index_0500


	==Met Museum timelines for South Asia 500-1000 CE: Himalayan region; North; South. Now the history becomes so complex, and the art-historical material so rich, that the Met has to split its formerly single timeline into three separate regional lines.
	==Indian Ocean trading communities prosper and increase (c.500 onwards). Even as Roman trade sharply declines, Arabs and others take up the slack. South India provides convenient ports for the sea trade all over the Indian Ocean. In ports up and down the Malabar (southwestern) and Coromandel (southeastern) coasts, mercantile communities of Arabs, Armenians, and others become larger. Discussion: Indian Ocean; The Hindu; beads. [Routes]
	==the Hunas conquer the Punjab and Kashmir (c.500–50), which results in the fall of the Gupta empire and the emergence of smaller regional kingdoms. (silk Road). Their kings, Toramana (r.c.490-515) and his successor Mihirakula (r.c.515-40), use Brahmi inscriptions on their coins (grifterrec).
	==the Bhakti movement begins in the South (c.500 onwards). As the Met sums it up, "Devotional (bhakti) theistic movements develop in present-day Tamil Nadu. Early cults, primarily devoted to Shiva and Vishnu, include the sixty-three Shaiva Nayanar and twelve Vaishnava Alvar saints (traditionally including low-caste men and a woman, Antal), in the seventh century. These poets sing of their direct experience of god. Non-Puranic and Vedic deities are associated with and absorbed into mainstream Puranic ones; for example, the god Murukan, mentioned in early Tamil Cankam literature, comes to be absorbed into Shaiva traditions as Shiva's son, Skanda." More resources: Sources of Indian Tradition.
	==Elephanta (c.550-75): A Shaivite rock-cut temple is built on Elephanta Island, Bombay, by Krishnaraja I of the Kalachuri dynasty, who is greatly devoted to Shiva. Images: DSAL; Berger; discussion: art and archaeology. [Routes]
	==Badami, in Bijapur, Karnataka (c.578): Rock-cut temples to Shiva and Vishnu are built at Badami, capital of the Early Chalukya dynasty, and prove influential in shaping the iconography of later temples. Images: DSAL; Berger; protomatter; discussion: art and archaeology. [Routes]


	==Met Museum timelines for South Asia 500-1000 CE: Himalayan region; North; South. Now the history becomes so complex, and the art-historical material so rich, that the Met has to split its formerly single timeline into three separate regional lines.
	==Indian Ocean trading communities prosper and increase (c.500 onwards). Even as Roman trade sharply declines, Arabs and others take up the slack. South India provides convenient ports for the sea trade all over the Indian Ocean. In ports up and down the Malabar (southwestern) and Coromandel (southeastern) coasts, mercantile communities of Arabs, Armenians, and others become larger. Discussion: Indian Ocean; The Hindu; beads. [Routes]
	==the Hunas conquer the Punjab and Kashmir (c.500–50), which results in the fall of the Gupta empire and the emergence of smaller regional kingdoms. (silk Road). Their kings, Toramana (r.c.490-515) and his successor Mihirakula (r.c.515-40), use Brahmi inscriptions on their coins (grifterrec).
	==the Bhakti movement begins in the South (c.500 onwards). As the Met sums it up, "Devotional (bhakti) theistic movements develop in present-day Tamil Nadu. Early cults, primarily devoted to Shiva and Vishnu, include the sixty-three Shaiva Nayanar and twelve Vaishnava Alvar saints (traditionally including low-caste men and a woman, Antal), in the seventh century. These poets sing of their direct experience of god. Non-Puranic and Vedic deities are associated with and absorbed into mainstream Puranic ones; for example, the god Murukan, mentioned in early Tamil Cankam literature, comes to be absorbed into Shaiva traditions as Shiva's son, Skanda." More resources: Sources of Indian Tradition.
	==Elephanta (c.550-75): A Shaivite rock-cut temple is built on Elephanta Island, Bombay, by Krishnaraja I of the Kalachuri dynasty, who is greatly devoted to Shiva. Images: DSAL; Berger; discussion: art and archaeology. [Routes]
	==Badami, in Bijapur, Karnataka (c.578): Rock-cut temples to Shiva and Vishnu are built at Badami, capital of the Early Chalukya dynasty, and prove influential in shaping the iconography of later temples. Images: DSAL; Berger; protomatter; discussion: art and archaeology. [Routes]