page_title: Rama
section_title: Dating
hierarchical_section_title: Rama / Dating
caption_attribution_description: Frise de scènes sculptées du Ramayana sur la paroi nord du temple monolithe de Kailasha ou Kailâsanâtha (725-755) "La Kailasa (grotte 16) ou temple de Kailasha est un remarquable exemple de temple indien creusé dans la roche du fait de ses proportions impressionnantes, de la maîtrise des techniques architecturales dont elle témoigne et de son décor sculpté. La grotte 16, consacrée à Shiva, aurait été commencée par le roi rashtrakuta, Krishna Ier&#160;; elle tire son nom de la montagne dont celui-ci était originaire dans l'Himalaya, le pic neigeux de Kailasa. Le temple tout entier consiste en un sanctuaire avec lingam derrière une salle à shikhara dravidienne, un mandapa à toit plat soutenu par 16 piliers, avec un porche séparé pour Nandi entouré par une cour ouverte à laquelle on accède par un gopura peu élevé. La sculpture majestueuse représentant Ravana tentant de gravir le Kailasa, le séjour de Shiva, avec toute la puissance qui s'en dégage, est un point de référence pour tout l'art indien." extrait du site de l'UNESCO sur les grottes d'Ellora (patrimoine mondial) whc.unesco.org/fr/list/243/ Les grottes d'Ellora Trente-quatre monastères et temples ont été creusés en succession serrée dans la paroi d'une haute falaise basaltique, non loin d'Aurangabad, contribuant à faire revivre une brillante civilisation ancienne dans une séquence ininterrompue de monuments datables de 600 à 1000. L'ensemble d'Ellora est une réalisation artistique unique et un tour de force technique. Avec ses sanctuaires consacrés respectivement au bouddhisme, au brahmanisme et au jaïnisme, il illustre l'esprit de tolérance caractéristique de l'Inde ancienne. (site de l'UNESCO) Voir les temples monolithiques plus anciens de Mahabalipuram, (Inde du sud) www.flickr.com/photos/dalbera/13924356674/in/set-72157644...
context_page_description: Rama or Ram also known as Ramachandra, is a major deity of Hinduism. He is 7th avatar of the God Vishnu, one of his most popular incarnations along with Krishna, Parshurama, and Gautama Buddha. Jain Texts also mentioned Rama as the eighth balabhadra among the 63 salakapurusas. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Being.
  Rama was born to Kaushalya and Dasharatha in Ayodhya, the ruler of the Kingdom of Kosala. His siblings included Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna. He married Sita. Though born in a royal family, their life is described in the Hindu texts as one challenged by unexpected changes such as an exile into impoverished and difficult circumstances, ethical questions and moral dilemmas. Of all their travails, the most notable is the kidnapping of Sita by demon-king Ravana, followed by the determined and epic efforts of Rama and Lakshmana to gain her freedom and destroy the evil Ravana against great odds. The entire life story of Rama, Sita and their companions allegorically discusses duties, rights and social responsibilities of an individual. It illustrates dharma and dharmic living through model characters.
context_section_description: In some Hindu texts, Rama is stated to have lived in the Treta yuga or Dvapar yuga that their authors estimate existed before about 5,000 BCE. A few other researchers place Rama to have more plausibly lived around 1250 BCE, based on regnal lists of Kuru and Vrishni leaders which if given more realistic reign lengths would place Bharat and Satwata, contemporaries of Rama, around that period. According to Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia, an Indian archaeologist, who specialised in Proto- and Ancient Indian history, this is all "pure speculation".
  The composition of Rama's epic story, the Ramayana, in its current form is usually dated between 7th and 4th century BCE. According to John Brockington, a professor of Sanskrit at Oxford known for his publications on the Ramayana, the original text was likely composed and transmitted orally in more ancient times, and modern scholars have suggested various centuries in the 1st millennium BCE. In Brockington's view, "based on the language, style and content of the work, a date of roughly the fifth century BCE is the most reasonable estimate".
caption: The Rama story is carved into stone as an 8th-century relief artwork in the largest Shiva temple of the Ellora Caves, suggesting its importance to the Indian society by then.[55]
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