Krishna
Krishna is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of the god Vishnu and as the supreme God in his own right, he is the god of compassion and love in Hinduism, is one of the most popular and revered among Indian divinities. Krishna's birthday is celebrated every year by Hindus on Janmashtami according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar, which falls in late August or early September of the Gregorian calendar; the anecdotes and narratives of Krishna's life are titled as Krishna Leela. He is a central character in the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata Purana and the Bhagavad Gita, is mentioned in many Hindu philosophical and mythological texts, they portray him in various perspectives: a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero, as the universal supreme being. His iconography reflects these legends, shows him in different stages of his life, such as an infant eating butter, a young boy playing a flute, a young man with Radha or surrounded by women devotees, or a friendly charioteer giving counsel to Arjuna.
The synonyms of Krishna have been traced to 1st millennium BCE literature. In some sub-traditions, Krishna is worshipped as Svayam Bhagavan, this is sometimes referred to as Krishnaism; these sub-traditions arose in the context of the medieval era Bhakti movement. Krishna-related literature has inspired numerous performance arts such as Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi and Manipuri dance, he is a pan-Hindu god, but is revered in some locations such as Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh, the Jagannatha aspect in Odisha, Mayapur in West Bengal and Junagadh in Gujarat, in the form of Vithoba in Pandharpur, Nathdwara in Rajasthan, Guruvayur in Kerala. Since the 1960s, the worship of Krishna has spread to the Western world and to Africa due to the work of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness; the name "Krishna" originates from the Sanskrit word Kṛṣṇa, an adjective meaning "black", "dark", or "dark blue". The waning moon is called Krishna Paksha, relating to the adjective meaning "darkening"; the name is interpreted sometimes as "all-attractive".
As a name of Vishnu, Krishna is listed as the 57th name in the Vishnu Sahasranama. Based on his name, Krishna is depicted in idols as black- or blue-skinned. Krishna is known by various other names and titles that reflect his many associations and attributes. Among the most common names are Mohan "enchanter"; some names for Krishna hold regional importance. Krishna is with some common features, his iconography depicts him with black, dark, or blue skin, like Vishnu. However and medieval reliefs and stone-based arts depict him in the natural color of the material out of which he is formed, both in India and in southeast Asia. In some texts, his skin is poetically described as the color of Jambul. Krishna is depicted wearing a peacock-feather wreath or crown, playing the bansuri. In this form, he is shown standing with one leg bent in front of the other in the Tribhanga posture, he is sometimes accompanied by a calf, which symbolise the divine herdsman Govinda. Alternatively, he is shown as a romantic and seductive man with the gopis making music or playing pranks.
In other icons, he is a part of battlefield scenes of the epic Mahabharata. He is shown as a charioteer, notably when he is addressing the Pandava prince Arjuna character, symbolically reflecting the events that led to the Bhagavad Gita – a scripture of Hinduism. In these popular depictions, Krishna appears in the front as the charioteer, either as a counsel listening to Arjuna, or as the driver of the chariot while Arjuna aims his arrows in the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Alternate icons of Krishna show him as a baby, a toddler crawling on his hands and knees, a dancing child, or an innocent-looking child playfully stealing or consuming butter, holding Laddu in his hand or as a cosmic infant sucking his toe while floating on a banyan leaf during the Pralaya observed by sage Markandeya. Regional variations in the iconography of Krishna are seen in his different forms, such as Jaganatha in Odisha, Vithoba in Maharashtra, Shrinathji in Rajasthan and Guruvayoorappan in Kerala. Guidelines for the preparation of Krishna icons in design and architecture are described in medieval-era Sanskrit texts on Hindu temple arts such as Vaikhanasa agama, Vishnu dharmottara, Brihat samhita, Agni Purana.
Early medieval-era Tamil texts contain guidelines for sculpting Krishna and Rukmini. Several statues made according to these guidelines are in the collections of the Government Museum, Chennai; the earliest text containing detailed descriptions of Krishna as a personality is the epic Mahabharata, which depicts Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu. Krishna is central to many of the main stories of the epic; the eighteen chapters of the sixth book of the epic that constitute the Bhagavad Gita contain the advice of Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield. The Harivamsa, a appendix to the Mahabharata contains a detailed version of Krishna's childhood and youth; the Chandogya Upanishad, estimated to have been composed sometime between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE, has been another source of speculation regarding Krishna in ancient India. The
Nāga
Naga or Nagi is a Sanskrit word which refers to a "serpent" or "snake" the King cobra. The term Naga in Hinduism and Jainism denotes divine, semi-divine deities, or a semi-divine race of half-human half-serpent beings that resides in the heavenly Patala and can take human form, they are principally depicted in three forms: wholly humans with snakes on the necks. A female naga is a "nagi", "nagin", or "nagini". Nagaraja is seen as the king of nāginis, they are common and hold cultural significance in the mythological traditions of many South Asian and Southeast Asian cultures. In Sanskrit, a nāgá is the Indian cobra. A synonym for nāgá is phaṇin. There are several words for "snake" in general, one of the commonly used ones is sarpá. Sometimes the word nāgá is used generically to mean "snake"; the word is cognate with English'snake', Germanic: *snēk-a-, Proto-IE: *nēg-o-. The mythological serpent race that took form as cobras can be found in Hindu iconography; the nāgas are described as the powerful, splendid and proud semidivine race that can assume their physical form either as human, partial human-serpent or the whole serpent.
Their domain is in the enchanted underworld, the underground realm filled with gems and other earthly treasures called Naga-loka or Patala-loka. They are often associated with bodies of waters — including rivers, lakes and wells — and are guardians of treasure, their power and venom made them dangerous to humans. However, they took beneficial protagonist role in Hindu mythology, such as in Samudra manthan mythology, Vasuki, a nāgarāja who abides on Shiva's neck, became the churning rope for churning of the Ocean of Milk, their eternal mortal enemies are the legendary semidivine birdlike-deity. Vishnu is portrayed in the form sheltered by Śeṣanāga or reclining on Śeṣa, but the iconography has been extended to other deities as well; the serpent is a common feature in Ganesha iconography and appears in many forms: around the neck, use as a sacred thread wrapped around the stomach as a belt, held in a hand, coiled at the ankles, or as a throne. Shiva is shown garlanded with a snake. Maehle states that "Patanjali is thought to be a manifestation of the serpent of eternity".
As in Hinduism, the Buddhist nāga has the form of a great cobra with a single head but sometimes with many. At least some of the nāgas are capable of using magic powers to transform themselves into a human semblance; the nāga is sometimes portrayed as a human being with a dragon extending over his head. One nāga, in human form, attempted to become a monk. In the "Devadatta" chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the daughter of the dragon king, an eight year old longnü, after listening to Mañjuśrī preach the Lotus Sutra, transforms into a male Bodhisattva and reaches full enlightenment; this tale appears to reinforce the viewpoint prevalent in Mahayana scriptures that a male body is required for Buddhahood if a being is so advanced in realization that they can magically transform their body at will and demonstrate the emptiness of the physical form itself. Nagas are believed to both live on Nagaloka, among the other minor deities, in various parts of the human-inhabited earth; some of them are water-dwellers, living in the ocean.
The nāgas are the followers of Virūpākṣa, one of the Four Heavenly Kings who guards the western direction. They act as a guard upon Mount Sumeru, protecting the dēvas of Trāyastriṃśa from attack by the asūras. Among the notable nāgas of Buddhist tradition is Nāgarāja and protector of the Buddha. In the Vinaya Sutra, shortly after his enlightenment, the Buddha is meditating in a forest when a great storm arises, but graciously, King Mucalinda gives shelter to the Buddha from the storm by covering the Buddha's head with his seven snake heads; the king takes the form of a young Brahmin and renders the Buddha homage. It is noteworthy that the two chief disciples of the Buddha and Moggallāna are both referred to as Mahānāga or "Great Nāga"; some of the most important figures in Buddhist history symbolize nagas in their names such as Dignāga, Nāgāsēna, although other etymons are assigned to his name, Nāgārjuna. In the Vajrayāna and Mahāsiddha traditions, nagas in their half-human form are depicted holding a naga-jewel, kumbhas of amrita, or a terma, elementally encoded by adepts.
According to tradition, Prajñapāramita sutras had been given by the Buddha to a great Naga who guarded them in the sea, were conferred upon Nāgārjuna later. In Thailand and Java, the nāga is a wealthy underworld deity. For Malay sailors, nāgas are a type of dragon with many heads. In Laos they are beaked water serpents; the seven-headed nagas depicted as guardian statues, carved as balustrades on causeways leading to main Cambodian temples, such as those found in Angkor Wat. They represent the seven races within naga society, which has a mythological, or symbolic, association with "the seven colors of the rainbow". Furthermore, Cambodian naga possess numerological symbolism in the number of their heads. Odd-headed naga symbolise the Male Energy, Infinity and Immortality; this is because, all odd numbers come from One. Even
Prahlada
Prahlada was a king, the son of Hiranyakashipu and Kayadhu, the father of Virochana. He belonged to the Kashyap gotra, he is described as a saintly boy from the Puranas known for his piety and bhakti to Lord Vishnu. Despite the abusive nature of his father, Hiranyakashipu, he continued his devotion towards Lord Vishnu, he is considered to be a mahājana, or great devotee, by followers of Vaishnava traditions and is of special importance to devotees of the avatār Narasiṁha. A treatise is accredited to him in the Bhagavata Purana in which Prahlāda describes the process of loving worship to his Lord Vishnu; the majority of stories in the Puranas are based on the activities of Prahlāda as a young boy, he is depicted as such in paintings and illustrations. Prahlāda was born to Kayadu and Hiranyakashipu, an evil daitya king, granted a boon that he could not be killed of anything born from a living womb, neither be killed by a man nor an animal, neither during the day nor at night, neither indoors nor outdoors, neither on land, nor in the air nor in water and of no man made weapon.
However, after repeated attempts of filicide by Hiranyakashipu unto Prahlāda, Prahlāda was saved by Lord Narasimha, a prominent avatar of Vishnu who descended to demonstrate the quality of Divine rage and redemption by killing the demon king. The word "Narsimha" is derived from the Sanskrit word" nara" meaning Man and "siṃha" meaning lion. Thus, the Lord took the form of part lion to kill the Asura. Lord Narasiṁha, being the transcendental Supreme Personality of Godhead, fulfilled all the proper requirements by which the otherwise nearly-invincible Hiranyakashipu could be killed. After the death of his father, Prahlāda took his father's kingdom and ruled peacefully and virtuously, he was known for his kindness. He sowed similar seeds in grandson Mahabali. Prahlāda—while being in his mother's womb—got to hear Narada's chants, he was taught by Narada in early childhood. As a result, he was devoted towards Vishnu, his father tried to warn Prahlāda. Despite several warnings from his father Hiranyakashipu, Prahlāda continued to worship Vishnu instead.
His father decided to commit filicide and poison Prahlāda, but he survived. He trampled the boy with elephants, but the boy still lived, he put Prahlāda in a room with venomous snakes, they made a bed for him with their bodies. Prahalada was thrown from a valley into a river but was saved by Lord Vishnu. Holika, the sister of Hiranyakashipu, was blessed in. Hiranyakashipu put Prahlāda on the lap of Holika. Prahlāda prayed to Vishnu to keep him safe. Holika burned to death as Prahlāda is left unscathed; this event is celebrated as the Hindu festival of Holi. After tolerating abuse from Hiranyakashipu, Prahlāda is saved by Narasiṁha, Lord Vishnu in the form of a man-lion chimera, who emerges from within a stone pillar, who places the king on his thighs, kills him with his sharp nails at the entrance to his home at dusk, thus nullifying all of Hiranyakashipu's boon of virtual immortality. Prahlāda becomes king of the daityas and attains a place in the abode of Vishnu after his death. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna makes the following statement in regard to Prahlāda, showing his favour towards him: Translation: "Among the Daitya demons I am the devoted Prahlāda, among subduers I am time, among beasts I am the lion, among birds I am Garuda."
Because of his steadfast devotion towards Lord Vishnu as well as under the teachings of Shukracharya, Prahlada became the mighty king of the Asuras. Prahlada was more powerful than his father, Hiranyakashipu was, he enjoyed the respect of his subjects. Without lifting a single weapon, by virtue of his good behaviour, Prahlada conquered the three worlds and Indra ran away from the Heavens. Indra deceived Prahlada into giving him the power of his behaviour and Prahlada lost control of the three worlds; the Asuras grew angry at the Devas for taking advantage of their King's virtuous behaviour and invaded the heavens. The Devas, afraid of the Asuras, enlisted the help of human Kings such as Yayati and Kakutstha and defeated them. Prahlada always served thousands of Brahmins daily. One day, out of ignorance, Prahlada forgot to serve one Brahmin; the latter cursed the Asura that he would become unrighteous. The curse would be broken. Prahlada personally attacked the gods and defeated Indra in battle, forcing the King of the Gods to run for his life.
Indra sought help of Lord Vishnu. Infused with his power, Indra defeated Prahlada; the latter understood that Vishnu was helping Indra in battle and he withdrew his forces. Prahlada first gave his kingdom to Andhaka. So Prahlada undertook a Tirtha Yatra; when Prahlada found out that his blind and deformed cousin, had overcome his disabilities and became mighty and invincible due to the boon of Lord Brahma, he voluntarily ceded his lordship over the Asuras to Andhaka and became a vassal. Prahlada, Virochana and Bana had fought against Lord Shiva and the other gods when Andhaka attacked Mt. Kailash. Prahlada had advised to Andhaka against the invasion, but Andhaka refused. Andhaka was defeated by Lord Shiva and Prahlada once more became King of the Asuras. Prahlada was present during the churning of the ocean and fought in the Tarakamaya war against the Devas. Prahlada's son was Virochana, the father of Bali; the gods had Virochana killed by taking advantage of his generosity. Prahlada raised Bali. La
Gandharva
Gandharva is a name used for distinct heavenly beings in Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, the gandharvas (Sanskrit and Hindi: गन्धर्व, Assamese: গন্ধৰ্ব্ব gandharbba, Bengali: গন্ধর্ব "gandharba", Kannada: ಗಂಧರ್ವ, Telugu గంధర్వ,are male nature spirits, husbands of the Apsaras; some are part animal a bird or horse. They have superb musical skills, they made beautiful music for the gods in their palaces. Gandharvas are depicted as singers in the court of Gods. Gandharvas act as messengers between the humans. In Hindu law, a gandharva marriage is one contracted without formal rituals. Gandharvas are mentioned extensively in the epic Mahabharata as associated with the devas and with the yakshas, as formidable warriors, they are mentioned as spread across various territories. Various parentage is given for the gandharvas, they are called the creatures of Prajapati, of Brahma, of Kasyapa, of the Munis, of Arishta, or of Vāc. A gandharva or gandhabba is one of the lowest-ranking devas in Buddhist cosmology.
They are classed among the Cāturmahārājikakāyika devas, are subject to the Great King Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Guardian of the East. Beings are reborn among the gandharvas as a consequence of having practiced the most basic form of ethics, it was considered embarrassing for a monk to be born in no better birth than that of a gandharva. Gandharvas can fly through the air, are known for their skill as musicians, they are connected with trees and flowers, are described as dwelling in the scents of bark and blossom. They are among the beings of the wilderness; the terms gandharva and yakṣa are sometimes used for the same person. In the Mahātanhasankhaya Sutta in the Majjhima Nikāya, Gautama Buddha explains to his bhikkhus that an embryo develops when three conditions are met: the woman must be in the correct point of her menstrual cycle, the woman and man must have sexual intercourse, a gandhabba must be present. According to the commentary to this sutta, in this instance the word gandhabba doesn't mean a celestial deva, but a being enabled to be born by its karma.
Among the notable gandharvas are mentioned Panāda, Opamañña, Naḷa, Cittasena, Rājā. Janesabha is the same as Janavasabha, a rebirth of King Bimbisāra of Magadha. Mātali the Gandharva is the charioteer for Śakra. Timbarū was a chieftain of the gandharvas. There is a romantic story told about the love between his daughter Bhaddā Suriyavacchasā and another gandharva, Pañcasikha. Pañcasikha fell in love with Suriyavacchasā when he saw her dancing before Śakra, but she was in love with Sikhandī, son of Mātali the charioteer. Pañcasikha went to Timbarū's home and played a melody on his lute of beluva-wood, on which he had great skill, sang a love-song in which he interwove themes about the Buddha and his arhats. Śakra prevailed upon Pañcasikha to intercede with the Buddha so that Śakra might have an audience with him. As a reward for Pañcasikha's services, Śakra was able to get Suriyavacchasā pleased with Pañcasikha's display of skill and devotion, to agree to marry Pañcasikha. Pañcasikha acts as a messenger for the Four Heavenly Kings, conveying news from them to Mātali, the latter representing Śakra and the Trāyastriṃśa devas.
Gandharva or gandhabba is used in a different sense, referring to a being in a liminal state between death and rebirth. There are many singers known as gandharvas for their mastery of Indian classical music. All of them, at one time or another, were theater actors, their style of music is known as Kula Sangeet in Marathi "hereditary music". They are regarded as masters of Indian classical music by the vast majority of the general population, predominantly in the state of Maharashtra. Chitrasena Tumburu Kabandha Gandharva marriage
Jat people
The Jat people are a traditionally agricultural community native to the Indian subcontinent, comprising what is today Northern India and Pakistan. Pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region, Delhi and the western Gangetic Plain in late medieval times. Of Hindu and Sikh faiths, they now live in the Indian states of Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh. Traditionally involved in peasantry, the Jat community saw radical social changes in the 17th century, when the Hindu Jats took up arms against the Mughal Empire during the late 17th and early 18th century; the Hindu Jat kingdom reached its zenith under Maharaja Suraj Mal of Bharatpur. The Jat community of the Punjab region played an important role in the development of the martial Khalsa Panth of Sikhism. By the 20th century, the landowning Jats became an influential group in several parts of North India, including Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
Over the years, several Jats abandoned agriculture in favour of urban jobs, used their dominant economic and political status to claim higher social status. Jats are classified as Other Backward Class in seven of India's thirty-six States and UTs, namely Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. However, only the Jats of Rajasthan – excluding those of Bharatpur district and Dholpur district – are entitled to reservation of central government jobs under the OBC reservation. In 2016, the Jats of Haryana organized massive protests demanding to be classified as OBC in order to obtain such affirmative action benefits; the Jats are a paradigmatic example of community- and identity-formation in early modern Indian subcontinent. "Jat" is an elastic label applied to a wide-ranging, traditionally non-elite, community which had its origins in pastoralism in the lower Indus valley of Sindh. At the time of Muhammad bin Qasim's conquest of Sind in the 8th century, Arab writers described agglomerations of Jats in the arid, the wet, the mountainous regions of the conquered land.
The Islamic rulers, though professing a theologically egalitarian religion, did not alter either the non-elite status of Jats or the discriminatory practices against them, put in place in the long period of Hindu rule in Sind. Between the eleventh and the sixteenth centuries, Jat herders migrated up along the river valleys, into the Punjab, which had not been cultivated in the first millennium. Many took up tilling in regions such as Western Punjab, where the sakia had been introduced. By early Mughal times, in the Punjab, the term "Jat" had become loosely synonymous with "peasant", some Jats had come to own land and exert local influence. According to historians Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot, The Jats provide an important insight into how religious identities evolved during the precolonial era. Before they settled in the Punjab and other northern regions, the pastoralist Jats had little exposure to any of the mainstream religions. Only after they became more integrated into the agrarian world did the Jats adopt the dominant religion of the people in whose midst they dwelt.
Over time the Jats became Muslim in the western Punjab, Sikh in the eastern Punjab, Hindu in the areas between Delhi Territory and Agra, with the divisions by faith reflecting the geographical strengths of these religions. During the decline of Mughal rule in the early 18th century, the Indian subcontinent's hinterland dwellers, many of whom were armed and nomadic interacted with settled townspeople and agriculturists. Many new rulers of the 18th century came from such nomadic backgrounds; the effect of this interaction on India's social organization lasted well into the colonial period. During much of this time, non-elite tillers and pastoralists, such as the Jats or Ahirs, were part of a social spectrum that blended only indistinctly into the elite landowning classes at one end, the menial or ritually polluting classes at the other. During the heyday of Mughal rule, Jats had recognized rights. According to Barbara D. Metcalf and Thomas R. Metcalf: Upstart warriors, Marathas and the like, as coherent social groups with military and governing ideals, were themselves a product of the Mughal context, which recognized them and provided them with military and governing experience.
Their successes were a part of the Mughal success. As the Mughal empire now faltered, there were a series of rural rebellions in North India. Although these had sometimes been characterized as "peasant rebellions", such as Muzaffar Alam, have pointed out that small local landholders, or zemindars led these uprisings; the Sikh and Jat rebellions were led by such small local zemindars, who had close association and family connections with each other and with the peasants under them, who were armed. These communities of rising peasant-warriors were not well-established Indian castes, but rather quite new, without fixed status categories, with the ability to absorb older peasant castes, sundry warlords, nomadic groups on the fringes of settled agriculture; the Mughal Empire at the zenith of its power, functioned by devolving authority and never had direct control over its rural grandees. It was these zemindars who gained most from these rebellions, increasing the land under their control; the triumphant attained the ranks of minor princes, such as the Jat ruler Badan Singh of the princely state of Bharatpur.
The non-Sikh Jats came to predominate south and east of Delhi after 17
Chandi
Chandi or Chandika is a Hindu deity. Chandika is a form of Durga/parvati. Chandika form is said to be ferocious and inaccessible because of her anger, she cannot tolerate evil acts. Chandika does not like evil doers and becomes angry on seeing them, she slays evil doers without mercy. Her anger is expressed in Devi Mahatmya. A seven-year-old girl is known as Chandika in Sanskrit scriptures. Caṇḍī or Caṇḍika is the name. Chandi represents the power of Brahman; the word Chanda hints at extraordinary traits and thus refers to the Brahman, extraordinary due to its complete independence with respect to time and space. The word Chandi refers to the fiery power of anger of the Brahman. Bhaskararaya, a leading authority on matters concerning Devi worship, defines Chandi as'the angry, terrible or passionate one'. While scholars debate whether an old Goddess was Sanskritized or a suppressed Goddess was reclaimed, the fact remains that since the early days, the Devi was worshiped in the subcontinent regardless of whether she appears as a supreme deity in Brahminic texts.
Scholars who trace her tracks show that she was much a part of an early theistic impulse as it was being crystallised in the Indic mind. C. Mackenzie Brown writes: "Hymns to goddesses in the late portions of the great Mahabharata epic and in the Harivamsa reveal the increasing importance of female deities in Brahminical devotional life.… The re-emergence of the divine feminine in the Devi-Mahatmya was thus both the culmination of centuries-long trends and the inspirational starting point for new investigations into the nature of feminine transcendence."When she does appear in Markandeya Purana, in the section known as Chandi or The Devi Mahatmya, she proclaims her preeminence: This text recounts the tale of male demons and their destruction by the Great Goddess and traces its lineage through the Devīsūkta or the Vac Sukta in The Rigveda and connects with the Samkhya Prakriti to establish itself as a canonical text for the Shaktas. Chandi, the fiercest form of the Goddess, the main deity of the famous Devi Mahatmya, a great poem of seven hundred verses which celebrates the destruction of demons.
As Chandi or the destroyer of opposition, she can be invoked for removing obstacles to allow us to attain any of the four goals of life. The designation of Chandi or Chandika is used twenty-nine times in the Devi Mahatmya, agreed by many scholars to have had originated in Bengal, the primary seat of the Shakta or Goddess tradition and tantric sadhana since ancient times, it is the most common epithet used for the Goddess. In Devi Mahatmya, Chandika and Durga have been used synonymously; the basis for Chandi worship is found in Devi Bhagavata as well as in the Markandeya Purana, which contains the well known Saptashati. This narrates the three tales of Chandika fighting and destroying the evil forces in the forms of Madhu, Kaithabha and Shumbha & Nishumbha; these stories are narrated in thirteen chapters in the form of seven hundred stanzas or half stanzas. Each of these is considered as an independent mantra by repeating which one attains profound benefits. In addition, the mantra prescribed for this is what is known as Navakshari, the nine lettered mantra that has its basis in the Atharva Shirsha Upanishad, known as the Devi Upanishad.
Goddess Chandi is associated with the 9 lettered Navakshari Mantra. It is called Navarna Mantra or Navavarna Mantra, it is one of the principal mantras in Shakti Worship apart from the Sri Vidhya Mantras. It is customary to chant this mantra, she is supposed to live in a place called Mahakal, close to Kailasa. Chandika is an avatar of Durga; the three principle forms of Durga worshiped are Maha Durga and Aparajita. Of these, Chandika has two forms called Chandi, of the combined power and form of Saraswati and Parvati and of Chamunda, a form of Kali created by the goddess for killing demons Chanda and MundaShe is known as the supreme goddess Mahishasuramardini who slayed the demon Mahishasura, she has been affiliated with and considered as Kaatyayini, Kaushiki or Ambika who killed Shumbha and their fellow demons. "The great Goddess was born from the energies of the male divinities when the devas became impotent in the long-drawn-out battle with the asuras. All the energies of the Gods became united and became supernova, throwing out flames in all directions.
That unique light, pervading the Three Worlds with its lustre, combined into one, became a female form.""The Devi projected an overwhelming omnipotence. The three-eyed goddess was adorned with the crescent moon, her multiple arms held auspicious weapons and emblems and ornaments, garments and utensils and rosaries of beads, all offered by the gods. With her golden body blazing with the splendour of a thousand suns, seated on her lion vehicle, Chandi is one of the most spectacular of all personifications of Cosmic energy."In other scriptures, Chandi is portrayed as "assisting" Kali in her battle with demon Raktabija. While Kali drank Raktabija's blood, which created new demons from his own blood on falling on the ground. In Skanda Purana, this story is retold and another story of mahakali killing demons Chanda and Munda is added. Chandi Homa is one of the most popular Homas in Hindu religion, it is performed across India during various festivals during the Navaratri. Chandi Homa is performed by reciting verses from the Durga Sapthasat
Hindu mythology
Hindu mythology are narratives found in Hindu texts such as the Vedic literature, epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana, the Puranas, the regional literatures like Periya Puranam. Hindu mythology is found in translated popular texts such as the Panchatantra and Hitopadesha, as well as Southeast Asian texts. Hindu mythology does not have a consistent, monolithic structure; the same myth appears in various versions, can be represented differently across socio-religious traditions. These myths have been noted to have been modified by various philosophical schools over time and in the Hindu tradition; these myths are taken to have deeper symbolic and have been given a complex range of interpretations. The Hindu Epic literature is found in genre of Hindu texts such as: Vedic literature Epics Puranas VedasMany of these legends evolve across these texts, the character names change or the story is embellished with greater details, yet the central message and moral values remain the same. According to Wendy Doniger, Every Hindu epic is different.
Each Hindu epic celebrates the belief that the universe is boundlessly various, that everything occurs that all possibilities may exist without excluding the other. There is no single basic version of a Hindu epic. Great epics are richly elusive. Moreover, epics are living organisms. Hindu epic shares human values found in epic everywhere. However, the particular details vary and its diversity is immense, according to Doniger; the Hindu legends embed the Indian thought about the nature of existence, the human condition and its aspirations through an interwoven contrast of characters, the good against the evil, the honest against the dishonest, the dharma-bound lover against the anti-dharma bully, the gentle and compassionate against the cruel and greedy. In these epics, everything is impermanent including matter and peace. Magic and miracles thrive, gods are defeated and fear for their existence, triggering wars or debates. Death threatens and re-threatens life, while life finds a way to creatively re-emerge thus conquering death.
Eros persistently prevails over chaos. The Hindu epics integrate in a wide range of subjects, they include stories about how and why cosmos originated and why humans or all life forms originated along with each's strengths and weaknesses, how gods originated along with each's strengths and weaknesses, the battle between good gods and bad demons, human values and how humans can live together, resolve any disagreements, healthy goals in stages of life and the different ways in which each individual can live, the meaning of all existence and means of personal liberation as well as legends about what causes suffering and the end of time with a restart of a new cycle. A significant collection of Vaishnavism traditional reincarnations includes those related to the avatars of Vishnu; the ten most common of these include: Matsya: It narrates a great flood, similar to one found in many ancient cultures. The savior here is the Matsya; the earliest accounts of Matsya mythology are found in the Vedic literature, which equate the fish saviour to the deity Prajapati.
The fish-savior merges with the identity of Brahma in post-Vedic era, still as an avatar of Vishnu. The legends associated with Matsya expand and vary in Hindu texts; these legends have embedded symbolism, where a small fish with Manu's protection grows to become a big fish, the fish saves earthly existence. Kurma: The earliest account of Kurma is found in the Shatapatha Brahmana, where he is a form of Prajapati-Brahma and helps with the samudra manthan. In the Epics and the Puranas, the legend expands and evolves into many versions, with Kurma becoming an avatar of Vishnu, he appears in the form of a tortoise or turtle to support the foundation for the cosmos and the cosmic churning stick. Varaha: The earliest versions of the Varaha or boar legend are found in the Taittiriya Aranyaka and the Shatapatha Brahmana, both Vedic texts, they narrate. The earth was trapped in it; the god Prajapati in the form of a boar brings the earth out. In post-Vedic literature the Puranas, the boar mythology is reformulated through an avatar of god Vishnu and an evil demon named Hiranyaksha who persecutes people and kidnaps goddess earth.
Varaha-Vishnu kills the demon and rescues earth. Narasimha: The Narasimha mythology is about the man-lion avatar of Vishnu, he destroys an evil king, ends religious persecution and calamity on Earth, saves his devotee from the suffering caused by torments and punishments for pursuing his religious beliefs, thereby Vishnu restores the Dharma. Vamana Parashurama Rama Krishna Balarama Kalki Dowson, John. A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography and Literature. Trubner & Co. London. Buitenen, J. A. B. van. Classical Hindu mythology: a reader in the Sanskrit Puranas. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 0-87722-122-7. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list Campbell, Joseph. Myths of light: Eastern Metaphors of the Eternal. Novato, California: New World Library. ISBN 1-57731
