indian culture

indian culture
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Thursday, August 11, 2011




ganesh chaturdi:

Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated with extreme enthusiasm in India. This festival is celebrated to commemorate the birth of Lord Ganesha, the son of Lord Shiva and Parvati. It is celebrated with immense zeal and fervor throughout the country, however the celebrations of this festival in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are well known for their exceptional grandeur every where. The entire celebration of this festival goes on for ten days.

Puja On Ganesha Chaturthi
It is generally preferable to do Ganesha puja on the Chaturthi day at the noon, however you can perform the pooja as per your wish whenever all the members of your family are present. In order to carry on the pooja, you will require following items- A Clay image of Lord Ganesha, flowers, druva grass blades, sweets (preferably Modak), coconut, sandalwood paste and incense sticks. The Pooja begins with the establishment of idol on a higher platform and giving it a bathe with Panchamrit. You can now pray to Lord Ganesh and recite all the mantras or bhajans dedicated to Lord Ganesha. You now have to invoke Lord Ganesha through your prayers and bring life in the idol. The mantra for this can be found in the in the Rig Veda and is part of Ganesh Suktha.

Once you invoke life in the idol, you need to light lamp and incense sticks in order to please Lord Ganesha. After this, you need to perform the shhodashopachara, which are 16 forms of paying tribute to Ganesha. In this you need to offer 21 blades of druva grass, 21 modakas, and flowers to Lord Ganesha. You need to apply a tilak using red Sandalwood paste to idol and keep the coconut along with the idol. After you have offered your best possible prasada to the Lord, you simply need to recite the 108 salutations dedicated to Lord Ganesha. All the family members can then bow down to Ganesha and seek his blessings. The puja is performed in a similar way even if it is a community fest. You need not to exceptionally elaborate the rituals of the Pooja rather all you need to do is pray with a clean heart and pious objective.




ramadan

Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, takes place during the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. A time for worship and contemplation, Ramadan marks the day the Koran was sent down from Heaven via the angel Gabriel to Prophet Muhammad.

To allow for complete devotion to their faith, Muslims must abide by stringent rules from dawn until sunset for the entire month. Eating, drinking, smoking, and sex are strictly forbidden during daylight. In addition, Muslims must show greater sympathy for the needy and poor. Fasting plays a key role in accomplishing these goals by allowing for greater concentration on the spiritual, generating empathy for the hungry and cleansing the body of overindulgence.

At the end of each day, Muslims break their fast with a meal called the iftar. Following the custom of Prophet Muhammad, the fast is often broken with dates, then followed by a prayer and dinner. Muslims also generally have a pre-fast meal, called the suhoor, which occurs before dawn.

The evening of the 23rd day of the month, or Laylat-al-Qadr ("the Night of Decree"), is a very special day in which all sins are forgiven and any act returned multi-fold. This night is believed to be the one on which Muhammad first received the revelation of the Holy Koran.

The day after Ramadan ends, Muslims celebrate a holiday called Id-al-Fitr, a three-day "Feast of Fast Breaking." During this time, gifts are exchanged, large meals consumed, and the company of family and friends enjoyed.

Happy Ramadan!





Janmashtami



Janmashtami, one of the most popular festivals of Hindus celebrates the birth of their beloved God, Sri Krishna. Detailed story of Janmashtami or Lord Krishna's birth has been narrated in Puranas. Please read on to know more about the various fascinating aspects of the legend of Janmashtami as stated in Puranas.

Mathura, a prominent town of Northern India and the birth city of Sri Krishna was ruled by King Ugrasen, a Yaduvanshi ( Belonging to the Community of Yadavs). He was a great king loved by his subjects. He had two children, a son Kansa and a daughter Devki. Kansa was quite cruel by nature, his wickedness knew no bounds when he jailed his father and forcefully became the king of Mathura.

Birth of Krishna
The birth of the eighth child of Devki, Lord Krishna was followed by a chain of dramatic events. Soon after the birth of the child, as if by a sheer miracle, all the soldiers guarding the couple fell asleep and the gates of the dungeon flew open themselves. Vasudev decided to smuggle the child safely in a basket to his friend Nand in Gokul. Since it was raining heavily, River Yamuna was all swollen and Vasudev feared that both he as well as his child will drown if he tried to cross it, however, as soon as the feet of the infant touched the river, the flow of water became normal and Vasudev was able to cross it easily. Sheshnag, the five headed serpent of Lord Vishnu protected the child with its fangs. Vasudev knew that his was not an ordinary child but a divine being. After handing his child, to his dear friend, Nand, Vasudev returned back safely with a girl child and no one got to know about it.

Yogmaya’s prediction
On hearing the news of the eighth born child, Kansa rushed to kill the girl. He paid no heed to Devki’s plead of sparing the girl. He held the child by her legs and just as he was about to bang her against the wall, the girl vanished into thin air and told Kansa that his slayer had been born and was safe in Gokul. The girl child was none other than Yogmaya (divine illusion). The eighth child grew up as Yashoda and Nand’s son in Gokul and later killed his maternal uncle Kansa, freeing all the people of Mathura from his tyranny.



Varalakshmi Vratam :This is an important Vratha, meaning a vowed religious observance in Sanskrit. Varamahalakshmi Vratha is performed more commonly in the southern Indian States of Andhra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and also in parts of Maharashtra and Orissa.Puja is performed by married Hindu women to seek the blessings of the goddess Mahalakshmi, wife of Lord Vishnu, who is considered to be the abode of wealth and prosperity.

Varalakshmi Vratam Story :

The story happens in a beautiful town called Kundinagaram located in the Kingdom of Vidarbha (Vidarba Rajyam). In that Kundinagram town, Goddess Adilakshmi, being pleased by her devotion tells Charumathi in a dream and directed her to perform the vrata to enable Her to fulfil her desires. Charumathi wakes up and tells her husband about the dream. Charumathi along with some neighbourhood women takes bath in the wee hours and prepare a mandapam and invites Varalakshmi Devi. She recites the following sloka along with other women with utmost faith and devotion.

Lakshmi Ksheerasamudra rajatanyam sri rangadhameswareem
Dasibootha samastha devavanitham lokaika deepamkuram
Sri manmanda kataksha labdhivibhat brahmendra gangadharam
Twamtrayamlokyakutumbhineem sasijavandemukunda priyam

Then she wore nine threads Thoranam to right hand and offers naivadyam to Goddess Lakshmi Devi. On the completion of the first circumstance, she heard she found Gajjelu, Andelu and other ornaments. On the second circumstance, they found kankanams made of navaratnams to their hands. On completion of the third circumstance, they found immense wealth. Then Charumathi offers Tambulam to the brahmin priests and distribute the vrata prasadam to the relatives and lead a happy life. Since then, Hindu women perform this vrata with utmost faith and trust till today. With this, Lord Eswara concludes telling the story to Goddess Parvathi.



HISTORY OF RAKHI: In the Vedic period, on a 'Shravan Poornima' day (Full Moon Day of the Hindu month of Shravan), the deities and demons were fighting a battle against each other. Unfortunately the demons were in a stronger position, as compared to the deities. The king of the deities, Lord Indra, was very much worried about the result of the battle. His wife Indrani (also known as Shashikala) could not see him worried and prayed to the almighty to help her husband. Indrani was a religious lady, so she prepared a talisman with her religious power and tied it around Indra's right wrist. Indrani believed that her talisman will safeguard Indra from the attack of demons. Eventually, she proved right, as that day, the deities won the battle and Lord Indra escaped unhurt. As the talisman had the power of protecting the person who wore it, it came to be known as 'Raksha Sutra' and the ceremony of tying it was called 'Raksha Bandhan'. Since this particular act of tying the talisman took place on 'Shravan Poornima' day, it has become a tradition to celebrate 'Raksha Bandhan' on the 'Shravan Poornima' day every year. With time, the festival came to comprise of brother-sister duo, rather than husband-wife. It is said that when Alexander invaded India in 326 B.C., his wife tied a Rakhi to the king Porus and in return, Porus promised to protect her and her husband. We also have various such examples of tying knots or threads, especially in the history of Rajputana. The most famous of them is the story of the Queen Karnavati of Chittor, who sent a Rakhi to the Mughal emperor Humayun, to save her kingdom from the invasion of Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. That particular day of Purnima was celebrated as Raksha Bandhan first in Marwar and then, all over Rajasthan. Finally, it came to celebrated all over India.