The famous Tamil epic, the Silappadikaram was composed by IIango around 1800 years ago. It is the story of a merchant named Kovalan, Who lived in puhar and fell in love with a courtesan named Madhavi, neglecting his wife Kannagi.
Later, he and Kannagi left Puhar and went to Madurai, where he was wrongly accused of theft by the court jeweller of the Pandya king. The king sentenced Kovalan to death.
Kannagi, who still loved him, was full of grief and anger at this injustice and destroyed the entire city of Madurai.

The Ajanta paintings are world famous.
Most of the monasteries of Ajanta are belonged to Bhagavad Gita is a part of the Mahabharata. Buddhist monasteries and are decorated with The Ramayana is about Rama who had to beautiful paintings.
(i) The caves are dark inside, so the paintings were done in the light of torches.
(ii) The colours, which are bright even after 1500 years, were made of plants and minerals.
(iii) The artists who created these splendid works of art remain unknown.

The pradakshina patha was a path which laid around the stupa. This was surrounded with railings.
Entrance to the path was through gateways. Devotees walked around the stupa in a clockwise direction, as a mark of devotion. Both railings and gateways were decorated with sculpture.

(i)The Jaina monastery in the picture is situated In Odisha.
(ii)Jaina monks lived and meditated In these rooms.

(i)The temple shown in the picture was built about 1500 years ago
(ii)It is located at Bhitargaon, Uttar Pradesh.
(iii)It was made of birck and stone.

The earliest Hindu temples were built 2000-1500 years ago. Deities such as Vishnu, Shiva and Durga were worshipped in these temples.
The most important part of the temple was the room known as the garbhagriha, where image of the chief deity was placed. It was here that priests performed religious rituals and devotees offered worship to the deity.
The garbhagriha had a tower, known as the Shikhara which was built on top of the garbhagriha. It is marked as the sacred place. Building shikharas required careful planning. Most temples also had a space known as the mandapa. It was a hall where people could assemble. Some of the finest stone temples were built in Mahabalipuram and Aihole about 1400-1500 years ago.

The stupas and temples were built through the following steps:
(i) Good quality stone had to be found, quarried and transported to the place that was often carefully chosen for the new buildings.
(ii) The rough blocks of stones were shaped and carved into pillars, and panels for walls, floors and ceilings.
(iii) They were often placed in precisely the right position.
(iv) Devotees brought gifts, which were used to decorate the buildings.
(v) Merchants, farmers, garland makers, perfumers, smiths and hundreds of men and women also paid for decorations and their names were inscribed on pillars, railings and walls.