- published: 22 Sep 2010
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Assam
Assam /əˈsæm/ (Assamese: অসম) also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province (British India), is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country[citation needed]. Assam was one of the original provinces of the British ruled Indian sub-continent and among the original provinces of present day India, having a legislature that dates back to 1937. However, present day Assam has undergone numerous territory alignment changes, with its state map being altered more than any other province's. Known for exquisite natural resources, geography and its important role in India's freedom struggle; Assam has its capital as Dispur, an especialized city circuit region located on the outskirts of its largest metropolis, Guwahati.
Assam is particularly famous for its natural beauty. The landscape includes tea gardens, the river Brahmaputra, and many historical monuments and temples. Swami Vivekananda once said that, "next only to Kashmir, Assam is the most beautiful place in India" A state with an abundance of forest, Assam also has five national parks, around half a dozen other wildlife sanctuaries, and is home to two-thirds of the population of the unique one-horned rhino. When it comes to wildlife, Assam too has successfully conserved the one-horned Indian rhinoceros from near extinction, along with the tiger and numerous species of birds, and it provides one of the last wild habitats for the Asian elephant. It is becoming an increasingly popular destination for wildlife tourism, and Kaziranga and Manas are both World Heritage Sites.
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Bhaktivedanta Manor
Coordinates: 51°39′56″N 0°20′11″W / 51.66556°N 0.33639°W / 51.66556; -0.33639
Bhaktivedanta Manor is a Gaudiya Vaishnava temple set in the Hertfordshire countryside of England in the village of Aldenham near Watford. The Manor, as it is called by those familiar with it, is owned and run by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, better known as ISKCON, or the Hare Krishna movement. It is ISKCON's largest property in the UK, and one of the most frequently visited Radha Krishna temples in Europe. It stands in 70 acres (280,000 m2) of landscaped grounds consisting of lawns, flower gardens, a children's playground, an artificial lake that attracts many water fowl, and a substantial car park.[citation needed]
The property was converted from a country mansion called Piggott's Manor, the name that still shows on older maps.[citation needed]
In 1972, Beatles musician George Harrison gave the Manor as an offering of devotion to the founder of ISKCON, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Harrison had a close relationship with Prabhupada and met and stayed with him on several occasions. "Bhaktivedānta" is Sanskrit for "devotion-Vedanta", that is, "the Vedanta which is about devotion".[citation needed]
wn.com/Bhaktivedanta_Manor -
Bihar
Bihar (/bɨˈhɑr/, pronounced [bɪˈɦaːr] (
listen)) is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at 38,202 sq mi (98,940 km2) and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India.
Bihar lies mid-way between West Bengal in the east and Uttar Pradesh in the west. It is bounded by the country of Nepal to the north and by Jharkhand to the south. The Bihar plain is divided into two parts by the river Ganges which flows through the middle from west to east. Bihar has notified forest area of 6,764.14 km2, which is 6.8% of its geographical area. Hindi and Urdu are the official languages of the state, while the majority of the people speak Angika, Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Maithili and Bajjika. In 2000, Bihar was divided into 2 parts, the Southern part known as Jharkhand.
Ancient Bihar (which consisted of Anga, Videha/Mithila, Magadha and Vajji/Vrijji) was a centre of power, learning and culture in ancient and classical India. Out of five "The Greats" from India, four greats belonged to this region of India, Magadh: Chandragupta Maurya, Ashoka, Samudragupta and Vikramaditya. From Magadha arose India's first and greatest empire, the Maurya empire as well as one of the world's most widely adhered-to religions, Buddhism. Magadha empires, notably under the Maurya and Gupta dynasties, unified large parts of South Asia under a central rule. Its capital Patna, earlier known as Pataliputra, was an important centre of Indian civilization.Nalanda and Vikramshila were centres of learning established in the 5th and 8th century respectively in Bihar, and are counted amongst the oldest and truly international universities, where people all over the world came to study. Bihar has distinction of giving the world its first democracy through Lichchivi (modern days Vaishali) during ancient era.
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Deccan
The Deccan Plateau is a large plateau in India, making up most of the southern part of the country. It rises a hundred meters high in the north, and more than a kilometer high in the south, forming a raised triangle within the familiar downward-pointing triangle of the Indian subcontinent's coastline.
It extends over eight Indian states and encompasses a wide range of habitats, covering most of central and southern India.
It is located between two mountain ranges: the Western Ghats form its western boundary, and the Eastern Ghats its eastern boundary. Each rises from their respective nearby coastal plains and nearly meet at the southern tip of India. It is separated from the Gangetic plain to the north by the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges, which form its northern boundary.
The name Deccan is an anglicised form of the Prakrit word dakkhin, itself derived from the Sanskrit word dákṣiṇa, meaning "south".
The Deccan Plateau lies south of the Indo-Gangetic plain. The Western Ghats Mountain Range is tall and blocks the moisture from the southwest monsoon from reaching the Deccan Plateau, so the region receives very little rainfall. The eastern Deccan Plateau is at a lower elevation spanning the southeastern coast of India. Its forests are also relatively dry but serve to retain the rain to form streams that feed into rivers that flow into basins and then into the Bay of Bengal.
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Delhi
Delhi (/ˈdɛli/; locally pronounced Dillee or Dehli), officially the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT), is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest metropolis by population in India. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16.7 million inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census. The region has been given special status of National Capital Region under The Constitution (69th Amendment) Act, 1991. There are nearly 22.2 million residents in the greater National Capital Region urban area (which also includes the cities Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon,Sonepat and Faridabad along with other smaller nearby towns).
Delhi is known to have been continuously inhabited since at least the 6th century BCE, though human habitation is believed to have existed since the second millennium BCE. Delhi is also widely believed to have been the site of Indraprastha, the legendary capital of the Pandavas during the times of the Mahabharata. Delhi re-emerged as a major political, cultural and commercial city along the trade routes between northwest India and the Gangetic plain after the rise of the Delhi sultanates. It is the site of many ancient and medieval monuments, archaeological sites and remains.
wn.com/Delhi -
Gujarat
Gujarat /ˌɡʊdʒəˈrɑːt/ (Gujarati: ગુજરાત Gujǎrāt [ɡudʒ(ə)ɾat] ( listen)) is a state in western India. It has an area of 75,686 sq mi (196,030 km2) with a coastline of 1,600 km, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula, and a population in excess of 60 million. The state is bordered by Rajasthan to the north, Maharashtra to the south, Madhya Pradesh to the east and the Arabian Sea as well as the Pakistani province of Sindh on the west. Its capital is Gandhinagar, while its largest city is Ahmedabad. Gujarat is home to the Gujarati-speaking people of India.
The state encompasses major sites of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, such as Lothal and Dholavira. Lothal is believed to be one of the world's first ports. Gujarat's coastal cities, chiefly Bharuch and Khambhat, served as ports and trading centers in the Maurya and Gupta empires. Mahatma Gandhi, India's "father of the nation", who led the Indian Independence Movement against the British colonial rule was a Gujarati.Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, independent India's first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister was also from Gujarat.
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Guruvayur temple
Guruvayur Sri Krshna Temple (Malayalam: ഗുരുവായൂര് ക്ഷേത്രം, Guruvāyūr Kṣētṟaṁ) is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Krshna, located in the town of Guruvayur in Kerala, India. It is one of the most important places of worship for Hindus of Kerala and is often referred to as "Bhuloka Vaikunta" which translates to the "Holy Abode of Vishnu on Earth". The idol installed at Guruvayur Sri Krshna Temple represents a form of Krshna with its four arms carrying the conch Pancajanya, the magical discus with serrated edges Sudarshana Chakra, the mace Kaumodaki and a lotus with a boly basil garland. This idol represents the majestic form of god Vishnu as revealed to Vasudeva and Devaki around the time of Krshna; hence Guruvayur is also known as "Dwaraka of South India". Krishna is popularly known in Kerala by different names such as Kannan, Unnikkannan ("Baby" Kannan), Unnikkrshnan, Balakrshnan, and Guruvayurappan.
The "presiding" deity in the Sri Kovil of the Guruvayur Sri Krshna Temple is Vishnu. He is currently worshipped (the "puja") according to routines laid down by Adi Shankara and later written formally in the tantric way, the inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, by Cennas Narayanan Nambudiri (born in 1427). The Cennas Nambudiris are the hereditary tantris of the Guruvayur Temple. The temple (puja) routines are strictly followed. The tantri is available full time at the Temple to ensure this. The Melsanti (Chief Priest) enters the sanctum sanctorum at 2:30 in the morning and does not drink anything up to the completion of "noon worships" at 12:30 PM. The Vedic traditions being followed at this temple with absolute perfection is the hallmark of the Guruvayur temple. It is important to note here that, even though the shrine is considered to be one of the holiest spots for Vaishnavites, the temple is not a part of the famous 108 Holy Temples.
wn.com/Guruvayur_temple -
Guruvayur Temple
Guruvayur Sri Krshna Temple (Malayalam: ഗുരുവായൂര് ക്ഷേത്രം, Guruvāyūr Kṣētṟaṁ) is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Krshna, located in the town of Guruvayur in Kerala, India. It is one of the most important places of worship for Hindus of Kerala and is often referred to as "Bhuloka Vaikunta" which translates to the "Holy Abode of Vishnu on Earth". The idol installed at Guruvayur Sri Krshna Temple represents a form of Krshna with its four arms carrying the conch Pancajanya, the magical discus with serrated edges Sudarshana Chakra, the mace Kaumodaki and a lotus with a boly basil garland. This idol represents the majestic form of god Vishnu as revealed to Vasudeva and Devaki around the time of Krshna; hence Guruvayur is also known as "Dwaraka of South India". Krishna is popularly known in Kerala by different names such as Kannan, Unnikkannan ("Baby" Kannan), Unnikkrshnan, Balakrshnan, and Guruvayurappan.
The "presiding" deity in the Sri Kovil of the Guruvayur Sri Krshna Temple is Vishnu. He is currently worshipped (the "puja") according to routines laid down by Adi Shankara and later written formally in the tantric way, the inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, by Cennas Narayanan Nambudiri (born in 1427). The Cennas Nambudiris are the hereditary tantris of the Guruvayur Temple. The temple (puja) routines are strictly followed. The tantri is available full time at the Temple to ensure this. The Melsanti (Chief Priest) enters the sanctum sanctorum at 2:30 in the morning and does not drink anything up to the completion of "noon worships" at 12:30 PM. The Vedic traditions being followed at this temple with absolute perfection is the hallmark of the Guruvayur temple. It is important to note here that, even though the shrine is considered to be one of the holiest spots for Vaishnavites, the temple is not a part of the famous 108 Holy Temples.
wn.com/Guruvayur_Temple -
Haryana
Haryana /ˌhɑriˈɑːnə/ is a state in India. Constituted in 1966, it is one of two newly created states carved out of the greater Punjab province as a means of creating a stronger national identity. It has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar (VS 1189-1230). It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south. The river Yamuna defines its eastern border with Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Haryana also surrounds Delhi on three sides, forming the northern, western and southern borders of Delhi. Consequently, a large area of Haryana is included in the National Capital Region. The capital of the state is Chandigarh which is administered as a union territory and is also the capital of Punjab.
Sites in Haryana were part of the Indus Valley and Vedic Civilizations. Several decisive battles were fought in the area, which shaped much of the history of India. These include the epic battle of Mahabharata at Kurukshetra mentioned in the Hindu mythology (including the recital of the Bhagavad Gita by Krishna), and the three battles of Panipat. Haryana was administered as part of the Punjab province of British India, and was carved out on linguistic lines as India's 17th state in 1966. Haryana is now a leading contributor to the country's production of foodgrain and milk. Agriculture is the leading occupation for the residents of the state, the flat arable land irrigated by submersible pumps and an extensive canal system. Haryana contributed heavily to the Green Revolution that made India self-sufficient in food production in the 1960s.
wn.com/Haryana -
India
India (
i/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.
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Jagannatha Puri
The Jagannath Temple in Puri(orissa) (Oriya: ବଡଦେଉଳ, ଶ୍ରୀମନ୍ଦିର) is a famous Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath and located in the coastal town of Puri in the state of Orissa, India. The name Jagannath (Lord of the Universe) is a combination of the Sanskrit words Jagat (Universe) and Nath (Lord of). The temple is an important pilgrimage destination for many Hindu traditions, particularly worshippers of Krishna and Vishnu, and part of the Char Dham pilgrimages that a Hindu is expected to make in one's lifetime . The temple was built in the 11th century atop its ruins by the progenitor of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, King Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva. The temple is famous for its annual Rath Yatra, or chariot festival, in which the three main temple deities are hauled on huge and elaborately decorated temple cars. Since medieval times, it is also associated with intense religious fervour.
Legendary account as found in the Skanda-Purana, Brahma Purana and other Puranas and later Oriya works state that Lord Jagannath was originally worshipped as Lord Neela Madhav by a Savar king ( tribal chief ) named Viswavasu. Having heard about the deity, King Indradyumna sent a Brahmin priest, Vidyapati to locate the deity, who was worshipped secretly in a dense forest by Viswavasu. Vidyapati tried his best but could not locate the place. But at last he managed to marry Viswavasu's daughter Lalita . At repeated request of Vidyapti, Viswavasu took his son-in-law blind folded to a cave where Lord Neela Madhav was worshipped.
wn.com/Jagannatha_Puri -
Japan
Japan
i/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国 
Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.
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Karnataka
Karnataka /kɑrˈnɑːtəkə/ is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava (Formation Day). Originally known as the State of Mysore /maɪˈsɔər/, it was renamed Karnataka in 1973. It is the land of the Kannadigas, Tuluvas, Konkanis and Kodavas. The capital and largest city is Bangalore.
Karnataka is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, Goa to the northwest, Maharashtra to the north, Andhra Pradesh to the east, Tamil Nadu to the southeast, and Kerala to the southwest. The state covers an area of 191,976 square kilometres (74,122 sq mi), or 5.83% of the total geographical area of India. It is the eighth largest Indian state by area. With over 61 million inhabitants (2011), Karnataka is the ninth largest state by population, comprising 30 districts. Kannada is the most widely spoken and official language of the state.
The two main river systems of the state are Krishna and its tributaries (Bhima, Ghataprabha, Vedavati, Malaprabha, and Tungabhadra) in the north, and the Cauvery and its tributaries (Hemavati, Shimsha, Arkavathi, Lakshmana Thirtha and Kabini) in the south. Both these rivers flow eastward and fall into the Bay of Bengal.
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Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra
pronunciation (help·info) (Hindi: कुरुक्षेत्र) is a land of historical and religious importance. Historically the land belonged to Punjab, but now it is a district in Haryana state of India. It is a holy place and is also known as Dharmakshetra ("Holy City"). According to the Puranas, Kurukshetra is named after King Kuru, the ancestor of Kauravas and Pandavas, as depicted in epic Mahabharata. The importance of the place is attributed to the fact that the Kurukshetra War of the Mahabharata was fought on this land and the Bhagavad Gita was preached on this land during the war when Lord Krishna found Arjuna in a terrible dilemma.
Rashtrakavi Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' has written an epic poem by the title of Kurukshetra. It is a narrative poem based on the Santi Parva of the Mahabharata. It was written at a time when the memories of the Second World War were fresh on the mind of the poet.
Thanesar or Sthaneswar is a historical town located adjacent to what is now the newly created Kurukshetra city. Thanesar derives its name from the word "Sthaneshwar", which means "Place of God". The Sthaneshwar Mahadev Temple, whose presiding deity is Lord Shiva, is believed to be the oldest temple in the vicinity. Local hearsay identifies the legendary "Kurukshetra" with a nearby place known as Thanesar. A few kilometers from Kurukshetra is the village known as Amin, where there are remnants of a fort which is believed to be Abhimanyu's fort.
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Maharashtra
Maharashtra /mɑːhəˈrɑːʃtrə/ (Marathi: महाराष्ट् mahārāṣṭra [məharaːʂʈrə] ( listen)) is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India. Maharashtra is the richest state in India, contributing 15% of the country's industrial output and 13.3% of its GDP (2006–2007 figures).
Maharashtra is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, Gujarat and the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli to the northwest, Madhya Pradesh to the northeast, Chhattisgarh to the east, Karnataka to the south, Andhra Pradesh to the southeast, and Goa to the southwest. The state covers an area of 307,731 km2 (118,816 sq mi) or 9.84% of the total geographical area of India. Mumbai, the capital city of the state, is India's largest city and the financial capital of the nation. Nagpur is the second capital of the state. Marathi is the official language.
Maharashtra is the world's second most populous first-level administrative country sub-division. Were it a nation in its own right, Maharashtra would be the world's tenth most populous country ahead of Mexico.
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Nathdwara
Nathdwara is a town in Rajasthan state of western India. It is located in the Aravalli hills, on the banks of the Banas River in Rajsamand District, 48 kilometers north-east of Udaipur. This town is famous for its temple of Krishna which houses the idol of Shrinathji, a 14th century, 7-year old "infant" incarnation of Krishna. The idol was originally worshipped at Mathura and was shifted in the 1672 from Govardhan hill, near Mathura along holy river Yamuna after being retained at Agra for almost six months, in order to protect it from anti-Hindu fanatic iconoclastic Islamic policies of Mughal ruler Aurangzeb’s. Literally, Nathdwara means ‘Gateway to Shrinathji’. Nathdwara is a significant Vaishnavite shrine pertaining to the Pushti Marg or the Vallabh Sampradaya or the Shuddha Advaita founded by Vallabha Acharya, revered mainly by people of Gujarat and Rajasthan, among others. Vitthal Nathji, son of Vallabhacharya institutionalised the worship of Shrinathji at Nathdwara. Nathdwara town itself is popularly referred to as ‘Shrinathji’, after the presiding deity.
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Orissa
Orissa /ɔːˈrɪsə/ (Oriya: ଓଡ଼ିଶା [oˑɽisaˑ], Hindi: ओड़िशा – Oṛiśā), officially spelled Odisha, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BCE. The modern state of Orissa was established on April 1, 1936, as a province in India, and consists predominantly of Oriya speakers. April 1st is therefore celebrated as Utkala Dibasa (formation day of Orissa). Cuttack remained the capital of the state for over eight centuries until April 13, 1948 when Bhubaneswar was officially declared as the new capital of Orissa, and is the present capital of this state.
Orissa is the ninth largest state by area in India, and the eleventh largest by population. Oriya (officially spelled Odia) is the official and most widely spoken language, spoken by three quarters of the population. Orissa has a relatively unindented coastline (about 480 km long) and lacked good ports, except for the deepwater facility at Paradip, until the recent launch of the Dhamara Port (The Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL) is a 50:50 joint venture of L&T and Tata Steel. DPCL has been awarded a concession by Government of Orissa to build and operate a port north of the mouth of river Dhamra in Bhadrak district). The narrow, level coastal strip, including the Mahanadi River delta supports the bulk of the population. The interior of the state is mountainous and sparsely populated.Deomali at 1672 m is the highest point of the state. Orissa is subject to intense cyclones. The most intense one, in October 1999, Tropical Cyclone 05B caused severe damage and nearly 15,000 deaths.
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Radha Ramana
Radha Ramana (or Radharaman) is a famous image of Radha Krishna worshiped in Hinduism. There is a famous temple of this deity in Vrindavana.
This name of Krishna should be understood from a certain perspective, as a lover (ramana) of his Radha.
The appearance of the Radha Ramana is described by Gopala Bhatta Goswami biographer Narahari in a mere four verses (Bhakti Ratnakara 4.315-19). Narahari Chakravarti puzzles over Krsnadasa's near-silence over Gopala Bhatta, concluding that Gopala Bhatta requested his junior, Krishnadasa Kaviraja to be omitted from the book out of humility (1.222-3). Unlike other biographies of Caitanya, Chaitanya Charitamrta describes Caitanya's south India tour, including his visit to Srirangam and residing with the temple priest Venkata Bhatta (Chaitanya Charitamrta 2.9.82- 165)
The quaint historic temple of Radha Raman has recently celebrated its 500th anniversary. It has a steady flow of local worshippers as well as pilgrims from around the world. It is notable for housing the image that is the oldest remaining in Vrindavan for the longest continuous period, as Radha Raman remained in Vrindavan during the iconoclastic raids by Mughal King of India Aurangzeb during the seventeenth century, when other images were removed to be hidden in safer places outside the city. Performances of classical Indian devotional music are offered in Radha Raman temple nightly.
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Rajasthan
Rājasthān /ˈrɑːdʒəstæn/ (Hindustani pronunciation: [raːdʒəsˈt̪ʰaːn] ( listen)) the land of Rajasthanis, ("the land of kings"), is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert (Thar Desert), which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with Pakistan. The state is bordered by Pakistan to the west, Gujarat to the southwest, Madhya Pradesh to the southeast, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to the northeast and Punjab to the north. Rajasthan covers 10.4% of India, an area of 342,269 square kilometres (132,151 sq mi).
Jaipur is the capital and the largest city of the state. Geographical features include the Thar Desert along north-western Rajasthan and the termination of the Ghaggar River near the archaeological ruins at Kalibanga of the Indus Valley Civilization, which are the oldest in the Indian subcontinent discovered so far.
One of the world's oldest mountain ranges, the Aravalli Range, cradles the only hill station of Rajasthan, Mount Abu, famous for Dilwara Temples, a sacred pilgrimage for Jains. Eastern Rajasthan has the world famous Keoladeo National Park near Bharatpur, a World Heritage Site known for its bird life. It also has two national tiger reserves, Ranthambore and Sariska Tiger Reserve, and a famous temple in Khatu, Sikar district, dedicated to Khatu Shyam Ji. Rajasthan was formed on 30 March 1949, when the region known until then as Rajputana, consisting of erstwhile princely states ruled mainly by Rajputs.
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Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu /ˈtæmɨl ˈnɑːduː/ (Tamiḻ Nāṭu [t̪amɨɭ naːɖɯ] ( listen)) is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital is Chennai, the largest city. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. It is bound by the Eastern Ghats in the north, the Nilgiri, the Anamalai Hills, and Palakkad on the west, by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Gulf of Mannar, the Palk Strait in the south east, and by the Indian Ocean in the south.
Tamil Nadu is the eleventh largest state in India by area and the seventh most populous state. It is the fourth largest contributor (as of 2010) to India's GDP and ranks tenth in Human Development Index as of 2006. Tamil Nadu is also the most urbanised state in India. The state has the highest number (10.56%) of business enterprises and stands second in total employment (9.97%) in India, compared to the population share of about 6%.
The region has been the home of the Tamil people since at least 500 BCE. Its official language Tamil has been in use in inscriptions and literature for over 2000 years. Tamil Nadu is home to many natural resources, Hindu temples of Dravidian architecture, hill stations, beach resorts, multi-religious pilgrimage sites and eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
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Udaipur
Udaipur pronunciation (help·info) (Rajasthani: उदैपर) (उदयपुर), also known as the City of Lakes, is a city, a Municipal Council and the administrative headquarters of the Udaipur district in the state of Rajasthan in western India. It is located 403 kilometres (250 mi) southwest of the state capital, Jaipur, 248 kilometres (154 mi) west of Kota, and 250 kilometres (155 mi) northeast from Ahmedabad. Udaipur is the historic capital of the kingdom of Mewar in the former Rajputana Agency. The Guhils (Sisodia) clan ruled the Mewar and its capital was shifted from Chittorgarh to Udaipur after founding city of Udaipur by Maharana Uday Singh. The Mewar province became part of Rajasthan after India became independent
Apart from its history, culture, and scenic locations, it is also known for its Rajput-era palaces. The Lake Palace, for instance, covers an entire island in the Pichola Lake. Many of the palaces have been converted into luxury hotels. It is often called the "Venice of the East", and is also nicknamed the "Lake City".Lake Pichola, Fateh Sagar Lake, Udai Sagar and Swaroop Sagar in this city are considered some of the most beautiful lakes in the state.
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Udupi
Udupi (Tulu:ಉಡುಪಿ, Konkani:उडुपी and Kannada:ಉಡುಪಿ) is a town in the south-west Indian State of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Udupi District. Udupi is notable for the Krishna Temple, and lends its name to the popular Udupi cuisine. Udupi, also known as Rajata Peetha and Shivalli (Shivabelli), a centre of pilgrimage, is situated about 58 km north of Mangalore and about 422 km north-west of Bangalore.
It is widely believed that the name of Udupi was derived from its Tulu name Odipu. The Tulu name in turn is associated with a temple at Malpe, devoted to Vadabhandeshwara. Another story is that the name Udupi came from the combination of the Sanskrit words Udu and Pa, which mean "stars" and "lord." According to legend, the moon's light was once reduced due to a curse by King Daksha, whose 27 daughters (the 27 stars, according to Hindu astrology) were married to the moon. The moon prayed to Lord Shiva to get back its original shine. Lord Shiva was pleased with the moon's prayer and restored its shine. Legend says that the moon and his wives made their prayer at the Chandramouleeshwara temple at Udupi, creating a linga that can be seen even today. According to this story, therefore, Udupi means the land of the "lord of the stars," the moon.
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Udupi Krishna Temple
Udupi Sri Krishna Matha (Tulu:ಉಡುಪಿ ಶ್ರೀ ಕೃಷ್ಣ ಮಠ) is a famous Hindu temple dedicated to god Krishna located in the town of Udupi in Karnataka, India.
The matha area resembles a living ashram, a holy place for daily devotion and living. Surrounding the Sri Krishna Matha are several temples, the most ancient being made of basic wood and stone of 1,500 years origin. (See Udupi for more)
The Krishna Matha was founded by the Vaishnavite saint Shri Madhwacharya in the 13th century. He was the founder of the Dvaita school of Vedanta. It is believed that Madhwacharya found the idol of SriKrishna in a large ball of gopichanda.
Legend has it that once Kanakadasa, a pious worshiper and devotee of Lord Krishna, was not allowed entry into the temple. It didn't upset him; instead it made him pray with intense devotion. Lord Krishna was so pleased that the statue turned back to where Kanakadasa was praying, and the wall before Kanakadasa broke up to allow the disciple to gaze upon his heavenly form at the back of the mutt (monastery). Till today, devotees still worship Lord Krishna by praying through the same window that Kanakadasa was blessed with a view: It is known as Kanakanakhindi.
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Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh /ˌʌtər prəˈdɛʃ/, abbreviation U.P. ("Northern Province"; formerly: United Provinces), is a state located in the north western part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity. Were it a nation in its own right, Uttar Pradesh would be the world's fifth most populous country, ahead of Brazil (a country thirty-five times larger in territorial area than Uttar Pradesh). On 9 November 2000, the Himalayan portion of the state, comprising the Garhwal and Kumaon divisions and Haridwar district, was formed into a new state 'Uttaranchal', now called Uttarakhand, meaning the 'Northern Segment' state.
Uttar Pradesh is the second largest state-economy in India, with a GDP of $103.5 billion in 2009. The annual per capita GDP of the state was $1586 in 2009, on purchasing power parity basis. It contributed 8.34% to India's total GDP in the financial year 2010. Agriculture is a significant part of UP's economy. The state was India's sixth largest producer of fruits, and became the largest producer of vegetables in 2010. With an area of 93,933 sq mi (243,290 km2), Uttar Pradesh covers a large part of the highly fertile and densely populated upper Gangetic plain. It shares an international border with Nepal to the north. Other states along Uttar Pradesh's border include Uttarakhand, Haryana and Delhi to the north and northwest; Rajasthan on the west; Madhya Pradesh on the south; Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand on the south east; and Bihar on the east.
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Watford
Watfordi/ˈwɒtfərd/ is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated 18 miles (29 km) northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.
Watford was created as an urban district under the Local Government Act 1894, and became a municipal borough by grant of a charter in 1922. The borough had 79,726 inhabitants at the time of the 2001 Census. The most recent official estimates put the population of Watford at 79,600 at mid-2006.
The nearby areas of Croxley Green, Bushey, Rickmansworth, Chorleywood, Kings Langley, Abbots Langley, Carpenders Park and South Oxhey, located in Three Rivers and Hertsmere districts, also form part of the Watford postcode area. The Watford subdivision of the Greater London Urban Area, which includes much of the neighbouring districts, had a total population of 120,960 in the 2001 census.
Watford stands on a low hill near the point at which the River Colne was forded by travellers between London and the Midlands. This route, originally a pre-Roman trackway, departed from the ancient Roman Watling Street at Stanmore, heading for the Gade valley and thence up the Bulbourne valley to a low and easily traversed section of the Chiltern Hills near Tring. The modern High Street follows the route of this road.
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Abraham
Abraham (Hebrew: אַבְרָהָם (help·info), Modern: Avraham, Tiberian: ʼAḇrāhām, Ashkenazi Avrohom or Avruhom, Arabic: إبراهيم Ibrāhīm, Ge'ez: አብርሃም ʼAbrəham, Greek: Aβραάμ, Russian: Авраам), whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. According to both the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, through his sons Ishmael and Isaac, Abraham is the forefather of many tribes, namely the Ishmaelites, Israelites, Midianites and Edomites. Abraham was a descendant of Noah's son, Shem. Christians believe that Jesus was a descendant of Abraham through Isaac, and Muslims believe that Muhammad was a descendant of Abraham through Ishmael. Abraham is notable for his advocation and promotion of monotheism.
The Book of Genesis narrative that records the life of Abraham presents his role as one that could only be fulfilled through a monotheistic covenant established between him and God. The Qur'an has stories about Abraham and his offspring that are similar to the Bible's. In Islam, Abraham is recognised as a prophet, patriarch and messenger, archetype of the perfect Muslim, and reformer of the Kaaba.
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Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley (/ˈkroʊli/ KROH-lee; 12 October 1875–1 December 1947), born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, mystic, ceremonial magician, poet and mountaineer, who was responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. In his role as the founder of the Thelemite philosophy, he came to see himself as the prophet who was entrusted with informing humanity that it was entering the new Aeon of Horus in the early 20th century.
Born into a wealthy upper class family, as a young man he became an influential member of the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn after befriending the order's leader, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. Subsequently believing that he was being contacted by his Holy Guardian Angel, an entity known as Aiwass, while staying in Egypt in 1904, he "received" a text known as The Book of the Law from what he believed was a divine source, and around which he would come to develop his new philosophy of Thelema. He would go on to found his own occult society, the A∴A∴ and eventually rose to become a leader of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), before founding a religious commune in Cefalù known as the Abbey of Thelema, which he led from 1920 through till 1923. After abandoning the Abbey amid widespread opposition, Crowley returned to Britain, where he continued to promote Thelema until his death.
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Aniruddha
Aniruddha (Sanskrit: अनिरुद्ध), meaning "uncontrolled" or "without obstacles", was the son of Pradyumna and the grandson of Krishna. He is said to have been very much like his grandfather, to the extent that he may be a jana avatar. The four important Vishnu extensions are Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha. These four are considered to be vishnu-tattva or Vishnu's plenary expansions. Aniruddha is present in every soul as Supersoul.
A Daitya princess named Usha, daughter of Bana, fell in love with Aniruddha and had him brought by magic influence to her apartments in her father's city of Sonitapura. In her previous life, Usa was the apsara, Tilottama. She was cursed by Durvasa muni to be born as a Daitya princess, as she had been caught making love to Sushi, the son of the great devotee Ravi without any restraint and any regard for Durvasa muni, who was meditating there at the time, unseen by them, as he was behind a hill of ants. Bana sent guards to seize him, but the valiant youth, taking an iron club, slew his assailants. Bana then brought his magic powers to bear and secured him.
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Arjuna
In Indian mythology, Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน Orachun, Tamil: அருச்சுனன் Aruccunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna, Harjuno, Herjuno, Malay: Ranjuna; pronounced [ɐrˈɟunɐ] in classical Sanskrit) is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, and a key historical figure in the Dwapar Yuga. Arjuna, whose name. means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' (cf. Latin argentum), was such a peerless archer that he is often referred to as Vishnu – the unbeatable.
The third of the five Pandava brothers, Arjuna was the son of the king of gods, Indra, and Kunti, wife of king Pandu of Kuru. Arjuna was an ambidextrous master archer and as a Maharathi played a key role in the victory of Yudhisthira in the Mahabharata War. Taught by the master of military arts Drona, Arjuna used the magnificent bow Gāndeeva, and killed many Kaurava generals like Karna and Jayadratha. He was also a close friend of Krishna, an Avatar of god Vishnu. Arjuna had four wives, Subhadra, Draupadi, Chitrangada and Ulupi.
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Arrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon' (ca. AD 86 - 160), known in English as Arrian[pronunciation?] (Ἀρριανός), and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman (ethnic Greek) historian, public servant, military commander and philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period. As with other authors of the Second Sophistic, Arrian wrote primarily in Attic (Indica is in Herodotus' Ionic dialect, his philosophical works in Koine Greek) .
Anabasis of Alexander is perhaps his best known work and is generally considered one of the best sources on the campaigns of Alexander the Great, not to be confused with Anabasis, then best-known work of the Athenian military leader and author Xenophon from the 4th century BC. Arrian is also considered as one of the founders of a primarily military-based focus on history. His other works include Discourses of Epictetus and Indica.
Arrian was born of Greek ethnicity in the coastal town of Nicomedia (present-day Izmit), the capital of the Roman province of Bithynia, in what is now north-western Turkey, about 70 km from Byzantium (later Constantinople, now Istanbul). He studied philosophy in Nicopolis in Epirus, under the Stoic philosopher Epictetus, and wrote two books about the philosopher's teachings. At the same time he entered the Imperial service, and served as a junior adviser on the consilium of Gaius Avidius Nigrinus, governor of Achaea and a close friend of the future Emperor Hadrian, around 111-114. Very little is known about his subsequent career - though it is probable that he served in Gaul and on the Danube frontier, and possible that he was in Baetica and Parthia - until he held the office of Consul in 129 or 130. In 131 he was appointed governor of the Black Sea province of Cappadocia and commander of the Roman legions on the frontier with Armenia. It was unusual at this time for a Greek to hold such high military command.
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Babruvahana
Babruvahana or Babhruvahana is a character in the Mahabharata, a Hindu epic. He is one of the sons of Arjuna, begotten through Chitrangada, the princess of Manipura, during the period of his exile at Manipura.
Babruvahana was adopted as the son of his maternal grandfather, and reigned at Manipura as his successor. He dwelt there in a palace of great splendour, surrounded with wealth and signs of power.
When Arjuna went to Manipura with the horse intended for the Aswamedha, there was a quarrel between Arjuna and King Babhruvahana, and the latter killed his father with an arrow. Repenting of his deed, he determined to kill himself, but he obtained from his stepmother, the Naga princess Uloopi, a gem which restored Arjuna to life. He returned with his father to Hastinapura. This was on account of a curse by the Vasus, on account of Arjuna's killing Bhishma (who is an incarnation of one of the Vasus) during the Mahābhārata war.
The story of Babruvahana is made into films in Telugu in 1942 and 1964 and in Kannada in 1977.
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Balarama
Balarama (बलराम, Balarāma), also known as Baladeva, Balabhadra and Halayudha, is the elder brother of the divine being, Krishna in Hinduism. Within Vaishnavism Hindu traditions Balarama is identified and worshipped as an Avatar of Vishnu, and he is also listed as such in the Bhagavata Purana. The truth as given by Krshna Dwaipayaya Vyasa Mahabharata (original version of Mahabhrata written by Vyasa) it is clearly given in Swargarohana Parva that Balarama is an incarnation of Adishesha on which the Lord Vishnu rests. Within both the Vaishnava traditions and Hinduism generally he is known as being a manifestation of Shesha, the serpent on whom Vishnu rests.
The Bhagavata Purana describes Krishna as the original Supreme Personality of Godhead from whom everything else emanates. As part of this divine 'emanation', Krishna's very first expansion is Balarama, and from Balarama all other incarnations of God then appear. Of the three transcendental elements described in Sanskrit as sat, cit and ananda (eternity, knowledge and bliss), Balarama is in charge of eternity and knowledge. Hence he is worshipped as the supreme teacher or Adiguru[citation needed].
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Buddha
Gautama Buddha or Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम बुद्ध; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. The word Buddha is a title for the first awakened being in an era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (P. sammāsambuddha, S. samyaksaṃbuddha) of our age, "Buddha" meaning "awakened one" or "the enlightened one." Gautama Buddha may also be referred to as Śākyamuni (Sanskrit: शाक्यमुनि "Sage of the Śākyas"). The Buddha found a Middle Way that ameliorated the extreme asceticism found in the Sramana religions.
The time of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE, but more recent opinion dates his death to between 486 and 483 BCE or, according to some, between 411 and 400 BCE. UNESCO lists Lumbini, Nepal, as a world heritage site and birthplace of Gautama Buddha. There are also claims about birth place of Gautama Buddha to be Kapileswara, Orissa or Kapilavastu at Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kośala.
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Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy indigenous to the Indian subcontinent and encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and practices largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, who is commonly known as the Buddha (meaning "the awakened one" in Sanskrit and Pāli). The Buddha lived and taught in the eastern part of Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. He is recognized by Buddhists as an awakened or enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end ignorance (avidyā), craving (taṇhā), and suffering (dukkha), by recognizing dependent origination and sunyata, and attain Nirvana.
Two major branches of Buddhism are recognized: Theravada ("The School of the Elders") and Mahayana ("The Great Vehicle"). Theravada has a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana is found throughout East Asia and includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Shingon, Tiantai (Tendai) and Shinnyo-en. In some classifications, Vajrayana—practiced mainly in Tibet and Mongolia, and adjacent parts of China and Russia—is recognized as a third branch, while others classify it as a part of Mahayana. There are other categorisations of these three Vehicles or Yanas.
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Buddhist
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy indigenous to the Indian subcontinent and encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and practices largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, who is commonly known as the Buddha (meaning "the awakened one" in Sanskrit and Pāli). The Buddha lived and taught in the eastern part of Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. He is recognized by Buddhists as an awakened or enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end ignorance (avidyā), craving (taṇhā), and suffering (dukkha), by recognizing dependent origination and sunyata, and attain Nirvana.
Two major branches of Buddhism are recognized: Theravada ("The School of the Elders") and Mahayana ("The Great Vehicle"). Theravada has a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana is found throughout East Asia and includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Shingon, Tiantai (Tendai) and Shinnyo-en. In some classifications, Vajrayana—practiced mainly in Tibet and Mongolia, and adjacent parts of China and Russia—is recognized as a third branch, while others classify it as a part of Mahayana. There are other categorisations of these three Vehicles or Yanas.
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Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya (Sanskrit: चन्द्रगुप्त मौर्य महान Hindi: चन्द्रगुप्त मौर्य महान), (born c. 340 BCE, ruled c. 320 BCE, – 298 BCE) was the founder of the Maurya Empire. He succeeded in conquering most of the Indian subcontinent and is considered the first unifier of India as well as its first genuine emperor. In foreign Greek and Latin accounts, Chandragupta is known as Sandrokyptos (Σανδρόκυπτος), Sandrokottos (Σανδρόκοττος) or Androcottus.
Prior to Chandragupta's consolidation of power, small regional kingdoms dominated the northwestern subcontinent, while the Nanda Dynasty dominated the middle and lower basin of the Ganges. After Chandragupta's conquests, the Maurya Empire extended from Bengal and Assam in the east, to Afghanistan and Balochistan,some part of the easten and south-east Iran in the west, to Kashmir and Nepal in the north, and to the Deccan Plateau in the south. Tradition holds that Chandragupta abdicated his throne to become a monk and led such an ascetic life that he starved himself to death. Whether or not this is factually accurate, he was succeeded by his son in 298 BC.
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Dantavakra
Dantavakra (Sanskrit: दन्तवक्र), was the king of Karusha according to the Mahabharata and the Puranas. According to the Padma Purana (VI.274.16-7), he was of Chaidya lineage. According to the Vishnu Purana (IV.XIV.40), he was son of Vriddhasharman and Shrutadeva. He was an ally of Jarasandha, brother of Shishupala and an enemy of Vasudeva Krishna. At MBh 2:30 he is mentioned as the king of the Adhirajas. Pandava general Sahadeva defeated him, making him pay tribute, he then was re-installed on his throne. He attacked Dwaraka after the Rajasuya sacrifice (which he had not attended, to protest the killing of Jarasandha) to avenge Shishupala—and was killed by Krishna in a mace-duel.
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Devaki
In Hinduism, Devaki (देवकी) is the wife of Vasudeva and biological mother of Krishna.
She was the daughter of Devaka, the younger brother of King Ugrasena of Mathura. She was a partial incarnation of Aditi, the mother of the Devas.
Devaki and Vasudeva were imprisoned by her brother, Kamsa, due to a prophecy that her eighth son would kill him. Kamsa then killed six of their sons. The seventh, Balarama, escaped death by being transferred to the womb of Vasudeva's other wife, Rohini, while a female child (an incarnation of the goddess Yoga-Nidra or Maya) was placed in Yashoda's womb. The eighth son, Krishna (who was actually an Avatar of Vishnu), was born at midnight and taken by Vasudeva across the Yamuna river to be raised by Nanda and Yasoda in the neighboring village of Gokul. In place of Krishna, Vasudeva took Yashoda's just born child (the incarnation of Yogmaya). After Vasudeva's return to Mathura with the baby girl (yog-maya), Kamsa tried to destroy her. Then she flew out of his hands, turned into an eight-armed goddess and warned him: "fool, the agent of your death has already been born on this earth." Lord Krishna and Balarama returned to Mathura as adolescent boys and killed the despotic Kamsa. Subsequently, Krishna freed his parents, and his grand-uncle Ugrasena (who had also been locked up).
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Dhritarashtra
In the Mahābhārata, Dhritarashtra (Sanskrit: धृतराष्ट्र, dhritarāshtra) was King of Hastinapur at the time of the Kurukshetra War, the epic's climactic event. He was born the son of Vichitravirya's first wife Ambika, and was fathered by Vyasa. He was blind from birth, and became father to a hundred children by his wife Gandhari (Gāndhārī). These children, including the eldest son Duryodhana, came to be known as the Kauravas. Dhritarashtra was half-brother of Pandu, and was uncle to the five Pandavas, with whom his sons fought the Kurukshetra War. All of his sons perished in the war, with the exception of Yuyutsu, his son with a Vaishya woman, who fought on the Pandava side. Dhritarashtra appears in Mahābhārata sections that have been circulated as separate scriptures, most notably the Bhagavad Gita, whose dialogue was narrated to him.
After Vichitravirya's death, his mother Satyavati sent for her first born, Vyasa. According to his mother's wishes, he visited both the wives of Vichitravirya to grant them a son with his yogic powers. When Vyasa visited Ambika, she saw his dreadful and forbidding appearance with burning eyes. In her frightened state, she closed her eyes and dared not open them. Hence her son, Dhritarashtra, was born blind. His brother Pandu, the son of Vichitravirya's second wife Ambalika, got the crown of Hastinapur and after the death of Pandu no one could agree on the selection of a king. Duryodhana became the crown prince of Hastinapur and Yudhishthira became the emperor of Indraprastha.
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Diodorus
Diodorus Siculus ([pronunciation?]; Greek: Διόδωρος Σικελιώτης, Diodoros Sikeliotes) was a Greek historian who flourished between 60 and 30 BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira). With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doings beyond what is to be found in his own work, Bibliotheca historica. Only Jerome, in his Chronicon under the "year of Abraham 1968" (i.e., 49 BC), writes, "Diodorus of Sicily, a writer of Greek history, became illustrious". His English translator, Charles Henry Oldfather, remarks on the "striking coincidence" that one of only two known Greek inscriptions from Agyrium (I.G. XIV, 588) is the tombstone of one "Diodorus, the son of Apollonius".
Diodorus' universal history, which he named Bibliotheca historica ("Historical Library"), consisted of 40 books, of which 1–5 and 11–20 survive, and were divided into three sections. The first six books treat the mythic history of the non-Hellenic and Hellenic tribes to the destruction of Troy and are geographical in theme, and describe the history and culture of Ancient Egypt (book I), of Mesopotamia, India, Scythia, and Arabia (II), of North Africa (III), and of Greece and Europe (IV–VI).
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Dnyaneshwar
Sant Dnyāneshwar (or Sant Jñāneshwar) (Marathi: संत ज्ञानेश्वर) (1275–1296) is also known as Jñanadeva (Marathi: ज्ञानदेव).
He was a 13th century Maharashtrian Hindu saint (Sant - a title by which he is often referred), poet, philosopher and yogi of the Nath tradition whose works Bhavartha Deepika (a commentary on Bhagavad Gita, popularly known as "Dnyaneshwari"), and Amrutanubhav are considered to be milestones in Marathi literature.
According to Nath tradition Sant Dnyaneshwar [1] was the second of the four children of Vitthal Govind Kulkarni and Rukmini, a pious couple from Apegaon near Paithan on the banks of the river Godavari. Vitthal had studied Vedas and set out on pilgrimages at a young age. In Alandi, about 30 km from Pune, Sidhopant, a local Yajurveda brahmin, was very much impressed with him and Vitthal married his daughter Rukmini.
After some time, getting permission from Rukmini, Vitthal went to Kashi(Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, India), where he met Ramananda Swami and requested to be initiated into sannyas, lying about his marriage. But Ramananda Swami later went to Alandi and, convinced that his student Vitthal was the husband of Rukmini, he returned to Kashi and ordered Vitthal to return home to his family. The couple was excommunicated from the brahmin caste as Vitthal had broken with sannyas, the last of the four ashrams. Four children were born to them; Nivrutti in 1273, Dnyandev (Dnyaneshwar) in 1275, Sopan in 1277 and daughter Mukta in 1279. According to some scholars their birth years are 1268, 1271, 1274, 1277 respectively. It is believed that later Vitthal and Rukmini ended their lives by jumping into the waters at Prayag where the river Ganges meets Yamuna hoping that their children would be accepted into the society after their death.
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Draupadi
In the epic Mahābhārata, Draupadi, also known as Kṛṣṇā draupadī (Devanagari: कृष्णा द्रौपदी; approximate pronunciation: [krɪʂɳaː d̪rəʊpəd̪iː]) is the "emerged" daughter of King Drupada of Panchāla and the wife of the five Pandavas. When Yudhisthira becomes the king of Hastinapura at the end of the war, Draupadi (again) becomes the queen of Indraprastha. She is also variously referred as Kṛṣṇā (or Krishnaa, meaning one of darker complexion), Panchali (meaning one from the kingdom of Panchāla), Yajnaseni (meaning one born from a Yajna or fire-sacrifice), Mahabhaartii (great wife of the five descendents of Bharata) and Sairandhri (literally: an expert maid, her assumed name during her second exile in which she worked as Virat kingdom's queen Sudeshna's hair-stylist). She had five sons, one by each of the Pandavas: Prativindhya, Sutasoma, Shruthakeerti, Satanika, and Srutasena. She has been described in the Mahabharata to be extraordinarily beautiful- undefeated by any woman of her time in terms of beauty. She is one of the Panch-Kanya (The Five Virgins) of Ancient Hindu Mythology along with her mother in law Kunti.
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Eknath
Sant Eknath (1533–1599) was a prominent Marathi Saint, scholar and religious poet. In the development of Marathi literature, Sant Eknath is seen as a bridge between the towering predecessors Dnyaneshwar and Naamdev and the equally noble successors Tukaram and Ramdas.
Eknath was born sometime around 1530 AD in an illustrious Brahmin family of Pratisthan (Paithan today). They were said to be the Kulkarnis of the village, but their name is not known. Sant Bhanudas, who brought back the sacred image of Lord Pandurang, from Vijaynagar to Pandharpur, was Eknath’s great grandfather.
Eknath was born under the star sign of ‘Mula’ in the sagittarius constellation, traditionally considered a bad omen for the parents of the child. The omen was borne out for Eknath’s father Suryanarayan and mother Rukmini died shortly after his birth and Eknath was brought up by his grandparents, Chakrapani and Saraswatibai. As an orphan, Eknath had to the suffer taunts of other children. He began avoiding their company and found refuge as a child in prayer and other devotional practices.
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Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha or Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम बुद्ध; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. The word Buddha is a title for the first awakened being in an era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (P. sammāsambuddha, S. samyaksaṃbuddha) of our age, "Buddha" meaning "awakened one" or "the enlightened one." Gautama Buddha may also be referred to as Śākyamuni (Sanskrit: शाक्यमुनि "Sage of the Śākyas"). The Buddha found a Middle Way that ameliorated the extreme asceticism found in the Sramana religions.
The time of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE, but more recent opinion dates his death to between 486 and 483 BCE or, according to some, between 411 and 400 BCE. UNESCO lists Lumbini, Nepal, as a world heritage site and birthplace of Gautama Buddha. There are also claims about birth place of Gautama Buddha to be Kapileswara, Orissa or Kapilavastu at Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kośala.
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Gopala
Gopala (ruled 750 – 770 CE) was the founder of the Pala Dynasty of Bengal. The last morpheme of his name Pala means "protector" and was used as an ending for the names of all the Pala monarchs. Pala does not suggest or indicate any ethnic or caste considerations of the Pala dynasty.He came to power in 750 CE in Gaur by first Democratic election in South Asia.
Gopala was the first independent Buddhist king of Bengal and came to power in 750 CE in Gaur by first Democratic election in South Asia as per evidence furnished by Taranatha. After the death of Gauda ruler Sasanka, there ensued a century of anarchy and confusion in Bengal. Tired of ceaseless political chaos and anarchy (known as matsyanyaya), the various independent chieftains of Bengal, in 750 CE, selected a person named Gopala to put an end to this sorry state of affairs. Gopala was already a leading military general and had made a mark as a great ruler. In the Khalimpur copper plate inscription (dated 32nd regnal year of Dharmapala) Gopala's father Vapyata is described as a noted military chief of his time and his grandfather Dayita Vishnu is described as a learned man of no military distinctions.
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Gopi
Gopi is a word of Sanskrit (गोपी) origin meaning 'cow-herd girl'. In Hinduism specifically the name gopi (sometimes gopika) is used more commonly to refer to the group of cow herding girls famous within Vaishnava Theology for their unconditional devotion (Bhakti) to Krishna as described in the stories of Bhagavata Purana and other Puranic literatures. Of this group, one gopi known as Radha (or Radhika) holds a place of particularly high reverence and importance in a number of religious traditions, especially within Gaudiya Vaishnavism.
The gopis of Vrindavan total one hundred and eight in number, they are generally divided into three groups: Gopi friends of the same age as Krishna; maidservants; and gopi messengers. The first group are the most exalted, Krishna's contemporary gopi friends, the second group are the maidservants and are the next most exalted, and the gopi messengers come after them. The primary eight gopis are considered the foremost of Krishna's devotees after Srimati Radharani. Their names are as follows :
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Hanuman
Hanuman (Sanskrit: हनुमान्, Hanumān), is a Hindu deity who is an ardent devotee of Rama, the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu, and a central character in the Indian epic Ramayan. A general among the vanaras, Hanuman is a disciple of Lord Rama in the war against the demon king Ravan. Also known as Anjaneya, Maruti, Maharudra, Pavanputra, Kesharinandan, Arbiter, Anjaniputra, Bajrang Bali and Hanumat, Hanuman's exploits are much celebrated in a variety of religious and cultural traditions, particularly in Hinduism, to the extent that he is often the object of worship according to some bhakti traditions, and is the prime deity in many temples known as Hanuman Mandirs.
Hanuman was born to Anjana, a female vanara, and Kesari, a male vanara, in Anjana Giri mountain. Another name for Hanuman is "Anjaniputra" which means son of Anjana. His mother was an apsara who was born on Earth as a female vanara due to a curse. She would be redeemed from this curse on her giving birth to an incarnation of Lord Shiva, and endowed with the Supreme Power of exalted devotion to Bhagwan Hari. Hanuman is endowed with 28 transcendental divine opulences, with perfection in each. Anjana, along with her husband Kesari, performed intense prayers to Lord Shiva to beget Him as her Child. Pleased with their devotion, Shiva granted them the boon they sought. Hence, Hanuman is also known as "Maharudra" because he was born of the boon given to Anjana by Shiva, who is also known as Rudra. The Valmiki Ramayana states that Kesari is the son of Brihaspati and that Kesari also fought on Rama's side in the war against Ravana.
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Indica (Megasthenes)
Megasthenes (Μεγασθένης, ca. 350 – 290 BCE) was a Greek ethnographer in the Hellenistic period, author of the work Indica. He was born in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and became an ambassador of Seleucus I of Syria possibly to Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra, India. However the exact date of his embassy is uncertain. Scholars place it before 298 BC, the date of Chandragupta's death.
Arrian explains that Megasthenes lived in Arachosia, with the satrap Sibyrtius, from where he visited India:
"Megasthenes lived with Sibyrtius, satrap of Arachosia, and often speaks of his visiting Sandracottus, the king of the Indians." Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri
We have more definite information regarding the parts of India Megasthenes visited. He entered the subcontinent through the district of the Pentapotamia, providing a full account of the rivers there (thought to be the five affluents of the Indus that form the Punjab region), and proceeded from there by the royal road to Pataliputra. There are accounts of Megasthenes having visited Madurai (then, a bustling city and capital of the Pandyas), but appears not to have visited any other parts of India.
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Jambavati
Jambavati (IAST jāmbavatī) is the only daughter of the king-bear Jambavan. Her story is told in the tenth book of the Bhagavata Purana. She received the famous "Syamantaka Jewel" (Samanthakamani) as a gift from her father and she married to Lord Krishna and occupied the third most prominent position of his eight principal queens in Dwaraka.
She was best known to be a very close and dear companion of Lord Krishna's first wife Rukmini and was always engaged in a cold war with Satyabhama.
Lord Krishna and Jambavati together had ten sons. They were- Samba, Sumitra, Purujit, Satyajit, Sahasrajit, Vijaya, Chitraketu, Vasuman, Dravida and Kratu. Lord Krishna was specifically very affectionate to the sons of Jambavati, especially towards the eldest one, Samba.
Jambavati has been indirect cause[original research?] to Lord Krishna's death through her son, Samba.
Later it was Samba’s iron club (arrow) which was regained by the old hunter Jharas, from the belly of a sea-fish, was the cause of Lord Krishna’s disappearance. Both of these are fallacies, in one stated is death and the other a disappearance?
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James Hastings
James Hastings (1852–1922) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister and biblical scholar.
He was born in Huntly, Aberdeenshire.
He studied the classics at the University of Aberdeen, attended the Free Church Divinity College in Aberdeen, and was ordained a Free Church minister in 1884.
He was founder and editor of the Expository Times.
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Janabai
Janābāi was a Marāthi religious poetess in the Hindu tradition in India, who was born likely in the seventh or the eighth decade of the 13th century. According to folklore, she died in 1350.
Janabai was born in Gangākhed, Mahārāshtra to a couple with first names rand and Karand. Under the caste system which rigidly existed in India, the couple belonged to the lowest caste. After her mother died, her father took her to Pandharpur. Since her childhood, Janabai worked as a maidservant in the household of Dāmāsheti, who lived in Pandharpur and who was the father of the prominent Marathi religious poet Nāmdev. Janabai was likely a little older than Namdev, and attended to him for many years.
Pandharpur has high religious significance especially among Marathi-speaking Hindus. Janabai's employers, Damasheti and his wife, Gonāi, were very religious. Through the influence of the religious environment around her and her innate inclination, Janabai was all along an ardent devotee of Lord Vitthal, and she was also gifted with poetic talent. Though she never had any formal schooling, she thus composed many high-quality religious verses of the abhang (अभंग) form. Fortunately, some of her compositions got preserved along with those of Namdev. Authorship of about 300 abhang is traditionally attributed to Janabai. However, researchers believe that quite a few of them were in fact compositions of some other writers.
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Jayadeva
Jayadeva (Oriya: ଜୟଦେବ, Sanskrit: जयदेव) was a Sanskrit poet circa 1200 AD. He is most known for his composition, the epic poem Gita Govinda, which depicts the divine love of Krishna-an avatar of Vishnu and his consort, Radha, and it is mentioned that Radha is greater than Hari, and is considered an important text in the Bhakti movement of Hinduism. He was born to a Hindu Brahmin family
Jayadeva was born in Kenduli Sasan (formerly Kendubilva), in the Prachi valley, Khurda district in Orissa.[citation needed]Kenduli Sasan is a village near the famous temple city of Puri. At the time of Jayadeva's birth, Orissa was under the rule of Eastern Ganga dynasty king Chodaganga Deva. It was during the reign of this monarch and his son and successor, Raghava, that Jayadeva composed his Sanskrit epics. Chodaganga Deva, originally a Shaiva, was strongly influenced by the devotion to Krishna in and around Puri and became a Vaishnava devotee of Krishna himself.
The poet's parents were named Bhojadeva and Ramadevi. From temple inscriptions it is now known that Jayadeva received his education in Sanskrit poetry from a place called Kurmapataka, possibly near Konark in Orissa. Later on, Jayadeva married Padmavati, who according to temple inscriptions, may have been an accomplished temple dancer on her own right.
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Jesus
Jesus ( /ˈdʒiːzəs/; Greek: Ἰησοῦς; 7–2 BC/BCE to 30–36 AD/CE), also referred to as Jesus Christ or simply Christ, is the central figure of Christianity and most Christian denominations venerate him as God the Son incarnated. In Islam, Jesus (in Arabic: عيسى in Islamic usage, commonly transliterated as Isa) is considered one of God's important prophets.
Most modern historians agree that Jesus existed and was a Jewish teacher from Galilee in Roman Judaea, who was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified in Jerusalem on the orders of the Roman Prefect, Pontius Pilate. Scholars have offered competing descriptions and portraits of Jesus, which at times share a number of overlapping attributes, such as a rabbi, a charismatic healer, the leader of an apocalyptic movement, a self-described Messiah, a sage and philosopher, or a social reformer who preached of the "Kingdom of God" as a means for personal and egalitarian social transformation. Scholars have correlated the New Testament accounts with non-Christian historical records to arrive at an estimated chronology of Jesus' life.
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John Esslemont
John Ebenezer Esslemont M.B., Ch.B. (1874 – 1925), was a prominent British Bahá'í from Scotland. He was the author of the well-known introductory book on the Bahá'í Faith, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, which is still in circulation. He was named posthumously by Shoghi Effendi as the first Hand of the Cause he appointed, and as one of the Disciples of `Abdu'l-Bahá. He was also an accomplished medical Doctor and linguist becoming proficient in western and eastern languages.
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Kamsa
In Hinduism, Kamsa or Kansa (Sanskrit: कंस), often known as Kans in Hindi, is the brother of Devaki, and ruler of the Vrishni kingdom with its capital at Mathura. His father was King Ugrasena and mother was Queen Padmavati. However, out of ambition and upon the advise of his personal confidante, Banasura, Kamsa decided to overthrow his father and install himself as the King of Mathura. Therefore, upon the guidance of another advisor, Chanur, Kamsa decided to marry the two daughters of Jarasandha, King of Magadha, who was, in turn, a friend of Banasura. Their names were Asti and Prapti.
In reality, Kamsa was not the biological son of Ugrasena[citation needed]. In the Bhagavata Purana, it is revealed that once a demon, Kalanemi, who in his previous birth had tried to stop Lord Hanuman from taking the Sanjivani to the wounded Lakshmana, was flying over the city of Mathura and upon viewing Padmavati's irresistible beauty, he took the form of Ugrasena and seduced her, resulting in the birth of Kamsa. This fact was unknown to Kansa and the wide public at that stage.
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Kanakadasa
Kanaka Dasa (Kannada: ಕನಕ ದಾಸ) (1509–1609) was a great poet, philosopher, musician and composer from Karnataka. He is known for his Kirtanes and Ugabhoga compositions in the Kannada language for Carnatic music. Like some other dasas, he often used colloquial language for his compositions. He was a deciple of Vyasathirtha and a follower of Dwaita philosophy propounded by Madhvacharya.
Thimmappa Nayaka was his original name and he belonged to chieftain (Kuruba Gowda) / (Dhangar) family of Kaginele in Haveri district. He was born to the Kuruba Gowda couple Biregowda and Bachchamma at Bada village. Kanaka Nayaka being of the warrior community (Kuruba Gowda) his defeat in the field of battle, directed him to the path of devotion. He came to be called Kanaka Nayaka as he found a treasure-trove of gold (kanaka means gold in Kannada). Kanaka Dasa was well educated and capable of analyzing the society microscopically. Based on one of his compositions it is interpreted that after he severely got injured in a war and was miraculously saved, he gave up his profession as a warrior and devoted his life to composing music and literature with philosophy explained in common man's language. It appears that he started traveling to places a lot to gain more knowledge. However he had maintained a balanced view about all faiths[citation needed]. At a young age he authored poetries Narasimha stotra, Ramadhyana Mantra, and Mohanatarangini. (See Ref 2)
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King Porus
King Porus (from Pōrus, the latinisation of the Greek Πῶρος - Pōros, ultimately from Sanskrit: पुरुषोत्तम Purushottama), (Punjabi: راجہ پورس (Shahmukhi Punjabi script ) was the King of Paurava, an ancient state within the territory of modern day Punjab, located between the Jhelum river and the Chenab river (in Greek, the Hydaspes and the Acesines) rivers in modern day Punjab, Pakistan, and later of dominions extending to the Beas (in Greek, the Hyphasis). Porus fought Alexander the Great in the Battle of the Hydaspes River in 326 BC.
The rig veda mentions about a Vedic tribe called Puru .So There is a possibility of King porus to be emerged out of puru tribe .
Battle of the Ten Kings (dāśarājñá) is a battle alluded to in Mandala 7 of the Rigveda (hymns 18, 33 and 83.4-8), the ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It is a battle between Aryans (Vedic Indians) (an "internecine war", as the 1911 Britannica puts it, as opposed to the more frequent accounts of Aryans fighting Dasyus). It took place as Puru tribes, allied with other tribes of the Punjab and guided by the royal sage Vishvamitra, oppose the Trtsu (Bharata) king Sudas in battle, but are defeated as was celebrated in a provocative hymn of Sudas' poet and priest Vasistha (RV 7.18) One scholar, Buddha Prakash, Professor of History and of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Director of the Institute of Indic Studies (1964); in his book Political and Social Movement in Ancient Punjab states:
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Kunti
Kunti devi (Sanskrit: कुंती Kuṃtī) is the mother of the eldest three of the Pandava brothers from the Indian epic Mahābhārata. Her story is also told within the Bhagavata Purana, wherein she speaks on the philosophy of devotion of Krishna, known as Bhakti yoga. Kunti is thus held as a figure of great importance within many Hindu traditions and especially with worshippers of Krishna (Vaishnavas).
Her father was Shoorsen (Śũrasena) of the Vrishni clan, and she was named Pritha (Pṛthā). She was thus the sister of Vasudeva, father of Krishna. She was given in adoption to the childless King Kuntibhoja, after which she became known as Kunti. After her arrival, King Kuntibhoja was blessed with children. He considered her his lucky charm and took care of her until her marriage.
When she was young, the rishi Durvasa told her a mantra with which Kunti could summon any deva and have a child by him. When Kunti asked why he gave her this mantra, he told her that it would be useful to her later in life.
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Kuru Kingdom
Kuru (Sanskrit: कुरु) was the name of an Indo-Aryan clan in Iron Age Vedic India, which started in the Early Vedic period and later evolved into a republican Mahajanapada state in the later Vedic period. The Kuru clan was located in the area of modern Haryana, Delhi and western parts of Uttar Pradesh (the region of Doab, till Prayag/Kaushambi) in North India. According to ancient texts, the territory of Kuru clan lay between the Rgvedic river Sarasvati and river Ganges and was split into two parts as Kuru-Jangala and Kuru Proper.
The main information about this period is gathered from the Rig Veda, which was composed at the time when the Aryans first settled in North Western India—a land which they called the SaptaSindhu (the land of seven rivers), whose eastern boundary was defined by the Ganges river, till its confluence with Yamuna (as mentioned in the Rig Veda). The Kuru clan, a branch of early Indo-Aryans, ruled the Ganga-Jamuna Doab and modern Haryana (earlier Eastern Punjab). However, till the Early Vedic period, the focus of the Vedic civilization was Punjab, while the Kuru land (Doab) was not even totally inhabited, and consisted mostly of dense forests.
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Meera
Meerabai (c. 1498 – c. 1547 AD) (alternate orthographies: Meera, Mira, Meera Bai) was an aristocratic Hindu mystical singer and devotee of Lord Krishna from Rajasthan and one of the most significant figures of the Sant tradition of the Vaishnava bhakti movement. Some 1,200–1,300 prayerful songs or bhajans attributed to her are popular throughout India and have been published in several translations worldwide. In the bhakti tradition, they are in passionate praise of Lord Krishna.
Details of her life, which has been the subject of several films, are pieced together from her poetry and stories recounted by her community and are of debatable historical authenticity, particularly those that connect her with the later Tansen. On the other hand, the traditions that make her a disciple of Guru Ravidas who disputed with Rupa Goswami are consonant with the usual account of her life.
Meera, a Rajput princess was born in Kudki (Kurki), a little village near Merta City which is presently in the Nagaur district of Rajasthan in northwest India. Her father, jai Singh aman, was a friend of the Rathore clan, the son of Rao Duda of Merta. Rao Duda was son of Rao Jodha of Mandore, founder of Mandsaur.
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Megasthenes
Megasthenes (Μεγασθένης, ca. 350 – 290 BCE) was a Greek ethnographer in the Hellenistic period, author of the work Indica. He was born in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and became an ambassador of Seleucus I of Syria possibly to Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra, India. However the exact date of his embassy is uncertain. Scholars place it before 298 BC, the date of Chandragupta's death.
Arrian explains that Megasthenes lived in Arachosia, with the satrap Sibyrtius, from where he visited India:
"Megasthenes lived with Sibyrtius, satrap of Arachosia, and often speaks of his visiting Sandracottus, the king of the Indians." Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri
We have more definite information regarding the parts of India Megasthenes visited. He entered the subcontinent through the district of the Pentapotamia, providing a full account of the rivers there (thought to be the five affluents of the Indus that form the Punjab region), and proceeded from there by the royal road to Pataliputra. There are accounts of Megasthenes having visited Madurai (then, a bustling city and capital of the Pandyas), but appears not to have visited any other parts of India.
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Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Mīrzā Ghulām Aḥmad (Arabic: ميرزا غلام أحمد; Urdu: مرزا غلام احمد; 13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908 CE, or Shawal 14, 1250 – Rabi' al-thani 24, 1326 AH) was a religious figure from India and the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
He claimed to be the Mujaddid of the fourteenth Islamic century, the Promised Messiah (Second Coming of Christ), and the Mahdi awaited by the Muslims in the end days. He declared that Jesus (Isa) had in fact survived the crucifixion and later died a natural death after having migrated towards Kashmir, and that he had appeared in the spirit and power of Jesus.
He travelled extensively across the subcontinent of India preaching his religious ideas and ideals and won substantial following within his lifetime. He is known to have engaged in numerous debates and dialogues with the Muslim, Christian and Hindu priesthood and leadership. Ghulam Ahmad founded the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam on 23 March 1889. The mission of the movement, according to him, was the propagation of Islam in its pristine form.
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Moses
Moses (Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה, Modern Moshe Tiberian Mōšéh ISO 259-3 Moše; Greek: Mωϋσῆς Mōüsēs; Arabic: موسىٰ Mūsa) was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed. Also called Moshe Rabbenu in Hebrew (מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ, Lit. "Moses our Teacher/Rabbi"), he is the most important prophet in Judaism, and is also considered an important prophet in Christianity and Islam, as well as a number of other faiths.
The existence of Moses as well as the veracity of the Exodus story is disputed amongst archaeologists and Egyptologists, with experts in the field of biblical criticism citing logical inconsistencies, new archaeological evidence, historical evidence, and related origin myths in Canaanite culture. Other historians maintain that the biographical details, and Egyptian background, attributed to Moses imply the existence of a historical political and religious leader who was involved in the consolidation of the Hebrew tribes in Canaan towards the end of the Bronze Age.
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Muhammad
Muhammad (c. 26 April 570 – 8 June 632; also transliterated as Mohammad, Mohammed, or Muhammed; Arabic: محمد), full name: Muhammad Ibn `Abd Allāh Ibn `Abd al-Muttalib (Arabic: محمد بن عبدالله بن عبد المطلب ) was a leader from Mecca who unified the tribes of Arabia into a single religious polity under Islam. He is believed by Muslims and Bahá'ís to be a messenger and prophet of God. Muslims believe that Islam was not his own invention but was revealed by God, and most consider him to be the last prophet of God Muslims thus consider him the restorer of an uncorrupted original monotheistic faith (islām) of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets.
Born in 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, he was orphaned at an early age and brought up under the care of his uncle Abu Talib. He later worked mostly as a merchant, as well as a shepherd, and was first married by age 25. Being in the habit of periodically retreating to a cave in the surrounding mountains for several nights of meditation and prayer, he later reported that it was there, at age 40, that he received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "surrender" to Him (lit. islām) is the only way (dīn) acceptable to God, and that he himself was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as other Islamic prophets.
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Namdev
Saint Namdeo (29 October, 1270 - 1350) (Marathi: संत नामदेव) or Bhagat Namdeo (Gurmukhi: ਭਗਤ ਨਾਮਦੇਵ) was born on October 29, 1270 in the state of Maharashtra village of Narasi-Bamani, in Hingoli district (presently called Narsi Namdev). His father, a calico printer/tailor, was named Damshet and his mother's name was Gonabai. Most of the spiritual message of Bhagat Namdeo emphasized the importance of living the life of a householder (गृहस्थ जीवन) and that through marriage and having a family one could attain enlightenment.
The first biographer and auto-biographer in Marathi and the foremost proponent of Bhagawad-Dharma who propagated the religion right up to Punjab
Saint Namdev, a contemporary saint-poet of Saint Dnyaneshwar, is considered a prominent religious poet of Maharashtra. He was one the earliest writers who wrote in the Marathi language. He is the foremost proponent of the Bhagwad-Dharma who reached beyond Maharashtra, right into Punjab. He also wrote some hymns in Hindi and Punjabi. His depth of devotion and talent in delivering Kirtan was of such a high standard that it is said even the Lord Pandurang swayed to his tune. Despite being a proponent of the Warkari sect, Saint Namdev established religious unity across the country.
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Narakasura
In Hindu beliefs, Narakasura or Naraka is the asura son of the earth goddess Bhudevi (Bhumi) and Lord Vishnu in his Varaha (boar) Avatar (incarnation). In other sources, he is the son of the asura Hiranyaksha. He is said to have established the kingdom of Pragjyotisha in Assam after overthrowing the last of the Danava king Ghatakasura. It was foretold that he would be destroyed by a later incarnation of Vishnu. His mother, the earth, sought the boon from Vishnu that her son should have a long life, and that he should be all powerful. Vishnu readily granted these boons.
The legend of Narakasura is important in the history of Assam since Narakasura is cited as the progenitor of many dynasties that ruled Kamarupa in historical times. A hill, to the south of Guwahati is named after him. He is also associated with the myth of the shakta goddess and place of worship Kamakhya.
Narakasura became evil, in association with another Asura named Banasura. Drunk with power, as he knew himself to be unrivalled in prowess, he brought all the kingdoms on earth under his control. Next, he turned his eyes towards Swargaloka. Even the mighty Indra could not withstand the assault of this son of Vishnu and had to flee the heavens. Now Narakasura had become the overlord of both the heavens and earth. His reign of oppression was in full swing. Addicted to power, he abducted 16,100 women and imprisoned them in his palace. He stole the earrings of Aditi, the heavenly mother goddess, and usurped some of her territory.
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Nimbarka
Nimbarka (Sanskrit: श्री निम्बार्काचार्य, Telugu: నింబార్కాచార్య Śrī Nimbārkācārya), is known for propagating the Vaishnava Theology of Dvaitadvaita, duality in unity. According to scholars headed by Prof. Roma Bose, he lived in the 13th Century, on the assumption that Śrī Nimbārkācārya was the author of the work Madhvamukhamardana. According to Nimbārka Sampradāya however, Śrī Nimbārkācārya appeared over 5000 years ago, in the year 3096 BCE at the time when the grandson of Arjuna was on the throne. He hailed from the present-day Andhra Pradesh, in South India.
Nimbarka's date is subject to much controversy. Although current research and scholarly consensus centres on a date somewhere just before Sankaracarya, in general scholars have not been able to come to a unilateral conclusion.
Dr. Bhandarkar has placed him as a philosopher after Ramanuja and has maintained his demise date as 1162 AD. Some hold that he is dated around 13th Century. However, Dr. S.N.Dasgupta dated Nimbarka to around middle of 14th Century. On the other hand, Dr. S A A Rizvi assigns the date of Circa 1130-1200 AD But Jadunath Sinha, has counted him as a 13th century philosopher, and Dr. Tarachand has held him to be a younger contemporary of Ramanuja.
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Olav Hammer
Olav Hammer, (born 1958), is a Swedish professor at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense working in the field of history of religion. He has written four books in Swedish and one monograph Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age (2001) in English. This volume which was also Hammer's doctoral dissertation (in the year 2000 at Lund University) investigates the rhetorical strategies of legitimization of a number of related new religious movements. He is also editor of several books, including Polemical Encounters (with Kocku von Stuckrad, Brill 2007), The Invention of Sacred Tradition (with James R. Lewis, Cambridge UP 2007) and Alternative Christs (Cambridge UP 2009). Since January 2009, he is also the editor of the journal Numen.
In 2002 the title of årets folkbildare in Sweden was bestowed on Hammer (an honor which could best be translated as "Public educator of the year"), by the society Föreningen Vetenskap och Folkbildning "for his balanced and pedagogical books about the history of new religions and the causes behind people's beliefs in pseudoscience."
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Patanjali
Patañjali (Sanskrit: पतञ्जलि, IPA: [pət̪əɲɟəli]; fl. 150 BCE or 2nd c. BCE) is the compiler of the Yoga Sūtras, an important collection of aphorisms on Yoga practice. According to tradition, the same Patañjali was also the author of the Mahābhāṣya, a commentary on Kātyāyana's vārttikas (short comments) on Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī as well as an unspecified work of medicine (āyurveda).
In recent decades the Yoga Sutra has become quite popular worldwide for the precepts regarding practice of Raja Yoga and its philosophical basis. "Yoga" in traditional Hinduism involves inner contemplation, a system of meditation practice and ethics.
Whether the two works, the Yoga Sutras and the Mahābhāṣya, are by the same author has been the subject of considerable debate. The authorship of the two is first attributed to the same person in Bhojadeva's Rajamartanda, a relatively late (10th c.) commentary on the Yoga Sutras, as well as several subsequent texts. As for the texts themselves, the Yoga Sutra iii.44 cites a sutra as that from Patanjali by name, but this line itself is not from the Mahābhāṣya. This 10th century legend of single-authorship is doubtful. The literary styles and contents of the Yogasūtras and the Mahābhāṣya are entirely different, and the only work on medicine attributed to Patañjali is lost. Sources of doubt include the lack of cross-references between the texts, and no mutual awareness of each other, unlike other cases of multiple works by (later) Sanskrit authors. Also, some elements in the Yoga Sutras may date from as late as the 4th c. CE, but such changes may be due to divergent authorship, or due to later additions which are not atypical in the oral tradition. Most scholars refer to both works as "by Patanjali", without meaning that they are by the same author.
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Pradyumna
Pradyumna (Sanskrit: प्रद्युम्न) is also a character in the Srimad Bhagavatam. He was the son of Krishna and Rukmini. When he was a baby he was abducted by the demon Sambara. He was then cast into the sea and swallowed by a fish, but that fish was caught and carried to the house of Sambara. The fish was opened and the child was found inside. He was given to a woman in Sambara's house to raise. Narada informed her about the true identity of the child. When Pradyumna grew up, he battled the demon Sambara, defeated him. Pradyumna was later killed in a drunken brawl in his father's court at Dwaraka. According to some accounts, Pradyumna was an incarnation of Kama, the god of love.
Pradyumna is a form of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is one in 24 Keshava Namas (names), praised in all pujas. It is also the only name in Sanskrit with all the 3 letters joint (referred as जोडाक्शर)
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Purandara Dasa
Purandara Dāsa (Kannada: ಪುರಂದರ ದಾಸ) (1484–1564) (sometimes spelled as a single word) is one of the most prominent composers of Carnatic music and is widely regarded as the "father of Carnatic Music". Purandara Dasa addressed social issues in addition to worship in his compositions, a practice emulated by his younger contemporary, Kanaka Dasa. Purandara Dasa's Carnatic music compositions are mostly in Kannada; some are in Sanskrit. He signed his compositions with the mudra (pen name), "Purandara Vittala" (Vittala is one of the incarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu). About 1000 of his songs are extant.
Inscriptional evidence suggests Purandara Dasa was born in 1484 AD in Kshemapura, near Tirthahalli, Shivamogga district, Karnataka state. According to other opinions, his native town was Purandaraghatta in Karnataka, or Purandaragad near Pune, but the latter is considered a historical mistake - connecting his "pen name" (his ankita) with a location that mainly served as a military encampment in the 15th and 16th century. The only son of Varadappa Nayaka, a wealthy merchant, and Leelavati, he was named Srinivasa Nayaka, after the Lord of the Seven Hills. He received a good education in accordance with family traditions and acquired proficiency in Kannada, Sanskrit, and sacred music. At age 16 he married Saraswatibai, said by tradition to have been a pious young girl. He lost his parents at age 20, thereby inheriting his father's business of gemstones and pawning. He prospered and became known as "navakoti narayana" (abundantly rich man; owner of nine crores).
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Radha
Radha (Devanagari: राधा, IAST: Rādhā), also called Radhika, Radharani and Radhikarani, is the childhood friend and lover of Krishna in the Bhagavata Purana, and the Gita Govinda of the Vaisnava traditions of Hinduism. Radha is almost always depicted alongside Krishna and features prominently within the theology of today's Gaudiya Vaishnava sect, which regards Radha as the original Goddess or Shakti. Radha is also the principal object of worship in the Nimbarka Sampradaya, as Nimbarka, the founder of the tradition, declared that Radha and Krishna together constitute the absolute truth. Radha's relationship with Krishna is given in further detail within texts such as the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Garga Samhita and Brihad Gautamiya tantra.
Radha is often referred to as Rādhārānī or "Radhika" in speech, prefixed with the respectful term 'Srimati' by devout followers.
In the story of Krishna, as told in the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana, he spends much of his childhood in the company of young cow-herd girls, called Gopis in the village of Vrindavan. Krishna left his native place at the age of twelve for study at gurukul .The Mahabharata does not describe Krishna's earlier life in Vrindavan in much detail, and focuses more on the later battle of Kurukshetra but within the Bhagavata Purana the child-hood pastimes of Krishna are described very vividly. Within the Bhagavata Purana, Radha is not mentioned by name but is alluded to within the tenth chapter of the text as one of the gopis whom Krishna plays with during his upbringing as a young boy. Krishna left Vrindavan for Mathura at the age of 10 years and 7 months according to Bhagavata Purana. So Radha is assumed to be also 10 years old or less when Krishna left Vrindavan. It is in later texts such as the Gita Govinda where we find the story of Radha given in more detail.
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Rama
Rama (Devanāgarī: राम ; Rāma,; Burmese: ရာမ Jàma̰ ; Javanese: Ramavijaya ; Khmer: ព្រះរាម Phreah Ream ; Lao: ພຣະຣາມ Phra Ram ; Malay: Megat Seri Rama; Maranao: Raja Bantugan; Tamil: ராமர் Ramar; Telugu: రామ Rama; Thai: พระราม Phra Ram) or full name Ramachandra is the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in Hindu scriptures. Rama was born in Suryavansha (Ikshvaku Vansh) later known as Raghuvansha after king Raghu. Based on Puranic genealogy, Rama is believed by Hindus to have lived in the second Yuga called Treta Yuga, before Krishna who was born towards the end of Dwapara Yuga. Rama is traditionally considered to have appeared in the last quarter of Treta Yuga.
Rama is one of the many popular figures and deities in Hinduism, specifically Vaishnavism and Vaishnava religious scriptures in South and Southeast Asia. In Ayodhya, the Indian city believed to be the birthplace of Rama, he is also worshipped as an infant or Rama Lalla. Most of the details of Rama's life come from the Ramayana, one of the two great epics of India. Born as the eldest son of Kausalya and Dasharatha, king of Ayodhya, Rama is referred to within Hinduism as Maryada Purushottama, literally the Perfect Man or Lord of Self-Control or Lord of Virtue. Rama is the husband of Sita, whom Hindus consider to be an Avatar of Lakshmi and the embodiment of perfect womanhood.
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Ramanujacharya
Śrī Ramanuja (Tamil: இராமானுஜர், Rāmānujar ?, Telugu: రామానుజాచార్యుల వారు, Rāmānujācārya ?, Kannada: ರಾಮಾನುಜಾಚಾರ್ಯ, Rāmānujācārya ?, Devanagari: रामानुज); traditionally 1017–1137, also known as Śrī Ramanujacharya, Ethirajar (Yatiraja), Emberumannar, Lakshmana Muni, was a theologian, philosopher, and scriptural exegete. He is seen by Śrīvaiṣṇavas as the most important teacher (ācārya) of their tradition who followed Nathamuni and Yamunacharya, and by Hindus in general as the leading expounder of Viśiṣṭādvaita, one of the classical interpretations of the dominant Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy.
The traditional biographies of Ramanuja place his life in the period of 1017–1137, yielding a lifespan of 120 years. However, the unusual length and roundness of this lifetime has led scholars to propose that Ramanuja was born 20–60 years later, and died as many as 20 years earlier than the traditional dates[citation needed]. Any chronology depends crucially on the major historical event mentioned in the traditional biographies: the persecution of Srivaishnavas under the Chola king Kulothunga and Ramanuja's subsequent 12-year exile in Melkote, in Karnataka[citation needed].
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Rupa Goswami
Rupa Goswami (1489–1564) was an Indian devotional teacher (guru), poet, and philosopher from the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism. Alongside his brother Sanatana Goswami, he was considered the leader of the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan associated with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Hindu saint believed to be the Avatar of Krishna in Kali Yuga.[citation needed]
Rupa's lineage can be traced back to Karnataka in South India where his Saraswata Brahmana ancestors held influential positions. Rupa Goswami's nephew, Jiva Goswami has explained in his Laghu Tosani that Rupa's ancestors were of the Bharadvaja gotra and were learned in the Yajur Veda. A brahmana called Sarvajna was seventh in the ascending genealogical line of Rupa Goswami and was known by the title 'jagad-guru' (Universal teacher) being both a learned scholar and king. His son, Aniruddha was also an acclaimed scholar and had two sons, named Harihara and Rupesvara. While Rupesvara was knowledgeable in the Vedic literatures, his brother became expert in weaponry and politics. When their father died, the kingdom was divided between the two sons. However, Harihara took Rupesvara's land by force and forced the family to migrate to Paurastyadesa. Padmanabha relocated his family to Nabahatta (Naihati) on the banks of the Ganges River. Padmanabha had eighteen daughters and five sons, the youngest son being named Mukunda.
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Sariputra
Śāriputra (Sanskrit: शारिपुत्र) or Sāriputta (Pāli) was one of two chief male disciples of the Buddha along with Maudgalyayana (Pali: Moggallāna), counterparts to the nuns Khema and Uppalavanna, named the two chief female disciples. He became an Arhat "foremost in wisdom" renowned for his teaching and is depicted in the Theravada tradition as one of the most important disciples of the Buddha.
Śāriputra came from a Brahmin family and had already embarked on life as a spiritual ascetic when he encountered the teachings of the Buddha. Śāriputra had a close friend Mahāmaudgalyāyana (Pāli: Mahāmoggallāna), another wandering ascetic. They both renounced the world on the same day and became disciples of the sceptic Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta before converting to Buddhism.
After hearing of the Buddha's teachings from a monk named Assaji (Sanskrit: Asvajit), Śāriputra sought out the Buddha and became an adherent to his teachings. These two are often depicted together with the Buddha, and several sutras regard interactions between Śāriputra and Mahāmaudgalyāyana (who became renowned among the early Buddhists for his mastery of supernatural powers).
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Satyabhama
Satyabhama is the third wife of Lord Krishna, known for her strong will and tantrums. She is believed to be a partial avatar of Bhudevi.
Satyabhama was the daughter of Satrajit who owned the Syamantaka jewel. Satrajit, who secured the jewel from Surya, and would not part with it even when Lord Krishna the king of Dwarka, asked for it saying it would be safe with him. Shortly thereafter, Prasena, the brother of Satrajit went out hunting wearing the jewel but was killed by a lion. Jambavan, known for his role in the Ramayana, killed the lion and gave the jewel to his daughter to play with. When Prasena did not return, Satrajit falsely accused Krishna of killing Prasena for the sake of the jewel.
Krishna, in order to remove the stain on his reputation, set out in search of the jewel and found it in Jambavan's cave, with his child. Jambavan attacked Krishna thinking him to be an intruder who had come to take away the jewel. They fought each other for 28 days, when Jambavan, his whole body terribly weakened from the hammering of Krishna's fists, finally recognised Him as Rama and surrendered.
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Satyaki
Yuyudhana (Sanskrit: युयुधान, Yuyudhāna), better known as Satyaki (Sanskrit: सात्यकी, Sātyakī), was a powerful warrior belonging to the Vrishni clan of the Yadavas, to which Krishna also belonged. According to the Puranas, he was grandson of Shini of the Vrishni clan, and son of Satyaka. Satyaki was devoted to Krishna and his best friend Arjuna, with whom he collectively trained in military arts under Guru Dronacharya. Satyaki was a valiant warrior and on one particular occasion, Drona was stunned when Satyaki broke his bow for 101 times successively. He is also known as the unconquerable Satyaki.
Satyaki strongly and passionately favored the cause of the Pandavas over the Kauravas in the Kurukshetra War. Satyaki accompanied Krishna to the Kuru capital, with Krishna as the emissary of peace which was ridiculed and turned down by Duryodhana.
In the course of the fourteenth day of the conflict, Satyaki fights an intense battle with archrival Bhurisravas with whom he has a long standing family feud. After a long and bloody battle, Satyaki begins to tire, and Bhurisravas batters him and drags him across the battlefield. Arjuna is warned by Lord Krishna of what is happening. Bhurisravas prepares to kill Satyaki, but he is rescued from death by Arjuna, who shoots an arrow cutting off Bhurisravas' arm. Bhurisrava wails out that by striking him without warning, Arjuna had disgraced the honor between warriors. Arjuna rebukes him for attacking a defenseless Satyaki. He reiterates that protecting Satyaki's life at all costs was his responsibility as a friend and comrade in arms. Satyaki then emerges from his swoon, and swiftly decapitates his enemy. He is condemned for this rash act, but every soldier present realizes that the power of Krishna made Satyaki end Bhurisravas' life, which was going to happen anyway.
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Satyaraja Dasa
Steven J. Rosen, also known as Satyaraja Dasa (born 1955), is an American author. He is the founding editor of The Journal of Vaishnava Studies and an associate editor of Back to Godhead, the magazine of the Hare Krishna Movement. He authored more than 20 books on Vaishnavism and related subjects.[better source needed] including Black Lotus: The Spiritual Journey of an Urban Mystic (2007), which is the life story of Bhakti Tirtha Swami.
Steven J. Rosen has a strong view on vegetarianism and has written Diet for Transcendence: Vegetarianism and the World Religions (1997, previously published as Food for the Spirit) and Holy Cow: The Hare Krishna Contribution to Vegetarianism and Animal Rights (2004). In the former volume, he systematically explains the practice of vegetarianism in various religious traditions, such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism, with special attention to the philosophical schools of India.[not in citation given] In the latter, citing the devotee-scholar Bhaktivinoda Thakur (1838–1914) and the Hindu savant Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927–2001), he looks at early Vedic tradition, animal sacrifices, and the innovative contributions of the Hare Krishna movement.[better source needed]
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Seleucus I
Seleucus I (given the surname by later generations of Nicator, Greek : Σέλευκος Νικάτωρ, i.e. Seleucus the Victor) (ca. 358 BC – 281 BC) was a leading officer of Alexander the Great's League of Corinth and one of the Diadochi. In the Wars of the Diadochi that took place after Alexander's death, Seleucus established the Seleucid dynasty and the Seleucid Empire. His kingdom would be one of the last holdouts of Alexander's former empire to Roman rule. They were only outlived by the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt by roughly 34 years.
After the death of Alexander, Seleucus was nominated as the satrap of Babylon in 320 BC. Antigonus forced Seleucus to flee from Babylon, but, supported by Ptolemy, he was able to return in 312 BC. Seleucus' later conquests include Persia and Media. It is assumed that he was defeated by the emperor of India, Chandragupta Maurya and accepted a matrimony alliance for 500 elephants after ceding the territories considered as part of India. Seleucus defeated Antigonus in the battle of Ipsus in 301 BC and Lysimachus in the battle of Corupedium in 281 BC. He was assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus during the same year. His successor was his son Antiochus I.
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Shishupala
Shishupala or Sisupala (Sanskrit: शिशुपाल, IAST: Śiśupāla) was son of Damaghosha, king of Chedi, by Srutadeva, sister of Vasudeva. Therefore he was not only cousin of Krishna, but also Krishna's implacable foe, because Krishna had carried off Rukmini, his intended wife. He was slain by Krishna at the great sacrifice of Yudhishthira in punishment of opprobrious abuse.
The Mahabharata states that Sisupala was born with three eyes and four arms. His parents were inclined to cast him out, but were warned by a voice not to do so, as his time was not come. It also foretold that his superfluous members should disappear when a certain person took the child into his lap, and that he would eventually die by the hands of that same person. Krishna placed the child on his knees and the extra eye and arms disappeared indicating Shishupala's death was destined at the hands of Krishna.
In the Mahabharata, Shishupala's mother was given a vow by Krishna, her nephew, that he would pardon his cousin Shishupala a hundred times before he decides to kill him. When Yudishthira decided to make the Rajasuya Yajna. At that time Shishupala insulted Krishna as a cowherd and worthless to be honoured as a king. On an earlier instance he felt humiliated when Krishna rides away with Rukmini, his beautiful bride to be and marry him. Shishupala who happens to be a great friend of Rukmini's brother Rukmi.
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Srimanta Sankardeva
Srimanta Shankardeva (1449–1568) (Assamese: মহাপুৰুষ শ্ৰীমন্ত শঙ্কৰদেৱ Môhapurux Srimôntô Xônkôrdev), was a 15th-16th century Assamese saint-scholar, playwright, social-religious reformer and a colossal figure in the cultural and religious history of Assam, India. He is credited with providing a thread of unity to Assam straddling two major kingdoms (Ahom and Koch kingdoms), building on past literary activities to provide the bedrock of Assamese culture, and creating a religion that gave shape to a set of new values and social synthesis. The religion he started, Mahapuruxiya Dharma, was part of the Bhakti movement then raging in India, and he inspired bhakti in Assam just as Ramananda, Guru Nanak, Kabir, Basava and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu inspired it elsewhere.
His literary and artistic contributions are living traditions in Assam today. The religion he preached is practiced by a large population, and Sattras (monasteries) that he and his followers established continue to flourish and sustain his legacy.
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Strabo
Strabo,,[pronunciation?], also written Strabon (Greek: Στράβων; 64/63 BC – ca. AD 24), was a Greek geographer, philosopher and historian.
Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus (modern Amasya, Turkey), a city that he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea. His mother was Georgian. Pontus had recently fallen to the Roman Republic, and although politically he was a proponent of Roman imperialism, Strabo belonged on his mother's side to a prominent family whose members had held important positions under the resisting regime of King Mithridates VI of Pontus.
Strabo's life was characterized by extensive travels. He journeyed to Egypt and Kush, as far west as coastal Tuscany and as far south as Ethiopia in addition to his travels in Asia Minor and time spent in Rome. Travel throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, especially for scholarly purposes, was popular during this era and was facilitated by the relative peace enjoyed throughout the reign of Augustus (27 BC – AD 14). He moved to Rome in 44 BC, and stayed there, studying and writing, until at least 31 BC. In 29 BC, on his way to Corinth (where Augustus was at the time), he visited the island of Gyaros in the Aegean Sea. Around 25 BC, he sailed up the Nile until reaching Philae, after which point there is little record of his proceedings until 17 AD.
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Subhadra
Subhadrā ((Sanskrit: सुभद्रा; Oriya: ସୁଭଦ୍ରା); Telugu: సుభద్ర) is an important character in the Mahābhārata. She is the half-sister of Krishna, wife of Arjuna, and mother of Abhimanyu. She is considered the incarnation of Bhuvaneshvari or Shakti.
Subhadra is the only daughter of Vasudeva, born to him by his wife Rohini. She is born after Krishna rescues their father, Vasudeva, from prison and is thus much younger than both her brothers. Subhadra therefore grows up in comfort as the princess, and escapes the travails that haunted her family before her birth.
Arjuna, the Pandava, once spends twelve years in exile for breaking a vow. He spends the last portion of this exile in Dwaraka, at the residence of his cousins Krishna, Balaram and Subhadra. They are his cousins because their father, Vasudeva, is the brother of Arjuna's mother Kunti. During his sojourn at Dwaraka, a romance ensues between Arjuna and Subhadra. This matter is abetted by Krishna, who has always been particularly attached to Arjuna, and wishesnothing but the best for his sister Subhadra.
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Surdas
Surdas (Sant Kavi Surdas) was a 15th century blind saint, poet and musician, known for his devotional songs dedicated to Lord Krishna. Surdas is said to have written and composed a hundred thousand songs in his magnum opus the 'Sur Sagar' (Ocean of Melody), out of which only about 8,000 are extant. He is considered a saint and so also known as Sant Surdas, a name which literally means the "slave of melody".
The time of Surdas's birth and death are uncertain and suggest that he lived over a hundred years, which make the facts even murkier. Some say, he was born blind in 1478 in Siri village near Delhi, India. Many others believe, Surdas was born in Renuka or runakta area near Mathura, a holy place in northern Indian district of Mathura, associated with the exploits of Lord Krishna. His family was too poor to take good care of him, which led the blind boy to leave home at the age of 6 to join a wondering group of religious musicians. According to one legend, one night he dreamt of Krishna, who asked him to go to Vrindavan, and dedicate his life to the praise of the Lord.
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Swami Tripurari
Tripurari Swami, also known as Swami B.V. Tripurari and Swami Tripurari, is "an author, poet and guru. As a prominent master in the Gaudiya Vaishnava lineage, he is one of the leading practitioners of Bhakti-yoga in the West."
B.V. Tripurari Swami was born in 1949 at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, New Jersey. He devoted his youth to the pursuit of transcendental knowledge and mystic experience. His lifetime of spiritual practice and teaching has brought him notice in spiritual circles around the world and earned the appreciation of scholars and practitioners alike. Swami Tripurari's has been described as helping "scholars... apprehend more clearly the dynamic nature of the Krsna consciousness movement."
Swami Tripurari met his initiating guru, Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, in the spring of 1972. Swami Tripurari relates that he felt as though he had met a long-lost friend, as Srila Prabhupada blessed him with his all-knowing glance. Over the years of service that followed, Srila Prabhupada showered Swami Tripurari with affection and repeatedly expressed his appreciation for Swami Tripurari's selfless service and ability to inspire others. In 1974 Srila Prabhupada instructed Swami Tripurari in a widely circulated letter, "So you organize freely. You are the incarnation of book distribution. Take the leadership and do the needful." Accordingly, Swami Tripurari has set an example of one who is independently thoughtful and capable of making an insightful literary contribution to the world.
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Swaminarayan
Swaminarayan (Gujarati: સ્વામિનારાયણ, Devanagari: स्वामीनारायण, IAST: Svāmīnārāyaṇa) (3 April 1781 – 1 June 1830), also known as Sahajanand Swami, is the central figure in a modern sect of Hinduism known as the Swaminarayan Faith, a form of Vaishnavism. Within the faith, Swaminarayan is equated with the Supreme Being, Purushottama, or is venerated as an incarnation of Narayana from the Nara-Narayana deity pair.
Swaminarayan was born Ghanshyam Pande in Chhapaiya, Uttar Pradesh, India in 1781. In 1792, he began a seven year pilgrimage across India, adopting the name Nilkanth Varni. He settled in the state of Gujarat around 1799. In 1800, he was initiated into the Uddhav Sampraday by his guru, Ramanand Swami, and was given the name Sahajanand Swami. In 1802, his guru handed over the leadership of the Uddhav Sampraday to him before his death. Sahajanand Swami held a gathering and taught the Swaminarayan mantra. From this point onwards, he was known as Swaminarayan and regarded as an incarnation of God by his followers. The Uddhav Sampraday became known as the Swaminarayan Sampraday.
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Tukaram
Sant Tukaram (1608–1650) was a prominent Varkari Sant (Saint) and spiritual poet during a Bhakti movement in India.
Sant Tukaram was born and lived most of his life in Dehu, a town close to Pune in Mahārāshtra, India. Kumar, Munshi, Kincaid and Parasanisa, consider him to be of the Vani or grocer caste. In accordance with an ancient Indian tradition, Tukaram's family name is rarely used in identifying him. His real name is Tukaram Vhilhoba Aambe. Rather, in accord with another tradition in India of assigning the epithet "sant" (संत) to persons regarded as thoroughly saintly, Tukaram is commonly known in Maharashtra as Sant Tukaram (संत तुकाराम). He is known as Bhakta Tukaram to southern Indian people.
Scholars assign various birth years to Sant Tukaram: 1577, 1598, 1608 and 1609 CE. The year of Sant Tukaram's death —1650 CE— is much more certain.
Sant Tukaram's first wife, Rakhumābāi, died in 1602 in her early youth. Sant Tukaram and his second wife, Jijābāi (also known as Āvali), had three sons: Santu or Mahādev, Vithobā, and Nārāyan.
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Tyagaraja
Kakarla Tyagabrahmam (Telugu: త్యాగరాజు) (May 4, 1767–January 6, 1847), colloquially known as Tyāgarājar and Tyagayya, was one of the greatest composers of Carnatic music or classical South Indian music. He, along with his contemporaries Muthuswami Dikshitar and Shyama Shastry, forms the Trinity of Carnatic music. He was a prolific composer and highly influential in the development of the South Indian classical music tradition. Tyagaraja composed thousands of devotional compositions, most of them in praise of Lord Rama — most of which remain very popular even today. Of special mention are five of his compositions called the Pancharatna Krithis (English: 'five gems'), which are often sung in programs in his honor.
Tyagaraja was born in 1767 in Tiruvarur, Tiruvarur district, in what is now called Tamil Nadu, to Kakarla Ramabrahmam and Sitamma in a Telugu Brahmin family of the Mulukanadu subsect. He was named Tyagaraja, after Lord Tyagaraja, the presiding deity of the temple at Tiruvarur. Tyagaraja was born at his maternal grandfather Giriraja Kavi's house. Giriraja Kavi was a poet-composer in the court of the king of Thanjavur.
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Ugrasena
Ugrasena (Sanskrit: उग्रसेन) was the King of Mathura, a kingdom that was established after the various Yadava clans, which include the Vrishnis and Bhojas decided that the dividing states would unite as one and that the Kingship would not be subject to heredity (but could be) and if decided not to be so, the succeeding leader would be chosen by a simple majority, therefore, a semi-democracy was established. When the groups gathered, the uniting factions decided to throne Ugrasena as the king due to his skills in warfare and his humble nature towards domestic and foreign policy issues.
According to the Vayu Purana (96.134), Ugrasena belonged to the Kukura clan (Kukurodbhava). According to the Puranas, he was son of Ahuka. Ugrasena was married to Queen Padmavati and was the father of Kamsa and Rajimati who was to get married to Neminath but later got innitiated as a nun in his holy order after his enlightenment. Due to the tremendous power of Kamsa, Ugrasena declared him as the crown prince of Mathura, therefore guaranteeing the succession of kingship after his retirement or death. Later on, Ugrasena also installed Kamsa as the army commander.
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Vallabha Sampradaya
Vallabhacharya (Telugu: వల్లబ్హాచార్య) (1479–1531 CE) was a devotional philosopher, who founded the Pushti sect in India, following the philosophy of Shuddha advaita (Pure Non-dualism).
Vallabhacharya accepted the 'Acharya' designation of Vishnuswami Sampraday (Rudra Sampraday) upon request of Bilvamangala Acharya, the last Vishnuswami Sampraday acharya before Vallabhacharya. This was after Vallabhacharya won the famous debate of Brahmavada over Shankaras in the courtyard of the Emperor Krishna Deva Raya of Vijayanagara Empire - the prosperous South Indian Empire. Apart from being the acharya of Vishnuswami Sampradaya, Vallabhacharya also propagated the Pushtimarga upon the god Krishna's order and thus became the acharya of not only Vishnuswami Sampradaya but also Pushti Sampradaya.
He is the Acharya and Guru within the Vaishnava traditions as promulgated and prescribed by the Vedanta philosophy. He is associated with Vishnuswami, a prominent Acharya of Rudra Sampradaya out of the four Vaishnava Sampradayas.
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Vasudeva
In Hindu itihasa , Vasudeva (Devanagari वसुदेव, IAST Vasudeva) is the father of Krishna, the son of Shoorsen, of the Yadu and Vrishni dynasties. His sister Kunti was married to Pandu. He was a partial incarnation of Rishi Kashyap. The patronymic Vāsudeva (with long ā) is a popular name of Krishna. According to the Harivansa Purana, Vasudeva and Nanda were brothers.
Related to this name is an early religion, sometimes called Bhagavatism that was largely formed by the 4th century BC where Vasudeva was worshiped as the supreme Deity in a strongly monotheistic format, where the Supreme Being was perfect, eternal and full of grace.
The name forms part of a famous mantra also known as a "twelve syllable mantra", which believed to be the earliest mantra from pre-reformation times, pre-dating sectarian divisions in Vaishnavism- (IAST oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya), it is translated as "Om, reverence to the Lord Vasudeva".
Vasudeva married Devaki, the sister of Kansa, and he was also the father of Krishna's sister Subhadra. He also took a second wife, Rohini, who bore his eldest son, Balarama.
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Veda Vyasa
Vyasa (Devanagari: व्यास, vyāsa) is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyasa (वेद व्यास, veda vyāsa), (the one who classified the Vedas in to four parts) or Krishna Dvaipayana (referring to his complexion and birthplace). He is the author as well as a character in the Mahabharata and considered to be the scribe of both the Vedas, and the supplementary texts such as the Puranas. A number of Vaishnava traditions regard him as an Avatar of Vishnu. Vyasa is sometimes conflated by some Vaishnavas with Badarayana, the author of the Vedanta Sutras. Vyāsa is also considered to be one of the seven Chiranjivins (long lived, or immortals), who are still in existence according to general Hindu belief. He is also the fourth member of the Rishi Parampara of the Advaita Guru Paramparā of which Adi Shankara is the chief proponent.
The festival of Guru Purnima, is dedicated to him, and also known as Vyasa Purnima as it is the day, which is believed to be his birthday and also the day he divided the Vedas.
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Vrishni
The Vrishnis were an ancient Indian clan who were believed as the descendants of Vrishni, a descendent of Yadu. It is believed that Vrishni was son of Satvata, a descendant of Yadu, the son of Yayati. He had two wives, Gandhari and Madri. He has a son named Devamidhusha by his wife Madri. Vasudeva, the father of Krishna was the grandson of Devamidhusha. Krishna belonged to this Vrishni branch of the Lunar race from whom he got the name Varshneya. According to the Puranas, the Vrishnis were residents of Dvaraka.
Jarasandha, father-in-law of Kamsa, invaded Mathura with a vast army; and though Krishna destroyed his army of demons, another asura, Kalayavan by name, surrounded Mathura with another army of thirty million monstrous fiends. Then Krishna thought it well to depart to Dwaraka.
Krishna had 16,108 wives. Krishna married Rukmini, daughter of King Bhishmaka of Vidarbha. He also married Mitrabinda, Satyabhama, Jambavati and others, winning each by great deeds; and another time, when a demon named Narakasura carried off and concealed many thousand princesses, Krishna pursued and slew him, and received these also into his house. Each of his wives had ten sons and one daughter. While Krishna was ruling at Dwaraka, Duryodhana was oppressing the Pandavas at Hastinapur and sought to compass their death. Krishna and Balarama went to give them help, and it was while Krishna was the Pandavas’ guest that he married Kalindi, daughter of Sun.
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Vyasa
Vyasa (Devanagari: व्यास, vyāsa) is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyasa (वेद व्यास, veda vyāsa), (the one who classified the Vedas in to four parts) or Krishna Dvaipayana (referring to his complexion and birthplace). He is the author as well as a character in the Mahabharata and considered to be the scribe of both the Vedas, and the supplementary texts such as the Puranas. A number of Vaishnava traditions regard him as an Avatar of Vishnu. Vyasa is sometimes conflated by some Vaishnavas with Badarayana, the author of the Vedanta Sutras. Vyāsa is also considered to be one of the seven Chiranjivins (long lived, or immortals), who are still in existence according to general Hindu belief. He is also the fourth member of the Rishi Parampara of the Advaita Guru Paramparā of which Adi Shankara is the chief proponent.
The festival of Guru Purnima, is dedicated to him, and also known as Vyasa Purnima as it is the day, which is believed to be his birthday and also the day he divided the Vedas.
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Wouter Hanegraaff
Wouter Jacobus Hanegraaff (born 1961) is full professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and related currents at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He is also President of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE).
Hanegraaff originally studied classical guitar at the Municipal Conservatory at Zwolle from 1982 to 1987, and cultural history at the University of Utrecht from 1986 to 1990. From 1992 to 1996 he was a Research Fellow at the department for the Study of Religions at the University of Utrecht.
From 1996 to 1999 Hanegraaff held a postdoctoral fellowship from the Dutch Association for Scientific Research (NWO), during which time he spent a period working in Paris. In 1999 he became professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam. From 2002 to 2006 he has been president of the Dutch Society for the Study of Religion, and, since 2005, president of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism. In 2006 he was elected member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (Koninklijke Nederlandse Academie voor Wetenschappen, KNAW).
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Yadava
The Yadavas (literally, descended from Yadu) were an ancient Indian people who believed themselves to be descended from Yadu, a mythical king. The community was probably formed of four clans, being the Abhira, Andhaka, Vrishni, and Satvatas, who all worshipped Lord Krishna. They are listed in ancient Indian literature as the segments of the lineage of Yadu (Yaduvamsha). A number of communities and royal dynasties of ancient, medieval and modern Indian subcontinent, claiming their descents from the ancient Yadava clans and mythical Yadava personalities also describe themselves as the Yadavas.
Amongst the Yadava clans mentioned in ancient Indian literature, the Haihayas are believed to have descended from Sahasrajit, elder son of Yadu and all other Yadava clans, which include the Chedis, the Vidarbhas, the Satvatas, the Andhakas, the Kukuras, the Bhojas, the Vrishnis and the Shainyas are believed to have descended from Kroshtu or Kroshta, younger son of Yadu.
It can be inferred from the vamshanucharita (genealogy) sections of a number of major Puranas that, the Yadavas spread out over the Aravalli region, Gujarat, the Narmada valley, the northern Deccan and the eastern Ganges valley. The Mahabharata and the Puranas mention that the Yadus or Yadavas, a confederacy comprising numerous clans were the rulers of the Mathura region. The Mahabharata also refers to the exodus of the Yadavas from Mathura to Dvaraka owing to pressure from the Paurava rulers of Magadha, and probably also from the Kurus
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Yashoda
Yashoda (Sanskrit: यशोदा) was wife of Nanda within the Puranic texts of Hinduism. Within the Bhagavata Purana it is described that Yasoda later became the foster-mother to Krishna, who was born to Devaki but was given to Yashoda and Nanda in Gokul, by Krishna's father Vasudeva on the night of his birth, for his protection from Devaki's brother, the king of Mathura, Kansa.
Various childhood episodes or Lilas of Krishna, growing in Yashoda's household abound in Hindu religious texts, important amongst them are, Krishna giving darshan to Yashoda with his Vishwaroopa or his Divine Form. Also it is stated by Ved Vyasa in Mahabharata, the main Epic which portrays Lord Krishna as principal hero, that venerable sage Maharishi Narada once visited Lord Krishna at Brindavan.
Lord Krishna as usual was playing in sand and was swallowing it. Mother Yashoda, upon seeing it, was furious with Krishna for disobeying her and punished Krishna by tying him to a grinding stone. Upon witnessing this act a couplet broke forth Sage Narada "Enna Davam Saidhanai, Yashoda" which in Tamil literally means: "What penance have You (Mother Yashoda) undertaken to be bestowed with the powers to punish the supreme Lord (Narayana)". And also seen as a question to the Lord himself as to how he accepts all this. It literally means what penance Yashoda had undertaken in her previous birth to be bestowed upon with the powers to punish, love, and care for the Supreme Lord Vishnu (Lord Satyanarayana also known as Emperor of Gods in Hindu Scriptures).
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Yasoda
Yashoda (Sanskrit: यशोदा) was wife of Nanda within the Puranic texts of Hinduism. Within the Bhagavata Purana it is described that Yasoda later became the foster-mother to Krishna, who was born to Devaki but was given to Yashoda and Nanda in Gokul, by Krishna's father Vasudeva on the night of his birth, for his protection from Devaki's brother, the king of Mathura, Kansa.
Various childhood episodes or Lilas of Krishna, growing in Yashoda's household abound in Hindu religious texts, important amongst them are, Krishna giving darshan to Yashoda with his Vishwaroopa or his Divine Form. Also it is stated by Ved Vyasa in Mahabharata, the main Epic which portrays Lord Krishna as principal hero, that venerable sage Maharishi Narada once visited Lord Krishna at Brindavan.
Lord Krishna as usual was playing in sand and was swallowing it. Mother Yashoda, upon seeing it, was furious with Krishna for disobeying her and punished Krishna by tying him to a grinding stone. Upon witnessing this act a couplet broke forth Sage Narada "Enna Davam Saidhanai, Yashoda" which in Tamil literally means: "What penance have You (Mother Yashoda) undertaken to be bestowed with the powers to punish the supreme Lord (Narayana)". And also seen as a question to the Lord himself as to how he accepts all this. It literally means what penance Yashoda had undertaken in her previous birth to be bestowed upon with the powers to punish, love, and care for the Supreme Lord Vishnu (Lord Satyanarayana also known as Emperor of Gods in Hindu Scriptures).
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Zoroaster
Zoroaster (/ˌzɒroʊˈæstər/ ZOHR-oh-as-tər; Persian: زرتشت; Zartosht), (Armenian: Զարդաշտ; Zardasht) also known as Zarathustra (Avestan: Zaraϑuštra), was the founder of Zoroastrianism. His birthplace is uncertain but it is now generally thought that he was born in the eastern part of ancient Greater Iran. He is credited with the authorship of the Yasna Haptanghaiti as well as the Gathas, hymns which are at the liturgical core of Zoroastrianism. Most of his life is known through the Zoroastrian texts. There is no consensus among scholars about the time period of his life, with the estimated dates of his birth range from 6000 BC to 100 BCE. However, the language spoken by Zoroaster, Old Avestan, used for composing the Yasna Haptanghaiti and the Gathas, on archaeological and linguistic grounds, is dated to have been spoken probably in the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE.
Zoroaster's name in his native language, Avestan, was probably Zaraϑuštra. His English name, "Zoroaster", and the derivatives from a later (5th-century BCE) Greek transcription, Zōroastrēs (Ζωροάστρης), as used in Xanthus's Lydiaca (Fragment 32) and in Plato's First Alcibiades (122a1). This form appears subsequently in the Latin Zōroastrēs and, in later Greek orthographies, as Zōroastris. The Greek form of the name appears to be based on a phonetic transliteration or semantic substitution of the Avestan zaraϑ- with the Greek zōros (literally "undiluted") and the Avestan -uštra with astron ("star").
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Édouard Schuré
Eduard (Édouard) Schuré (January 21, 1841 in Strasbourg – April 7, 1929 in Paris) was a French philosopher, poet, playwright, novelist, music critic, and publicist of esoteric literature.
Schuré was the son of a doctor in the Alsatian town of Strasbourg. He mastered French as well as German, and was influenced by German and French culture in his formative years. Without interest, he studied law at his fathers pleasure. His own interest and studies led to an extensive knowledge of German literature. The discovery of Richard Wagner's "music drama" Tristan and Isolde impressed him sufficiently to seek—and obtain—Wagner's personal acquaintance.
In France, he published his first work Histoire du Lied—a history of the German folk song, which earned him some recognition in the country of his family. With the publication of the essay Richard Wagner et le drame musical, he established himself as a major French Wagner expert and advocate of the time.
When the Franco-German war of 1870-71 poisoned the German arts for many French, it would seem that Schuré was not immune from this influence. His nationalism is reflected in his remarks of this time—and later in his life—in a comparison of glorified Celtism (France) and a negatively viewed "Teutonism" (Germany).
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Kannan Filmography
- Elaan (2005)
- Footpath (2003)
- The Godman (1999)
- Sher-E-Hindustan (1997)
- Ele, My Friend (1992)
- Jeet Hamaari (1983)
- Engeyo Ketta Kural (1982)
Kannan Filmography
Kannan Filmography
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Theeradha Vilaiyattu Pillai - Kannan songs
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- Duration: 4:50
- Updated: 24 Nov 2012
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kannan malayalam Animation Song.avi
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- Duration: 3:39
- Updated: 22 Nov 2012
kannan malayalam animation video More Detial and Download direct and morevisit now = adf.ly
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kannan-varuvaan - PANCHAVARNA KILI
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- Duration: 4:44
- Updated: 22 Nov 2012
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Kannan
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- Duration: 4:09
- Updated: 31 Aug 2012
Per maggiori informazioni su questo cavallo e per l'elenco completo dei nostri stalloni visita www.genesi-stalloni.it
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gokula balakane.-ambadi kannan
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gokula balakane.-ambadi kannan
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Adhu Idhu Yedhu | Shyam, Viji Kannan & Dr. Giri | Part 01
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- Duration: 14:52
- Updated: 26 Apr 2012
join the fun in the sets of Adhu Idhu Yedhu with television stars Shyam, Viji Kannan & Dr. Giri! Guest Introduction | Groupla Dupe | Vegetable Vendor
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Kannan-Fontainebleau-Champ-France.mpg
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Kannan Fontainebleau Beautiful stallion by Voltaire
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Vishamakara kannan - Vittaldas
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- Duration: 5:02
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
This song about Krishna leela and his childhood mischievousness Bhajan by Govindapuram saint Vittaldas and video edited by SuganyaKarpagam Seetharaman.Please visit and comment ammachatram.webs.com
http://wn.com/Vishamakara_kannan_Vittaldas
Chinna Kannan Azhaikkiran
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:50
- Updated: 14 Nov 2012
http://wn.com/Chinna_Kannan_Azhaikkiran
Tamil Movie Song - Vennira Aadai - Kannan Ennum Mannan Perai Solla Solla
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:52
- Updated: 04 Nov 2012
Song from Vennira Aadai starring Srikanth and Jayalalithaa. This song was composed by MSViswanathan-TKRamamurthy duo and sung by P.Susheela.
http://wn.com/Tamil_Movie_Song_Vennira_Aadai_Kannan_Ennum_Mannan_Perai_Solla_Solla
Kannan
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:44
- Updated: 26 Mar 2012
Pere de walkure v/d dwerse hagen
http://wn.com/Kannan
Aruna Sairam - 9 - vishamakAra kaNNan - chenchuruTTi (jhunjhuTi) - mArgazhi mahA utsavam 2008
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:56
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
Song: vishamakAra kaNNan (folk tune) rAgam: chenchuruTTi (Hindustani: jhunjhuTi) tALam: Eka Composer: Oothukkadu Venkatasubbaiyyar Language: Tamil Concert: mArgazhi mahA utsavam 2008 Violin: HNBhaskar Mridangam: J.Vaidyanathan Ghatam: Karthik Lord Krishna, as a child, is reputed to have been very naughty. In this song, Oothukkadu, the composer, has provided a humorous and loving description of the various pranks played by the child Krishna. (lyrics courtesy: rasikas.org ) 1 viSamakkAra kaNNan pollAda viSamakkAra kaNNan VEDikkaiyAi pATTu pADi vidham vidhamAi ATTamADi nAzhikkoru lIlai sheyyum nanda gOpAla krSNan 2: nIla mEgham pOlE iruppAn pADinAlO nenjil vandu kuDiyiruppAn kOlap-pullAnkuzhal Udi gOpigaLai kaLLam ADi konjambOra veNNai tADi enru kETTu ATTamADum 3: pakkattu vITTup-peNNai azhaippAn mukhAri rAgam enakkadu teriyAdenrAl nekkuruga kiLLi viTTu (avaL) vikki vikki azhum pOdu idANDi mukhAri enbAn 4: kOlaik-koNDu shAlait-tuLaippAn adilE koTTum tayir aLLik-kuDippAn shOlaikkuLLE tOzharaiyazaippAn avargaLukku toTTu toTTu shollik-koDuppAn vegu sundaramAi mAmi oruvaL yashOdai vIDu sondamum koNDADi varuvAL tOrAyamAi anda mAmi tUkkik-koNDAl angavaLai toDAda iDangaLellAm toTTu tolaippAn 5: veNNai pAnai mUDakkUDAdu ivan vandu vizhunginAlum kETkak-kUDAdu ivan ammA kiTTE shollakkUDAdu sholliviTTAl aTTahAsam tAnga oNNAdu shummA oru pEccukkAnum tiruDanenru sholli viTTAl un ammA pATTi attai tAttA attanaiyum tiruDarenbAn
http://wn.com/Aruna_Sairam_9_vishamakAra_kaNNan_chenchuruTTi_jhunjhuTi_mArgazhi_mahA_utsavam_2008
Aruna Sairam MM 2008 06 Vishamakara Kannan
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:04
- Updated: 11 Nov 2012
http://wn.com/Aruna_Sairam_MM_2008_06_Vishamakara_Kannan
Kannan Varum Velai song - Deepavali
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:55
- Updated: 22 Nov 2012
www.erosentertainment.com
http://wn.com/Kannan_Varum_Velai_song_Deepavali
David Bisval Ft Kannan Wavin flag ( chafa )
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:26
- Updated: 26 Jun 2012
solo para adictos a la risa
http://wn.com/David_Bisval_Ft_Kannan_Wavin_flag_chafa_
Kannan vandhu - Harmonize Projekt 2
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:34
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
Kannan vandhu - Harmonize Projekt 2
http://wn.com/Kannan_vandhu_Harmonize_Projekt_2
Kanal Kannan: I'm proud to have worked in most of Vijay's films | IndiaGlitz | Thuppaki Spcl
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:50
- Updated: 24 Nov 2012
Kanal Kannan is a fight master/action choreographer in Kollywood, who has worked for many Tamil films. He also works for Tollywood and Bollywood. Kanal Kannan worked with actor vijay in many tamil films. For more, Log On to: www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/
http://wn.com/Kanal_Kannan_I'm_proud_to_have_worked_in_most_of_Vijay's_films_|_IndiaGlitz_|_Thuppaki_Spcl
Kannal Kannan has presented his ode to Ilayathalapathy Vijay | Thuppaki Spl | Trailer
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:13
- Updated: 24 Nov 2012
Kannal Kannan has presented his ode to Ilayathalapathy Vijay EXCLUSIVELY as a part of IG's celebration, Vijay & His Various Avatars.The stunt specialist has put together Vijay's reel and real life special moments and scenes right from his childhood, making it more than just a must-watch for Vijay's fans. Watch it right away exclusively on IG! Watch more videos from www.indiaglitz.com
http://wn.com/Kannal_Kannan_has_presented_his_ode_to_Ilayathalapathy_Vijay_|_Thuppaki_Spl_|_Trailer
Kaffir culture in Sri Lanka by Kannan Arunasalam
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:02
- Updated: 24 Nov 2012
The 'Kaffirs' of Sri Lanka started arriving from the eastern shores of Africa in the 1500s with the Portuguese, and later in more waves with the different colonizers of Sri Lanka. 'Kaffir culture' is a video portrait of one such community of Kaffirs and the struggle to keep their culture alive in the face of falling numbers. Written and produced by Kannan Arunasalam. Music by Ceylon Kaffir Manja, arranged by Jesse Hardman. Special thanks to Sweta Velpillay (on sound), Nethra Samarawickrema (for help with translations), Leah Worthington (background research) and Greg Kelly (Radio Netherlands) Note: the word 'Kaffir' has ugly racist connotations in Africa and Europe. This is NOT the case in Sri Lanka. Original can be seen here: www.vimeo.com
http://wn.com/Kaffir_culture_in_Sri_Lanka_by_Kannan_Arunasalam
Deeppavali Kannan Varum Velai Anthi
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:30
- Updated: 23 Aug 2012
Jeyam Ravi's movie deeppavali with Bhavana
http://wn.com/Deeppavali_Kannan_Varum_Velai_Anthi
Nellai Kannan - Kamarajar - 1.wmv
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:56
- Updated: 22 Nov 2012
Nellai Kannan's speech on the great man - King maker - Kamarajar
http://wn.com/Nellai_Kannan_Kamarajar_1wmv
Steve Burton, Senati Asanti and Sean Kannan talk about GH
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:32
- Updated: 15 Nov 2012
Steve Burton (Jason), Senati Asanti (Keesha) and Sean Kannan (AJ) talk about there characters on General Hospital (1995).
http://wn.com/Steve_Burton,_Senati_Asanti_and_Sean_Kannan_talk_about_GH
KCS Summer Dreams 2010 ~ Seematti show - Beena Kannan - PART 1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:26
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
KCS Summer Dreams 2010 ~ Seematti show - Beena Kannan - PART 1 Seematti 100 years celebration Silk ambassadors Sujatha, Swetha, Divya Unni, Beena Kannan, Sneha, Archana Naiir, 200+ participants, ramping, fashion show Kerala Cultural Society of Metropolitan Washington www.kcsmw.org Seematti http
http://wn.com/KCS_Summer_Dreams_2010_~_Seematti_show_Beena_Kannan_PART_1
photo: AP / Emilio Morenatti
22 Nov 2012
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photo: AP / Egyptian Presidency
23 Nov 2012
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photo: AP
23 Nov 2012
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. I was fortunate to have been raised near an American Indian archaeological spot located on the Great Plains. In elementary school, a fellow classmate would periodically bring and show grinding stones, arrow- and spearheads, stone farming implements, and pictures of what the excavated site may have...(size: 7.1Kb)
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23 Nov 2012
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photo: AP / Mohammed Asad
24 Nov 2012
Cairo. President Mohamed Morsi insisted on Friday that Egypt is on the path to “freedom and democracy” after granting himself sweeping powers, which sparked clashes between his supporters and foes and raised concerns abroad. “Political stability, social stability and economic stability are what I want and that is what I am working for,” he told a...(size: 4.8Kb)
The Hindu
24 Nov 2012
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Chennai Online
23 Nov 2012
Tiruchirapalli, Nov 23 : The Joint Action Group of Citizens Welfare Organisations, Tamil Nadu, appealed to State Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene into the sufferings of people of Tamil Nadu due to day-long power cuts in many parts of the state. In his separate memoranda to Ms Jayalalithaa...(size: 2.2Kb)
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23 Nov 2012
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23 Nov 2012
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This article is about the Hindu deity. For other meanings, see Krishna (disambiguation).
| Krishna | |
|---|---|
 Krishna playing a flute, depicted in wood carving |
|
| Devanagari | कृष्ण |
| Sanskrit Transliteration | Kṛṣṇa |
| Affiliation | Svayam Bhagavan |
| Abode | Vrindavan, Gokul, Dwarka |
| Mantra | Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare |
| Weapon | Sudarshana Chakra |
| Consort | Radha, Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Satya, Kalindi, Bhadra, Mitravinda. |
| Mount | Garuda |
| Texts | Bhagavata Purana, Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata |
Krishna (Sanskrit: कृष्ण) (kṛṣṇa in IAST, pronounced [ˈkr̩ʂɳə] literally "dark, black"[1]) is a central figure of Hinduism. He is known as the eighth and "complete" avatar of Lord Vishnu, come to restore Dharma to the earth in a time of great dharmic imbalance. Krishna is identified as a historical individual who participated in the events of the Mahabharata.
Krishna is often described as an infant or young boy playing a flute as in the Bhagavata Purana,[2] or as a youthful prince giving direction and guidance as in the Bhagavad Gita.[3] The stories of Krishna appear across a broad spectrum of Hindu philosophical and theological traditions.[4] They portray him in various perspectives: a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero and the Supreme Being.[5] The principal scriptures discussing Krishna's story are the Mahabharata, the Harivamsa, the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana.
Worship of a deity of Krishna, in the form of Vasudeva, Bala Krishna or Gopala, can be traced to as early as 4th century BC.[6][7] Worship of Krishna as svayam bhagavan, or the Supreme Being, known as Krishnaism, arose in the Middle Ages in the context of the bhakti movement. From the 10th century AD, Krishna became a favorite subject in performing arts and regional traditions of devotion developed for forms of Krishna such as Jagannatha in Orissa, Vithoba in Maharashtra and Shrinathji in Rajasthan. Since the 1960s the worship of Krishna has also spread in the West, largely due to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.[8]
Contents |
Name and titles[link]
Main article: List of titles and names of Krishna
The Sanskrit word in its origin language kṛṣṇa is primarily an adjective meaning "black", "dark" or "dark-blue".,[1] sometimes it is also translated as "all attractive".[9] It is cognate with Slavic čьrnъ "black". As a feminine noun, Kṛṣṇa is used in the meaning "night, blackness, darkness" in the Rigveda, and as a demon or spirit of darkness in RV 4.16.13. As a proper noun, Kṛṣṇa occurs in RV 8.85.3 as the name of a poet.[10] As a name of Vishnu, Krishna listed as the 57th name in the Vishnu Sahasranama. Based on his name, Krishna is often depicted in murtis as black or blue-skinned.
Krishna is also known by various other names, epithets and titles, which reflect his many associations and attributes. Among the most common names are Mohan "enchanter of women or cowherdesses", Govinda, "finder of cows", or Gopala, "protector of cows", which refer to Krishna's childhood in Vraja.[11][12] Some of the distinct names may be regionally important; for instance, Jagannatha (literally "Lord of the Universe"), a popular deity of Puri in eastern India and western China. [13]
Iconography[link]
Krishna is easily recognized by his representations. Though his skin colour may be depicted as black or dark in some representations, particularly in murtis, in other images such as modern pictorial representations, Krishna is usually shown with blue skin. He is often shown wearing a yellow silk dhoti and peacock feather crown. Common depictions show him as a little boy, or as a young man in a characteristic relaxed pose, playing the flute.[14][15] In this form, he usually stands with one leg bent in front of the other and raises a flute to his lips, known as Tribhangi Mudra, accompanied by cows, emphasizing his position as the divine herdsman, Govinda, or with the gopis (milkmaids).
The scene on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, notably where he addresses Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, is another common subject for representation. In these depictions, he is shown as a man, often with typical god-like characteristics of Hindu religious art, such as multiple arms or heads, denoting power, and with attributes of Vishnu, such as the chakra or in his two-armed form as a charioteer.
Cave paintings dated to 800 BCE in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, North India, show raiding horse-charioteers, one of whom is about to hurl a wheel, and who could potentially be identified as Krishna.[16]
A steatite tablet unearthed from Mohenjo-daro (2600~1800 BCE) depicting a young boy uprooting two trees from which are emerging two human figures is an interesting archaeological find for fixing dates associated with Krishna. This image recalls the Yamalarjuna episode of Bhagavata and Harivamsa Purana. In this image, the young boy is undoubtedly Krishna, and the two human beings emerging from the trees are the two cursed Gandharvas, identified as Nalkubara & Manigriva. Dr. E.J.H. Mackay, who did the excavation at Mohanjodaro, compares this image with the Yamalarjuna episode. Prof. V.S. Agrawal has also accepted this identification. Thus, it seems that the Indus valley people knew stories related to Krishna. This lone find may not establish Krishna as contemporary with Pre-Indus or Indus times, but, likewise, it cannot be ignored.[17][18][19]
Representations in temples often show Krishna as a man standing in an upright, formal pose. He may be alone, or with associated figures:[20] his brother Balarama and sister Subhadra, or his main queens Rukmini and Satyabhama.
Often, Krishna is pictured with his gopi-consort Radha. Manipuri Vaishnavas do not worship Krishna alone, but as Radha Krishna,[21] a combined image of Krishna and Radha. This is also a characteristic of the schools Rudra[22] and Nimbarka sampradaya,[23] as well as that of Swaminarayan faith. The traditions celebrate Radha Ramana murti, who is viewed by Gaudiyas as a form of Radha Krishna.[24]
Krishna is also depicted and worshipped as a small child (Bala Krishna, bāla kṛṣṇa the child Krishna), crawling on his hands and knees or dancing, often with butter or Laddu in his hand being Laddu Gopal.[25][26] Regional variations in the iconography of Krishna are seen in his different forms, such as Jaganatha of Orissa, Vithoba of Maharashtra[27] and Shrinathji in Rajasthan.
Literary sources[link]
See also: Krishna in the Mahabharata
The earliest text to explicitly provide detailed descriptions of Krishna as a personality is the epic Mahābhārata which depicts Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu.[28] Krishna is central to many of the main stories of the epic. The eighteen chapters of the sixth book (Bhishma Parva) of the epic that constitute the Bhagavad Gita contain the advice of Krishna to the warrior-hero Arjuna, on the battlefield. Krishna is already an adult in the epic, although there are allusions to his earlier exploits. The Harivamsa, a later appendix to this epic, contains the earliest detailed version of Krishna's childhood and youth.
In early texts, such as Rig Veda, there are confidential references to Krishna
"apasyam gopam anipadyamana ma ca para ca pathibhis carantam sa sadhricih sa visucir vasana avatirvati bhuvanesv antah "
I saw a cowherd. He never falls from his position; sometimes he is near, and some times far, wandering on various paths. He is a friend, decorated with a variety of clothes. He comes again and again to the material world. - Rig Veda 1.22.164 sukta 31
Thus KRISHNA is the only Infallible Cowherd boy in Hinduism, Who comes again and again to save the earth in His various avatars.
[29] Also Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar attempted to show that "the very same Krishna" made an appearance, e.g. as the drapsa ... krishna "black drop" of RV 8.96.13. Sunil Kumar Bhattacharya Krishna-cult in Indian Art. 1996 M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 81-7533-001-5 p. 126: "According to (D.R.Bhadarkar), the word Krishna referred to in the expression 'Krishna-drapsah' in the Rig- Veda, denotes the very same Krishna".</ref> Some authors have also likened prehistoric depictions of deities to Krishna.
Chandogya Upanishad (3.17.6) Composed around 900BC-700BC[citation needed] mentions Vasudeva Krishna
as the son of Devaki and the disciple of Ghora Angirasa , the seer who preached his disciple the philosophy of ‘Chhandogya.’ Having been influenced by the philosophy of ‘Chhandogya’ Krishna in the Bhagavadgita while delivering the discourse to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra discussed about sacrifice, which can be compared to purusha or the individual.
Yāska's Nirukta, an etymological dictionary around 6th century BC, contains a reference to the Shyamantaka jewel in the possession of Akrura, a motif from well known Puranic story about Krishna.[33] Shatapatha Brahmana and Aitareya-Aranyaka, associate Krishna with his Vrishni origins.[34]
Connected with the festival Holi
Pāṇini, the ancient grammarian and author of Asthadhyayi (probably belonged to 5th century or 6th century BC) mentions a character called Vāsudeva, son of Vasudeva, and also mentions Kaurava and Arjuna which testifies to Vasudeva Krishna, Arjuna and Kauravas being contemporaries.[17][35][36]
Megasthenes (350 – 290 BC) a Greek ethnographer and an ambassador of Seleucus I to the court of Chandragupta Maurya mentioned about Herakles in his famous work Indica. Many scholars have suggested that the deity identified as Herakles was Krishna. According to Arrian, Diodorus, and Strabo, Megasthenes described an Indian tribe called Sourasenoi, who especially worshipped Herakles in their land, and this land had two cities, Methora and Kleisobora, and a navigable river, the Jobares. As was common in the ancient period, the Greeks sometimes described foreign gods in terms of their own divinities, and there is a little doubt that the Sourasenoi refers to the Shurasenas, a branch of the Yadu dynasty to which Krishna belonged; Herakles to Krishna, or Hari-Krishna: Methora to Mathura, where Krishna was born; Kleisobora to Krishnapura, meaning "the city of Krishna"; and the Jobares to the Yamuna, the famous river in the Krishna story. Quintus Curtius also mentions that when Alexander the Great confronted Porus, Porus's soldiers were carrying an image of Herakles in their vanguard.[37]
The name Kṛșṇa occurs in Buddhist writings in the form Kānha, phonetically equivalent to Kṛșṇa.[38]
The Ghata-Jâtaka (No. 454) gives an account of Kṛishṇa's childhood and subsequent exploits which in many points corresponds with the Brahmanic legends of his life and contains several familiar incidents and names, such as Vâsudeva, Baladeva, Kaṃsa. Yet it presents many peculiarities and is either an independent version or a misrepresentation of a popular story that had wandered far from its home. Jain tradition also shows that these tales were popular and were worked up into different forms, for the Jains have an elaborate system of ancient patriarchs which includes Vâsudevas and Baladevas. Kṛishṇa is the ninth of the Black Vâsudevas and is connected with Dvâravatî or Dvârakâ. He will become the twelfth tîrthankara of the next world-period and a similar position will be attained by Devakî, Rohinî, Baladeva and Javakumâra, all members of his family. This is a striking proof of the popularity of the Kṛishṇa legend outside the Brahmanic religion.[39]
According to Arthasastra of Kautilya (4th centuries CE) Vāsudeva was worshiped as supreme Deity in a strongly monotheistic format.[35]
Around 150 BC, Patanjali in his Mahabhashya quotes a verse: "May the might of Krishna accompanied by Samkarshana increase!" Other verses are mentioned. One verse speaks of "Janardhana with himself as fourth" (Krishna with three companions, the three possibly being Samkarshana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha). Another verse mentions musical instruments being played at meetings in the temples of Rama (Balarama) and Kesava (Krishna). Patanjali also describes dramatic and mimetic performances (Krishna-Kamsopacharam) representing the killing of Kamsa by Vasudeva.[40]
In the 1st century BC, there seems to be evidence for a worship of five Vrishni heroes (Balarama, Krishna, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Samba) for an inscription has been found at Mora near Mathura, which apparently mentions a son of the great satrap Rajuvula, probably the satrap Sodasa, and an image of Vrishni, "probably Vasudeva, and of the "Five Warriors".[41] Brahmi inscription on the Mora stone slab, now in the Mathura Museum.[42][43]
Many Puranas tell Krishna's life-story or some highlights from it. Two Puranas, the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana, that contain the most elaborate telling of Krishna’s story and teachings are the most theologically venerated by the Vaishnava schools.[44] Roughly one quarter of the Bhagavata Purana is spent extolling his life and philosophy.
Life[link]
This summary is based on details from the Mahābhārata, the Harivamsa, the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana. The scenes from the narrative are set in north India, mostly in the present states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat.
Birth[link]
According to Bhagavata Purana, Krishna was born without a sexual union, but by divine "mental transmission" from the mind of Vasudeva into the womb of Devaki. Based on scriptural details and astrological calculations the date of Krishna's birth, known as Janmashtami,[45] is 18 July 3228 BCE and departed on 3102 BCE. Krishna belonged to the Vrishni clan of Yadavas from Mathura,[46] and was the eighth son born to the princess Devaki, and her husband Vasudeva.
Mathura was the capital of the Yadavas, to which Krishna's parents Vasudeva and Devaki belonged. King Kansa, Devaki's brother,[47] had ascended the throne by imprisoning his father, King Ugrasena. Afraid of a prophecy that predicted his death at the hands of Devaki's eighth son, Kansa had the couple locked into a prison cell. After Kansa killed the first six children, and Devaki's apparent miscarriage of the seventh (which was actually a secret transfer of the infant to Rohini as Balarama), Krishna was born.
Since Vasudeva knew Krishna's life was in danger, Krishna was secretly taken out of the prison cell to be raised by his foster parents, Yasoda [48] and Nanda, in Gokula. Two of his other siblings also survived, Balarama (Devaki's seventh child, transferred to the womb of Rohini, Vasudeva's first wife) and Subhadra (daughter of Vasudeva and Rohini, born much later than Balarama and Krishna).[49]
Childhood and youth[link]
Nanda was the head of a community of cow-herders, and he settled in Vrindavana. The stories of Krishna's childhood and youth tell how he became a cow herder,[50] his mischievous pranks as Makhan Chor (butter thief), his foiling of attempts to take his life, and his role as a protector of the people of Vrindavana.
Krishna killed the demoness like Putana, disguised as a wet nurse, sent by Kansa for Krishna's life. He tamed the serpent Kāliyā, who previously poisoned the waters of Yamuna river, thus leading to the death of the cowherds. In Hindu art, Krishna is often depicted dancing on the multi-hooded Kāliyā.
Krishna lifted the Govardhana hill and taught Indra, the king of the devas and rain, a lesson to protect native people of Vrindavana from persecution by Indra and prevent the devastation of the pasture land of Govardhan. Indra had too much pride and was angry when Lord Krishna advised the people of Vrindavana to take care of their animals and their environment that provide them with all their necessities, instead of worshipping Indra annually by spending their resources.[51][52] In the view of some, the spiritual movement started by Lord Krishna had something in it which went against the orthodox forms of worship of the Vedic gods such as Indra.[53] In Bhagavat Purana, Lord Krishna says that the rain came from the nearby hill Govardhana, and advised that the people worshiped the hill instead of Indra. This made Indra furious, so he punished them by sending out a great storm. Lord Krishna then lifted Govardhan and held it over the people like an umbrella.
The stories of his play with the gopis (milkmaids) of Vrindavana, especially Radha (daughter of Vrishbhanu, one of the original residents of Vrindavan) became known as the Rasa lila and were romanticised in the poetry of Jayadeva, author of the Gita Govinda. These became important as part of the development of the Krishna bhakti traditions worshiping Radha Krishna.[54]
The prince[link]
On his return to Mathura as a young man, Krishna overthrew and killed his maternal uncle, Kansa, after avoiding several assassination attempts from Kansa's followers. He reinstated Kansa's father, Ugrasena, as the king of the Yadavas and became a leading prince at the court.[55] During this period, he became a friend of Arjuna and the other Pandava princes of the Kuru kingdom, who were his cousins. Later, he took his Yadava subjects to the city of Dwaraka (in modern Gujarat) and established his own kingdom there.[56]
Krishna married Rukmini, the Vidarbha princess, by abducting her, at her request, from her proposed wedding with Shishupala. Krishna subsequently married 16,100 maidens who were held captive by demon Narakasura, to save their honour.[57][58] of which eight were chief—collectively called the Ashta Bharya—including Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Kalindi, Mitravrinda, Nagnajiti, Bhadra and Lakshana.[59][60] Krishna killed the demon and released them all. According to social custom of the time, all of the captive women were degraded, and would be unable to marry, as they had been under the Narakasura's control. However Krishna married them to reinstate their status in the society. This symbolic wedding with 16,100 abandoned daughters was more of a mass women rehabilitation.[61] In Vaishnava traditions, Krishna's wives are forms of the goddess Lakshmi— consort of Vishnu, or special souls who attained this qualification after many lifetimes of austerity, while his queen Satyabhama, is an expansion of Radha.[62]
When Yudhisthira was assuming the title of emperor, he had invited all the great kings to the ceremony and while paying his respects to them, he started with Krishna because he considered Krishna to be the greatest of them all. While it was a unanimous feeling amongst most present at the ceremony that Krishna should get the first honours, his cousin Shishupala felt otherwise and started berating Krishna. Due to a vow given to Shishupal's mother, Krishna forgave a hundred verbal abuses by Shishupal, and upon the one hundred and first, he assumed his Virat (universal) form and killed Shishupal with his Chakra. The blind king Dhritarashtra also obtained divine vision during this time to be able to see the Lord's form. Essentially, Shishupal and Dantavakra were both re-incarnations of Lord Vishnu's gate-keepers Jaya and Vijaya, who were cursed to be born on Earth, to be delivered by the Lord back to Heaven.[63]
Kurukshetra War and Bhagavad Gita[link]
Main articles: Kurukshetra War and Bhagavad Gita
Once battle seemed inevitable, Krishna offered both sides the opportunity to choose between having either his army called narayani sena or himself alone, but on the condition that he personally would not raise any weapon. Arjuna, on behalf of the Pandavas, chose to have Krishna on their side, and Duryodhana, Kaurava prince, chose Krishna's army. At the time of the great battle, Krishna acted as Arjuna's charioteer, since this position did not require the wielding of weapons.
Upon arrival at the battlefield, and seeing that the enemies are his family, his grandfather, his cousins and loved ones, Arjuna becomes doubtful about the fight. He lost all his hopes and put down his Gandiv (Arjuna's bow). Krishna then advises him about the battle, with the conversation soon extending into a discourse which was later compiled as the Bhagavad Gita.[64]
Krishna had a profound effect on the Mahabharata war and its consequences. He considered the Kurukshetra war as a last resort by voluntarily making himself as a messenger in order to establish peace between the Pandavas and Kauravas. But, once these peace negotiations failed and was embarked into the war, then he became a clever strategist. During the war, upon becoming angry with Arjun for not fighting in true spirit against his ancestors, Krishna once picked up a carriage wheel and converted it to a Chakra (discus) to challenge Bhishma when the latter injured him. Upon seeing this, Bhishma dropped his weapons and asked Krishna to kill him. However, Arjuna apologized to Krishna, promising that he would fight with full dedication here/after, and the battle continued. Krishna had directed Yudhisthira and Arjuna to return to Bhishma the boon of "victory" which he had given to Yudhisthira before the war commenced, since he himself was standing in their way to victory. Bhishma understood the message and told them the means through which he would drop his weapons—which was if a woman entered the battlefield. Next day, upon Krishna's directions, Shikhandi (Amba reborn) accompanied Arjuna to the battlefield and thus, Bhishma laid down his arms. This was a decisive moment in the war because Bhishma was the chief commander of the Kaurava army and the most formidable warrior on the battlefield. Krishna aided Arjuna in killing Jayadratha, who had held the other four Pandava brothers at bay while Arjuna's son Abhimanyu entered Drona's Chakravyuha formation—an effort in which he got killed by the simultaneous attack of eight Kaurava warriors. Krishna also caused the downfall of Drona, when he signalled Bhima to kill an elephant called Ashwatthama, the namesake of Drona's son. Pandavas started shouting that Ashwatthama was dead but Drona refused to believe them saying he would believe it only if he heard it from Yudhisthira. Krishna knew that Yudhisthira would never tell a lie, so he devised a clever ploy so that Yudhisthira wouldn't lie and at the same time Drona would be convinced of his son's death. On asked by Drona, Yudhisthira proclaimed
Ashwathama Hatahath, naro va Kunjaro va
i.e. Ashwathama had died but he was nor sure whether it was a Drona's son or an elephant. But as soon as Yudhisthira had uttered the first line, Pandava army on Krishna's direction broke into celebration with drums and conchs, in the din of which Drona could not hear the second part of the Yudhisthira's declaration and assumed that his son indeed was dead. Overcome with grief he laid down his arms, and on Krishna's instruction Dhrishtadyumna beheaded Drona.
When Arjuna was fighting Karna, the latter's chariot's wheels sank into the ground. While Karna was trying to take out the chariot from the grip of the Earth, Krishna reminded Arjuna how Karna and the other Kauravas had broken all rules of battle while simultaneously attacking and killing Abhimanyu, and he convinced Arjuna to do the same in revenge in order to kill Karna. During the final stage of the war, when Duryodhana was going to meet his mother Gandhari for taking her blessings which would convert all parts of his body on which her sight falls to steel, Krishna tricks him to wearing banana leaves to hide his groin. When Duryodhana meets Gandhari, her vision and blessings fall on his entire body except his groin and thighs, and she becomes unhappy about it because she was not able to convert his entire body to steel. When Duryodhana was in a mace-fight with Bhima, Bhima's blows had no effect on Duryodhana. Upon this, Krishna reminded Bhima of his vow to kill Duryodhana by hitting him on the thigh, and Bhima did the same to win the war despite it being against the rules of mace-fight (since Duryodhana had himself broken Dharma in all his past acts). Thus, Krishna's unparalleled strategy helped the Pandavas win the Mahabharata war by bringing the downfall of all the chief Kaurava warriors, without lifting any weapon. He also brought back to life Arjuna's grandson Parikshit, who had been attacked by a Brahmastra weapon from Ashwatthama while he was in his mother's womb. Parikshit became the Pandavas' successor.
Family[link]
Krishna had a total of 16,108 wives, out of which eight were his princely wives and 16,100 were rescued from Narakasura, who had forcibly kept them in his harem, but all of them are considered to be incarnations of Goddess Lakshmi.(It may seem that Krishna lusted for women but in reality it was not possible for another man to marry the 16100 princesses (rescuees) as they were held captive by Narakasura so Krishna)(the rescuer) accepted their unanimous request to marry him and the Supreme lord accepted them as his wives, clearing them of any worldly blemish).[65][66]
The first son of Queen Rukmini was Pradyumna, and also born of her were Charudeshna, Sudeshna and the powerful Charudeha, along with Sucharu, Chharugupta, Bhadracaru, Charuchandra, Vicaru and Caru, the tenth. Pradyumna fathered the greatly powerful Aniruddha in the womb of Rukmavati, the daughter of Rukmi. This took place while they were living in the city of Bhojakata.
The ten sons of Satyabhama were Bhanu, Subhanu, Svarbhanu, Prabhanu, Bhanuman, Chandrabhanu, Brihadbhanu, Atibhanu (the eighth), Sribhanu and Pratibhanu.
Samba, Sumitra, Purujit, Satajit, Sahasrajit, Vijaya, Citraketu, Vasuman, Dravida and Kratu were the sons of Jambavati. These ten, headed by Samba, were their father's favorites.
The sons of Nagnajiti were Vira, Candra, Asvasena, Citragu, Vegavan, Vrisha, Ama, Sanku, Vasu and the opulent Kunti.
Sruta, Kavi, Vrisha, Vira, Subahu, Bhadra, Santi, Darsa and Purnamasa were sons of Kalindi. Her youngest son was Somaka.
Madra's sons were Praghosha, Gatravan, Simha, Bala, Prabala, Urdhaga, Mahasakti, Saha, Oja and Aparajita.
Mitravinda's sons were Vrika, Harsha, Anila, Gridhra, Vardhana, Unnada, Mahamsa, Pavana, Vahni and Kshudhi.
Sangramajit, Brihatsena, Sura, Praharana, Arijith, Jaya and Subhadra were the sons of Bhadra, together with Vama, Ayur and Satyaka.
Diptiman, Tamratapta and others were the sons of Lord Krishna and Rohini.
Later life[link]
Main article: Mausala Parva
Gandhari's Curse: According to Mahabharata, the Kurukshetra war resulted in the death of all hundred sons of Gandhari. On the night before Duryodhana's death, Lord Krishna visited Gandhari to offer his condolences. Gandhari felt that Krishna knowingly did not put an end to the war, and in a fit of rage and sorrow, Gandhari cursed that Krishna, along with everyone else from yadu dynasty, will perish after 36 years.[67][68][69]
At a festival, a fight broke out between the Yadavas, who killed each other. His elder brother, Balarama, then gave up his body using Yoga. Krishna retired into the forest and started meditating under a tree. The Mahabharata also narrates the story of a hunter who kills Krishna. The hunter Jara, mistook Krishna's partly visible left foot for that of a deer, and shot an arrow wounding and killing him mortally. Krishna's soul then ascended to heaven, while his mortal body was cremated by Arjuna.[70][71][72]. After Krishna's death it is known that the Kali yugam has started.
According to Puranic sources,[73] Krishna's disappearance marks the end of Dvapara Yuga and the start of Kali Yuga, which is dated to February 17/18, 3102 BCE.[74] Vaishnava teachers such as Ramanujacharya and Gaudiya Vaishnavas held the view that the body of Krishna is completely spiritual and never decays as this appears to be the perspective of the Bhagavata Purana. Krishna never appears to grow old or age at all in the historical depictions of the Puranas despite passing of several decades, but there are grounds for a debate whether this indicates that he has no material body, since battles and other descriptions of the Mahabhārata epic show clear indications that he seems to be subject to the limitations of nature.[75] While battles apparently seem to indicate limitations, Mahabharatha also shows in many places where Krishna is not subject to any limitations as through episodes Duryodhana trying to arrest Krishna where his body burst into fire showing all creation within him.[76] Krishna is also explicitly described as without deterioration elsewhere.[77]
Worship[link]
Vaishnavism[link]
Main articles: Vaishnavism and Krishnaism
The worship of Krishna is part of Vaishnavism, which regards Vishnu as the Supreme God and venerates His associated Avatars, their consorts, and related saints and teachers. Krishna is especially looked upon as a full manifestation of Vishnu, and as one with Vishnu himself.[78] However the exact relationship between Krishna and Vishnu is complex and diverse,[79] where Krishna is sometimes considered an independent deity, supreme in his own right.[80] Out of many deities, Krishna is particularly important, and traditions of Vaishnava lines are generally centered either on Vishnu or on Krishna, as supreme. The term Krishnaism has been used to describe the sects of Krishna, reserving term "Vaishnavism" for sects focusing on Vishnu in which Krishna is an Avatar, rather than as a transcendent Supreme Being.[81]
All Vaishnava traditions recognise Krishna as an avatar of Vishnu; others identify Krishna with Vishnu; while traditions, such as Gaudiya Vaishnavism,[82][83] Vallabha Sampradaya and the Nimbarka Sampradaya, regard Krishna as the svayam bhagavan, original form of God, or the Lord himself.[84][85][86][87][88] Swaminarayan, the founder of the Swaminarayan Sampraday also worshipped Krishna as God himself. "Greater Krishnaism" corresponds to the second and dominant phase of Vaishnavism, revolving around the cults of the Vasudeva, Krishna, and Gopala of late Vedic period.[89] Today the faith has a significant following outside of India as well.[90]
Early traditions[link]
The deity Krishna-Vasudeva (kṛṣṇa vāsudeva "Krishna, the son of Vasudeva") is historically one of the earliest forms of worship in Krishnaism and Vaishnavism.[6][33] It is believed to be a significant tradition of the early history of the worship of Krishna in antiquity.[7][91] This tradition is considered as earliest to other traditions that led to amalgamation at a later stage of the historical development. Other traditions are Bhagavatism and the cult of Gopala, that along with the cult of Bala Krishna form the basis of current tradition of monotheistic religion of Krishna.[92][93] Some early scholars would equate it with Bhagavatism,[7] and the founder of this religious tradition is believed to be Krishna, who is the son of Vasudeva, thus his name is Vāsudeva; he is said to be historically part of the Satvata tribe, and according to them his followers called themselves Bhagavatas and this religion had formed by the 2nd century BC (the time of Patanjali), or as early as the 4th century BC according to evidence in Megasthenes and in the Arthasastra of Kautilya, when Vāsudeva was worshiped as supreme deity in a strongly monotheistic format, where the supreme being was perfect, eternal and full of grace.[7] In many sources outside of the cult, the devotee or bhakta is defined as Vāsudevaka.[94] The Harivamsa describes intricate relationships between Krishna Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha that would later form a Vaishnava concept of primary quadrupled expansion, or avatar.[95]
Bhakti tradition[link]
Main article: Bhakti yoga
Bhakti, meaning devotion, is not confined to any one deity. However Krishna is an important and popular focus of the devotional and ecstatic aspects of Hindu religion, particularly among the Vaishnava sects.[82][96] Devotees of Krishna subscribe to the concept of lila, meaning 'divine play', as the central principle of the Universe. The lilas of Krishna, with their expressions of personal love that transcend the boundaries of formal reverence, serve as a counterpoint to the actions of another avatar of Vishnu: Rama, "He of the straight and narrow path of maryada, or rules and regulations."[83]
The bhakti movements devoted to Krishna became prominent in southern India in the 7th to 9th centuries AD. The earliest works included those of the Alvar saints of the Tamil country.[97] A major collection of their works is the Divya Prabandham. The Alvar Andal's popular collection of songs Tiruppavai, in which she conceives of herself as a gopi, is the most famous of the oldest works in this genre.[98][99] [100] Kulasekaraazhvaar's Mukundamala was another notable work of this early stage.
Spread of the Krishna-bhakti movement[link]
The movement spread rapidly from northern India into the south, with the Sanskrit poem Gita Govinda of Jayadeva (12th century AD) becoming a landmark of devotional, Krishna-based literature. It elaborated a part of the Krishna legend—his love for one particular gopi, called Radha, a minor character in Bhagavata Purana but a major one in other texts like Brahma Vaivarta Purana. By the influence of Gita Govinda, Radha became inseparable from devotion to Krishna.[5]
While the learned sections of the society well versed in Sanskrit could enjoy works like Gita Govinda or Bilvamangala 's Krishna-Karnamritam , the masses sang the songs of the devotee-poets, who composed in the regional languages of India. These songs expressing intense personal devotion were written by devotees from all walks of life. The songs of Meera and Surdas became epitomes of Krishna-devotion in north India.
These devotee-poets, like the Alvars before them, were aligned to specific theological schools only loosely, if at all. But by the 11th century AD, Vaishnava Bhakti schools with elaborate theological frameworks around the worship of Krishna were established in north India. Nimbarka (11th century AD), Vallabhacharya (15th century AD) and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (16th century AD) were the founders of the most influential schools. These schools, namely Nimbarka Sampradaya, Vallabha Sampradaya and Gaudiya Vaishnavism respectively, see Krishna as the supreme god, rather than an avatar, as generally seen.
In the Deccan, particularly in Maharashtra, saint poets of the Varkari sect such as Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Janabai, Eknath and Tukaram promoted the worship of Vithoba,[27] a local form of Krishna, from the beginning of the 13th century until the late 18th century.[5] In southern India, Purandara Dasa and Kanakadasa of Karnataka composed songs devoted to the Krishna image of Udupi. Rupa Goswami of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, has compiled a comprehensive summary of bhakti named Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu .[96]
In the West[link]
Since 1966, the Krishna-bhakti movement has also spread outside India. This is largely due to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement.[8] The movement was founded by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who was instructed by his guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, to write about Krishna in English and to share the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy with people in the Western world.[101]
In the performing arts[link]
While discussing the origin of Indian theatre, Horwitz talks about the mention of the Krishna story in Patanjali's Mahabhashya (c. 150 BC), where the episodes of slaying of Kamsa (Kamsa Vadha) and "Binding of the heaven storming titan" (Bali Bandha) are described.[102] Bhasa's Balacharitam and Dutavakyam (c. 400 BC) are the only Sanskrit plays centered on Krishna written by a major classical dramatist. The former dwells only on his childhood exploits and the latter is a one-act play based on a single episode from the Mahābhārata when Krishna tries to make peace between the warring cousins.[103]
From the 10th century AD, with the growing bhakti movement, Krishna became a favorite subject of the arts. The songs of the Gita Govinda became popular across India, and had many imitations. The songs composed by the Bhakti poets added to the repository of both folk and classical singing.
The classical Indian dances, especially Odissi and Manipuri, draw heavily on the story. The 'Rasa lila' dances performed in Vrindavan shares elements with Kathak, and the Krisnattam, with some cycles, such as Krishnattam, traditionally restricted to the Guruvayur temple, the precursor of Kathakali.[104]
The Sattriya dance, founded by the Assamese Vaishnava saint Sankardeva, extols the virtues of Krishna. Medieval Maharashtra gave birth to a form of storytelling known as the Hari-Katha, that told Vaishnava tales and teachings through music, dance, and narrative sequences, and the story of Krishna one of them. This tradition spread to Tamil Nadu and other southern states, and is now popular in many places throughout India.
Narayana Tirtha's (17th century AD) Krishna-Lila-Tarangini provided material for the musical plays of the Bhagavata-Mela by telling the tale of Krishna from birth until his marriage to Rukmini. Tyagaraja (18th century AD) wrote a similar piece about Krishna called Nauka-Charitam. The narratives of Krishna from the Puranas are performed in Yakshagana, a performance style native to Karnataka's coastal districts. Many movies in all Indian languages have been made based on these stories. These are of varying quality and usually add various songs, melodrama, and special effects.
In other religions[link]
Jainism[link]
Further information: Salakapurusa
The most exalted figures in Jainism are the twenty-four Tirthankaras. Krishna, when he was incorporated into the Jain list of heroic figures presented a problem with his activities which are not pacifist or non-violent. The concept of Baladeva, Vasudeva and Prati-Vasudeva was used to solve it. The Jain list of sixty-three Shalakapurshas or notable figures includes amongst others, the twenty-four Tirthankaras and nine sets of this triad. One of these triads is Krishna as the Vasudeva, Balarama as the Baladeva and Jarasandha as the Prati-Vasudeva. He was a cousin of the twenty-second Tirthankara, Neminatha. The stories of these triads can be found in the Harivamsha of Jinasena (not be confused with its namesake, the addendum to Mahābhārata) and the Trishashti-shalakapurusha-charita of Hemachandra.[105]
In each age of the Jain cyclic time is born a Vasudeva with an elder brother termed the Baladeva. The villain is the Prati-vasudeva. Baladeva is the upholder of the Jain principle of non-violence. However, Vasudeva has to forsake this principle to kill the Prati-Vasudeva and save the world. [106][107]
Buddhism[link]
The story of Krishna occurs in the Jataka tales in Buddhism,[108] in the Ghatapandita Jataka as a prince and legendary conqueror and king of India.[109] In the Buddhist version, Krishna is called Vasudeva, Kanha and Keshava, and Balarama is his older brother, Baladeva. These details resemble that of the story given in the Bhagavata Purana. Vasudeva, along with his nine other brothers (each son a powerful wrestler) and one elder sister (Anjana) capture all of Jambudvipa (many consider this to be India) after beheading their evil uncle, King Kamsa, and later all other kings of Jambudvipa with his Sudarshana Chakra. Much of the story involving the defeat of Kamsa follows the story given in the Bhagavata Purana.[110]
As depicted in the Mahābhārata, all of the sons are eventually killed due to a curse of sage Kanhadipayana (Veda Vyasa, also known as Krishna Dwaipayana). Krishna himself is eventually speared by a hunter in the foot by mistake, leaving the sole survivor of their family being their sister, Anjanadevi of whom no further mention is made.[111]
Since Jataka tales are given from the perspective of Buddha's previous lives (as well as the previous lives of many of Buddha's followers), Krishna appears as one of the lives of Sariputra, one of Buddha's foremost disciples and the "Dhammasenapati" or "Chief General of the Dharma" and is usually shown being Buddha's "right hand man" in Buddhist art and iconography.[112] The Bodhisattva, is born in this tale as one of his youngest brothers named Ghatapandita, and saves Krishna from the grief of losing his son.[109] The 'divine boy' Krishna as an embodiment of wisdom and endearing prankster forms a part of worshipable pantheon in Japanese Buddhism.[113]
Bahá'í Faith[link]
Bahá'ís believe that Krishna was a "Manifestation of God", or one in a line of prophets who have revealed the Word of God progressively for a gradually maturing humanity. In this way, Krishna shares an exalted station with Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Muhammad, Jesus, the Báb, and the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, Bahá'u'lláh.[114][115]
Ahmadiyya Islam[link]
Members of the Ahmadiyya Community believe Krishna to be a great prophet of God as described by their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Ghulam Ahmad also claimed to be the likeness of Krishna as a latter day reviver of religion and morality whose mission was to reconcile man with God.[116] Ahmadis maintain that the term Avatar is synonymous with the term 'prophet' of the middle eastern religious tradition as God's intervention with man; as God appoints a man as his vicegerent upon earth. In Lecture Sialkot, Ghulam Ahmed wrote:
Let it be clear that Raja Krishna, according to what has been revealed to me, was such a truly great man that it is hard to find his like among the Rishis and Avatars of the Hindus. He was an Avatar—i.e., Prophet—of his time upon whom the Holy Spirit would descend from God. He was from God, victorious and prosperous. He cleansed the land of the Aryas from sin and was in fact the Prophet of his age whose teaching was later corrupted in numerous ways. He was full of love for God, a friend of virtue and an enemy of evil.[116]
Krishna is also called Murli Dhar. The flute of Krishna means the flute of revelation and not the physical flute. Krishna lived like humans and he was a prophet[117][118]
Other[link]
Krishna worship or reverence has been adopted by several new religious movements since the 19th century, and he is sometimes a member of an eclectic pantheon in occult texts, along with Greek, Buddhist, Biblical and even historical figures.[119] For instance, Édouard Schuré, an influential figure in perennial philosophy and occult movements, considered Krishna a Great Initiate; while Theosophists regard Krishna as an incarnation of Maitreya (one of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom), the most important spiritual teacher for humanity along with Buddha.[120][121] Krishna was canonized by Aleister Crowley and is recognized as a saint in the Gnostic Mass of Ordo Templi Orientis.[122][123]
References[link]
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- ^ B.M.Misra. Orissa: Shri Krishna Jagannatha: the Mushali parva from Sarala's Mahabharata. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0-19-514891-6. in Bryant 2007, p. 139
- ^ The Encyclopedia Americana. [s.l.]: Grolier. 1988. p. 589. ISBN 0-7172-0119-8.
- ^ Benton, William (1974). The New Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. p. 885. ISBN 0-85229-290-2, 9780852292907. http://books.google.com/?id=G8YqAAAAMAAJ&q=Krsna+blue+skin+deity&dq=Krsna+blue+skin+deity.
- ^ D. D. Kosambi (1962), Myth and Reality: Studies in the Formation of Indian Culture, New Delhi, CHAPTER I: SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, paragraph 1.16
- ^ a b c [1][dead link]
- ^ Mackay's report part 1,pp.344–45,Part 2,plate no.90,object no.D.K.10237
- ^ Age of Bharata War by G.C. AGARWALA and K.L VERMA page.81
- ^ Harle, J. C. (1994). The art and architecture of the Indian Subcontinent. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. p. 410. ISBN 0-300-06217-6. "figure 327. Manaku, Radha's messenger describing Krishna standing with the cow-girls, from Basohli."
- ^ Datta, Amaresh; Mohan Lal (1994). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature. Sahitya Akademi. p. 4290. http://books.google.com/?id=g-wbAAAAIAAJ&q=Manipur+Radha&dq=Manipur+Radha.
- ^ The penny cyclopædia [ed. by G. Long]. 1843, p.390 [2]
- ^ Ramesh M. Dave, K. K. A. Venkatachari, The Bhakta-bhagawan Relationship: Paramabhakta Parmeshwara Sambandha. Sya. Go Mudgala, Bochasanvasi Shri Aksharpurushottama Sanstha, 1988. p.74
- ^ Valpey 2006, p. 52
- ^ Hoiberg, Dale; Ramchandani, Indu (2000). Students' Britannica India. Popular Prakashan. p. 251. ISBN 0-85229-760-2, 9780852297605. http://books.google.com/?id=kEj-2a7pmVMC&pg=PA251&dq=Bala+Krishna.
- ^ Satsvarupa dasa Goswami (1998). The Qualities of Sri Krsna. GNPress. pp. 152 pages. ISBN 0-911233-64-4
- ^ a b Vithoba is not only viewed as a form of Krishna. He is also by some considered that of Vishnu, Shiva and Gautama Buddha according to various traditions. See: Kelkar, Ashok R. (2001) [1992]. "Sri-Vitthal: Ek Mahasamanvay (Marathi) by R.C. Dhere". Encyclopaedia of Indian literature. 5. Sahitya Akademi. pp. 4179. http://books.google.com/books?id=KnPoYxrRfc0C&pg=PA4179&dq=vithoba&as_brr=3&sig=0WHJ4sGcLGYNiZDwjR9YHwDA75k#PPA4180,M1. Retrieved 2008-09-20. and Mokashi, Digambar Balkrishna; Engblom, Philip C. (1987). Palkhi: a pilgrimage to Pandharpur — translated from the Marathi book Pālakhī by Philip C. Engblom. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 35. ISBN 0-88706-461-2. http://books.google.com/?id=vgLZGFH1ZTIC&pg=PA14&dq=Palkhi:+a+pilgrimage+to+Pandharpur.
- ^ Wendy Doniger (2008). "Britannica: Mahabharata". encyclopedia. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-357806/Mahabharata. Retrieved 2008-10-13.
- ^ Rig Veda: Rig-Veda Book 1: HYMN CLXIV. Viśvedevas
- ^ Matapariksha: An examination of religions, Volume 1 By John Muir. Books.google.co.in. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=85w-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA31&dq=Chandogya+Upanishad+son+of+Devaki&hl=en&ei=8SjaTIuyM4GfcbfJyMMG&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEEQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
- ^ The Religions of India Volume 1, Volume 1 By Edward Washburn Hopkins. Books.google.co.in. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=ITJ5fGSsgygC&pg=PA454&dq=Chandogya+Upanishad+son+of+Devaki&hl=en&ei=8SjaTIuyM4GfcbfJyMMG&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CF0Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=Chandogya%20Upanishad%20son%20of%20Devaki&f=false. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
- ^ Indian Hist (Opt) By Reddy. Books.google.co.in. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=CeEmpfmbxKEC&pg=SL1-PA297&dq=Chandogya+Upanishad+son+of+Devaki&hl=en&ei=8SjaTIuyM4GfcbfJyMMG&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=3&ved=0CD4Q6wEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
- ^ a b Bryant 2007, p. 4
- ^ Sunil Kumar Bhattacharya Krishna-cult in Indian Art. 1996 M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 81-7533-001-5 p.128: Satha-patha-brahmana and Aitareya-Aranyaka with reference to first chapter.
- ^ a b Hastings 2003, pp. 540–42
- ^ Pâṇ. IV. 3. 98, Vâsudevârjunâbhyâm vun. See Bhandarkar, Vaishnavism and Śaivism, p. 3 and J.R.A.S. 1910, p. 168. Sûtra 95, just above, appears to point to bhakti, faith or devotion, felt for this Vâsudeva.
- ^ Krishna: a sourcebook, pp 5, Edwin Francis Bryant, Oxford University Press US, 2007
- ^ III. i. 23, Ulâro so Kaṇho isi ahosi
- ^ Hemacandra Abhidhânacintâmani, Ed. Boehtlingk and Rien, p. 128, and Barnett's translation of the Antagada Dasāo, pp. 13-15 and 67-82.
- ^ Bryant 2007, p. 5
- ^ Barnett, Lionel David (1922). Hindu Gods and Heroes: Studies in the History of the Religion of India. J. Murray. p. 93. http://books.google.com/?id=R-5KAAAAMAAJ.
- ^ Puri, B.N. (1968). India in the Time of Patanjali. Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan. Page 51: The coins of Raj uvula have been recovered from the Sultanpur District.. the Brahmi inscription on the Mora stone slab, now in the Mathura Museum,
- ^ Barnett, Lionel David (1922). Hindu Gods and Heroes: Studies in the History of the Religion of India. J. Murray. p. 92. http://books.google.com/?id=R-5KAAAAMAAJ.
- ^ Elkman, S.M.; Gosvami, J. (1986). Jiva Gosvamin's Tattvasandarbha: A Study on the Philosophical and Sectarian Development of the Gaudiya Vaisnava Movement. Motilal Banarsidass.
- ^ Knott 2000, p. 61
- ^ Pargiter, F.E. (1972) [1922]. Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, pp.105-107.
- ^ According to the Bhagavata and Vishnu Puranas, but in some Puranas like Devi-Bhagavata-Purana, her paternal uncle. See the Vishnu-Purana Book V Chapter 1, translated by H. H. Wilson, (1840), the Srimad Bhagavatam, translated by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, (1988) copyright Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
- ^ "Yashoda and Krishna". Metmuseum.org. 2011-10-10. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/07/sss/ho_1982.220.8.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
- ^ Bryant 2007, pp. 124–130,224
- ^ Tripurari, Swami, Gopastami, Sanga, 1999.
- ^ Lynne Gibson (1844). Calcutta Review. India: University of Calcutta Dept. of English. p. 119.
- ^ Lynne Gibson (1999). Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions. Merriam-Webster. p. 503.
- ^ The English Writings of Rabindranath Tagore (ed. Sisir Kumar Das) (1996). A Vision of Indias History. Sahitya Akademi: Sahitya Akademi. p. 444. ISBN 81-260-0094-5.
- ^ Schweig, G.M. (2005). Dance of divine love: The Rasa Lila of Krishna from the Bhagavata Purana, India's classic sacred love story.. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ; Oxford. ISBN 0-691-11446-3.
- ^ Bryant 2007, p. 290
- ^ Bryant 2007, pp. 28–29
- ^ Charudeva Shastri, Suniti Kumar Chatterji(1974) Charudeva Shastri Felicitation Volume, p. 449
- ^ David L. Haberman, (2003) Motilal Banarsidass, The Bhaktirasamrtasindhu of Rupa Gosvamin, p. 155, ISBN 81-208-1861-X
- ^ Bryant 2007, p. 152
- ^ Aparna Chatterjee (December 10, 2007). "The Ashta-Bharyas". American Chronicle. http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/45238. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
- ^ Bryant 2007, pp. 130–133
- ^ Rosen 2006, p. 136
- ^ "Krishna & Shishupal". Mantraonnet.com. 2007-06-19. http://www.mantraonnet.com/shopping/comic-books/gods/krishna-shishupal.html. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
- ^ Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, by Robert N. Minor in Bryant 2007, pp. 77–79
- ^ B. R. Kishore, Lord Krishna,page 47
- ^ Francis Hamilton, Genealogies of the Hindus extracted from Sacred Texts, page 123, 145
- ^ "Lord Krishna's Disappearance,Disappearance of Lord Krishna,Life Span of Lord Krishn,Disappearance of Sri Krishna". Happywink.org. http://www.happywink.org/janmashtami/lord-krishna-disappearance.html. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
- ^ [3][dead link]
- ^ "MAHABHARATA -Krishna`s Return to Heaven". Urday.in. http://www.urday.in/mkrishnaheaven.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
- ^ Bryant 2007, pp. 148
- ^ Kisari Mohan Ganguli (2006 - digitized). "The Mahabharata (originally published between 1883 and 1896)". book. Sacred Texts. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m16/m16004.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-13.
- ^ Mani, Vettam (1975). Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary With Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. p. 429. ISBN 0-8426-0822-2.
- ^ The Bhagavata Purana (1.18.6), Vishnu Purana (5.38.8), and Brahma Purana (212.8), the day Krishna left the earth was the day that the Dvapara Yuga ended and the Kali Yuga began.
- ^ See: Matchett, Freda, "The Puranas", p 139 and Yano, Michio, "Calendar, astrology and astronomy" in Flood, Gavin (Ed) (2003). Blackwell companion to Hinduism. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0-631-21535-2
- ^ Sutton (2000) pp.174-175
- ^ Kisari Mohan Ganguli (2006 - digitized). "The Mahabharata, Book 5: Udyoga Parva: Bhagwat Yana Parva: section CXXXI (originally published between 1883 and 1896)". book. Sacred Texts. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m05/m05131.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-13.
- ^ Kisari Mohan Ganguli (2006 - digitized). "The Mahabharata, Book 5: Udyoga Parva: Bhagwat Yana Parva: section CXXX(originally published between 1883 and 1896)". book. Sacred Texts. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m05/m05131.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-13. "Knowest thou not sinless Govinda, of terrible prowess and incapable of deterioration?"
- ^ John Dowson (2003). Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History and Literature. Kessinger Publishing. p. 361. ISBN 0-7661-7589-8. http://books.google.com/?id=6JB-KOXy5k8C&pg=PA361&dq=Vishnu+Sahasranama+Krishna.
- ^ See Beck, Guy, "Introduction" in Beck 2005, pp. 1–18
- ^ Knott 2000, p. 55
- ^ Flood (1996) p. 117
- ^ a b See McDaniel, June, "Folk Vaishnavism and Ṭhākur Pañcāyat: Life and status among village Krishna statues" in Beck 2005, p. 39
- ^ a b Kennedy, M.T. (1925). The Chaitanya Movement: A Study of the Vaishnavism of Bengal. H. Milford, Oxford university press.
- ^ K. Klostermaier (1997). The Charles Strong Trust Lectures, 1972-1984. Crotty, Robert B.. Brill Academic Pub. p. 109. ISBN 90-04-07863-0. http://books.google.com/?id=F_0UAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA109&dq=Svayam+bhagavan. "For his worshippers he is not an avatara in the usual sense, but svayam bhagavan, the Lord himself."
- ^ Indian Philosophy & Culture. Vrindāvan (India): Institute of Oriental Philosophy. 1975. p. 148. http://books.google.com/?id=yEMB3RBwjTsC. "On the touch-stone of this definition of the final and positive characteristic of Sri Krsna as the Highest Divinity as Svayam-rupa Bhagavan."
- ^ Delmonico, N., The History Of Indic Monotheism And Modern Chaitanya Vaishnavism in Ekstrand 2004
- ^ De, S.K. (1960). Bengal's contribution to Sanskrit literature & studies in Bengal Vaisnavism. KL Mukhopadhyaya. p. 113: "The Bengal School identifies the Bhagavat with Krishna depicted in the Shrimad-Bhagavata and presents him as its highest personal god."
- ^ Bryant 2007, p. 381
- ^ "Vaishnava". encyclopedia. Division of Religion and Philosophy University of Cumbria. http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/hindu/devot/vaish.html. Retrieved 2008-10-13. [Vaishnava] University of Cumbria website Retrieved on 5-21-2008
- ^ Graham M. Schweig (2005). Dance of Divine Love: The Rڄasa Lڄilڄa of Krishna from the Bhڄagavata Purڄa. na, India's classic sacred love story. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. Front Matter. ISBN 0-691-11446-3.
- ^ Bhattacharya, Gouriswar: Vanamala of Vasudeva-Krsna-Visnu and Sankarsana-Balarama. In: Vanamala. Festschrift A.J. Gail. Serta Adalberto Joanni Gail LXV. diem natalem celebranti ab amicis collegis discipulis dedicata.
- ^ Klostermaier, Klaus K. (2005). A Survey of Hinduism. State University of New York Press; 3 edition. p. 206. ISBN 0-7914-7081-4. "Present day Krishna worship is an amalgam of various elements. According to historical testimonies Krishna-Vasudeva worship already flourished in and around Mathura several centuries before Christ. A second important element is the cult of Krishna Govinda. Still later is the worship of Bala-Krishna, the Child Krishna—a quite prominent feature of modern Krishnaism. The last element seems to have been Krishna Gopijanavallabha, Krishna the lover of the Gopis, among whom Radha occupies a special position. In some books Krishna is presented as the founder and first teacher of the Bhagavata religion."
- ^ Basham, A. L.. "Review:Krishna: Myths, Rites, and Attitudes. by Milton Singer; Daniel H. H. Ingalls, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 27, No. 3 (May, 1968 ), pp. 667-670". www.jstor.org. JSTOR 2051211.
- ^ Singh, R.R. (2007). Bhakti And Philosophy. Lexington Books. ISBN 0-7391-1424-7.
- p. 10: "[Panini's] term Vāsudevaka, explained by the second century B.C commentator Patanjali, as referring to "the follower of Vasudeva, God of gods."
- ^ Couture, André (2006). "The emergence of a group of four characters (Vasudeva, Samkarsana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha) in the Harivamsa: points for consideration". Journal of Indian Philosophy 34 (6): 571–585. DOI:10.1007/s10781-006-9009-x.
- ^ a b Klostermaier, K. (1974). "The Bhaktirasamrtasindhubindu of Visvanatha Cakravartin". Journal of the American Oriental Society (American Oriental Society) 94 (1): 96–107. DOI:10.2307/599733. JSTOR 599733.
- ^ Vaudeville, C. (1962). "Evolution of Love-Symbolism in Bhagavatism". Journal of the American Oriental Society (American Oriental Society) 82 (1): 31–40. DOI:10.2307/595976. JSTOR 595976.
- ^ Bowen, Paul (1998). Themes and issues in Hinduism. London: Cassell. pp. 64–65. ISBN 0-304-33851-6.
- ^ Radhakrisnasarma, C. (1975). Landmarks in Telugu Literature: A Short Survey of Telugu Literature. Lakshminarayana Granthamala.
- ^ Sisir Kumar Das (2005). A History of Indian Literature, 500-1399: From Courtly to the Popular. Sahitya Akademi. p. 49. ISBN 81-260-2171-3.
- ^ Srila Prabhupada - He Built a House in which the whole world can live, Satsvarupa dasa Goswami, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1983, ISBN 0-89213-133-0 page xv
- ^ Varadpande p.231
- ^ Varadpande p.232-3
- ^ Zarrilli, P.B. (2000). Kathakali Dance-Drama: Where Gods and Demons Come to Play. Routledge. p. 246.
- ^ See Jerome H. Bauer ""Hero of Wonders, Hero in Deeds: Vasudeva Krishna in Jaina Cosmohistory in Beck 2005, pp. 167–169
- ^ Jaini, P.S. (1993). Jaina Puranas: A Puranic Counter Tradition. ISBN 978-0-7914-1381-4. http://books.google.com/?id=-kZFzHCuiFAC&pg=PA207&dq=Prati+Vasudeva.
- ^ Cort, J.E. (1993). An Overview of the Jaina Puranas. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&id=-kZFzHCuiFAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA185&dq=Prati+Vasudeva&ots=SrTawB33eW&sig=egXiuHioIMmhMHNtwFS9f6stvtk.
- ^ "Andhakavenhu Puttaa". www.vipassana.info. http://www.vipassana.info/ay/andhakavenhu_puttaa.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ a b Law, B.C. (1941). India as Described in Early Texts of Buddhism and Jainism. Luzac.
- ^ Jaiswal, S. (1974). "Historical Evolution of the Ram Legend". Social Scientist 21 (3-4): 89–97. JSTOR 3517633.
- ^ Hiltebeitel, A. (1990). The Ritual of Battle: Krishna in the Mahabharata. State University of New York Press.
- ^ The Turner of the Wheel. The Life of Sariputta, compiled and translated from the Pali texts by Nyanaponika Thera
- ^ Guth, C.M.E. "Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Spring, 1987 ), pp. 1-23". www.jstor.org. JSTOR 2385037.
- ^ Smith, Peter (2000). "Manifestations of God". A concise encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. pp. 231. ISBN 1-85168-184-1.
- ^ Esslemont, J.E. (1980). Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era (5th ed.). Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. p. 2. ISBN 0-87743-160-4. http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/je/BNE/bne-6.html#gr5.
- ^ a b Ahmad, Mirza Ghulam (2007). Lecture Sialkot. Tilford: Islam International Publications Ltd.. ISBN 1-85372-917-5. http://alislam.org/library/books/LectureSialkot.pdf.
- ^ "Krishna". http://www.alislam.org/library/books/revelation/part_2_section_1.html. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
- ^ Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth. Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
- ^ Harvey, D. A. (2003). "Beyond Enlightenment: Occultism, Politics, and Culture in France from the Old Regime to the Fin-de-Siècle". The Historian (Blackwell Publishing) 65 (3): 665–694. DOI:10.1111/1540-6563.00035.
- ^ Schure, Edouard (1992). Great Initiates: A Study of the Secret History of Religions. Garber Communications. ISBN 0-89345-228-9.
- ^ See for example: Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (1996). New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought. Brill Publishers. p. 390. ISBN 90-04-10696-0. , Hammer, Olav (2004). Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age. Brill Publishers. pp. 62, 174. ISBN 90-04-13638-X. , and Ellwood, Robert S. (1986). Theosophy: A Modern Expression of the Wisdom of the Ages. Quest Books. p. 139. ISBN 0-8356-0607-4.
- ^ Crowley associated Krishna with Roman god Dionysus and Magickal formulae IAO, AUM and INRI. See Crowley, Aleister (1991). Liber Aleph. Weiser Books. p. 71. ISBN 0-87728-729-5. http://sacred-texts.com/oto/aleph_3.htm. and Crowley, Aleister (1980). The Book of Lies. Red Wheels. pp. 24–25. ISBN 0-87728-516-0.
- ^ Apiryon, Tau; Apiryon (1995). Mystery of Mystery: A Primer of Thelemic Ecclesiastical Gnosticism. Berkeley, CA: Red Flame. ISBN 0-9712376-1-1.
Further reading[link]
- Beck, Guy L. (1993). Sonic theology: Hinduism and sacred sound. Columbia, S.C: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 0-87249-855-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZgybmMnWpaUC
- Bryant, Edwin H. (2004). Krishna: the beautiful legend of God;. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-044799-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=icxPm82VcbgC
- Bryant, Edwin H. (2007). Krishna: A Sourcebook. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0-19-514891-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=HVDqCkW1WpUC
- The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli, published between 1883 and 1896
- The Vishnu-Purana, translated by H. H. Wilson, (1840)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam, translated by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, (1988) copyright Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
- Knott, Kim (2000). Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 160. ISBN 0-19-285387-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=Wv8XK_GU9icC
- The Jataka or Stories of the Buddha's Former Births, edited by E. B. Cowell, (1895)
- Ekstrand, Maria (2004). Bryant, Edwin H.. ed. The Hare Krishna movement: the postcharismatic fate of a religious transplant. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12256-X. http://books.google.com/books?id=mBMxPdgrBhoC
- Goswami, S.D (1998). The Qualities of Sri Krsna. GNPress. ISBN 0-911233-64-4. http://www.gnpress.net/docs/ebooks/qualities_of_sri_krsna.pdf [dead link]
- Garuda Pillar of Besnagar, Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report (1908–1909). Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing, 1912, 129.
- Flood, G.D. (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43878-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=KpIWhKnYmF0C.
- Beck, Guy L. (Ed.) (2005). Alternative Krishnas: Regional and Vernacular Variations on a Hindu Deity. SUNY Press. ISBN 0-7914-6415-6. http://books.google.com/?id=0SJ73GHSCF8C
- Rosen, Steven (2006). Essential Hinduism. New York: Praeger. ISBN 0-275-99006-0
- Valpey, Kenneth R. (2006). Attending Kṛṣṇa's image: Caitanya Vaiṣṇava mūrti-sevā as devotional truth. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-38394-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=N5pjQgAACAAJ
- Sutton, Nicholas (2000). Religious doctrines in the Mahābhārata. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.,. p. 477. ISBN 81-208-1700-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=rFyUHC-ORp4C
- History of Indian Theatre By M. L. Varadpande. Chapter Theatre of Krishna, pp. 231–94. Published 1991, Abhinav Publications, ISBN 81-7017-278-0.
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Kanal Kannan is a fight master/action choreographer in Tollywood,[1] who has worked for many films such as Lakshyam, Dhee and Chinnodu. He also works for Kollywood and Bollywood.
Filmography[link]
- Pokiriraja - (2010)..Malayalam
- Paiyaa - (2010)
- Lakshyam - (2007)
- Dhee - (2007)
- Chinnodu - (2006)
- Vallavan - (2006)
- Stalin - (2006)
- Asthram - (2006)
- Godfather - (2006)
- Saravana - (2006)
- Ghajini - (2005)
- Ah Aah: Anbe Aaruyire - (2005)
- Andharivaadu - (2005)
- Kanaa Kanden - (2005)
- Bunny - (2005)
- Bhadra - (2005)
- Sathyam - (2004)
- Thamizhan - (2002)
- Hanuman Junction - (2001)
- Eduruleni Manishi - (2001)
- Kouravudu - (2000)
- Dada Sahib - (2000)
- Sex - (1999)
References[link]
- ^ "Bharathi pairs with Kanal Kannan". IndiaGlitz. 23 January 2008. http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/36099.html. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
External links[link]
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http://wn.com/Kanal_Kannan
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
