Turquoise from the Buddha's IRAN

The Buddha's Afghanistan (Gandhara): Monks of the Mines (National Geographic)

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The Afghan-Aryan Buddha

Nishapur, the "City of Turquoise, is in Iran. (There's Buddhism in Aryan Iran? According to India's Dr. Ranjit Pal, the Buddha's mothers, Queen Maya Gotami and Queen Pajapati Gotami, were Sakas/Shakyas/Scythians [an ancient Eastern Iranic equestrian nomadic people who migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC from Central Asia] from Iran's Sakastan/Sistan and Baluchestan province) Native Americans and Tibetan Buddhists love this semi-precious mineral and gemstone, as do so many in the American Southwest, particularly in precious Sedona, Arizona. We love crystals.

(Katie Halper) Prof. Marandi destroys anchor over Iran protest propaganda

• Wisdom Quarterly: Was the Buddha from Baluchistan?
• Mega copper deal in Afghanistan fuels rush to save ancient Buddhist archeological treasures | National Geographic
• The daring journey to reach Afghanistan’s famous Buddhas—before they were lost
• These archaeological findings unlock stories of ancestors

The Gem Story | From Ancient Turquoise Mine to the Mashhad Gem Market | Iran

The quality turquoise of Nishapur, from the village of Ma'dan (Sonia Sevilla/wiki)

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Adele shops for turquoise.

(Adele Journeys) Premiered Jan. 22, 2026: The Gem Story | Turquoise of Iran. Explore the legendary turquoise mines of Nishapur, Iran, where some of the world’s most prized Persian turquoise has been mined for thousands of years.

See how the stones are extracted, shaped, and polished in local workshops, and learn why turquoise is called a "living stone."

(Asiaonnews) The Republic of Iran is stronger than ever, military

and strategic ties with Russia and China | Yusef Jalali explains

• Walk through Mashhad turquoise market,
• discover how to identify high-quality stones,
• the differences in color, and
• how to distinguish natural Persian turquoise from synthetic.

Madan, Iran, turquoise mines, Afghanistan

Rare collector-grade pieces are revealed for the first time on camera.

• 00:00 Intro — History of Persian turquoise
• 00:42 Inside the world’s oldest turquoise mine in Nishapur
• 04:40 Local turquoise cutting workshop
• 05:45 Attar of Nishapur mausoleum — Persian poet and his legacy
• 06:50 Omar Khayyam mausoleum — Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer
• 07:47 Invited to a mountain village near the turquoise mines
• 08:21 Mashhad Gem Market — turquoise trade
• 09:13 Talking with a turquoise seller — how to identify quality stones
• 12:44 Turquoise in Islam — religious meaning explained
• 13:53 What’s next — upcoming episodes

Lie: mass gov't killing of protesters

The U.S. and Israeli campaign against Iran falls flat after Time magazine

deletes its falsified (propagandized) story on deaths | Janta Ka Reporter

Enjoy these videos and want to help the channel grow? Support Adele voluntarily in a few ways: 

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• Adele Journeys, Jan. 22, 2026; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

End Times: Monsters Beyond the Wall?

(Jonathan Pageau - Clips) The symbolism of Gog and Magog: The Monsters Beyond the Wall | Richard Rohlin and Jonathan Pageau.

Banned from Antarctica, behind the Ice Wall - amazing footage - a must watch - Eric Dubay

Can you make your own spiritual path?

Things that think they have their own being are non-being: interdependence

Is there a spiritual battle of principalities?

Can Christian Western thinking/thinkers find a way forward?

Why was Jesus (the Anointed One) never depicted as clean shaven? (Religion for Breakfast)

• VIDEO: Why Jesus [the Nazarene] was never depicted as clean-shaven | Religion for Breakfast/MSN

Priceless relics of the Buddha found

Dr. Ranajit Pal, Ph.D.

Bones of the Buddha is a documentary about the British excavation of one of the eight stupas (Buddhist burial mound and reliquary found in Piprahwa, now India, near the border with Nepal) where the historical Buddha's cremation remains (sarira or relics) were placed after the Buddha's final nirvana (parinibbana). More

• Ranajit Pal's Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander makes sense of the ancient history of proto-India and India and sheds light on the real motives of Alexander the Great in his Gedrosian expedition.

What treasure was in the stupa?

(Doug's Dhamma) William Claxton Peppe excavates on his land in India

Bones of the Buddha: full documentary puts this monumental find in context

• Charles Allen; Bones of the Buddha (documentary); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Sexy Hindu history book banned in India

Wisdom Quarterly; Nina Porzucki, author Prof. Wendy Doniger, PRI's The World (pri.org)

Amorous godly couple Krishna and Radha (Emuishere Peliculas/flickr.com/PRI.org)

 

Judge not. This is religious temple art (U

After years of a legal battle, Penguin Books India, a division of Penguin Random House, has agreed to pull its book, The Hindus: An Alternative History from Indian bookstores.
 

The history book, which its author [Harvard, Oxford Indologist] Wendy Doniger has described as an alternative, Howard Zinn-esque version of the history of Hinduism, has been accused of denigrating Hindus and Hindu [Brahminical Vedic] traditions.

 

(goodreads.com)

“It tells an aspect of the history of Hinduism that is unpleasant for a certain type of Hindu, what I would call a fundamentalist Hindu, to accept,” said Doniger, who is a professor of history of religion at the University of Chicago.

The lawsuit against Doniger and Penguin was filed by Dinanath Batra, a leader of the conservative Hindu group, Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti.
 
Among their specific accusations is that the book wrongly includes a map of India that excludes Kashmir, the subject of a territorial dispute with neighboring Pakistan. [Hey, Doniger, even we think it's going too far!
 
This isn’t the first time that Doniger has encountered an impassioned and vocal response to her ideas about Hinduism. More 

 

The Politics of Sexuality in Ancient India: The Indebtedness of the Kamasutra to the Arthasastra

Shivdasani Lecture by Prof. Wendy Doniger, November 2013

Penguin to withdraw BANNED book (MW)

The depth and extent of the influence of the textbook of politics (Arthasastra) on the textbook of sexuality (Kamasutra) is surprising, most evident in the high incidence of distrust, betrayal, and force in sexual relationships.

 

And the subsequent influence of the Kamasutra upon not only the erotic literary traditions of India but the eroticism of the bhakti [devotional] tradition, particularly in Bengal, accounts in part for the darkness of that tradition, its emphasis on divine abandonment, betrayal, and even violence.

 

Prof. Wendy Doniger [M.A., Ph.D. (Harvard University), 
D.Phil. (Oxford University)] is Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions in the Divinity School, University of Chicago, and in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, the Committee on Social Thought.

 

Prof. Doniger's research and teaching focus on translating, interpreting, and comparing elements of Hinduism through modern contexts of gender, sexuality, and identity. Her courses in mythology address themes in cross-cultural expanses, such as death, dreams, evil, horses, sex, and women; her courses in Hinduism cover a broad spectrum that, in addition to mythology... More

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(TYT) Adopted daughter Dylan Farrow says Woody Allen molested her at age 7

The only Buddhist republic in Europe (video)

Russia Today; New.BBC.co.uk; Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Northwestern climes for Central Asian Buddhists

Kalmykia is in the steppe region in the south of European Russia. It is the only indigenous European Buddhist republic. A 2011 international Buddhist festival took place in a magnificent temple in Kalmykia's capital, Elista. Vajrayana monks, practicing in a Tibetan-Bhutanese-Mongolian style, are preparing a sand mandala.

Ethnic Kalmyks are traditionally Buddhist (BBC)

The monastery is a palace that may serve as a temporary abode for a semi-enlightened deity. Colored marble sand is applied to the canvas through a cone-shaped tube. Follow the monks' path on RT.  Buddhists came to Europe long ago, traveling from its origins in Afghanistan and ancient India along the Silk Road.

Moving up through Central Asia from Bamiyan (possibly in the vicinity of the real Kapilavastu, Siddhartha's hometown, a great center of Buddhism with its towering mountainside statues after the conversion of the Sage's extended family, the Shakyas), Buddhism came to Tajikistan, and into Europe.

Buddhism traveled West out of India through Central Asia and geopolitical Middle East (TSO)

  

Central Asia or the -istan region (BBC)

The area was Buddhist as it first established itself in the West, partly as portions of Greek and Persian and Bactrian empires, prior to reaching the Great Walled empire of civilized China. The Czarist Russian empire extended down to Afghanistan, the roadblock in its imperial dreams as the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). The -istans replaced allegiance to Moscow. But the industrious bands of merchants traveling up and down the Caucasus mountains dividing the Eurasian continent, socially separating Europe and Asia. Siberian shamanism blended with Esoteric Buddhism, establishing a long history of the Dharma on the continent.

• Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander (RanajitPal.com)
• Buddhist activity in pre-Islamic Persia (Transoxiana.org)

Chan Khoon San visited Tajikistan's National Museum of Antiquities in Dushanbe in 2011 to view the famous terracotta Buddha statue, discovered in the 1960s among the ruins of a temple called Ajina Tepa at Kurgan Tube, about 100 km south of Dushanbe. The reclining figure is the Buddha entering final nirvana. It dates back to the 6th or 7th century AD and measures 12.8 m long and 2.7 m high. Because of its immensity and fragile condition, it was cut into 92 pieces before being transported to Dushanbe. The restoration of the sculpture was long and difficult but completed in time for the opening of the National Museum in 2001 during the course of Tajikistan's 10th anniversary of independence celebrations.

The (Other) Lord of Asia (video)

BBC; Alexandros1821; Wisdom Quarterly

  

In the footsteps of Alexander the Great

Alexander shown as Nordic-style Greek god

The Battle of Gaugamela (Greek, Γαυγάμηλα) took place in 331 BCE between Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia. The battle, which is also called the Battle of Arbela, resulted in a massive victory for the Ancient Macedonians and led to the fall of the Achaemenid Empire.

During the two years after the Battle of Issus, Alexander proceeded to occupy the Mediterranean coast and Egypt. He then advanced from Syria against the heart of the Persian empire. Alexander crossed both the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers without any opposition. 

• The great conquerors who shaped Afghanistan were the Buddha, Alexander, and Genghis Khan
• Alexander the Great

Darius was building up a massive army, drawing men from the far reaches of his empire. He planned to use numbers to crush Alexander, and according to some contemporary historians he gathered around 100,000 men. Darius also picked a flat plain for a battlefield so Alexander would have no advantages in terrain, allowing Darius to use his vast horde more effectively.
  

Detail of Alexander mosaic

After the battle, Parmenion rounded up the Persian baggage train while Alexander and his own bodyguard pursued Darius. As at Issus, substantial amounts of loot were gained following the battle, with 4,000 talents captured, as well as the King's personal chariot and bow. The war elephants were also captured. In all, it was a disastrous defeat for the Persians and possibly one of Alexander's most decisive victories.
 
Darius had managed to escape the battle with a small core of his forces remaining intact. The Bactrian cavalry and Bessus managed to catch up with him, as did some of the survivors of the Royal Guard. Alexander continued on through Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and on into India.

Greek Buddhism (video)

Opensourcebuddhism.org, Wisdom Quarterly
(Open Source Buddhism) Mike Watters through Professor Rev. Dr. James Kenneth Powell II

Buddhism was a beloved Greek/Bactrian/Scythian tradition influencing the Dharma and toga-sporting depictions of the Buddha as East met West in Alexander's expansive Indo-Greek empire, which encompassed parts of northwest frontier India (Gandhara, Afghanistan, Indus River valley).

This detailed study of the intriguing interactions of the ancient Greeks, Indians, and Buddhists as greater Greece became a major conduit of communication.

Greek Skeptics and Stoics were greatly influenced by their connections with Buddhism, but not the Cynics. Diogenes was certainly a Buddhist man in the West. The contrast between his view and that of Socrates and Plato is well articulated. He is far more in agreement with the Buddha than the others.

Watters' chronicle of the origins and development of the Alexandrian then Ashokan civilizations is concise yet replete with details. The travels of the two Greek Dharmaraksitas is a fascinating revelation following Greco-Buddhism to Sri Lanka.

The study of King Menander (Milinda) pushes home how Buddhism took root in Central Asia and the philosopher-monk Nagasena's arguments in Greek court were historically pivotal.

Buddhist History Revolution: Ranajit Pal

Ranajit Pal, Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander. New Delhi: Minerva Press, 2002. Pp. 268, including 41 black- and-white illustrations. ISBN 81-7662-032-7. US$17.00, UK£11.75. Further Details.

Reviewer: Jan-Mathieu Carbon, Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Self-described as a colloquial "must for the history buff" and a pleonastic "labour of hard work" (back cover), Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander by Ranajit Pal is indeed both of these things -- a work at once fascinatingly suggestive, pioneering, and provocative, yet frustratingly confused and laborious. The main subject is Alexander's conquest of India, specifically locating Palibothra, the theoretical limit of his march east.

Pal in this book leads his own campaign west against those scholars, particularly Badian and his disciples, who ignore the Sanskrit and Pali sources and try to reconstruct Alexander's eastern campaign using only the Greek and Roman texts.[[1]]

He traces the origin of this methodological problem back to the work of Sir William Jones in the late eighteenth century.[[2]] Few scholars today think in an explicitly "Jonesian" framework, but Pal is right that the usual accounts of Alexander's march are founded on Jones' early premises and detective work.

Pal's hypothesis is that "Megasthenes" Palibothra was not Patna as Jones fancied, but Kahnuj in faraway Magan' (p. 9). In other words, Palibothra was located in what is now south-east Iran, not, as most scholars maintain, in modern eastern India.

As a provocative challenge to current orthodoxy regarding the extent of Alexander's Indian conquest the book is largely successful and will appeal to specialists and students alike. Pal's work is wide-ranging and offers multifarious perspectives on the impact of Alexander's conquests in Indo-Iran. More>>