1.
Hindu
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Hindu refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism. It has historically used as a geographical, cultural, or religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia. The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time, by the 16th century, the term began to refer to residents of India who were not Turks or Muslims. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the Indian population, in a religious or cultural sense, is unclear, competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era, or that it developed post-8th century CE after the Islamic invasion and medieval Hindu-Muslim wars. A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in texts dated between the 13th and 18th century in Sanskrit and regional languages. The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such as Vidyapati, Kabir and Eknath used the phrase Hindu dharma, the Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term Hindu in religious context in 1649. In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus, in contrast to Mohamedans for Mughals, scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. Hindoo is a spelling variant, whose use today may be considered derogatory. At more than 1.03 billion, Hindus are the third largest group after Christians. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 966 million, live in India, according to Indias 2011 census. After India, the next 9 countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing order, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Myanmar. These together accounted for 99% of the worlds Hindu population, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit word Sindhu, which means a large body of water, covering river, ocean. It was used as the name of the Indus river and also referred to its tributaries, the Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhava in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta. The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions the province of Hidush, the people of India were referred to as Hinduvān and hindavī was used as the adjective for Indian in the 8th century text Chachnama. The term Hindu in these ancient records is an ethno-geographical term, the Arabic equivalent Al-Hind likewise referred to the country of India. Among the earliest known records of Hindu with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by the Buddhist scholar Xuanzang, Xuanzang uses the transliterated term In-tu whose connotation overflows in the religious according to Arvind Sharma. The Hindu community occurs as the amorphous Other of the Muslim community in the court chronicles, wilfred Cantwell Smith notes that Hindu retained its geographical reference initially, Indian, indigenous, local, virtually native. Slowly, the Indian groups themselves started using the term, differentiating themselves, the poet Vidyapatis poem Kirtilata contrasts the cultures of Hindus and Turks in a city and concludes The Hindus and the Turks live close together, Each makes fun of the others religion
2.
Buddhism in Nepal
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Buddha was born in Shakya Kingdom of Kapilvastu which lies in present-day Rupandehi district, Lumbini zone of Nepal. It has not been possible to assign with certainty the year in which Prince Siddhartha was born,10. 74% of Nepals population practice Buddhism, consisting mainly of Tibeto-Burman-speaking ethnicities. In Nepals hill and mountain regions Hinduism has absorbed Buddhist tenets to such an extent that in many cases they have shared deities as well as temples, for instance, the Muktinath Temple is sacred and a common house of worship for both Hindus and Buddhists. During the reign of King Aṃśuvarman, the Nepalese princess Bhrikuti played a significant role in spreading and developing Buddhism in Tibet, Tibetan Buddhist architecture has long been influenced by Nepalese artists and sculptors like Araniko. The sacred Buddhist texts in Mahayana Buddhism are mainly written in the Ranjana alphabet, the script of the Newars, or scripts like Lantsa, Newar Buddhism is a form of Vajrayana influenced by Theravada Buddhism. Many Buddhist groups are also influenced by Hinduism, Buddhism is the dominant religion of the thinly populated northern areas, which are inhabited by Tibetan-related peoples, namely the Sherpa, Lopa, Manangi, Thakali, Lhomi, Dolpa and Nyimba. They constitute a minority of the countrys population. Ethnic groups that live in central Nepal such as the Gurungs, Lepcha, Tamang, Magar, Newars, Yakkha, Thami, Chhantyal and these ethnic groups have larger populations compared to their northern neighbours. They came under the influence of Hinduism due to their contacts with the Hindu castes. In turn, many of them eventually adopted Hinduism and have largely integrated into the caste system. The Kirati people, especially the Limbu and the Rai people, have also adopted Tibetan Buddhist practises from their Buddhist neighbours, the Jirel people, who are considered a Kirati, have also adopted Tibetan Buddhism. Buddha was born as Prince Siddhartha in Nepal and he attained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya, in present-day Bihar, India. He there preached his teachings and thus Buddhism came into existence, emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire put up a pillar at Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha, in the second century BCE. After the Third Buddhist council, Ashoka missionaries to Nepal and it is also believed that Ashoka went to Patan and had four stupas built there. It is believed that his daughter Charumati established the village of Chabahil, the Licchavi period saw the flourishing of both Hinduism and Buddhism in Nepal. Ancient Buddhist texts claim that Mulasarvasti Vadavinaya came to Nepal, then known as Newal, another Buddhist text, the Manjushrimula Kalpa, mentioned Manadeva as the King of Nepal Mandala. Researchers believe the Mulasarvastivadavinaya was written in the 2nd century CE, the Swayambhu Purana, the ancient Buddhist Purana text, and a Licchavi inscription all mentioned Nepal Mandala. Buddhist inscriptions and chronicles and Tibetan sources also record a few tantric Buddhist deities, namely Aksyobhya, Amitabha, Vajrayogini, Vajrabhairava, Usnisavijaya, strong influence from Animism resulted in belief in Buddhist deities such as the Pancaraksas
3.
Jainism
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Jainism, traditionally known as Jain Dharma, is an ancient Indian religion belonging to the śramaṇa tradition. The central tenet is non-violence and respect all living beings. The three main principles of Jainism are ahimsa, anekantavada and aparigraha, followers of Jainism take five main vows, ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha. Jain monks and nuns observe these vows absolutely whereas householders observe them within their practical limitations, self-discipline and asceticism are thus major focuses of Jainism. The word Jain derives from the Sanskrit word jina, a human being who has conquered all inner passions like attachment, desire, anger, pride, greed, etc. is called Jina. Followers of the path practiced and preached by the jinas are known as Jains, Parasparopagraho Jivanam is the motto of Jainism. Jains trace their history through a succession of teachers and revivers of the Jain path known as Tirthankaras. In the current era, this started with Rishabhdeva and concluded with Mahavira, Jains believe that Jainism is eternal and while it may be forgotten, it will be revived from time to time. The majority of Jains reside in India, with 6-7 million followers, Jainism is smaller than many other major world religions. Outside of India, some of the largest Jain communities are present in Canada, Europe, Kenya, the UK, Suriname, Fiji, contemporary Jainism is divided into two major sects, Digambara and Śvētāmbara. Namokar Mantra is the most common and basic prayer in Jainism, major Jain festivals include Paryushana and Daslakshana, Mahavir Jayanti, and Diwali. The principle of ahimsa is the most fundamental and well-known aspect of Jainism, the everyday implementation of the principle of non-violence is more comprehensive than in other religions and is the hallmark for Jain identity. Jains believe in avoiding harm to others thoughts, speech. According to the Jain text, Purushartha Siddhyupaya, killing any living being out of passions is hiṃsā, Jains extend the practice of nonviolence and kindness not only towards other humans but towards all living beings. For this reason, vegetarianism is a hallmark of Jain identity, if there is violence against animals during the production of dairy products, veganism is encouraged. Jainism has an elaborate framework on types of life and includes life-forms that may be invisible. Therefore, after humans and animals, insects are the living being offered protection in Jain practice. For example, insects in the home are often escorted out instead of killed, Jainism teaches that intentional harm and the absence of compassion make an action more violent
4.
Ashadha
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Ashadha or Aashaadha is a month of the Hindu calendar that corresponds to June/July in the Gregorian calendar. In Indias national civil calendar, Āsāṛh is the month of the year, beginning on 22 June. The month is known as Ādi in Tamil, in solar religious calendars, Āsāṛh begins with the Suns entry into Cancer. It is the first of the two months that comprise the monsoon season, the corresponding month in the Bengali calendar, Aṣaṛh, is the third month. In lunar religious calendars, Āsāṛh begins on a new moon and is usually the month of the year. In the Vaishnava calendar, Vamana governs this month, rath Yatra is held on month of Asadha every year in, Odisha dedicated to Lord Jagannath. Guru Purnima, a dedicated to the Guru, is celebrated on the Purnima day of the month. Prior to it Shayani Ekadashi, is observed on the lunar day of the bright fortnight. Adi amavasai is an important festival in Tamil Nadu and auspicious for amman Hindu units of measurement Hindu astronomy Jyotish
5.
Full moon
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A full moon is the lunar phase that occurs when the Moon is completely illuminated as seen from Earth. This occurs when Earth is located directly between the Sun and the Moon and this means that the hemisphere of the Moon that is facing Earth is almost fully illuminated by the Sun and appears round. On some occasions at the time of full moon there is also a lunar eclipse so the face appears reddish due to the rayleigh scattering of blue light in Earths atmosphere. Lunar eclipses can occur only at full moon, where the Moons orbit allows it to pass through Earths shadow, Lunar eclipses do not occur every month because the Moon usually passes above or below Earths shadow. Lunar eclipses can only when the full moon occurs near the two nodes of the orbit, either the ascending or descending node. This causes eclipses to occur about every 6 months. The time interval between similar lunar phases—the synodic month—averages about 29.53 days, therefore, in those lunar calendars in which each month begins on the new moon, the full moon falls on either the 14th or 15th of the lunar month. Because calendar months have a number of days, lunar months may be either 29 or 30 days long. A full moon is thought of as an event of a full nights duration. This is somewhat misleading because the Moon seen from Earth is continuously becoming larger and/or smaller and its absolute maximum size occurs at the moment expansion has stopped. For any given location, about half of these absolute maximum full moons will be visible, as the other half occur during the day. Many almanacs list full moons not just by date, but by their time as well. Typical monthly calendars that include phases of the Moon may be offset by one day if intended for use in a different time zone, Full moons are generally a poor time to conduct astronomical observations, because the bright reflected sunlight from the Moon overwhelms the dimmer light from stars. On 12 December 2008, the moon occurred closer to the Earth than it had been at any time for the previous 15 years. On 19 March 2011, another full moon occurred, closer to the Earth than at any time for the previous ~18 years. On 14 November 2016, a full moon occurred closer to the Earth than at any time for the previous 68 years. The true time of a full moon may differ from this approximation by up to about 14.5 hours as a result of the non-circularity of the moons orbit, see New moon for an explanation of the formula and its parameters. The age and apparent size of the full moon vary in a cycle of just under 14 synodic months, Full moons are traditionally associated with temporal insomnia, insanity and various magical phenomena such as lycanthropy
6.
Nepal
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Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked central Himalayan country in South Asia. Nepal is divided into 7 provinces and 75 districts and 744 local units including 4 metropolises,13 sub-metropolises,246 municipal councils and 481 village and it has a population of 26.4 million and is the 93rd largest country by area. Bordering China in the north and India in the south, east, Nepal does not border Bangladesh, which is located within only 27 km of its southeastern tip. It neither borders Bhutan due to the Indian state of Sikkim being located in between, Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the worlds ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the capital and largest city. It is a nation with Nepali as the official language. The territory of Nepal has a history since the Neolithic age. The name Nepal is first recorded in texts from the Vedic Age, the era which founded Hinduism, in the middle of the first millennium BCE, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet, the Kathmandu Valley in central Nepal became known as Nepal proper because of its complex urban civilization. It was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala, the Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valleys traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture, by the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, the country was never colonized but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and Colonial India. In the 20th century, Nepal ended its isolation and forged ties with regional powers. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951, but was suspended by Nepalese monarchs in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War resulted in the proclamation of a republic in 2008, modern Nepal is a federal secular parliamentary republic. Nepal is a nation, ranking 144th on the Human Development Index in 2016. The country struggles with the transition from a monarchy to a republic and it also suffers from high levels of hunger and poverty. Despite these challenges, Nepal is making progress, with the government declaring its commitment to elevate the nation from least developed country status by 2022
7.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
8.
Buddhists
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Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhism originated in India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, from where it spread through much of Asia, two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars, Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is the worlds fourth-largest religion, with over 500 million followers or 7% of the global population, Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. In Theravada the ultimate goal is the attainment of the state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering. Theravada has a following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, rather than Nirvana, Mahayana instead aspires to Buddhahood via the bodhisattva path, a state wherein one remains in the cycle of rebirth to help other beings reach awakening. Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, may be viewed as a branch or merely a part of Mahayana. Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of Buddha, the details of Buddhas life are mentioned in many early Buddhist texts but are inconsistent, his social background and life details are difficult to prove, the precise dates uncertain. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother queen Maya, and he was born in Lumbini gardens. Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, Buddha was moved by the innate suffering of humanity. He meditated on this alone for a period of time, in various ways including asceticism, on the nature of suffering. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He reached enlightenment, discovering what Buddhists call the Middle Way, as an enlightened being, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his teaching the Dharma he had discovered. Dukkha is a concept of Buddhism and part of its Four Noble Truths doctrine. It can be translated as incapable of satisfying, the unsatisfactory nature, the Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism, we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, incapable of satisfying and painful. This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, the cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha
9.
Hindu calendar
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Hindu calendar is a collective term for the various lunisolar calendars traditionally used in Hinduism. They adopt a similar underlying concept for timekeeping, but differ in their emphasis to moon cycle or the sun cycle, the names of months. A Hindu calendar is referred to as Panchanga. The ancient Hindu calendar is similar in design to the Jewish calendar. Early Buddhist communities of India adopted the ancient Indian calendar, later Vikrami calendar, Buddhist festivals continue to be scheduled according to a lunar system. The Buddhist calendar and the traditional calendars of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka. Similarly, the ancient Jainism traditions have followed the lunisolar system as the Hindu calendar for festivals, texts. However, the Buddhist and Jaina timekeeping systems have attempted to use the Buddha, the Hindu calendar is also important to the practice of Hindu astrology and zodiac system, most of which it adopted from Greece, in centuries after the arrival of Alexander the Great. The Indian national calendar or Saka calendar was introduced in 1952 based on the traditional Hindu calendars and this study was one of the six ancient Vedangas, or ancillary science connected with the Vedas – the scriptures of Hinduism. The ancient Indian culture developed a time keeping methodology and calendars for Vedic rituals. David Pingree has proposed that the field of timekeeping in Jyotisha may have derived from Mesopotamia during the Achaemenid period. Ohashi states that this Vedanga field developed from actual astronomical studies in ancient India, timekeeping as well as the nature of solar and moon movements are mentioned in Vedic texts. For example, Kaushitaki Brahmana chapter 19.3 mentions the shift in the location of the sun towards north for 6 months. The Vikrami calendar is named after king Vikramaditya and starts in 57 BCE, Hindu scholars attempted to keep time by observing and calculating the cycles of sun, moon and the planets. These texts present Surya and various planets and estimate the characteristics of the respective planetary motion, other texts such as Surya Siddhanta dated to have been complete sometime between the 5th century and 10th century present their chapters on various planets with deity mythologies. The manuscripts of texts exist in slightly different versions, present Surya- and planets-based calculation. These vary in their data, suggesting that the text were open and they tracked the solar year by observing the entrance and departure of surya in the constellation formed by stars in the sky, which they divided into 12 intervals of 30 degrees each. Like other ancient human cultures, Hindus innovated a number of systems of which intercalary months became most used, as their calendar keeping and astronomical observations became more sophisticated, the Hindu calendar became more sophisticated with complex rules and greater accuracy
10.
Summer solstice
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The summer solstice, also known as midsummer, occurs when a planets rotational axis, in either northern or southern hemispheres, is most inclined toward the star that it orbits. Earths maximum axial tilt toward the Sun is 23° 26′ and this happens twice each year, at which times the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky as seen from the north or the south pole. The summer solstice occurs during the hemispheres summer and this is the northern solstice in the northern hemisphere and the southern solstice in the southern hemisphere. The same dates in the opposite hemisphere are referred to as the winter solstice, when on a geographic pole, the Sun reaches its greatest height at the moment of solstice. It can be noon only along that longitude which at that moment lies in the direction of the Sun from the pole, for other longitudes, it is not noon. Noon has either passed or has yet to come, hence the notion of a solstice day is useful. The term is used like midsummer to refer to the day on which solstice occurs. The summer solstice day has the longest period of daylight – except in the polar regions,2016 was the first time in nearly 70 years that a full moon and the Northern Hemispheres summer solstice concur on the same day. The 2016 summer solstices full moon rose just as the Sun set, worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied among cultures, but most recognize the event in some way with holidays, festivals, and rituals around that time with themes of religion or fertility. In some regions, the solstice is seen as the beginning of summer. In other cultural conventions, the solstice is closer to the middle of summer, Solstice is derived from the Latin words sol and sistere. Day of Private Reflection Fremont Solstice Parade Guru Purnima Christmas typically marks the end of the solstice in the southern hemisphere. The data was collected from the website of the Finnish Meteorological Institute on 20 June 2016 as well as certain other websites. The data is arranged geographically and within the tables from the longest day to the shortest one, day length Equinox Midsummers day Stonehenge Winter solstice Xiazhi Table of dates/times from 1600-2400
11.
Season
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A season is a division of the year marked by changes in weather, ecology and hours of daylight. Seasons result from the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. During May, June, and July, the northern hemisphere is exposed to direct sunlight because the hemisphere faces the sun. The same is true of the hemisphere in November, December. It is the tilt of the Earth that causes the Sun to be higher in the sky during the months which increases the solar flux. However, due to lag, June, July, and August are the hottest months in the northern hemisphere and December, January. In temperate and subpolar regions, four calendar-based seasons are recognized, spring, summer, autumn or fall. Ecologists often use a model for temperate climate regions, prevernal, vernal, estival, serotinal, autumnal. Many tropical regions have two seasons, the rainy, wet, or monsoon season and the dry season, some have a third cool, mild, or harmattan season. Seasons often held special significance for agrarian societies, whose lives revolved around planting and harvest times, in some parts of the world, some other seasons capture the timing of important ecological events such as hurricane season, tornado season, and wildfire season. The most historically important of these are the three seasons—flood, growth, and low water—which were previously defined by the annual flooding of the Nile in Egypt. The seasons result from the Earths axis of rotation being tilted with respect to its orbital plane by an angle of approximately 23.5 degrees, regardless of the time of year, the northern and southern hemispheres always experience opposite seasons. This is because during summer or winter, one part of the planet is directly exposed to the rays of the Sun than the other. For approximately half of the year, the northern hemisphere tips toward the Sun, for the other half of the year, the same happens, but in the southern hemisphere instead of the northern, with the maximum around December 21. The two instants when the Sun is directly overhead at the Equator are the equinoxes. Also at that moment, both the North Pole and the South Pole of the Earth are just on the terminator, and hence day and night are equally divided between the northern and southern hemispheres. Around the March equinox, the northern hemisphere will be experiencing spring as the hours of daylight increase, the effect of axial tilt is observable as the change in day length and altitude of the Sun at noon during a year. Between this effect and the daylight hours, the axial tilt of the Earth accounts for most of the seasonal variation in climate in both hemispheres
12.
Guru
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Guru is a Sanskrit term that connotes someone who is a teacher, guide, expert, or master of certain knowledge or field. The term also refers to someone who primarily is ones spiritual guide, the oldest references to the concept of guru are found in the earliest Vedic texts of Hinduism. These gurus led broad ranges of studies including Hindu scriptures, Buddhist texts, grammar, philosophy, martial arts, music, the tradition of guru is also found in Jainism, referring to a spiritual preceptor, a role typically served by a Jain ascetic. In Sikhism, the tradition has played a key role since its founding in the 15th century, its founder is referred to as Guru Nanak. The guru concept has thrived in Vajrayāna Buddhism, where the guru is considered a figure to worship. The word guru, a noun, connotes teacher in Sanskrit, but in Indian traditions it has contextual meanings with significance beyond what teacher means in English. The word has the meaning in other languages derived from or borrowing words from Sanskrit, such as Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Bengali, Gujarati. The Malayalam term Acharyan or Asan are derived from the Sanskrit word Acharya, as a noun the word means the imparter of knowledge. The word has its roots in the Sanskrit gri, and may have a connection to the word gur, meaning to raise, lift up, Sanskrit guru is cognate with Latin gravis heavy, grave, weighty, serious and Greek βαρύς barus heavy. All three derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʷerə-, specifically from the zero-grade form *gʷr̥ə-, another etymological theory considers the term guru to be based on the syllables gu and ru, which it claims stands for darkness and light that dispels it, respectively. The guru is seen as the one who dispels the darkness of ignorance, reender Kranenborg disagrees, stating that darkness and light have nothing to do with the word guru. He describes this as a folk etymology, karen Pechelis states that, in the popular parlance, the dispeller of darkness, one who points the way definition for guru is common in the Indian tradition. The Guru is an ancient and central figure in the traditions of Hinduism, at a social and religious level, the Guru helps continue the religion and Hindu way of life. Guru thus has a historic, reverential and an important role in the Hindu culture, the word Guru is mentioned in the earliest layer of Vedic texts. The hymn 4.5.6 of Rigveda, for example, states Joel Mlecko, describes the guru as, the source and inspirer of the knowledge of the Self, the Upanishads, that is the later layers of the Vedic text, mention guru. Chandogya Upanishad, in chapter 4.4 for example, declares that it is only through guru that one attains the knowledge that matters, the Katha Upanisad, in verse 1.2.8 declares the guru as indispensable to the acquisition of knowledge. In the Taittiriya Upanishad, the guru then urges a student, states Mlecko, to struggle, discover and experience the Truth, the 8th century Hindu text Upadesasahasri of the Advaita Vedanta philosopher Adi Shankara discusses the role of the guru in assessing and guiding students. In Chapter 1, he states that teacher is the pilot as the student walks in the journey of knowledge and he should also thoroughly impress upon the student qualities like humility, which are the means to knowledge
13.
Puja (Hinduism)
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Pūjā or Poojan is a prayer ritual performed by Hindus to host, honour and worship one or more deities, or to spiritually celebrate an event. Sometimes spelt phonetically as pooja or poojah, it may honour or celebrate the presence of special guest, the word pūjā comes from Sanskrit, and means reverence, honour, homage, adoration, and worship. Puja rituals are held by Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs. In Hinduism, puja is done on a variety of occasions, frequency and settings. It may include daily puja done in the home, to temple ceremonies and annual festivals, to few lifetime events such as birth of a baby or a wedding. The two main areas where puja is performed are in the home and at temples to mark certain stages of life, events or some such as Durga Puja. Puja is not mandatory, it may be a daily affair for some Hindus, periodic ritual for some. In some temples, various pujas may be performed daily at various times of the day, in other temples, Puja varies according to the school of Hinduism. Puja may vary by region, occasion, deity honored, in formal Nigama ceremonies, a fire may be lit in honour of deity Agni, without an idol or image present. In contrast, in Agama ceremonies, an idol or image of deity is present, in both ceremonies, a diya or incense stick may be lit while a prayer is chanted or hymn is sung. Puja is typically performed by a Hindu worshipper alone, though sometimes in presence of a priest who is well versed in procedure, both Nigama and Agama puja are practiced in Hinduism in India. In Hinduism of Bali Indonesia, Agama puja is most prevalent both inside homes and in temples, Puja is sometimes called Sembahyang in Indonesia. Puja is an ancient culture or way of life, with unclear origins, joshi claims the word puja was first used in vedic times when Sūtra were composed, to describe prayers and worship before yajna or homa – fire deity, Agni. Charpentier suggests the origin of the word Puja may lie in the Dravidian languages, two possible Tamil roots have been suggested, Poosai to smear with something and Poochei to do with flowers. According to scholars, one of the earliest mentions of pūjā is in the Grihya Sutras and these Sutras, dated to be about 500 BC, use the term puja to describe the hospitality to honor priests who were invited to one’s home to lead rituals for departed ancestors. As Hindu philosophy expanded and diversified, with such as the bhakti movement. As with vedic times, the concept of puja remained the same. The Puranic corpus of literature, dating from about 6th century CE, deity puja thus melds Vedic rites with devotion to deity in its ritual form
14.
Sarnath
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Sarnath is a city located 13 kilometres north-east of Varanasi near the confluence of the Ganges and the Varuna rivers in Uttar Pradesh, India. The deer park in Sarnath is where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, Sarnath has been variously known as Mrigadava, Migadāya, Rishipattana and Isipatana throughout its long history. Isipatana is the used in the Pali Canon, and means the place where holy men landed. The legend says that when the Buddha-to-be was born, some came down to announce it to 500 rishis. The rishis all rose into the air and disappeared and their relics fell to the ground, another explanation for the name is that Isipatana was so called because sages, on their way through the air, alight here or start from here on their aerial flight. Pacceka Buddhas, having spent seven days in contemplation in the Gandhamādana, bathe in the Anotatta Lake and come to the habitations of men through the air and they descend to earth at Isipatana. Sometimes the Pacceka Buddhas come to Isipatana from Nandamūlaka-pabbhāra, Xuanzang quotes the Nigrodhamiga Jātaka to account for the origin of the Migadāya. According to him the Deer Park was a forest given by the king of Benares of the Jātaka, the Migadāya was so-called because deer were allowed to roam about there unmolested. The king is so moved that he creates the park as a sanctuary for deer, the park is active in modern times. Before Gautama attained enlightenment, he gave up his austere penances and his friends, while travelling to Sarnath, Gautama Buddha had no money with which to pay the ferryman to cross the Ganges, so he crossed it through the air. Later when King Bimbisāra heard of this, he abolished the toll for ascetics, when Gautama Buddha found and taught his five former companions, they understood and as a result, also became enlightened. At that time the Sangha, the community of the ones, was founded. The sermon Buddha gave to the five monks was his first sermon and it was given on the full-moon day of Asalha Puja. Buddha subsequently also spent his first rainy season at Sarnath at the Mulagandhakuti, the Sangha had grown to 60 in number, and Buddha sent them out in all directions to travel alone and teach the Dharma. Several other incidents connected with the Buddha, besides the preaching of the first sermon, are mentioned as having taken place in Isipatana, here it was that one day at dawn Yasa came to the Buddha and became an Arahant. It was at Isipatana, too, that the rule was passed prohibiting the use of sandals made of talipot leaves. On another occasion when the Buddha was staying at Isipatana, having gone there from Rājagaha, he instituted rules forbidding the use of certain kinds of flesh, twice, while the Buddha was at Isipatana, Māra visited him but had to go away discomfited. Mention is made, too, of a discourse in which several monks staying at Isipatana tried to help Channa in his difficulties, according to the Udapāna Jātaka there was a very ancient well near Isipatana which, in the Buddhas time, was used by the monks living there
15.
Uttar Pradesh
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Uttar Pradesh, abbreviated as UP, is the most populous state in the Republic of India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. The state, located in the region of the Indian subcontinent, has over 200 million inhabitants. It was created on 1 April 1937 as the United Provinces during British rule, Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh. Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Bhadohi, Raebareli, Moradabad, Bareilly, Aligarh, Sonbhadra, on 9 November 2000, a new state, Uttarakhand, was carved out from the Himalayan hill region of Uttar Pradesh. It covers 243,290 square kilometres, equal to 7. 33% of the area of India. Hindi is the official and most widely spoken language in its 75 districts, Uttar Pradesh is the third largest Indian state by economy, with a GDP of ₹9,763 billion. Agriculture and service industries are the largest parts of the states economy, the service sector comprises travel and tourism, hotel industry, real estate, insurance and financial consultancies. Uttar Pradesh was home to powerful empires of ancient and medieval India, the two major rivers of the state, the Ganges and Yamuna, join at Allahabad and then flow as the Ganges further east. Modern human hunter-gatherers have been in Uttar Pradesh since between around 85,000 and 72,000 years ago, the kingdom of Kosala, in the Mahajanapada era, was located within the regional boundaries of modern-day Uttar Pradesh. According to Hindu legend, the divine king Rama of the Ramayana epic reigned in Ayodhya, the aftermath of the Mahabharata yuddh is believed to have taken place in the area between the Upper Doab and Delhi, during the reign of the Pandava king Yudhishthira. The kingdom of the Kurus corresponds to the Black and Red Ware and Painted Gray Ware culture, most of the invaders of south India passed through the Gangetic plains of what is today Uttar Pradesh. Control over this region was of importance to the power and stability of all of Indias major empires, including the Maurya, Kushan, Gupta. Following the Huns invasions that broke the Gupta empire, the Ganges-Yamuna Doab saw the rise of Kannauj, during the reign of Harshavardhana, the Kannauj empire reached its zenith. It spanned from Punjab in the north and Gujarat in the west to Bengal in the east and it included parts of central India, north of the Narmada River and it encompassed the entire Indo-Gangetic plain. Many communities in parts of India claim descent from the migrants of Kannauj. Kannauj was several times invaded by the south Indian Rashtrakuta Dynasty, in the Mughal era, Uttar Pradesh became the heartland of the empire. Mughal emperors Babur and Humayun ruled from Delhi, in 1540 an Afghan, Sher Shah Suri, took over the reins of Uttar Pradesh after defeating the Mughal king Humanyun. Sher Shah and his son Islam Shah ruled Uttar Pradesh from their capital at Gwalior, after the death of Islam Shah Suri, his prime minister Hemu became the de facto ruler of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and the western parts of Bengal
16.
Shiva
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Shiva is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme God within Shaivism, one of the three most influential denominations in contemporary Hinduism, Shiva is the transformer within the Trimurti, the Hindu trinity that includes Brahma and Vishnu. In Shaivism tradition, Shiva is the Supreme being who creates, protects, in the goddess tradition of Hinduism called Shaktism, the goddess is described as supreme, yet Shiva is revered along with Vishnu and Brahma. A goddess is stated to be the energy and creative power of each and he is one of the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta tradition of Hinduism. At the highest level, Shiva is regarded as formless, limitless, transcendent and unchanging absolute Brahman, Shiva has many benevolent and fearsome depictions. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient Yogi who lives a life on Mount Kailash as well as a householder with wife Parvati. In his fierce aspects, he is depicted slaying demons. Shiva is also known as Adiyogi Shiva, regarded as the god of yoga, meditation. Shiva is usually worshipped in the form of Lingam. Shiva is a deity, revered widely by Hindus, in India, Nepal. The Sanskrit word Śiva means, states Monier Williams, auspicious, propitious, gracious, benign, kind, benevolent, the roots of Śiva in folk etymology is śī which means in whom all things lie, pervasiveness and va which means embodiment of grace. The word Shiva is used as an adjective in the Rig Veda, as an epithet for several Rigvedic deities, the term Shiva also connotes liberation, final emancipation and the auspicious one, this adjective sense of usage is addressed to many deities in Vedic layers of literature. The term evolved from the Vedic Rudra-Shiva to the noun Shiva in the Epics, Sharma presents another etymology with the Sanskrit root śarv-, which means to injure or to kill, interprets the name to connote one who can kill the forces of darkness. The Sanskrit word śaiva means relating to the god Shiva, and it is used as an adjective to characterize certain beliefs and practices, such as Shaivism. Some authors associate the name with the Tamil word śivappu meaning red, noting that Shiva is linked to the Sun, the Vishnu sahasranama interprets Shiva to have multiple meanings, The Pure One, and the One who is not affected by three Guṇas of Prakṛti. Shiva is known by names such Viswanathan, Mahadeva, Mahesha, Maheshvara, Shankara, Shambhu, Rudra, Hara, Trilochana, Devendra, Neelakanta, Subhankara, Trilokinatha. The highest reverence for Shiva in Shaivism is reflected in his epithets Mahādeva, Maheśvara, Sahasranama are medieval Indian texts that list a thousand names derived from aspects and epithets of a deity. There are at least eight different versions of the Shiva Sahasranama, the version appearing in Book 13 of the Mahabharata provides one such list
17.
Yoga
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Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. There is a variety of Yoga schools, practices, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism. Among the most well-known types of yoga are Hatha yoga and Rāja yoga, the chronology of earliest texts describing yoga-practices is unclear, varyingly credited to Hindu Upanishads. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali date from the first half of the 1st millennium CE, Hatha yoga texts emerged around the 11th century with origins in tantra. Yoga gurus from India later introduced yoga to the west, following the success of Swami Vivekananda in the late 19th, in the 1980s, yoga became popular as a system of physical exercise across the Western world. Yoga in Indian traditions, however, is more physical exercise, it has a meditative. One of the six orthodox schools of Hinduism is also called Yoga, which has its own epistemology and metaphysics. Many studies have tried to determine the effectiveness of yoga as an intervention for cancer, schizophrenia, asthma. On December 1,2016, Yoga was listed as UNESCO’s Intangible cultural heritage, in Sanskrit, the word yoga comes from the root yuj which means to add, to join, to unite, or to attach in its most common senses. By figurative extension from the yoking or harnessing of oxen or horses, all further developments of the sense of this word are post-Vedic. More prosaic moods such as exertion, endeavour, zeal, there are very many compound words containing yoga in Sanskrit. Yoga can take on such as connection, contact, union, method, application, addition. In simpler words, Yoga also means combined, thus, bhaktiyoga means devoted attachment in the monotheistic Bhakti movement. The term kriyāyoga has a sense, meaning connection with a verb. But the same compound is given a technical meaning in the Yoga Sutras, designating the practical aspects of the philosophy. In the context of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the root yuj samādhau is considered by commentators as the correct etymology. In accordance with Pāṇini, Vyasa who wrote the first commentary on the Yoga Sutras, according to Dasgupta, the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots, yujir yoga or yuj samādhau. Someone who practices yoga or follows the philosophy with a high level of commitment is called a yogi or yogini
18.
Saptarishi
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The Saptarishi are the seven rishis who are extolled at many places in the Vedas and Hindu literature. The Vedic Samhitas never enumerate these rishis by name, though later Vedic texts such as the Brahmanas and they are regarded in the Vedas as the patriarchs of the Vedic religion. The late Gopatha Brahmana 1.2.8 has Vashista, Visvamitra, Jamadagni, Gautama, Bharadvaja, Gungu, Agastya, Bhrigu and Kaśyapa. In post-Vedic texts, different lists appear, some of these rishis were recognized as the mind born sons of Brahma, other representations are Mahesha or Shiva as the Destroyer and Vishnu as the Preserver. Since these seven rishis were also among the eight rishis, who were considered to be the ancestors of the Gotras of Brahmins. In some parts of India, people believe these are seven stars of the Big Dipper named Vashista, Marichi, Pulastya, Pulaha, Atri, Angiras, there is another star slightly visible within it, known as Arundhati. Arundhati is the wife of Vashista, the seven Rishis in the next Manvantara will be Diptimat, Galava, Parasurama, Kripa, Drauni or Ashwatthama, Vyasa and Rishyasringa. Sapta Rishis are the Hierarchy working under the guidance of the Highest Creative Intelligence, the present batch of the Sapta Rishis is Bhrigu, Atri, Angirasa Vashista, Pulastya, Pulalaha and Kratu. They bring down to the earth the required Knowledge and Energies to strengthen the processes of Transition and they are naturally the most evolved Light Beings in the Creation and the guardians of the Divine Laws. In post-Vedic religion, Manvantara is the time within an Kalpa, a day of Brahma, like the present Śveta Vārāha Kalpa. The names of the current Saptarshis are, Kashyapa, Atri, Vashista, Vishvamitra, Gautama Maharishi, Jamadagni, the Saptarishis keep changing for every Yuga. As per Hindu Shastras, there are four yugas, Krita Yuga / Sat Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. We are at present in the Kali Yuga, which will last for 432,000 years, Dvapara Yuga is twice Kali Yuga, Treta Yuga is thrice Kali Yuga, over all,4,320,000 years termed as 1 Chaturyuga. 1000 Chaturyugas make the day of 12 hours for Brahma and during another 12 hours, Brahma takes rest, thus 1 day for Brahma constitutes 1000 Chaturyugas. The valid avatars clan will be named after Ashvamedh, at the end of every four ages there is a disappearance of the Vedas and it is the province of the seven Rishis to come down upon earth from heaven to give them currency again. The Shatapatha Brahmana and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad acknowledge the names of seven rishis as, krishna Yajurveda in the Sandhya-Vandana Mantras has it as, Angiras Atri Bhrigu Gautama Maharishi Kashyapa Kutsa Vashista 3. Mahabharata gives the Seven Rishis names, Marichi Atri Pulaha Pulastya Kratu Vashista Kashyapa etc.4. )They all were sons of King Shri Nandan of Prabhapurnagar, Shri Nandan king took diksha becoming shishya of Omniscient Pritinkar Muniraaj and attained salvation. Because of great tapcharan of these seven digamber munis the Mahamaari disease stopped its evil effect, many idols of these seven munis were made after that event by King Shatrughna in all four directions of city
19.
Vyasa
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Vyasa, literally Compiler) is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyāsa, or Krishna Dvaipāyana and he is generally considered the author of the Mahabharata, as well as a character in it, and the scribe of both the Vedas and Puranas. Vyasa is also considered to be one of the seven Chiranjivins, according to the Vishnu Purana, Veda Vyasa is a title applied to the compilers of the Vedas who are avatars of Vishnu,28 people with this title have appeared so far. The festival of Guru Purnima is dedicated to him and it is also known as Vyasa Purnima, for it is the day believed to be both his birthday and the day he divided the Vedas. Vyasa appears for the first time as the compiler of, and an important character in, the Mahabharata. It is said that he was the expansion of the god Vishnu who came in Dwaparayuga to make all the Vedic knowledge available in form which was available in spoken form at that time. He was the son of Satyavati, daughter of the fisherman Dusharaj, there are two different views regarding his birthplace. One of the views suggests that he was born in the Tanahun district in western Nepal, in Vyas municipality of Gandaki zone of Tanahun district, another view suggests that he was born on an island in the Yamuna River near Kalpi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Vyasa was dark-complexioned and hence may be called by the name Krishna, Dhritarashtra born of Ambika, and Pandu, born of Ambalika and Vidura born to a maid, were born from Vyasas powers. Vyasa is believed to have lived on the banks of Ganga in modern-day Uttarakhand, the place was also the abode of the sage Vashishta along with the Pandavas, the five brothers of the Mahabharata. According to the Mahabharatha, Maharishi Vyas and his disciples and the sage Viswamitra decided to settle down in a cool, in the quest for a peaceful abode, he came to the Dandaka forest and, pleased with serenity of the region, selected this place. Since Maharishi Vyasa spent considerable time in prayers, the place was then called Vasara, in his previous life, Vyasa was the Sage Apantaratamas, who was born when Lord Vishnu uttered the syllable Bhu. He was a devotee of Lord Vishnu, since birth, he already possessed the knowledge of the Vedas, the Dharmashastras and the Upanishads. At Vishnus behest, he was reborn as Vyasa, Sage Parashara was the father of Vyasa and the grandson of Sage Vashistha. Prior to Vyasas birth, Parashara had performed a penance to Lord Shiva. Shiva granted a boon that Parasharas son would be a Brahmarshi equal to Vashistha and she conceived and immediately gave birth to Vyasa. Vyasa turned into an adult and left, promising his mother that he would come to her when needed, Vyasa acquired his knowledge from the four Kumaras, Narada and Lord Brahma himself. Hence he was called Veda Vyasa, or Splitter of the Vedas, the word vyasa means split, differentiate, or describe
20.
Hinduism
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Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life, found most notably in India and Nepal. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This Hindu synthesis started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE following the Vedic period, although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is linked by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, and pilgrimage to sacred sites. Hindu texts are classified into Shruti and Smriti and these texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, Vedic yajna, Yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics. Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life, namely Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, karma, samsara, and the various Yogas. Hindu practices include such as puja and recitations, meditation, family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals. Some Hindus leave their world and material possessions, then engage in lifelong Sannyasa to achieve Moksha. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, Hinduism is the worlds third largest religion, with over one billion followers or 15% of the global population, known as Hindus. The majority of Hindus reside in India, Nepal, Mauritius, the Caribbean, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit word Sindhu, the Indo-Aryan name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term, the Arabic term al-Hind referred to the people who live across the River Indus. This Arabic term was taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term Hindū. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as an alternative name of India. It was only towards the end of the 18th century that European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus. The term Hinduism, then spelled Hindooism, was introduced into the English language in the 18th-century to denote the religious, philosophical, because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. The religion defies our desire to define and categorize it, Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and a way of life. From a Western lexical standpoint, Hinduism like other faiths is appropriately referred to as a religion, in India the term dharma is preferred, which is broader than the western term religion. Hindu traditionalists prefer to call it Sanatana Dharma, the study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of Hinduism, has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion. Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism, Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents
21.
Asceticism
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Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Asceticism is classified into two types, Asceticism has been historically observed in many religious traditions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism and Judaism. Mainstream Islam has lacked asceticism, except for its minority Sufi sect whose long tradition has included strict asceticism, the practitioners of these religions eschewed worldly pleasures and led an abstinent lifestyle, in the pursuit of redemption, salvation or spirituality. Asceticism is seen in the ancient theologies as a journey towards spiritual transformation, where the simple is sufficient, the bliss is within, the adjective ascetic derives from the ancient Greek term askēsis, which means training or exercise. The original usage did not refer to self-denial, but to the training required for athletic events. Its usage later extended to rigorous practices that are used in all religious traditions, in varying degrees to attain redemption. Asceticism has been classified into natural and unnatural forms of asceticism, natural asceticism is defined as a lifestyle where material aspects of life are reduced to utmost simplicity and minimum. This may include minimal, simple clothing, sleeping on floor or caves, natural asceticism, state Wimbush and Valantasis, does not include maiming the body or harsher austerities that make the body suffer. Self-discipline and abstinence in some form and degree are parts of religious practice within many religious, ascetic lifestyle is associated particularly with monks, nuns, fakirs in Abrahamic religions, and bhikkhus, munis, sannyasis, yogis in Indian religions. Christian authors of antiquity such as Origen, St. Jerome, St. Ignatius, John Chrysostom. Scriptural examples of asceticism could be found in the lives of John the Baptist, Jesus, the twelve apostles, the Dead Sea Scrolls revealed ascetic practices of the ancient Jewish sect of Essenes who took vows of abstinence to prepare for a holy war. An emphasis on a religious life was evident in both early Christian writings and practices. Other Christian practitioners of asceticism include individuals such as Simeon Stylites, Saint David of Wales, according to Richard Finn, much of early Christian asceticism has been traced to Judaism, but not to traditions within Greek asceticism. Some of the thoughts in Christianity nevertheless, Finn states, have roots in Greek moral thought. Virtuous living is not possible when an individual is craving bodily pleasures with desire, the deserts of the Middle East were at one time inhabited by thousands of Christian hermits including St. Anthony the Great, St. Mary of Egypt, and St. Simeon Stylites. In 963 CE, an association of monasteries called Lavra was formed on Mount Athos and this became the most important center of orthodox Christian ascetic groups in the centuries that followed. In the modern era, Mount Athos and Meteora have remained a significant center, sexual abstinence such as those of the Encratites sect of Christians was only one aspect of ascetic renunciation, and both natural and unnatural asceticism have been part of Christian asceticism. The natural ascetic practices have included simple living, begging, fasting and ethical practices such as humility, compassion, patience, such ascetic practices were linked to the Christian concepts of sin and redemption
22.
Sanyasi
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Sannyasa is the life stage of renunciation within the Hindu philosophy of four age-based life stages known as ashramas, with the first three being Brahmacharya, Grihastha and Vanaprastha. Sannyasa has historically been a stage of renunciation, ahimsa peaceful and simple life, however, this has not always been the case. These warrior sanyasis played an important role in helping European colonial powers establish themselves in India, saṃnyāsa in Sanskrit means renunciation of the world and abandonment. It is a word of saṃ- which means together, all, ni- which means down and āsa from the root as. A literal translation of Sannyāsa is thus to put down everything, Sannyasa is sometimes spelled as Sanyasa. The term Saṃnyasa makes appearance in the Samhitas, Aranyakas and Brahmanas, the earliest layers of Vedic literature, but it is rare. The term Sannyasa evolves into a rite of renunciation in ancient Sutra texts, in Dravidian languages, sannyasi is pronounced as sanyasi and also sannasi in colloquial form. Sanyasis are also known as Bhiksu, Pravrajita/Pravrajitā, Yati, Sramana, jamison and Witzel state early Vedic texts make no mention of Sannyasa, or Ashrama system, unlike the concepts of Brahmacharin and Grihastha which they do mention. Instead, Rig Veda uses the term Antigriha in hymn 10.95.4, still part of extended family and it is in later Vedic era and over time, Sannyasa and other new concepts emerged, while older ideas evolved and expanded. The explicit use of the four stage Ashrama concept, appeared a few centuries later, however, early Vedic literature from 2nd millennium BC, mentions Muni, with characteristics that mirror those found in later Sannyasins and Sannyasinis. Rig Veda, for example, in Book 10 Chapter 136, mentions mendicants as those with Kesin, rigveda, however, refers to these people as Muni and Vati. The Munis, girdled with the wind, wear garments of soil hue, They, following the winds swift course and these Munis, their lifestyle and spiritual pursuit, likely influenced the Sannyasa concept, as well as the ideas behind the ancient concept of Brahmacharya. One class of Munis were associated with Rudra and this freedom has led to diversity and significant differences in the lifestyle and goals of those who adopt Sannyasa. There are, however, some common themes, a person in Sannyasa lives a simple life, typically detached, itinerant, drifting from place to place, with no material possessions or emotional attachments. They may have a stick, a book, a container or vessel for food and drink, often wearing yellow, saffron, orange. They may have hair and appear disheveled, and are usually vegetarians. Some minor Upanishads as well as monastic orders consider women, child, students, fallen men and others as not qualified for Sannyasa, the dress, the equipage and lifestyle varies between groups. For example, Sannyasa Upanishad in verses 2.23 to 2.29 and those who enter Sannyasa may choose whether they join a group
23.
Chaturmas
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Chaturmas is reserved for penance, austerities, fasting, bathing in holy rivers and religious observances for all. Devotees resolve to observe some form of vow, be it of silence or abstaining from a food item. Chaturmas literally means four months, derived from the Sanskrit catur, four, the sun enters the zodiacal sign of Karka and begins to move southwards in the month of Ashadh. The eleventh day of Ashadh is called Devashayani Ekadashi, because in Hinduism and he is believed to wake up on the eleventh of Kartik, hence called Prabodhini Ekadashi. The period corresponds with the season in India. Chaturmas, inauspicious for weddings and other celebrations, is a time for householders to have an annual renewal of faith by listening to discourses on dharma. Penance, austerities, religious observances, recital of mantras, bathing in rivers, performing sacrifices. Fasts and purity during this period help maintain health, for there is likely a scientific rationale. A number of Hindus, particularly following the Vaishnav tradition, refrain from eating onions. In Maharashtra, a number of Hindu families also do not eat any egg plant preparations, sanyasis are supposed to halt during this period at one selected place, and give discourses to the public. In Jainism this practice is known as Varshayog and is prescribed for Jain monasticism. Therefore, these reduce the amount of harm they do to other creatures so they opt to stay in a village for the four months to incur minimal harm to other lives. During their eight months of travel, the sadhus give sermons whenever requested, amongst Jain merchants, there is a tradition of inviting monks to their respective cities during Chaturmas to give religious instruction. This is the time when the festival of Paryushan is celebrated, gautama Buddha stayed at the royal garden of King Bimbisara of Rajgir, whom he had recently converted, for the period of Chaturmas and gave sermons, this practice is followed by monks to this day. Another reason for ascetics to stay in one place during the season is that the tropical climate produces a large number of insects. Cort, John E. Jains in the World, Religious Values and Ideology in India, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-513234-3 Jain Chaturmas begins
24.
Indian classical music
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Indian classical music is one of many forms of art music that have their roots in particular regional cultures. For other classical and art traditions, see List of classical. Indian classical music is a genre of South Asian music, the North Indian classical music tradition is called Hindustani, while the South Indian expression is called Carnatic. These traditions were not distinct till about the 16th century, there on, during the turmoils of Islamic rule period of the Indian subcontinent, the traditions separated and evolved into distinct forms. However, the two continue to have more common features than differences. The roots of the music of India are found in the Vedic literature of Hinduism and the ancient Natyashastra. The 13th century Sanskrit text Sangita-Ratnakara of Sharngadeva is regarded as the text by both the Hindustani music and the Carnatic music traditions. The Indian classical music has two elements, raga and tala. The raga forms the fabric of a structure, the tala measures the time cycle. The raga gives an artist the ingredients palette to build the melody from sounds, dhrupads are among the oldest classical Indian music compositions, with heroic, laudatory and spiritual themes. They are the basis for many subgenre of Indian music, the roots of music in ancient India are found in the Vedic literature of Hinduism. The earliest Indian thought combined three arts, syllabic recital, melos and dance, as these fields developed, sangita became a distinct genre of art, in a form equivalent to contemporary music. This likely occurred before the time of Yāska, since he includes these terms in his nirukta studies, some of the ancient texts of Hinduism such as the Samaveda are structured entirely to melodic themes, it is sections of Rigveda set to music. The Samaveda is organized into two formats, one part is based on the musical meter, another by the aim of the rituals. The text is written with embedded coding, where svaras is either shown above or within the text and these markings identify which units are to be sung in a single breath, each unit based on multiples of one eighth. The hymns of Samaveda contain melodic content, form, rhythm and this structure is, however, not unique or limited to Samaveda. The Rigveda embeds the musical meter too, without the kind of found in the Samaveda. For example, the Gayatri mantra contains three lines of exactly eight syllables, with an embedded ternary rhythm
25.
Mahabharata
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The Mahābhārata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa. The Mahābhārata is a narrative of the Kurukṣetra War and the fates of the Kaurava. It also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four goals of life or puruṣārtha, traditionally, the authorship of the Mahābhārata is attributed to Vyāsa. There have been attempts to unravel its historical growth and compositional layers. The oldest preserved parts of the text are thought to be not much older than around 400 BCE, the text probably reached its final form by the early Gupta period. The title may be translated as the tale of the Bhārata dynasty. According to the Mahābhārata itself, the tale is extended from a version of 24,000 verses called simply Bhārata. The Mahābhārata is the longest known epic poem and has described as the longest poem ever written. Its longest version consists of over 100,000 śloka or over 200,000 individual verse lines, and long prose passages. About 1.8 million words in total, the Mahābhārata is roughly ten times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined, or about four times the length of the Rāmāyaṇa. W. J. Johnson has compared the importance of the Mahābhārata in the context of civilization to that of the Bible, the works of Shakespeare. The epic is traditionally ascribed to the sage Vyāsa, who is also a character in the epic. Vyāsa described it as being itihāsa and he also describes the Guru-shishya parampara, which traces all great teachers and their students of the Vedic times. The first section of the Mahābhārata states that it was Gaṇeśa who wrote down the text to Vyasas dictation, the epic employs the story within a story structure, otherwise known as frametales, popular in many Indian religious and non-religious works. It is recited by the sage Vaiśampāyana, a disciple of Vyāsa, the text has been described by some early 20th-century western Indologists as unstructured and chaotic. Hermann Oldenberg supposed that the poem must once have carried an immense tragic force. Moritz Winternitz considered that only unpoetical theologists and clumsy scribes could have lumped the parts of disparate origin into an unordered whole, Research on the Mahābhārata has put an enormous effort into recognizing and dating layers within the text. Some elements of the present Mahābhārata can be traced back to Vedic times, the background to the Mahābhārata suggests the origin of the epic occurs after the very early Vedic period and before the first Indian empire was to rise in the third century B. C
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Satyavati
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Satyavati was the queen of the Kuru king Shantanu of Hastinapur and the great-grandmother of the Pandava and Kaurava princes. She is also the mother of the seer Vyasa, author of the epic and her story appears in the Mahabharata, the Harivamsa and the Devi Bhagavata Purana. Due to the smell emanating from her body she was known as Matsyagandha, as a young woman Satyavati met the wandering rishi Parashara, who fathered her son Vyasa out of wedlock. The sage also gave her a musky fragrance, which earned her names like Yojanagandha, later King Shantanu, captivated by her fragrance and beauty, fell in love with Satyavati. She married Shantanu on condition that their children inherit the throne, Satyavati bore Shantanu two children, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. After Shantanus death, she and her sons with the help of Bhishma ruled the kingdom. Although both her sons died childless, she arranged for her first son Vyasa to father the children of the two widows of Vichitravirya through niyoga, the children became fathers of the Kauravas and Pandavas, respectively. After Pandus death, Satyavati went to the forest for penance, while Satyavatis presence of mind, far-sightedness and mastery of realpolitik is praised, her unscrupulous means of achieving her goals and her blind ambition are criticized. Little is said about Satyavati in the Mahabharata, however, later texts - the Harivamsa, Satyavati is known by numerous names in the Mahabharata, among them Daseyi, Gandhakali, Gandhavati, Kali, Matysyagandha, Satya, Vasavi and Yojanagandha. The name Daseyi – a term used by her stepson Bhishma used to address her – means one of the Dasas. Vasavi means daughter of king Vasu and her birth name, Kali, indicates her dark complexion. Her other birth name, Satyavati, means truthful, satya means veracity, as noted above, she was also known as Matsyagandha or Matsyagandhi in her earlier life – and Gandhakali, Gandhavati and Yojanagandha in later life. According to the Harivamsa, Satyavati in her previous life was Achchhoda, daughter of the Pitrs, the Mahabharata, Harivamsa and Devi Bhagavata Purana assert that Satyavati was the daughter of a cursed apsara named Adrika. Adrika was transformed by a curse into a fish, and lived in the Yamuna river, when the Chedi king, Vasu, was on a hunting expedition he had a nocturnal emission while dreaming of his wife. He sent his semen to his queen with an eagle but, due to a fight with another eagle, the chief fisherman caught the fish, and cut it open. He found two babies in the womb of the fish, one male and one female, the fisherman presented the children to the king, who kept the male child. The boy grew up to become the founder of the Matsya Kingdom, the king gave the female child to the fisherman, naming her Matsya-gandhi or Matsya-gandha due to the fishy odor which came from the girls body. The fisherman raised the girl as his daughter and named her Kali because of her complexion, over the course of time, Kali earned the name Satyavati
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Vedic period
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The Vedic period was the period in Indian history during which the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed. During the early part of the Vedic period, the Indo-Aryans settled into northern India, scholars consider Vedic civilisation to have been a composite of the Indo-Aryan and Harappan cultures. The end of the Vedic period witnessed the rise of large, around the beginning of the Common Era, the Vedic tradition formed one of the main constituents of the so-called Hindu synthesis. The commonly proposed period of earlier Vedic age is dated back to 2nd millennium BCE, after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation, which ended c.1900 BCE, groups of Indo-Aryan peoples migrated into north-western India and started to inhabit the northern Indus Valley. The knowledge about the Aryans comes mostly from the Rigveda-samhita, which was composed between c and they brought with them their distinctive religious traditions and practices. The Vedic beliefs and practices of the era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion. According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the zone between the Zeravshan River and Iran. It was a mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements. At least 383 non-Indo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra, Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a stimulant drug probably borrowed from the BMAC religion and his rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers. These migrations may have been accompanied with violent clashes with the people who inhabited this region. The Rig Veda contains accounts of conflicts between the Aryas and the Dasas and Dasyus, the Rig Veda describes Dasas and Dasyus as people who do not perform sacrifices or obey the commandments of gods. Their speech is described as mridhra which could variously mean soft, uncouth, hostile, other adjectives which describe their physical appearance are subject to many interpretations. Internecine military conflicts between the tribes of Vedic Aryans are also described in the Rig Veda. Most notable of such conflicts was the Battle of Ten Kings, which took place on the banks of the river Parushni. The battle was fought between the tribe Bharatas, led by their chief Sudas, against a confederation of ten tribes— Puru, Yadu, Turvasha, Anu, Druhyu, Alina, Bhalanas, Paktha, Siva, Vishanin. Bharatas lived around the regions of the river Saraswati, while Purus, their western neighbours. The other tribes dwelt north-west of the Bharatas in the region of Punjab, division of the waters of Ravi could have been a reason for the war
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Vedas
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The Vedas are a large body of knowledge texts originating in the ancient Indian subcontinent. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature, Hindus consider the Vedas to be apauruṣeya, which means not of a man, superhuman and impersonal, authorless. Vedas are also called śruti literature, distinguishing them from religious texts. The Veda, for orthodox Indian theologians, are considered revelations seen by ancient sages after intense meditation, in the Hindu Epic the Mahabharata, the creation of Vedas is credited to Brahma. The Vedic hymns themselves assert that they were created by Rishis, after inspired creativity. There are four Vedas, the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, each Veda has been subclassified into four major text types – the Samhitas, the Aranyakas, the Brahmanas, and the Upanishads. Some scholars add a fifth category – the Upasanas, the various Indian philosophies and denominations have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy which cite the Vedas as their authority are classified as orthodox. Other śramaṇa traditions, such as Lokayata, Carvaka, Ajivika, Buddhism and Jainism, despite their differences, just like the texts of the śramaṇa traditions, the layers of texts in the Vedas discuss similar ideas and concepts. The Sanskrit word véda knowledge, wisdom is derived from the root vid- to know and this is reconstructed as being derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *u̯eid-, meaning see or know. The noun is from Proto-Indo-European *u̯eidos, cognate to Greek εἶδος aspect, not to be confused is the homonymous 1st and 3rd person singular perfect tense véda, cognate to Greek οἶδα oida I know. Root cognates are Greek ἰδέα, English wit, etc, the Sanskrit term veda as a common noun means knowledge. The term in some contexts, such as hymn 10.93.11 of the Rigveda, means obtaining or finding wealth, property, a related word Vedena appears in hymn 8.19.5 of the Rigveda. It was translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith as ritual lore, as studying the Veda by the 14th century Indian scholar Sayana, as bundle of grass by Max Müller, Vedas are called Maṛai or Vaymoli in parts of South India. Marai literally means hidden, a secret, mystery, in some south Indian communities such as Iyengars, the word Veda includes the Tamil writings of the Alvar saints, such as Divya Prabandham, for example Tiruvaymoli. The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts, the Samhitas date to roughly 1700–1100 BC, and the circum-Vedic texts, as well as the redaction of the Samhitas, date to c. 1000-500 BC, resulting in a Vedic period, spanning the mid 2nd to mid 1st millennium BC, or the Late Bronze Age, Michael Witzel gives a time span of c.1500 to c. Witzel makes special reference to the Near Eastern Mitanni material of the 14th century BC the only record of Indo-Aryan contemporary to the Rigvedic period
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Jaimini
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Jaimini was an ancient Indian scholar who founded the Mimansa school of Hindu philosophy. He is traditionally attributed to be the author of the Mimamsa Sutras text and he is estimated to have lived around the 4th-century BCE. His school is considered non-theistic, but one that emphasized rituals parts of the Vedas as essential to Dharma, jaiminis guru was Badarayana, the latter founded the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy, emphasizing the knowledge parts of the Vedas, and credited with authoring Brahma Sutras. Jaimini is most known for his great treatise Purva Mimamsa Sutras, also called Karma-mimamsa, the text founded the Purva-Mimamsa school of Ancient Indian philosophy, one of the six Darsanas or schools of Ancient Indian philosophy. Dated to ca. the 4th century BCE, the text contains about 3,000 sutras and is the text of the Mimamsa school. The text aims at an exegesis of the Vedas with regard to practice and religious duty. Jaiminis Mimamsa is a ritualist counter-movement to the Self-knowledge speculations of the Vedanta philosophy and his Mimamsa Sutra was commented upon by many, of which Śābara was among the earliest. He divided the Veda into four, namely Rig, Yajur, Sama, the histories and the Puranas are said to be the fifth Veda. - Brahmanda Purana 1.4.21 One of the major Puranas, samaveda Guru Purnima Indian Mathematics Purva Mimansa homepage
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Honorific
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An honorific is a title that conveys esteem or respect when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the honorific is used in a more specific sense to refer to an honorary academic title. It is also conflated with systems of honorific speech in linguistics. Typically, honorifics are used as a style in the third person. Use in the first person, by the honored dignitary, is uncommon or considered very rude, Some languages have anti-honorific first person forms whose effect is to enhance the relative honor accorded to the person addressed. The most common honorifics in modern English are usually placed immediately before a persons name, someone who does not want to express a gender with their honorific may occasionally use Mx, Ind. or Misc. Other honorifics may denote the persons occupation, for instance Doctor, Esquire, Captain, Coach, Officer, Reverend for all clergy and/or Father. Holders of an academic Doctorate such as PhD are addressed as Doctor, Some honorifics act as complete replacements for a name, as Sir or Maam, or Your Honor. Subordinates will often use honorifics as punctuation before asking a superior a question or after responding to an order, Yes, sir or even Sir, yes, sir. Judges are often addressed as Your Honor when on the bench, if the judge also has a higher title, that may be the correct honorific to use, Your Lordship. Similarly, a monarch and his consort may be addressed or referred to as Your/His/Her Majesty, Their Majesties, monarchs below kingly rank are addressed as Your/His/Her Highness, the exact rank being indicated by an appropriate modifier, e. g. His Serene Highness for a member of a dynasty, or Her Grand Ducal Highness for a member of a family that reigns over a grand duchy. There are differences between Your Highness and Your Royal Highness, between Princess Margaret and The Princess Margaret, all of these are correct, but apply to people of subtly different rank. An example of a style is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, which was an official style. In music, a conductor or virtuoso instrumentalist may be known as Maestro. In aviation, pilots in command of a civil aircraft are usually addressed as Captain plus their full name or surname. This tradition is diminishing in the United States and most EU countries. In addition, such countries etiquette rules dictate that this title must be placed on all the letters and social invitations, business cards, identification documents
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Yogi
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A yogi is a practitioner of yoga. In Vedic Sanskrit, yoga means to add, to join, to unite, or to attach in its most common literal sense, the term yogi is used broadly to refer to sannyasi or practitioners of meditation in a number of Indian religions. The feminine form is yogini, but is not always used, Yogi, or jogi, since the 12th century CE, while meaning those dedicated to Yoga practice, has also referred to members of the Nath siddha tradition of Hinduism. Alternatively, in traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. In Hindu mythology, god Shiva and goddess Parvati are depicted as an emblematic yogi–yogini pair, in Classical Sanskrit, the word yogi is derived from yogin, which refers to a practitioner of yoga. Yogi is technically male, and yoginī is the used for female practitioners. The term yogini is also used for divine goddesses and enlightened mothers, all revered as aspects of the mother goddess, a yogi, states Banerjea, should not be confused with someone practicing asceticism and excessive self-mortification. In Hinduism the term refers to an adherent of yoga. This is true of man in general and the Keśin in particular and he is said to be light and enlightenment itself. The Keśin does not live a life of convention. His hair and beard grow longer, he spends long periods of time in absorption, musing and meditating and they wear clothes made of yellow rags fluttering in the wind, or perhaps more likely, they go naked, clad only in the yellow dust of the Indian soil. But their personalities are not bound to earth, for follow the path of the mysterious wind when the gods enter them. He is someone lost in thoughts, he is miles away, the term yogin appears in Katyayana Shrauta-sutra and chapter 6 of Maitri Upanishad, where the implied context and meaning is a follower of the Yoga system, a contemplative saint. The term sometimes refers to a person who belongs to the Natha tradition and they usually belong to Shaiva tradition, but some Natha belong to the Vaishnava tradition. There have been two parallel views, in Hindu texts, on sexuality for a yogi and yogini, one view asserts restraint in sexual activity, towards monk- and nun-like asexuality, as transmutation away from worldly desires and onto a spiritual path. It is not considered, states Stuart Sovatsky, as a form of moralistic repression, in the second view, sexuality is a yogic practice, and one broadly revered through the lingam–yoni iconography of Shiva–Parvati, the divine yogi–yogini in Hindu mythology. A yogi or yogini lives by other voluntary ethical precepts called Yamas and Niyamas, archeological evidence suggests that in some contexts and regions, yogi of the Nath Siddha tradition were respected and recognized in India. For example, inscriptions suggest a general of the Yadava king Ramacandra donated a village to a yogi in 13th-century, near Mangalore, that later became a hub of Nath yogis, a monastery and temple was dedicated to yogis in the 10th-century
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Himalayas
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The Himalayas, or Himalaya, form a mountain range in Asia separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The Himalayan range has the Earths highest peaks, including the highest, the Himalayas include over a hundred mountains exceeding 7,200 metres in elevation. By contrast, the highest peak outside Asia – Aconcagua, in the Andes – is 6,961 metres tall. The Himalayas are spread across five countries, Bhutan, India, Nepal, China, the Himalayan range is bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Some of the major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges, and the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, rise in the Himalayas. The Himalayas have profoundly shaped the cultures of South Asia, many Himalayan peaks are sacred in Hinduism and Buddhism. Lifted by the subduction of the Indian tectonic plate under the Eurasian Plate and its western anchor, Nanga Parbat, lies just south of the northernmost bend of Indus river. Its eastern anchor, Namcha Barwa, is just west of the bend of the Tsangpo river. The range varies in width from 400 kilometres in the west to 150 kilometres in the east, the name of the range derives from the Sanskrit Himā-laya, from himá and ā-laya. They are now known as the Himalaya Mountains, usually shortened to the Himalayas, formerly, they were described in the singular as the Himalaya. This was also previously transcribed Himmaleh, as in Emily Dickinsons poetry and Henry David Thoreaus essays. The mountains are known as the Himālaya in Nepali and Hindi, the Himalaya or The Land of Snow in Tibetan, the Hamaleh Mountain Range in Urdu, the flora and fauna of the Himalayas vary with climate, rainfall, altitude, and soils. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice, the amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the southern front of the range. This diversity of altitude, rainfall and soil conditions combined with the high snow line supports a variety of distinct plant. The extremes of high altitude combined with extreme cold favor extremophile organisms, the unique floral and faunal wealth of the Himalayas is undergoing structural and compositional changes due to climate change. The increase in temperature is shifting various species to higher elevations, the oak forest is being invaded by pine forests in the Garhwal Himalayan region. There are reports of early flowering and fruiting in some species, especially rhododendron, apple. The highest known tree species in the Himalayas is Juniperus tibetica located at 4,900 metres in Southeastern Tibet, the Himalayan range is one of the youngest mountain ranges on the planet and consists mostly of uplifted sedimentary and metamorphic rock
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Bodhgaya
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Bodh Gaya is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Gaya district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is famous as it is the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have obtained Enlightenment under what became known as the Bodhi Tree. For Buddhists, Bodh Gaya is the most important of the main four pilgrimage sites related to the life of Gautama Buddha, in 2002, Mahabodhi Temple, located in Bodh Gaya, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bodh Gaya is the most holy place for the followers of the Buddhist faith all over the world, situated by the bank of river Neranjana the place was then known as Uruwela. King Ashoka was the first to build a temple here, traditionally, Buddha was born in 563 BC in what is now Nepal on the following auspicious Baisakhi purnima. As Siddhartha, he renounced his family at the age of 29 in 534 BC, after practicing self-mortification for six years at Urubela in Gaya, he gave up that practice because it did not give him Vimukthi. Then he discovered Noble Eight-fold path without help from anyone and practiced it, Enlightenment is a state of being completely free from lust, hatred and delusion. By gaining enlightenment, you enter Nibbana, in which the stage is Parinibbana. At this place, the Buddha was abandoned by the five men who had been his companions of earlier austerities, all they saw was an ordinary man, they mocked his well-nourished appearance. Here comes the mendicant Gautama, they said, who has turned away from asceticism and he is certainly not worth our respect. When they reminded him of his vows, the Buddha replied. In the exhaustion and mental stupor to which they lead, one can no longer understand the things of life. I have given up extremes of luxury or asceticism. I have discovered the Middle Way and this is the path which is neither easy nor hard. Hearing this, the five became the Buddhas first disciples in Deer Park. The disciples of Gautama Siddhartha began to visit the place during the moon in the month of Vaisakh. Over time, the became known as Bodh Gaya, the day of enlightenment as Buddha Purnima. The history of Bodh Gaya is documented by inscriptions and pilgrimage accounts
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Bimbisara
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Bimbisara or Srenika was a King of Magadha and belonged to the Haryanka dynasty. He was the son of Bhattiya and his expansion of the kingdom, especially his annexation of the kingdom of Anga to the east, is considered to have laid the foundations for the later expansion of the Maurya Empire. He is also known for his achievements and was a great friend. Bimbisara built the city of Rajgir, famous in Buddhist writings and he was succeeded on the throne by his son Ajatashatru. Bimbisaras laid the foundations of Magadha by fortification of a village and his first capital was at Girivraja. He led a campaign against Anga, perhaps to avenge his fathers earlier defeat at the hands of its king. The campaign was successful, Anga was annexed, and prince Kunika was appointed governor at Champa, Bimbisara used marriage alliances to strengthen his position. His first wife was Kosala Devi, the daughter of Mahā Kosala the king of Kosala, and his bride brought him Kashi, which was then a mere village, as dowry. This marriage also ended the hostility between Magadha and Kosala and gave him a hand in dealing with the other states. His second wife, Chellana, was a Lichchhavi princess from Vaishali, as per Indologist Hermann Jacobi, Vardhaman Mahaviras mother Trishala was daughter of Chetaka. His third wife, Kshema, was a daughter of the chief of the Madra clan of Punjab and these marriage alliances paved the way for the expansion of Magadha Empire both westward and northward. Although Bimbisara let the women in his palace visit Buddha in his monastery in the evenings, after Bimbisara spoke with Buddha who complied with their request. According to the tradition, Bimbisara was imprisoned by his son Ajatashatru to ascend the throne of the kingdom of Magadha, Ajatashatru later ordered his fathers release after the birth of his first child, but by then it was too late and Bimbisara had already died. This was reported to have taken place around 491 BC, according to Buddhist scriptures, King Bimbisara met the Buddha for the first time prior to the Buddhas enlightenment. He was lead to the Buddha by Presanjits wife - Queen Mallika and he later became a disciple of the Buddha after being impressed by the teaching of him that ones age is no measure of ones wisdom. Bimbisara is referred to as Shrenika of Rajgir in Jain literature who became a devotee of Jainism impressed by the calmness of Yamadhar and he frequently visited Samavasarana of Lord Mahavira seeking answers to his queries. He asked about the version of Ramayana and an illuminating sage. Bimbisara sent Jivaka to Ujjain for medical treatment of Pradyota, the king of Avanti and he was allegedly Baldev in a previous life
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Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta
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The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta is a Buddhist text that is considered to be a record of the first teaching given by Gautama Buddha after he attained enlightenment. According to tradition, the Buddha gave this teaching in Sarnath, India, to the five ascetics, his former companions with whom he had spent six years practicing austerities. The main topic of this sutra is the Four Noble Truths and this sutra also introduces the Buddhist concepts of the Middle Way, impermanence, and dependent origination. The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta is said to be the first teaching given by the Buddha after he attained enlightenment and it is taught that the Buddha attained enlightenment while sitting under the Bodhi Tree by the Nerañjarā river in Bodh Gaya, and afterwards, he remained silent for forty-nine days. The Buddha then journeyed from Bodhgaya to Sarnath, a town near the sacred city of Varanasi in central India. There he met his five companions, the ascetics with whom he had shared six years of hardship. His former companions were at first suspicious of the Buddha, thinking he had given up his search for the truth when he renounced their ascetic ways, but upon seeing the radiance of the Buddha, they requested him to teach what he had learned. The Buddha addressed his first teaching, or discourse, to his five former companions, in this discourse, the Buddha addresses the ascetics as bhikkhus, a term which is normally translated as a Buddhist monk. However, Ajahn Sucitto explains that in this context bhikkhus means “alms-mendicants, Ajahn Sucitto explains, The five bhikkhus at Deer Park were named Kondañña, Vappa, Bhaddiya, Mahanāma, and Assaji. They all agreed that this baby would be either a great emperor or a Buddha, perhaps this was why he was named Siddhattha, which means “Accomplishes the Goal. ”Interestingly, it was Kondañña alone who reckoned that Siddhattha was destined for Buddhahood. Four of the brahmins who had been present at the palace later told their sons to keep their eyes on Siddhattha and these sons grew up to become the other four of the Group of Five. Therefore, the Buddha began his teaching by addressing their current situation and he affirmed their belief that indulging in sense pleasures would not lead to true freedom. He then stated that their practices of severe austerity, denial of the sense pleasures, thus, the Buddha begins the teaching by asserting the position of the Middle Way, of avoiding extremes of self-indulgence or self-denial. The Buddha asserted that neither of these paths would lead to ultimate truth. Ajahn Sucitto explains, But in the case of the Group of Five and they just needed to have the means clarified. So here the Buddha addresses them with advice on the cultivation of right means as an expression. And he begins with affirming the view that the ascetics would already have adopted—that chasing after and getting hooked on sense-pleasure is unworthy and he starts where they already are—where every path should start. Then he balances that out by negating the ascetic view, saying that getting caught up with self-mortification was also useless and he thereby cuts away the ground and leaves them dangling in the middle, saying that it is in this “no position” that peace is to be found
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Asadha
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Ashadha or Aashaadha is a month of the Hindu calendar that corresponds to June/July in the Gregorian calendar. In Indias national civil calendar, Āsāṛh is the month of the year, beginning on 22 June. The month is known as Ādi in Tamil, in solar religious calendars, Āsāṛh begins with the Suns entry into Cancer. It is the first of the two months that comprise the monsoon season, the corresponding month in the Bengali calendar, Aṣaṛh, is the third month. In lunar religious calendars, Āsāṛh begins on a new moon and is usually the month of the year. In the Vaishnava calendar, Vamana governs this month, rath Yatra is held on month of Asadha every year in, Odisha dedicated to Lord Jagannath. Guru Purnima, a dedicated to the Guru, is celebrated on the Purnima day of the month. Prior to it Shayani Ekadashi, is observed on the lunar day of the bright fortnight. Adi amavasai is an important festival in Tamil Nadu and auspicious for amman Hindu units of measurement Hindu astronomy Jyotish
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Wet season
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The rainy season, or monsoon season, is the time of year when most of a regions average annual rainfall occurs. It usually lasts one or more months, the term green season is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the tropics and subtropics, under the Köppen climate classification, for tropical climates, a wet season month is defined as a month where average precipitation is 60 millimetres or more. In contrast to areas with savanna climates and monsoon regimes, Mediterranean climates have wet winters, some areas with pronounced rainy seasons will see a break in rainfall mid-season, when the intertropical convergence zone or monsoon trough moves to higher latitudes in the middle of the warm season. When the wet season occurs during a season, or summer, precipitation falls mainly during the late afternoon. In the wet season, air quality improves, fresh water quality improves, rivers overflow their banks, and some animals retreat to higher ground. Soil nutrients diminish and erosion increases, the incidence of malaria increases in areas where the rainy season coincides with high temperatures, particularly in tropical areas. Some animals have adaptation and survival strategies for the wet season, often, the previous dry season leads to food shortages in the wet season, as the crops have yet to mature. In areas where the rainfall is associated with a wind shift. Further, much of the total each day occurs in the first minutes of the downpour. However, since rain forests have rainfall spread evenly through the year and it is different for places with a Mediterranean climate. This shift in the jet stream brings much of the precipitation to the region. The peninsula of Italy has weather very similar to the western United States in this regard, areas with a savanna climate in Sub-Saharan Africa, such as Ghana, Burkina Faso, Darfur, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Botswana have a distinct rainy season. Also within the climate regime, Florida and South Texas have a rainy season. Northern Guyana has two wet seasons, one in spring and the other in early winter. In western Africa, there are two rainy seasons across southern sections, but only one across the north. Within the Mediterranean climate regime, the west coast of the United States and the Mediterranean coastline of Italy, Greece, similarly, the wet season in the Negev desert of Israel extends from October through May. At the boundary between the Mediterranean and monsoon climates lies the Sonoran desert, which receives the two rainy seasons associated with each climate regime, the wet season is known by many different local names throughout the world
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Arhat
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Theravada Buddhism defines arhat or arahant as one who is worthy or as a perfected person having attained nirvana. Other Buddhist traditions have used the term for people far advanced along the path of Enlightenment, the understanding of the concept has changed over the centuries, and varies between different schools of Buddhism and different regions. A range of views on the attainment of arhats existed in the early Buddhist schools, the Sarvāstivāda, Kāśyapīya, Mahāsāṃghika, Ekavyāvahārika, Lokottaravāda, Bahuśrutīya, Prajñaptivāda, and Caitika schools all regarded arhats as imperfect in their attainments compared to buddhas. Mahayana Buddhist teachings urge followers to take up the path of a bodhisattva, the arhats, or at least the senior arhats, came to be widely regarded as moving beyond the state of personal freedom to join the Bodhisattva enterprise in their own way. They can be seen as the Buddhist equivalents of the Christian saints, apostles or early disciples and leaders of the faith. The Sanskrit word arhat is a present participle coming from the verbal root √arh to deserve, cf. arha meriting, deserving, arhaṇa having a claim, being entitled, the word is used in the Ṛgveda with this sense of deserving. A common folk etymology derives the word from ari and hanta from the root √han to strike, to kill, professor Richard Gombrich has argued that the present participle is jarring and seems out of place when there is an adjective from the same root. Since Jains used two Prakrit forms of the word arahanta and arihanta, the etymology may well be the correct etymology. Gombrich argues that this stems from the metaphor as the Jain title jina conqueror, whence jaina related to the conqueror. The term arhat is often translated into English as arahat, the term arhat was translated into some East Asian languages phonetically as a transliterated term, exemplified in the Chinese āluóhàn, often shortened to simply luóhàn. This may appear in English as luohan or lohan, in Japanese the pronunciation of the same Chinese characters is rakan or arakan. The Tibetan term for arhat was translated by meaning from Sanskrit and this translation, dgra bcom pa, means one who has destroyed the foes of afflictions. Thus the Tibetan translators also understood the meaning of arhat to be ari-hanta, a range of views on the attainment of arhats existed in the early Buddhist schools. The Dharmaguptaka sect believed that the Buddha and those of the Two Vehicles, although they have one, the Mahīśāsaka and the Theravada regarded arhats and buddhas as being similar to one another. The 5th century Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa regarded arhats as having completed the path to enlightenment, according to Bhikkhu Bodhi, the Pāli Canon portrays the Buddha declaring himself to be an arahant. The Mahayana discerned a hierarchy of attainments, with samyaksambuddhas at the top, mahāsattvas below that, pratyekabuddhas below that, but what was it that distinguished the bodhisattva from the sravaka, and ultimately the buddha from the arhat. The difference lay, more than anywhere else, in the orientation of the bodhisattva. In pre-Buddhist India, the arhat, denoting a saintly person in general, was closely associated with miraculous power
