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Sumbha And Nisumbha
In the Devi Mahatmya, Sumbha (शुम्भ) and Nisumbha (निशुम्भ), were two ''asuras'' that confronted, and were ultimately slain by Kaushiki; an avatar of Devi Chandi. In the Devi Mahatmyam The story of Sumbha and Nisumbha begins in the fifth chapter of the Devi Mahatmyam. Parvati relates how two brothers of Asura stock sought to conquer the Three Worlds by subjecting themselves to severe penance and purification rituals so that no man or demon could destroy them. Sumbha and Nisumbha traveled to Pushkara, a sacred place, and remained there in prayer for ten thousand years. God Brahma saw the brothers' penance, and was pleased, granting them the boon they requested. It was at this time that Chanda and Munda, two lesser Asuras in the service of Shumbha, encountered Parvati, and were overwhelmed by her beauty. They carried reports of this goddess to Shumbha, who sought to possess Parvati and her beauty. Shumbha sent the demon Sugriva (asura) to court Parvat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durga Fighting The Rakshashas Shunga And Nishunga
Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around combating evils and demonic forces that threaten peace, prosperity, and dharma, representing the power of good over evil. Durga is believed to unleash her divine wrath against the wicked for the liberation of the oppressed, and entails destruction to empower creation. Durga is seen as a motherly figure and often depicted as a beautiful woman, riding a lion or tiger, with many arms each carrying a weapon and often defeating demons. She is widely worshipped by the followers of the goddess-centric sect, Shaktism, and has importance in other denominations like Shaivism and Vaishnavism. The most important texts of Shaktism, Devi Mahatmya, and Devi Bhagavata Purana, revere Devi (the Goddess) as the primordial creator of the universe and the Brahman ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durga
Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around combating evils and demonic forces that threaten peace, prosperity, and dharma, representing the power of good over evil. Durga is believed to unleash her divine wrath against the wicked for the liberation of the oppressed, and entails destruction to empower creation. Durga is seen as a motherly figure and often depicted as a beautiful woman, riding a lion or tiger, with many arms each carrying a weapon and often defeating demons. She is widely worshipped by the followers of the goddess-centric sect, Shaktism, and has importance in other denominations like Shaivism and Vaishnavism. The most important texts of Shaktism, Devi Mahatmya, and Devi Bhagavata Purana, revere Devi (the Goddess) as the primordial creator of the universe and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Great Indian Novel
''The Great Indian Novel'' is a satirical novel by Shashi Tharoor, first published by Viking Press in 1989. It is a fictional work that takes the story of the '' Mahabharata'', the Indian epic, and recasts and resets it in the context of the Indian Independence Movement and the first three decades post-independence. Figures from Indian history are transformed into characters from mythology, and the mythical story of India is retold as a history of Indian independence and subsequent history, up through the 1970s. Some critics have identified an element of subversion in the novel. The work includes numerous puns and allusions to famous works about India, such as those by Rudyard Kipling, Paul Scott, and E. M. Forster. The ''Mahabharata'' is an epic tale describing the historical dynastic struggle over the throne of the kingdom of Hastinapur between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, two branches of the heirs of the King Shantanu. In his novel, Tharoor recasts the story of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or exposing the perceived flaws of individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society. A feature of satire is strong irony or sarcasm —"in satire, irony is militant", according to literary critic Northrop Frye— but parody, burlesque, exaggeration, juxtaposition, comparison, analogy, and double entendre are all frequently used in satirical speech and writing. This "militant" irony or sarcasm often professes to approve of (or at least accept as natural) the very things the satirist wishes to question. Satire is found in many ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor (; ; born 9 March 1956 in London, England ) is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat and politician, writer and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, since 2009. He is the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers. He was formerly Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and unsuccessfully ran for the post of Secretary-General in 2006. Founder-Chairman of All India Professionals Congress, he formerly served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs and on Informational Technology. Born in London, UK, and raised in India, Tharoor worked across the world, graduating from St. Stephen's College, Delhi in 1975 and culminated his studies in 1978 with a doctorate in International Relations and Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. At the age of 22, he was the youngest person at the time to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trishula
The ''trishula'' () is a trident, a divine symbol, commonly used as one of the principal symbols in Hinduism. In Nepal and Thailand, the term also often refers to a short-handled weapon which may be mounted on a ''daṇḍa'' "staff". Unlike the Okinawan sai, the ''trishula'' is often bladed. In Indonesian, ''trisula'' usually refers specifically to a long-handled trident, while the diminutive version is more commonly known as a ''cabang'' or '' tekpi''. Etymology The name ''trishula'' ultimately derives from the Sanskrit word त्रिशूल (triśūla), from त्रि (trí), meaning "three", and शूल (śū́la), meaning "a sharp iron pin or stake", referring in this case to the weapon's three prongs. Symbolism File:Trishool A4.svg, Shiva's ''trishula'' with damaru File:Trishula.svg, ''Trishula'' details The ''trishula'' symbolism is polyvalent and rich. It is wielded by the god Shiva and is said to have been used to sever the original head of Ganesh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kali Attacking Nisumbha, C
Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In this tradition, she is considered as a ferocious form of goddess Mahadevi, the supreme of all powers, or the ultimate reality. She is the first of the ten Mahavidyas in the Hindu tantric tradition. Kali's earliest appearance is when she emerged from Shiva. She is regarded as the ultimate manifestation of Shakti, and the mother of all living beings. The goddess is stated to destroy evil in order to protect the innocent. Over time, Kali has been worshipped by devotional movements and Tàntric sects variously as the Divine Mother, Mother of the Universe, Principal energy Adi Shakti. Shakta Hindu and Tantric sects additionally worship her as the ultimate reality or ''Brahman''. She is also seen as the divine protector and the one who bestows ''moksha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kali
Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In this tradition, she is considered as a ferocious form of goddess Mahadevi, the supreme of all powers, or the ultimate reality. She is the first of the ten Mahavidyas in the Hindu tantric tradition. Kali's earliest appearance is when she emerged from Shiva. She is regarded as the ultimate manifestation of Shakti, and the mother of all living beings. The goddess is stated to destroy evil in order to protect the innocent. Over time, Kali has been worshipped by devotional movements and Tàntric sects variously as the Divine Mother, Mother of the Universe, Principal energy Adi Shakti. Shakta Hindu and Tantric sects additionally worship her as the ultimate reality or ''Brahman''. She is also seen as the divine protector and the one who bestows ''mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raktabīja
Raktabija () is an asura in Hinduism. According to the Puranas, he fought with Sumbha and Nisumbha against the goddesses Kali and Chandi, both forms of Durga. Raktabija had acquired a boon from Shiva that whenever a drop of his blood fell on the ground, various Raktabijas would emerge from the spot, equivalent to his strength, form, and weapons. Legend Origin According to the Puranas, Raktabija was, in his previous birth, Rambha, the son of Danu, the king of the asuras. Due to being childless, Rambha and his brother, Karambha, performed a penance to seek offspring. The brothers performed a tapas, with Rambha seated in the midst of five fires, and Karambha in the midst of water. Alarmed, Indra assumed the form of a makara and dragged Karambha into the depths, drowning him. Enraged, Rambha decided to offer his own head to the fires as a sacrifice. Agni appeared before him, and urged him to desist from performing suicide, denouncing it as a great sin. He offered Rambha a b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chamunda
Chamunda (Sanskrit: चामुण्डा, ISO-15919: Cāmuṇḍā), also known as Chamundeshwari, Chamundi or Charchika, is a fearsome form of Chandi, the Hindu Divine Mother Shakti and is one of the seven Matrikas (mother goddesses).Wangu p.72 She is also one of the chief Yoginis, a group of sixty-four or eighty-one Tantric goddesses, who are attendants of the warrior goddess Parvati.Wangu p.114 The name is a combination of Chanda and Munda, two monsters whom Chamunda killed. She is closely associated with Kali, another fierce aspect of Parvati. She is identified with goddesses Parvati, Kali or Durga. The goddess is often portrayed as residing in cremation grounds or around holy fig trees. The goddess is worshipped by ritual animal sacrifices along with offerings of wine. The practice of animal sacrifices has become less common with Shaivite and Vaishnavite influences. Origins Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar says that Chamunda was originally a tribal goddess, wors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sugriva (asura)
''This character is about the vanara, in the Ramayana.'' Sugriva ( sa, सुग्रीव, , ) is a character In the ancient Indian epic Ramayana. He is the younger brother of Vali, whom he succeeded as ruler of the vanara kingdom of Kishkindha. Rumā is his wife. He is a son of Surya, the Hindu deity of the sun. As the king of the vanaras, Sugriva aided Rama in his quest to liberate his wife Sita from captivity at the hands of the rakshasa king Ravana. Nomenclature He is also known as jv, Sugriwa, th, Su-khrip, lo, Sugeep, km, Sukhreeb, Creole: ''Soogrim'', lo, Sangkip, ta, Cukkirivan, my, Thugyeik, Sugreeva or Sugreev. Legend The story of Sugriva is part of Ramayana and in an abbreviated version, is also present in the Mahabharata. The king of Kishkindha, Vrikshraja, was a divine creature born from Brahma's tilaka. He had the body of a human and face and tail of a monkey. He was instructed to roam the forests and kill demons. One day, Vriksharaja ente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Devi Mahatmya
The ''Devi Mahatmya'' or ''Devi Mahatmyam'' ( sa, देवीमाहात्म्यम्, devīmāhātmyam, Glory of the Goddess) is a Hindu philosophical text describing the Goddess as the supreme power and creator of the universe. It is part of the Markandeya Purana. ''Devi Mahatmyam'' is also known as the ''Durgā Saptashatī'' () or Śata Chandī (शत् चण्डी). The text contains 700 verses arranged into 13 chapters. Along with '' Devi-Bhagavata Purana'' and Shakta Upanishads such as the Devi Upanishad, it is one of the most important texts of Shaktism (goddess) tradition within Hinduism. The ''Devi Mahatmyam'' describes a storied battle between good and evil, where the Devi manifesting as goddess Durga leads the forces of good against the demon Mahishasura—the goddess is very angry and ruthless, and the forces of good win. In peaceful prosperous times, states the text, the Devi manifests as Lakshmi, empowering creation and happiness. The verses of thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
