"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.
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Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan (former President of India) on Mahabharata and the Critical Edition by @BhandarkarI
(A Thread)
“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
The Cultural Index of Mahabharata (1951 till now) - An Index of culture and anthropology, geography, and objects mentioned in the Mahabharata
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A long thread on the long term project of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
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