1.
Wind
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Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On the surface of the Earth, wind consists of the movement of air. Winds are commonly classified by their scale, their speed, the types of forces that cause them, the regions in which they occur. The strongest observed winds on a planet in the Solar System occur on Neptune, Winds have various aspects, an important one being its velocity, another the density of the gas involved, another its energy content or wind energy. In meteorology, winds are referred to according to their strength. Short bursts of high speed wind are termed gusts, strong winds of intermediate duration are termed squalls. Long-duration winds have various names associated with their strength, such as breeze, gale, storm. The two main causes of large-scale atmospheric circulation are the differential heating between the equator and the poles, and the rotation of the planet, within the tropics, thermal low circulations over terrain and high plateaus can drive monsoon circulations. In coastal areas the sea breeze/land breeze cycle can define local winds, in areas that have variable terrain, mountain, Wind powers the voyages of sailing ships across Earths oceans. Hot air balloons use the wind to take trips, and powered flight uses it to increase lift. Areas of wind caused by various weather phenomena can lead to dangerous situations for aircraft. When winds become strong, trees and man-made structures are damaged or destroyed, Winds can shape landforms, via a variety of aeolian processes such as the formation of fertile soils, such as loess, and by erosion. Wind also affects the spread of wildfires, Winds can disperse seeds from various plants, enabling the survival and dispersal of those plant species, as well as flying insect populations. When combined with temperatures, wind has a negative impact on livestock. Wind affects animals food stores, as well as their hunting, Wind is caused by differences in the atmospheric pressure. When a difference in atmospheric pressure exists, air moves from the higher to the pressure area. On a rotating planet, air will also be deflected by the Coriolis effect, globally, the two major driving factors of large-scale wind patterns are the differential heating between the equator and the poles and the rotation of the planet. Outside the tropics and aloft from frictional effects of the surface, near the Earths surface, friction causes the wind to be slower than it would be otherwise
2.
Gazelle
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A gazelle is any of many antelope species in the genus Gazella or formerly considered to belong to it. Six species are included in two genera, Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgenera, the genus Procapra has also been considered a subgenus of Gazella, and its members are also referred to as gazelles, though they are not dealt with in this article. Gazelles are known as swift animals, some are able to run at bursts as high as 100 km/h or run at a sustained speed of 50 km/h. Gazelles are found mostly in the deserts, grasslands, and savannas of Africa, but they are found in southwest and central Asia. They tend to live in herds, and eat coarse, easily digestible plants. Gazelles are rather small antelopes, most standing 60–110 cm high at the shoulder, the gazelle genera are Gazella, Eudorcas, and Nanger. The taxonomy of these genera is a one, and the classification of species and subspecies has been an unsettled issue. Currently, the genus Gazella is widely considered to contain about 10 species, four further species are extinct, the red gazelle, the Arabian gazelle, the Queen of Shebas gazelle, and the Saudi gazelle. Most surviving gazelle species are considered threatened to varying degrees, closely related to the true gazelles are the Tibetan and Mongolian gazelles, the blackbuck of Asia, and the African springbok. One widely familiar gazelle is the African species Thomsons gazelle, which is around 60 to 80 cm in height at the shoulder and is coloured brown, the males have long, often curved, horns. Like many other species, Tommies and springboks exhibit a distinctive behaviour of stotting when they are threatened by predators. Gazelle is derived from the Arabic name غزال ġazāl, the first Romance language to adopt it was Middle French, and the word entered the English language around 1600 from French. The Arab people traditionally hunted the gazelle, appreciated for its grace, it is a symbol most commonly associated in Arabic literature with female beauty. It is related that the Caliph Abd al-Malik freed a gazelle that he had captured because of her resemblance to his beloved, O likeness of Layla, for I am your friend, today, O wild deer. Then I say, after freeing her from her fetters, You are free for the sake of Layla, the theme is found in the ancient Hebrew Song of Songs. Come away, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or like a stag on the spice-laden mountains. The gazelles are divided into three genera and numerous species, † = extinct Fossils of genus Gazella are found in Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits of Eurasia and Africa. The tiny Gazella borbonica is one of the earliest European gazelles, characterized by its small size, gazelles disappeared from Europe at the start of Ice Age, but they survived in Africa and Middle East
3.
Deva (Hinduism)
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Deva means heavenly, divine, anything of excellence, and is also one of the terms for a deity in Hinduism. Deva is masculine, and the feminine equivalent is devi. In the earliest Vedic literature, all beings are called Asuras. The concepts and legends evolve in ancient Indian literature, and by the late Vedic period, in post-Vedic texts, such as the Puranas and the Itihasas of Hinduism, the Devas represent the good, and the Asuras the bad. In some medieval Indian literature, Devas are also referred to as Suras and contrasted with their powerful but malevolent half-brothers. Devas along with Asuras, Yakshas and Rakshasas are part of Indian mythology, Deva is a Sanskrit word found in Vedic literature of 2nd millennium BCE. Monier Williams translates it as heavenly, divine, terrestrial things of excellence, exalted. The concept also is used to refer to deity or god, the feminine form of *deiwos is *deiwih2, which descends into Indic languages as devi, in that context meaning female deity. The bode of the Devas is Dyuloka, according to Douglas Harper, the etymological roots of Deva mean a shining one, from *div- to shine, and it is a cognate with Greek dios divine and Zeus, and Latin deus god. Deva is masculine, and the feminine equivalent is devi. Etymologically, the cognates of Devi are Latin dea and Greek thea, when capitalized, Devi or Mata refers to goddess as divine mother in Hinduism. Deva is also referred to as Devatā, while Devi as Devika, the word Deva is also a proper name or part of name in Indian culture, where it refers to one who wishes to excel, overcome or the seeker of, master of or a best among-. Savitr, Vishnu, Rudra, and Prajapati are gods and hence Devas, saraswati and Ushas are some Devis or goddesses. Many of the deities taken together are worshiped as the Vishvedevas, max Muller states that the Vedic hymns are remarkable in calling every single of different devas as the only one, the supreme, the greatest.163.3, Trita art thou by interior operation. All powerful beings, good or evil, are called Asuras in the oldest layer of Vedic texts, a much studied hymn of the Rigveda states Devav asura, and contrasts it with Asura adevah. They are born from the father, Prajapati, the primordial progenitor, the elder sons are envisioned as the Asuras. The oldest Upanishads mention Devas, and their struggle with the Asuras, the Kaushitaki Upanishad, for example, in Book 4 states that Indra was weaker than the Asuras when he did not know his own Atman. Chandogya Upanishad, in chapter 1.2, describes the battle between Devas and Asuras on various sensory powers, finally, the Deva-Asura battle targets the soul, where Asuras fail and Devas succeed, because soul-force is serene and inherently good, asserts Chandogya Upanishad
4.
Mantra
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A Mantra is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit believed by practitioners to have psychological and spiritual powers. A mantra may or may not have syntactic structure or literal meaning, the earliest mantras were composed in Vedic Sanskrit by Hindus in India, and are at least 3000 years old. Mantras now exist in various schools of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, in Japanese Shingon tradition, the word Shingon means mantra. Similar hymns, chants, compositions and concepts are found in Zoroastrianism, Taoism, Christianity, the use, structure, function, importance, and types of mantras vary according to the school and philosophy of Hinduism and of Buddhism. Mantras serve a role in tantra. In this school, mantras are considered to be a sacred formula, in other schools of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism or Sikhism, initiation is not a requirement. Mantras come in forms, including ṛc and sāman. They are typically melodic, mathematically structured meters, believed to be resonant with numinous qualities, at its simplest, the word ॐ serves as a mantra. In more sophisticated forms, mantras are melodic phrases with spiritual interpretations such as a longing for truth, reality, light, immortality, peace, love, knowledge. Some mantras have no meaning, yet are musically uplifting. The Sanskrit word mantra- consists of the root man- to think, scholars consider mantras to be older than 1000 BC. By the middle Vedic period—1000 BC to 500 BC—claims Frits Staal, mantras in Hinduism had developed into a blend of art, the Chinese translation is zhenyan 眞言, 真言, literally true words, the Japanese onyomi reading of the Chinese being shingon. Mantras are neither unique to Hinduism, nor to other Indian religions such as Buddhism, similar creative constructs developed in Asian, mantras, suggests Frits Staal, may be older than language. There is no accepted definition of mantra. Renou has defined mantra as thought, mantras are structured formulae of thoughts, claims Silburn. Farquhar concludes that mantras are a religious thought, prayer, sacred utterance, zimmer defines mantra as a verbal instrument to produce something in one’s mind. There is no universally applicable uniform definition of mantra because mantras are used in different religions, in some schools of Hinduism for example, suggests Gonda, mantra is sakti to the devotee in the form of formulated and expressed thought. Staal clarifies that mantras are not rituals, they are what is recited or chanted during a ritual, There is a long history of scholarly disagreement on the meaning of mantras and whether they are really instruments of mind, as implied by the etymological origin of the word mantra
5.
Flag
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A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or as decoration. National flags are patriotic symbols with varied wide-ranging interpretations, often including strong military associations due to their original, flags are also used in messaging, advertising, or for other decorative purposes. The study of flags is known as vexillology, from the Latin word vexillum, due to the use of flags by military units, flag is also used as the name of some military units. A flag is equivalent to a brigade in Arab countries, and in Spain, in antiquity, field signs or standards were used in warfare that can be categorized as vexilloid or flag-like. During the High Middle Ages flags came to be used primarily as a device in battle. Already during the medieval period, and increasingly during the Late Middle Ages. Regimental flags for individual units became commonplace during the Early Modern period, flags also became the preferred means of communications at sea, resulting in various systems of flag signals, see, International maritime signal flags. One of the most popular uses of a flag is to symbolize a nation or country, some national flags have been particularly inspirational to other nations, countries, or subnational entities in the design of their own flags. Some prominent examples include, The flag of Denmark, the Dannebrog, is attested in 1478, the flag of the Netherlands is the oldest tricolour. Its three colours of red, white and blue go back to Charlemagnes time, the 9th century, the coastal region of what today is the Netherlands was then known for its cloth in these colours. Maps from the early 16th century already put flags in these colours next to this region, a century before that, during the 15th century, the three colours were mentioned as the coastal signals for this area, with the three bands straight or diagonal, single or doubled. As state flag it first appeared around 1572 as the Princes Flag in orange–white–blue, soon the more famous red–white–blue began appearing, becoming the prevalent version from around 1630. Orange made a comeback during the war of the late 18th century. During World War II the pro-Nazi NSB used it, any symbolism has been added later to the three colours, although the orange comes from the House of Orange-Nassau. This use of orange comes from Nassau, which today uses orange-blue, not from Orange, however, the usual way to show the link with the House of Orange-Nassau is the orange pennant above the red-white-blue. It is said that the Dutch Tricolour has inspired many flags but most notably those of Russia, New York City, the national flag of France was designed in 1794. As a forerunner of revolution, Frances tricolour flag style has been adopted by other nations, examples, Italy, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ireland, Haiti, Romania and Mexico. The Union Flag of the United Kingdom is the most commonly used, british colonies typically flew a flag based on one of the ensigns based on this flag, and many former colonies have retained the design to acknowledge their cultural history
6.
Vahana
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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
7.
Hanuman
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Hanuman is an ardent devotee of Rama. He is one of the figures in the Hindu epic Ramayana. As one of the Chiranjivi, he is mentioned in several other texts, including the Mahabharata. Hanuman participated in Ramas war against the demon king Ravana, several later texts also present him as an incarnation of Shiva. He is the son of Anjana and Kesari and is described as the son of the wind-god Pawan. The Sanskrit texts mention several legends about how Hanuman got his name, one legend is that Indra, the king of the gods, struck Hanumans jaw during his childhood. The child received his name from the Sanskrit words Hanu and -man, the name thus means one with prominent or disfigured jaw. Another theory says the name derives from the Sanskrit words Han and maana, some Jain texts mention that Hanuman spent his childhood on an island called Hanuruha, which is the origin of his name. According to another theory, the name Hanuman derives from the word for male monkey. Linguistic variations of Hanuman include Hanumat, Anuman, Hanumantha, Hanumanthudu, other names of Hanuman include, Anjaneya, Anjaniputra, Anjaneyar, Anjaneyudu, Anjanisuta all meaning the son of Anjana. Similar in meaning to - Vaanaraanaamadheesham, shreeraamadootam, the one who is the messenger of Rama. Atulita Bala Dhaamam, the one who is the repository of incomparable strength, hemshailaabha Deham, the one whose body resembles a golden mountain. Danujvana Krushanum, the one who is the destroyer of forces of demons, gyaaninaam Agraganyam, the one who is considered foremost among knowledgeable beings. Sakala Guna Nidhaanam, the one who is the repository of all the virtues, raghupati Priya Bhaktam, the one who is the dearest of all devotees to Rama. Sankata Mochana, the one who liberates from dangers In the 3rd chapter of Kishkindha Kaanda of Valmiki Ramayana, summarized as follows, Ablest sentence maker. The knower of all Vedas and Scriptures, scholar in nine schools of grammars. Possessing faultless speech and facial features Hanuman is mentioned in both the Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, the word Vrsakapi or Vrishakapi, later used as an epithet for Hanuman, is mentioned in the Rigveda. Some writers, such as Nilakantha believe that the Vrishakapi of Rigveda alludes to Hanuman, however, other scholars believe that Hanuman is not mentioned in the Vedic mythology, the Vrsakapi of Rigveda refers to another deity or is a common name for the monkeys
8.
Bhima
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In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Bhima is the second of the Pandavas. The Mahabharata relates many events which portray the immense might of Bhima, Bhima is responsible for slaying all hundred Kaurava brothers in the Kurukshetra War. The word bhima in Sanskrit means terrible or formidable and his other names are- Bhimasena - he who has a formidable army. Vrikodara - wolf bellied or voracious eater, jarasandhajit - he who won over Jarasandha. Hidimbabhid - he who pierced Hidimba, kichakajit - he who defeated Kichaka. Hanyalaurya - creator Because of a curse from the Rishi Kindama, Pandu, hence, the Pandavas were conceived in an unusual way. His wife, Queen Kunti, had in her youth been granted the power to invoke the Devas by Rishi Durvasa, each Deva, when invoked, would bless her with a child. Urged by Pandu to use her boons, Kunti gave birth to Bhima by invoking the God of wind, along with other Pandava brothers, Bhima was trained in religion, science, administration and military arts by the Kuru preceptors, Kripa and Drona. Specifically, he became a master in using the mace, Bhimas strong point throughout the epic remains his towering strength. He was so wrathful and strong that it was even for Indra to subdue him in a battle. Bhima was also renowned for his giant appetite – at times, Bhima, being as powerful as his father, was a natural bully. He used to play jokes on the Kaurava brothers, he used to engage in wrestling bouts where he out-powered them with consummate ease. His repeated failures and fecklessness against Bhima angered Duryodhana so much that he wanted him dead and he hatched a cunning plot where he poisoned Bhimas food and drowned him in River Ganga. Thankfully, the Naga king Vasuki saved Bhima and also apprised him of Duryodanas hatred for him and it is also Vasuki who bestowed him the immense strength of ten thousand elephants. Duryodana with his counsellor Purochana hatched a plan to burn the Pandavas alive at a lac palace lakshagraha at Varnavrata that Duryodana had built there, thanks to Vidura, the Pandavas managed to escape out from the palace. Bhima played a role in carrying all five of them. Bhima also barricaded the palace of Purochana and set fire to it, Kunti and the Pandavas were living in agnyatavaasa after they escaped from the murder plot. During their stay at Ekachakra or kaiwara, they came to know of a demon, Bakasura, the powerful Bhima brought his might to the fore and trumped Bakasura, much to the delight of the villagers
9.
Agni
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Agni means fire, and connotes the Vedic fire god of Hinduism. Agni also refers to one of the deities of direction. In the Vedic literature, Agni is a major and oft invoked god along with Indra, Agni is considered as the mouth of the gods and goddesses, and the medium that conveys offerings to them in a homa. He is conceptualized in ancient Hindu texts to exist at three levels, on earth as fire, in atmosphere as lightning, and in the sky as sun and this triple presence connects him as the messenger between gods and human beings in the Vedic thought. Agni is a term that appears extensively in Buddhist texts, the Sanskrit word Agni means fire. In the early Vedic literature, Agni primarily connotes the fire as a god, one reflecting the primordial powers to consume, transform and convey. In the Brahmanas layer of the Vedas, such as in section 5.2.3 of Shatapatha Brahmana, Agni represents all the gods, the etymology of Agni is uncertain and contested. According to the 5th-century BCE Sanskrit text Nirukta-Nighantu in section 7, from root aj, which in Sanskrit means to drive and mirrors in Indo-European languages in the sense of nimble, agile. There are many theories about the origins of the god Agni, some tracing it to Indo-European mythologies, the origin myth found in many Indo-European cultures is one of a bird, or bird like being, that carries or brings fire from the gods to mankind. Alternatively, this brings a elixir of immortality from heaven to earth. In either case, the bird returns everyday with sacrificial offerings for the gods, Agni is molded in similar mythical themes, in some hymns with the phrase the heavenly bird that flies. Agni originated from the forehead of Prajapati, assert these texts, with the creation of Agni came light, and with that were created day and night. Agni, state these Samhitas, is the same as the Brahman, the truth, Agni is originally conceptualized as the ultimate source of the creator-maintainer-destroyer triad, then one of the trinities, as the one who ruled the earth. His twin brother Indra ruled the atmosphere as the god of storm, rain and war, while Surya ruled the sky and his position and importance evolves over time, in the creator-maintainer-destroyer aspects of existence in Hindu thought. In the Vedic pantheon, Agni occupies, after Indra, the most important position, Agni is prominent in the hymns of the Vedas and particularly the Brahmanas. In the Rig Veda there are over 200 hymns that praise Agni and his name or synonyms appear in nearly a third of 1,028 hymns in the Rigveda. The Rigveda opens with a hymn inviting Agni, who is addressed later in the hymn as the guardian of Ṛta. The Vedas describe the parents of Agni as two kindling fire sticks, whose loving action creates him, just born, he is poetically presented as a tender baby, who needs loving attention lest he vanishes
10.
Varuna
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Varuna is the Hindu god of water and the celestial ocean, as well as a god of law of the underwater world. His consort is the Hindu goddess Varuni, originally the chief god of the Vedic pantheon, Varuna was replaced by Indra and later faded away with the ascendancy of Shiva and Vishnu. Arjuna is the son of Indra/ Varuna in the great epic Mahabharata and it is believed that if we pray to him we would be protected from thunder, Varuna and Mitra are the gods of the societal affairs including the oath, and are often twinned Mitra-Varuna. Varuna is also twinned with Indra in the Rigveda, as Indra-Varuna, the Rigveda and Atharvaveda portrays Varuna as omniscient, catching liars in his snares. Both Mitra and Varuna are classified as Asuras in the Rigveda, Varuna, being the king of the Asuras, was adopted or made the change to a Deva after the structuring of the primordial cosmos, imposed by Indra after he defeats Vrtra. Varuna does not respond, and Rama arises on the fourth morning, with his bow and arrow, he angrily begins attacking the oceans with celestial weapons—burning up the waters and killing its life and creatures. The Vanaras are dazzled and fearful at witnessing the enraged Rama demolish the oceans, just as Rama invokes the brahmastra, considered the most powerful weapon capable of destroying all creation, Varuna arises out of the oceans. He bows to Rama, explaining that he himself was at a loss to answer Ramas question, begging him not to destroy the oceans with the missile, he suggests that Rama re-direct the weapon at a demonic race that lives in the heart of the ocean. Ramas arrows destroys the demons, and establishes a purer, liberated environment there, Varuna promises that he would keep the oceans still for all of Ramas army to pass, and Nala constructs a bridge across to Lanka. Rama justifies his angry assault on the oceans as he followed the process of petitioning and worshipping Varuna. Also unrelated to Vedic Varuna are Avestan Vourukasha and Varena, the former is the Avestas mythological sea that covers the earth, while Varena is a mythological four-cornered fourteenth region of the world. In the Buddhism of the Far East, Varuna is one of the twelve Devas, as guardian deities, in Japan, Varuna had been called Suiten in Japanese Buddhism. Varuna joins these other eleven Devas of Buddhism, found in Japan and other parts of southeast Asia, Indra, Agni, Yama, Nirrti, Vayu, Ishana, Kubera, Brahma, Prithvi, Surya, the meaning of suiten-gū is a shrine of Varuna. After Shinbutsu bunri the separation of Shinto deities from Buddhist deities, Ādityas Ahura Mazda Asura Guardians of the directions Hindu deities Mitra Paravar Rigvedic deities Shukra The king and the god Veles
11.
Indra
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Indra is a Vedic deity in Hinduism, a guardian deity in Buddhism, and the king of first heaven called Saudharmakalpa in Jainism. His mythologies and powers are similar, though not identical to those of the Indo-European deities such as Zeus, Jupiter, Perun, Thor, in the Vedas, Indra is the king of Svarga and the Devas. He is the god of lightning, thunder, storms, rains, Indra is the most referred to deity in the Rigveda. He is celebrated for his powers, and the one who kills the great symbolic evil named Vritra who obstructs human prosperity, Indra destroys Vritra and his deceiving forces, and thereby brings rains and the sunshine as the friend of mankind. In Buddhism, Indra has been a popular deity, referred by many names and he is featured in Buddhism somewhat differently than Hinduism, such as being shown as less war oriented and one paying homage to the Buddha. Indra rules over the much sought Devas realm of rebirth within the Samsara doctrine of Buddhist traditions, however, like the Hindu texts, Indra also is a subject of ridicule and reduced to a figurehead status in Buddhist texts, shown as a god that suffers rebirth and redeath. In the Jainism traditions, like Buddhism and Hinduism, Indra is the king of gods, Indras iconography shows him wielding a lightning thunderbolt known as Vajra, riding on a white elephant known as Airavata. In Buddhist iconography the elephant sometimes features three heads, while Jaina icons sometimes show the elephant with five heads, sometimes a single elephant is shown with four symbolic tusks. Indras heavenly home is on or near Mount Meru, the etymological roots of Indra are unclear, has been a contested topic among scholars since the 19th-century, one with many proposals. The significant proposals have been, root ind-u, or rain drop, based on the Vedic mythology that he conquered rain, root ind, or equipped with great power. Root idh or kindle, and ina or strong, root indha, or igniter, for his ability to bring light and power that ignites the vital forces of life. This is based on Shatapatha Brahmana, root idam-dra, or It seeing which is a reference to the one who first perceived the self-sufficient metaphysical Brahman. This is based on Aitareya Upanishad, roots in ancient Indo-European, Indo-Aryan deities. Later scholarship has linked Vedic Indra to the European Aynar, Abaza, Ubykh, colarusso suggests a Pontic origin and that both the phonology and the context of Indra in Indian religions is best explained from Indo-Aryan roots and a Circassian etymology. Indra is also called Śakra frequently in the Vedas and in Buddhism, Indra has many epithets in the Indian religions, notably Śakra, Vṛṣan, Vṛtrahan, Meghavāhana, Devarāja, Devendra, Surendra, Svargapati, Vajrapāṇī and Vāsava. Indra is of ancient but unclear origin, the similarities between Indra of Hindu mythologies and of Thor of Nordic and Germanic mythologies are significant states Max Muller. Michael Janda suggests that Indra has origins in the Indo-European *trigw-welumos smasher of the enclosure, brave and heroic Innara or Inra, which sounds like Indra, is mentioned among the gods of the Mitanni, a Hurrian-speaking people of Hittite region. Indra as a deity had a presence in northeastern Asia minor and this tablet mentions a treaty, but its significance is in four names it includes reverentially as Mi-it-ra, U-ru-w-na, In-da-ra and Na-sa-at-ti-ia
12.
Samudra
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Samudra is a Sanskrit term for seven seas= ocean, literally the gathering together of waters (saṃ- meaning together and -udra meaning water. Dictionary meaning of samudra is ‘confluence’ and ‘ocean/sea’, Varuna was the deity presiding over both these oceans, and over water in general. From the literal meaning of the term, Any mass of more than one drop could be sam-udra, water in a jar, a small pool. The oldest vedic commentators like the Brihaddevata of Shaunaka, Nighantu, davane studied the occurrences of the term samudra in the Rigveda and concluded that the term means terrestrial ocean. The Rigveda also speaks of a western and eastern Samudra, and in RV7.6.7 there is an upper and a lower Samudra, where the upper Samudra seems to be a heavenly ocean. The Marutas uplift from the ocean the rain, and fraught with vaporous moisture pour the torrents down in RV5.55.5, in RV9.84.4 the moon and the winds stir the Samudra. Additionally, RV1.48.3 may indicate knowledge of the high tide, in RV1.116.4 the Asvins rescued Bhujyu by carrying him for three days and three nights to the seas farther shore. Thus Samudra seems to refer to the ocean in this verse, there are many other verses in the Rig Veda which refer to this tale, and where consequently Samudra could be identified with the ocean as well. Samudra is usually translated as ocean, sea and the word itself means gathering of waters, a minority of scholars translate the term as river. However, the Samudra is never said to flow in the Rigveda, the Rigveda also describes the Vedic Sarasvati River as a river that flows to the ocean and is pure in her course from the mountains to the sea. Rigveda 1.71.7 describes the seven great rivers seeking the Samudra, RV7.49 says that the Samudra is the eldest of the waters, and that the goal of the rivers is the Samudra. Bhargava samudra stands for an inland lake of which there were four or seven in Rgvedic sources. In this view the lowlands of e. g. Kashmir and Kuruksetra were samudra, the Vedic deity Varuna is the deity of the ocean. The Vedic deity Indra also occurs frequently in connection with the Samudra, the Rigveda narrates that Indra slew the dragon which released the seven rivers and caused them to enter the ocean. Other gods that often occur together with the Samudra are Agni, sharma hold that the Rigvedic people may have been shipbuilders engaging in maritime trade. In Rigveda 1.25.7,7.88.3 and other instances, in RV7.89.4 the rishi Vasishta is thirsting in the midst of water. Some words that are used for ships are Nau, Peru, Dhi, a ship with a hundred oars is mentioned in RV1.116. There were also ships with three masts or with ten oars, RV9.33.6 says, From every side, O Soma, for our profit, pour thou forth four seas filled with a thousand-fold riches
13.
Sanskrit
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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
14.
Air (classical element)
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Air is often seen as a universal power or pure substance. Its fundamental importance to life can be seen in such as aspire, inspire, perspire and spirit. Air is one of the four elements in ancient Greek philosophy. According to Plato, it is associated with the octahedron, air is considered to be hot and wet. The ancient Greeks used two words for air, aer meant the dim lower atmosphere, and aether meant the bright upper atmosphere above the clouds. Plato, for instance writes that So it is air, there is the brightest variety which we call aether, the muddiest which we call mist and darkness. Among the early Greek Pre-Socratic philosophers, Anaximenes named air as the arche, aristophanes parodied such teachings in his play The Clouds by putting a prayer to air in the mouth of Socrates. Air was one of many proposed by the Pre-socratics, most of whom tried to reduce all things to a single substance. However, Empedocles of Acragas selected four archai for his four roots, Air, fire, water, Ancient and modern opinions differ as to whether he identified air by the divine name Hera, Aidoneus or even Zeus. Empedocles’ roots became the four elements of Greek philosophy. Plato took over the four elements of Empedocles, in the Timaeus, his major cosmological dialogue, the Platonic solid associated with air is the octahedron which is formed from eight equilateral triangles. This places air between fire and water which Plato regarded as appropriate because it is intermediate in its mobility, sharpness and he also said of air that its minuscule components are so smooth that one can barely feel them. Platos student Aristotle developed a different explanation for the elements based on pairs of qualities, the four elements were arranged concentrically around the center of the universe to form the sublunary sphere. According to Aristotle, air is hot and wet and occupies a place between fire and water among the elemental spheres. Aristotle definitively separated air from aether, for him, aether was an unchanging, almost divine substance that was found only in the heavens, where it formed celestial spheres. In ancient Greek medicine, each of the four humours became associated with an element, blood was the humor identified with air, since both were hot and wet. The alchemical symbol for air is a triangle, bisected by a horizontal line. In Hinduism, Vayu, also known as Vāta वात, Pavana पवन, or Prāna, is a deity, who is the father of Bhima
15.
Classical element
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Ancient cultures in Egypt, Babylonia, Japan, Tibet, and India had similar lists, sometimes referring in local languages to air as wind and the fifth element as void. The Chinese Wu Xing system lists Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and these different cultures and even individual philosophers had widely varying explanations concerning their attributes and how they related to observable phenomena as well as cosmology. Sometimes these theories overlapped with mythology and were personified in deities, some of these interpretations included atomism but other interpretations considered the elements to be divisible into infinitely small pieces without changing their nature. Centuries of empirical investigation have proven that all the ancient systems were incorrect explanations of the physical world. It is now known that atomic theory is an explanation, and that atoms can be classified into more than a hundred chemical elements such as oxygen, iron. These elements form chemical compounds and mixtures, and under different temperatures and pressures, the concept of the five elements formed a basis of analysis in both Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, particularly in a context, the four states-of-matter describe matter. Similar lists existed in ancient China and Japan, in Buddhism the four great elements, to which two others are sometimes added, are not viewed as substances, but as categories of sensory experience. A Greek text called the Kore Kosmou ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus, names the four fire, water, air. And, on the contrary, again some are made enemies of fire, and some of water, some of earth, and some of air, and some of two of them, and some of three, and some of all. For instance, son, the locust and all flies flee fire, the eagle and the hawk and all high-flying birds flee water, fish, air and earth, the snake avoids the open air. Not that some of the animals as well do not love fire, for instance salamanders and it is because one or another of the elements doth form their bodies outer envelope. Each soul, accordingly, while it is in its body is weighted and constricted by these four. According to Galen, these elements were used by Hippocrates in describing the body with an association with the four humours, yellow bile, black bile, blood. Medical care was flexible and primarily about helping the patient stay in or return to his/her own personal natural balanced state. In other Babylonian texts these phenomena are considered independent of their association with deities, though they are not treated as the component elements of the universe, the five elements are associated with the five senses, and act as the gross medium for the experience of sensations. The basest element, earth, created using all the elements, can be perceived by all five senses – hearing, touch, sight, taste. The next higher element, water, has no odor but can be heard, felt, seen, next comes fire, which can be heard, felt and seen
16.
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
17.
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
18.
Kurukshetra War
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The Kurukshetra War, also called the Mahabharata War, is a war described in the Indian epic Mahabharata. The conflict arose from a succession struggle between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapura in an Indian kingdom called Kuru. It involved a number of ancient kingdoms participating as allies of the rival groups, the location of the battle is described as having occurred in Kurukshetra in the modern state of Haryana. The narrative describes individual battles and deaths of heroes of both sides, military formations, war diplomacy, meetings and discussions among the characters. The chapters dealing with the war are considered amongst the oldest in the entire Mahabharata, the historicity of the war remains subject to scholarly discussions. Attempts have been made to assign a date to the Kurukshetra War. Popular tradition holds that the war marks the transition to Kaliyuga, Mahabharata, one of the most important Hindu epics, is an account of the life and deeds of several generations of a ruling dynasty called the Kuru clan. Central to the epic is an account of a war took place between two rival families belonging to this clan. Kurukshetra, was the battleground on which war, known as the Kurukshetra War, was fought. Kurukshetra was also known as Dharmakshetra, or field of righteousness, Mahabharata tells that this site was chosen because a sin committed on this land was forgiven on account of the sanctity of this land. The Kuru territories were divided into two and were ruled by Dhritarashtra and Yudhishthira of the Pandavas, ramachandran state that the Divergence of views regarding the Mahabharata war is due to the absence of reliable history of the ancient period. This is also true of the period, where also there is no unanimity of opinion on innumerable issues. The historicity of the Kurukshetra War is subject to scholarly discussion, the existing text of the Mahabharata went through many layers of development, and mostly belongs to the period between c.500 BCE and 400 CE. According to Professor Alf Hiltebeitel, the Mahabharata is essentially mythological, Indian historian Upinder Singh has written that, Whether a bitter war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas ever happened cannot be proved or disproved. It is possible there was a small-scale conflict, transformed into a gigantic epic war by bards. Some historians and archaeologists have argued that conflict may have occurred in about 1000 BCE. Despite the inconclusiveness of the data, attempts have been made to assign a date to the Kurukshetra War. Popular tradition holds that the war marks the transition to Kaliyuga, a number of other proposals have been put forward, P. V. Vartak calculates a date of October 16,5561 BCE using planetary positions
19.
Water (classical element)
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Water is one of the elements in ancient Greek philosophy, in the Asian Indian system Panchamahabhuta, and in the Chinese cosmological and physiological system Wu Xing. In contemporary esoteric traditions, it is associated with the qualities of emotion and intuition. Water was one of many proposed by the Pre-socratics, most of whom tried to reduce all things to a single substance. However, Empedocles of Acragas selected four archai for his four roots, air, fire, water, Empedocles roots became the four classical elements of Greek philosophy. Plato took over the four elements of Empedocles, in the Timaeus, his major cosmological dialogue, the Platonic solid associated with water is the icosahedron which is formed from twenty equilateral triangles. This makes water the element with the greatest number of sides, plato’s student Aristotle developed a different explanation for the elements based on pairs of qualities. The four elements were arranged concentrically around the center of the Universe to form the sublunary sphere, according to Aristotle, water is both cold and wet and occupies a place between air and earth among the elemental spheres. In ancient Greek medicine, each of the four humours became associated with an element, phlegm was the humor identified with water, since both were cold and wet. In alchemy, the element of mercury was often associated with water. Ap is the Vedic Sanskrit term for water, in Classical Sanskrit occurring only in the plural is not an element. v, āpas, the term is from PIE hxap water. In Hindu philosophy, the term refers to water as an element, one of the Panchamahabhuta, in Hinduism, it is also the name of the deva, a personification of water. The element water is associated with Chandra or the moon and Shukra. People born under the signs of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces are thought to have dominant water personalities. Water personalities tend to be emotional, deep, nurturing, sympathetic, empathetic, water and the other Greek classical elements were incorporated into the Golden Dawn system. The elemental weapon of water is the cup, each of the elements has several associated spiritual beings. The archangel of water is Gabriel, the angel is Taliahad, the ruler is Tharsis, the king is Nichsa and it is referred to the upper right point of the pentagram in the Supreme Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram. Many of these associations have since spread throughout the occult community, water is one of the five elements that appear in most Wiccan traditions. Wicca in particular was influenced by the Golden Dawn system of magic and Aleister Crowleys mysticism, water Sea and river deity Different versions of the classical elements
20.
Aether (classical element)
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According to ancient and medieval science, aether, also spelled æther or ether, also called quintessence, is the material that fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere. The concept of aether was used in several theories to explain natural phenomena, such as the traveling of light. The word αἰθήρ in Homeric Greek means pure, fresh air or clear sky, in Greek mythology, it was thought to be the pure essence that the gods breathed, filling the space where they lived, analogous to the air breathed by mortals. It is also personified as a deity, Aether, the son of Erebus, Aether is related to αἴθω to incinerate, and intransitive to burn, to shine. In Platos Timaeus speaking about air, Plato mentions that there is the most translucent kind which is called by the name of aether, but otherwise he adopted the classical system of four elements. Aristotle, who had been Platos student at the Akademia, agreed on this point with his former mentor, however, in his Book On the Heavens he introduced a new first element to the system of the classical elements of Ionian philosophy. He noted that the four classical elements were subject to change. The first element however, located in the regions and heavenly bodies. It was neither hot nor cold, neither wet nor dry, Aether did not follow Aristotelian physics either. Aether was also incapable of motion of quality or motion of quantity, Aether was only capable of local motion. Aether naturally moved in circles, and had no contrary, or unnatural, aristotle also noted that crystalline spheres made of aether held the celestial bodies. The idea of spheres and natural circular motion of aether led to Aristotles explanation of the observed orbits of stars. Medieval scholastic philosophers granted aether changes of density, in which the bodies of the planets were considered to be more dense than the medium which filled the rest of the universe, Robert Fludd stated that the aether was of the character that it was subtler than light. Fludd cites the 3rd-century view of Plotinus, concerning the aether as penetrative, Quintessence is the Latinate name of the fifth element used by medieval alchemists for a medium similar or identical to that thought to make up the heavenly bodies. It was noted there was very little presence of quintessence within the terrestrial sphere. Due to the low presence of quintessence, earth could be affected by what takes place within the heavenly bodies and this theory was developed in the 14th century text The testament of Lullius, attributed to Ramon Llull. The use of quintessence became popular within medieval alchemy and this elemental system spread rapidly throughout all of Europe and became popular with alchemists, especially in medicinal alchemy. Medicinal alchemy then sought to isolate quintessence and incorporate it within medicine, due to quintessences pure and heavenly quality, it was thought that through consumption one may rid oneself of any impurities or illnesses
21.
Fire (classical element)
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Fire has been an important part of all cultures and religions from pre-history to modern day and was vital to the development of civilization. It has been regarded in many different contexts throughout history, Fire is one of the four classical elements in ancient Greek philosophy and science. It was commonly associated with the qualities of energy, assertiveness, in one Greek myth, Prometheus stole fire from the gods to protect the otherwise helpless humans, but was punished for this charity. Fire was one of many proposed by the Pre-socratics, most of whom sought to reduce the cosmos, or its creation. Heraclitus considered fire to be the most fundamental of all elements and he believed fire gave rise to the other three elements, All things are an interchange for fire, and fire for all things, just like goods for gold and gold for goods. He had a reputation for obscure philosophical principles and for speaking in riddles and this is a concept that anticipates both the four classical elements of Empedocles and Aristotles transmutation of the four elements into one another. This world, which is the same for all, no one of gods or men has made, but it always was and will be, an ever-living fire, with measures of it kindling, and measures going out. Heraclitus regarded the soul as being a mixture of fire and water, with fire being the noble part. He believed the goal of the soul is to be rid of water and become pure fire and he was known as the weeping philosopher and died of hydropsy, a swelling due to abnormal accumulation of fluid beneath the skin. However, Empedocles of Acragas, is best known for having selected all elements as his archai and by the time of Plato, the four Empedoclian elements were well established. This also makes fire the element with the smallest number of sides, and Plato regarded it as appropriate for the heat of fire, which he felt is sharp and stabbing. Fire the hot and dry element, like the elements, was an abstract principle and not identical with the normal solids, liquids and combustion phenomena we experience. According to Aristotle, the four elements rise or fall toward their natural place in concentric layers surrounding the center of the earth, in ancient Greek medicine, each of the four humours became associated with an element. Yellow bile was the humor identified with fire, since both were hot and dry, in alchemy the chemical element of sulfur was often associated with fire and its alchemical symbol and its symbol was an upward-pointing triangle. In alchemic tradition, metals are incubated by fire in the womb of the Earth, Agni is a Hindu and Vedic deity. The word agni is Sanskrit for fire, cognate with Latin ignis, Russian огонь, Agni has three forms, fire, lightning and the sun. Agni is one of the most important of the Vedic gods and he is the god of fire and the acceptor of sacrifices. The sacrifices made to Agni go to the deities because Agni is a messenger from and he is ever-young, because the fire is re-lit every day, yet he is also immortal
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Earth (classical element)
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Earth is one of the classical elements, in some systems numbering four along with air, fire, and water. Earth is one of the four elements in ancient Greek philosophy. It was commonly associated with qualities of heaviness, matter and the terrestrial world, due to the hero cults, and chthonic underworld deities, the element of earth is also associated with the sensual aspects of both life and death in later occultism. Empedocles of Acragas proposed four archai by which to understand the cosmos, fire, air, water, plato believed the elements were geometric forms and he assigned the cube to the element of earth in his dialogue Timaeus. Aristotle, believed earth was the heaviest element, and his theory of natural place suggested that any earth–laden substances, would fall quickly, straight down, in ancient Greek medicine, each of the four humours became associated with an element. Black bile was the humor identified with earth, since both were cold and dry, in alchemy, earth was believed to be primarily dry, and secondarily cold. Beyond those classical attributes, the chemical substance salt, was associated with earth and its symbol was a downward-pointing triangle. Prithvi is the Hindu earth and mother goddess, according to one such tradition, she is the personification of the Earth itself, according to another, its actual mother, being Prithvi Tattwa, the essence of the element earth. As Prithvi Mata, or Mother Earth, she contrasts with Dyaus Pita, in the Rigveda, earth and sky are frequently addressed as a duality, often indicated by the idea of two complementary half-shells. In addition, the element Earth is associated with Budha or Mercury who represents communication, business, mathematics, people born under the astrological signs of Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn are thought to have dominant earth personalities. Earth and the other Greek classical elements were incorporated into the Golden Dawn system, zelator is the elemental grade attributed to earth, this grade is also attributed to the Qabbalistic sphere Malkuth. The elemental weapon of earth is the Pentacle, each of the elements has several associated spiritual beings. The archangel of earth is Uriel, the angel is Phorlakh, the ruler is Kerub, the king is Ghob, and the earth elementals are called gnomes. Earth is considered to be passive, it is represented by the symbol for Taurus, many of these associations have since spread throughout the occult community. It is sometimes represented by its Tattva or by a downward pointing triangle with a line through it. Earth is one of the five elements appear in most Wiccan and Pagan traditions. Wicca in particular was influenced by the Golden Dawn system of magic, and Aleister Crowleys mysticism which was in turn inspired by the Golden Dawn. In East Asia, metal is seen as the equivalent of earth and is represented by the White Tiger, known as 白虎 in Chinese, Byakko in Japanese, Bạch Hổ in Vietnamese
23.
Tattva
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Tattva is a Sanskrit word meaning thatness, principle, reality or truth. According to various Indian schools of philosophy, a tattva is an element or aspect of reality, in some traditions, they are conceived as an aspect of deity. Although the number of tattvas varies depending on the philosophical school, the Samkhya philosophy uses a system of 25 tattvas, while Shaivism recognises 36 tattvas. In Buddhism, the equivalent is the list of dhammas which constitute reality, jain philosophy can be described in various ways, but the most acceptable tradition is to describe it in terms of the Tattvas or fundamentals. Without knowing them one cannot progress towards liberation, there are two examples that can be used to explain the above principle intuitively. A man rides a boat to reach the other side of the river. Now the man is Jiva, the boat is ajiva, now the boat has a leak and water flows in. That incoming of water is Asrava and accumulating there is Bandha, now the man tries to save the boat by blocking the hole. That blockage is Samvara and throwing the water outside is Nirjara, now the man crosses the river and reaches his destination, Moksha. Consider a family living in a house, one day, they were enjoying a fresh cool breeze coming through their open doors and windows of the house. However, the suddenly changed to a terrible dust storm. The family, realizing the storm, closed the doors and windows, but, by the time they could close all the doors and windows some of the dust had been blown into the house. After closing the doors and the windows, they started clearing the dust that had come in to make the house clean again and this simple scenario can be interpreted as follows, Jivas are represented by the living people. Ajiva is represented by the house, Asrava is represented by the influx of dust. Bandh is represented by the accumulation of dust in the house, samvar is represented by the closing of the doors and windows to stop the accumulation of dust. Nirjara is represented by the cleaning up of already collected dust from the house, Moksha is represented by the cleaned house, which is similar to the shedding off all karmic particles from the soul. In Buddhism the term dhamma/dharma is being used for the constitutional elements, early Buddhist philosophy used several lists, such as namarupa and the five skandhas, to analyse reality. The Abhidhamma tradition elaborated on these lists, using over 100 terms to analyse reality, the Samkhya philosophy regards the Universe as consisting of two eternal realities, Purusha and Prakrti
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Prithvi
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Prithvi the Vast One is the Sanskrit name for the earth as well as the name of a devi in Hinduism and some branches of Buddhism. As Pṛthvī Mātā Mother Earth she contrasts with Dyaus Pita father sky, in the Rigveda, Earth and Sky are primarily addressed in the dual as Dyavaprthivi. She is associated with the cow, prithu, an incarnation of Vishnu, milked her in cows form. She is a personification in Indonesia, where she is known as Ibu Pertiwi. In Buddhist texts and visual representations, Pṛthvī is described as both protecting Gautama Buddha and as being his witness for his enlightenment, prithvi appears in Early Buddhism in the Pāli Canon, dispelling the temptation figure Mara by attesting to Gautama Buddhas worthiness to attain enlightenment. The Buddha is very frequently illustrated in figurative art wielding bhūmisparśa or earth-touching mudrā, pṛithvī Sūkta or Bhūmī Sūkta is a celebrated hymn of the Atharvaveda dedicated to Prthivi. The Rig Veda, an anthology, one hundred and eight hymns, dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend by Anna Dallapiccola Hindu Goddesses, Vision of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Traditions by David Kinsley
25.
Wu Xing
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The Five Phases are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. This order of presentation is known as the generation sequence. In the order of mutual overcoming, they are Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, the system of five phases was used for describing interactions and relationships between phenomena. The system is used as a reference in some forms of complementary and alternative medicine. Xing of Wu Xing means moving, a planet is called a star in Chinese. Wu Xing originally refers to the five planets that create five dimensions of earth life. Wu Xing is also translated as Five Elements and this is used extensively by many including practitioners of Five Element acupuncture. This translation arose by analogy with the Western system of the four elements. By the same token, Mù is thought of as Tree rather than Wood, the word element is thus used within the context of Chinese medicine with a different meaning to its usual meaning. It should be recognized that the phase, although commonly preferred, is not perfect. Phase is a translation for the five seasons mentioned below. Manfred Porkert attempts to resolve this by using Evolutive Phase for 五行 Wǔ Xíng and Circuit Phase for 五運 Wǔ Yùn, some of the Mawangdui Silk Texts also present the Wu Xing as five virtues or types of activities. Within Chinese medicine texts the Wu Xing are also referred to as Wu Yun or a combination of the two characters these emphasise the correspondence of five elements to five seasons, another tradition refers to the Wǔ Xíng as Wǔ Dé, the Five Virtues. Wood parts Earth Earth dams Water Water extinguishes Fire Fire melts Metal Metal chops Wood This cycle might also be called controls, according to Wu Xing theory, the structure of the cosmos mirrors the five phases. Each phase has a series of associations with different aspects of nature. In the ancient Chinese form of known as Feng Shui practitioners all based their art. All of these phases are represented within the trigrams, associated with these phases are colors, seasons and shapes, all of which are interacting with each other. Based on a directional energy flow from one phase to the next
26.
Bon
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Bon or Bön is a Tibetan religion, which self-identifies as being distinct from Tibetan Buddhism, although it shares the same overall teachings and terminology. It arose in the century and established its scriptures mainly from termas. Though Bon terma contain myths of Bon existing before the introduction of Buddhism in Tibet, in fact, the Bonpo religion only started to take shape alongside the revival of Buddhism in the eleventh century. And when the scriptures of the Bonpo started to appear in Tibet, three Bon scriptures—mdo dus, gzer mig, and gzi brjid—relate the mythos of Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche. The Bonpos regard the first two as gter ma rediscovered around the tenth and eleventh centuries and the last as nyan brgyud dictated by Loden Nyingpo, in the fourteenth century, Loden Nyingpo revealed a terma known as The Brilliance, which contained the story of Tonpa Shenrab. He was not the first Bonpo tertön, but his terma became one of the scriptures of Bon religion. It states that Shenrab established the Bon religion while searching for a horse stolen by a demon, tradition also tells that he was born in the land of Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring which is traditionally identified as Mount Yung-drung Gu-tzeg, possibly Mount Kailash, in western Tibet. Due to the sacredness of Tagzig Olmo Lungting and Mount Kailash, Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche visited Kongpo and found people whose practice involved spiritual appeasement with animal sacrifice. He taught them to substitute offerings with symbolic animal forms made from barley flour, Bon teachings feature Nine Vehicles, which are pathway-teaching categories with distinct characteristics, views, practices and results. Medicine, astrology, and divination are in the vehicles, then sutra and tantra. Traditionally, the Nine Vehicles are taught in three versions, as Central, Northern and Southern treasures, the Central treasure is closest to Nyingma Nine Yānas teaching and the Northern treasure is lost. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche elaborated the Southern treasure with shamanism, “A Cavern of Treasures” is a Bon terma uncovered by Shenchen Luga in the early 11th century. The Dzungar people invaded Tibet in 1717 and deposed a pretender to the position of Dalai Lama who had been promoted by Lhabzang and this allowed them to pick the Nyingmapas and Bonpos, who recited many magic-mantras. A habit of sticking ones tongue out as a mark of respect on greeting someone has remained a Tibetan custom into modern times, in the 19th century, Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen, a Bon master whose collected writings comprise eighteen volumes significantly rejuvenated the tradition. His disciple Kagya Khyungtrul Jigmey Namkha trained many practitioners to be learned in not only the Bon religion, according to the Bonpo, eighteen enlightened entities will manifest in this aeon and Tönpa Shenrab Miwoche, the founder of Bon, is considered the enlightened Buddha of this age. The 33rd lineage holder of Menri Monastery, Menri Trizin Lungtog Tenpei Nyima, more than three hundred Bon monasteries had been established in Tibet prior to Chinese annexation. Of these, Menri Monastery and Shurishing Yungdrung Dungdrakling Monastery were the two principal monastic universities for the study and practice of Bon knowledge and science-arts, ethnic Tibet is not confined culturally to the Tibet Autonomous Region. Even parts of modern Bangladesh were once a part of this Greater Tibet, the average Tibetan house would have a number of houses or seats for the male god that protects the house
27.
Sulfur
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Sulfur or sulphur is a chemical element with symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent, and nonmetallic, under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a yellow crystalline solid at room temperature. Chemically, sulfur reacts with all elements except for gold, platinum, iridium, tellurium, though sometimes found in pure, native form, sulfur usually occurs as sulfide and sulfate minerals. Being abundant in native form, sulfur was known in ancient times, being mentioned for its uses in ancient India, ancient Greece, China, in the Bible, sulfur is called brimstone. Today, almost all elemental sulfur is produced as a byproduct of removing sulfur-containing contaminants from natural gas, the greatest commercial use of the element is the production of sulfuric acid for sulfate and phosphate fertilizers, and other chemical processes. The element sulfur is used in matches, insecticides, and fungicides, many sulfur compounds are odoriferous, and the smells of odorized natural gas, skunk scent, grapefruit, and garlic are due to organosulfur compounds. Hydrogen sulfide gives the characteristic odor to rotting eggs and other biological processes, sulfur is an essential element for all life, but almost always in the form of organosulfur compounds or metal sulfides. Three amino acids and two vitamins are organosulfur compounds, many cofactors also contain sulfur including glutathione and thioredoxin and iron–sulfur proteins. Disulfides, S–S bonds, confer mechanical strength and insolubility of the keratin, found in outer skin, hair. Sulfur is one of the chemical elements needed for biochemical functioning and is an elemental macronutrient for all organisms. Sulfur is derived from the Latin word sulpur, which was Hellenized to sulphur, the spelling sulfur appears toward the end of the Classical period. In 12th-century Anglo-French, it was sulfre, in the 14th century the Latin ph was restored, for sulphre, the parallel f~ph spellings continued in Britain until the 19th century, when the word was standardized as sulphur. Sulfur was the form chosen in the United States, whereas Canada uses both, the IUPAC adopted the spelling sulfur in 1990, as did the Nomenclature Committee of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1992, restoring the spelling sulfur to Britain. Sulfur forms polyatomic molecules with different chemical formulas, the best-known allotrope being octasulfur, cyclo-S8. The point group of cyclo-S8 is D4d and its dipole moment is 0 D. Octasulfur is a soft, bright-yellow solid that is odorless and it melts at 115.21 °C, boils at 444.6 °C and sublimes easily. At 95.2 °C, below its melting temperature, cyclo-octasulfur changes from α-octasulfur to the β-polymorph, the structure of the S8 ring is virtually unchanged by this phase change, which affects the intermolecular interactions. At higher temperatures, the viscosity decreases as depolymerization occurs, molten sulfur assumes a dark red color above 200 °C
28.
Mercury (element)
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Mercury is a chemical element with symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is commonly known as quicksilver and was formerly named hydrargyrum, Mercury occurs in deposits throughout the world mostly as cinnabar. The red pigment vermilion is obtained by grinding natural cinnabar or synthetic mercuric sulfide, likewise, mechanical pressure gauges and electronic strain gauge sensors have replaced mercury sphygmomanometers. Mercury remains in use in research applications and in amalgam for dental restoration in some locales. It is used in fluorescent lighting, electricity passed through mercury vapor in a fluorescent lamp produces short-wave ultraviolet light which then causes the phosphor in the tube to fluoresce, making visible light. Mercury poisoning can result from exposure to water-soluble forms of mercury, Mercury is a heavy, silvery-white liquid metal. Compared to other metals, it is a conductor of heat. It has a point of −38.83 °C and a boiling point of 356.73 °C. Upon freezing, the volume of mercury decreases by 3. 59%, the coefficient of volume expansion is 181.59 × 10−6 at 0 °C,181.71 × 10−6 at 20 °C and 182.50 × 10−6 at 100 °C. Solid mercury is malleable and ductile and can be cut with a knife, because this configuration strongly resists removal of an electron, mercury behaves similarly to noble gases, which form weak bonds and hence melt at low temperatures. The stability of the 6s shell is due to the presence of a filled 4f shell, an f shell poorly screens the nuclear charge that increases the attractive Coulomb interaction of the 6s shell and the nucleus. Like silver, mercury reacts with hydrogen sulfide. Mercury reacts with solid sulfur flakes, which are used in mercury spill kits to absorb mercury, Mercury dissolves many other metals such as gold and silver to form amalgams. Iron is an exception, and iron flasks have traditionally used to trade mercury. Several other first row transition metals with the exception of manganese, copper, other elements that do not readily form amalgams with mercury include platinum. Sodium amalgam is a reducing agent in organic synthesis, and is also used in high-pressure sodium lamps. Mercury readily combines with aluminium to form a mercury-aluminium amalgam when the two pure metals come into contact, since the amalgam destroys the aluminium oxide layer which protects metallic aluminium from oxidizing in-depth, even small amounts of mercury can seriously corrode aluminium. For this reason, mercury is not allowed aboard an aircraft under most circumstances because of the risk of it forming an amalgam with exposed aluminium parts in the aircraft, Mercury embrittlement is the most common type of liquid metal embrittlement
29.
Salt (chemistry)
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In chemistry, a salt is an ionic compound that results from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. Salts are composed of related numbers of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral and these component ions can be inorganic, such as chloride, or organic, such as acetate, and can be monatomic, such as fluoride, or polyatomic, such as sulfate. There are several varieties of salts, salts that hydrolyze to produce hydroxide ions when dissolved in water are alkali salts, whilst those that hydrolyze to produce hydronium ions in water are acidic salts. Neutral salts are those salts that are neither acidic nor basic, zwitterions contain an anionic centre and a cationic centre in the same molecule, but are not considered to be salts. Examples of zwitterions include amino acids, many metabolites, peptides, usually, non-dissolved salts at standard conditions for temperature and pressure are solid, but there are exceptions. Molten salts and solutions containing dissolved salts are called electrolytes, as they are able to conduct electricity. As observed in the cytoplasm of cells, in blood, urine, plant saps and mineral waters, therefore, their salt content is given for the respective ions. Salts can appear to be clear and transparent, opaque, and even metallic, in many cases, the apparent opacity or transparency are only related to the difference in size of the individual monocrystals. Since light reflects from the boundaries, larger crystals tend to be transparent. The color of the salt is due to the electronic structure in the d-orbitals of transition elements or in the conjugated organic dye framework. Different salts can elicit all five basic tastes, e. g. salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami or savory. Salts of strong acids and strong bases are non-volatile and odorless and that slow, partial decomposition is usually accelerated by the presence of water, since hydrolysis is the other half of the reversible reaction equation of formation of weak salts. Many ionic compounds can be dissolved in water or other similar solvents, the exact combination of ions involved makes each compound have a unique solubility in any solvent. The solubility is dependent on how well each ion interacts with the solvent, for example, all salts of sodium, potassium and ammonium are soluble in water, as are all nitrates and many sulfates – barium sulfate, calcium sulfate and lead sulfate are examples of exceptions. However, ions that bind tightly to each other and form highly stable lattices are less soluble, for example, most carbonate salts are not soluble in water, such as lead carbonate and barium carbonate. Some soluble carbonate salts are, sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, solid salts do not conduct electricity. Moreover, solutions of salts also conduct electricity, the name of a salt starts with the name of the cation followed by the name of the anion. Salts are often referred to only by the name of the cation or by the name of the anion. g
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Upanishads
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The Upanishads are a collection of ancient Sanskrit texts that contain some of the central philosophical concepts of Hinduism, some of which are shared with Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Early Upanishads are considered by Hindus as part of their scriptures that discuss the nature of ultimate reality, the Upanishads are commonly referred to as Vedānta, variously interpreted to mean either the last chapters, parts of the Veda or the object, the highest purpose of the Veda. The concepts of Brahman and Ātman are central ideas in all the Upanishads, the Upanishads are the foundation of Hindu philosophical thought and its diverse traditions. Of the Vedic corpus, they alone are known. More than 200 Upanishads are known, of which the first dozen or so are the oldest and most important and are referred to as the principal or main Upanishads. The mukhya Upanishads are found mostly in the part of the Brahmanas and Aranyakas and were, for centuries, memorized by each generation. The early Upanishads all predate the Common Era, five of them in all likelihood pre-Buddhist, of the remainder, some 95 Upanishads are part of the Muktika canon, composed from about the last centuries of 1st-millennium BCE through about 15th-century CE. New Upanishads, beyond the 108 in the Muktika canon, continued to be composed through the modern and modern era. Along with the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahmasutra, the mukhya Upanishads provide a foundation for the later schools of Vedanta, among them. With the translation of the Upanishads in the early 19th century they started to attract attention from a western audience. Arthur Schopenhauer was deeply impressed by the Upanishads and called it the production of the highest human wisdom, modern era Indologists have discussed the similarities between the fundamental concepts in the Upanishads and major western philosophers. The Sanskrit term Upaniṣad translates to sitting down near, referring to the student sitting down near the teacher while receiving esoteric knowledge, monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary adds that, According to native authorities Upanishad means setting to rest ignorance by revealing the knowledge of the supreme spirit. Adi Shankara explains in his commentary on the Kaṭha and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad that the word means Ātmavidyā, other dictionary meanings include esoteric doctrine and secret doctrine. The word appears in the verses of many Upanishads, such as the verse of the 13th volume in first chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad. The authorship of most Upanishads is uncertain and unknown, Radhakrishnan states, almost all the early literature of India was anonymous, we do not know the names of the authors of the Upanishads. The Vedic texts themselves assert that they were created by Rishis, after inspired creativity. Women, such as Maitreyi and Gargi participate in the dialogues and are credited in the early Upanishads. There are exceptions to the tradition of the Upanishads and other Vedic literature
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Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
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The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is one of the Principal Upanishads and one of the oldest Upanishadic scriptures of Hinduism. A key scripture to various schools of Hinduism, the Brihadaranyaka Upanisad is tenth in the Muktikā or canon of 108 Upanishads, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is estimated to have been composed about 700 BCE, excluding some parts estimated to have been composed after the Chandogya Upanishad. The Sanskrit language text is contained within the Shatapatha Brahmana, which is itself a part of the Shukla Yajur Veda, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad was in all likelihood composed in the earlier part of 1st millennium BCE. The exact year, and even the century of the Upanishad composition is unknown, scholars have offered different estimates ranging from 900 BCE to 600 BCE, all preceding Buddhism. According to a 1998 review by Olivelle, Brihadaranyaka is one of the oldest Upanishads, along with Jaiminiya Upanishad and Chandogya Upanishads. It was composed around 700 BCE, give or take a century or so, the chronology of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, like other Upanishads, is uncertain and contested. Patrick Olivelle states, in spite of claims made by some, in reality, the title Brihadaranyaka Upanishad literally means great wilderness or forest Upaniṣhad. It is credited to ancient sage Yajnavalkya, but likely refined by a number of ancient Vedic scholars, the Upanishad forms the last part, that is the fourteenth khanda of Satapatha Brahmana. It includes three sections, Madhu Kanda, Muni Kanda and Khila Kanda, thus, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad has six adhyayas in total. There are two major recensions for the text - the Madhyandina and the Kanva recensions, the first and second chapters of the Upanishads Madhu Kanda consists of six brahmanams each, with varying number of hymns per brahmanam. The first chapter of the Upanishads Yajnavalkya Kanda consists of nine brahmanams, the Khila Kanda of the Upanishad has fifteen brahmanams in its first chapter, and five brahmanams in the second chapter. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad starts by stating one of many Vedic theories of creation of the universe, the world is more than matter and energy, asserts Brihadaranyaka, it is constituted also of Atman or Brahman as well as Knowledge. In the last brahmana of the first chapter, the Upanishad explains that the Atman inspires by being self-evident, through empowering forms, the Soul, states Brihadaranyaka, is the imperishable one that is invisible and concealed pervading all reality. It then asserts that this fact about dreams suggests that human mind has the power to perceive the world as it is. Mind is a means, prone to flaws, the struggle man faces, asserts Brihadaranyaka in brahmana 3, is in his attempt to realize the true reality behind perceived reality. That is Atman-Brahman, inherently and blissfully existent, yet unknowable because it has no qualities, no characteristics, it is neti, neti. Yajnavalkya states that one doesnt connect with and love forms, nor does one connect or love mind, rather one connects with the Self, all love is for the sake of ones Self, and the Oneness one realizes in the Self of the beloved. He then asserts that knowledge of the Soul, the Self, the Brahman is what makes one immortal
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Chandogya Upanishad
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The Chandogya Upanishad is a Sanskrit text embedded in the Chandogya Brahmana of the Sama Veda of Hinduism. It is one of the oldest Upanishads and it lists as number 9 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. The Upanishad belongs to the Tandya school of the Samaveda, like Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, the Chandogya Upanishad is an anthology of texts that must have pre-existed as separate texts, and were edited into a larger text by one or more ancient Indian scholars. The precise chronology of Chandogya Upanishad is uncertain, and it is dated to have been composed by the 8th to 6th century BCE in India. It is one of the largest Upanishadic compilations, and has eight Prapathakas, each with many volumes, the volumes are a motley collection of stories and themes. It is one of the most cited texts in later Bhasyas by scholars from the schools of Hinduism. Adi Shankara, for example, cited Chandogya Upanishad 810 times in his Vedanta Sutra Bhasya, the name of the Upanishad is derived from the word Chanda, which means poetic meter, prosody. The name implies that the nature of the text relates to the patterns of structure, stress, rhythm and intonation in language, songs, the text is sometimes known as Chandogyopanishad. Chandogya Upanishad was in all likelihood composed in the part of 1st millennium BCE. The exact century of the Upanishad composition is unknown, uncertain, Patrick Olivelle states, in spite of claims made by some, in reality, any dating of these documents that attempts a precision closer than a few centuries is as stable as a house of cards. Scholars have offered different estimates ranging from 800 BCE to 600 BCE, according to a 1998 review by Olivelle, Chandogya was composed by 7th or 6th century BCE, give or take a century or so. Phillips states that Chandogya was completed after Brihadaranyaka, both probably in part of the 1st millennium BCE. The text has eight Prapathakas, each with varying number of Khandas, each Khanda has varying number of verses. The Upanishad comprises the last eight chapters of a ten chapter Chandogya Brahmana text, the first chapter of the Brahmana is short and concerns ritual-related hymns to celebrate a marriage ceremony and the birth of a child. The second chapter of the Brahmana is short as well and its mantras are addressed to divine beings at life rituals, the last eight chapters are long, and are called the Chandogya Upanishad. A notable structural feature of Chandogya Upanishad is that it contains many nearly identical passages and stories found in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The Chandogya Upanishad, like other Upanishads, was a living document, additionally, supplements were likely attached to various volumes in a different age. Klaus Witz structurally divides the Chandogya Upanishad into three natural groups, the first group comprises chapters I and II, which largely deal with the structure, stress and rhythmic aspects of language and its expression, particularly with the syllable Om
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Brahman
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In Hinduism, Brahman connotes the highest Universal Principle, the Ultimate Reality in the universe. In major schools of Hindu philosophy, it is the material, efficient and it is the pervasive, genderless, infinite, eternal truth and bliss which does not change, yet is the cause of all changes. Brahman as a concept is the single binding unity behind the diversity in all that exists in the universe. Brahman is a Vedic Sanskrit word, and it is conceptualized in Hinduism, states Paul Deussen, Brahman is a key concept found in the Vedas, and it is extensively discussed in the early Upanishads. The Vedas conceptualize Brahman as the Cosmic Principle, in the Upanishads, it has been variously described as Sat-cit-ānanda and as the unchanging, permanent, highest reality. Brahman is discussed in Hindu texts with the concept of Atman, personal, impersonal or Para Brahman, or in various combinations of these qualities depending on the philosophical school. In dualistic schools of Hinduism such as the theistic Dvaita Vedanta, Brahman is different from Atman in each being, Brahman is thus a gender-neutral concept that implies greater impersonality than masculine or feminine conceptions of the deity. Brahman is referred to as the supreme self, puligandla states it as the unchanging reality amidst and beyond the world, while Sinar states Brahman is a concept that cannot be exactly defined. In Vedic Sanskrit, Brahma, brahman from root bṛh-, means to be or make firm, strong, solid, expand, promote. Brahmana, from stems brha + Sanskrit -man- from Indo-European root -men- which denotes some manifested form of power, inherent firmness. In later Sanskrit usage, Brahma, brahman means the concept of the transcendent and immanent ultimate reality, the concept is central to Hindu philosophy, especially Vedanta, this is discussed below. Brahm is another variant of Brahman, Brahmā, Brahman, means the deity or deva Prajāpati Brahmā. He is one of the members of the Hindu trinity and associated with creation, but does not have a cult in present-day India. This is because Brahmā, the creator-god, is long-lived but not eternal i. e. Brahmā gets absorbed back into Purusha at the end of an aeon, and is born again at the beginning of a new kalpa. These are distinct from, A brāhmaṇa, is a commentary on the Vedic mantras—an integral part of the Vedic literature. A brāhmaṇa, means priest, in this usage the word is rendered in English as Brahmin. This usage is found in the Atharva Veda. Ishvara, in Advaita, is identified as a partial manifestation of the ultimate reality
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Om
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Om is a sacred sound and a spiritual icon in Hindu religion. It is also a mantra in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Om is part of the iconography found in ancient and medieval era manuscripts, temples, monasteries and spiritual retreats in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The symbol has a meaning in all Indian dharmas, but the meaning. In Hinduism, Om is one of the most important spiritual symbols and it refers to Atman and Brahman. The syllable is found at the beginning and the end of chapters in the Vedas, the Upanishads. The syllable is also referred to as omkara, aumkara, the syllable Om is referred to as praṇava. Other used terms are akṣara or ekākṣara, and omkāra, Udgitha, a word found in Sama Veda and bhasya based on it, is also used as a name of the syllable. The syllable Om is first mentioned in the Upanishads, the texts associated with the Vedanta philosophy. It has variously been associated with concepts of cosmic sound or mystical syllable or affirmation to something divine, in the Aranyaka and the Brahmana layers of Vedic texts, the syllable is so widespread and linked to knowledge, that it stands for the whole of Veda. The etymological foundations of Om are repeatedly discussed in the oldest layers of the Vedantic texts, the Brahmana layer of Vedic texts equate Om with Bhur-bhuvah-Svah, the latter symbolizing the whole Veda. The Sama Veda, the poetical Veda, orthographically maps Om to the audible, the syllable Om evolves to mean many abstract ideas in the earliest Upanishads. Phonologically, the syllable ओम् represents /aum/, which is regularly monophthongised to in Sanskrit phonology.1.95. It is sometimes also written ओ३म्, notably by Arya Samaj, the Om symbol is a ligature in Devanagari, combining ओ and chandrabindu. In Unicode, the symbol is encoded at U+0950 ॐ Devanagari OM, the Om or Aum symbol is found on ancient coins, in regional scripts. In Sri Lanka, Anuradhapura era coins are embossed with Aum along with other symbols, the Om symbol, with epigraphical variations, is also found in many southeast Asian countries. For example, it is called Unalom or Aum in Thailand and has been a part of various flags, the Cambodian official seal has similarly incorporated the Aum symbol. In traditional Chinese characters, it is written as 唵, there have been proposals that the Om syllable may already have had written representations in Brahmi script, dating to before the Common Era. A proposal by Deb held that the swastika is a representation of the syllable Om
