1.
Mylapore
–
Mylapore is a cultural hub and neighborhood in the southern part of the city of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the oldest residential parts of the city, Mylapore is known for its tree-lined avenues, Kapaleeshwarar Temple, Katcheri seasons and Ramakrishna Math among many others. Portuguese invaded and demolished the original Kapaleeshwarar Temple and built San Thome Basilica which houses the tomb of Thomas the Apostle, the word Mylapore is derived from Mayil arparikum oor, which means Land of the peacock scream. Historically, peacocks have been known to thrive in the area, thirugnanasambandar has also mentioned about mayil in his songs in Tevaram. Mylapore is also known as Thirumayilai, Mylapore predates British rule by several centuries. It was historically known as Vedapuri, as the available historical and archaeological evidence show, it could well be the oldest part of Chennai, with written records of early settlements going back to the first century BC. It was known for its ancient port with a trade with the Roman Empire, receiving gold in exchange for its products like pepper. St. Thomas the Apostle allegedly died at Mylapore in 72 AD, ptolemy had recorded in the 2nd century AD that the port of Mylapore was known to the Greeks and the Romans. The Saivite Saints of the 7th Century, Saint Sambandar and Saint Appar, have sung about the Shrine in their hymns, mention has been made of the early settlement of Santhome by Arab travelers and merchants of the 9th and 10th centuries AD. Marco Polo visited the place in the late 13th century and left a description of the land. It was considerable time and the ancient German and Greek maps refers to the town as Maliarpha. Portuguese rule lasted until 1749, except for a brief interregnum between 1662 and 1687, when the town was occupied by the French, after 1749, the British East India Company took possession of the settlement in the name of Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah, the Nawab of Arcot. In that same year, Mylapore was incorporated into the administration of the Presidency of Madras, the settlement known as Luz developed during this period. The name finds its origins from the Nossa Senhora Da Luz church built by the Portuguese in 1516 AD and this church is one of the oldest standing Christian structures in all of Tamil Nadu. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the town became the commercial and intellectual hub of Madras city and home to British-educated lawyers, Mylapore is located a few kilometres to the south of the British-built Chennai city. It lies between Triplicane and Teynampet in the west then across to the coast in the east and it is bounded by Royapettah to the north. Its southern frontier corresponds roughly with that of the River Adyar and it extends for around 4 km from north to south and 2 km from east to west. The population of Mylapore is estimated to be around 150,000 to 300,000 and it has long been a site of cultural importance for Brahmins, which can be attributed to Mylapores early role as a temple centre
Mylapore
–
MRTS station, Mylapore
Mylapore
–
The tomb of
Thomas the Apostle in
San Thome Basilica.
Mylapore
–
Kapaleeswarar Temple
Mylapore
–
San Thome Basilica
2.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
3.
India
–
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
India
–
Flag
India
–
The granite
tower of
Brihadeeswarar Temple in
Thanjavur was completed in 1010 CE by
Raja Raja Chola I.
India
–
Writing the will and testament of the Mughal king court in Persian, 1590–1595
4.
Tamil Nadu
–
Tamil Nadu is one of the 29 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai, Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Puducherry and the South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. The state shares a border with the nation of Sri Lanka. Tamil Nadu is the eleventh-largest state in India by area and the sixth-most populous, the state was ranked sixth among states in India according to the Human Development Index in 2011, with the second-largest state economy after Maharashtra. Tamil Nadu is the second largest state economy in India with ₹13,842 billion in gross domestic product after Maharashtra. Tamil Nadu was ranked as one of the top seven developed states in India based on a Multidimensional Development Index in a 2013 report published by the Reserve Bank of India and its official language is Tamil, which is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world. Tamil Nadu is home to natural resources. In addition, its people have developed and continue classical arts, classical music, historic buildings and religious sites include Hindu temples of Tamil architecture, hill stations, beach resorts, multi-religious pilgrimage sites, and eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Archaeological evidence points to this area being one of the longest continuous habitations in the Indian peninsula, the ASI archaeologists have proposed that the script used at that site is very rudimentary Tamil Brahmi. Adichanallur has been announced as a site for further excavation. About 60 per cent of the epigraphical inscriptions found by the ASI in India are from Tamil Nadu. A Neolithic stone celt with the Indus script on it was discovered at Sembian-Kandiyur near Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu, according to epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan, this was the first datable artefact bearing the Indus script to be found in Tamil Nadu. Mahadevan claimed that the find was evidence of the use of the Harappan language, the date of the celt was estimated at between 1500 BCE and 2000 BCE. The early history of the people and rulers of Tamil Nadu is a topic in Tamil literary sources known as Sangam literature, numismatic, archaeological and literary sources corroborate that the Sangam period lasted for about six centuries, from 300 BC to AD300. Three dynasties, namely the Chera, Chola and Pandya, ruled the area of present-day Tamil Nadu, the Chera ruled the whole of present-day Kerala and parts of western Tamil Nadu comprising Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Karur, Salem and Erode districts from the capital of Vanchi Muthur. The Chola dynasty ruled the northern and central parts of Tamil Nadu from their capital, Uraiyur, All three dynasties had extensive trade relationships with Rome, Greece, Egypt, Ceylon, Phoenicia, Arabia, Mesopotamia and Persia. Trade flourished in commodities such as spices, ivory, pearls, beads, Chera traded extensively from Muziris on the west coast, Chola from Arikamedu and Puhar and Pandya through Korkai port. A Greco-Roman trade and travel document, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea gives a description of the Tamil country, besides these three dynasties, the Sangam era Tamilakam was also divided into various provinces named nadu, meaning country
Tamil Nadu
–
Location of Tamil Nadu (marked in red) in
India
Tamil Nadu
–
Sage
Agastya father of Tamil literature,
Sangam period
Tamil Nadu
–
Megalithic Sarcophagus burial from Tamil Nadu.
5.
Chennai
–
Chennai /ˈtʃɛnnaɪ/, formerly known as Madras /məˈdrɑːs/ or /-ˈdræs/) is the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal, it is one of the biggest cultural, economic, according to the 2011 Indian census, it is the sixth-largest city and fourth-most populous urban agglomeration in India. The city together with the adjoining regions constitute the Chennai Metropolitan Area, Chennai is among the most visited Indian cities by foreign tourists. It was ranked 43rd most visited city in the world for year 2015, the Quality of Living Survey rated Chennai as the safest city in India. Chennai attracts 45 percent of tourists visiting India, and 30 to 40 percent of domestic health tourists. As such, it is termed Indias health capital, as a growing metropolitan city in a developing country, Chennai confronts substantial pollution and other logistical and socio-economic problems. Chennai has the third-largest expatriate population in India at 35,000 in 2009,82,790 in 2011, tourism guide publisher Lonely Planet named Chennai as one of the top ten cities in the world to visit in 2015. Chennai is ranked as a city in the Global Cities Index and was ranked the best city in India by India Today in the 2014 annual Indian city survey. In 2015 Chennai was named the hottest city by the BBC, National Geographic ranked Chennais food as second best in the world, it was the only Indian city to feature in the list. Chennai was also named the ninth-best cosmopolitan city in the world by Lonely Planet, the Chennai Metropolitan Area is one of the largest city economies of India. Chennai is nicknamed The Detroit of India, with more than one-third of Indias automobile industry being based in the city, in January 2015, it was ranked third in terms of per capita GDP. Chennai has been selected as one of the 100 Indian cities to be developed as a city under PM Narendra Modis flagship Smart Cities Mission. The name Madras originated even before the British presence was established in India, the name Madras is said to have originated from a Portuguese phrase mae de Deus which means mother of god, due to Portuguese influence on the port city. According to some sources, Madras was derived from Madraspattinam, a north of Fort St George. However, it is whether the name was in use before the arrival of Europeans. The British military mapmakers believed Madras was originally Mundir-raj or Mundiraj, Madras might have also been derived from the word Madhuras meaning juice of honey or sugarcane in Sanskrit. The nativity of name Chennai, being of Telugu origin is clearly proved by the historians. The first official use of the name Chennai is said to be in a deed, dated 8 August 1639
Chennai
–
Clockwise from top right:
Chennai Central,
Marina Beach,
Madras High Court,
TIDEL Park,
Ripon Building,
San Thome Basilica,
Kapaleeshwarar Temple,
Classical dance Bharata Natyam and
Valluvar Kottam.
Chennai
–
Clive House at
Fort St. George, Madras said to be the first English settlement in
India during 1609
Chennai
–
Surrender of the City of Madras in 1746 to de La Bourdonnais, by Jacques François Joseph Swebach
6.
Moolavar
–
Moolavar or Mulavar is a Sanskrit word referring to the main deity in a Hindu Temple. Moola means main, which in turn refers to the deity in the temple. The sanctuary inside the Hindu temple is called Garba griha, the sanctum is located at the centre of the temple, and its only opening mostly faces east. The most ancient Hindu sanctuaries are flat stone dolmens, vertical and horizontal slabs forming a room at the centre of a stone wall boundary. Uthsavar Utsava List of Hindu temples
Moolavar
–
The Punnainallur Mariamman temple Moolavar, the main deity, Mariamman
7.
Shiva
–
ShiVa3D is a 3D game engine with a graphical editor designed to create applications and video games for desktop PCs, the web, game consoles and mobile devices. Games made with ShiVa can be exported to over 20 target platforms, numerous applications have been created using ShiVa, including the Prince of Persia 2 remake for Mobiles and Babel Rising published by Ubisoft. With ShiVa 2.0, the version of the Editor is currently under heavy development. ShiVa Editor 1. x runs exclusively on Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1, ShiVa 1. x games are being built by the ShiVa Authoring Tool, a free companion product to the Editor, which transforms game packages into native applications. Since not all platforms have SDKs for Windows, the Authoring Tool is available for Mac OS X as well as Windows, ShiVa Editor 2. x runs natively on Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1 x86/x8664, Mac OS X x8664 and Linux x8664. ShiVa is proprietary software and licensed under the ShiVa EULA. Several license packages are available, ShiVa Web Edition is free to download, exports are watermarked except for the ShiVa Web Player browser plugin, Adobe Flash and HTML5/WebGL. ShiVa Basic Edition was built for indie developers and small development studios, beta versions may be downloaded and tested. C++ Plugins can be designed and tested, but not exported
Shiva
8.
Dravidian architecture
–
Dravidian architecture was an architectural idiom that emerged in the Southern part of the Indian subcontinent or South India. It consists primarily of temples with pyramid shaped towers and are constructed of sandstone, soapstone or granite and this styled architecture can also be found in parts of North India, Northeastern and central Sri Lanka. Throughout Tamilakam, a king was considered to be divine by nature, the king was the representative of God on earth’ and lived in a “koyil”, which means the “residence of God”. The Modern Tamil word for temple is koil, titular worship was also given to kings. Other words for king like “kō” “king”), “iṟai” “emperor”) and “āṇḍavar” “conqueror”) now primarily refer to God, tolkappiyar refers to the Three Crowned Kings as the “Three Glorified by Heaven”. In the Dravidian-speaking South, the concept of kingship led to the assumption of major roles by state. Mayamata and Manasara shilpa texts estimated to be in circulation by 5th to 7th century AD, is a guidebook on Dravidian style of Vastu Shastra design, construction, sculpture and joinery technique. Isanasivagurudeva paddhati is another text from the 9th century describing the art of building in India in south, in north India, Brihat-samhita by Varāhamihira is the widely cited ancient Sanskrit manual from 6th century describing the design and construction of Nagara style of Hindu temples. Traditional Dravidian architecture and symbolism are also based on Agamas, the Agamas are non-vedic in origin and have been dated either as post-vedic texts or as pre-vedic compositions. Gate-pyramids, Gopuras, which are the features in the quadrangular enclosures that surround the more notable temples. Gopuras are very common in dravidian temples. Pillared halls are used for purposes and are the invariable accompaniments of these temples. In Southern India seven kingdoms and empires stamped their influence on architecture during different times, one such temple, the Saluvannkuppan Murukan temple, unearthed in 2005, consists of three layers. The lowest layer, consisting of a shrine, is one of the oldest of its kind in South India. It is one of two brick shrine pre Pallava Hindu temples to be found in the state, the other being the Veetrirundha Perumal Temple at Veppathur dedicated to Lord Vishnu. The dynasties of early medieval Tamilakkam expanded and erected structural additions to many of these brick shrines, sculptures of erotic art, nature and deities from the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple, and the Srirangam Ranganathaswamy Temple date from the Sangam period. The Badami Chalukyas also called the Early Chalukyas, ruled from Badami, Karnataka in the period 543 –753 CE, the finest examples of their art are seen in Pattadakal, Aihole and Badami in northern Karnataka. Over 150 temples remain in the Malaprabha basin, the most enduring legacy of the Chalukya dynasty is the architecture and art that they left behind. More than one hundred and fifty monuments attributed to the Badami Chalukya, the rock-cut temples of Pattadakal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Badami, Aihole and Mahakuta are their most celebrated monuments
Dravidian architecture
–
The
Annamalaiyar Temple in
Thiruvannaamalai
Dravidian architecture
–
The Teli ka Mandir in
Gwalior Fort
Dravidian architecture
–
Typical layout of Dravidian architecture which evolved from
koyil as kings residence.
Dravidian architecture
–
The Meenakshi temple complex of
Madurai
9.
Parvati
–
Parvati, also known as Urvi/Renu, is the Hindu goddess of fertility, love and devotion, as well as of divine strength and power. She is the gentle and nurturing aspect of the Hindu goddess Shakti and she is the mother goddess in Hinduism, and has many attributes and aspects. Each of her aspects is expressed with a different name, giving her over 100 names in regional Hindu stories of India, along with Lakshmi and Saraswati, she forms the trinity of Hindu goddesses. Parvati is the wife of the Hindu god Shiva - the protector and regenerator of universe and she is the daughter of the mountain king Himavan and mother Mena. Parvati is the mother of Hindu deities Ganesha and Kartikeya, some communities also believe her to be the sister of the god Vishnu and the river-goddess Ganga. With Shiva, Parvati is a deity in the Shaiva sect. In Hindu belief, she is the energy and power of Shiva, and she is the cause of a bond that connects all beings. In Hindu temples dedicated to her and Shiva, she is represented as the argha or yoni. She is found extensively in ancient Indian literature, and her statues and iconography grace Hindu temples all over South Asia, parvata is one of the Sanskrit words for mountain, Parvati derives her name from being the daughter of king Himavan and mother Mena. King Parvat is considered lord of the mountains and the personification of the Himalayas, Parvati is known by many names in Hindu literature. Other names which associate her with mountains are Shailaja, Adrija or Nagajaa or Shailaputri, Haimavathi, the Lalita sahasranama contains a listing of 1,000 names of Parvati. Two of Parvatis most famous epithets are Uma and Aparna, the name Uma is used for Sati in earlier texts, but in the Ramayana, it is used as a synonym for Parvati. In the Harivamsa, Parvati is referred to as Aparna and then addressed as Uma and she is also Ambika, Shakti, Mataji, Maheshwari, Durga, Bhairavi, Bhavani, Shivaradni, and many hundreds of others. Parvati is also the goddess of love and devotion, or Kamakshi, regional stories of Gauri suggest an alternate origin for Gauris name and complexion. In parts of India, Gauris skin color is golden or yellow in honor of her being the goddess of ripened corn/harvest, some scholars hold that Parvati does not explicitly appear in Vedic literature, though the Kena Upanishad contains a goddess called Uma-Haimavati. She appears as the shakti, or essential power, of the Supreme Brahman. Her primary role is as a mediator who reveals the knowledge of Brahman to the Vedic trinity of Agni, Vayu, and Indra, Sati-Parvati appears in the epic period, as both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata present Parvati as Shivas wife. However, it is not until the plays of Kalidasa and the Puranas that the stories of Sati-Parvati, Kinsley adds that Parvati may have emerged from legends of non-aryan goddesses that lived in mountains
Parvati
–
A 12th century sculpture of Parvati,
Parvati
–
Parvati as a two-armed consort goddess of Shiva (left), and as four-armed
Lalita with her sons
Ganesha and
Skanda,
Odisha, India. 11th century sculpture from the British Museum. 1872,0701.54.
Parvati
Parvati
–
Uma Maheshwar in
Shivdwar Temple in district
Sonbhadra,India
10.
Tamil language
–
Tamil is a Dravidian language predominantly spoken by the Tamil people of India and Sri Lanka, and also by the Tamil diaspora, Sri Lankan Moors, Burghers, Douglas, and Chindians. Tamil is a language of two countries, Singapore and Sri Lanka. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and it is also used as one of the languages of education in Malaysia, along with English, Malay and Mandarin. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in the four other South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and it is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. Tamil is one of the classical languages in the world. Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions from 500 BC have been found on Adichanallur and 2 and it has been described as the only language of contemporary India which is recognizably continuous with a classical past. The variety and quality of classical Tamil literature has led to it being described as one of the classical traditions. A recorded Tamil literature has been documented for over 2000 years, the earliest period of Tamil literature, Sangam literature, is dated from ca.300 BC – AD300. It has the oldest extant literature among other Dravidian languages, the earliest epigraphic records found on rock edicts and hero stones date from around the 3rd century BC. More than 55% of the inscriptions found by the Archaeological Survey of India are in the Tamil language. Tamil language inscriptions written in Brahmi script have been discovered in Sri Lanka, the two earliest manuscripts from India, acknowledged and registered by the UNESCO Memory of the World register in 1997 and 2005, were written in Tamil. In 1578, Portuguese Christian missionaries published a Tamil prayer book in old Tamil script named Thambiraan Vanakkam, the Tamil Lexicon, published by the University of Madras, was one of the earliest dictionaries published in the Indian languages. According to a 2001 survey, there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil, Tamil belongs to the southern branch of the Dravidian languages, a family of around 26 languages native to the Indian subcontinent. It is also classified as being part of a Tamil language family, the closest major relative of Tamil is Malayalam, the two began diverging around the 9th century CE. According to linguists like Bhadriraju Krishnamurti, Tamil, as a Dravidian language, descends from Proto-Dravidian, linguistic reconstruction suggests that Proto-Dravidian was spoken around the third millennium BC, possibly in the region around the lower Godavari river basin in peninsular India. The material evidence suggests that the speakers of Proto-Dravidian were of the associated with the Neolithic complexes of South India. The next phase in the reconstructed proto-history of Tamil is Proto-South Dravidian, the linguistic evidence suggests that Proto-South Dravidian was spoken around the middle of the second millennium BC, and that proto-Tamil emerged around the 3rd century BC. The earliest epigraphic attestations of Tamil are generally taken to have been shortly thereafter
Tamil language
–
Silver coin of king
Vashishtiputra Sātakarni (c. AD 160). Obv: Bust of king; Rev: Ujjain/Sātavāhana symbol, crescented six-arch chaitya hill and river with
Tamil Brahmi script
Tamil language
–
Tamil
Tamil language
–
Agastya, Chairman of first Tamil
Sangam,
Madurai,
Pandiya Kingdom
Tamil language
–
Mangulam Tamil Brahmi inscription
11.
Puranas
–
The word Puranas literally means ancient, old, and it is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly myths, legends and other traditional lore. Composed primarily in Sanskrit, but also in languages, several of these texts are named after major Hindu deities such as Vishnu, Shiva. The Puranas genre of literature is found in both Hinduism and Jainism, the content is highly inconsistent across the Puranas, and each Purana has survived in numerous manuscripts which are themselves inconsistent. The Hindu Puranas are anonymous texts and likely the work of authors over the centuries, in contrast, most Jaina Puranas can be dated. There are 18 Maha Puranas and 18 Upa Puranas, with over 400,000 verses, the first versions of the various Puranas were likely composed between the 3rd- and 10th-century CE. The Puranas do not enjoy the authority of a scripture in Hinduism and they have been influential in the Hindu culture, inspiring major national and regional annual festivals of Hinduism. The religious practices included in them are considered Vaidika, because they do not preach initiation into Tantra, the Bhagavata Purana has been among the most celebrated and popular text in the Puranic genre, and is of non-dualistic tenor. The Puranic literature wove with the Bhakti movement in India, vyasa, the narrator of the Mahabharata, is hagiographically credited as the compiler of the Puranas. The date of the production of the written texts does not define the date of origin of the Puranas and they existed in an oral form before being written down, and were incrementally modified well into the 16th century. An early occurrence of the term purana is found in the Chandogya Upanishad, translated by Patrick Olivelle as the corpus of histories, importantly, the most famous form of itihāsapurāṇaṃ is the Mahabharata. The term also appears in the Atharvaveda 11.7.24, the extant Puranas, states Coburn, are not identical to the original Puranas. In the 19th century, F. E. Pargiter believed the original Purana may date to the time of the redaction of the Vedas. Wendy Doniger, based on her study of indologists, assigns approximate dates to the various Puranas and she dates Markandeya Purana to c.250 CE, Matsya Purana to c. 250–500 CE, Vayu Purana to c.350 CE, Harivamsa and Vishnu Purana to c.450 CE, 350–950 CE, Vamana Purana to c. 450–900 CE, Kurma Purana to c, 550–850 CE, and Linga Purana to c. Of the many texts designated Puranas the most important are the Mahāpurāṇas or the major Puranas and these are said to be eighteen in number, divided into three groups of six, though they are not always counted in the same way. The difference between Upapuranas and Mahapuranas has been explained by Rajendra Hazra as, a Mahapurana is well known, the Upapuranas are eighteen in number, with disagreement as to which canonical titles belong in that list of eighteen. The Ganesha and Mudgala Puranas are devoted to Ganesha, the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, which extols the goddess Durga, has become a basic text for Devi worshipers
Puranas
–
Purana Manuscripts from 15th- to 18th-century
Puranas
Puranas
Puranas
–
The Goddess
Durga Leading the Eight
Matrikas in Battle Against the Demon
Raktabija, Folio from
Devi Mahatmyam, Markandeya Purana.
12.
Shakti
–
In Hinduism, Shakti, also spelled as Sakthi, meaning power or empowerment is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe. Shakti is the concept or personification of divine feminine creative power, as the mother she is known as Adi Parashakti or Adishakti. On the earthly plane, Shakti most actively manifests through female embodiment and creativity/fertility, though it is present in males in its potential. Hindus believe that Shakti is both responsible for creation and the agent of all change, Shakti is cosmic existence as well as liberation, its most significant form being the Kundalini Shakti, a mysterious psychospiritual force. In Shaktism, Shakti is worshipped as the Supreme Being, Shakti embodies the active feminine energy of Shiva and is identified as Tripura Sundari or her avatar Parvati. David Kinsley mentions the shakti of Lord Indras as Sachi, meaning power, indrani is part of a group of seven or eight mother goddesses called the Matrikas, who are considered shaktis of major Hindu gods. The Shakti goddess is known as Amma in south India, especially in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana. There are many temples devoted to various incarnations of the Shakti goddess in most of the villages in South India. The rural people believe that Shakti is the protector of the village, the punisher of evil people, the curer of diseases, and they celebrate Shakti Jataras with great interest once a year. Some examples of incarnations are Ganga, Kamakshi, Kanakadurga, Mahalakshmi, Meenakshi, Manasa, Mariamman and it is believed that the cosmic grand design is theoretically a triangular structure of equal sides. The three points of the triangle or the structure of macrocosmic system are occupied by three ultimate manifestations of the trinity, Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra. This ultimate indestructible gravity known as Shakti in its three transformative form is connected to the trinity separately, Brahma, by the grace of her creative force creates. Rudra, by the strength of her destructive force destroys, Vishnu, by the unbiased intellectual force sustains. One of the oldest representations of the goddess in India is in a triangular form, the Baghor stone, found in a Paleolithic context in the Son River valley and dating to 9, 000-8,000 years BCE, is considered an early example of a yantra. Kenoyer, part of the team excavated the stone, considered that it was highly probable that the stone is associated with Shakti. Shaktism regards Devi as the Supreme Brahman itself with all forms of divinity considered to be merely Her diverse manifestations. In the details of its philosophy and practice, Shaktism resembles Shaivism, however, Shaktas, practitioners of Shaktism, focus most or all worship on Shakti, as the dynamic feminine aspect of the Supreme Divine. Shiva, the aspect of divinity, is considered solely transcendent
Shakti
–
Adi Para Shakti Lalita Tripura Sundari seated over Brahma Vishnu Shiva Maheswara and Sadashiva
Shakti
–
The goddess
Manasa in a dense jungle landscape with a cobra and a swan.
Shakti
–
Hindu Goddess,
Saraswati
Shakti
–
Sri Guru Amritananda Natha Saraswati, performing the Navavarana Puja, an important ritual in Srividya Tantric
Shaktism, at the Sahasrakshi Meru Temple at Devipuram, Andhra Pradesh, India.
13.
Peacock
–
The peafowl include three species of birds in the genera Pavo and Afropavo of the Phasianidae family, the pheasants and their allies. There are two Asiatic species and one African species, male peafowl are known for their piercing call and their extravagant plumage. The latter is especially prominent in the Asiatic species, who have a tail or train of covert feathers which they display as part of a courtship ritual. The term peacock is properly reserved for the male, the female is known as a peahen, the functions of the elaborate iridescent coloration and large train of peacocks have been the subject of extensive scientific debate. Charles Darwin suggested they served to attract females, and the features of the males had evolved by sexual selection. The Indian peacock has iridescent blue and green plumage, the peacock tail, known as a train, consists not of tail quill feathers, but highly elongated upper tail coverts. These feathers are marked with eyespots, best seen when a peacock fans his tail, both sexes of all species have a crest atop the head. The Indian peahen has a mixture of grey, brown. The female also displays her plumage to ward off female competition or signal danger to her young, the green peafowl differs from the Indian peafowl in that the male has green and gold plumage with black wings with a sheen of blue. Unlike the Indian peafowl, the green peahen is similar to the male, only having shorter upper tail coverts, a more coppery neck, the Congo peacock male does not display his covert feathers, but uses his actual tail feathers during courtship displays. These feathers are shorter than those of the Indian and green species. Females of the Indian and African species are dull grey and/or brown, chicks of both sexes in all the species are cryptically coloured. They vary between yellow and tawny, usually with patches of brown or light tan and dirty white ivory. Occasionally, peafowl appear with white plumage and this can result in the complete lack of coloration of their plumage, while preserving normal eye colour. By contrast, true albino peafowl have a lack of melanin. Leucistic peachicks are born yellow and become white as they mature. As with many birds, vibrant iridescent plumage colours are not primarily pigments, optical interference Bragg reflections based on regular, periodic nanostructures of the barbules of the feathers produce the peacocks colours. Slight changes to the spacing of these result in different colours
Peacock
Peacock
–
Head and neck of Indian peacock (
Pavo cristatus)
Peacock
–
A leucistic Indian peacock
Peacock
–
Peacock (seen from behind) displaying to attract peahen in foreground
14.
Lingam
–
The lingam is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu deity, Shiva, used for worship in temples, smaller shrines, or as self-manifested natural objects. In traditional Indian society, the linga is seen as a symbol of the energy, the lingam is often represented alongside the yoni, a symbol of the goddess or of Shakti, female creative energy. The union of linga and yoni represents the indivisible two-in-oneness of male and female, the lingam is a column-like or oval symbol of Shiva, the Formless All-pervasive Reality, made of stone, metal, or clay. The Shiva Linga is a symbol of Lord Shiva – a mark that reminds of the Omnipotent Lord, in Shaivite Hindu temples, the linga is a smooth cylindrical mass symbolising Shiva. It is found at the centre of the temple, often resting in the middle of a rimmed, disc-shaped structure, anthropologist Christopher John Fuller wrote that although most sculpted images are anthropomorphic, the aniconic Shiva Linga is an important exception. Some believe that linga-worship was a feature of indigenous Indian religion, there is a hymn in the Atharvaveda that praises a pillar, and this is one possible origin of linga worship. Some associate Shiva-Linga with this Yupa-Stambha, the sacrificial post, in the hymn, a description is found of the beginning-less and endless Stambha or Skambha, and it is shown that the said Skambha is put in place of the eternal Brahman. The Yupa-Skambha gave place in time to the Shiva-Linga, in the Linga Purana the same hymn is expanded in the shape of stories meant to establish the glory of the great Stambha and the supreme nature of Mahâdeva. The Hindu scripture Shiva Purana describes the origin of the lingam, known as Shiva-linga, as the beginning-less and endless cosmic pillar of fire, Lord Shiva is pictured as emerging from the Lingam – the cosmic pillar of fire – proving his superiority over the gods Brahma and Vishnu. The Linga Purana also supports this interpretation of lingam as a cosmic pillar, a similar interpretation is also found in the Skanda Purana, The endless sky is the Linga, the Earth is its base. At the end of time the universe and all the Gods finally merge in the Linga itself. In yogic lore, the linga is considered the first form to arise when creation occurs, seek him within the self and you will soon find him, meditate on His omnipresence and gain His boons. The oldest example of a lingam that is used for worship is in Gudimallam. It dates to the 2nd century BC, a figure of Shiva is carved into the front of the lingam. There is a set of proportions for the height, width. Some types of Shiva linga are mukhalinga, lingodbhavamurti, a linga with a cobra on top, svayambhuva directly made from light, Sphatika-linga, around 70 lingas are worshipped throughout the world and have become places of pilgrimage. The Rasa linga or Parad Shiva linga is made of mercury and it is of great importance for Hindu devotees and is worshipped with complete process, belief, and devotion. It is worshipped to be physically, mentally, spiritually, and psychologically as well as to obtain protection from the natural calamities, evil power, disaster
Lingam
–
Traditional flower offering to a lingam in
Varanasi
Lingam
–
A 10th-century four-headed stone lingam (
Mukhalinga) from Nepal
Lingam
–
Lingobhava Shiva: God Shiva appears as in an infinite Linga fire-pillar, as Vishnu as
Varaha tries to find the bottom of the Linga while Brahma tries to find its top. This infinite pillar conveys the infinite nature of Shiva.
Lingam
–
A Shiva lingam worshipped at Jambukesvara temple in
Thiruvanaikaval (Thiruaanaikaa)
15.
Nayanars
–
The Nayanars were a group of 63 saints in the 6th to 8th century who were devoted to the Hindu god Shiva in Tamil Nadu. They, along with the Alvars, influenced the Bhakti movement in Tamil, the names of the Nayanars were first compiled by Sundarar. The list was expanded by Nambiyandar Nambi during his compilation of material by the poets for the Tirumurai collection, the list of the Nayanars was initially compiled by Sundarar. In his poem, Tiruthonda Thogai, he sings, in verses, the names of the Nayanar saints up to Karaikkal Ammeiyar. The list did not go into the detail of the lives of the saints, in the 10th century, king Raja Raja Chola I collected Tevaram literature after hearing excerpts of the hymns in his court. His priest Nambiyandar Nambi began compiling the hymns into a series of volumes called the Tirumurai and he arranged the hymns of three saint poets Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar as the first seven books which he called the Tevaram. In the eleventh book, he created the Tirutotanar Tiruvanthathi, which consisted of 89 verses, with the addition of Sundarar and his parents to the sequence, this became the canonical list of the 63 saints. In the 12th century, Sekkizhar added a twelfth volume to the Tirumurai called Periya Puranam in which he expands further on the stories of each of 63 Nayanars, the Nayanars were from various backgrounds, including Channars, Vellalas, oilmongers, Brahmins, and nobles. Along with the twelve Vaishnava Alvars, they are regarded the important saints from Tamil Nadu, Sundarars original list of Nayanars did not follow any sequence with regards to chronology or importance. However, some groups have followed an order for arranging their Nayanar temple images according to Sundarars poem as well as the information from Nambi. 9th century poet Manikkavacakar was not counted as one of the 63 Nayanarsbecause he is really great, Manikkavacakar Tamil mythology Cort, John E. Open boundaries, Jain communities and culture in Indian history. Albany, State University of New York Press, a map of Nayanar temples Legends of the Nayanmars ebook nayanmars
Nayanars
–
Statues of the three foremost Nayanars with
Manikkavacakar – collectively called the Nalvars: (from left)
Sambandar,
Appar,
Sundarar,
Manikkavacakar.
Nayanars
–
The 63 Nayanmars in a
Shiva temple
Nayanars
–
Kannappa Nayanar
16.
Paadal Petra Sthalam
–
The Paadal Petra Sthalams are 275 temples that are revered in the verses of Saiva Nayanars in the 6th-9th century CE and are amongst the greatest Shiva temples of the continent. The Divya Desams by comparison are the 108 Vishnu temples glorified in the poems of the contemporary Vaishnava Alvars of Tamil Nadu, the three are considered the primary three among the sixty three Nayanmars of the Saivite sect of Hinduism. The former two lived during the 7th century AD while the latter around 8th century AD, all songs in Thevaram are believed to be in sets of ten songs, called pathikam in Tamil. Some musical experts consider Thevaram as a musical form. The 275 temples that are mentioned in Thevaram are referred as Paadal Petra Sthalam, on the contrary, Vaippu Sthalam are temples that were mentioned casually in the songs in Thevaram and lacking a mention of those temples. In modern times, the verses of Tevaram are sung daily, manikkavacakar is considered the 4th in the line of Saiva Kuravars, whose verses are classified as Thiruvasagam. There is a saying that Thiruvasagathuku urugar, oru vasagathukum orugar meaning the person who does not budge for thiruvasagam wont budge for anything else, there are around 275 temples that are revered by the verses of Saiva Kuravars and are amongst the greatest Shiva Temples of Tamil Nadu. The list is as shown below and this refers to the temples that are the manifestation of the five elements - land, water, air, sky, fire. Pancha Bhoota stalam Map The temples where Lord Shiva is believed to have performed the Cosmic Dance, pancha Sabhai Map The temples where Lord Shiva is believed to have performed with fury. The eight temples are in 1, the Thyagarajar Temple at Tiruvarur is famous for the ajapa natanam, that is executed by the deity itself. According to legend, a Chola king named Mucukunta obtained a boon from Indra, Indra tried to misguide the king and had six other images made, but the king chose the right image at Tiruvarur. The other six images were installed in ThiruNallaaru, Nagapattinam, Tirukarayil, Tirukolili, Thiruvaaimur, all the seven places are villages situated in the river Cauvery delta. All seven Thyagaraja images are said to dance when taken in procession, the temples with dance styles are regarded as Saptha Vidangam and the related temples are as under, The sapthasthanam festival is conducted at Tiruvaiyaru during April every year. Hundreds of people witness the convergence of seven glass palanquins carrying principal deities of respective temples from seven places at Tiruvaiyaru, the palanquins are paraded near the car stand, the crowd witnessed the Poochorithal in which a doll offers flowers to the principal deities in the palanquins. After the Poochorithal, the left for their respective places. The seven temples are The seven temples are Aathara Stalam indicates the places which are considered to be diving impersonification of Tantric chakras associated with human anatomy,4 temples are located in Tamil Nadu, one in Andhra Pradesh, and one at Varanasi
Paadal Petra Sthalam
–
The 3 foremost Nayanars with Manikkavacakar - collectively called the Nalvars: (from left)
Sambandar,
Appar,
Sundarar, Manikkavacakar.
Paadal Petra Sthalam
–
Ekambareswarar Temple,
Kanchipuram (Land)
Paadal Petra Sthalam
–
Arunachaleshwarar Temple,
Thiruvannamalai (Fire)
Paadal Petra Sthalam
–
Thiruvanaikaval temple,
Trichy (Water)
17.
Tuluva Dynasty
–
Tuluva was the third dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire. The Tuluva were the third Hindu dynasty which ruled Vijayanagara empire, the dynasty was founded by chieftain Tuluva -Bunts who originally ruled southern parts of coastal Karnataka, also called Tulu Nadu. The dynasty have gained the name Tuluva because they belonged to the Tulu speaking region of Tulu Nadu and they came to power after the Saluva Dynasty. The Tuluva dynasty were the most powerful dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire of Southern India and they belonged to the Nagavanshi kshatriya order of lineage. They are believed to be Nagavanshis who worshiped Nagaraja Vasuki as their family deity, the Vijayanagar empire attained it greatest glory during this period and their most famous emperor Krishna Deva Raya. Their reign consisted of five emperors from 1491 till 1570 and they ruled almost the entire South India with Vijayanagara as their capital. The fall of the Tuluva dynasty led the beginning of the disintegration of the empire and this period was known as a golden age of Telugu literature. Many Telugu, Sanskrit, Kannada and Tamil poets enjoyed the patronage of the emperor, emperor Krishna Deva Raya earned the titles Andhra Bhoja, Mooru Rayara Ganda and Kannada Rajya Rama Ramana. Krishna Deva Raya was formally initiated into the Vaishnava Sampradaya by Vyasatirtha and he patronised poets and scholars in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit. Emperor Krishna Deva Raya was fluent in many languages, there remains a debate whether he was a Telugu, Kannadiga or Tuluva by lineage. The five Tuluva emperors were, Tuluva Narasa Nayaka Viranarasimha Raya Krishnadevaraya Achyuta Deva Raya Sadashiva Raya Nagavanshi Tulu Nadu Tuluva Tulu WebPage by Dr. Jyothsna Kamat
Tuluva Dynasty
–
Nāga (snake) stone worship at Hampi
18.
Government of Tamil Nadu
–
The Government of Tamil Nadu is the governing authority for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai, the legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, like most other states in India. The Governor is the head of the state while the Chief Minister heads the council of ministers. The Chief Justice of the Madras High Court is the head of the judiciary, presently Vidyasagar Rao is the acting governor and Edappadi K. Palanisamy is the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Indira Banerjee is the current Chief Justice of Madras High Court, the state of Tamil Nadu has a population of 7,21,38,958 as per the 2011 Census and covers an area of 1,30,058 km². The Tamil Nadu E-Governance Agency is the entity that facilitates e-governance efforts in Tamil Nadu, as part of the e-governance initiative, a large part of government records like land ownership records have been digitised. All major administrative offices like local governance bodies and various government departments have been computerised
Government of Tamil Nadu
–
Fort St George, Chief Secretariat, Govt of Tamil Nadu
Government of Tamil Nadu
–
Government of Tamil Nadu
19.
Mount Kailash
–
Mount Kailash (also Mount Kailas, Kangrinboqê or Gang Rinpoche is a peak in the Kailash Range, which forms part of the Transhimalaya in Tibet. It lies near the source of some of the longest rivers in Asia, the Indus River, the Sutlej River, the Brahmaputra River, and it is considered a sacred place in four religions, Bön, Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. The mountain lies near Lake Manasarovar and Lake Rakshastal in Tibet Autonomous Region, the mountain is known as either Kailāśa or Kailāsa in Sanskrit. The name may be derived from the word kelāsa, which means crystal, in his Tibetan-English dictionary, Chandra identifies the entry for kai la sha which is a loan word from Sanskrit kailāśa. The Tibetan name for the mountain is Gangs Rin-po-che, Gangs or Kang is the Tibetan word for snow peak analogous to alp or himal, rinpoche is an honorific meaning precious one so the combined term can be translated precious jewel of snows. Tibetan Buddhists call it Kangri Rinpoche, Precious Snow Mountain, bon texts have many names, Waters Flower, Mountain of Sea Water, Nine Stacked Swastika Mountain. According to Hinduism, Lord Shiva, the Destroyer, resides at the summit of a mountain named Kailāśa. He is at once the Lord of Yoga and therefore the ultimate renunciate ascetic, according to Charles Allen, one description in the Vishnu Purana of the mountain states that its four faces are made of crystal, ruby, gold, and lapis lazuli. It is a pillar of the world and is located at the heart of six mountain ranges symbolizing a lotus, in Jainism, Kailash is also known as Meru Parvat or Sumeru. Ashtapada, the next to Mt. Kailash, is the site where the first Jain Tirthankara, Rishabhadeva. Tantric Buddhists believe that Mount Kailash is the home of the Buddha Demchok and it is said that Milarepa, champion of Tantric Buddhism, arrived in Tibet to challenge Naro Bön-chung, champion of the Bön religion of Tibet. The two magicians engaged in a terrifying sorcerers battle, but neither was able to gain a decisive advantage, finally, it was agreed that whoever could reach the summit of Kailash most rapidly would be the victor. While Naro Bön-chung sat on a drum and soared up the slope, Milarepas followers were dumbfounded to see him sitting still. Yet when Naro Bön-chung was nearly at the top, Milarepa suddenly moved into action and overtook him by riding on the rays of the Sun, thus winning the contest. He did, however, fling a handful of snow on to the top of a mountain, since known as Bönri, bequeathing it to the Bönpo. The Bön, a native to Tibet, maintain that the entire mystical region. Every year, thousands make a pilgrimage to Kailash, following a tradition going back thousands of years, pilgrims of several religions believe that circumambulating Mount Kailash on foot is a holy ritual that will bring good fortune. The peregrination is made in a direction by Hindus and Buddhists
Mount Kailash
–
The north face of Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash
–
An illustration of the Hindu significance of Mount Kailash, depicting the holy family of Shiva, consisting of Shiva, Parvati, Ganesha and Kartikeya (Muruga)
Mount Kailash
–
Tibetan and Nepalese
Thangka depicting Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash
–
Satellite view of Mount Kailash with lakes
Rakshastal (left) and
Manasarovar (right)
20.
Murugan
–
Karthikeya is the Hindu god of war. He is the Commander-in-Chief of the army of the devas and he is also the primary deity of the Kaumaram sect of Hinduism. Murugan is worshiped primarily in areas of Tamil speaking populations, including Tamil Nadu in India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Réunion. It is one of the few sites in Sri Lanka that is venerated by, Hindu Sri Lankan Tamils, Sinhalese people. In northern India, he is known as Kartikeya. He is known as Subrahmanya, Muruga or Palani Andava in Tamil Nadu and he was also known as Mahasena and the Kadamba dynasty worshiped him by this name. The Shatapatha Brahmana refers to him as the son of Rudra, the Taittiriya Aranyaka contains the Gayatri Mantra for Shanmukha. The Chandogya Upanishad refers to Skanda as the way leads to wisdom. Baudhāyanas Dharmasūtra calls Skanda Mahāsena Having a Great Army and Subrahmaṇya beloved of Brahmins, the āraṇyaparvan of the Mahabharata relates the legend of Kartikeya Skanda in considerable detail. The Skanda Purana is devoted to the narrative of Kartikeya, the Upanishads also constantly make a reference to a Supreme Being called Guha, the indweller. The Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai is a devotional poem included in the Pattuppāṭṭu ten idylls of the age of the third Sangam. In the Tirumurukāṟtruuppaṭai, he is described as a god of youth, His face shines a myriad rays light. Other Sangam period works in Tamil that refer to Murugan in detail include the Paripāṭal, the Akananūru, the first elaborate account of Kartikeyas origin occurs in the Mahabharata. In a complicated story, he is said to have been born from Agni and Svaha, the actual wives then become the Pleiades. The Lord asked him what kind of boon he required, in reply to which he asked that no power in the universe should destroy him except the Lords power itself. Lord Shiva granted the boon to him, after succeeding in his penance, Suraabaathman began to torture humans as well as the devas. He then conquered the Indraloka and made Indra captive, one day, upon losing her husband as a prisoner, Indraani prayed to Lord Shiva in earth to help her. Meanwhile, Ajaamukhi was in search of Indraani to produce her as a prize for her brother Suraabaathman as a result of victory of their war against the devas, Ajaamughi along with her servant finally found Indraani praying to Lord Shiva
Murugan
–
Murugan with his wives by
Raja Ravi Varma
Murugan
–
Indra gives
Devasena as wife to Kartikeya; scene from the Mahabharata.
Murugan
–
Kartikeya (right),
Ganesha,
Shiva, and
Parvati.
Murugan
–
Kartikeya, by Surendra Nath Ganguly, circa 1913
21.
Sambandar
–
Sambandar was a young Saiva poet-saint of Tamil Nadu who lived around the 7th century CE. He is one of the most prominent of the sixty-three Nayanars, Sambandars hymns to Shiva were later collected to form the first three volumes of the Tirumurai, the religious canon of Tamil Saiva Siddhanta. He was a contemporary of Appar, another Saiva saint, a Sanskrit hagiography called Brahmapureesa Charitam is now lost. The first volumes of the Tirumurai contain three hundred and eighty-four poems of Sambandar, all that out of a reputed more than 10,000 hymns. According to the ancient texts, Sambandar was born to Sivapada Hrudiyar, when Sambandar was three years old his parents took him to the Shiva temple where Shiva and his consort Parvati appeared before the child. His father saw drops of milk on the mouth and asked who had fed him, whereupon the boy pointed to the sky and responded with the song Todudaya Seviyan. At his investiture with the thread, at the age of seven. Sambandar attained liberation in Visaka Nakshtara in the Tamil month of Visakam at the age of sixteen soon after his marriage, in the first half of the seventh century, apart from Saivism, Jainism and Buddhism were among the popular faiths in south India. The Pandyan King Koon Pandiyan had converted to Jainism, which Sambandar had long expressed opposition to and his queen Mangayarkkarasiyar invited Sambandhar after the king fell ill. According to a Saivite legend, Sambandar performed music for the king, later, Sambandar reconverted the king back to Shaivism. The legend goes on to state that with Sambandars consent, the king impaled around 8000 Jains, the ancient texts say that Samabandar brought two people back to life by singing hymns to them. One of those resurrected was the daughter of a business man and he declined due to knowledge that he would soon die. At the age of 16, he is said to have attained salvation along with his bride during the marriage ceremony, an inscription of Rajaraja Chola I at Tiruvarur mentions Sambandar along with Appar, Sundarar and the latters wife Nangai Paravaiyar. Paadal Petra Sthalams are 275 temples that are revered in the verses of Tevaram and are amongst the greatest Shiva temples of the continent, vaippu Sthalangal are places that were mentioned casually in the songs in Tevaram. The focus of the moovars hymns suggests darshan within the puja offering, the hymnists made classificatory lists of places like katu, turai, kulam and kalam being used - thus both structured and unstructured places in the religious context find a mention in Tevaram. Tirumurai was one of the reasons for converting Vedic ritual to Agamic puja followed in Shiva temples. Though these two systems are overlapping, Agamic tradition ensures the perpetuation of the Vedic religions emphasis on the efficacy of ritual as per Davis, odhuvars, Sthanikars, or Kattalaiyars offer musical programmes in Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu by singing Tevaram after the daily rituals. These are usually carried out as chorus programme soon after the divine offering, there are records from Kulothunga Chola III from Nallanyanar temple in South Arcot indicating singing of Tiruvempavai and Tiruvalam of Manickavasagar during special occasion in the temple
Sambandar
–
The Child Saint Sambandar, Chola dynasty, 12th century India, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Sambandar
–
A temple relief depicting Appar bearing Sambandar's palanquin
22.
Vayilar
–
Vayilar, also known as Vayilan, Vayila Nayanar, Vayilar Nayanar and Vayilar of Mayilai, was a Nayanar saint, venerated in the Hindu sect of Shaivism. He is generally counted as the fifty-first in the list of 63 Nayanars and he is said to worshipped the god Shiva, his patron, by his Mind and built a grand temple for him in his mind. A brief account of Vayilars life is described in the Periya Puranam by Sekkizhar, Vayilar is one of the six Nayanars from Tondai Nadu and is described to date from the Pallava era. Vayilar was born and lived his life in Mylapore, presently a neighbourhood in the city of Chennai and he was a Vellalar, a caste of agricultural land owners. He was a Shaiva, a devotee of the god Shiva, considering his name, he is described to be dumb. He did not visit the Kapaleeshwarar Temple, a famous Shiva temple of Mylapore, Vayilar did not believe in idol worship and rituals, instead he performed Manasic worship. Vayilar wanted to create a temple for Shiva, but did not have the money to do so. Thus, Vayilar built a temple to Shiva in his mind with his imagination, the temple of the mind is described to have five walls of different metals, the outermost was iron and the innermost was gold. It has many towers of gold and spacious halls with silver walls, gold pillars and studded with jewels like diamonds. Mango-sized diamonds that shone like the Sun replaced ordinary lamps to flood the temple with light, numerous mirrors were fitted in the temple. The garbha griha has a beautifully carved Lingam which was decorated with precious stones, the Lingam was surrounded by a Kalpavriksha on each side, whose flowers emitted a salubrious fragrance that diffused every part of the temple. Sekkizhar says that, His mind was his temple, self-realization was the lamp lit in the temple, he bathed the Lingam in waters of Ananda, Vayilar is described to be engaged in the worship of Shiva of his mind temple day and night. He did not care for food or rest, rain or shine, night or day, over course of time, the temple and the Lingam disappeared and his soul became one with God. One of the most prominent Nayanars, Sundarar mentions Vayilar in hymn to various Nayanar saints, a shrine is dedicated to Vayilar in the Kapaleeshwarar Temple in his home town of Mylapore. Vayilar is worshipped in the Tamil month of Markazi, when the moon enters the Revati nakshatra and he receives collective worship as part of the 63 Nayanars. Their icons and brief accounts of his deeds are found in many Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu and their images are taken out in procession in festivals
Vayilar
–
Vayilar
23.
Pallava
–
The Pallava dynasty was a South Indian dynasty that existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a portion of what is today southern India. They gained prominence after the eclipse of the Satavahana dynasty, whom the Pallavas served as feudatories, Pallavas are most noted for their patronage of architecture, the finest example being the Shore Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mahabalipuram. The Pallavas, who left behind magnificent sculptures and temples, established the foundations of medieval South Indian architecture and they developed the Pallava script from which Grantha ultimately descended. The Pallava script gave rise to other southeast Asian scripts. Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang visited Kanchipuram during Pallava rule and extolled their benign rule, the Pallavas themselves claimed to descend from Brahma and Ashvatthama. Though Manimekalai posits Ilam Tiriyan as a Chola, not a Pallava, thence, came into existence the race of Pallavas. Vīrakūrcha, of celebrated name, who simultaneously with the daughter of the chief of serpents grasped also the insignia of royalty. The Proceedings of the First Annual Conference of South Indian History Congress also notes, The word Tondai means a creeper, historian K. R. Subramanian says the Pallavas were originally a Telugu power rather than a Tamil one. Telugu sources know of a Trilochana Pallava as the earliest Telugu king, the first Chalukya king is said to have been met, repulsed and killed by the same Trilochana near Mudivemu. A Buddhist story describes Kala the Nagaraja, resembling the Pallava Kalabhartar as a king of the region near Krishna district, the Pallava Bogga may be identified with the kingdom of Kala in Andhra which had close and early maritime and cultural relations with Ceylon. K. A. K. P. Jayaswal also proposed a North Indian origin, the Pallavas captured Kanchi from the Cholas as recorded in the Velurpalaiyam Plates, around the reign of the fifth king of the Pallava line Kumaravishnu I. Thereafter Kanchi figures in inscriptions as the capital of the Pallavas, the Cholas drove the Pallavas away from Kanchi in the mid-4th century, in the reign of Vishugopa, the tenth king of the Pallava line. The Pallavas re-captured Kanchi in the century, possibly in the reign of Simhavishnu, the fourteenth king of the Pallava line. Thereafter the Pallavas held on to Kanchi until the 9th century, until the reign of their last king, the Pallavas were in conflict with major kingdoms at various periods of time. A contest for political supremacy existed between the early Pallavas and the Kadambas, numerous Kadamba inscriptions provide details of Pallava-Kadamba hostlities. During the reign of Vishnugopavarman II, political convulsion engulfed the Pallavas due to the Kalabhra invasion of the Tamil country, towards the close of the 6th century, the Pallava Simhavishnu stuck a blow against the Kalabhras. Thereafter the Tamil country was divided between the Pallavas in the north with Kanchipuram as their capital, and Pandyas in the south with Madurai as their capital, the royal custom of using a series of descriptive honorific titles, Birudas, was particularly prevalent among the Pallavas. The birudas of Mahendravarman I are in Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu, the Telugu birudas show Mahendravarmans involvement with the Andhra region continued to be strong at the time he was creating his cave-temples in the Tamil region
Pallava
–
Kailasanathar Temple,
Kanchipuram,
Tamil Nadu,
India
Pallava
–
Pallava territories during Narasimhavarman I c. 645. This includes the Chalukya territories occupied by the Pallavas.
Pallava
–
Inner court or the circumambulatory passage with 58 subshrines.Kailasanathar Temple,
Kanchipuram,
Tamil Nadu,
India.
Pallava
–
Typical design of pillar with multi-directional mythical lions.Kailasanathar Temple,
Kanchipuram,
Tamil Nadu,
India.
24.
Nayanmars
–
The Nayanars were a group of 63 saints in the 6th to 8th century who were devoted to the Hindu god Shiva in Tamil Nadu. They, along with the Alvars, influenced the Bhakti movement in Tamil, the names of the Nayanars were first compiled by Sundarar. The list was expanded by Nambiyandar Nambi during his compilation of material by the poets for the Tirumurai collection, the list of the Nayanars was initially compiled by Sundarar. In his poem, Tiruthonda Thogai, he sings, in verses, the names of the Nayanar saints up to Karaikkal Ammeiyar. The list did not go into the detail of the lives of the saints, in the 10th century, king Raja Raja Chola I collected Tevaram literature after hearing excerpts of the hymns in his court. His priest Nambiyandar Nambi began compiling the hymns into a series of volumes called the Tirumurai and he arranged the hymns of three saint poets Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar as the first seven books which he called the Tevaram. In the eleventh book, he created the Tirutotanar Tiruvanthathi, which consisted of 89 verses, with the addition of Sundarar and his parents to the sequence, this became the canonical list of the 63 saints. In the 12th century, Sekkizhar added a twelfth volume to the Tirumurai called Periya Puranam in which he expands further on the stories of each of 63 Nayanars, the Nayanars were from various backgrounds, including Channars, Vellalas, oilmongers, Brahmins, and nobles. Along with the twelve Vaishnava Alvars, they are regarded the important saints from Tamil Nadu, Sundarars original list of Nayanars did not follow any sequence with regards to chronology or importance. However, some groups have followed an order for arranging their Nayanar temple images according to Sundarars poem as well as the information from Nambi. 9th century poet Manikkavacakar was not counted as one of the 63 Nayanarsbecause he is really great, Manikkavacakar Tamil mythology Cort, John E. Open boundaries, Jain communities and culture in Indian history. Albany, State University of New York Press, a map of Nayanar temples Legends of the Nayanmars ebook nayanmars
Nayanmars
–
Statues of the three foremost Nayanars with
Manikkavacakar – collectively called the Nalvars: (from left)
Sambandar,
Appar,
Sundarar,
Manikkavacakar.
Nayanmars
–
The 63 Nayanmars in a
Shiva temple
Nayanmars
–
Kannappa Nayanar
25.
Vijayanagara Empire
–
The Vijayanagara Empire was based in the Deccan Plateau region in South India. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of Sangama Dynasty, the empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts by the southern powers to ward off Islamic invasions by the end of the 13th century. It lasted until 1646, although its power declined after a military defeat in 1565 by the Deccan sultanates. The empire is named after its city of Vijayanagara, whose ruins surround present day Hampi, now a World Heritage Site in Karnataka. The writings of medieval European travelers such as Domingo Paes, Fernão Nunes, and Niccolò Da Conti, Archaeological excavations at Vijayanagara have revealed the empires power and wealth. The empires legacy includes many monuments spread over South India, the best known of which is the group at Hampi, the previous temple building traditions in South India came together in the Vijayanagara Architecture style. The mingling of all faiths and vernaculars inspired architectural innovation of Hindu temple construction, first in the Deccan, efficient administration and vigorous overseas trade brought new technologies such as water management systems for irrigation. The empires patronage enabled fine arts and literature to new heights in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil. The Vijayanagara Empire created an epoch in South Indian history that transcended regionalism by promoting Hinduism as a unifying factor, differing theories have been proposed regarding the origins of the Vijayanagara empire. Others claim that they were Telugu people, first associated with the Kakatiya Kingdom, irrespective of their origin, historians agree the founders were supported and inspired by Vidyaranya, a saint at the Sringeri monastery to fight the Muslim invasion of South India. He created the Kampili kingdom, but this was a short lived kingdom during this period of wars, Kampili existed near Gulbarga and Tungabhadra river in northeastern parts of the present-day Karnataka state. It ended after a defeat by the armies of Delhi Sultanate, the triumphant army led by Malik Zada sent the news of its victory, over Kampili kingdom, to Muhammad bin Tughluq in Delhi by sending a straw-stuffed severed head of the dead Hindu king. Within Kampili, on the day of certain defeat, the populace committed a jauhar in 1327/28 CE, eight years later, from the ruins of the Kampili kingdom emerged the Vijayanagara Kingdom in 1336 CE. In the first two decades after the founding of the empire, Harihara I gained control over most of the south of the Tungabhadra river. The original capital was in the principality of Anegondi on the banks of the Tungabhadra River in todays Karnataka. The next ruler, Deva Raya I, emerged successful against the Gajapatis of Odisha, italian traveler Niccolo de Conti wrote of him as the most powerful ruler of India. Deva Raya II succeeded to the throne in 1424 and was possibly the most capable of the Sangama dynasty rulers and he quelled rebelling feudal lords as well as the Zamorin of Calicut and Quilon in the south. He invaded the island of Lanka and became overlord of the kings of Burma at Pegu, the Sultanate invaded Vijayanagara in 1417 when the latter defaulted in paying the tribute
Vijayanagara Empire
–
Map of South India in 15th century
Vijayanagara Empire
–
Extent of Vijayanagara Empire, 1446, 1520 CE
Vijayanagara Empire
–
Virupaksha Temple,
Hampi
Vijayanagara Empire
–
Natural fortress at
Vijayanagara
26.
Gopuram
–
Gopuram is a monumental tower, usually ornate, at the entrance of any temple, especially in Southern India. This forms a prominent feature of Koils, Hindu temples of the Dravidian style and they are topped by the kalasam, a bulbous stone finial. They function as gateways through the walls that surround the temple complex and it also dominated the inner sanctum in amount of ornamentation. Often a shrine has more than one gopuram and they also appear in architecture outside India, especially Khmer architecture, as at Angkor Wat. A koil may have multiple gopurams, typically constructed into multiple walls in tiers around the main shrine, the temples walls are typically square with the outer most wall having gopuras. The sanctum sanctorum and its roof is also called the vimanam. The Tamil derivation is from the two words, கோ and புறம் meaning king and exterior respectively and it originates from the Sangam age when it was known as ஓங்கு நிலை வாயில் meaning imperishable gateway. Siegfried Lienhard considers this Tamil derivation but offers a new derivation from the Sanskrit word, separately, it consists of two words go, with the possible meanings of cow or sky, and pura, meaning city. A gopuram is usually rectangular in form with ground-level wooden doors, often richly decorated, above is the tapering gopuram, divided into many storeys which diminish in size as the gopuram tower narrows. Usually the tower is topped with a vaulted roof with a finial. The four gopurams of the Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram are important early examples, begun in the mid-13th century, sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu is the tallest Gopuram in the world. List of tallest Gopurams Dallapiccola, Anna L, dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend. The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, 2nd edn,1994, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art, ISBN0300062176
Gopuram
–
Meenakshiamman Temple tower in
Madurai
Gopuram
–
Detail of a gopuram at
Chennai
Gopuram
–
Murudeshwara
Gopuram
–
Srirangam
27.
Tank
–
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat, with heavy firepower, strong armour, and tracks providing good battlefield maneuverability. The first tanks were designed to overcome the deadlock of trench warfare, now they are a mainstay of ground forces. Modern tanks are versatile mobile land weapon platforms, mounting a large-calibre cannon in a rotating gun turret. In both offensive and defensive roles, they are units that are capable of performing tasks which are required of armoured units on the battlefield. As a result of advances, tanks underwent tremendous shifts in capability in the years since their first appearance. Tanks in World War I were developed separately and simultaneously by Great Britain and this was a prototype of a new design that would become the British Armys Mark I tank, the first tank used in combat in September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. The name tank was adopted by the British during the stages of their development. While the British and French built thousands of tanks in World War I, Germany was unconvinced of the tanks potential, Tanks of the interwar period evolved into the much larger and more powerful designs of World War II. Tanks in the Cold War were designed with these weapons in mind, improved engines, transmissions and suspensions allowed tanks of this period to grow larger. Aspects of gun technology changed significantly as well, with advances in shell design, during the Cold War, the main battle tank concept arose and became a key component of modern armies. Modern tanks seldom operate alone, as they are organized into combined arms units which involve the support of infantry and they are also usually supported by reconnaissance or ground-attack aircraft. The tank is the 20th century realization of an ancient concept, the internal combustion engine, armour plate, and continuous track were key innovations leading to the invention of the modern tank. Many sources imply that Leonardo da Vinci and H. G. Wells in some way foresaw or invented the tank, leonardos late 15th century drawings of what some describe as a tank show a man-powered, wheeled vehicle with cannons all around it. However the human crew would not have power to move it over larger distance. In the 15th century, Jan Žižka built armoured wagons containing cannons, the caterpillar track arose from attempts to improve the mobility of wheeled vehicles by spreading their weight, reducing ground pressure, and increasing their traction. Experiments can be traced back as far as the 17th century and it is frequently claimed that Richard Lovell Edgeworth created a caterpillar track. It is true that in 1770 he patented a machine, that should carry and lay down its own road and his own account in his autobiography is of a horse-drawn wooden carriage on eight retractable legs, capable of lifting itself over high walls. The description bears no similarity to a caterpillar track, armoured trains appeared in the mid-19th century, and various armoured steam and petrol-engined vehicles were also proposed
Tank
–
An
M4 Sherman tank in Italy in 1943 during WW II.
Tank
–
German Tiger II tanks of
Schwere Heeres Panzer Abteilung 503 (s.H.Pz.Abt. 503) 'Feldherrnhalle' posing in formation for a German newsreel
Tank
–
Model of Leonardo's proposed vehicle.
Tank
–
British World War I Mark V* tank
28.
Vahana
–
Vahana denotes the being, typically an animal or mythical entity, a particular Hindu deity is said to use as a vehicle. In this capacity, the vahana is often called the deitys mount, upon the partnership between the deity and his vahana is woven much iconography and mythology. Deities are often depicted riding the vahana, other times, the vahana is depicted at the deitys side or symbolically represented as a divine attribute. The vahana may be considered an accoutrement of the deity, though the vahana may act independently, the deity may be seen sitting or on, or standing on, the vahana. They may be sitting on a platform called a howdah. Vah in Sanskrit means to carry or to transport, in Hindu iconography, positive aspects of the vehicle are often emblematic of the deity that it carries. Nandi the bull, vehicle of Shiva, represents strength and virility, Parvani the peacock, vehicle of Skanda, represents splendor and majesty. The hamsa, vehicle of Saraswati, represents wisdom, grace, however, the vehicle animal also symbolizes the evil forces over which the deity dominates. Mounted on Parvani, Skanda reins in the peacocks vanity, seated on Mushika, Ganesh crushes useless thoughts, which multiply like rats in the dark. Shani, protector of property, has a vulture, raven or crow in which he represses thieving tendencies, under Shanis influence, the vahana can make even malevolent events bring hope. The vehicle of a deity can vary according to the source, the time, in popular tradition, the origin of each vehicle is told in thousands of different ways. Three examples, While the god Ganesha was still a child, Ganesha trapped him with his lasso and made him his mount. Mushika was originally a gandharva, or celestial musician, after absent mindedly walking over the feet of a rishi named Vamadeva, Mushika was cursed and transformed into a mouse. However, after the rishi recovered his temper, he promised Mushika that one day, the prophecy was fulfilled when the mouse became the vahana of Ganesha. Before becoming the vehicle of Shiva, Nandi was a deity called Nandikeshvara, lord of joy and master of music, then, without warning, his name and his functions were transferred to the aspect of Shiva known as the deity Nataraja. From half-man, half-bull, he simply a bull. Since that time, he has watched over each of Shivas temples, kartikeya, the war-god known as Murugan in Southern India, is also mounted on a peacock. This peacock was originally a demon called Surapadma, while the rooster was called the angel, after provoking Murugan in combat, the demon repented at the moment his lance descended upon him
Vahana
–
The eight
Matrikas riding different vahanas like (top row, second from left to right) Garuda, a peacock, Nandi bull, a hamsa (goose/swan); (bottom row, from left) buffalo, elephant and lion
Vahana
–
A Bhagavata Purana manuscript page depicting the story of
Atri and
Anasuya meeting the
Trimurti riding on their respective vahanas. (PhP 4.1.21-25). (Paper, late 18th century,
Jaipur).
Vahana
–
Mouse /
shrew named Mushika
Vahana
–
Horse
29.
Sanskrit
–
Sanskrit is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, a philosophical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and a literary language and lingua franca of ancient and medieval South Asia. As a result of transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia and parts of Central Asia, as one of the oldest Indo-European languages for which substantial written documentation exists, Sanskrit holds a prominent position in Indo-European studies. The body of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical, the compositions of Sanskrit were orally transmitted for much of its early history by methods of memorization of exceptional complexity, rigor, and fidelity. Thereafter, variants and derivatives of the Brahmi script came to be used, Sanskrit is today one of the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which mandates the Indian government to develop the language. It continues to be used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist practice in the form of hymns. The Sanskrit verbal adjective sáṃskṛta- may be translated as refined, elaborated, as a term for refined or elaborated speech, the adjective appears only in Epic and Classical Sanskrit in the Manusmṛti and the Mahabharata. The pre-Classical form of Sanskrit is known as Vedic Sanskrit, with the language of the Rigveda being the oldest and most archaic stage preserved, Classical Sanskrit is the standard register as laid out in the grammar of Pāṇini, around the fourth century BCE. Sanskrit, as defined by Pāṇini, evolved out of the earlier Vedic form, the present form of Vedic Sanskrit can be traced back to as early as the second millennium BCE. Scholars often distinguish Vedic Sanskrit and Classical or Pāṇinian Sanskrit as separate dialects, although they are quite similar, they differ in a number of essential points of phonology, vocabulary, grammar and syntax. Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, a collection of hymns, incantations and theological and religio-philosophical discussions in the Brahmanas. Modern linguists consider the metrical hymns of the Rigveda Samhita to be the earliest, for nearly 2000 years, Sanskrit was the language of a cultural order that exerted influence across South Asia, Inner Asia, Southeast Asia, and to a certain extent East Asia. A significant form of post-Vedic Sanskrit is found in the Sanskrit of Indian epic poetry—the Ramayana, the deviations from Pāṇini in the epics are generally considered to be on account of interference from Prakrits, or innovations, and not because they are pre-Paninian. Traditional Sanskrit scholars call such deviations ārṣa, meaning of the ṛṣis, in some contexts, there are also more prakritisms than in Classical Sanskrit proper. There were four principal dialects of classical Sanskrit, paścimottarī, madhyadeśī, pūrvi, the predecessors of the first three dialects are attested in Vedic Brāhmaṇas, of which the first one was regarded as the purest. In the 2001 Census of India,14,035 Indians reported Sanskrit to be their first language, in India, Sanskrit is among the 14 original languages of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. The state of Uttarakhand in India has ruled Sanskrit as its official language. In October 2012 social activist Hemant Goswami filed a petition in the Punjab. More than 3,000 Sanskrit works have been composed since Indias independence in 1947, much of this work has been judged of high quality, in comparison to both classical Sanskrit literature and modern literature in other Indian languages
Sanskrit
–
Rigveda (
padapatha) manuscript in
Devanagari, early 19th century
Sanskrit
–
Devi Mahatmya palm-leaf manuscript in an early
Bhujimol script,
Bihar or
Nepal, 11th century
Sanskrit
–
A poem by the ancient Indian poet Vallana (ca. 900 – 1100 CE) on the side wall of a building at the Haagweg 14 in Leiden, Netherlands
Sanskrit
–
Kashmir Shaiva manuscript in the
Śāradā script (c. 17th century)
30.
Bull
–
A bull is an intact adult male of the species Bos taurus. Usage of these terms varies considerably with area and dialect, colloquially, people unfamiliar with cattle may refer to both castrated and intact animals as bulls. A wild, young, unmarked bull is known as a micky in Australia, improper or late castration on a bull results in it becoming a coarse steer, also known as a stag in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. In some countries an incompletely castrated male is also as a rig or ridgling. The word bull also denotes the males of other bovines, including bison and water buffalo as well as other species of large animals including elephants, camels, elk, moose. Bulls are much more muscular than cows, with bones, larger feet, a very muscular neck. These features assist bulls in fighting for domination over a herd, the hair is generally shorter on the body, but on the neck and head there is often a mane of curlier, wooly hair. Bulls are usually about the height as cows or a little taller. In horned cattle the horns of bulls tend to be thicker and somewhat shorter than those of cows, and in many breeds they curve outwards in a flat arc rather than upwards in a lyre shape. It is not true, as is believed, that bulls have horns and cows do not. Bulls become fertile at about seven months of age, given the small amount of erectile tissue, there is little enlargement after erection. The penis is quite rigid when non-erect, and becomes more rigid during erection. Protrusion is not affected much by erection, but more by relaxation of the retractor penis muscle, Bulls are occasionally affected by a condition known as corkscrew penis. The penis of a bull is about 3–4 cm in diameter. The bulls glans penis has a rounded and elongated shape, a common misconception widely repeated in depictions of bull behavior is that the color red angers bulls, inciting them to charge. In fact, like most mammals, cattle are red-green color blind, in bullfighting, it is the movement of the matadors cape, and not the color, which provokes a reaction in the bull. Other than the few bulls needed for breeding, the vast majority of cattle are slaughtered for meat before the age of three years. Most of these animals are castrated as calves to reduce aggressive behavior and prevent unwanted mating
Bull
–
A
Charolais bull.
Bull
–
A
Scottish Highland bull.
Bull
–
The reproductive system of a bull
Bull
–
A bull paws up dust in a threat display.
Places of worship in 
