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Amnaya
Amnayas are holy scriptures belonging to the Tantra school of Hinduism which is rooted in the Vedas. Āmnāya (आम्नाय) is a Sanskrit word, which means sacred tradition that is, unchanging atemporal tradition, handed over by repetition or that which is committed to memory. Āmnāya (आम्नाय) refers to a classification of Kula Agama scriptures, mostly tantras belonging to the Kula tradition within Shaivism and Shaktism. The oldest and commonly accepted classification of four āmnāyas is found in sources such as the Kubjikāmatatantra, the Manthānabhairavatantra (yogakhaṇḍa) and the Saṃketapaddhati. These are the four āmnāyas, each corresponding with a direction and yuga: # Pūrvāmnāya (eastern doctrine, Satya Yuga), # Dakṣiṇāmnāya (southern doctrine, Treta Yuga), # Uttarāmnāya (northern doctrine, Dvapara Yuga), # Paścimāmnāya (western doctrine, Kali Yuga ''Kali Yuga'' (Devanagari: कलियुग), in Hinduism, is the fourth, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kubjikāmatatantra
Kubjika ( Kubjikā, also known as Vakreśvarī, Vakrikā, Ciñciṇī) is the primary deity of Kubjikāmata, a sect of non- Siddhāntika mantra marga sect. The worship of Kubjikā as one of the main aspect of Adishakti was in its peak in 12th century CE. She is still praised in tantric practices that are followed in Kaula tradition. Etymology Kubjikā means "to crook" or "to curve" in Sanskrit. Once lord Navātman/ Shiva embraced his consort Vakrikā and before the copulation, she suddenly felt shy and bent her body earning the name, Kubjikā, "the hunchback one" or Vakrikā (crooked one). Worship ''Kubjikāmata Tantra'' A tantric text named the Kubjikāmata, dated to the ninth or tenth century, describes the worship of Kubjika. Though she was very famous among the tantric tradition of Kashmir Valley in the past, the Kubjikā cult was not familiar among the devotees. Though it seemed that Kubjikā was no longer worshipped in the valley either, in mid 1980s, she wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tantra
Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the India, Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, first within Shaivism and later in Buddhism. The term ''tantra'', in the Greater India, 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. In Buddhism, the Vajrayana traditions are known for tantric ideas and practices, which are based on Indian Tantras (Buddhism), Buddhist Tantras. They include Tibetan Buddhism, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, Japanese Shingon Buddhism and Nepalese Newar Buddhism. Although Southern Esoteric Buddhism does not directly reference the tantras, its practices and ideas parallel them. In Bud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agama (Hinduism)
The Agamas (Devanagari: , IAST: ) are a collection of several Tantras (Hinduism), Tantric literature and religious text, scriptures of Hindu schools.Julius Lipner (2004), Hinduism: the way of the banyan, in The Hindu World (Editors: Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby), Routledge, , pages 27–28 The term literally means tradition or "that which has come down", and the Agama texts describe cosmology, epistemology, philosophical doctrines, precepts on meditation and practices, four kinds of yoga, mantras, temple construction, deity worship and ways to attain sixfold desires. These canonical texts are in Sanskrit and Tamil language, Tamil. The three main branches of Agama texts are Shaivism, Shaiva, Vaishnavism, Vaishnava and Shaktism, Shakta. The Agamic traditions are sometimes called Tantrism, although the term "Tantra" is usually used specifically to refer to Shakta Agamas.Mariasusai Dhavamony (1999), Hindu Spirituality, Gregorian University and Biblical Press, , pages 31–34 with fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tantra
Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the India, Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, first within Shaivism and later in Buddhism. The term ''tantra'', in the Greater India, 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. In Buddhism, the Vajrayana traditions are known for tantric ideas and practices, which are based on Indian Tantras (Buddhism), Buddhist Tantras. They include Tibetan Buddhism, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, Japanese Shingon Buddhism and Nepalese Newar Buddhism. Although Southern Esoteric Buddhism does not directly reference the tantras, its practices and ideas parallel them. In Bud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified by adherence to the concept of ''dharma'', a Ṛta, cosmic order maintained by its followers through rituals and righteous living, as expounded in the Vedas. The word ''Hindu'' is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, it has also been described by the modern term ''Sanātana Dharma'' () emphasizing its eternal nature. ''Vaidika Dharma'' () and ''Arya dharma'' are historical endonyms for Hinduism. Hinduism entails diverse systems of thought, marked by a range of shared Glossary of Hinduism terms, concepts that discuss God in Hinduism, theology, Hindu mythology, mythology, among other topics in Hindu texts, textual sources. Hindu texts have been classified into Śruti () and Smṛti (). The major Hin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vedas
FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, 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 Hindu texts, 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 Brahmanas (commentaries on and explanation of rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices – Yajñas), the Aranyakas (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-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: Introduc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaula (Hinduism)
Kaula, also known as Kula, ("the Kula path") and ("the Kaula tradition"), is a Tantra, Tantric tradition which is characterised by distinctive rituals and symbolism connected with the worship of Shakti and Shiva that is associated with cremation-ground or charnel ground asceticism, found in Shaktism and Shaivism. Different types of Kulacharam were practiced in Assam, Kashmir, Bengal, Tripura and Kerala as it's primary worships. Kaula preserves some of the distinctive features of the ''Kapalika, Kāpālika'' tradition, from which it is derived. It is subdivided into four subcategories of texts based on the goddesses Kuleśvarī, Kubjikā, Kālī, and Tripura Sundari, Tripurasundarī respectively. The Trika texts are closely related to the Kuleśvarī texts and can be considered as a 'domesticized' part of the Kulamārga. These subcategories emerged as cults with a wide range of practices—some with mild practices involving worship of Siva or Sadasiva as a householder deity wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shaivism
Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu denominations, Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Para Brahman, supreme being. It is the Hinduism#Demographics, second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million Hindus, found widely across South Asia (predominantly in South India, Southern India), Sri Lanka, and Nepal.Keay, p.xxvii. The followers of Shaivism are called Shaivas or Shaivites. According to Chakravarti, Shaivism developed as an amalgam of pre-Aryan religions and traditions, Vedic Rudra, and post-Vedic traditions, accommodating local traditions and Yoga, puja and bhakti. According to Bisschop, early shaivism is rooted in the worship of vedic deity Rudra. The earliest evidence for sectarian Rudra-Shiva worship appears with the Pasupata (early CE), possibly owing to the Origins of Hinduism, Hindu synthesis, when many local traditions were aligned with the Brahmanism, Vedic-Brahmanical fold. The Pāśupata movement rapidly expanded through ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shaktism
Shaktism () is a major Hindu denomination in which the God in Hinduism, deity or metaphysics, metaphysical reality is considered metaphorically to be a woman. Shaktism involves a galaxy of goddesses, all regarded as different aspects, manifestations, or personifications of the divine feminine energy called ''Shakti''. It includes various modes of worship, ranging from those focused on the most worshipped Durga, to gracious Parvati, and the fierce Kali. After the decline of Buddhism in India, various Hindu and Buddhist goddesses were combined to form the Mahavidya, a Pantheon (religion), pantheon of ten goddesses. The most common forms of the Mahadevi worshipped in Shaktism include: Durga, Kali, Saraswati, Lakshmi, Parvati, and Tripura Sundari. Also worshipped are the various Gramadevatas across the Indian villages. Shaktism also encompasses various Tantra#Śaiva and Śākta tantra, tantric sub-traditions, including Vidyapitha and Kulamārga. Shaktism emphasizes that intense ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yuga
A ''yuga'', in Hinduism, is generally used to indicate an age of time. In the ''Rigveda'', a ''yuga'' refers to generations, a period of time (whether long or short), or a yoke (joining of two things). In the ''Mahabharata'', the words ''yuga'' and ''kalpa'' (a day of Brahma) are used interchangeably to describe the cycle of creation and destruction. In post-Vedic texts, the words "''yuga''" and "age" commonly denote a (pronounced ''chatur yuga''), a cycle of four world ages—for example, in the ''Surya Siddhanta'' and ''Bhagavad Gita'' (part of the ''Mahabharata'')—unless expressly limited by the name of one of its minor ages: '' Krita (Satya) Yuga'', ''Treta Yuga'', ''Dvapara Yuga'', or '' Kali Yuga''. The term "''yuga''" can represent the number 4. In early Indian astronomy, it referred to a five-year cycle starting with the conjunction of the sun and moon in the autumnal equinox. Etymology ''Yuga'' () means "a yoke" (joining of two things), "generations", or "a peri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Satya Yuga
''Satya Yuga'' ( ''Krita Yuga'', IAST: ''Kṛta-yuga''), in Hinduism, is the first and best of the four '' yugas'' (world ages) in a '' Yuga Cycle'', preceded by '' Kali Yuga'' of the previous cycle and followed by '' Treta Yuga''. ''Satya Yuga'' lasts for 1,728,000 years (4,800 divine years). ''Satya Yuga'' is known as the age of truth, when humanity is governed by gods, and every manifestation or work is close to the purest ideal and humanity will allow intrinsic goodness to rule supreme. It is sometimes referred to as the " Golden Age". ''Dharma'' (depicted in the form of a bull) symbolizes morality and stood on all four legs during this period; the legs of ''Dharma'' reduce by one in each ''yuga'' that follows. As per Bhagavata Purana, the four legs of Dharma are , (or ), and . Etymology '' Yuga'' (), in this context, means "an age of the world", where its archaic spelling is ''yug'', with other forms of ''yugam'', , and ''yuge'', derived from ''yuj'' (), believed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Treta Yuga
''Treta Yuga'' (IAST: ''Tretā-yuga'') (Devanagari: त्रेतायुग), in Hinduism, is the second and second-best of the four '' yugas'' (world ages) in a '' Yuga Cycle'', preceded by '' Krita (Satya) Yuga'' and followed by '' Dvapara Yuga''. ''Treta Yuga'' lasts for 1,296,000 years (3,600 divine years). ''Treta'' means 'a collection of three things' in Sanskrit, and is so called because during the ''Treta Yuga'', there were three Avatars of Vishnu that were seen: the fifth, sixth and seventh incarnations as Vamana, Parashurama and Rama, respectively. The bull of Dharma symbolizes that morality stood on three legs during this period. It had all four legs in the ''Satya Yuga'' and two in the succeeding ''Dvapara Yuga''. Currently, in the immoral age of ''Kali'', it stands on one leg. Etymology '' Yuga'' (), in this context, means "an age of the world", where its archaic spelling is ''yug'', with other forms of ''yugam'', , and ''yuge'', derived from ''yuj'' (), believ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
