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Kuldevi
A kuladevatā (), also known as a kuladaivaṃ, is an ancestral tutelary deity in Hinduism and Jainism. Such a deity is often the object of one's devotion ('' bhakti''), and is coaxed to watch over one's clan (''kula''), gotra, family, and children from misfortune. This is distinct from an '' ishta-devata'' (personal tutelar) and a grāmadevatā (village deities). Male kuladevatas are sometimes referred to as a kuladeva, while their female counterparts are called a kuladevi. Etymology The word ''kuladevata'' is derived from two words: ''kula'', meaning clan, and ''devata'', meaning deity, referring to the ancestral deities that are worshipped by particular clans. Veneration The deity can be represented in a male or a female human, an animal, or even an object, like a holy stone. It is believed that rituals done at a kuladeva/kuladevi temple benefits all those genetically connected with the one performing the ritual. Kuladaivams of the Shaiva tradition are often consid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madurai Veeran - 16th Century
Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in Tamil Nadu after Chennai and Coimbatore and the 44th most populated city in India. Located on the banks of River Vaigai, Madurai has been a major settlement for two millennia and has a documented history of more than 2500 years. It is often referred to as "Thoonga Nagaram", meaning "the city that never sleeps". Madurai is closely associated with the Tamil language. The third Tamil Sangam, a major congregation of Tamil scholars said to have been held in the city. The recorded history of the city goes back to the 3rd century BCE, being mentioned by Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to the Maurya empire, and Kautilya, a minister of the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya. Signs of human settlements and Roman trade links dating back to 300 BC ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western India
Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of its western part. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative division includes the states of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra along with the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, while the Ministry of Culture and some historians also include the state of Rajasthan. The Geological Survey of India includes Maharashtra but excludes Rajasthan whereas Ministry of Minority Affairs includes Karnataka but excludes Rajasthan. Madhya Pradesh is also often included and Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and southern Punjab are sometimes included. Western India may also refer to the western half of India, i.e. all the states west of Delhi and Chennai, thus also including Punjab, Kerala and surrounding states. The region is highly industrialised, with a large urban population. Roughly, western India is bounded by the Thar Desert in the north, the Vindhya Range in the east a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lakshmi Narayan
Lakshmi Narayana or Lakshmi-Narayan ( sa, लक्ष्मी-नारायण, IAST: ) is the dual representation of the Hindu deities Vishnu, also known as Narayana, and his consort, Lakshmi, traditionally featured in their abode, Vaikuntha. The goddess of prosperity and beauty, Lakshmi, is depicted as standing next to Vishnu, who holds the Panchajanya, Kaumodaki, Padma, and the Sudarshana Chakra. Another depiction of Lakshmi-Narayana portrays Lakshmi in the service of Narayana, who reclines on the cosmic serpent Shesha, floating in the Kshira Sagara, the Ocean of Milk. Legends The most significant Lakshmi-Narayana myth that appears in various Puranas is the Samudra Manthana, where Vishnu assumes his Kurma avatar to assist the devas and the asuras in the ordeal of churning the ocean of milk. Lakshmi emerges as one of the many treasures that are the product of the churning. The devas request Vishnu to marry her, and hence her auspiciousness is wed to his divinity, restori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yogamaya
Yogamaya (), also venerated as Vindhyavasini, Mahamaya, and Ekanamsha, is a Hindu goddess. In Vaishnava tradition, she is accorded the epithet Narayani, and serves as the personification of Vishnu's powers of illusion. The deity is regarded as the benevolent aspect of the goddess Durga in the Bhagavata Purana. She is regarded by Shaktas to be a form of Adi Shakti. In Hindu literature, she is born in a Yadava family, as the daughter of Nanda and Yashoda. Etymology Yogamaya refers to “the internal potency of Bhagavan, that arranges and enhances all his pastimes” in the Bhagavad Gita. The goddess Vindhyavasini gets her name from the Vindhya Range, literally meaning, "she who resides in Vindhya". Legend At the time of the birth of Krishna as the eighth child of Devaki and Vasudeva, Yogamaya had been born at the same time at the house of Nanda and Yashoda, as instructed by Vishnu. Vasudeva replaced Krishna with this daughter of Yashoda. When Kamsa tried to kill this inf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guruvayurappan
Guruvayurappan ( ml, ഗുരുവായൂരപ്പന്, (transliterated guruvāyūrappan)) also often rendered Guruvayoorappan, is a form of Vishnu worshipped mainly in Kerala. He is the presiding deity of the Guruvayur temple, who is worshipped as Krishna in his child form, also known as Guruvayur Unnikkannan (literally, ''Little Krishna''). Even though the deity is that of ''chaturbahu'' (four handed) Vishnu, the s''ankalpam'' (concept) of the people is that the deity is the infant form of Krishna. The deity represents the ''purna rupa'' (full manifestation) revealed by baby Krishna to his parents Vasudeva and Devaki immediately after his advent in Kamsa's jail. Hence, the deity represents both Krishna and Vishnu. The temple is located in the town of Guruvayur, Thrissur, Kerala, India, which is named after the deity itself. Etymology The word ''Guruvayurappan'', meaning Father/Lord of Guruvayur, comes from the words Guru (ഗുരു) referring to Brihaspati, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Padmanabhaswamy Temple
The Shree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is a Hindu temple located in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the state of Kerala, India. The name of the city of 'Thiruvananthapuram' in Tamil and Malayalam translates to "The City of Lord Ananta" (The City Of the infinite Shesh Naag). The temple is built in an intricate fusion of the Chera style and the Dravidian style of architecture, featuring high walls, and a 16th-century gopura. While as per some traditions the Ananthapura temple in Kumbla in Kasaragod district in Kerala is considered as the original spiritual seat of the deity ("Moolasthanam"), architecturally to some extent, the temple is a replica of the Adikesava Perumal temple in Thiruvattar in Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu. The principal deity Padmanabhaswamy (Vishnu) is enshrined in the "Anantha Shayana" posture, the eternal yogic sleep on the infinite serpent Adi Shesha. Padmanabhaswamy is the tutelary deity of the royal family of Travancore. The titular Mah ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Canara, and Thiruvithamkoor. Spread over , Kerala is the 21st largest Indian state by area. It is bordered by Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to the east and south, and the Lakshadweep Sea to the west. With 33 million inhabitants as per the 2011 census, Kerala is the 13th-largest Indian state by population. It is divided into 14 districts with the capital being Thiruvananthapuram. Malayalam is the most widely spoken language and is also the official language of the state. The Chera dynasty was the first prominent kingdom based in Kerala. The Ay kingdom in the deep south and the Ezhimala kingdom in the north formed the other kingdoms in the early years of the Common Era (CE). The region had been a prominent spic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virupaksha Temple, Hampi
Virupaksha Temple () is located in Hampi in the Vijayanagara district of Karnataka, India. It is part of the Group of Monuments at Hampi, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temple is dedicated to Lord Virupaksha, a form of Shiva. The temple was built by Lakkan Dandesha, a nayaka (chieftain) under the ruler Deva Raya II also known as Prauda Deva Raya of the Vijayanagar Empire. Hampi, capital of the Vijayanagar empire, sits on the banks of the Tungabhadra River (Pampa hole/Pampa river). Virupaksha Temple is the main center of pilgrimage (ತೀರ್ಥಯಾತ್ರೆ )at Hampi, and had been considered the most sacred sanctuary over the centuries. It is intact among the surrounding ruins and is still used in worship . The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva, known here as Virupaksha/Pampa pathi, as the consort of the local goddess Pampadevi who is associated with the Tungabhadra River. There is also a Virupakshini Amma temple (mother goddess) in a village cal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narasimha
Narasimha ( sa, नरसिंह, lit=man-lion, ), sometimes rendered Narasingha, is the fourth avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is regarded to have incarnated in the form of a part-lion, part-man being to slay Hiranyakashipu, to end religious persecution and calamity on earth, thereby restoring dharma. Narasimha is often depicted with three eyes, and is described in Vaishnavism to be the God of Destruction; he who destroys the entire universe at the time of the great dissolution (Mahapralaya). Hence, he is known as Kala (time) or Mahakala (great-time), or Parakala (beyond time) in his epithets. There exists a matha (monastery) dedicated to him by the name of Parakala Matha in the Sri Vaishnava tradition. Narasimha is also described as the God of Yoga, in the form of Yoga-Narasimha. Narasimha iconography shows him with a human torso and lower body, with a leonine face and claws, typically with the asura Hiranyakashipu in his lap, whom he is in the process of defeating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chennakeshava Temple, Belur
Chennakeshava Temple, also referred to as Keshava, Kesava or Vijayanarayana Temple of Belur, is a 12th-century Hindu temple in the Hassan district of Karnataka state, India. It was commissioned by King Vishnuvardhana in 1117 CE, on the banks of the Yagachi River in Belur also called Velapura, an early Hoysala Empire capital. The temple was built over three generations and took 103 years to finish.Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO (2014)Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysala UNESCO It was repeatedly damaged and plundered during wars, repeatedly rebuilt and repaired over its history. It is 35 km from Hassan city and about 200 km from Bengaluru. Chennakesava (''lit'', "handsome Kesava") is a form of the Hindu god Vishnu. The temple is dedicated to Vishnu and has been an active Hindu temple since its founding. It is reverentially described in medieval Hindu texts, and remains an important pilgrimage site in Vaishnavism. The temple is remarkable for its architecture, scul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnataka'' in 1973. The state corresponds to the Carnatic region. Its capital and largest city is Bengaluru. Karnataka is bordered by the Lakshadweep Sea to the west, Goa to the northwest, Maharashtra to the north, Telangana to the northeast, Andhra Pradesh to the east, Tamil Nadu to the southeast, and Kerala to the southwest. It is the only southern state to have land borders with all of the other four southern Indian sister states. The state covers an area of , or 5.83 percent of the total geographical area of India. It is the sixth-largest Indian state by area. With 61,130,704 inhabitants at the 2011 census, Karnataka is the eighth-largest state by population, comprising 31 districts. Kannada, one of the classical languages of India, is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_in_the_Hoysaleshwara_temple_at_Halebidu.jpg "Click for more on -> Lakshmi Narayan")
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