| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (55 min. 8 sec.) ; 334631295 bytes |
| Summary |
This episode tells the story of India in the Middle Ages - the Golden Age of the Gupta empire. Michael Wood shows some of the amazing achievements of medieval India. In astronomy they discovered the heliocentric universe, absolute zero and the circumference of the Earth; they mastered the world's first large-scale cast iron technology - the Delhi iron pillar; and their courtly culture was the setting of the world's first sex manual, the Kama Sutra, written in the 5th century.In the south, Michael visits the Cholan capital at Tanjore and, with extraordinary privileged access, goes right inside the greatest temple of that time (founded in 1010) to see the ancient rituals still being performed. He watches traditional bronze-casters making religious images for the temples, just as their ancestors did 1500 years ago.He also visits a traditional Tamil family in the temple city of Chidambaram, goes with them on pilgrimage and witnesses the ancient mountaintop festival of fire that was already famous in 700AD!PRODUCTION DETAILS:Written and presented by Michael Wood. Director: Jeremy Jeffs; Producer: Rebecca Dobbs |
| Event |
Broadcast 2012-01-01 at 14:00:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: G |
| Subject |
Gupta dynasty.
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Civilization, Medieval.
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Iron Pillar (Delhi, India)
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Multiculturalism -- Religious aspects.
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Colonies -- Description and travel.
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Kamasutra (Vatsyayana)
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India.
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
Jeffs, Jeremy, director
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Wood, Michael, host
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