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Pichakaree
Pichakaree (or pichakaaree) is an Indo-Trinidadian form of music, which originated in Trinidad and Tobago. It is named after the long syringe-like tubes used to spray abir during Phagwah celebrations. Description Pichakaree songs are generally social commentary, and are sung using a mixture of Hindi, English and Bhojpuri words. The musical form was devised by RaviJi, spiritual leader of the Hindu Prachar Kendra, as an Indo-Trinidadian counterpoint to calypso. Pichakaree competitions are an integral part of Phagwa celebrations hosted by the Hindu Prachar Kendra. This has been criticised by Satnarayan Maharaj of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (the largest Hindu organisation in Trinidad and Tobago), saying that Phagwah is a religious celebration, and "''A sacred occasion like Phagwa must not be used to piggy-back behaviour that is adharamic (anti-religious in the Vedic Tradition).'' Relation with tantra There are however Hindus who are open minded to such music and ascribe to ...
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Indo-Trinidadian And Tobagonian Culture
Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians or Indian-Trinidadians and Tobagonians, are people of Indian origin who are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago whose ancestors came from India and the wider subcontinent beginning in 1845. Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians are a subgroup of Indo-Caribbeans, which is a subgroup of the wider Indian diaspora. Generally, most Indians in Trinidad and Tobago can trace their ancestry back to northern India, especially the Bhojpur and Awadh region of the Hindi Belt, which lies in the Gangetic plains, a plain that is located between the Ganga and Yamuna rivers and faces the mountain ranges of the Himalayas and the Vindhyas. However, some Indians may trace their ancestry to other parts of South Asia, notably southern India. Indians first arrived in Trinidad and Tobago as indentured laborers from India through the Indian indenture system from 1845 till 1917, and some Indians and other South Asians, along with their families, later came as entrepreneurs, ...
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Trinidad And Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of Grenada and off the coast of northeastern Venezuela. It shares maritime boundaries with Barbados to the northeast, Grenada to the northwest and Venezuela to the south and west. Trinidad and Tobago is generally considered to be part of the West Indies. The island country's capital is Port of Spain, while its largest and most populous city is San Fernando. The island of Trinidad was inhabited for centuries by Indigenous peoples before becoming a colony in the Spanish Empire, following the arrival of Christopher Columbus, in 1498. Spanish governor José María Chacón surrendered the island to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby in 1797. Trinidad and Tobago were ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of ...
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Tantra
Tantra (; sa, तन्त्र, lit=loom, weave, warp) are the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed on the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. The term ''tantra'', in the Indian traditions, also means any systematic broadly applicable "text, theory, system, method, instrument, technique or practice". A key feature of these traditions is the use of mantras, and thus they are commonly referred to as Mantramārga ("Path of Mantra") in Hinduism or Mantrayāna ("Mantra Vehicle") and Guhyamantra ("Secret Mantra") in Buddhism. Starting in the early centuries of the common era, newly revealed Tantras centering on Vishnu, Shiva or Shakti emerged. There are tantric lineages in all main forms of modern Hinduism, such as the Shaiva Siddhanta tradition, the Shakta sect of Sri-Vidya, the Kaula, and Kashmir Shaivism. In Buddhism, the Vajrayana traditions are known for tantric ideas and practices, which are based on India ...
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Vedic
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda. Each Veda has four subdivisions – the Samhitas (mantras and benedictions), the Aranyakas (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), the Brahmanas (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices), and the Upanishads (texts discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge).Gavin Flood (1996), ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', Cambridge University Press, , pp. 35–39A Bhattacharya (2006), ''Hindu Dharma: Introduction to Scriptures and Theology'', , pp. 8–14; George M. Williams (2003), Handbook of Hindu Mythology, Oxford University Press, , p. 285 ...
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Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global population, known as Hindus. The word ''Hindu'' is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as '' Sanātana Dharma'' ( sa, सनातन धर्म, lit='the Eternal Dharma'), a modern usage, which refers to the idea that its origins lie beyond human history, as revealed in the Hindu texts. Another endonym is ''Vaidika dharma'', the dharma related to the Vedas. Hinduism is a diverse system of thought marked by a range of philosophies and shared concepts, rituals, cosmological systems, pilgrimage sites, and shared textual sources that discuss theology, metaphysics, mythology, Vedic yajna, yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other to ...
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Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha
The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), , colloquially known as the Maha Sabha, is the largest and most influential Hindu organization in Trinidad and Tobago. It operates 150 mandirs, over 50 schools, and has its own radio station, Radio Jaagriti 102.7 FM, and TV channel, TV Jaagriti. They also operate the Indian Caribbean Museum of Trinidad and Tobago. It was formed in 1952 when Bhadase Sagan Maraj engineered the merger of the ''Sanatan Dharma Association'' and the ''Sanatan Dharma Board of Control''. An affiliated group, the Pundits' Parishad, has 200 affiliated pundits. The organisation's headquarters are located in St. Augustine. The Dharmacharya of the Maha Sabha is Pt. Dr. Rampersad Parasram, the President General is Pt. Krishna Rambally, and the Secretary General from 1977 to his death on November 16, 2019 was Satnarayan Maharaj, son-in-law of the founder, Bhadase Sagan Maraj. Satnarayan Mahahraj’s son Vijay Maharaj has succeeded him as the acting Secretary General. ...
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Satnarayan Maharaj
Satnarayan Maharaj , also known as Sat Maharaj, (; April 17, 1931 – November 16, 2019) was a Trinidadian and Tobagonian Hindu religious leader, educationalist, and civil rights activist in Trinidad and Tobago. He was the Secretary-General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, a major Hindu organisation in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean. The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha operates 150 mandirs and over 50 schools in Trinidad and Tobago. It was formed in 1952 when Bhadase Sagan Maraj, the father-in-law of Satnarayan Maharaj, engineered the merger of the Satanan Dharma Association and the Sanatan Dharma Board of Control. An affiliated group, the Pundits' Parishad, has 200 affiliated pundits. The organisation's headquarters are located in St. Augustine. Under the Secretary General Satnarayan Maharaj, the Maha Sabha has modernised all 42 schools and built 5 secondary schools as well as 12 early childhood educational centres. Maharaj has also revived the observance of Phagwah a ...
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Calypso Music
Calypso is a style of Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to the mid-19th century and spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles and Venezuela by the mid-20th century. Its rhythms can be traced back to West African Kaiso and the arrival of French planters and their slaves from the French Antilles in the 18th century. It is characterized by highly rhythmic and harmonic vocals, and was historically most often sung in a French creole and led by a griot. As calypso developed, the role of the griot became known as a ''chantuelle'' and eventually, '' calypsonian''. As English replaced "patois" ( Antillean creole) as the dominant language, calypso migrated into English, and in so doing it attracted more attention from the government. It allowed the masses to challenge the doings of the unelected Governor and Legislative Council, and the elected town councils of Port of Spain and San Fernando. Calypso continued to play an important role in pol ...
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Indo-Caribbean Music
Indo-Caribbean music is the musical traditions of the Indo-Caribbean people of the Caribbean music area. Indo-Caribbean music is most common in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Jamaica, and Suriname. Indo-Caribbean traditional music often reflects the Bhojpuri heritage of many Indo-Caribbeans; women's folk songs are especially reflective of the music of Bhojpur. These include folk songs for childbirth (''sohar''), humorous and light-hearted songs for a bride's family to insult the groom's (''gali''), funereal songs (''nirgun'') and ''matkor''. Other women's folk songs are seasonal and are performed at festivals like the '' phagwah'' and ''holi''. Instrumentation consists mostly of the '' dhantal'', a metal rod and claper, and the ''dholak'', a two-headed barrel drum. Traditional Hindu bhajans are also common. Modern Indo-Caribbean traditions include the seasonal, responsorial men's form, the '' chowtal'', and a vocal song form called '' taan-singing'', performed by a single male ...
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Hindu Prachar Kendra
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent. The term ''"Hindu"'' traces back to Old Persian which derived these names from the Sanskrit name ''Sindhu'' (सिन्धु ), referring to the river Indus. The Greek cognates of the same terms are "''Indus''" (for the river) and "''India''" (for the land of the river). The term "''Hindu''" also implied a geographic, ethnic or cultural identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent around or beyond the Sindhu (Indus) River. By the 16th century CE, the term began to refer to residents of the subcontinent who were not Turkic or Muslims. Hindoo is an archaic spelling variant, whose use today is considered derogatory. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the local ...
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Bhojpuri Language
Bhojpuri (;Bhojpuri entry, Oxford Dictionaries
, Oxford University Press
) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bhojpur- Purvanchal region of and the region of . < ...
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English Language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island of Great Britain. Existing on a dialect continuum with Scots, and then closest related to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages, English is genealogically West Germanic. However, its vocabulary is also distinctively influenced by dialects of France (about 29% of Modern English words) and Latin (also about 29%), plus some grammar and a small amount of core vocabulary influenced by Old Norse (a North Germanic language). Speakers of English are called Anglophones. The earliest forms of English, collectively known as Old English, evolved from a group of West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century and further mutated by Norse-speaking Viking settlers starting in the 8 ...
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