World Elephant
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World Elephant
The Ashtadiggajas () is a group of eight legendary elephants that appear in Hindu cosmology, serving as the guardians of the eight zones of the universe. There are also eight female elephants that stand beside the Ashtadiggajas, referred to as the Ashtadikkarinis. List There are a total of eight Ashtadiggjas and Ashtadikkarinis that stand guard over the eight zones: Literature Besides the Ashtadiggajas, there are four elephants who support the earth from the four directions from the netherworld, whose names are given in the Ramayana: Virūpākṣa (east), Mahāpadmasama (south), Saumanasa (west), and Bhadra (north). In popular culture The popular rendition of the World Turtle supporting one or several World Elephants is recorded in 1599 in a letter by Emanual de Veiga. Wilhelm von Humboldt claimed, without any proof, that the idea of a world-elephant maybe due to a confusion, caused by the Sanskrit noun Nāga having the dual meaning of "serpent" and "elephant" (named for ...
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PSM V10 D562 The Hindoo Earth
PSM, an acronym, may refer to: Organizations * Sepaktakraw Association of Malaysia ( ms, Persatuan Sepaktakraw Malaysia; PSM), a national governing body in Malaysia. * Pakistan School Muscat, a Pakistani co-educational institute in Oman * Palestine Solidarity Movement, a student organization in the United States * Panhellenic Socialist Movement, a centre-left party in Greece * Parti Sosialis Malaysia, a socialist political party in Malaysia * PlayStation: The Official Magazine, a magazine originally known as PlayStation Magazine or PSM * Ponce School of Medicine, a post-graduate medical school located in Ponce, Puerto Rico * Power Systems Mfg, a subsidiary of Alstom, specializing in aftermarket gas turbine servicing for power generating industry. * ''Poznańska Spółdzielnia Mieszkaniowa'', a housing cooperative administering most of the Piątkowo district of Poznań, Poland * PSM3, a UK video game magazine specializing in Sony consoles * PSM Makassar, a football club that pla ...
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Hindu Mythology
Hindu mythology is the body of myths and literature attributed to, and espoused by, the adherents of the Hindu religion, found in Hindu texts such as the Vedic literature, epics like ''Mahabharata'' and ''Ramayana'', the Puranas, and regional literature like the Tamil ''Periya Puranam'' and ''Divya Prabandham'', and the '' Mangal Kavya'' of Bengal. Hindu myths are also found in widely translated popular texts such as the fables of the '' Panchatantra'' and the ''Hitopadesha'', as well as in Southeast Asian texts. Primary sources * Vedas ** Rig ** Sama ** Yajur ** Atharva * Itihasa ** Ramayana ** Mahabharata * Maha-Puranas **Agni Purana **Brahma Purana ** Brahmanda Purana **Bhagavata Purana **Devi-Bhagavata Purana **Garuda Purana **Kurma Purana **Shiva Purana **Skanda Purana **Markandeya Purana **Matsya Purana ** Narada Purana **Linga Purana **Padma Purana **Varaha Purana **Vayu Purana **Vishnu Purana *Bengali literature **Mangal-Kāvya *Tamil literature ** Divya ...
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Hindu Legendary Creatures
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent. The term ''"Hindu"'' traces back to Old Persian which derived these names from the Sanskrit name ''Sindhu'' (सिन्धु ), referring to the river Indus. The Greek cognates of the same terms are "''Indus''" (for the river) and "''India''" (for the land of the river). The term "''Hindu''" also implied a geographic, ethnic or cultural identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent around or beyond the Sindhu (Indus) River. By the 16th century CE, the term began to refer to residents of the subcontinent who were not Turkic or Muslims. Hindoo is an archaic spelling variant, whose use today is considered derogatory. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the local In ...
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Gaja
Gaja () is a Sanskrit word for elephant. It is one of the significant animals finding references in Hindu scriptures, as well as Buddhist and Jain texts. Symbolism In general, a gaja personifies a number of positive attributes, including abundance, fertility and richness; boldness and strength; and wisdom and royalty. History In the context of the history of Ancient India, the earliest depiction of gaja is found on the seals discovered at sites (like Harappa and Mohenjo Daro) of the Indus Valley civilisation (3000 BCE – 1700 BCE). Some scholars believe that by that time elephants had been tamed and domesticated, and used for peaceful and possibly for other purposes. Rigveda 8-33-8 mentions a Wild Elephant. Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to the court of Chandragupta Maurya reports use of war elephants during warfare. Over a period of time encompassing several centuries, elephants became an important part of Indian life and society, particularly of religious tradition, the ...
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Guardians Of The Directions
The Guardians of the Directions (Sanskrit: दिक्पाल, Dikpāla) are the deities who rule the specific directions of space according to Hinduism, Jainism and '' '' Buddhism—especially . As a group of eight deities, they are called (अष्ट-दिक्पाल), literally meaning guardians of eight directions. They are often augmented with two extra deities for the ten directions (the two extra directions being zenith and nadir), when they are known as the . In Hinduism it is traditional to represent their images on the walls and ceilings of Hindu temples. They are also often portrayed in Jain temples, with the exception that Nāga usually takes the place of Vishnu in the nadir. Ancient Java and Bali Hinduism recognize , literally meaning guardians of nine directions, that consist of eight directions with one addition in the center. The nine guardian gods of directions is called ''Dewata Nawa Sanga'' (Nine guardian devata). The diagram of these guardian gods of ...
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Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pāṇḍava princes and their successors. It also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or ''puruṣārtha'' (12.161). Among the principal works and stories in the ''Mahābhārata'' are the '' Bhagavad Gita'', the story of Damayanti, the story of Shakuntala, the story of Pururava and Urvashi, the story of Savitri and Satyavan, the story of Kacha and Devayani, the story of Rishyasringa and an abbreviated version of the ''Rāmāyaṇa'', often considered as works in their own right. Traditionally, the authorship of the ''Mahābhārata'' is attributed to Vyāsa. There have been many attempts to unravel its historical growth and c ...
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Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the Indian movement for independence from British colonial rule, until 1910 was one of its influential leaders, and then became a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution. Aurobindo studied for the Indian Civil Service at King's College, Cambridge, England. After returning to India he took up various civil service works under the Maharaja of the Princely state of Baroda and became increasingly involved in nationalist politics in the Indian National Congress and the nascent revolutionary movement in Bengal with the Anushilan Samiti. He was arrested in the aftermath of a number of bombings linked to his organization in a public trial where he faced charges of treason for Alipore Conspiracy. However, ...
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World-Tortoise (Hindu)
The World Turtle, also called the Cosmic Turtle or the World-bearing Turtle, is a mytheme of a giant turtle (or tortoise) supporting or containing the world. It occurs in Hindu mythology, Chinese mythology, and the mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The comparative mythology of the World-Tortoise discussed by Edward Burnett Tylor (1878:341) includes the counterpart World Elephant. India The World Turtle in Hindu mythology is known as ''Akūpāra'' (Sanskrit: अकूपार), or sometimes ''Chukwa''. An example of a reference to the World Turtle in Hindu literature is found in Jñānarāja (the author of ''Siddhāntasundara'', writing c. 1500): "A vulture, whichever has only little strength, rests in the sky holding a snake in its beak for a prahara hree hours Why can he deityin the form of a tortoise, who possesses an inconceivable potency, not hold the Earth in the sky for a ''kalpa'' illions of years" The British philosopher John Locke made refer ...
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Hindu Cosmology
Hindu cosmology is the description of the universe and its states of matter, cycles within time, physical structure, and effects on living entities according to Hindu texts. Hindu cosmology is also intertwined with the idea of a creator who allows the world to exist and take shape. Matter All matter is based on three inert '' gunas'' (qualities or tendencies):James G. Lochtefeld, Guna, in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M, Vol. 1, Rosen Publishing, , pages 224, 265, 520Theos Bernard (1999), ''Hindu Philosophy'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 74–76 * ''sattva'' (goodness) * ''rajas'' (passion) * '' tamas'' (darkness) There are three states of the ''gunas'' that make up all matter in the universe: * ''pradhana'' (root matter): ''gunas'' in an unmixed and unmanifested state (equilibrium). * '' prakriti'' (primal matter): ''gunas'' in a mixed and unmanifested state (agitated). * '' mahat-tattva'' (matter or universal womb): ''gunas'' in a mixed and manifested state. ...
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Brewer's Dictionary Of Phrase And Fable
''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'', sometimes referred to simply as ''Brewer's'', is a reference work containing definitions and explanations of many famous phrases, allusions, and figures, whether historical or mythical. The "New Edition revised, corrected, and enlarged" from 1895 is now in the public domain, and Web-based versions are available online. The most recent version is the 20th edition, published in November 2018 by Chambers Harrap Publishers. History Originally published in 1870 by the Reverend E. Cobham Brewer, it was aimed at the growing number of people who wanted to understand the origins of phrases and historical or literary allusions, but did not have a university education. The 'phrase' part of the title refers mainly to the explanation of various idioms and proverbs, while the "fable" part might more accurately be labelled "folklore" and ranges from classical mythology to relatively recent literature. On top of this, Brewer added notes on importa ...
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Nāga
The Nagas (IAST: ''nāga''; Devanāgarī: नाग) are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. A female naga is called a Nagi, or a Nagini. According to legend, they are the children of the sage Kashyapa and Kadru. Rituals devoted to these supernatural beings have been taking place throughout South Asia for at least 2,000 years. They are principally depicted in three forms: as entirely human with snakes on the heads and necks, as common serpents, or as half-human, half-snake beings in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. ''Nagaraja'' is the title given to the king of the nagas. Narratives of these beings hold cultural significance in the mythological traditions of many South Asian and Southeast Asian cultures, and within Hinduism and Buddhism, they are the ancestral origins of the Nagavanshi Kshatriyas. Etymology In Sanskrit, a () ...
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