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Chhaya Ganguli
Chhaya or Chaya ( sa, छाया, Chāyā, shadow' or 'shade) is the Hindu personification and goddess of shadow, and a consort of Surya, the Hindu sun god. She is the shadow-image or reflection of Saranyu (Sanjna), the first wife of Surya. Chhaya was born from the shadow of Sanjna and replaced Sanjna in her house, after the latter temporarily left her husband. Chhaya Devi the goddess of shadows is usually described as the mother of Shani, the planet Saturn, and the god of karma and justice: a feared ''graha''; goddess Tapti, the personification of river Tapti; goddess Vishti , the personification of Kala; and a son Savarni Manu, who is destined to be the next and eighth Manu (progenitor of mankind) – the ruler of the next ''Manvantara'' period. Early Vedic and epic legends In the ''Rigveda'' (c. 2nd Millennium BCE), which is the earliest narrative about the Chhaya-prototype. After the birth of twins to Vivasvan (Surya), his consort Saranyu - the daughter of Vishwakarma - aba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saranyu
Sanjna (Sanskrit: संज्ञा, IAST: ''Saṃjñā''), also known as Saranyu ( sa, सरन्यू, IAST: ''Saraṇyū''), is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of Surya, the Sun god. She is mentioned in the ''Rigveda'', and also appears in later Hindu scriptures including the '' Harivamsa'' and the ''Puranas''. Described as the daughter of the craftsman deity Tvashta (often identified with Vishvakarma), Sanjna temporarily abandoned her husband as she was unable to bear his heat and brilliance. She is mentioned as the mother of the death god Yama, the river-goddess Yami, the current Manu, the divine twin physicians Ashvins and the god Revanta. Etymology and epithets ' is the female form of the adjective ', meaning "quick, fleet, nimble", used for rivers and wind in the ''Rigveda'' (compare also Sarayu). Saranyu has been described as "the swift-speeding storm cloud". In the later text named Harivamsa (5th century C.E.), Saranyu is known as Sanjna or Samjna , which m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harivamsa
The ''Harivamsa'' ( , literally "the genealogy of Hari") is an important work of Sanskrit literature, containing 16,374 shlokas, mostly in the '' anustubh'' metre. The text is also known as the ''Harivamsa Purana.'' This text is believed to be a ''khila'' (appendix or supplement) to the MahabharataThe Mahabharata in Sanskrit: Book I: Chapter 2 in sacred-texts.com website and is traditionally ascribed to . The most celebrated commentary of the ''Mahabharata'' by , the ''Bharata Bhava Deepa'' also covers the ''Ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vishnudharmottara Purana
The Vishnudharmottara Purana (or the ''Vishnudharmottara'') is a Hindu Sanskrit text in the ''Upapuranas'' genre. Like the ''Mahapuranas'', it is also encyclopedic covering a wide range of secular and religious topics in the traditions of Hinduism. It is included in the list of eighteen Upapuranas given in the Brihaddharma Purana (1.25.23-26). History It is most celebrated for '' Chitrasutras'' constituting chapters 35–43 of the third ''khanda'' (book). This much cited part of the text dates from the Gupta period of Indian history. The ''Chitrasutra'' section of the ''Vishnudharmottara Purana'' has been discovered in manuscripts all over India and Nepal in Devanagari, Sharada, Bengali, and Newari scripts. The compilation that has survived into the modern age was likely complete by the 5th or 6th-century CE according to David Pingree. It is one of the oldest known complete Sanskrit treatises on painting arts in India. Content The ''Vishnudharmottara Purana'' is a Vaishna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bhagavata Purana
The ''Bhagavata Purana'' ( sa, भागवतपुराण; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' or simply ''Bhagavata'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (''Mahapuranas''). Composed in Sanskrit by Veda Vyasa, it promotes ''bhakti'' (devotion) towards Krishna, integrating themes from the Advaita (monism) philosophy of Adi Shankara, the Vishishtadvaita (qualified monism) of Ramanujacharya and the Dvaita (dualism) of Madhvacharya. It is widely available in almost all Indian languages. The ''Bhagavata Purana'', like other puranas, discusses a wide range of topics including cosmology, astronomy, genealogy, geography, legend, music, dance, yoga and culture. As it begins, the forces of evil have won a war between the benevolent ''Deva (Hinduism), devas'' (deities) and evil ''asuras'' (demons) and now rule the universe. Truth re-emerges as Krishna, (called "Hari#Usage in Indian religion and mythology, Hari" and "Vāsudeva" in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kurma Purana
The ''Kurma Purana'' (IAST: Kūrma Purāṇa) is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, and a medieval era Vaishnavism text of Hinduism. The text is named after the tortoise avatar of Vishnu. The manuscripts of ''Kurma Purana'' have survived into the modern era in many versions. The number of chapters vary with regional manuscripts, and the critical edition (edited by Anand Swarup Gupta, and published by the All-India Kashiraj Trust, Varanasi) of the ''Kurma Purana'' has 95 chapters. Tradition believes that the ''Kurma Purana'' text had 17,000 verses, the extant manuscripts have about 6,000 verses. The text, states Ludo Rocher, is the most interesting of all the Puranas in its discussion of religious ideas, because while it is a Vaishnavism text, Vishnu does not dominate the text. Instead, the text covers and expresses reverence for Vishnu, Shiva and Shakti with equal enthusiasm. The ''Kurma Purana'', like other Puranas, includes legends, mythology, geography, ''Tirtha'' (pilgrimage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Revanta
Revanta or Raivata (Sanskrit: रेवन्त, lit. "brilliant") is a minor Hindu deity. According to the ''Rig-Veda'', Revanta is the youngest son of the sun-god Surya, and his wife Saranyu. Revanta is chief of the Guhyakas, semi-divine and demonic class entities – like the Yakshas – who are believed to live as forest dwellers in the Himalayas. Images and sculptures of Revanta often show him as a huntsman on a horse, with a bow and arrow. The worship of Revanta was especially common in medieval Eastern India (Bihar and Bengal) with many archaeological finds indicating the existence of a cult dedicated to him that began in the 6th century A.D. Legends The tale of Revanta's birth is narrated in scriptures like the ''Vishnu Purana'' and the ''Markandeya Purana''. Once, Sanjna (Saranyu), the daughter of celestial architect Vishvakarma and wife of Surya, unable to take the fervour of the Sun-god, repaired to the forests to engage in devout austerities in the form of a mare. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kathasaritsagara
The ''Kathāsaritsāgara'' ("Ocean of the Streams of Stories") (Devanagari: कथासरित्सागर) is a famous 11th-century collection of Indian legends, fairy tales and folk tales as retold in Sanskrit by the Shaivite Somadeva. ''Kathāsaritsāgara'' contains multiple layers of story within a story and is said to have been adopted from Guṇāḍhya's ''Bṛhatkathā'' ("the Great Narrative"), which was written in a poorly-understood language known as Paiśāchī. The ''Bṛhatkathā'' is no longer extant but several later adaptations still exist — the ''Kathāsaritsāgara'', '' Bṛhatkathamanjari'' and ''Bṛhatkathāślokasaṃgraha''. However, none of these recensions necessarily derives directly from Gunadhya, and each may have intermediate versions. Scholars compare Guṇāḍhya with Vyasa and Valmiki even though he did not write the now long-lost ''Bṛhatkathā'' in Sanskrit. Presently available are its two Sanskrit recensions, the '' Bṛhatkathamanjar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naraka (Hinduism)
Naraka ( sa, नरक), also called Yamaloka, is the Hindu equivalent of Hell, where sinners are tormented after death. It is also the abode of Yama, the god of Death. It is described as located in the south of the universe and beneath the earth. The number and names of hells, as well as the type of sinners sent to a particular hell, varies from text to text; however, many scriptures describe 28 hells. After death, messengers of Yama called ''Yamadutas'' bring all beings to the court of Yama, where he weighs the virtues and the vices of the being and passes a judgement, sending the virtuous to Svarga (heaven) and the sinners to one of the hells. The stay in Svarga or Naraka is generally described as temporary. After the quantum of punishment is over, the souls are reborn as lower or higher beings as per their merits (the exception being Hindu philosopher Madhvacharya, who believes in eternal damnation of the Tamo-yogyas in Andhantamas).Helmuth von Glasenapp: Der Hinduismus. Re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kāla (time)
Kala ( sa, काल, lit=Time, translit=Kālá/Kālam), ) is a Sanskrit term that means "time" or "death." As time personified, destroying all things, Kala is a god of death, and often used as one of the epithets of Yama. In Shaivism, Kala is known as the fiery avatar of Shiva Kala Bhairava or Kalagni Rudra; and in Vaishnavism Kala is also associated with Narasimha and Pralaya. As applied to gods and goddesses, ' is not always distinguishable from ', meaning "black." Etymology Monier-Williams's widely used Sanskrit-English dictionary lists two distinct words with the form ': * ' 1 means "black, of a dark colour, dark-blue ..." and has a feminine form ending in ' – ' – as mentioned in 4–1, 42. * ' 2 means "a fixed or right point of time, a space of time, time ... destiny, fate ... death" and has a feminine form (found at the end of compounds) ending in ', as mentioned in the ' '. As a traditional Hindu unit of time, one ''kālá'' corresponds to 144 seconds. Accor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matsya Purana
The ''Matsya Purana'' (IAST: Matsya Purāṇa) is one of the eighteen major Puranas (Mahapurana), and among the oldest and better preserved in the Puranic genre of Sanskrit literature in Hinduism. The text is a Vaishnavism text named after the half-human and half-fish avatar of Vishnu. However, the text has been called by the 19th-century Sanskrit scholar Horace Hayman Wilson, "although a Shaivism (Shiva-related) work, it is not exclusively so"; the text has also been referred to one that simultaneously praises various Hindu gods and goddesses. The ''Matsya Purana'' has survived into the modern era in many versions, varying in the details but almost all of the published versions have 291 chapters, except the Tamil language version, written in Grantha script, which has 172 chapters. The text is notable for providing one of earliest known definition of a Purana genre of literature. A history written with five characteristics is called a Purana, states ''Matsya Purana'', otherwise ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vishnu Purana
The Vishnu Purana (IAST:, sa, विष्णुपुराण) is one of the eighteen Puranas#Mahapuranas, Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus. The manuscripts of ''Vishnu Purana'' have survived into the modern era in many versions. More than any other major Purana, the ''Vishnu Purana'' presents its contents in ''Pancalaksana'' format – ''Sarga'' (cosmogony), ''Pratisarga'' (cosmology), ''Vamśa'' (genealogy of the gods, sages and kings), ''Manvantara'' (cosmic cycles), and ''Vamśānucaritam'' (legends during the times of various kings). Some manuscripts of the text are notable for not including sections found in other major Puranas, such as those on ''Mahatmyas'' and tour guides on pilgrimage, but some versions include chapters on temples and travel guides to sacred pilgrimage sites. The text is also notable as the earliest Purana to have been translated and published ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Markandeya Purana
The ''Markandeya Purana'' ( sa, मार्कण्डेय पुराण; IAST: ) is a Sanskrit text of Hinduism, and one of the eighteen major Puranas. The text's title Markandeya refers to a sage in Hindu History, who is the central character in two legends, one linked to Shiva and other to Vishnu. The Markandeya text is one of the Puranas that lacks a sectarian presentation of ideas in favor of any particular god, and it is rare to read any deity being invoked or deity prayers in the entire text. The Markandeya Purana is probably one of the oldest in Purana genre of Hindu Literature, among the most interesting and important, states Ludo Rocher. It is famous for including the Devi Mahatmya within it, the oldest known treatise on Devi (Goddess) as the Supreme Truth and Creator Of The Universe. The text is considered as a central text of the Hindu Goddess-related Shaktism tradition, with an extraordinary expression of reverence for the feminine. The Markandeya Purana's Dev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
