Editing Mathura (section)

===Ancient history===
Archaeological excavations at Mathura show the gradual growth of a village into an important city during the [[Vedic age]]. The earliest period belonged to the [[Painted Grey Ware culture]] (1100–500 BCE), followed by the [[Northern Black Polished Ware]] culture (700–200 BCE). Mathura derived its importance as a center of trade due to its location where the [[Grand Trunk Road|northern trade route]] of the [[Indo-Gangetic Plain]] met with the routes to [[Malwa]] (central India) and the [[Western India|west coast]].<ref name="Singh2008">{{cite book|author=Upinder Singh|title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA281|year=2008|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=978-81-317-1120-0|pages=281, 336}}</ref> Archaeologists have discovered a fragment of Mathura red sandstone from [[Rakhigarhi]] - a site of [[Indus Valley civilisation]] dated to third millennium BCE - which was used as a grindstone; red sandstone was also a popular material for [[Art of Mathura|historic period sculptures]].<ref>{{Cite journal |journal=Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology |last1=S.gautam|first1=Mantabya|last2=Law|first2=Randall|last3=Garge|first3=Tejas|title=Initial Geologic Provenience Studies of Stone and Metal Artefacts from Rakhigarhi|url=https://www.academia.edu/10827842|language=en}}</ref>

By the sixth century BCE Mathura became the capital of the [[Surasena|Surasena Kingdom]].<ref name=ImpGazetteer /> The city was later ruled by the [[Maurya]] empire (fourth to second centuries BCE). [[Megasthenes]], writing in the early third century BCE, mentions Mathura as a great city under the name Μέθορα (''Méthora'').<ref>Megasthenes, fragment 23 "The Surasenians, an Indian tribe, with two great cities, Methora and Clisobora; the navigable river [[Iomanes]] flows through their territory" quoted in [[Arrian]] Indica 8.5. Also "The river Jomanes ([[Yamuna]]) flows through the Palibothri into the Ganges between the towns Methora and Carisobora." in [http://www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/history/primarydocs/Foreign_Views/GreekRoman/Megasthenes-Indika.htm FRAGM. LVI. Plin. Hist. Nat. VI. 21. 8–23. 11.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210080315/http://www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/history/primarydocs/Foreign_Views/GreekRoman/Megasthenes-Indika.htm |date=10 December 2008 }}</ref> It seems it never was under the direct control of the following [[Shunga Empire|Shunga]] dynasty (2nd century BCE) as not a single archaeological remain of a Shunga presence were ever found in Mathura.<ref name="Rhie"/>

The [[Indo-Greeks]] may have taken control, direct or indirect, of Mathura some time between 180 BCE and 100 BCE, and remained so as late as 70 BCE according to the [[Yavanarajya inscription]],<ref name="Rhie">History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE – 100 CE, Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, BRILL, 2007, p.8-10 [https://books.google.com/books?id=X7Cb8IkZVSMC&pg=PA8]</ref> which was found in [[Maghera]], a town {{convert|17|km}} from Mathura.<ref name=BotAI /> The opening of the 3 line text of this inscription in [[Brahmi script]] translates as: "In the 116th year of the [[Yavana]] kingdom..."<ref>{{cite book|title=Kushāṇa studies: new perspectives|author=B. N. Mukherjee|publisher=Firma KLM|isbn=81-7102-109-3|page=13|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6VBuAAAAMAAJ|author-link=B. N. Mukherjee|year=2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Ancient Indian coins|author1=Osmund Bopearachchi|author2=Wilfried Pieper|publisher=Brepols|date=1998|isbn=2-503-50730-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6UVmAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> or '"In the 116th year of Yavana hegemony" ("''Yavanarajya''")<ref name="Rhie"/> However, this also corresponds to the presence of the native [[Mitra dynasty (Mathura)|Mitra dynasty]] of local rulers in Mathura, in approximately the same time frame (150 BCE—50 BCE), possibly pointing to a vassalage relationship with the Indo-Greeks.<ref name="Rhie"/>

====Indo-Scythians====
After a period of local rule, Mathura was conquered by the [[Indo-Scythians]] during the first century BCE. The Indo-Scythian satraps of Mathura are sometimes called the "[[Northern Satraps]]", as opposed to the "[[Western Satraps]]" ruling in [[Gujarat]] and [[Malwa]]. However, Indo-Scythian control proved to be short lived, following the reign of the Indo-Scythian ''Mahakshatrapa'' ("Great Satrap") [[Rajuvula]], {{Circa|10}}–25 CE. The Mora Well inscription of Mahakshatrapa [[Rajuvula]], of the early decades of the first century CE, found in a village seven miles from Mathura, stated that images ''pratima(h)'' of the blessed (''bhagavatam'') five [[Vrishni heroes]], were installed in a stone shrine of a person called Tosa.<ref name="auto2">{{cite book |author=Meenakshi Jain |date=2019 |title=Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples: Episodes from Indian History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lAQNxQEACAAJ |publisher=Aryan Books International |page=64 |isbn=978-8173056192}}</ref> The heroes were identified from a passage in the [[Vayu Purana]] as Samkarsana, [[Vasudeva|Vasudev]], Pradyumna, Samba, and Aniruddha.<ref>{{cite book |author=Jitendra Nath Banerjea |date=1968 |title=Religion in Art and Archaeology: Vaishnavism and Saivism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uVKGvgAACAAJ |publisher=University of Lucknow |pages=12–13}}</ref> The English translation of the inscription read:-

{{Blockquote|. . . of the son of mahakṣatrapa Rāṃjūvula, svāmi . . . The images of the holy paṃcavīras of the Vṛṣṇis is... the stone shrine... whom the magnificent matchless stone house of Toṣā was erected and maintained... five objects of adoration made of stone, radiant, as it were with highest beauty...<ref>{{cite book |author=Sonya Rhie Quintanilla |date=2007 |title=History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE – 100 CE |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rtqvCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA261 |publisher=BRILL |pages=260–261 |isbn=978-9004155374}}</ref>}}

The Mathura inscription of the time of Mahakshatrapa [[Rajuvula]]'s son, Mahakshatrapa [[Sodasa]] recorded erection of a ''torana'' (gateway), ''vedika'' (terrace) and ''chatuhsala'' (quadrangle) at the ''Mahasthana'' (great place) of Bhagavat Vasudeva.<ref>{{cite book |author=Harihar Panda |date=2007 |title=Prof. H.C. Raychaudhuri, as a Historian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f1XMtc2Q97IC&pg=PA80 |publisher=Northern Book Centre |page=80 |isbn=978-8172112103}}</ref> Several male torsos representing the Vrisni heroes were also found in a shrine in Mora dating to the time of Mahakshatrapa [[Sodasa]].<ref name="auto2"/>

====Kushan Empire====
The [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]] emperors took control of Mathura some time after the ''[[Mahakshatrapa]]'' ("Great Satrap") [[Sodasa]] (reigned circa 15 CE), although several of his successors ruled as Kushan vassals, such as the Indo-Scythian ''Mahakshatrapa'' [[Kharapallana]] and the Satrap [[Vanaspara]], both of whom paid allegiance to the Kushans, in an inscription at [[Sarnath]], dating to the third year of the reign of the Kushan emperor [[Kanishka|Kanishka the Great]] {{Circa|130}} CE.<ref>''A Catalogue of the Indian Coins in the British Museum. Andhras etc...''. Rapson, p. ciii.</ref> 

The Kushans made Mathura one of their capitals. (Preceding and/or concurrent capitals of the Kushans included [[Kapisa (city)|Kapisa]] [modern Bagram, Afghanistan], [[Purushapura]] [modern Peshawar, Pakistan] and [[Sirsukh|Takshasila]] [adjoining modern Taxila, Pakistan].)

Mathuran art and culture reached its zenith during the Kushan era.<ref name="singh">{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Upinder|title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century|date=2008|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=9788131716779|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pq2iCwAAQBAJ&q=purushapura&pg=PA377|access-date=29 March 2017}}</ref> Perhaps the most famous example was the artistic style known as the [[Art of Mathura|Mathura school]]. Mathura [[atelier]]s were most active during the epoch of the great Kushan emperors Kanishka, [[Huvishka]], [[Vasudeva I|Vasudeva]] whose reign represents the Golden Age of Mathura [[sculpture]].<ref name="auto1">{{cite book |author= Vasudeva S. Agrawala |date=1965 |title=Masterpieces of Mathura Sculpture |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.42876/page/n5/mode/2up |publisher=Prithivi Prakashan, Varanasi |page=2}}</ref> 

During the 3rd century CE, following the decline of the Kushan Empire, the [[Nagas of Padmavati|Naga dynasty of Padmavati]] took control of Mathura.{{sfn|Ashvini Agrawal|1989|p=54}}

====Gupta Empire====
In the reign of [[Chandragupta Vikramaditya]], a magnificent temple of [[Vishnu]] was built at the site of Katra Keshavadeva.<ref name="auto1"/> [[Kalidasa]], hailed as the greatest poet and dramatist in [[Sanskrit]], in the fourth-fifth century CE mentioned the groves of [[Vrindavan]] and [[Govardhan]] hill as:

{{Blockquote|"...the king of Mathura, whose fame was acknowledged in song even by the devatas... At that moment, though still in Mathura, it appears as if Ganga has merged with Yamuna at the Sangam... In a Vrindavan garden which is superior even to Kubera's garden, known as Chaitra-ratha... You can, as well, during rains, look at the dancing peacocks, while sitting in a pleasant cave of the Goverdhan Mountain"<ref>{{cite book |author= Rajendra Tandon |date=2010 |title=Kalidasa: Raghuvamsham |publisher=Rupa Publication |pages=45–51 |isbn=978-8129115867}}</ref>}}

Chinese Buddhist Monk [[Faxian]] mentions the city as a centre of Buddhism about 400 CE. He found the people were very well off, there were no taxes other than for those on farmers who tilled the royal land. He found that people did not kill animals, no one consumed wine, and did not eat onion or garlic.  He found that engraved title deeds were issued to land owners. Visiting priests were provided with accommodation, beds, mats, food, drinks and clothes to perform scholarly works.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Beal|first=Samuel|title=Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World (translated from chinese)|publisher=Truebner & Co|year=1884|location=London}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=March 2020}}

====Harsha Empire====
[[Xuanzang]], who visited the city in 634 CE, mentions it as Mot'ulo, recording that it contained twenty Buddhist monasteries and many Hindu temples.<ref name=rongxi103>Li Rongxi (1996), ''The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions'', Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Berkeley, pp. 103–108</ref><ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Muttra|volume=19|pages=101–102}} (Mathura)</ref> Later, he went east to [[Thanesar]], [[Jalandhar]] in the eastern [[Punjab region|Punjab]], before climbing up to visit predominantly [[Theravada]] monasteries in the [[Kulu valley]] and turning southward again to [[Bairat]] and then Mathura, on the [[Yamuna river]].<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Hsüan Tsang |volume=13  |page=844 |first1=Henry |last1=Yule |first2=Robert Kennaway |last2=Douglas}}</ref>