![]() ![]() The sunlight breaks through the trees, and you see them: more than a dozen Asian elephants, a cloud of dust swirling around them. You hear the ground rumbling, leaves rustling, branches cracking. Let’s travel to Asia to discover the wonders of these massive, majestic mammals. The goal is to understand the Greco-Buddhist origin, transmission, and cultural impact to analyze the distribution and spread by reviewing evidence alongside other changes to create linear and chronological typology.Elephants: Roaming with the HerdBy Anne Cissel ![]() The final query deals with Pompeian style, Mnemohistory, and the nature of religion founded on people’s ideas and aspirations. Emblematic architectural sculptures, mainly at Udayagiri, Sanchi, Bharhut, and Mathura, show Ajanta caves as a dynamic cult site surprisingly connected to Sri Lankan Sigiriya as well. Alternate sea routes resolve the anonymous epitaphic Roman glass in Japan and Korean graves. Finally, the art historical procedure of contextualizing an inscribed gold leaf dedicated to a caravan leader explains the contribution of Hellenized Nabataeans - new Semitic scripts, skills, cisterns, rock-cut architecture, and camel caravans bringing people and Roman glass to South Asia. Next, iconographic and morphological evidence pinpoints anachronistic details. A careful rereading of the lengthy legends on Caves 16 and 17 corrects the misdirection caused by misinformation. Roman glass vessels and Silk Road celebrities in Ajanta Caves 16, 17, 1 & 2 date and delivers quantitative support to reject the Vakataka from the architectural treasures of the Kushan period. Problems in the writing of Ajanta’s history lingers. Gajalakshmi installed on the torana gateway to several cremation grounds is known as Swargadwara the Gateway to Heaven in Puri, Orissa. Accepted as auspicious sign of the goddess in temples, crematoriums and homes, torana is a well established system in civic and religious monuments. After several generations torana facade of aedicule on Hindu temples evolved from the new territorial behavior in South and Southeast Asia. Torana festooned with significant details is a distinct cultural marker. Notably auspicious Lakshmi unified with torana is revered by Hindus. Among various forms Gajalakshmi lustrated by elephants is acknowledged first on Buddhist torana. The goddess leads the way to the next world through the torana. The matchless torana gateway and part of the carved railing with Roman type of medallions and narrative relief from Bharhut are now in Kolkata Indian Museum. The detached torana of Sanchi Stupa 3 in situ is one of the earliest Buddhist monuments that abruptly closed down due to change in funerary customs. The Cross-Quarter moments scored by the gateways can be interpolated as the midway points between the Solstices and Equinoxes measured in degrees along the ecliptic. The four sculptured gateways at four cardinal points of the massive parclose is the best preserved classic type. ![]() Stupa 1 at Sanchi is surround by circular stone railing made of plain sandstone crossbars inserted through posts held by copingstones. The earliest torana gateways in Central India leads to unusual type of hemispherical mortuary monument called stupa. Synopsis Torana in Sanskrit denotes a ceremonial gateway. ![]()
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