HINDU Terminal...!

Hi there, As promised earlier, I am starting a series of posts that will explore the brilliance of ancient Indian scholars. There are many discoveries that have been made by them, but have subsequently been wrongly attributed to western scholars and others. Most of this stuff is already available on various websites, but I'm trying to make a compilation of everything so that this blog can have a consolidated list of Ancient Indian Scientific discoveries. Let's start with something that nobody escapes during his/her Schooling - Pythagoras Theorem. I'll state it below graphically just to refresh your memory: This theorem is used almost by everybody in some point of life. But do you know that it was stated by an Indian priest and Mathematician, Baudhayana, several centuries before the western mathematician? Referring the Sulbha Sutra, circa 800 BC, we get the following verse: "A rope stretched along the length of the diagonal produces an area which the vertical ...

Good Evening, There are a lot of other discoveries and findings made by Aryabhatta, but I am taking a break for now. Will come back to Aryabhatta's scientific discoveries sometime later. This post deals with the various beneficial properties of Turmeric, one of the most important herbs of our tradition that has been used in India since time immemorial. I am sure you would agree that there is no home in India which does not use Turmeric. Called Haldi in India, it is utilised for a variety of purposes in our daily lives. Turmeric has been part of our cooking since aeons, and is used both as a spice as well as for natural colouring. Ayurveda cuisine refers to the use of turmeric in it's dishes, and that practice has been passed down the generations. Get ready for a long post loaded with links, because Turmeric (Haldi) has a plethora of medicinalproperties due to the presence of the chemical Curcumin. Some of these are: 1) Prevention or Slowing down ...

Namaste, I am a big fan of our Hindu traditions and our calender, simply because there is no month devoid of festivities! The basic background of celebrating so many times a year is that these festivals give us reasons to meet our relatives, interact with them and share our joys and sorrows. Thus, we are forever in touch with our friends and family, and thus these festivals create a sense of bonding that unites us. Why I particularly like them so much is that I get an excuse to gorge on the umpteen amounts of sweets that are prepared for each of these events :-) This month (August) witnesses 2 biggies - The Krishna Janmashtami (celebrated earlier on the 14th of August), and the Ganesh or Vinayak Chaturthi, which falls tomorrow. Lord Ganesha, also known as Ekdanta (one with a single tooth), Vinayaka, Vignaharta (remover of obstacles), etc., is the only mainstream God to have a non-human face. Legend has it that Goddess Parvati, wife of Lord Shiva, created a boy out of th...

Good Morning, Though this post is slightly off-topic, it is related to the Dasavathars. One of the things I am quite passionate about is Philately. I focus on all philatelic material (stamps,covers,etc.) related to Mahatma Gandhi. You would be surprised to learn that more than 90 countries have issued stamps on Mahatma Gandhi. The detailed scans are available on my website: www.gandhistamps.com India recently issued a set of 11 stamps (yes, 11!) on the 12th century epic "Gita Govinda" by Jayadeva. This is perhaps the largest single set of stamps issued on a single topic together. The scan is shown below: The stamp on the top is that of the author Jayadeva, while the other 10 stamps depict the Dasavathars. The Gita Govinda is written with the view of Lord Krishna as the supreme being, and the Dasavathars being incarnations of Lord Krishna. What is interesting is that all the Avathars (Mathsya, Kurma, Varaaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasuram, Ram, ...

Today, an average Hindu is not familiar with the Vedas or any literature associated with them. Though the Vedas themselvesa are not so voluminous, they are rather too difficult for the inunitiated. The commentaries, on the other hand, to which one must naturally look for help to understand the Vedas, are so voluminous that they would actually break the back-bone of the student. So, with a view to familiarise an average Hindu with the Vedas, Sir GC Narang, the author of  Message of the Vedas,  had compiled selected mantras from the Vedas with their English translation. It is a great blessing to the reader that the mantras are arranged according to their subjects. This book will help him to have a fairly good idea of the nature of the contents of the Vedas. DOWNLOAD E-BOOK Link 1 DOWNLOAD E-BOOK Link 2

Hello everyone, Stambhas (pillars) play an important role in both Hinduism and our ancient history. Kirti Stambhas were erected by Kings to commemorate their famous victories. The most famous one among them is the Vijay Stambha in Chittor, Rajasthan (shown below). Literally translated into "Tower of Victory", it was made by Rana Kumbha to celebrate his victory over the combined forces of Malwa and Gujarat led by Mahmud Khilji in 1442. The other variety of Stambha is the Dhwaja Stambha, which is a very common feature in most of the Indian temples. It is a tall post-like structure, which is referred to as the flag-mast of the deity of the temple. The Dhwaja Stambha is different from the Kirti Stambha, as it is characteristically thinner. Also, it is made of metal or has a metal covering rather than the former, which is made predominantly of stone. During festivities, the Dhwaja Stambha is decorated with different types of flags to commemorate and celebrat...

Indore Jan 7, 2013:  RSS Pranth Ekatreekaran Convention was held Yesterday at Indore. Here are few photos. source: http://samvada.org/2013/news-digest/indore-mega-rss-convention-photos/