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The <i>Anwar-i Suhayli</i> or 'The Lights of Canopus', commonly known as the <i>Fables of Bidpai</i> in the West, is a Persian version of the ancient Indian collection of animal fables, the <i>Panchatantra</i>. It tells a tale of a Persian physician, Burzuyah, and his mission to India, where he stumbles upon a book of stories collected from the animals who reside there.<br/><br/> In a similar vein to the <i>Arabian Nights</i>, the fables in the manuscript are inter-woven as the characters of one story recount the next, leading up to three or four degrees of narrative embedding. Many usually have morals or offer philosophical glimpses into human behaviour, emphasising loyalty and teamwork.
The <i>Anwar-i Suhayli</i> or 'The Lights of Canopus', commonly known as the <i>Fables of Bidpai</i> in the West, is a Persian version of the ancient Indian collection of animal fables, the <i>Panchatantra</i>. It tells a tale of a Persian physician, Burzuyah, and his mission to India, where he stumbles upon a book of stories collected from the animals who reside there.<br/><br/> In a similar vein to the <i>Arabian Nights</i>, the fables in the manuscript are inter-woven as the characters of one story recount the next, leading up to three or four degrees of narrative embedding. Many usually have morals or offer philosophical glimpses into human behaviour, emphasising loyalty and teamwork.
The <i>Anwar-i Suhayli</i> or 'The Lights of Canopus', commonly known as the <i>Fables of Bidpai</i> in the West, is a Persian version of the ancient Indian collection of animal fables, the <i>Panchatantra</i>. It tells a tale of a Persian physician, Burzuyah, and his mission to India, where he stumbles upon a book of stories collected from the animals who reside there.<br/><br/> In a similar vein to the <i>Arabian Nights</i>, the fables in the manuscript are inter-woven as the characters of one story recount the next, leading up to three or four degrees of narrative embedding. Many usually have morals or offer philosophical glimpses into human behaviour, emphasising loyalty and teamwork.
The <i>Anwar-i Suhayli</i> or 'The Lights of Canopus', commonly known as the <i>Fables of Bidpai</i> in the West, is a Persian version of the ancient Indian collection of animal fables, the <i>Panchatantra</i>. It tells a tale of a Persian physician, Burzuyah, and his mission to India, where he stumbles upon a book of stories collected from the animals who reside there.<br/><br/> In a similar vein to the <i>Arabian Nights</i>, the fables in the manuscript are inter-woven as the characters of one story recount the next, leading up to three or four degrees of narrative embedding. Many usually have morals or offer philosophical glimpses into human behaviour, emphasising loyalty and teamwork.
The Ramakien is the Thai version of the Indian epic, the Ramayana or the 'Romance of Rama', and has an important influence on Thai literature, art and drama. It is regarded as the National Epic of Thailand.<br/><br/> Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha); full official name Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. It is located within the precincts of the Grand Palace.<br/><br/> The Grand Palace served as the official residence of the Kings of Thailand from the 18th century onwards. Construction of the Palace began in 1782, during the reign of King Rama I, when he moved the capital across the river from Thonburi to Bangkok.
The Ramakien is the Thai version of the Indian epic, the Ramayana or the 'Romance of Rama', and has an important influence on Thai literature, art and drama. It is regarded as the National Epic of Thailand.<br/><br/> Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha); full official name Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. It is located within the precincts of the Grand Palace.<br/><br/> The Grand Palace served as the official residence of the Kings of Thailand from the 18th century onwards. Construction of the Palace began in 1782, during the reign of King Rama I, when he moved the capital across the river from Thonburi to Bangkok.
The Ramakien is the Thai version of the Indian epic, the Ramayana or the 'Romance of Rama', and has an important influence on Thai literature, art and drama. It is regarded as the National Epic of Thailand.<br/><br/> Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha); full official name Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. It is located within the precincts of the Grand Palace.<br/><br/> The Grand Palace served as the official residence of the Kings of Thailand from the 18th century onwards. Construction of the Palace began in 1782, during the reign of King Rama I, when he moved the capital across the river from Thonburi to Bangkok.
The Ramakien is the Thai version of the Indian epic, the Ramayana or the 'Romance of Rama', and has an important influence on Thai literature, art and drama. It is regarded as the National Epic of Thailand.<br/><br/> Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha); full official name Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. It is located within the precincts of the Grand Palace.<br/><br/> The Grand Palace served as the official residence of the Kings of Thailand from the 18th century onwards. Construction of the Palace began in 1782, during the reign of King Rama I, when he moved the capital across the river from Thonburi to Bangkok.
The Ramayana is a story as old as time and - at least in the Indian subcontinent and across much of Southeast Asia - of unparalleled popularity. More than two thousand three hundred years ago the scholar-poet Valmiki sat down to write his definitive epic of love and war.<br/><br/> The poem Valmiki composed is styled the Ramayana, or 'Romance of Rama' in Sanskrit. In its present form, the Sanskrit version consists of some 24,000 couplets divided into seven books.<br/><br/> The Ramakien is the Thai version of this epic and has an important influence on Thai literature, art and drama. It is regarded as the National Epic of Thailand.<br/><br/> Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha); full official name Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. It is located within the precincts of the Grand Palace.<br/><br/> The Grand Palace served as the official residence of the Kings of Thailand from the 18th century onwards. Construction of the Palace began in 1782, during the reign of King Rama I, when he moved the capital across the river from Thonburi to Bangkok.
The Ramayana is a story as old as time and - at least in the Indian subcontinent and across much of Southeast Asia - of unparalleled popularity. More than two thousand three hundred years ago the scholar-poet Valmiki sat down to write his definitive epic of love and war.<br/><br/> The poem Valmiki composed is styled the Ramayana, or 'Romance of Rama' in Sanskrit. In its present form, the Sanskrit version consists of some 24,000 couplets divided into seven books.<br/><br/> The Ramakien is the Thai version of this epic and has an important influence on Thai literature, art and drama. It is regarded as the National Epic of Thailand.<br/><br/> Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha); full official name Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. It is located within the precincts of the Grand Palace.<br/><br/> The Grand Palace served as the official residence of the Kings of Thailand from the 18th century onwards. Construction of the Palace began in 1782, during the reign of King Rama I, when he moved the capital across the river from Thonburi to Bangkok.
They are known, variously, as sadhus (saints, or 'good ones'), yogis (ascetic practitioners), fakirs (ascetic seeker after the Truth) and sannyasins (wandering mendicants and ascetics). They are the ascetic – and often eccentric – practitioners of an austere form of Hinduism. Sworn to cast off earthly desires, some choose to live as anchorites in the wilderness. Others are of a less retiring disposition, especially in the towns and temples of Nepal's Kathmandu Valley.<br/><br/> If the Vale of Kathmandu seems to boast more than its share of sadhus and yogis, this is because of the number and importance of Hindu temples in the region. The most important temple of Vishnu in the valley is Changunarayan, and here the visitor will find many Vaishnavite ascetics. Likewise, the most important temple for followers of Shiva is the temple at Pashupatinath.<br/><br/> Vishnu, also known as Narayan, can be identified by his four arms holding a sanka (sea shell), a chakra (round weapon), a gada (stick-like weapon) and a padma (lotus flower). The best-known incarnation of Vishnu is Krishna, and his animal is the mythical Garuda.<br/><br/> Shiva is often represented by the lingam, or phallus, as a symbol of his creative side. His animal is the bull, Nandi, and his weapon is the trisul, or trident. According to Hindu mythology Shiva is supposed to live in the Himalayas and wears a garland of snakes. He is also said to smoke a lot of bhang, or hashish.
The date of construction of the Svayambhunath stupa, its origins steeped in myth, is unknown. According to the inscriptions on an ancient and damaged stone tablet at Svayambhunath, King Vrishadeva (ca. 400 CE) was the first to build a place of worship on the site. His grandson, King Manadeva I (ca. 464-505) may have made some additions.<br/><br/>The Muslim invasion of 1349 undid all the pious building work, the marauding Muslim warriors dismantling every kafir (infidel) sanctuary that they came across. An inscription at Svayambhunath records the date of the Muslim invasion as 20 November 1349, in all probability a very accurate account. After the raids Svayambhunath was restored, and most of the buildings seen today are from the post-invasion period.<br/><br/>Swayambhunath (Devnagari: स्वयम्भूनाथ स्तुप) is an ancient religious complex atop a hill in the Kathmandu Valley, west of Kathmandu city. It is also known as the Monkey Temple as there are holy monkeys living in parts of the temple in the north-west. The Tibetan name for the site means 'Sublime Trees' (Wylie:Phags.pa Shing.kun), for the many varieties of trees found on the hill.<br/><br/>For the Buddhist Newars in whose mythological history and origin myth as well as day-to-day religious practice, Swayambhunath occupies a central position, it is probably the most sacred among Buddhist pilgrimage sites. For Tibetans and followers of Tibetan Buddhism, it is second only to Bodhnath.
Agra Fort was originally a brick fort, held by the Hindu Sikarwar Rajputs. It was mentioned for the first time in 1080 CE when a Ghaznavide force captured it.<br/><br/>Sikandar Lodi (1488–1517) was the first Sultan of Delhi who shifted to Agra and lived in the fort. He governed the country from here and Agra assumed the importance of the second capital.<br/><br/>After the First Battle of Panipat in 1526, Mughals captured the fort. The victorious Babur stayed in the fort in the palace of Ibrahim and built a baoli (step well) in it.<br/><br/>The emperor Humayun was crowned here in 1530. Humayun was defeated at Bilgram in 1540 by Sher Shah Suri. The fort remained with Suris till 1555, when Humayun recaptured it.<br/><br/>The Hindu king Hem Chandra Vikramaditya, also called 'Hemu', defeated Humayun's army, led by Iskandar Khan Uzbek, and won Agra. Hemu got a huge booty from this fort and went on to capture Delhi from the Mughals. The Mughals under Akbar defeated King Hemu finally at the Second Battle of Panipat in 1556.<br/><br/>Realizing the importance of its central situation, Akbar made it his capital and arrived in Agra in 1558. The fort was in a ruined condition and Akbar had it rebuilt with red sandstone, completing it in 1573.<br/><br/>It was only during the reign of Akbar's grandson, Shah Jahan, that the site took on its current state.
Prang Sam Yot, originally a Khmer Hindu shrine, has three prangs that used to represent Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva (the Hindu trinity). It was later converted to a Buddhist shrine.<br/><br/> The old town of Lopburi dates back to the Dvaravati era (6th - 13th century). It was originally known as Lavo or Lavapura. After the foundation of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the fifteenth century, Lopburi was a stronghold of Ayutthaya's rulers. It later became a new royal capital during the reign of King Narai the Great of the Ayutthaya kingdom in the middle of the 17th century. The king stayed here for about eight months a year. Today, Lopburi is renowned for its Crab-Eating Macaques that live amid the Khmer temple ruins of the city.
Bāburnāma (Chagatai/Persian: بابر نامہ;´, literally: 'Book of Babur' or 'Letters of Babur'; alternatively known as Tuzk-e Babri) is the name given to the memoirs of Ẓahīr ud-Dīn Muḥammad Bābur (1483-1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great-great-grandson of Timur. It is an autobiographical work, originally written in the Chagatai language, known to Babur as 'Turki' (meaning Turkic), the spoken language of the Andijan-Timurids.<br/><br/> Because of Babur's cultural origin, his prose is highly Persianized in its sentence structure, morphology, and vocabulary, and also contains many phrases and smaller poems in Persian. During Emperor Akbar's reign, the work was completely translated to Persian by a Mughal courtier, Abdul Rahīm, in AH 998 (1589-90 CE).
Bāburnāma (Chagatai/Persian: بابر نامہ;´, literally: 'Book of Babur' or 'Letters of Babur'; alternatively known as Tuzk-e Babri) is the name given to the memoirs of Ẓahīr ud-Dīn Muḥammad Bābur (1483-1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great-great-grandson of Timur. It is an autobiographical work, originally written in the Chagatai language, known to Babur as 'Turki' (meaning Turkic), the spoken language of the Andijan-Timurids.<br/><br/> Because of Babur's cultural origin, his prose is highly Persianized in its sentence structure, morphology, and vocabulary, and also contains many phrases and smaller poems in Persian. During Emperor Akbar's reign, the work was completely translated to Persian by a Mughal courtier, Abdul Rahīm, in AH 998 (1589-90 CE).
Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha); full official name Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. It is located within the precincts of the Grand Palace.<br/><br/> The Grand Palace served as the official residence of the Kings of Thailand from the 18th century onwards. Construction of the Palace began in 1782, during the reign of King Rama I, when he moved the capital across the river from Thonburi to Bangkok.
Sri Lanka had always been an important port and trading post in the ancient world, and was increasingly frequented by merchant ships from the Middle East, Persia, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia.<br/><br/> The islands were known to the first European explorers of South Asia and settled by many groups of Arab and Malay merchants. A Portuguese colonial mission arrived on the island in 1505 headed by Lourenço de Almeida, the son of Francisco de Almeida. At that point the island consisted of three kingdoms, namely Kandy in the central hills, Kotte at the Western coast, and Yarlpanam (Anglicised Jaffna) in the north.<br/><br/> The Dutch arrived in the 17th century. The British East India Company took over the coastal regions island controlled by the Dutch in 1796, in 1802 these provinces were declared a crown colony under direct rule of the British government, therefore the island was not part of the British Raj. The annexation of the Kingdom of Kandy in 1815 by the Kandyan convention, unified the island under British rule.<br/><br/> European colonists established a series of cinnamon, sugar, coffee, indigo cultivation followed by tea and rubber plantations and graphite mining. The British also brought a large number of indentured workers from Tamil Nadu to work in the plantation economy. The city of Colombo was developed as the administrative centre and commercial heart with its harbor, and the British established modern schools, colleges, roads and churches.<br/><br/> On 4 February 1948 the country gained its independence as the Dominion of Ceylon. It changed its name to Sri Lanka in 1972.
The date of construction of the Svayambhunath stupa, its origins steeped in myth, is unknown. According to the inscriptions on an ancient and damaged stone tablet at Svayambhunath, King Vrishadeva (ca. 400 CE) was the first to build a place of worship on the site. His grandson, King Manadeva I (ca. 464-505) may have made some additions.<br/><br/> The Muslim invasion of 1349 undid all the pious building work, the marauding Muslim warriors dismantling every kafir (infidel) sanctuary that they came across. An inscription at Svayambhunath records the date of the Muslim invasion as 20 November 1349, in all probability a very accurate account. After the raids Svayambhunath was restored, and most of the buildings seen today are from the post-invasion period.<br/><br/> Swayambhunath (Devnagari: स्वयम्भूनाथ स्तुप) is an ancient religious complex atop a hill in the Kathmandu Valley, west of Kathmandu city. It is also known as the Monkey Temple as there are holy monkeys living in parts of the temple in the north-west. The Tibetan name for the site means 'Sublime Trees' (Wylie:Phags.pa Shing.kun), for the many varieties of trees found on the hill.<br/><br/> For the Buddhist Newars in whose mythological history and origin myth as well as day-to-day religious practice, Swayambhunath occupies a central position, it is probably the most sacred among Buddhist pilgrimage sites. For Tibetans and followers of Tibetan Buddhism, it is second only to Bodhnath.
Siyah Kalem or 'Black Pen' is the name given to the 15th century school of painting attributed to Mehmed Siyah Kalem. Nothing is known of his life, but his work indicates that he was of Central Asian Turkic origin, and thoroughly familiar with camp and military life. The paintings appear in the 'Conqueror’s Albums', so named because two portraits of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror are present in one of them.<br/><br/> The albums are made up of miniatures taken from manuscripts of the 14th, 15th, and early 16th centuries, and one series of paintings is inscribed 'work of Master Muḥammad Siyah Kalem'. Something of the style and techniques of Chinese paintings is apparent in these, and an acquaintance with Buddhist art, particularly in the depictions of grotesque demonic figures.
The Ramayana is a story as old as time and - at least in the Indian subcontinent and across much of Southeast Asia - of unparalleled popularity. More than two thousand three hundred years ago the scholar-poet Valmiki sat down to write his definitive epic of love and war.<br/><br/> The poem Valmiki composed is styled the Ramayana, or 'Romance of Rama' in Sanskrit. In its present form, the Sanskrit version consists of some 24,000 couplets divided into seven books.<br/><br/> The Ramakien is the Thai version of this epic and has an important influence on Thai literature, art and drama. It is regarded as the National Epic of Thailand.<br/><br/> Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha); full official name Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand. It is located within the precincts of the Grand Palace.<br/><br/> The Grand Palace served as the official residence of the Kings of Thailand from the 18th century onwards. Construction of the Palace began in 1782, during the reign of King Rama I, when he moved the capital across the river from Thonburi to Bangkok.
The stump-tailed macaque (Macaca arctoides), also called the bear macaque, is a species of macaque found in South Asia and Southeast Asia.<br/><br/> It is primarily frugivorous, but eats many types of vegetation, such as seeds, leaves and roots, but also hunts freshwater crabs, frogs, bird eggs and insects.<br/><br/> It is generally found in subtropical and tropical broadleaf evergreen forests, in different elevations depending on the amount of rainfall in the area.<br/><br/> It is distributed from northeastern India and southern China into the northwest tip of West Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula.
The stump-tailed macaque (Macaca arctoides), also called the bear macaque, is a species of macaque found in South Asia and Southeast Asia.<br/><br/> It is primarily frugivorous, but eats many types of vegetation, such as seeds, leaves and roots, but also hunts freshwater crabs, frogs, bird eggs and insects.<br/><br/> It is generally found in subtropical and tropical broadleaf evergreen forests, in different elevations depending on the amount of rainfall in the area.<br/><br/> It is distributed from northeastern India and southern China into the northwest tip of West Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula.
The stump-tailed macaque (Macaca arctoides), also called the bear macaque, is a species of macaque found in South Asia and Southeast Asia.<br/><br/> It is primarily frugivorous, but eats many types of vegetation, such as seeds, leaves and roots, but also hunts freshwater crabs, frogs, bird eggs and insects.<br/><br/> It is generally found in subtropical and tropical broadleaf evergreen forests, in different elevations depending on the amount of rainfall in the area.<br/><br/> It is distributed from northeastern India and southern China into the northwest tip of West Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula.
The stump-tailed macaque (Macaca arctoides), also called the bear macaque, is a species of macaque found in South Asia and Southeast Asia.<br/><br/> It is primarily frugivorous, but eats many types of vegetation, such as seeds, leaves and roots, but also hunts freshwater crabs, frogs, bird eggs and insects.<br/><br/> It is generally found in subtropical and tropical broadleaf evergreen forests, in different elevations depending on the amount of rainfall in the area.<br/><br/> It is distributed from northeastern India and southern China into the northwest tip of West Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula.
The stump-tailed macaque (Macaca arctoides), also called the bear macaque, is a species of macaque found in South Asia and Southeast Asia.<br/><br/> It is primarily frugivorous, but eats many types of vegetation, such as seeds, leaves and roots, but also hunts freshwater crabs, frogs, bird eggs and insects.<br/><br/> It is generally found in subtropical and tropical broadleaf evergreen forests, in different elevations depending on the amount of rainfall in the area.<br/><br/> It is distributed from northeastern India and southern China into the northwest tip of West Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula.
John Gabriel Stedman (1744 – 7 March 1797) was a distinguished British–Dutch soldier and noted author. He was born in 1744 in Dendermonde, which then was in the Austrian Netherlands, to Robert Stedman, a Scot and an officer in the Dutch Republic's Scots Brigade, and his wife of presumed Dutch noble lineage, Antoinetta Christina van Ceulen.<br/><br/> He lived most of his childhood in 'the Dutch Republic with his parents but spent time with his uncle in Scotland. His years in Surinam, on the northern coast of South America, were characterized by encounters with African slaves and colonial planters, as well as the exotic local flora and fauna.<br/><br/> He recorded his experiences in <i>The Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam</i> (1796) which, with its firsthand depictions of slavery and other aspects of colonization, became an important tool in the early abolitionist cause.
John Gabriel Stedman (1744 – 7 March 1797) was a distinguished British–Dutch soldier and noted author. He was born in 1744 in Dendermonde, which then was in the Austrian Netherlands, to Robert Stedman, a Scot and an officer in the Dutch Republic's Scots Brigade, and his wife of presumed Dutch noble lineage, Antoinetta Christina van Ceulen.<br/><br/> He lived most of his childhood in 'the Dutch Republic with his parents but spent time with his uncle in Scotland. His years in Surinam, on the northern coast of South America, were characterized by encounters with African slaves and colonial planters, as well as the exotic local flora and fauna.<br/><br/> He recorded his experiences in <i>The Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam</i> (1796) which, with its firsthand depictions of slavery and other aspects of colonization, became an important tool in the early abolitionist cause.
The Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), also called the Rhesus monkey, is brown or grey in color and has a pink face, which is bereft of fur. Its tail is of medium length and averages between 20.7 and 22.9 cm (8.1 and 9.0 in). Adult males measure approximately 53 cm (21 in) on average and weigh about 7.7 kg (17 lb). Females are smaller, averaging 47 cm (19 in) in length and 5.3 kg (12 lb) in weight.<br/><br/> It is listed as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and its tolerance of a broad range of habitats. Native to South, Central and Southeast Asia, troops of Macaca mulatta inhabit a great variety of habitats from grasslands to arid and forested areas, but also close to human settlements.<br/><br/> Wulingyuan Scenic Reserve (Chinese: 武陵源; pinyin: Wǔlíng Yuán) is a scenic and historic interest area in Hunan Province. It is noted for its approximately 3,100 tall quartzite sandstone pillars, some of which are over 800 metres (2,600 ft) in height and are a type of karst formation. In 1992 it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), also called the Rhesus monkey, is brown or grey in color and has a pink face, which is bereft of fur. Its tail is of medium length and averages between 20.7 and 22.9 cm (8.1 and 9.0 in). Adult males measure approximately 53 cm (21 in) on average and weigh about 7.7 kg (17 lb). Females are smaller, averaging 47 cm (19 in) in length and 5.3 kg (12 lb) in weight.<br/><br/> It is listed as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and its tolerance of a broad range of habitats. Native to South, Central and Southeast Asia, troops of Macaca mulatta inhabit a great variety of habitats from grasslands to arid and forested areas, but also close to human settlements.<br/><br/> Wulingyuan Scenic Reserve (Chinese: 武陵源; pinyin: Wǔlíng Yuán) is a scenic and historic interest area in Hunan Province. It is noted for its approximately 3,100 tall quartzite sandstone pillars, some of which are over 800 metres (2,600 ft) in height and are a type of karst formation. In 1992 it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Prang Sam Yot, originally a Khmer Hindu shrine, has three prangs that used to represent Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva (the Hindu trinity). It was later converted to a Buddhist shrine.<br/><br/> The old town of Lopburi dates back to the Dvaravati era (6th - 13th century). It was originally known as Lavo or Lavapura. After the foundation of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the fifteenth century, Lopburi was a stronghold of Ayutthaya's rulers. It later became a new royal capital during the reign of King Narai the Great of the Ayutthaya kingdom in the middle of the 17th century. The king stayed here for about eight months a year. Today, Lopburi is renowned for its Crab-Eating Macaques that live amid the Khmer temple ruins of the city.
Prang Sam Yot, originally a Khmer Hindu shrine, has three prangs that used to represent Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva (the Hindu trinity). It was later converted to a Buddhist shrine.<br/><br/> The old town of Lopburi dates back to the Dvaravati era (6th - 13th century). It was originally known as Lavo or Lavapura. After the foundation of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the fifteenth century, Lopburi was a stronghold of Ayutthaya's rulers. It later became a new royal capital during the reign of King Narai the Great of the Ayutthaya kingdom in the middle of the 17th century. The king stayed here for about eight months a year. Today, Lopburi is renowned for its Crab-Eating Macaques that live amid the Khmer temple ruins of the city.
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon, considered to be based on historical events.<br/><br/>The Ramayana depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters like the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife and the ideal king. The name Ramayana is a tatpurusha compound of Rāma and ayana (going, advancing), translating to ‘Rama's Journey’. The Ramayana consists of 24,000 verses in seven books (kāṇḍas) and 500 cantos (sargas), and tells the story of Rama (an Avatar of the Hindu preserver-God Vishnu), whose wife Sita is abducted by the demon king of Lanka, Ravana.<br/><br/>The epic was an important influence on later Sanskrit poetry and Indian life and culture. The characters Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Bharata, Hanuman and Ravana are all fundamental to the cultural consciousness of India.<br/><br/>There are other versions of the Ramayana, notably Buddhist and Jain in India, as well as Indonesian, Philippine, Thai, Lao, Burmese, Cambodian and Malay versions of the tale.