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Balmiki Sect
Balmikism or Valmikism is a Hindu sect that reveres the sage Valmiki, Srishtikarta (also known as Bala Shah or Lal Beg) as their ancestor as a patron saint. Followers believe that Valmiki was an avatar of God, and they consider his works, the ''Ramayana'' and the ''Yoga Vasistha'', as their holy scripture. Balmiki is often depicted as wearing red clothing and is thus known as Lal Bhekh (or Lal Beg). Ashram (Valmiki), Valmiki mandirs (temples) are open to all and the most important festival celebrated by Valmiki Hindus is Valmiki Jayanti, which marks the birthday of Valmiki. Many worshippers at Valmiki Hindu temples, especially those belonging to the Valmiki community, though adherents from other castes pray there too and patrons of Valmiki temples come from diverse castes. Demographics See also * Valmiki caste * Ardaas * Pargat Diwas References {{reflist Hindu denominations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balmiki
Chuhra, also known as Bhanghi and Balmiki, is a Dalit caste in India and Pakistan. Populated regions include the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, as well as Uttar Pradesh in India, among other parts of the Indian subcontinent such as South India, southern India. Their traditional occupation is Manual scavenging, sweeping, a "polluting" occupation that caused them to be considered Untouchability, untouchables in the caste system. Originally following the Balmiki sect of Hinduism, many Chuhras converted to Sikhism, Islam and Christianity during the colonial India, colonial era in India. Today, Chuhras in Indian Punjab are largely followers of Sikhism. A minority continue to follow Hinduism, which incorporates elements of Sikhism in its practices, as well as Christianity. In Pakistani Punjab 90–95% of its Christian population are Dalit Christians of the Chuhra caste; other Chuhras practice Islam or continue to follow Hinduism. Etymology and history The word "Chuhra" is d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent. It is assumed that the term ''"Hindu"'' traces back to Avestan scripture Vendidad which refers to land of seven rivers as Hapta Hendu which itself is a cognate to Sanskrit term ''Sapta Sindhuḥ''. (The term ''Sapta Sindhuḥ'' is mentioned in Rig Veda and refers to a North western Indian region of seven rivers and to India as a whole.) The Greek cognates of the same terms are "''Indus''" (for the river) and "''India''" (for the land of the river). Likewise the Hebrew cognate ''hōd-dū'' refers to India mentioned in Hebrew BibleEsther 1:1. The term "''Hindu''" also implied a geographic, ethnic or cultural identifier for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valmiki
Valmiki (; , ) was a legendary poet who is celebrated as the traditional author of the epic ''Ramayana'', based on the attribution in the text itself. He is revered as ''Ādi Kavi'', the first poet, author of ''Ramayana'', the first epic poem. The ''Ramayana'', originally written by Valmiki, consists of 24,000 shlokas and seven cantos (kaṇḍas). The is composed of about 480,002 words, being a quarter of the length of the full text of the ''Mahabharata'' or about four times the length of the ''Iliad''. The ''Ramayana'' tells the story of a prince, Rama of the city of Ayodhya (Ramayana), Ayodhya in the Kosala, Kingdom of Kosala, whose wife Sita is abducted by Ravana, the demon-king (Rakshasa) of Lanka. The 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, although original date of composition is unknown. As with many traditional epics, it has gone through a process of interp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patron Saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person. The term may be applied to individuals to whom similar roles are ascribed in other religions. In Christianity Saints often become the patrons of places where they were born or had been active. However, there were cases in medieval Europe where a city which grew to prominence obtained for its cathedral the remains or some relics of a famous saint who had lived and was buried elsewhere, thus making them the city's patron saint – such a practice conferred considerable prestige on the city concerned. In Latin America and the Philippines, Spanish and Portuguese explorers often named a location for the saint on whose feast or commemoration day they first visited the place, with that saint naturally becoming the area's patron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avatar
Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes used to refer to any guru or revered human being. The word ''avatar'' does not appear in the Vedic literature; however, it appears in developed forms in post-Vedic literature, and as a noun particularly in the Puranic literature after the 6th century CE. Despite that, the concept of an avatar is compatible with the content of the Vedic literature like the Upanishads as it is symbolic imagery of the Saguna Brahman concept in the philosophy of Hinduism. The ''Rigveda'' describes Indra as endowed with a mysterious power of assuming any form at will. The ''Bhagavad Gita'' expounds the doctrine of Avatara but with terms other than ''avatar''. Theologically, the term is most often associated with the Hindu god Vishnu, though the idea has been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ramayana
The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics of Hinduism known as the ''Itihasas'', the other being the ''Mahabharata''. The epic narrates the life of Rama, the seventh ''avatar'' of the Hindu deity Vishnu, who is a prince of Ayodhya (Ramayana), Ayodhya in the kingdom of Kosala. The epic follows Exile of Lord Rama, his fourteen-year exile to the forest urged by his father King Dasharatha, on the request of Rama's stepmother Kaikeyi; his travels across the forests in the Indian subcontinent with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana; the kidnapping of Sita by Ravana, the king of Lanka, that resulted in bloodbath; and Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya (Ramayana), Ayodhya along with Sita to be crowned as a king amidst jubilation and celebration. Scholarly estimates for the earliest stage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoga Vasistha
''Vasishta Yoga Samhita'' (, IAST: '; also known as ''Mokṣopāya'' or ''Mokṣopāyaśāstra'', and as ''Maha-Ramayana'', ''Arsha Ramayana'', ''Vasiṣṭha Ramayana'', ''Yogavasistha-Ramayana'' and ''Jnanavasistha'', is a historically popular and influential syncretic philosophical text of Hinduism, dated to the 11th—14th century CE. According to Mainkar, writing in 1977, the text started as an Upanishad, which developed into the ''Laghu Vasistha'', incorporating Buddhist ideas, and then, between 1150 and 1250, the ''Yoga Vasistha'', incorporating Shaivite Trika ideas. According to Slaje, writing in the 2000s, the ''Mokṣopāya'' was written in Kashmir in the 10th century. According to Hanneder and Slaje, the ''Mokṣopāya'' was later (11th to the 14th century) modified, showing influences from the Saivite Trika school, resulting in the ''Yogavāsiṣṭha'', which became an orthodox text in Advaita Vedanta. The text is attributed to Maharishi Valmiki, but the real author ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scripture
Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and laws, ethical conduct, spiritual aspirations, and admonitions for fostering a religious community. Within each religion, these texts are revered as authoritative sources of guidance, wisdom, and divine revelation. They are often regarded as sacred or holy, representing the core teachings and principles that their followers strive to uphold. Etymology and nomenclature According to Peter Beal, the term ''scripture'' – derived from (Latin) – meant "writings anuscriptsin general" prior to the medieval era, and was then "reserved to denote the texts of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible". Beyond Christianity, according to the ''Oxford World Encyclopedia'', the term ''scripture'' has referred to a text accepted to contain the "sacr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashram (Valmiki)
An ashram (, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions, not including Buddhism. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< *''ḱremh2'', ) with the prefix 'towards.' An ashram is a place where one strives towards a goal in a disciplined manner. Such a goal could be , spiritual, or any other.< ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tribune (Chandigarh)
''The Tribune'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Chandigarh and Gurgaon, Gurugram. It was founded on 2 February 1881, in Lahore, Punjab Province (British India), Punjab (now in Pakistan), by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a philanthropist, and is run by a trust comprising five persons as trustees. It is a major Indian newspaper with a worldwide circulation. In India, it is among the leading English daily for Punjab, India, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and the Chandigarh, Union Territory of Chandigarh. Overview The present Editor-in-Chief of ''The Tribune'' is Jyoti Malhotra. ''The Tribune'' has two sister publications: ''Dainik Tribune'' (in Hindi) and ''Punjabi Tribune'' (in Punjabi language, Punjabi). Naresh Kaushal is the Editor of ''Dainik Tribune'' and Arvinder Kaur Johal is the Officiating Editor of the ''Punjabi Tribune''. The online edition of ''The Tribune'' was launched in July 1998, and the onlin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valmiki Caste
The Valmikis are a variety of communities throughout India who all claim descent from the legendary author of the ''Ramayana'', Valmiki. The Valmikis can be classified as a caste or ''sampradaya'' (tradition/sect). In the north-west Punjab region, this caste had adopted Sikhism. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, many Valmiki were prominent rebels. Notable examples include Matadin Bhangi, Gangu Mehtar and Bhura Singh Valmiki. According to the 2001 Census of India, the Valmikis formed 11.2 per cent of the Scheduled Caste population in the Indian state of Punjab and were the second-most populous Scheduled Caste in Delhi National Capital Region. The 2011 Census of India for Uttar Pradesh showed the Valmiki population, which was classified as a Scheduled Caste, as 1,319,241. Demographics Notable people * Om Prakash Valmiki *Hans Raj Hans * Navraj Hans *Yuvraj Hans *Sudeepa * Devi Das Nahar * Sabar Koti Other countries In the UK, the Council of Valmiki Sabhas UK cla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
