The Essentials of Durga Puja

Posted by Rakesh | Labels: , | Posted On Saturday, September 26, 2009 at 3:31 PM

The Essentials of Durga Puja :

The decorated puja platform with all the required essentials.Specific items are needed for each day of Durga Puja. There is a detailed method to worshiping Goddess Durga that are mentioned in the scriptures. Items which are needed for the ritual worship of the goddess should be collected beforehand so that the ritual is performed smoothly. The list of essentials of Durga Puja are:


Items needed for Kalparambho, the ritual performed before the commencement of the puja and Mahasna:



http://www.durga-puja.org/the-essentials-of-durga-puja.html





The Adoption of Hindi Divinities in Japan

Posted by Rakesh | Labels: , | Posted On Friday, September 18, 2009 at 9:03 AM

The Adoption of uDivinities in Japan


Buddhism introduced many Hindu Gods and Goddesses to the Japanese. The rulers were the first to be attracted to them. Historical records show that they earnestly believed in the miracles of these divinities promised in the sutras. Many miracle stories started appearing in popular literature as the divinities percolated down to the masses. The resulting naturalisation process in the case of some divinities went to the extent that they became an integral part of the native Shinto pantheon. Their popularity remains unabated even today. The Tantric Buddhist sects also played a vital role in propagating the divinities. They regularly worshipped the divinities in their temples where people thronged in large numbers. Many steps in these ceremonies, for instance, the homa ritual, are very familiar to the present-day Hindus. The monks have also produced a considerable volume of religious literature related to these divinities. Descriptions of many divinities show that they have not changed substantially over centuries. A study of these writings also shows that a large volume of Hindu myths and legends related to these deities were transmitted to Japan. These writings are also a testimony to the way the ancestors of the present-day Hindus thought about these deities, say, around the eighth or ninth century of the Christian era.

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=vhAZEZD7weoC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=hindu+divinities+history&source=bl&ots=-jcCSzyVi3&sig=qjiP77cvuSW4TLR43Ta0ut5BZD0&hl=en&ei=xv6ySpeoMIyNkAXQy43UCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=hindu%20divinities%20history&f=false

The Vedic Period (1500–500 BCE)

Posted by Rakesh | Labels: | Posted On at 8:56 AM


Information about the Vedic religion apparently introduced by the Aryans is gleaned largely from the Vedas. Focus was on yajna, ritualistic performance of sacrifice, and on joining the ancestors in heaven.The pre-eminent doctrine was Purva Mimamsa, largely non-theistic and with some strands trying to prove that God is non-existent, or at least redundant. Uttara Mimamsa (Vedanta) emerged towards the latter part of the period with the compilation of the Upanishads. Scholars say that there was no clearly enunciated doctrine of reincarnation at this time. The predominant deities, different from those in later Hinduism, represented the forces of nature and were headed by Indra, god of rain. The central story of his killing the giant, Vrita, comes down in numerous versions up to the present. The migrating Aryans are accredited with introducing Sanskrit, and with the system of varnashrama-dharma, though perhaps in a relatively simple form.
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