Wednesday 29 May 2013
Nine (9) Avatars of Maa Durga
Avatars of Maa
Maa - ShailaPutri_1
Maa - Brahma Chaarini_2
Maa - Chandraghanta_3
Maa - Kushmanda_4
Maa - Skadamata_5
Maa - Katyani_6
Maa - Kaalratri_7
Maa - Mahagauri_8
Maa - Siddhidatri_9
Sunday 12 May 2013
Famous Country House
Really attractive
Magical Monastery in Norway (900 Yrs)
Incredible View of Prtugal
Barcelona in Spain
Costa Atlantica-Norway
Apartment Building in Thailand
Nachi Falls in Japan
Glorious view of Texas
Pub in Hobbiton
World's first moving Tower - UAE
Light reflection in Building - China
Ideal Palace - France
Hawaii
Mexico
Miami
Philipines
Poland
Portugal
Switzerland
Ukrain
Spain
San Alfanso
Education for Girl
Education of the Girl Child
Vedic literature praises the birth of a scholarly daughter in
these words: "A girl also should be brought up and educated with great
effort and care." (Mahanirvana Tantra); and "All forms of
knowledge are aspects of Thee; and all women throughout the world are Thy
forms." (Devi Mahatmya)
Women, who so
desired, could undergo the sacred thread ceremony or 'Upanayana' (a sacrament
to pursue Vedic studies), which is only meant for males even to this day. The
mention of female scholars and sages of the Vedic age like Vac, Ambhrni,
Romasa, Gargi, Khona in the Vedic lore corroborates this view. These highly
intelligent and greatly learned women, who chose the path of Vedic studies,
were called 'brahmavadinis', and women who opted out of education for married
life were called 'sadyovadhus'. Co-education seems to have existed in this
period and both the sexes got equal attention from the teacher. Moreover,
ladies from the Kshatriya caste received martial arts courses and arms
training.
Wife-hood, Prostitution, Divorce, Widow-hood in Vedic Era
Wife-hood in the Vedic Age
As in present, after marriage, the girl became a 'grihini'
(wife) and was considered 'ardhangini' or one half of her husband's being. Both
of them constituted the 'griha' or home, and she was considered its 'samrajni'
(queen or mistress) and had an equal share in the performance of religious
rites.
Prostitution in the Vedic
Prostitutes
were very much a part of the Vedic society. They were allowed to make a living,
but their lives were regulated by a code of conduct. They came to be known as
'devadasis' - the girls who were married to God in a temple and expected to
spend the rest of the life as his maid serving the men in the society.
Divorce, Remarriage & Widowhood
Divorce and remarriage of women were allowed under very special
conditions. If a woman lost her husband, she was not forced to undergo the
merciless practices that cropped up in later years. She was not compelled to
tonsure her head, nor was she forced to wear red sari and commit 'sahagamana'
or dying on the funeral pyre of the dead husband. If they chose to, they could
live a life of a 'sanyasin' or hermit, after the husband passed away.
Women and Sati of the Vedic Period
Women of the Vedic period
Women of the Vedic period were epitomes of intellectual and spiritual attainments.
Myriad hymns of the Vedic era bear testimony
to the wisdom of contemporary women and names of 27 women-seers emerge from
them. But most of them are mere abstractions except for a few, such as Ghosha,
Lopamudra, Sulabha Maitreyi, and Gargi, who are some of the most significant
female figures of the Vedic period.
Ghosha: Daughter of Kakshivat, composer of hymns of ancient Hindu
scriptures, Ghosha has a few hymns and verses, assigned to her name.
Lopamudra: She was 'created' by sage Agasthya and given as a daughter to
the King of Vidarbha. The Rig Veda testifies to her great intelligence.
Maitreyi: The Rig Veda contains about one thousand hymns, of which about
10 are accredited to Maitreyi, the woman seer and philosopher.
Gargi: She was a Vedic prophetess and daughter of
sage Vachaknu. She composed several hymns that questioned the origin of all
existence
Sati of the Ancient period
Sita:
She was beautiful, generous and saintly. Unfortunately,
Sita’s chastity during her period of capture by Ravana comes under scrutiny,
and she has to go through trial by fire to prove her purity. But queen, who
emerged from the earth at her birth, invokes Mother Earth to take her back into
the earth, and the saintly Sita returns to her Mother, never to reappear again.
Sabitri:
She escaped her husband from Yamraj by her purity, determination, devotion and
love towards her husband- Satyaban.
GODDESS
Goddess in Vedic Period
During the Vedic age,
more than 3,000 years ago, women were assigned a high place in society. They
shared an equal standing with their men folk and enjoyed a kind of liberty that
actually had societal sanctions. The ancient Hindu philosophical concept of 'shakti',
the feminine principle of energy, was also a product of this age. This took the
form of worship of the female idols or goddesses.
Birth of the Goddess
The feminine forms of the Absolute and the popular Hindu
goddesses are believed to have taken shape in the Vedic era. These female forms
came to represent different feminine qualities and energies of the Brahman.
Goddess Kali portrays the destructive energy, Durga the protective, Lakshmi the
nourishing, and Saraswati the creative.
Here it's notable
that Hinduism recognizes both the masculine and feminine attributes of the
Divine, and that without honoring the feminine aspects, one cannot claim to
know God in his entirety. So we also have many male-female divine-duos like
Radha-Krishna, Sita-Ram, Uma-Mahesh, and Lakshmi-Narayan, where the female form
is usually addressed first.
Marriage - A system in the Society
Marriage
There are eight types of marriage described
in the ancient Hindu text of Manusmriti or "Manava Dharma
Shastra":
1.
Rite
of Brahmana (Brahma) – The system where the father of the bride
invites a man learned in the Vedas and a good conduct, and gives his daughter
in marriage to him after decking her with jewels and costly garments.
2.
Rite
of the Gods (Daiva) - The daughter is groomed with ornaments
and given to a priest who duly officiates at a sacrifice during the course of
its performance of this rite.
3.
Rite
of the Rishis (Arsha) - When the father gives away his daughter
after receiving a cow and a bull from the bridegroom.
4.
Rite
of the Prajapati - (Prajapatya) The father gives
away his daughter after blessing the couple with the text "May both of you
perform together your duties".
5.
Rite
of the Asuras (Demons) - When the bridegroom receives a maiden
after bestowing wealth to the kinsmen and to the bride according to his own
will.
6.
Rite
of the Gandharva - The voluntary union of a maiden and her
lover, which arises from desire and sexual intercourse for its purpose.
7.
Rite
of the Rakshasa - Forcible abduction of a maiden from her
home after her kinsmen have been slain or wounded and their houses broken open.
8.
Rite
of the Pisaka - When a man by stealth seduces a girl who
is sleeping or intoxicated or is mentally disbalanced or handicapped.
Women & Marriage
Eight types of marriage were prevalent in the Vedic age, of
which four were more prominent. The first was 'brahma', where the daughter was
given as gift to a good man learned in the Vedas; the second was 'daiva' ,
where the daughter was given as a gift to the presiding priest of a Vedic
sacrifice. 'Arsa' was the third kind where the groom had to pay to get the
lady, and 'prajapatya', the fourth kind, where the father gave his daughter to
a man who promised monogamy and faithfulness.
In the Vedic age
there was both the custom of 'Kanyavivaha' where the marriage of a pre-puberty
girl was arranged by her parents and 'praudhavivaha' where the girls were
married off after attaining puberty. Then there was also the custom of
'Swayamvara' where girls, usually of royal families, had the freedom to choose
her husband from among the eligible bachelors invited to her house for the
occasion.
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