<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->champU rAmAyaNa: A re-narration of the rAmAyaNa in mixture of prose and poetry, which characterizes the champUs. The description of hanumat's qualities are particularly poetic.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Could you give more info on this please ? On champUs ? Is hanumat == hanuman ?
02-05-2006, 01:40 PM (This post was last modified: 02-05-2006, 01:40 PM by Hauma Hamiddha.)
The core pantheon of the pA~ncharAtra texts is the chaturvyuha or the serial emanations of nArAyaNa. The primary manifestation of nArAyaNa is vAsudeva, from whom emerge saMkarShaNa and pradyumna. From pradyumna emerges aniruddha. This pantheon appears to be a unique feature of the yadu tribes that subsequently seems to have spawned the classical pA~ncharAtra. However, the early texts suggest that there was another parallel system that appears to have largely passed out of subsequent vaiShNavism. That was the cult of the goddess ekAnamshA. Who is she ?
namaste .astu ekAnamshAyai | yogakanyAyai namo .astute |
viShNor sharIrajAm nidrAM viShNor nirdeshakAriNIM | vivesha rUpiNI kAlI kAla-meghAvaguNThitA | kAlI cha kAmarUpiNi sarvaharasya sakhI tatha | mahendra-viShNu-bhaginI kAlarAtri cha mohini |
Salutations be to ekAnamshA, salutation to the yogakanyA. She is Sleep, born of viShNu's body and carries out the instructions of viShNu. Of diverse forms, of the form of time, she is enveloped in black clouds. She is kAlI, able to assume any form, and the friend of the destroyer of all. She is the sister of the great indra and viShNu, the night of total destruction between kalpas and the deluderess.
Mythology of ekAnamshA
In the days of yore deva viShNu in the form of the terrifying nR^isiMha had rent apart the entrails of the great daitya hiraNyakashipu at his own doorstead, after emerging from a pillar. After that viShNu of a thousand heads retired to his eternal loka in the ekArNava, where he lay in a deep slumber on the coils of the snake of time. But his sleep was not to last for long -- the leadership of the demons had passed on to the dAnava kAlanemI- the wheel of death. The other devas came to him to seek his aid in the battle against the dAnava emperor. From his forehead emerged the beautiful black goddess, ekAnamshA, veiled by a dark nebulosity. Then viShNu arose and assumed a terrifying black form. His hair filled the skies like a dark nebulosity, his eyes shone like suns at the end of the kalpa and his body was covered with a deep yellow robes. He held in his 8 arms the famed shara~Nga bow, the nandaka sword, the long-handled mace, the chakra, the lA~Ngala missile and other weapons, and a dagger in his belt. Mounted on tArkShyo ariShTanemI, with his elder brother mahendra and he and other devas set forth for battle against kAlanemI and his demons. The goddess ekAnamshA proceeded with them to delude the demons with her mAyA.
A fierce battle with the demons ensued. indra fought a demon virochana and his several daityas, varuNa fought hetI, mitra fought prahetI, yama fought with kAlanAbha the brother of kAlanemI, the ashvins fought with vR^iShaprava and his hordes, rudra dealt with the vicious jambha and his armies. The six-headed son of deva rudra fought the terrifying demon krodhavAsa, while savitA fought bANa. indra and the devas used weapons known bhusundi-s, chakra-s, maces, R^iShTi-s (cone-headed spears), paTTiShas (flexible blades), shakti-s (broad-headed weapons), ulmuka-s (fire-throwers), prAsa-s, axes. They shot missiles such as nistrimsha-s, bhAllas (broad-headed arrows) and hurled fiery clubs such as, parighas (dome-headed mace), mudgara-s (blade-sided mace), and bhindipala-s (electrical maces). The demons surrounded indra and attacked him with a shower of shakti-s, but wielding his vijaya bow he shot fiery bhAllas that destroyed the dAnavas' weapons before they left their hands. The devas started gaining the upper hand, when kAlanemi dispatched utkalAsura an expert in mAyA to delude the devas. But ekAnaMsha countering his spells with her own, she attacked him directly. Bending her bow to a circle, she aimed a vastsadanta missile at his car and shattered the axle of his wheel. He jumped out deftly and aimed a shilImukha shara (toad-poisoned dart) at her. But she intercepted it in mid-air with an a~Njalika missile and pierced his palms with the painful naracha arrows. As a result utkala dropped his bow, but he quickly rallied back by hurling a gadA. She parried it her own mace and without giving him a chance pierced his neck with a nArAyaNa missile and killed him.
Seeing him fall, the supporters of kAlanemi, mAlI, sumAlI and malayavAn charged at viShNu with their gadAs upraised. But garuDa flew deftly avoiding their strikes and viShNu hurled his chakra and beheaded all three of them. kAlanemI himself charged at viShNu with a hail of arrows, which viShNu countered with a continous stream of bearded missiles from his shara~Nga bow. Finally with an ardhachandrabha missile he cut in twain the bow of kAlanemI. kAlanemI now mounted on his lion, rushed with a tomara, shaktI, prAsha and a R^iShTi. viShNu for long parried the blows from thes weapons with the lA~Ngala and finally destroyed them. kAlanemI hurled his final weapon, the terrifying trishUla at viShNu. But viShNu deftly avoiding the strike, caught the weapon himself and hurled it back at kAlanemI. Unable to bear the trishUla, the dAnava and his vAhana were burnt to ashes by it.
Though it appeared that kAlanemI was dead towards the end of the KR^itayuga he was to re-appear before the beginning of the downward turn of the wheel time (the age of kali) as the evil king of the bhojas, kaMsa. There were six powerful dAnavas, grandsons of hiraNyakashipu, who threatened the world with their invincibility. The all-knowing viShNu, entered them in a dream and stole their prANas an kept them in the care of ekAnamshA for future use. Aeons later when kAlanemI reincarnated as kaMsa, viShNu was asked by the brAhmaNas and pR^ithivi to intercede and save them from the duShTa kShatriyas. viShNu decided to duely incarnate and slay kaMsa, but this intelligence was leaked by nArada to kaMsa. So viShNu directed ekAnaMshA to place those 6 dAnava prAnas she had maintained in suspension in the womb of devakI while she was in prison. Each time she gave birth kaMsa killed the child, thus riding the world of the 6 dAnavas. On the seventh occasion she brought the kAla-sarpa or the saMkarShaNa as an embryo and placed it in the womb of rohiNi, while she put the original embryo in rohiNi's womb into devakI's womb, where it miscarried. Then she converted herself to an embryo and entered yashodA's womb. Finally, when vasudeva exchanged his child with that of yashodA, he had actually brought back ekAnaMshA. When kaMsa tries to kill her, she slips from his hand flies to the sky and from there announces that his future killer still lives.
ekAnamshA is said to have been then sent by indra to live amongst the yadus, where vasudeva brought her up with great care. KR^iShNa and balabhadra are said to have embraced her after returning to dvAravatI from their campaigns. She is said to have stood between saMkarShaNa and vAsudeva when she was worshiped by the yadus.
The harivaMsha then gives detailed account of the associated vaiShNava theology of the yAdavas: viShNu is the axis of time. The time coils around him in the form of the kAla-sarpa, shesha. It is this terrible snake that manifests as saMkarShaNa. At the end of the kalpa the snake spews flaming venom that destroys the loka, the main duty of saMkarShaNa. The nidrA of viShNu is the goddess ekAnaMshA, who manifests as the dark nights, the kAlarAtri-s between the kalpa. She is the friend of samkarShaNa and envelops the world in darkness while he re-abosrbs it. As the world manifests its components constantly keep emerging or return to viShNu borne by the flaming waves of his breath. ekAnaMshA as the yoginI, consumes all the entities that return. Every year, she seizes viShNu with a sleep in the rainy season, when indra takes over his place as the supreme being and nourishes the world [comparable of mahAmAya of the mArkaNdeya purANa, who withdraws from viShNu allowing him to kill madhu and kaiTabha. In the kula tantric parlance she is svapnavArAhI, the goddess of yoganidra]. She is both the sister of indra and viShNu and manifests as kAtyAyani or durgA on the vindhya mountains where her principal shrine is present. Thus, the holy triad of saMkarShaNa, ekAnaMshA and nArAyaNa was seen by the parama-bhAgavata akrUra. Her shrines are said to be all over bhAratavarsha where she is offered sacrificial offerings of meat and wine.
Historical worship of ekanamshA
The astronomer varAhamihira recommends (bR^ihat saMhitA, chapter 58) that temples should contain triads of saMkarShaNa holding the musala known as sunanda, a halAyudha and a sthUNakarNa weapon in his four hands. Then there should be ekAnaMshA and finally nArAyaNa with a chakra, gada, sha~Nkha and lotus. ekAnaMsha may be of a two, four or eight handed form. In the two handed form she holds a lotus and one hand is on the hip. In the 4 handed form she holds a book, lotus and rosary. In the eight handed form she has a bow, arrow, lotus, mirror, book, rosary and abhaya-varada gestures. The two handed form is recommended by the Agama section of the viShNudharmottara (3.85) and the tamil text the paripATal mentions that she should be flanked by saMkarShaNa and vAsudeva.
-ekAnaMshA appears in coins of the provincial governors of the shungas and also the yavanas around 180 BC. Subsequently a feudatory of the kANvas, vIrasena, also depicts her on his coins.
-The kushAnas, vima khadphises, vima takto and kanishka built several temples of the samkarShaNa-ekAnaMshA-nArAyaNa triad idols in red sandstone with two armed ekAnaMshA-s between 50-200 AD. vima takto also built a pentad temple with all five deities including, the pradyumna and the aniruddha.
-nR^isimhagupta bAlAditya, the destroyer of the hUnas, built a temple for the triad in magadha.
-cave temple 27 of Ellora houses the triad
- rAja bhoja built a temple for the triad in Etah.
After that the deity appear to have vanished from the later traditions of vaiShNavism. The original tradition may be linked to saptarAtra rather than the parallel pA~ncharatra tradition that remained dominant in the later period.
I was prompted to investigate ekAnamshA in the connection of the origin of the vidhyAvAsini durgA cult due to the photographic collection presented by NP Joshi in his Hindi pamphet entitled: devI ekAnaMshA ki kushANa kAlIn mUrtiyAn.
<!--QuoteBegin-k.ram+Feb 25 2005, 08:19 AM-->QUOTE(k.ram @ Feb 25 2005, 08:19 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Ancient Hindus could navigate the air
By Shachi Rairikar
"The ancient Hindus could navigate the air, and not only navigate it, but fight battles in it like so many war-eagles combating for the domination of the clouds. To be so perfect in aeronautics, they must have known all the arts and sciences related to the science, including the strata and currents of the atmosphere, the relative temperature, humidity, density and specific gravity of the various gases..." âCol. Olcott in a lecture in Allahabad, in 1881.
The Rig Veda, the oldest document of the human race, includes references to the following modes of transportation: jalayanâa vehicle designed to operate in air and water (Rig Veda 6.58.3); kaaraâa vehicle that operates on ground and in water (Rig Veda 9.14.1); tritalaâa vehicle consisting of three storeys (Rig Veda 3.14.1); trichakra rathaâa three-wheeled vehicle designed to operate in air (Rig Veda 4.36.1); vaayu rathaâa gas or wind-powered chariot (Rig Veda 5.41.6); vidyut rathaâa vehicle that operates on power (Rig Veda 3.14.1).
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Talpade carried on his research along these lines and constructed an aeroplane. In his experiments he was aided by his wife, also a deep scholar of the Vedic lore, and an architect-friend. The plane combined the constructional characteristics of both Pushpaka and Marut Sakha, the sixth and eighth types of aircraft described by Bharadwaja. It was named Marut Sakha meaning "friend of the wind".
With this plane, this pioneer airman of modern India gave a demonstration flight on the Chowpatty beach in Mumbai in the year 1895. The machine attained a height of about 1,500 feet and then automatically landed safely. The flight was witnessed, among many others, by Shri Sayajirao Gaekwad, the Maharaja of Baroda and Justice Govind Ranade and was reported in the Kesari, a leading Marathi daily newspaper. They were impressed by the feat and rewarded the talented inventor.
Unfortunately, Talpade lost interest in things after his wife's death, and after his own death in 1917 at the age of 53, his relatives sold the machine to the Rally Brothers, a leading British exporting firm then operating in Mumbai. Thus, the first ever attempt at flying in modern India, undertaken and made successful by an Indian, in a plane of Indian manufacture and built to Indian scientific specifications, slid into the limbo of oblivion.
(The writer can be contacted at shachi_rairikar@h...)<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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has any more research been done alone these lines since???
does anyone have any info about modern day scientists in india or abroad attempting to realise the processes (regarding Viman's) mentioned in various sanskrit verses???
i do know some sort of chinese study regarding UFO's have acknowledged using material from hindu scriptures.
<!--QuoteBegin-Pathmarajah+Apr 18 2005, 02:49 PM-->QUOTE(Pathmarajah @ Apr 18 2005, 02:49 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Where is Lanka of the Ramayana</b>
On this website there is the assertion that Ceylon was Lanka of the Ramayana. The assertion is also made using typical offensive language of mundane scholars regarding Sastras. Today is Ramanavami on this date last year I started reading the Ramayana (full edition). In the Ramayana we learn that Lanka was 100 yoganas from the mainland. Since a yogana is about 8 miles that would mean that it was about 800 miles from the mainland. Much further than current Sri Lanka aka Ceylon.
Also the Suryasiddhanta mentions that the meridian which passes through Ujjain also passes through Lanka. (The Suryasiddhanta and all of the Jyotish literature uses the meridian passing through Ujjain as the reference point just as today the meridian of Greenwich is used for astronomical calculations and time keeping.) Ujjain is 75 degrees 47 minutes east of Greenwich if you look south in the Indian Ocean <b>the closest land would be the Maldive Islands in the Lakshadvip Sea (100,000 Islands sea). So I would suggest that is the actual area of the original Lanka</b> not Ceylon which only recently (1972) renamed itself as Sri Lanka. The actual Lanka is
submerged and only some of its highest points are above the ocean. In any case the real Lanka was several hundred miles to the South West of current Ceylon-Sri Lanka.
Ceylon has been known by that name for at least 2500 years. It was the name that the Romans, Greeks and Persians knew it by (Greek traders in the Ptolomiac and Roman empires regularly went to South India and even onto China via the well known trade route starting from Alexandria,down the Nile, portage accross to the Red Sea, down the Red Sea and then straight accross the Arabian Sea to modern Kerala. This is how Saint Thomas, disciple of Christ, got to South India and why Kerela has 20% Christians since that time. The many hordes of Roman dinari (gold coins) that have been excavated in the extreme south of India also attest to this fact.
In ancient times it was also called Taprobane (especially by the Greeks) and Serendip, which was derived from Sanskrit for Sinhala Dvipa, the island of Singhalese. The Singalese were orginally from the Kalinga region b(Orissa) and invaded the island some time before 500 BC. It morphed into Ceylon from Serendip.
The English word Serendipity--which is finding something unexpected and useful while searching for something else entirely. For instance, the discovery of the antibacterial properties of penicillin by Alexander Fleming is said to have been a serendipitious discovery--is etymologicaly
derived from its possession by the heroes of the Persian fairy tale "The Three Princes of Serendip".
In any case by what ever name you call it modern Sri Lanka-Ceylon is not the Lanka of the Ramayana because it is much too far to the North East by several hundreds of miles from the location of Lanka indicated in the Ramayana and the astronomical Siddhantas and other Jyotish
literature.
so where does all this fit in with herodotus' Lemuria, the kumari kandam concept and the "atlantis in the indian ocean" thingie??
as for the emigrants from orissa... would that be the Oriya speaking Kalingas or the tribals of orissa??
if i know right, the entire Mohanty clan (all mohanty's are related) in orissa comes from iran (they are Dhruvas).
after reading the entire post, i feel nothing could be more helpful than a vehicle/submarine which could map the sea bed of theindian ocean both on the east and west of the indian peninsula.
* Gandhi and Nehru objected to the decision of the cabinet and insisted that Somnath Temple should be reconstructed out of public funds, not government funds, while in January 1948 they pressurised Sardar Patel to carry on renovation of the mosques of Delhi at government expense.
which sure explains why indians love gandhi and nehru a lot more than sardar patel !!
*
The United States adopted ancient Indian catamaran-making technology to construct fast ships which were used with dramatic effect in the Iraq war. Among the equipment the Americans used to win the Iraq war were 100-feet catamaran ships to ferry tanks and ammunition from Qatar to Kuwait. The ships, built with technology adapted from ancient Tamil methods to make catamarans, can travel over 2,500 kms in less than 48 hours, twice the speed of the regular cargo ships, and carry enough equipment to support about 5,000 soldiers. Having a shallow draft, the boats can unload in rudimentary ports, allowing troops to land closer to the fight.
can you supply some link or reference to prove the above claim?? could come in very handy when someone makes snobbish remarks about the lack of scientific knowledge from india.
* Christmas is not the celebration of the birth date of Christ. Different researchers place different dates for the birth of Christ but there is virtual agreement among scholars that December 25th is not the birth date of Jesus Christ, but an annual pagan festival celebrated in honor of the sun which was too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence. The pagan festival with it's riot and merrymaking was so popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit and in manner. During the first three centuries we find no trace of any feast for the birth of Christ.
the festival was the "feast of the invincible sun" (by germanics) celebrated on winter solstice. for celtics it was a different way to celebrate the same astronomical event (solstice). google "hill of tara solstice"
* An intensive research conducted by Zenab Banu of Gujarat on the cause and effect of communal riots since 18th century (which was a topic of her Ph.D. thesis), wherein she had analyzed and documented major Hindu-Muslim riots spread over 250 years, shows that in over 95 % cases the riots were initiated by Muslims. Her thesis has been published in a book entitled 'Politics of Communalism' (1978).
please supply a reference. again, would come in very handy.
* Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, a so-called 'liberal' and 'secular' Muslim, led a campaign against 'Vande Maataram' on the grounds that it was 'anti-Islamic'. He had opposed the partition of India and Jawaharlal Nehru was quick to declare him 'a great nationalist leader', but the Maulana in his book "India Wins Freedom" has discussed the reason for his opposition. He was of the opinion that the creation of a separate Muslim state would divide the Muslim population and India would have fewer number of Muslims, thus dealing a blow to the process of Islamization of India, hence the opposition.
nehru sure knew what sort of people to back !!
* The last rites of Mahatma Gandhi, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Smt. Indira Gandhi were accompanied by renderings from the Bhagwad Geeta, the Quran and religious books of other religions; but the final rites of Dr. Zakir Hussain, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad had renderings only from the Quran.
ofcourse !!! the former are leaders of the secular nation of india whilst the latter are mughal rulers of indian muslims.
* In 1950, the then Maharaja of Indore, Yashwant Rao Holkar, wanted his son Richard, born of his American wife, to succeed him as the ruler of Indore. However, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (along with Sardar Patel and Rajendra Prasad) objected, making it clear that the son of his foreign wife could not succeed him. Nehru couldn't allow foreign blood even as a powerless Maharaja to inherit a title, let alone power!
but had no prolem in planting his entire family tree in various govt portfolios.
* St. Francis Xavier, after whom many educational institutions are named in India, feverishly declared, âWhen I have finished baptising the people, I order them to destory the huts in which they keep their idols; and I have them break the statues of their idols into tiny pieces, since they are now Christians. I could never come to an end describing to you the great consolation which fills my soul when I see idols being destroyed by the hands of those who had been idolaters,â (from The Letters and Instructions of Francis Xavier, 1993, pp 117-8).
fantastic. soon saint sonia will give him a posthumus bharat ratna.
* In 2002, Karnataka State received Rs.72 crores as revenue from temples, returned Rs.10 crores for temple maintenance, and granted Rs.50 crores for madrasas and Rs.10 crores for churches. (Daily Pioneer, October 7, 2003.)
thats pretty good actually. the west bengal govt or mulam singh would have give the entire thing for madrassas. while kerela govt would most likely have donated it to the nearest church.
* When the Europeans newly arrived in America in 1492, they took the natives to be devils and for about forty years it was legal to hunt down the natives like animals. It was only in 1530 A.D. that the Pope relented and declared that American Indians were human!
so much for western civilization !!
* The concept of Reiki originated in India, but it was rediscovered by Dr. Mikao Usui in Japan in the late 19th century. Dr. Usui was a Shingon Buddhist priest and a physician. He read about an ancient healing art in an 1100 year old Buddhist Manuscript and made a brief synthesis of the essence of this seven level Tantric teaching as Reiki.
please supply reference that'd prove convincingly that reiki is indian.
* Only a few years ago, the Chinese discovered some Sanskrit documents in Lhasa, Tibet and sent them to the University of Chandigarh to be translated. Dr. Ruth Reyna of the university said that the documents contain directions for building interstellar spaceships! The Chinese announced that they were including certain parts of the documents for study in their space program.
yeah. thats the one i alluded to, 2 posts north of here.
* When the city of Mohenjodaro was excavated by archaeologists, they found skeletons just lying in the streets, some of them holding hands, as if some great doom had suddenly overtaken them. These skeletons are among the most radioactive ever found, on a par with those found at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ancient cities whose brick and stonewalls have literally been vitrified, that is-fused together, can be found in India, Ireland, Scotland, France, Turkey and other places. There is no logical explanation for the vitrification of stone forts and cities, except from an atomic blast.
refence and/or proof please. for obvious reasons.
btw, india, ireland, france, scotland, turkey...= brahmins, dru-vids, hittie-mitani pact referencing indra, varuna, mithra. couldnt help notice the connection.
* The shrouded Qaabaa at Mecca, the holiest shrine for all Muslims of the world, was once a temple containing 360 different deities which were the object of reverence and worship. Acting upon the orders of Allah, the almighty, Prophet Mohammed waged a jihad or holy war against the worshippers of these deities to gain control over Mecca, after which he destroyed the icons and slaughtered the idolaters.
pls supply reference to prove that it was indeed a temple. else we'll be labelled hindu nationalists for claiming this.
* Indian astronomer, Brahmagupta, estimated in the 7th century that the circumference of the earth was 5000 yojanas. A yojana is around 7.2 kms. Calculating on this basis we see that the estimate of 36,000 kms as the earth's circumference comes quite close to the actual circumference known today.
there are two Brahmaguptas btw. one of them had Magi lineage. can someone throw more light on this please. btw, an indian female marxist hainling from west bengal (where else) tried to twist the magi heritage of brahmagupta (which isindeed true) to show how he was actualy iranian and not indian (the way sakya muni buddha was also iranian). muslims scholars gobbled it up. i myself read the article on the net. that muslim also claimed that tibetans are iranians since they have longheads (hephalothytes or someting) and indian brahmnins are of semetic stock!!
* The Purusha Hymn of the Rigveda says that the mind is born of the moon. Recently, by research on volunteers, who stayed in underground caves for months without any watches or other cues about time, it was found that the natural cycle for the mind is 24 hours and 50 minutes. The period of the moon is also 24 hours and 50 minutes.
proof?? reference?? else we cant say this one to anyone.
* The Nalanda University once housed 9 million books. It was the centre of education for scholars from all over Asia. Many Greek, Persian and Chinese students studied here. The university was burnt down by pillaging Muslim invaders who overran India in the 11th century.
who exactly ?? khilji???
btw, does anyone know of vikramshila??? its pretty good (big) and old too. i have been there from bhagalpur.
* The Arabs borrowed so much from India in the field of mathematics that even the subject of mathematics in Arabic came to known as Hindsa which means 'from India' and a mathematician or engineer in Arabic is called Muhandis which means 'an expert in Mathematics'.
yes, running into indians resulted in the camel jockeys taking a quantum leap and suddenly being experts of math, medicine and astronomy. they showed on discovery channel in some mosque in north afria, some original arabic books are kept in which exact copies of the lunar phases are made from hindu books. the zorastrian persian speaking iranians turning muslims helped arabs immensely to quickly learn all about india.
* Those communities among the Hindus who are called Bhangi, Mehtar, Chookad, Hela, Valmik or Halaal Khor, etc. are actually descendants of brave Kshatriyas, who, inspite of many atrocities by tyrannical Muslim rulers, had refused to accept conversion to Islam. The Muslim tyrants, with a view to humiliate them to such an extent that they would forsake their faith and accept Islam, forced them into the work of carrying the night soil of the begums, keeps, relations, courtiers, etc.
so its not the caste system to blame is it???
damn our education system.
* Swatantryaveer Savarkar was the first Indian political leader to call for Swadeshi, and the first Indian leader who publicly performed a bonfire of foreign clothes (1906). (many years before Gandhiji)
nehru wouldnt agree would he??
* In a recent report, UNESCO pointed out that out of 128 countries where Jews lived before Israel was created in 1948, only one, India, did not persecute them and allowed them to prosper and practice Judaism in peace.
yes. does anyone know of the lecture by an israeli diplomat in siri fort in new delhi??
* In Goa neither the Shariat nor the Hindu Code applies. To this day the common Portuguese Civil Code applies.
so even the goan christians have beaten us. they can force their laws on muslims but india has to have shariat !!!
* Sardar Patel, Swantantryaveer Savarkar and Dr.B.R.Ambedkar had asked Nehru to protest against the Chinese invasion of Tibet. They had warned Nehru that China's take over of Tibet would destroy the only buffer state between China and India and would threaten the Indian borders. The 1962 Chinese attack proved their fears to be correct.
yes. and if i know right even the china war was lagao-ed by nehru!!
* 'Hindu Kush' means Hindu slaughter. The Indian name for Hindu Kush mountain range was 'Paariyaatra Parvat'. Until 1000 A.D. the area of Hindu Kush was a full part of Hindu cradle. The name 'Hindu Kush' was given by the muslim conquerors indicating the Hindu genocide that took place in this region.
yes. hindus were transported to arabia to be used as slaves. this was the usual route and deaths were so regular that this mountain became known as hindu-killer.
* Nathuram Godse's ashes are kept in an urn in his brother Gopal Godse's house. It was his dying wish that his ashes be immersed in the river Indus when India stands undivided again.
yeah. he will get his wish sometime this century, 4M be damned.
* The Grand Anicut, Kallanai, located on Cauvery River in Tamil Nadu, is the oldest dam in the world that is still in use today. This masonry dam was built in the 2nd century by Chola king Karikalan. It was remodeled and fitted with sluice gates in 1899-1902.
guess not. a few days ago bbc reported some ancient (BC days) dam being discovered in china which is also to be revived.
* Christianity always associated bathing with vulgarity, lascivious thoughts and bathing in public baths, rivers and lakes, even during summer months, as sinful. St. Agnes never took a bath. St. Marget never washed herself. Pope Clement III issued an edict forbidding bathing or even wetting once face on Sunday. Since 18th century nuns were asked to take bath with their robes on. In 1736, in Baden, Germany the authorities issued a warning to students against the vulgar, dangerous and shocking practice of bathing.
thats public bathing (in rivers) in the nude, very popular amongst germanics. its making a comeback in europe though.
* The Caspian sea, which in Vedic times was called Kasyapa Mira, has got its name from Rishi Kashyap.
so, did he go there?? can someone post about the vedic knowlede of world geography?? is it true that america was a-maraka?? and that denmark is danav-marg ?? just how much of geography did the puranas and other ancient records mention, correctly that is???
<!--QuoteBegin-Sunder+Oct 19 2005, 02:51 AM-->QUOTE(Sunder @ Oct 19 2005, 02:51 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-Hauma Hamiddha+Oct 19 2005, 12:25 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Hauma Hamiddha @ Oct 19 2005, 12:25 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->dvivida the mighty ape made obscene gestures.
...The great ape was a student of sugrIva in the days of yore and had learnt great deeds in battle.[right][snapback]39774[/snapback][/right]
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Is this the same Dvivida (brother of Maindha) who fought under Sugreeva's command in Rama-Ravana yuddha? Valmiki often refers Maindha, Dvivida brothers and Gava/Gavaksha/Gavaya brothers in Yuddha Kanda.
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i have a question - who exactly were these bandars/apes??
it couldnt be that men could speak to apes back in those days could it??
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> i have a question - who exactly were these bandars/apes??
it couldnt be that men could speak to apes back in those days could it??<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
ben ami,
Of course men could not talk to apes. One should not read Ramayana so literally.
so basically there were some tribal men who helped Raam, in small or big ways and have been inducted into the ramayan after making monkeys out of them??????? hmmmm ok.
btw, does hanuman have ANY vedic or puranic reference??? or did the legend of Hanuman (and the worshipping too) start after the raamayan was WRITTEN (not when Ramayaan actually happened/occured.)
ty for the clarification but can anyone answer some of the other questions i'd asked in previous posts. ??
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->btw, does hanuman have ANY vedic or puranic reference??? or did the legend of Hanuman (and the worshipping too) start after the Ramayana was WRITTEN (not when Ramayana actually happened/occurred.)<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Hanuman, Sugreeva, Vali and others were sons of (or born with the blessings of) celestial beings like Vayu, Surya, Indra, etc respectively. From the description given by Valmiki, Hanuman definitely had a tail and he was proud of it. Also, Hanuman according to Valmiki had the powers to physically change his size at will.
These people were termed Vaanaras - Forest dwellers - which is also synonymous with the word for Monkeys. Thus, even if you take the vanaras to be monkeys, they were no ordinary monkeys. Hanuman was literate, educated, and well versed in diplomacy, warfare, and other fine arts.
There is no record (as far as I know) of Hanuman being worshipped before or even during period depicted in Valmiki Ramayana. The worship should have begun later on.
<!--QuoteBegin-gangajal+Feb 14 2006, 06:08 AM-->QUOTE(gangajal @ Feb 14 2006, 06:08 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->ben ami,
  Of course men could not talk to apes. One should not read Ramayana so literally.
gangajal
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<!--QuoteBegin-Sunder+Feb 14 2006, 08:10 AM-->QUOTE(Sunder @ Feb 14 2006, 08:10 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->From the description given by Valmiki, Hanuman definitely had a tail and he was proud of it. Also, Hanuman according to Valmiki had the powers to physically change his size at will.
Thus, even if you take the vanaras to be monkeys, they were no ordinary monkeys. Hanuman was literate, educated, and well versed in diplomacy, warfare, and other fine arts.
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thanks very much.
my other questions which i hope will be answered, are -
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does anyone know of vikramshila??? its pretty good (big) and old too. i have been there from bhagalpur.
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The Caspian sea, which in Vedic times was called Kasyapa Mira, has got its name from Rishi Kashyap.
so, did he go there?? can someone post about the vedic knowlede of world geography?? is it true that america was a-maraka?? and that denmark is danav-marg ?? just how much of geography did the puranas and other ancient records mention, correctly that is???
#
so where does all this fit in with herodotus' Lemuria, the kumari kandam concept and the "atlantis in the indian ocean" thingie??
as for the emigrants from orissa... would that be the Oriya speaking Kalingas or the tribals (vanaras!!!) of orissa??
<!--QuoteBegin-Sunder+Feb 14 2006, 08:10 AM-->QUOTE(Sunder @ Feb 14 2006, 08:10 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->There is no record (as far as I know) of Hanuman being worshipped before or even during period depicted in Valmiki Ramayana. The worship should have begun later on.
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so the "monkey god" that foreigners (western media) keep making fun of... is actually not vedic at all ?? they make it sound like its almost central to hinduism to worship monkeys, and judging by the ammount and fervour of hamumaan/bajrang bali worship, its tough to blame them.
<!--QuoteBegin-ben_ami+Feb 14 2006, 08:38 AM-->QUOTE(ben_ami @ Feb 14 2006, 08:38 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-Sunder+Feb 14 2006, 08:10 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sunder @ Feb 14 2006, 08:10 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->There is no record (as far as I know) of Hanuman being worshipped before or even during period depicted in Valmiki Ramayana. The worship should have begun later on.
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so the "monkey god" that foreigners (western media) keep making fun of... is actually not vedic at all ?? they make it sound like its almost central to hinduism to worship monkeys, and judging by the ammount and fervour of hamumaan/bajrang bali worship, its tough to blame them.
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Remember according to Ramayana, Hanumanji was asked by SriRama to stay till the end of Kaliyuga to provide help to His distressed dharmic devotees. As Kaliyuga proceeds and problems of general people multiplies, worship of Hanumanji also increases. Further, scriptures state that Hanumanji is in fact a Rudra-avatar (Shiva-Avatar). Shivji along with SriVishnu are main pillars of Hindu religion.
Particularly, since Bhakti period, most of the saints have propagated spiritual sankirtan as a way to salvation in the iron age (Kaliyuga). Ramayana is read and followed by a big part of India.
It is also said that whenever there is a Ramakatha (discourse taking place), Hanumanji personally manifests to listen to the discourse. It is a common practice to keep a clean and elevated seat vacant during a Ramkatha for Hanumanji to manifest, ofcourse everything depends upon the faith of believers.
This is also one of the reasons that violence against monkeys is not tolerated in most parts of India.
I am in the process of collecting brief vignettes on women in ancient India. I would appreciate any help in this regard. I will give attribution to the author for small paragraphs on each person or even a complete pageat the website
<!--QuoteBegin-Kaushal+Mar 13 2006, 02:09 AM-->QUOTE(Kaushal @ Mar 13 2006, 02:09 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->I am in the process of collecting brief vignettes on women in ancient India. I would appreciate any help in this regard. I will give attribution to the author for small paragraphs on each person or even a complete pageat the website
indicethos.org.
any takers ?
currently the page has slim pickings
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Hi Kaushal,
I will try and send something as and when time permits. Do you have any guidelines on how long/short a biography can be? Are you looking at brief outline of Women of India ? Can I assume the primary audience to be a Western or non-resident Indian student?
Women of the Vedic period (circa 1500-1200 BCE) were epitomes of intellectual and spiritual attainment. The Vedas have lots to say about these women, who both complemented and supplemented their male partners. When it comes to talking about significant female figures of the Vedic period, four names - Ghosha, Lopamudra, Sulabha Maitreyi, and Gargi - come to mind.
Ghosha
Vedic wisdom is encapsulated in myriad hymns, and 27 women-seers emerge from them. But most of them are mere abstractions, except for a few, such as Ghosha, who has a definite human form. Granddaughter of Dirghatamas and daughter of Kakshivat, both composers of hymns in praise of Ashwins, Ghosha has two entire hymns of the tenth book, each containing 14 verses, assigned to her name. The first eulogizes the Ashwins, the heavenly twins who are also physicians; the second is a personal wish expressing her intimate feelings and desires for married life. Ghosha suffered from an incurable disfiguring disease, probably leprosy, and remained a spinster at her father's house. Her implorations with the Ashwins and the devotion of her forefathers towards them made them cure her disease and allow her to experience wedded bliss.
Lopamudra
The Rig Veda ('Royal Knowledge') has long conversations between the sage Agasthya and his wife Lopamudra that testify to the great intelligence and goodness of the latter. As the legend goes, Lopamudra was created by sage Agasthya and was given as a daughter to the King of Vidarbha. The royal couple gave her the best possible education and brought her up amidst luxury. When she attained a marriageable age, Agasthya, the sage who was under vows of celibacy and poverty, wanted to own her. Lopa agreed to marry him, and left her palace for Agasthya's hermitage. After serving her husband faithfully for a long period, Lopa grew tired of his austere practices. She wrote a hymn of two stanzas making an impassioned plea for his attention and love. Soon afterwards, the sage realized his duties towards his wife and performed both his domestic and ascetic life with equal zeal, reaching a wholeness of spiritual and physical powers. A son was born to them. He was named Dridhasyu, and he later became a great poet.
Maitreyi
The Rig Veda contains about one thousand hymns, of which about ten are accredited to Maitreyi, the woman seer and philosopher. She contributed towards the enhancement of her sage-husband Yajnavalkya's personality and the flowering of his spiritual thoughts. Yajnavalkya had two wives, Maitreyi and Katyayani. While Maitreyi was well-versed in the Hindu scriptures and was a 'brahmavadini', Katyayani was an ordinary woman. One day the sage decided to make a settlement of his worldly possessions between his two wives and renounce the world by taking up ascetic vows. He asked his wives their wishes. The learned Maitreyi asked her husband if all the wealth in the world would make her immortal. The sage replied that wealth could only make one rich, nothing else. She then asked for the wealth of immortality. Yajnavalkya was happy to hear this and imparted to Maitreyi the doctrine of the soul and his knowledge of attaining immortality.
Gargi
Gargi, the Vedic prophetess and daughter of sage Vachaknu, composed several hymns that questioned the origin of all existence. When King Janak of Videha organized a 'brahmayajna', a philosophic congress centered around the fire sacrament, Gargi was one of the eminent participants. She challenged the sage Yajnavalkya with a volley of perturbing questions on the soul or 'atman' that confounded the learned man who had till then silenced many an eminent scholar. Her question - "The layer that is above the sky and below the earth, which is described as being situated between the earth and the sky and which is indicated as the symbol of the past, present and future, where is that situated?" - bamboozled even the great Vedic men of letters.
Sunder,one of the points of cntention inthe CA textbook case was that the status of women wasdeplorable in ancient india. My purpose is to show as wide an audience as possible that such was not the case and that the fundamental ethos has not changed over the millennia. with the exception of a few centuries,the status of women has steadily marched forward.
i will also have a companion page on women of contemporary India as time permits. do give me feedback (in IF is OK) on the site and keep up the good work.
In particular look at FAQ on Hinduism. I would like to attract a lot of 2nd generation Hindu NorthAmericans to the site
