Buddhist
The Buddha, the saṅgha, the schools, and the spread of the Dharma across Asia.
Deities
- ApsarasApsaras are celestial female beings of Hindu and Buddhist mythology, renowned as divine dance…
- DevasThe shining gods as a class;
- GanasThe dwarfish, motley attendants of Shiva, led by Gaṇeśa.
- GandharvasGandharvas are a class of male celestial beings in Hindu and Buddhist tradition associated ch…
- KinnarasHalf-human, half-bird celestial musicians.
- MenakaApsara sent to break the penance of Viśvāmitra.
- NagasNagas are serpent deities and semi-divine beings in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain tradition, wors…
- PitrsThe deified ancestors, honoured in the śrāddha rites.
- RambhaCelebrated apsara of Indra’s court.
- SiddhasPerfected beings possessing spiritual powers.
- TilottamaApsara fashioned from the finest particle of every beautiful thing.
- UrvashiThe most beautiful of the apsaras.
- VidyadharasSky-dwelling magicians and keepers of esoteric knowledge.
- VishvadevasThe “all-gods”;
- YakshasNature-spirits of forests and wealth;
People
- AjatashatruAjatashatru was a king of Magadha's Haryanka dynasty, traditionally dated to about 492–460 BC…
- AsangaAsanga was a Buddhist philosopher of the fourth century CE, the founder of the Yogacara schoo…
- AshokaAshoka (reigned c.
- BuddhaghosaBuddhaghosa was a fifth-century commentator who compiled the Pali commentarial literature and…
- Gautama BuddhaGautama Buddha, born Siddhartha Gautama, was a Shakya prince of ancient India whose renunciat…
- HarshaHarsha Vardhana (r.
- KanishkaKanishka I was a Kushan emperor of the 2nd century CE whose empire spanned Central Asia and n…
- KumarajivaKumarajiva (344-413 CE) was a Buddhist monk and translator from Kucha whose Chinese rendering…
- NagarjunaNagarjuna was the Buddhist philosopher who founded the Madhyamaka school, arguing that all ph…
- VasubandhuVasubandhu was a Buddhist philosopher of the fourth or fifth century CE who wrote the standar…
Dynasties & States
- Ābhīra dynastyThe Ābhīras were a people of the northern Deccan who established a dynasty in the third centu…
- Alchon HunsThe Alchon Huns were a Central Asian people who invaded northwestern India from the late four…
- Ānanda Gotrika dynastyThe Ānanda Gotrikas were a dynasty of the Guntur country in the fourth and fifth centuries CE…
- Andhra Ikṣvāku dynastyThe Andhra Ikṣvākus were the dynasty that succeeded the Sātavāhanas in the lower Krishna vall…
- AnuradhapuraAnuradhapura was the capital and namesake of Sri Lanka's first major kingdom, a Buddhist stat…
- Apracharājas and PāratarājasThe Apracharājas and Pāratarājas were two minor dynasties of the northwestern frontier, the f…
- Arunachal chiefshipsThe Arunachal hills held dozens of distinct peoples governed by village councils and clan chi…
- AssakaAssaka was the southernmost of the sixteen mahājanapadas, a kingdom of the Godāvarī valley an…
- AvantiAvanti was a mahājanapada of the Malwa plateau ruled from Ujjayinī, the strongest of Magadha'…
- Āyudha dynastyThe Āyudhas held Kannauj in the late eighth century CE, and their weakness made the city the…
- Bhauma-Kara dynastyThe Bhauma-Karas ruled coastal Odisha for two centuries from about 736 CE, a Buddhist dynasty…
- Brahman dynasty of SindhThe Brahman dynasty ruled Sindh for eighty years until the Umayyad general Muhammad bin Qasim…
- Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms of AfghanistanThe Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms of Afghanistan were a succession of polities in Gandhara, Bac…
- BushahrBushahr was the largest of the Himachal hill states, running up the Sutlej to the Tibetan fro…
- Candra dynastyThe Candras ruled eastern Bengal from Vikramapura between about 900 and 1050 CE, a Buddhist d…
- Cuṭu dynastyThe Cuṭus were a dynasty of northern Karnataka centred on Banavāsi who ruled the southwestern…
- Deva dynastyThe Devas ruled Samataṭa in southeastern Bengal in the eighth and ninth centuries CE, Buddhis…
- The Drukpa theocracy of BhutanThe Drukpa theocracy governed Bhutan from 1616 to 1907 under a dual system of religious and t…
- Early CherasThe early Cheras ruled the Malabar coast and the western Tamil country in the Sangam age, and…
- Gauḍa kingdomGauḍa was the kingdom of Śaśāṅka, the first ruler to unify Bengal as an independent power in…
- Greco-Bactrian KingdomThe Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was a Hellenistic state in northern Afghanistan and Central Asia,…
- Gupta EmpireThe Gupta Empire was a dynasty that ruled much of northern and central India from the early f…
- Gurjaras of NandipurīThe Gurjaras of Nandipurī ruled the Lāṭa country of southern Gujarat from the late sixth cent…
- The house of Yaśovarman of KannaujYaśovarman ruled at Kannauj in the first half of the eighth century CE, briefly restoring an…
- Indo-Greek KingdomThe Indo-Greek kingdoms were the states ruled by Greek dynasties in Gandhāra and the Punjab f…
- Indo-Parthian KingdomThe Indo-Parthian Kingdom was a state founded by Gondophares in the first century CE across S…
- Indo-Scythian KingdomThe Indo-Scythians were Śaka rulers from Central Asia who took the Indus country and the Punj…
- KaḷabhrasThe Kaḷabhras were a power that displaced the Tamil kingdoms for some three centuries after t…
- KambojaKamboja was a people of the Kabul valley and the northwestern highlands, counted among the ma…
- Kamboja-Pāla dynastyThe Kamboja-Pālas were a dynasty that seized part of Bengal from the Pālas in the tenth centu…
- Karkoṭa dynastyThe Karkoṭas ruled Kashmir from the seventh to the ninth century CE, and under Lalitāditya th…
- KāśīKāśī was a mahājanapada of the middle Ganga around Vārāṇasī, an old and wealthy kingdom that…
- Khaḍga dynastyThe Khaḍgas ruled eastern Bengal in the seventh and eighth centuries CE, a Buddhist dynasty a…
- Khamti chiefship of SadiyaThe Khamti chiefs held Sadiya at the head of the Brahmaputra valley in the late eighteenth an…
- Khasa Malla kingdomThe Khasa Mallas ruled the Karnali basin and much of the western Himalaya from Sinja between…
- Khmer EmpireThe Khmer Empire was a Southeast Asian state centered on Angkor in present-day Cambodia that…
- KidaritesThe Kidarites were a Central Asian dynasty that took the former Kushan territories of Bactria…
- Kingdom of PongPong or Möng Mao was a Tai kingdom of the upper Irrawaddy country, significant for Indian his…
- Kirāta dynastyThe Kirātas are the dynasty Nepali tradition places before the Licchavis in the Kathmandu val…
- Koṭas of DharaṇikoṭaThe Koṭas ruled Dharaṇikoṭa on the Krishna from the eleventh to the fourteenth century, the s…
- KuchaKucha was an Indianized Buddhist city-state in the Tarim Basin, in present-day Xinjiang, Chin…
- Kushan EmpireThe Kushan Empire (c.
- Later GuptasThe Later Guptas were a dynasty that ruled Magadha and at times Malwa from the late fifth to…
- Licchavi dynasty of NepalThe Licchavis ruled the Kathmandu valley from about 400 to 750 CE, the first historically doc…
- MagadhaMagadha was an ancient kingdom of the eastern Gangetic plain, centered on present-day Bihar,…
- MahābhojasThe Mahābhojas were chiefs of the Konkan coast under Sātavāhana overlordship, attested by don…
- MahārathisThe Mahārathis were a class of chiefs of the western Deccan who served the Sātavāhanas as feu…
- Maitraka dynastyThe Maitrakas ruled Saurashtra and Gujarat for three centuries from Vallabhī, a city whose Bu…
- MallaThe Mallas were a clan people of eastern Uttar Pradesh, organised as two gaṇa-saṅghas around…
- Malla dynasty of NepalThe Mallas ruled the Kathmandu valley from the thirteenth century to 1769, and their division…
- Maqpon dynasty of SkarduThe Maqpon dynasty ruled Baltistan from Skardu, a Tibetan-speaking Muslim country called Litt…
- MaryulMaryul was the first kingdom of Ladakh, founded around 930 by a descendant of the Tibetan imp…
- Maurya EmpireThe Maurya Empire was the first state to rule most of the Indian subcontinent, founded by Can…
- Namgyal dynasty of LadakhThe Namgyals ruled Ladakh from Leh from the fifteenth century until the Dogra conquest of 184…
- Namgyal dynasty of SikkimThe Namgyal chogyals ruled Sikkim from 1642 until 1975, when a referendum abolished the monar…
- The Northern SatrapsThe Northern Satraps were Śaka governors who ruled at Mathurā in the first centuries BCE and…
- Pala dynastyThe Pala dynasty was a Buddhist-patronizing dynasty that ruled Bengal and Bihar from the mid-…
- Pallava dynastyThe Pallavas ruled the northern Tamil country from Kāñcīpuram for six centuries, fought the C…
- Pāṇḍuvaṃśins of Dakṣiṇa KosalaThe Pāṇḍuvaṃśins ruled Dakṣiṇa Kosala from Sirpur between the sixth and eighth centuries CE,…
- Puṣyabhūti dynastyThe Puṣyabhūtis were the dynasty of Thanesar whose king Harṣa ruled most of northern India fr…
- Rai dynasty of SindhThe Rai dynasty ruled Sindh from Alor for some hundred and forty years until 632 CE, a Buddhi…
- Sātavāhana EmpireThe Sātavāhanas were the first great power of the Deccan, ruling from the Konkan to the Andhr…
- Śiśunāga dynastyThe Śiśunāgas were a Magadhan dynasty of the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, credited with th…
- Spiti and Lahaul chiefshipsSpiti and Lahaul were trans-Himalayan valleys governed by local chiefs under Ladakhi and then…
- Śuṅga dynastyThe Śuṅgas were the dynasty that replaced the Mauryas in 185 BCE, ruling Magadha and central…
- Thakuri periodThe Thakuri period covers the four and a half centuries between the Licchavis and the Mallas…
- Traikūṭaka dynastyThe Traikūṭakas ruled the northern Konkan and the Gujarat coast in the third to fifth centuri…
- Trakhan dynasty of GilgitThe Trakhan dynasty ruled Gilgit from the fourteenth century until the Dogra conquest, in a v…
- Turk Shahi dynastyThe Turk Shahis ruled the Kabul valley and Gandhāra from the seventh to the ninth century CE,…
- Uśīnara and the ŚibiUśīnara and Śibi were related peoples of the Punjab, remembered in Vedic and Buddhist literat…
- Vajji confederacyThe Vajji confederacy was a league of clans in north Bihar governed by an assembly at Vaiśālī…
- Vākāṭaka dynastyThe Vākāṭakas ruled the northern Deccan from the third to the fifth century CE, were bound to…
- Varman dynasty of BengalThe Varmans ruled eastern Bengal from Vikramapura in the eleventh and twelfth centuries CE, b…
- VatsaVatsa was a mahājanapada at the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna, ruled from Kauśāmbī,…
- Viṣṇukuṇḍin dynastyThe Viṣṇukuṇḍins ruled coastal Andhra and Telangana for two centuries from about 420 CE, the…
- Wangchuck dynasty of BhutanThe Wangchuck dynasty has ruled Bhutan since 1907 and is the only monarchy of the Indian Hima…
- Western SatrapsThe Western Satraps, or Kṣatrapas, were a series of Indo-Scythian (Śaka) ruling houses that g…
- Zanskar, Guge and PurangZanskar, Guge and Purang were the western Tibetan kingdoms founded by the surviving Tibetan r…
Places & Regions
- GandharaGandhara was an ancient region centred on the Peshawar Valley, Swat Valley, and Taxila in pre…
- KashmirKashmir is a Himalayan valley in the northwestern subcontinent whose early history encompasse…
- MathuraMathura is an ancient city on the Yamuna River in western Uttar Pradesh, revered in Hindu tra…
- PataliputraPataliputra was the capital of the Magadha kingdom and later of the Mauryan and, intermittent…
- PurushapuraPurushapura, present-day Peshawar, was the imperial capital of the Kushan Empire under Kanish…
- PushkalavatiPushkalavati, at modern Charsadda in Pakistan, was the earliest capital of the Gandhara regio…
- TaxilaTaxila, or Takshashila, was an ancient city in the Gandhara region of the northwestern subcon…
- TibetTibet is a high-plateau region of Inner Asia, home to the seventh-to-ninth-century Tibetan Em…
- VaranasiVaranasi, traditionally known as Kāśī or Banaras, is a city on the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh reg…
Sites & Monuments
- Ajanta CavesThe Ajanta Caves are a complex of some thirty Buddhist rock-cut monasteries and prayer halls…
- AmaravatiAmaravati in Andhra Pradesh was a great Buddhist stupa on the Krishna river, whose limestone…
- Ancient universities of IndiaAncient India's centers of higher learning ranged from large residential monastic universitie…
- Angkor WatAngkor Wat is a 12th-century temple complex near Siem Reap, Cambodia, built by the Khmer king…
- BharhutBharhut in Madhya Pradesh was a Buddhist stupa of the second century BCE whose sculpted raili…
- Bodh GayaBodh Gaya in Bihar is where the Buddha is held to have attained awakening beneath the bodhi t…
- MahasthangarhMahasthangarh is the earliest known city in Bengal, a fortified site on the Karatoya in north…
- MainamatiMainamati is the ridge in south-eastern Bangladesh, ancient India, carrying more than fifty B…
- NalandaNalanda was a major Buddhist monastic university in ancient Magadha, in present-day Bihar, ac…
- SanchiSanchi in Madhya Pradesh is a hilltop complex of Buddhist stupas and monasteries, whose Great…
- SarnathSarnath, near Varanasi, is where the Buddha is said to have given his first discourse, and th…
- Somapura MahaviharaSomapura Mahavihara is the Pala Buddhist monastery at Paharpur in northern Bangladesh, ancien…
- ViharaA vihara is a Buddhist monastery, originating as shelter for the rainy-season retreat and dev…
- VikramashilaVikramashila was a Buddhist monastic university in Bihar founded under the Palas, a major cen…
Texts
- Ashokan edictsThe Ashokan edicts are inscriptions on rocks and pillars across the subcontinent issued by th…
- Dasaratha JātakaThe Dasaratha Jātaka is the Pāli birth-story in which the Bodhisatta is born as Rāma-paṇḍita,…
- Jataka talesThe Jatakas are stories of the Buddha's previous births, numbering some 547 in the Pali colle…
- Milinda PanhaThe Milinda Panha is a Pali dialogue between the Greek king Menander and the monk Nagasena, i…
- Pali CanonThe Pali Canon is the scriptural collection of Theravada Buddhism, the only early Buddhist ca…
- Phra Lak Phra LamPhra Lak Phra Lam is the Lao Rāmāyaṇa, named for Lakṣmaṇa before Rāma, told as a birth-story…
- RamakienThe Ramakien is the Thai national version of the Rāmāyaṇa, whose fullest text was composed un…
- ReamkerThe Reamker is the Khmer Rāmāyaṇa, known from manuscripts of the sixteenth century onward and…
- TripitakaThe Tripitaka is the threefold division of the Buddhist canon into discipline, discourses and…
- VinayaThe Vinaya is the body of monastic discipline in Buddhism, one of the three divisions of the…
- Yama ZatdawThe Yama Zatdaw is the Burmese version of the Rāmāyaṇa, established in its present form after…
Concepts
- AhimsaAhimsa is the principle of non-harm to living beings, central to Jain ethics and important in…
- AnattaAnatta is the Buddhist doctrine that no permanent, independent self is to be found in or behi…
- BodhisattvaA bodhisattva is a being on the path to full buddhahood, and in Mahayana Buddhism one who vow…
- BuddhismBuddhism is a religious and philosophical tradition founded in northern India in the 5th cent…
- Dependent originationDependent origination is the Buddhist doctrine that phenomena arise in dependence on conditio…
- Four Noble TruthsThe Four Noble Truths are the framework of the Buddha's teaching — that there is suffering, t…
- Hindu civilization in IndonesiaThe Hindu–Buddhist civilization that shaped the Indonesian archipelago from roughly the 4th t…
- IndosphereThe Indosphere is the vast zone of cultural, religious, linguistic, and artistic influence ra…
- MahayanaMahayana is the branch of Buddhism that took the bodhisattva's vow to liberate all beings as…
- NirvanaNirvana is the goal of Buddhist practice, the extinction of craving, aversion and delusion an…
- Noble Eightfold PathThe Noble Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths, setting out eight f…
- Pancha BhutaThe Pancha Bhutas, the five great elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space, are the fou…
- SanghaThe sangha is the Buddhist monastic community, the third of the three refuges, and the instit…
- ShramanaShramana was the general term for the wandering renouncers of early India who rejected Vedic…
- The six teachersThe six teachers are the rival contemporaries of the Buddha whose doctrines are set out and d…
- SwastikaThe swastika is an equilateral hooked cross, one of the oldest continuously used symbols in h…
- TheravadaTheravada is the Buddhist school dominant in Sri Lanka and mainland Southeast Asia, the only…
- VajrayanaVajrayana is the tantric development of Mahayana Buddhism, using mantra, visualisation, ritua…
- YogaYoga is a body of Indian spiritual and physical disciplines, rooted in Vedic ritual and Upani…
Events
Art & Architecture
- Buddhist rock-cut architectureBuddhist rock-cut architecture comprises the chaitya halls and viharas excavated into the bas…
- ChaityaA chaitya is a Buddhist shrine hall containing a stupa, most familiar in the rock-cut halls o…
- The Rāmāyaṇa in dance and mask-dramaThe Rāmāyaṇa is the central repertoire of classical and folk performance across South and Sou…
- StupaA stupa is a solid domed monument raised over relics, the earliest form of Buddhist architect…