index_1000


	==Met Museum timelines for South Asia, 1000-1400 CE: Himalayan region; North; South. The complexities of the Met's very helpful timeline still demand three separate parts.
	==The Brihadishvara Temple in Thanjavur (c.1000) is built by the Chola ruler Rajaraja ("King of Kings"). (His son Rajendra I pushes Chola rule up to the Ganges.) The temple inaugurates in South India a new stage of very large and elaborate temple complexes. Images: kumbakonam; Berger; discussion: art and archaeology. More on medieval South Indian temples from "art and archaeology": earlier and later ones. [Routes]
	==The Kandariya Mahadeva temple at Khajuraho (c.1004-35)-- oh the glory! I once spent a whole day just sitting near it, contemplating it from different angles. It's the height of the height of temple architecture, a peer of the Taj Mahal. Images: AIIS Penn.; DSAL; Berger. [Routes]
	==Mahmud Ghaznavi (r.998-1030) inherits from his father Subuktigin a kingdom based in Ghazni (N. H. Dupree), and augments his territory by overthrowing the last (Turko-Hephthalite) Hindu Shahi king. He makes a habit of raiding any convenient neighboring kingdoms to the west, east, and south, including Muslim ones. With all that loot, when he makes Lahore his eastern capital in 1026 (sacoins), he and his successors are able to turn Lahore into a cosmopolitan city of real cultural and literary importance. His gold coins, like this dinar, are especially beautiful; he had plenty of looted gold for making them. Discussion: Ikram Ch. 2. [Routes]
	==Mahmud's numerous raids (c.1005-26) on various Indian (as well as Afghan) towns and rich temples culminate in a raid in 1026 on the Somnath temple in Gujarat (British Library views: one; two), of which much has been made in modern times. "Mahmud of Ghazni's raid on the Somanatha temple in 1026 did not create a Hindu-Muslim dichotomy. Indeed a rigorous historical analysis of five different narratives or representations of what happened yields surprising new insights," writes Romila Thapar in "Somnath and Mahmud" (Frontline). The Somnath raid later provides Wilkie Collins with the plot frame for The Moonstone (1868). [Routes]
	==Rajendra I Chola's military conquests (c.1014–44): The rule of Rajendra I ("the Great") is noted for its warfare and conquests. In addition to defeating the Palas in Bengal and conquering Sri Lanka (c.1017), he undertakes a massive naval campaign against the kingdom of Shrivijaya (Malaysia and Sumatra) because of conflict over the trade with China.
	==al-Biruni's "Tarikh al-Hind" (c.1020's-1030's): One of the leading lights of the Ghaznavid court, the Central Asian scholar Abu Raihan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973- after 1050) (wikipedia), composes his famous "Kitab fi-tahqiq ma li'l-hind" (Book of Inquiry into India). He seems to be the first Muslim to have learned Sanskrit. Having accompanied Mahmud on some of his raids, he profits by the Sanskrit texts he can acquire, and the learned Brahmins to whom he has access. He is a real scholar--an all-round historian (humanistic texts), astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, and geographer.
	==Jain temples in the medieval period: A major temple to Adinatha is completed at Mount Abu, in Rajasthan, c.1030. Jain temple-building reaches a peak between 1000 and 1400; other major sites include Shatrunjaya and Girnar. Images of Mt. Abu: DSAL; Berger has Ranakpur; "art and archaeology" has Shravana Belgola and Ranakpur. See also jain world and jaina. [Routes]
	==Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh in Lahore, and "Kashf al-Mahjub" (1039-72): 'Ali ibn 'Uthman al-Jullabi al-Hujwiri, known as Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh, comes from Ghazni to Lahore in 1039, settles there, and stays till his death in 1072; he is the earliest of many notable Sufi pirs to follow a similar path. He is the author of, among other works, the first important history of early Sufism, called "Kashf ul-Mahjub" (Uncovering of the Veiled), written in Lahore. He is considered the patron pir of Lahore, and his tomb is a prominent and much-visited pilgrimage place in the city today. More on Sufism: Sources of Indian Tradition.
	==The Silk Road matures: During this period, the famous Silk Road through Central Asia (D. Waugh) becomes not only a source for luxury goods like silks and spices, but also more than ever a route for cultural exchange (silk road). Some of the southern Silk Road routes pass through northern Afghanistan and Pakistan. And how could it have happened without camels? [Routes]


	==Met Museum timelines for South Asia, 1000-1400 CE: Himalayan region; North; South. The complexities of the Met's very helpful timeline still demand three separate parts.
	==The Brihadishvara Temple in Thanjavur (c.1000) is built by the Chola ruler Rajaraja ("King of Kings"). (His son Rajendra I pushes Chola rule up to the Ganges.) The temple inaugurates in South India a new stage of very large and elaborate temple complexes. Images: kumbakonam; Berger; discussion: art and archaeology. More on medieval South Indian temples from "art and archaeology": earlier and later ones. [Routes]
	==The Kandariya Mahadeva temple at Khajuraho (c.1004-35)-- oh the glory! I once spent a whole day just sitting near it, contemplating it from different angles. It's the height of the height of temple architecture, a peer of the Taj Mahal. Images: AIIS Penn.; DSAL; Berger. [Routes]
	==Mahmud Ghaznavi (r.998-1030) inherits from his father Subuktigin a kingdom based in Ghazni (N. H. Dupree), and augments his territory by overthrowing the last (Turko-Hephthalite) Hindu Shahi king. He makes a habit of raiding any convenient neighboring kingdoms to the west, east, and south, including Muslim ones. With all that loot, when he makes Lahore his eastern capital in 1026 (sacoins), he and his successors are able to turn Lahore into a cosmopolitan city of real cultural and literary importance. His gold coins, like this dinar, are especially beautiful; he had plenty of looted gold for making them. Discussion: Ikram Ch. 2. [Routes]
	==Mahmud's numerous raids (c.1005-26) on various Indian (as well as Afghan) towns and rich temples culminate in a raid in 1026 on the Somnath temple in Gujarat (British Library views: one; two), of which much has been made in modern times. "Mahmud of Ghazni's raid on the Somanatha temple in 1026 did not create a Hindu-Muslim dichotomy. Indeed a rigorous historical analysis of five different narratives or representations of what happened yields surprising new insights," writes Romila Thapar in "Somnath and Mahmud" (Frontline). The Somnath raid later provides Wilkie Collins with the plot frame for The Moonstone (1868). [Routes]
	==Rajendra I Chola's military conquests (c.1014–44): The rule of Rajendra I ("the Great") is noted for its warfare and conquests. In addition to defeating the Palas in Bengal and conquering Sri Lanka (c.1017), he undertakes a massive naval campaign against the kingdom of Shrivijaya (Malaysia and Sumatra) because of conflict over the trade with China.
	==al-Biruni's "Tarikh al-Hind" (c.1020's-1030's): One of the leading lights of the Ghaznavid court, the Central Asian scholar Abu Raihan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973- after 1050) (wikipedia), composes his famous "Kitab fi-tahqiq ma li'l-hind" (Book of Inquiry into India). He seems to be the first Muslim to have learned Sanskrit. Having accompanied Mahmud on some of his raids, he profits by the Sanskrit texts he can acquire, and the learned Brahmins to whom he has access. He is a real scholar--an all-round historian (humanistic texts), astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, and geographer.
	==Jain temples in the medieval period: A major temple to Adinatha is completed at Mount Abu, in Rajasthan, c.1030. Jain temple-building reaches a peak between 1000 and 1400; other major sites include Shatrunjaya and Girnar. Images of Mt. Abu: DSAL; Berger has Ranakpur; "art and archaeology" has Shravana Belgola and Ranakpur. See also jain world and jaina. [Routes]
	==Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh in Lahore, and "Kashf al-Mahjub" (1039-72): 'Ali ibn 'Uthman al-Jullabi al-Hujwiri, known as Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh, comes from Ghazni to Lahore in 1039, settles there, and stays till his death in 1072; he is the earliest of many notable Sufi pirs to follow a similar path. He is the author of, among other works, the first important history of early Sufism, called "Kashf ul-Mahjub" (Uncovering of the Veiled), written in Lahore. He is considered the patron pir of Lahore, and his tomb is a prominent and much-visited pilgrimage place in the city today. More on Sufism: Sources of Indian Tradition.
	==The Silk Road matures: During this period, the famous Silk Road through Central Asia (D. Waugh) becomes not only a source for luxury goods like silks and spices, but also more than ever a route for cultural exchange (silk road). Some of the southern Silk Road routes pass through northern Afghanistan and Pakistan. And how could it have happened without camels? [Routes]