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Devanagari, also called Nagari, is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal. It is written from left to right, does not have distinct letter cases, and is recognizable (along with most other North Indic scripts, with few exceptions like Gujarati and Oriya) by a horizontal line that runs along the top of full letters. Devanāgarī is the main script used to write Standard Hindi, Marathi, and Nepali. Since the 19th century, it has been the most commonly used script for Sanskrit. Devanāgarī is also employed for Bhojpuri, Gujari, Pahari, (Garhwali and Kumaoni), Konkani, Magahi, Maithili, Marwari, Bhili, Newari, Santhali, Tharu, and sometimes Sindhi, Dogri, Sherpa and Kashmiri. It was formerly used to write Gujarati.
The Heart Sutra is a member of the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajnaparamita) class of Mahayana Buddhist literature, and along with the Diamond Sutra, is the most prominent representative of the genre. The Essence of Wisdom Sutra (Heart Sūtra) is much shorter than the other Perfection of Wisdom sutras but it contains explicitly or implicitly the entire meaning of the longer Sutras. This sutra is classified by Edward Conze as belonging to the third of four periods in the development of the Perfection of Wisdom canon. Conze estimates the sutra's date of origin to be 350 CE. Recent scholarship is unable to verify any date earlier than the 7th century CE. The Chinese version is frequently chanted by the Chan (Zen/Seon/Thien) sects during ceremonies in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam respectively. It is also significant to the Shingon Buddhist school in Japan, whose founder Kūkai wrote a commentary on it, and to the various Tibetan Buddhist schools, where it is studied extensively.
Sanskrit is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, a philosophical language in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and a scholarly literary language that was in use as a lingua franca in the Indian cultural zone.<br/><br/> It is a standardized dialect of Old Indo-Aryan, originating as Vedic Sanskrit and tracing its linguistic ancestry back to Proto-Indo-Iranian and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European.<br/><br/> The corpus of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical and dharma texts. Sanskrit continues to be widely used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist practice in the forms of hymns and mantras.
Sanskrit is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, a philosophical language in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and a scholarly literary language that was in use as a lingua franca in the Indian cultural zone.<br/><br/> It is a standardized dialect of Old Indo-Aryan, originating as Vedic Sanskrit and tracing its linguistic ancestry back to Proto-Indo-Iranian and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European.<br/><br/> The corpus of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical and dharma texts. Sanskrit continues to be widely used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist practice in the forms of hymns and mantras.
The Ramayana is one of two ancient Hindu epics, the other being the Mahabharata. In the Ramayana, Rama's wife Sita is kidnapped by the evil demon Ravana and taken to Lanka as a hostage. She is finally rescued by Hanuman, the heroic monkey god.
Fudo Myoo is a boddhisattva – a popular deity in Japanese Buddhism – who is always represented with a fearsome face appearing in a wreath of flames. This symbolizes the huge effort humans have to make for battling passions and worldly desires. The combination with letters in Indian Sanskrit is most unusual. Print by an unknown artist.
Funan, Phù Nam in Vietnamese, Fúnán in pinyin, was the Chinese name for an ancient kingdom located around the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam.<br/><br/> The name is found in Chinese historical texts describing the kingdom, and its most extensive descriptions are largely based on the report of two Chinese diplomats representing the Wu Kingdom of Nanjing who sojourned in Funan in the mid-3rd century A.D.; however, the name 'Funan' is not found in any texts of local origin, and it is not known what name the people of Funan gave to their country.<br/><br/> What is known about Funan is from Chinese and Cham sources dating from the 3rd to 6th centuries and from archaeological excavations. From the side of archeology, we know that Funan must have been a powerful trading state, as evidenced by the discovery of Roman, Chinese, and Indian goods during excavations at the ancient trading depot of Oc Eo (Vietnamese: Óc Eo) in southern Vietnam.<br/><br/> Excavations at Angkor Borei in southern Cambodia have likewise delivered evidence of an important settlement. Since Oc Eo was linked to a port on the coast and to Angkor Borei by a system of canals, it is possible that all of these locations together constituted the heartland of Funan.
The Singapore Stone is a fragment of a large sandstone slab which originally stood at the mouth of the Singapore River. The slab, which is believed to date back to at least the 13th century and possibly as early as the 10th or 11th century, bore an undeciphered inscription. Recent theories suggest that the inscription is either in Old Javanese or Sanskrit. It is likely that the person who commissioned the inscription was a Sumatran. The slab was blown up in 1843 to clear and widen the passageway at the river mouth to make space for a fort and the quarters of its commander. The slab may be linked to the legendary story of the 14th-century strongman Badang, who is said to have thrown a massive stone to the mouth of the Singapore River. On Badang's death, the Rajah sent two stone pillars to be raised over his grave 'at the point of the straits of Singhapura'.