index_0400


	==Udaigiri, in Orissa: very early 400's, with some Jain caves that are several centuries earlier. These rock-cut Hindu temples offer lovely representations of a variety of deities. Images: Berger; art and archaeology. (Routes)
	==the Hunas, also called Hephthalites or White Huns, appear (c.440's-50's) from Central Asia, and attack Kumaragupta (r.c.415-454) and his son Skandagupta (r.c.455-467). Only with much difficulty do the Gupta kings manage to retain power; but they lose territory in the northwest, and their dynasty goes into a terminal decline (Silk Road Foundation. [Routes]
	==Paintings at Ajanta (especially c.462-78) become the earliest surviving examples of painting in India; they depict scenes from the Buddha's life-- and earlier lives, as in the Jataka (IGNCA) stories. They are painted within the cave temples (1st c. BCE) at this complex site. Images: DSAL; Berger. Compare them with the frescoes and sculptures of Sigiriya, in Sri Lanka (c.477-95): Sigiriya.org
	==the Great Stupa at Sarnath (400's?), just outside Varanasi, marks the spot where the Buddha preached his first sermon, and thus began to "turn the wheel of the law." Its proper name is the "Dhamek Stupa." The site itself is much older, but the current stupa, now partly in ruins, is believed to date from this century. Images: DSAL; Berger. [Routes]
	==Deogarh, one of the earliest surviving Jain and Hindu temple complexes (c.400-499), located near modern Lalitpur, UP. Its Hindu temples reveal a complex theology centered on the god Vishnu (DSAL). [Routes]
	==The great gods evolve into a pantheon: By this point many of the classic forms of the major Hindu deities have developed, or are developing. The tradition also comes to provide many ways to integrate them with each other into a coherent theological world. [Routes]


	==Udaigiri, in Orissa: very early 400's, with some Jain caves that are several centuries earlier. These rock-cut Hindu temples offer lovely representations of a variety of deities. Images: Berger; art and archaeology. (Routes)
	==the Hunas, also called Hephthalites or White Huns, appear (c.440's-50's) from Central Asia, and attack Kumaragupta (r.c.415-454) and his son Skandagupta (r.c.455-467). Only with much difficulty do the Gupta kings manage to retain power; but they lose territory in the northwest, and their dynasty goes into a terminal decline (Silk Road Foundation. [Routes]
	==Paintings at Ajanta (especially c.462-78) become the earliest surviving examples of painting in India; they depict scenes from the Buddha's life-- and earlier lives, as in the Jataka (IGNCA) stories. They are painted within the cave temples (1st c. BCE) at this complex site. Images: DSAL; Berger. Compare them with the frescoes and sculptures of Sigiriya, in Sri Lanka (c.477-95): Sigiriya.org
	==the Great Stupa at Sarnath (400's?), just outside Varanasi, marks the spot where the Buddha preached his first sermon, and thus began to "turn the wheel of the law." Its proper name is the "Dhamek Stupa." The site itself is much older, but the current stupa, now partly in ruins, is believed to date from this century. Images: DSAL; Berger. [Routes]
	==Deogarh, one of the earliest surviving Jain and Hindu temple complexes (c.400-499), located near modern Lalitpur, UP. Its Hindu temples reveal a complex theology centered on the god Vishnu (DSAL). [Routes]
	==The great gods evolve into a pantheon: By this point many of the classic forms of the major Hindu deities have developed, or are developing. The tradition also comes to provide many ways to integrate them with each other into a coherent theological world. [Routes]