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Kaivalya Upanishad
The ''Kaivalya Upanishad'' () is a late 1st millennium BCE Sanskrit text and one of the minor Upanishads of Hinduism. It is classified as a Shaiva Upanishad, and survives into modern times in two versions, one attached to the Krishna Yajurveda and other attached to the Atharvaveda. It is, as an Upanishad, a part of the corpus of Vedanta literature collection that presents the philosophical concepts of Hinduism. The Upanishad extols Shiva, aloneness and renunciation, describes the inner state of man in his personal spiritual journey detached from the world. The text is notable for presenting Shaivism in Vedanta, discussing Atman (Self) and its relation to Brahman, and Self-knowledge as the path to ''kaivalya'' (liberation). The text, states Paul Deussen – a German Indologist and professor of philosophy — is particularly beautiful in the way it describes the self-realized man who "feels himself only as of the one divine essence that lives in all", who feels identity of his ... [...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] |
Kalagni Rudra Upanishad
The ''Kalagni Rudra Upanishad'' (), is one of the minor Upanishads of Hinduism, written in the Sanskrit language. It is attached to the Krishna Yajurveda. It is one of 14 Shaiva Upanishads. The Upanishad is a discourse by Kalagni Rudra (Shiva) to sage Sanatkumara on the Tripundra, the Shaiva sectarian tilaka consisting of three horizontal lines of sacred ash on the forehead. The allegorical significance of the "three ash lines", states Deussen, is that the tradition sees them as streaks of three Vedic fires, three audible syllables of ''AUM'', three Guṇas, three worlds, three Atmans, three Vedas and three aspects of Shiva. The text extols the Tripundra and tells about the procedure for applying Vibhuti (sacred ash) as Tripundra on various parts of the body with the associated mantras and rites. Klaus Klostermaier classifies the ''Kalagni Rudra Upanishad'' with the '' Bhasmajabala Upanishad'', the '' Rudrakshajabala Upanishad'', the '' Brihajjabala Upanishad'' and the '' Ak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shaunaka
Shaunaka (, ) is the name applied to teachers, and to a Shakha of the Atharvaveda. It is especially the name of a celebrated Sanskrit grammarian, author of the , the , the , six Anukramaṇīs (indices) to the Rigveda, and the Vidhāna of the Rigveda. He is the teacher of Katyayana and Ashvalayana and is said to have combined the Bashkala and Shakala Shakhas of the Rigveda. In the Mahabharata, Mahabarata, he is identified as the son of Ruru and Pramadvara, and in the Bhagavata Purana, he is identified as the grandson of Gritsamada and son of Sunaka, who belongs to the Bhrigu dynasty. Literature According to the Vishnu Purana, Shaunaka was the son of Gritsamada and invented the system of the four levels of human life. Sūta mahamuni narrated mythological stories to a group of sages headed by Shaunaka maha muni. According to Vishnumitra of Champa town, the commentator of 's commentary of , is attributed to Shaunaka who taught it to others in a satra-yajna (a 12-day very large sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Shakha of the many survive today, namely the Shakala Shakha, Śakalya Shakha. Much of the contents contained in the remaining Shakhas are now lost or are not available in the public forum. The ''Rigveda'' is the oldest known Vedic Sanskrit text. Its early layers are among the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language. Most scholars believe that the sounds and texts of the ''Rigveda'' have been orally transmitted with precision since the 2nd millennium BCE, through Indian mathematics#Styles of memorisation, methods of memorisation of exceptional complexity, rigour and fidelity, though the dates are not confirmed and remain contentious till concrete evidence surfaces. Philolog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trimurti
The Trimurti ( /t̪ɾimʊɾt̪iː/) is the triple deity of supreme divinity in Hinduism, in which the cosmic functions of creation, preservation, and destruction are personified as a triad of deities. Typically, the designations are that of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. The Om symbol of Hinduism is considered to have an allusion to Trimurti, where the A, U, and M phonemes of the word are considered to indicate creation, preservation and destruction, adding up to represent Brahman. The Tridevi is the trinity of goddess consorts for the Trimurti. Evolution The Puranic period from the 4th to the 12th century CE saw the rise of post-Vedic religion and the evolution of what R. C. Majumdar calls "synthetic Hinduism." Following is a well-known verse from the Vishnu Purana (1.2.66) that mentions Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva together in a single verse, highlighting their roles within the cosmic functions of creation, preservation, and destr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Principal Upanishads
Principal Upanishads, also known as Mukhya Upanishads, are the most ancient and widely studied Upanishads of Hinduism. Composed between 800 BCE to the start of common era, these texts are connected to the Vedic tradition. Content The Principal Upanishads, which were composed probably between 600 and 300 BCE, constitute the concluding portion of the Veda. According to most Hindu traditions, ten Upanishads are considered as Principal Upanishads, but some scholars include , and into the list. The founders of the major schools of Vedanta, viz., Adi Shankara and Madhvacharya wrote (''commentaries'') on these ten Principal Upanishads. Even though Ramanuja did not write individual commentaries on Principal Upanishads, he quoted many hundreds of quotations from Upanishads in his Sri Bhasya. In the Ramanuja lineage, one of his followers, Rangaramanuja, wrote commentaries on almost all of the Principal Upanishads around the 1600s. The ten Principal Upanishads are: # (IsUp), Yajur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brahma
Brahma (, ) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the triple deity, trinity of Para Brahman, supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 212–226.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 218–219. He is associated with creation, knowledge, and the ''Vedas''. Brahma is prominently mentioned in Creation myth, creation legends. In some ''Puranas'', he created himself in a golden embryo known as the Hiranyagarbha. Brahma is frequently identified with the Rigvedic deities, Vedic god Prajapati.;David Leeming (2005), The Oxford Companion to World Mythology, Oxford University Press, , page 54, Quote: "Especially in the Vedanta Hindu Philosophy, Brahman is the Absolute. In the Upanishads, Brahman becomes the eternal first cause, present everywhere and nowhere, always and never. Brahman can be incarnated in Brahma, in Vishnu, in Shiva. To put it another way, eve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vedic Meter
Vedic metre refers to the poetic metre in the Vedic literature. The study of Vedic metre, along with post-Vedic metre, is part of Chandas, one of the six Vedanga disciplines. Overview In addition to these seven, there are fourteen less frequent syllable-based metres (''Varna-vritta'' or ''Akshara-chandas''): :8. ''Atijagati'' (13x4); 9. ''Śakkarī'' (14x4); 10. ''Atiśakarī '' (15x4); 11. ''Ashṭi'' (16x4); :12. ''Atyashti'' (17x4); 13. ''Dhritī '' (18x4); 14. ''Atidhritī'' (19x4); 15. ''Kṛiti'' (20x4); :16. ''Prakṛiti'' (21x4); 17. ''Ākṛiti'' (22x4): 18. ''Vikṛiti'' (23x4); 19. '' Śankṛiti'' (24x4); :20. ''Atikṛiti'' (25x4); 21. ''Utkṛiti'' (26x4). Note: all metres have several varieties (from 2 to 30 depending on the case). :There is also the metre called ''Dandaka'' which is the general name given to other metres of this class exceeding the measure (26x4) of ''Utkriti'' (''Dandaka'' is the No. 22 on the list compiled by H.H. Wilson). There are seve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and genre-based anthologies.Chris Baldrick''The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms'' 3rd. ed (2008) Complete collections of works are often called " complete works" or "" (Latin equivalent). Etymology The word entered the English language in the 17th century, from the Greek word, ἀνθολογία (''anthologic'', literally "a collection of blossoms", from , ''ánthos'', flower), a reference to one of the earliest known anthologies, the ''Garland'' (, ''stéphanos''), the introduction to which compares each of its anthologized poets to a flower. That ''Garland'' by Meléagros of Gadara formed the kernel for what has become known as the Greek Anthology. '' Florilegium'', a Latin derivative for a collection of flowers, was used in mediev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hanuman
Hanuman (; , ), also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali, and Anjaneya, is a deity in Hinduism, revered as a divine ''vanara'', and a devoted companion of the deity Rama. Central to the ''Ramayana'', Hanuman is celebrated for his unwavering devotion to Rama and is considered a '' chiranjivi''. He is traditionally believed to be the spiritual offspring of the wind deity Vayu, who is said to have played a significant role in his birth. In Shaiva tradition, he is regarded to be an incarnation of Shiva, while in most of the Vaishnava traditions he is the son and incarnation of Vayu. His tales are recounted not only in the ''Ramayana'' but also in the '' Mahabharata'' and various ''Puranas''. Devotional practices centered around Hanuman were not prominent in these texts or in early archaeological evidence. His theological significance and the cultivation of a devoted following emerged roughly a millennium after the ''Ramayana'' was composed, during the second millennium CE.Paula Richman ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rama
Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda'' ''puruṣottama''), Rama is the male protagonist of the Hindu epic '' Ramayana''. His birth is celebrated every year on Rama Navami, which falls on the ninth day of the bright half ( Shukla Paksha) of the lunar cycle of Chaitra (March–April), the first month in the Hindu calendar. According to the ''Ramayana'', Rama was born to Dasaratha and his first wife Kausalya in Ayodhya, the capital of the Kingdom of Kosala. His siblings included Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna. He married Sita. Born in a royal family, Rama's life is described in the Hindu texts as one challenged by unexpected changes, such as an exile into impoverished and difficult circumstances, and challenges of ethical questions and moral dilemmas. The most not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
