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Nandaka Velonica
Nandaka () or Nandaki, is the sword of the Hindu god Vishnu. Nandaka is generally depicted in images where Vishnu is represented with more than his usual four arms. The sword is compared to knowledge in Hindu scriptures. In Sri Vaishnavism (a major Vaishnava tradition), the saints Annamacharya and Peyalvar are considered to be the avatars of Nandaka. Legend According to the ''Agni Purana'', the creator-god Brahma was performing a sacrifice on Mount Meru. The hundred-armed asura Loha obstructed the same. Vishnu manifested before Brahma from the sacrificial fire. Vishnu seized the sword called Nandaka from the asura and unsheathed it. The sword is described as blue-hued with a gem-studded handle. Wielding his mace, the asura drove several heavenly beings from the mountain. Vishnu slew the asura with the sword; the severed parts of the asura's body fell on earth and turned into iron due to their contact with Nandaka. Vishnu blessed the asura that his fallen body-parts will be empl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the sole Para Brahman, supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, i.e. ''Mahavishnu''. Its followers are called Vaishnavites or ''Vaishnava''s (), and it includes sub-sects like Krishnaism and Ramaism, which consider Krishna and Rama as the supreme beings respectively. According to a 2010 estimate by Johnson and Grim, Vaishnavism is the largest Hindu sect, constituting about 641 million or 67.6% of Hindus. The ancient emergence of Vaishnavism is unclear, and broadly hypothesized as a History of Hinduism, fusion of various regional non-Vedic religions with Vishnu. A merger of several popular non-Vedic theistic traditions, particularly the Bhagavata cults of Vāsudeva, Vāsudeva-krishna and ''Gopala-Krishna, Gopala-Krishna'', and Narayana, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaumodaki
Kaumodaki () is the gadā (mace) of the Hindu deity Vishnu. Vishnu is often depicted holding the Kaumodaki in one of his four hands; his other attributes are the chakra, the conch, and the lotus. The ''gada'' is also found in the iconography of some of Vishnu's avatars. The name, 'Kaumodak' first appears in the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata'', where it is associated with Vishnu's avatar, Krishna. The ''gada'' is depicted in images of Vishnu since . While initially unadorned, the size and shape of Kaumodaki vary in depictions. More elaborate design features like flutes and segments were added in depictions of Vishnu's ''gada''. Though the weapon may be depicted as an inanimate ''gada'', Kaumodaki sometimes appears personified as a woman known as Gadadevi or Gadanari in sculptures of Vishnu. In depictions that use this version, Vishnu rests one of his hands on her head, while she herself holds the ''gada'', is seen emerging from it or has the ''gada'' carved on her head/crown. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ayudhapurusha
Ayudhapurusha is the anthropomorphic depiction of a divine weapon in Hindu art. Ayudhapurushas are sometimes considered as partial incarnates of their divine owners.Anna L. Dallapiccolaayudhapurusha or shastradevata (2002). In ''Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend, Thames & Hudson''. The sex of the personified weapon is determined by the gender of the weapon in the Sanskrit language.Rao p. 288 The suffix "purusha" (man) is added to masculine weapons and "devi" (goddess) to female ones. The weapons Shakti, Heti (a Hatchet-like weapon) and Gada (mace), especially Kaumodaki (the mace of Vishnu), Dhanus/Dhanushya ("bow") are women. Chakra, especially Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra (discus of Vishnu), Shankha ("conch"), Padma (lotus), Ankusha (elephant goad), Pasha (noose), Trisula (trident), vajra (thunderbolt), Khadga (sword), Danda (a sceptre or club), Bana/Shara ("arrow") and Bhindi (sling) are depicted male. While weapons are personified in ancient Hindu epics like the ''Ramayana'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deogarh, Uttar Pradesh
Deogarh is a village in Lalitpur district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located on the right bank of Betwa River and to the west of Lalitpur hills. It is known for Gupta monuments and for many ancient monuments of Jain origins inside and outside the walls of the fort. The fort on the hill is dominated by a cluster of Jain temples on its eastern part, the oldest of these dating to the 8th or 9th century. Apart from Jain temples, the wall frescoes of Jain images of "iconographic and the stylistic variety", are special features of the fort. The three ghats (ghat means "flight of stone steps leading to the river"), which provide approach to the Betwa river edge from the fort – the Nahar Ghat, the Rajghat and the ghat with the Siddh ki Ghufa (saints cave) – are also of archeological significance. The Deogarh monuments are protected by the Department of Archaeology of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and managed through its Northern Circle Office located ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mantra
A mantra (Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, magical or spiritual powers. Feuerstein, Georg (2003), ''The Deeper Dimension of Yoga''. Shambala Publications, Boston, MA Some mantras have a syntactic structure and literal meaning, while others do not. The earliest mantras were composed in Vedic Sanskrit in India. At its simplest, the word ॐ (Aum, Om) serves as a mantra, it is believed to be the first sound which was originated on earth. Aum sound when produced creates a reverberation in the body which helps the body and mind to be calm. In more sophisticated forms, mantras are melodic phrases with spiritual interpretations such as a human longing for truth, reality, light, immortality, peace, love, knowledge, and action. Some mantras without literal meaning are musically uplifting an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalika Purana
The Kalika Purana ( sa, Kālikā Purāṇa), also called the Kali Purana, Sati Purana or Kalika Tantra, is one of the eighteen minor Puranas (''Upapurana'') in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism. The text was likely composed in Assam or Cooch Behar: "This story is recounted also in the Kālikāpurāṇa—the earliest text devoted to the worship of Kāmākhyā, probably compiled no later than the tenth–eleventh century in a region between Assam and Koch Bihar (a district of West Bengal)." region of India and is attributed to the sage Markandeya. It exists in many versions, variously organized in 90 to 93 chapters. The surviving versions of the text are unusual in that they start abruptly and follow a format not found in either the major or minor Purana-genre mythical texts of Hinduism. Various types of animal sacrifices for devi are detailed in the Purana. Content The text starts off with the legends of Devi trying to bring Shiva back from ascetic life into that of a household ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vamana
Vamana (), also known as Trivikrama (), Urukrama (), Upendra (), Dadhivamana (), and Balibandhana () is an avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu. He is the fifth avatar of Vishnu, and the first Dashavatara in the Treta Yuga, after Narasimha. Originating in the Vedas, Vamana is most commonly associated in the Hindu epics and Puranas with the legend of taking back the three worlds (collectively referred to as the ''Trailokya'') from the daitya-king Bali by taking three steps to restore the cosmic order. He is the youngest among the adityas, the sons of Aditi and the sage Kashyapa. Nomenclature and etymology 'Vāmana' (Sanskrit वामन) means 'dwarf', 'small' or 'small or short in stature'. It also means 'dwarfish bull', which is notable as Vishnu is directly associated with dwarfish animals (including bulls) in the Vedas (see below). Stated in Puranic literature to be born of the great sage Kashyapa and his wife Aditi, other names or epithets referring to Vamana include: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sattvata Samhita
The Sattvata Samhita or Satvata Samhita is a Pancharatra, Pancaratra text dealing with the Vyuha, Vyuha Manifestation. Together with the Pauskara-Samhita and the Jayakhya-Samhita, it is considered one of the "Three Gems", the most important samhitas. It was supposedly written around 500 CE, making it one of the oldest Pancaratras. Notes {{reflist External links *https://archive.org/stream/pancaratra-agamas/Sattvata%20Samhita%20-%20Alasinga%20Bhatta%5BSkt%5D#page/n0/mode/1up [...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] |
Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages extending up to the 3rd century CE. ''Ramayana'' is one of the two important epics of Hinduism, the other being the ''Mahabharata, Mahābhārata''. The epic, traditionally ascribed to the Maharishi Valmiki, narrates the life of Sita, the Princess of Janakpur, and Rama, a legendary prince of Ayodhya city in the kingdom of Kosala. The epic follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest urged by his father King Dasharatha, on the request of Rama's stepmother Kaikeyi; his travels across forests in the South Asia, Indian subcontinent with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, the kidnapping of Sita by Ravana – the king of Lanka, that resulted in war; and Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya to be crowned kin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindu Epic
Mahākāvya (lit. great kāvya, court epic), also known as ''sargabandha'', is a genre of Indian epic poetry in Classical Sanskrit. The genre is characterised by ornate and elaborate descriptions of scenery, love, battles and so on — in short, everything that tests a poet's skill at description. Typical examples of ''mahākāvya'' are the ''Kumarasambhava'' and the '' Kiratarjuniya.'' It is considered the most prestigious form in the Sanskrit literature. The genre evolved from the earlier epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Despite the length of ''mahākāvya''s (15-30 cantos, a total of about 1500-3000 verses), they are still much shorter than the Ramayana (500 cantos, 24000 verses) and the Mahabharata (about 100000 verses). Classical examples The Buddhist poet and philosopher Aśvaghoṣa (c. 80 – c. 150 CE) is one of the earliest Sanskrit poets with surviving Kāvya literature. His ''Buddhacarita'' (''Acts of the Buddha'') calls itself a ''mahākāvya'' and wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
