God of the Week : Sun

Almost all of the early civilizations in the world had the Sun as the God.
They all believed that Sun is the eternal truth and his(and in some regions it is her) power lead the universe and all other creatures.

So let us know some facts and forms in which the Sun is called and named across all the civilizations.

Aditya or the Sun God according to the Hindu religion

Sun God at the Konarak temple in Orissa

In the Sanskrit Vedas, numerous hymns are dedicated to Surya/Mitra dev, the Sun personified, and Savitr, "the impeller", a solar deity either identified with or associated with Surya.

Even the Gayatri mantra, which is regarded as one of the most sacred of the Hindu hymns is dedicated to the Sun. The Adityas are a group of solar deities, from the Brahmana period numbering twelve. The ritual of sandhyavandanam, performed by some Hindus, is an elaborate set of hand gestures and body movements, designed to greet and revere the Sun.

Statue of Hathor - Luxor Museum

Wall hanging representation of Sun God according to the Hindu religion

The Sun God in Hinduism is an ancient deity, worthy of immense worship. The Sun is referred to in Sanskrit as "Mitra" or "Friend" down to the invariable warmth, life-giving nature and optimism its light brings to mankind. He is called "Prati-Aksh Devta" meaning "The Seen Divinity" and worthy of much worship and reverence.

The famous Wheel of the Aditya Rath at the Sun temple in Orissa

The Mahabharata describes one of its warrior heroes Karna as being the son of the righteous queen Kunti and the Sun. The Ramayana has its protagonist Rama as being descended from the Surya Vansh or the clan of kings as bright as the Sun.

The Sun God is said to married to the beautiful goddess Ranaadeh, also known as Sanjnya. She is depicted in dual form ("jor"), being both sunlight and shadow, personified. The goddess is revered heavily in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

The charioteer of Surya is Arun, who is also personified as the redness that accompanies the sunlight in dawn and dusk.

Tonatiuh as depicted in the Codex Telleriano-Remensis.

The winged sun was an ancient (3rd millennium BC) symbol of Horus, later identified with Ra

In India, at Konark, a town in Orissa, a temple is dedicated to Surya. The Konark temple has also been declared a UNESCO world heritage site. Surya is the most prominent of the navagrahas or nine celestial objects of the Hindus. Navagrahas can be found in almost all Hindu temples. There are further temples dedicated to Surya, one in Arasavilli, Srikakulam District in AndhraPradesh, one in Gujarat and another in Rajasthan. The temple at Arasavilli was constructed in such a way that on the day of Radhasaptami, the sun's rays directly fall on the feet of the Sri Suryanarayana Swami, the deity at the temple.

The Trundholm sun chariot pulled by a horse is believed to be a sculpture illustrating the sun, an important part of Nordic Bronze Age mythology

Chhath (Hindi: छठ, also called Dala Chhath) is an ancient Hindu festival dedicated to Surya, the chief solar deity, unique to Bihar, Jharkhand and the Terai. This major festival is also celebrated in the northeast region of India, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and parts of Chhattisgarh.Hymns praying to the sun can be found in the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism. Practiced in different parts of India, the worship of the sun has been described in the Rigveda.

This months Festival : Diwali

This month's festival is Diwali. This is celebrated across India to mark the win of truth over darkness and bad.

Thus everyone light up their homes with Diyas and mark the day with the Lakshmi pooja. The festival of lights is celebrated for two days according to the Hindu calender.

The day before the Diwali is called the Naraka Chaturdasi, the day on which the Narakasura has been killed by Satyabhama the wife of Lord Krishna.
This festival is the 4th largest festival in India with most of the houses celebrating by acquiring not just new clothes but also many other new materials.
Generally all the homes believe in buying Gold, new automobiles, cell phones in trend with the new generation patterns.

A lot of sweets and hots are made at homes. Children buy crackers and blast them after the lakshmi pooja is done in the evening.

Krishna Floods and leaves thousands homeless

The heaviest flood in over a hundred years hit the Prakasam barrage on Krishna river threatening several villages downstream even as

people of Vijayawada city clung on to a faint hope on Monday.

The toll in the heavy rains and rampaging floods in the state rose to 52. The Krishna was all furious as a record 11.03 lakh cusecs of floodwater reached Prakasam barrage. However, there was no threat to human lives as 2.5 lakh people of Krishna and Guntur districts have already been shifted to relief camps.

The situation in lanka villages — island villages where the Krishna meets the Bay of Bengal — however was grim as more than 50,000 people were trapped in floodwaters. Many colonies along the left bank of the Krishna in Vijayawada city submerged as the water level touched 6 feet in the evening. "The situation will remain grim till Wednesday as the flood discharge at Prakasam barrage will continue to be around 11 lakh cusecs," an official said.

With nearly 11 lakh cusecs of water in the swollen Krishna cascading from the Prakasam barrage, there was a concern on the ability of the flood banks to withstand the fierce pounding by the swirling river. However, engineers have assured the public that the flood banks were designed to take 11 lakh cusecs of water and that they have strengthened the weak points in the flood banks. This is the heaviest flood in more than 106 years as the previous record was 10.30 lakh cusecs in 1903, irrigation authorities said.

The water level touched 21.9 feet as all the 72 sluice gates were lifted to let out the execess waters. The discharge from Nagarjunasagar is expected to remain constant (10.17 lakh cusecs) at least for the next 24 hours and the outflow from Prakasam barrage will be around 10.87 lakh cusecs. With the floods receding in Kurnool and Mahbubnagar, water management at Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar and Prakasam barrage are being done in tandem to minimise the losses downstream, irrigation officials said.

Indian Origins find New genes and Divide gets Smaller : CCMB

The Indian traditional habit of marrying within one's caste or community leads to genetic mutations, thus explaining why certain
diseases are concentrated only in a particular pocket of the population in India.


The research paper that restructures the Indian population history carries important findings that have medical implications. That many modern groups of people in India have descended from a small number of people is what scientists technically describe as a "founder event'' -- a rampant Indian practice of people marrying within small group of people.







Senior scientist with Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Kumarasamy Thangaraj says that because of this "high endogamy'' within the country, a practice that dates back to several thousand years, makes these pockets genetically unique. "Because of this, there may be mutation in the gene that leads to various diseases,'' Thangaraj says.


And thus recessive hereditary diseases (single gene disorders that occur when person carries two abnormal or malfunctioning copies of a disease causing gene) are seen among Indians who have descended from a small group of founder individuals. Thallasaemia is a case in point wherein a couple (both carriers) carrying one abnormal and normal gene each pass on the abnormal ones to the child.

Researchers say similar founder events seen in other groups, such as Finns and Ashkenazi Jews are well known to increase the incidence of recessive genetic diseases. The new study predicts that the same will be true for many groups in India. "Further studies of these groups should lead to the rapid discovery of genes that cause devastating diseases, and will help in the clinical care of individuals and their families who are at risk,'' said the study's co-author David Reich, an associate professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School.

Researchers say there is a certain genetic mutation seen specifically in the Indian sub-continent alone, which they have been able to connect with the cardiac condition. "The study gives us an understanding why the incidence of cardiac disease is different in the Indian sub- continent from the rest of the world,'' says Thangaraj. He says there would be similar diseases that can be understood genetically.

Maharnavami : The 9th Day in Dasara

Maharnavami is the 9th day in the festival days of Dasara. This day along with Durgashtami and Vijayadasami are considered to be the most auspicious and most of the Dasara activities and special puja's are done.

Durgashtami

Durgashtami is the 8th day in the Dasara/Dushera festival.

Durga Devi is believed to be the one Goddess who always stands for the Good and kills that bad and the forces causing the evil in the society.

Goddess Gayathri Devi : Dasara Day 3 avatar

Today is the Third day of the Dasara/Dusherra Festival. The third day of this 9 day event is dedicated to the Goddess Gayathri Devi.


Gyathri Devi is believed to the one who has uttered the mantras and the traditions to be followed.
Gayathri Mata is famous for her discipline and strict rules. Not everyone is allowed to go and make puja as they wish. Highly qualified priests are only allowed to offer pujas to mata inside the Garbha Gudi


The Gayathri mantram has high importance in the HIndu culture and is the most basic mantra which is uttered in every auspicious event.
The importance of the mantra will be discussed in detail later in this blog.

Ramzaan

People across the globe(mostly in the South-east Asia) are celebrating their Ramdan/Ramzan today. The new moon has been spotted yesterday late in the evening which gave a green signal for the Ramzaan celebrations today.






The 30 fasting in the holy month of Ramzan by the Muslim brothers across the world ends today.
TheIndianLifestyle blog team wishes you all a Happy Ramzan

Godess Parvathi : Second Day Avatar in Dasara

The second day of Dasara festival is dedicated to Godess Parvathi Devi. Mata Parvathi is the wife of Lord Shiva, the creator of this Universe according to the HINDU religion.

Godess Parvathi is also called of great importance in the culture and tradition of the Hindu religion. She is also called as the Ardhangini and which later is used in the day to day life while the relation between and husband and wife is described.

Parvathi Devi is so called because Lord Shiva has given half of his body to Parvathi and Parvathi Devi thus became the most powerful and the Goddess to be pleased for ones wishes to succeed.

Lord Shiva and Parvathi have two children namely Lord Vinayaka or Lord Ganesha also called by so many other names and Lord Kumara Swamy.

Recently we have celebrated the Vinayaka chavithi.

Sri Balatripura Sundari Devi : The first avataram in Dassara

Today is the first day of the 9day Dasara/Dusherra festival.

Each day is dedicated to a Goddess. This day the goddess is prayed and all the devotees make special poojas for that particular avatar.

The first day of the Dasara festival is dedicated to

Sri Balatripura sundari Devi. She is one of the avataras of Durga Devi.

This year in 2009 her avataram is on 19-Sep-2009

Vinayaka Chavithi : Recently concluded festival

Recently we have celebrated the ganesh festival, also called as Vinayaka Chavithi. It started on 23-Aug-2009 this year and and ended on 3-Sep-2009.
Vinayaka chavithi is celebrated across India with bhakthi and shraddha. Lord Ganesha is the son of Mother Parvathi and Lord Shiva.



This festival is the day on which Lord Ganesha is accepted as the head of all the Gods. On this day all the Indians bring in a idol of Vinayaka to their house and worship and take his blessings.

Vinayaka is called the Vighna nasaka...., means he is the remover of all the hurdles ..... so people pray to him when they start a new job/work.

Upcoming festival :Dusherra

Dusherra is a 9 day festival of India. This festival is celebrated across India by almost all the people with bhakthi and shraddha. This festival is dedicated to the goddess Kanaka durga, Saraswathi, Kalika Devi, Annapurna Devi, and the last day of the Navarathri is called VijayaDasami.

This festival is celebrated in large scale in the state of West Bengal in India, Mysore of Karnataka, Mumbai, and these days in Andhra Pradesh.

It is also celebrated in large scale in Nepal, Bangladesh also.
There are many reasons for which this Navarathri days are celebrated. We will discuss them in detail every day startinf from 19-Sep-2009

Introduction to Indian Lifestyle

Welcome to the Indian Lifestyle Blog.

We are here to let you know the lifestyle and the traditions in India.

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