Description of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya's Pataliputra and the Dining Habits of then India

-

Excerpts from "Everyday Life in Ancient India" by Padmini Sengupta, a book published by Oxford University Press in 1950

borilib.com/repository/sea…
"Pataliputra, now known as Patna, was the capital of Chandragupta’s Empire. It was situated on the tongue of land between the rivers son and Ganges , and was an oblong city about 9 miles x 2. "
"It was defended by stockings of heavy timber. It had five 570 towers, and was pierced by 74 portcullised gates.

A deep moat about 200 yards wide surrounded the outer walls and was filled by water from the river Son. "
"The palace was magnificent ,and stood in a park where there were fish ponds, Peacocks, Pheasants, and ornamental shrubs.

The king lived in ‘barbaric splendour’ in his timber built Palace with its glided pillars, being served at his table with golden dishes 6 feet across"
"There were also copper vessels set with precious stones and Megasthenes tells us:

“When Indians or at supper, a table is placed before each person, this being like a tripod...
There is placed upon it a golden bawl into which they first put rice, boiled as one boil barley and then they add many dainties prepared according to Indian receipts”"
The excerpts are from the book "Everyday life in Ancient India" by Padmini Sengupta.
A note of caution for curious readers:

Many books on borilib.com are decades/a century old. They represent research & hypotheses prevalent at the time. Newer vistas on many topics have since then been published & accepted.

Please Keep that in mind & happy Learning.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute

Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @BhandarkarI

30 Jun
Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan (former President of India) on Mahabharata and the Critical Edition by @BhandarkarI

(A Thread) Image
“The unity of India is based on geographical factors alone but also on its great heritage like the Mahābhārata. The Mahābhārata is a perceptive record of a mighty period in India’s history...
The great Indian Epic has been very popular and had also spread in countries of the Far East Indo-China and Indonesia…. The principal lesson of the Mahābhārata is that the supremacy of dharma & of the law conforming to it has to be recognized &respected for survival in the world
Read 6 tweets
28 Jun
The 18 Parvans of Mahabharata
-

"A Parvan is a neat division of a story, and "Parva" also implies गति, which in this context means progression"

The epic of Mahabharata is divided in 18 parvans, & this is a compilation of three threads that reveal what each parvan consists of.
A thread explaining the Parvans 1-6:

1. Adi Parvan
2. Sabha Parvan
3. Aranyaka Parvan
4. Virata Parvan
5. Udyog Parvan
6. Bhishma Parvan

A thread covering Parvans 7-12 -

1. Drona Parvan
2. Karna Parvan
3. Shalya Parvan
4. Sauptika Parvan
5. Stree Parvan
6. Shanti Parvan

Read 5 tweets
26 Jun
5 Unique Deities of Rigveda - A Short Thread
Savitar सवितृ

The rising & the setting sun. A young & skillful friend of home, Savitar is a god with golden arms & golden tongue.

Savitar is the harbinger of light. He also parts seasons, as he divides night and day.

Trivia - A major @DCComics character is named after him.
Pushan पूषण्

Another solar deity, Pushan is a god of unions and marriages.

The god of every path and every road, Pushan is a protector of journeys, and protects travellers from perils of the path.

Pushan appears in the morning, and disappears in the lustre of Savitar.
Read 7 tweets
19 Jun
The Cultural Index of Mahabharata (1951 till now) - An Index of culture and anthropology, geography, and objects mentioned in the Mahabharata

-

A long thread on the long term project of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute Image
In 1951, Dr. S.K. Belvalvalkar, then gen. editor of the Critical Edition, published an outline for the literary & historical epilogue to Mahabharata. It'd deal with topics like features of various versions, linguistic peculiarities, anthropological details (19 aspects in total)
To construct such an epilogue, it was decided to catalogue 6 major heads - 1) Names, 2) Events, 3) Concepts (philosophy, polity, religion etc), 4) Realia (prevalent culture, day-to-day life, food, war, agriculture etc), 5) Geography, 6) divisions of time
Read 12 tweets
4 Jun
Perhaps, one of the earliest cases of gaslighting comes from an incidence in the Mahabharata.

(Thread)
We all know the story of how Duryodhana was embarrassed in the “Mayasabha”, where he confused a pool for the floor & vice versa.

The story goes that Draupadi insulted him with a jibe, “A blind man’s son is ought to be blind”.

This insult was an inflection point in some ways.
But the Critical Edition of Mahabharata doesn’t mention this incidence (which by extension means most ancient manuscripts as well).

What it does however mention is that Duryodhana went to Dhritarashtra, and complained that he was insulted by Draupadi and even Krishna.
Read 5 tweets
4 Jun
Description of suitable lands for various crops from Mauryan period (321 to 185 BCE) -

Excerpts from "Food and the Diet in the Mauryan Empire" written by "Krishivala", published by "Madras Chamber of Agriculture Publication" in 1946

1/5
"Lands that are beaten by foam (phenaghatah, i.e., banks of rivers, etc.) are suitable for growing "valliphala" (pumpkins, gourd and the like)

2/5
"Lands that are frequently overflown by water (parivahanta) for long pepper, grapes (Mridvika) and sugarcane"

3/5
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(