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Nainativu
Nainativu ( ''Nainatheevu'', ''Nagadeepa''), is a small but notable island off the coast of Jaffna Peninsula in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. The name of the island alludes to the folklore inhabitants, the Naga people. It is home to the Hindu shrine of Nagapooshani Amman Temple; one of the prominent 64 Shakti Peethas, and the Buddhist shrine Nagadeepa Purana Viharaya. Historians note the island is mentioned in the ancient Tamil Sangam literature of nearby Tamil Nadu such as ''Manimekalai'' where it was mentioned as ''Manipallavam'' (, and ancient Buddhist legends of Sri Lanka such as '' Mahavamsa''. Ptolemy, a Greek cartographer, describes the islands around the Jaffna peninsula as ''Nagadiba'' () in the first century CE. History Nāka Tivu / Nāka Nadu was the name of the whole Jaffna peninsula in some historical documents. There are number of Buddhist myths associated with the interactions of people of this historical place with Buddha. The two Tamil epics of the second ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nainativu Nagapooshani Amman Temple
Nainativu Nagapooshani Amman Temple () is a Hindu temple on the Palk Bay, in the island of Nainativu, Sri Lanka. It is dedicated to Parvati who is known as Nagapooshani or Bhuvaneswari and her consort, Shiva who is named here as Nayinaar. The temple complex houses four ''gopurams'' (gateway towers) ranging from 20–25 feet in height, to the tallest being the eastern Raja Raja Gopuram soaring at 108 feet high. The temple is a significant symbol for the Sri Lankan Tamil people, especially the Jaffneses, and is said to have been mentioned since antiquity in Tamil literature, such as ''Manimekalai'' and ''Kundalakesi''. It was built during 1720 to 1790 after the ancient structure was destroyed by the Portuguese in 1620. The temple attracts around 1000 visitors a day, and approximately 5000 visitors during festivals. The annual 16-day ''Mahostavam (Thiruvizha)'' festival celebrated during the Tamil month of ''Aani'' (June/July) - attracts over 100,000 pilgrims. There are an estimated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naga People (Lanka)
The Naga people are believed by some to be an ancient Mythological tribe who once inhabited Sri Lanka and various parts of Southern India. There are references to Nagas in several ancient texts such as Mahavamsa, Manimekala. They were generally represented as a class of super-humans taking the form of serpents who inhabit a subterranean world. Certain places such as Nagadeepa in Jaffna and Kalyani in Gampaha are mentioned as their abodes. The names of some Naga kings in Sri Lankan Ancient legend and the cult of Naga prevailed in India up to medieval times. The Jaffna Peninsula was mentioned in Tamil literature as ''Naka Nadu'', in Pali literature as ''Nagadeepa'' and in Greek gazetteer as ''Nagadiba''. The name ''Nagabhumi'' was also found on a Brahmi-inscribed coin from Uduthurai, Jaffna and in a Tamil inscription from Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu referring to the Jaffna peninsula. Naga workship tradition still followed in Tamil Nadu. Etymology The word has many origins. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nagadeepa Purana Viharaya
Nagadeepa Purana Vihara () is an ancient Buddhist temple situated in Jaffna district of Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is among the country's sixteen holiest Buddhist shrines (''Solosmasthana''). According to contemporary history, the Gautama Buddha visited the site after five years of attaining Enlightenment to settle the dispute between two warring Naga kings, Chulodara and Mahodara. Ancient history according to the Mahavamsa chronicles and the Tamil Buddhist epic Manimekalai mentions a gem-studded throne and a stone with the Buddha's footprint at the island Nainativu, (also known as Nagadeepa) which pilgrims from India visited. History and development The site is known as the place where Lord Buddha came during his second visit to Sri Lanka, after five years of attaining Enlightenment, to intervene and mediate in settling a dispute between two Naga Kings, Chulodara and Mahodara over the possession of a gem-studded throne. When Buddha arrived and saw the Naga Kings prepared ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kayts
Kayts ('','' ), is one of the important small island off the coast of the Jaffna Peninsula in northern Sri Lanka. There are a number of other villages within the Kayts Island such as Allaippiddi, Mankumpan, Velanai, Saravanai, Puliyankoodal, Suruvil, Naranthanai, Karampon and Melinchimunai. Most of the people are Tamils. There are a number of Hindu temples as well as churches and a mosque. The island is also served by a dozen schools. Since 1983 Kayts Island has also been the scene of violence as part of the Sri Lankan Civil War, including the Allaipiddy massacre. On 8 August 1992, Major General Denzil Kobbekaduwa and Commodore Mohan Jayamaha were killed along with several senior army and navy officers when their Land Rover hit a land mine off Araly Point in Kayts. Etymology The name Kayts is of colonial origin, derived from the Portuguese "Caes dos Elefantes" meaning "Elephant's Quay", often just shortened to ''Cais''. It was named such because elephants were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shakti Peethas
The Shakta pithas, also called Shakti pithas or Sati pithas (, , ''seats of Shakti''), are significant shrines and pilgrimage destinations in Shaktism, the mother goddess denomination in Hinduism. The shrines are dedicated to various forms of Adi Shakti. Various Puranas such as Srimad Devi Bhagavatam state the existence of a varying number of 51, 52, 64 and 108 Shakta pithas of which 18 are named as Astadasha ''Maha'' (major) in medieval Hindu texts. Legends abound about how the Shakta pithas came into existence. The most popular is based on the story of the death of Sati (goddess), Sati, a deity according to Hinduism. Shiva carried Sati's body, reminiscing about their moments as a couple, and roamed around the universe with it. Vishnu cut her body into 51 body parts, using his Sudarshana Chakra, which fell on earth to become sacred sites where all the people can pay homage to the goddess. To complete this task, Shiva took the form of Bhairava. Most of these historic places ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jaffna Peninsula
The Jaffna Peninsula (, or ) is a region in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is home to the capital city of the province, Jaffna, and comprises much of the former land mass of the medieval Jaffna Kingdom. The peninsula was historically divided into the three regions of Vadamarachchi, Thenmarachchi and Valikamam, which today make up three regions of the Jaffna District. History Naga Nadu The Naga people were one of the ancient tribes of Sri Lanka, who were mainly concentrated in the Jaffna Peninsula. The peninsula was also known in pre-mediaeval era as ''Naga Nadu'', which means "''Land of the Nagas''" as mentioned in the twin epics of ancient Tamilakam, the Silappatikaram and Manimekalai. The Pali chronicle Mahavamsa also refers to the peninsula with the corresponding name as ''Nagadipa'', meaning "''island of Nagas''", where it is described as a Chiefdom with rulers named as ''Diparaja'', meaning "''King of Island''". Ptolemy, the Greek writer from 100 AD ref ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzantine, Islamic science, Islamic, and Science in the Renaissance, Western European science. The first was his astronomical treatise now known as the ''Almagest'', originally entitled ' (, ', ). The second is the ''Geography (Ptolemy), Geography'', which is a thorough discussion on maps and the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The third is the astrological treatise in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian physics, Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day. This is sometimes known as the ' (, 'On the Effects') but more commonly known as the ' (from the Koine Greek meaning 'four books'; ). The Catholic Church promoted his work, which included the only mathematically sound geocentric model of the Sola ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taprobana
Taprobana (; ), Trapobana, and Taprobane (, ) was the name by which the Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka was known to the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks. Tabrobane is suggested to be derived from Sanskrit "Tamraparni". This name could be a reference to the "copper colored" shores of Sri Lanka, and may have entered Greek via the Sinhala language, Sinhalese and/or the Pali language, Pali "Tambapanni". History Reports of the island's existence were known before the time of Alexander the Great as inferred from Pliny the Elder, Pliny. The treatise ''On the Universe, De Mundo'', supposedly by Aristotle (died 322 BC) but according to others by Chrysippus, Chrysippus the Stoic (280 to 208 BC), incorrectly states that the List of islands by area, island is as large as Great Britain (in fact, it is only about one third as big). The name was first reported to Europeans by the Greek geographer Megasthenes around 290 BC. Herodotus (444 BC) does not mention the island. The first Geograph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, to royal parents of the Shakya clan, but renounced his home life to live as a wandering ascetic. After leading a life of mendicancy, asceticism, and meditation, he attained nirvana at Bodh Gayā in what is now India. The Buddha then wandered through the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain, teaching and building a monastic order. Buddhist tradition holds he died in Kushinagar and reached ''parinirvana'' ("final release from conditioned existence"). According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and severe asceticism, leading to freedom from ignorance, craving, rebirth, and suffering. His core teachings are summarized in the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Ei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manimekalai
''Maṇimēkalai'' (, ), also spelled ''Manimekhalai'' or ''Manimekalai'', is a Tamil Buddhist epic composed by Kulavāṇikaṉ Seethalai Sataṉar probably somewhere between the 2nd century to the 6th century. It is an "anti-love story", a sequel to the "love story" in the earliest Tamil epic '' Cilappatikaram'', with some characters from it and their next generation. The epic consists of 4,861 lines in ''akaval'' meter, arranged in 30 cantos. The title ''Manimekalai'' is also the name of the daughter of Kovalan and Madhavi, who follows in her mother's footsteps as a dancer and a Buddhist nun. The epic tells her story. Her physical beauty and artistic achievements seduces the Chola prince Udayakumara. He pursues her. She, a nun of Mahayana Buddhism persuasion, feels a commitment to free herself from human ties. She rejects his advances, yet finds herself drawn to him. She hides, prays and seeks the help of her mother, her Buddhist teacher Aravana Adikal and angels. They ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kundalakesi
''Kundalakesi'' ( Kuṇṭalakēci, ''lit.'' "woman with curly hair"), also called ''Kuntalakeciviruttam'', is a Tamil Buddhist epic written by Nathakuthanaar, likely sometime in the 10th-century.Aiyangar 2004, p. 360 The epic is a story about love, marriage, getting tired with the married partner, murder and then discovering religion. The ''Kundalakesi'' epic has partially survived into the modern age in fragments, such as in commentaries written centuries later. From these fragments, it appears to be a tragic love story about a Hindu or Jain girl of merchant caste named Kundalakesi who falls in love with Kalan – a Buddhist criminal on a death sentence. The girl's rich merchant father gets the criminal pardoned and freed, the girl marries him. Over time, their love fades and they start irritating each other. During an argument, Kundalakesi reminds him of his criminal past which angers Kalan. A few days later, he invites her to a hike up a hill. When they reach the top, he tel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gemstone
A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, semiprecious stone, or simply gem) is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewellery, jewelry or other adornments. Certain Rock (geology), rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, and obsidian) and occasionally organic chemistry, organic materials that are not minerals (such as amber, Jet (gemstone), jet, and pearl) may also be used for jewelry and are therefore often considered to be gemstones as well. Most gemstones are hard, but some softer minerals such as brazilianite may be used in jewelry because of their color or Lustre (mineralogy), luster or other physical properties that have aesthetic value. However, generally speaking, soft minerals are not typically used as gemstones by virtue of their brittleness and lack of durability. Found all over the world, the industry of coloured gemstones (i.e. anything other than diamonds) is currently estimated at US$1.55billion and is projected to s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
