index_bce_099



	==Bhaja (c.100). These early Buddhist rock-cut temples at Pune are somber and simple, centered on halls with stupas, but also adorned with guardian sculptures and graceful bas-reliefs. Images: AIIS Penn; DSAL; Berger. [Routes]
	==Bharhut (c.100-80 BCE): a Buddhist site in Madhya Pradesh famous for its vividly decorated railing with a smooth flow of narrative scenes from the Buddha's life. Its good pieces are now in museums. Images: DSAL; IGNCA.
	==Ajanta deserves special attention for its remarkable size and complexity: over the centuries; especially from c.400 CE onward, it acquires many Hindu caves in addition to its early Buddhist and Jain ones. Images: DSAL; Berger; discussion: art and archaeology; IGNCA: one, two, three, four, five. [Routes]
	==Augustus Caesar reflects on his Indian connection (c.26-20 BCE): listing his achievements at the end of his life (MIT), he comes to achievement #31: "Emissaries from the Indian kings were often sent to me, which had not been seen before that time by any Roman leader."
	==Strabo too speaks of Indian emissaries to Caesar: In section 4 of his "Geography" (Internet Sourcebook) he provides a few tantalizing details: "But from India, from one place and from one king, I mean Pandion, or another Porus, there came to Caesar Augustus presents and gifts of honour and the Indian sophist who burnt himself up at Athens, as Calanus had done, who made a similar spectacular display of himself before Alexander." (For more on Calanus, see Strabo's section 68.) "King Pandiod" is thought to have been a Pandya king from the tip of the South Indian peninsula. Strabo is also a major source for Munster's Cosmographia.
	==the Parthians (c.10 BCE - 0): For a brief period, the Pahlavas or Parthians (parthia.com) are able to extend their Persian and Central Asian domain eastward to include northern Pakistan. King Phrates IV (r.38-2 BCE) is active in this effort. The trade route through the Parthian empire to India is so important that the Parthians maintain way stations all along it for travelers. Isidore of Charax describes this route in "Parthian Stations," his manual for merchants.
	==the Indo-Scythian Shakas: About this time (c.20 BCE - 80 CE), a group of Central Asian Scythians, called "Shakas" in India, drive out the last of the Indo-Greek kings. The first of their line is a king called Maues, who rules in Gandhara. Little is known about him except through the evidence of his Greek-and-Kharoshti coins. [Routes]
	==Mahayana Buddhism develops (00's BCE - 00's CE), and becomes the dominant Buddhist school in South Asia and also abroad: Sources of Indian Tradition. In contrast to the earlier Theravada school with its simplicity and emphasis on personal striving, in Mahayana Buddhism the cosmology becomes very elaborate, with many Buddha-heavens and Bodhisattvas and other beings now involved in the working out of humans' destinies.



	==Bhaja (c.100). These early Buddhist rock-cut temples at Pune are somber and simple, centered on halls with stupas, but also adorned with guardian sculptures and graceful bas-reliefs. Images: AIIS Penn; DSAL; Berger. [Routes]
	==Bharhut (c.100-80 BCE): a Buddhist site in Madhya Pradesh famous for its vividly decorated railing with a smooth flow of narrative scenes from the Buddha's life. Its good pieces are now in museums. Images: DSAL; IGNCA.
	==Ajanta deserves special attention for its remarkable size and complexity: over the centuries; especially from c.400 CE onward, it acquires many Hindu caves in addition to its early Buddhist and Jain ones. Images: DSAL; Berger; discussion: art and archaeology; IGNCA: one, two, three, four, five. [Routes]
	==Augustus Caesar reflects on his Indian connection (c.26-20 BCE): listing his achievements at the end of his life (MIT), he comes to achievement #31: "Emissaries from the Indian kings were often sent to me, which had not been seen before that time by any Roman leader."
	==Strabo too speaks of Indian emissaries to Caesar: In section 4 of his "Geography" (Internet Sourcebook) he provides a few tantalizing details: "But from India, from one place and from one king, I mean Pandion, or another Porus, there came to Caesar Augustus presents and gifts of honour and the Indian sophist who burnt himself up at Athens, as Calanus had done, who made a similar spectacular display of himself before Alexander." (For more on Calanus, see Strabo's section 68.) "King Pandiod" is thought to have been a Pandya king from the tip of the South Indian peninsula. Strabo is also a major source for Munster's Cosmographia.
	==the Parthians (c.10 BCE - 0): For a brief period, the Pahlavas or Parthians (parthia.com) are able to extend their Persian and Central Asian domain eastward to include northern Pakistan. King Phrates IV (r.38-2 BCE) is active in this effort. The trade route through the Parthian empire to India is so important that the Parthians maintain way stations all along it for travelers. Isidore of Charax describes this route in "Parthian Stations," his manual for merchants.
	==the Indo-Scythian Shakas: About this time (c.20 BCE - 80 CE), a group of Central Asian Scythians, called "Shakas" in India, drive out the last of the Indo-Greek kings. The first of their line is a king called Maues, who rules in Gandhara. Little is known about him except through the evidence of his Greek-and-Kharoshti coins. [Routes]
	==Mahayana Buddhism develops (00's BCE - 00's CE), and becomes the dominant Buddhist school in South Asia and also abroad: Sources of Indian Tradition. In contrast to the earlier Theravada school with its simplicity and emphasis on personal striving, in Mahayana Buddhism the cosmology becomes very elaborate, with many Buddha-heavens and Bodhisattvas and other beings now involved in the working out of humans' destinies.