Download or read book Plants in Indian Temple Art written by Shakti M. Gupta and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Sacred Plants of India written by Nanditha Krishna and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2014-05-15 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plants personify the divine— The Rig Veda (X.97) Trees and plants have long been held sacred to communities the world over. In India, we have a whole variety of flora that feature in our myths, our epics, our rituals, our worship and our daily life. There is the pipal, under which the Buddha meditated on the path to enlightenment; the banyan, in whose branches hide spirits; the ashoka, in a grove of which Sita sheltered when she was Ravana’s prisoner; the tulsi, without which no Hindu house is considered complete; the bilva, with whose leaves it is possible to inadvertently worship Shiva. Before temples were constructed, trees were open-air shrines sheltering the deity, and many were symbolic of the Buddha himself. Sacred Plants of India systematically lays out the sociocultural roots of the various plants found in the Indian subcontinent, while also asserting their ecological importance to our survival. Informative, thought-provoking and meticulously researched, this book draws on mythology and botany and the ancient religious traditions of India to assemble a detailed and fascinating account of India’s flora.
Download or read book History of Agriculture in India Up to C 1200 A D written by Vinod Chandra Srivastava and published by Concept Publishing Company. This book was released on 2008 with total page 960 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History of Agriculture in India (up to c.1200 AD), Part 1, reconstructs the evolution of agriculture in India up to c.1200AD. It is a synthesis and summation of existing knowledge on the history of agriculture in ancient India on the combined bases of archaeological and literary sources against the backdrop of Asian history in general. Besides summing up the existing knowledge, it opens new vistas for further research on many debated issues in the history of agriculture in ancient India. The volume addresses the vexed and controversial questions on the origin, antiquity and sources of Indian agricultural history. Based on researches from sites of Vindhya, Ganga Region, plant remains, agricultural tools, pots, dental pathology, and settlement remains, it is an informed and highly researched work on the origin and antiquity of cultivation in India. For a historical study of agriculture, Pali, Sangam. Sanskrit and the Graeco-Roman literatures have been utilized. Art and literary sources have also been used to reconstruct history.
Download or read book Famous Trees Of India written by London Swaminathan and published by Pustaka Digital Media. This book was released on 2022-08-10 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘FAMOUS TREES OF INDIA’ is my first book in English. It is a collection of articles written by me in the past 11 years. I have covered the trees as described in the Vedas, Upanishads, classical Sanskrit and Tamil literature, folk tales and temple Sthala Puranas. I have got more articles in my blog which would be published as second part. I have lifted some parts from some books for adding my comments, particularly to compare them with the available materials in Tamil and Sanskrit. I thank those original contributors. Hindus considered plants as Gods or the divine representatives on earth. The emphasis is on optimum use of them without destroying them completely. It is also insisted that it is our duty to raise and preserve them for posterity.
Download or read book Plant Myths and Traditions in India written by Shakti M. Gupta and published by Brill Archive. This book was released on 1971 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Buddhist Goddesses of India written by Miranda Shaw and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-08-25 with total page 586 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Indian Buddhist world abounds with goddesses--voluptuous tree spirits, maternal nurturers, potent healers and protectors, transcendent wisdom figures, cosmic mothers of liberation, and dancing female Buddhas. Despite their importance in Buddhist thought and practice, these female deities have received relatively little scholarly attention, and no comprehensive study of the female pantheon has been available. Buddhist Goddesses of India is the essential and definitive guide to divinities that, as Miranda Shaw writes, "operate from transcendent planes of bliss and awareness for as long as their presence may benefit living beings." Beautifully illustrated, the book chronicles the histories, legends, and artistic portrayals of nineteen goddesses and several related human figures and texts. Drawing on a sweeping range of material, from devotional poetry and meditation manuals to rituals and artistic images, Shaw reveals the character, powers, and practice traditions of the female divinities. Interpretations of intriguing traits such as body color, stance, hairstyle, clothing, jewelry, hand gestures, and handheld objects lend deep insight into the symbolism and roles of each goddess. In addition to being a comprehensive reference, this book traces the fascinating history of these goddesses as they evolved through the early, Mahayana, and Tantric movements in India and found a place in the pantheons of Tibet and Nepal."--Publisher's website.
Download or read book Trees in Indian Art Mythology and Folklore written by Bansi Lal Malla and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Sandalwood and Carrion written by James McHugh and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-10-16 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James McHugh offers the first comprehensive examination of the concepts and practices related to smell in pre-modern India. Drawing on a wide range of textual sources, from poetry to medical texts, he shows the significant religious and cultural role of smell in India throughout the first millennium CE. McHugh describes the arts of perfumery developed in royal courts, temples, and monasteries, which were connected to a trade in exotic aromatics. Through their transformative nature, perfumes played an important part in every aspect of Indian life from seduction to diplomacy and religion. The aesthetics of smell dictated many of the materials, practices, and ceremonies associated with India's religious culture. McHugh shows how religious discourses on the purpose of life emphasized the pleasures of the senses, including olfactory experience, as valid ends in themselves. Fragrances and stenches were analogous to certain values, aesthetic or ethical, and in a system where karmic results often had a sensory impact-where evil literally stank-the ethical and aesthetic became difficult to distinguish. Through the study of smell, McHugh strengthens our understanding of the vital connection between the theological and the physical world. Sandalwood and Carrion explores smell in pre-modern India from many perspectives, covering such topics as philosophical accounts of smell perception, odors in literature, the history of perfumery in India, the significance of sandalwood in Buddhism, and the divine offering of perfume to the gods.
Download or read book History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura ca 150 BCE 100 CE written by Sonya Rhie Quintanilla and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2007-03-15 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides the first comprehensive analysis and chronology of the earliest known stone sculptures from the north Indian city of Mathura, dating prior to the famous Kushan period. It includes numerous new attributions of objects based primarily on epigraphic and visual analysis. The sculptures attributable to these pre-Kushan periods reveal new evidence for the reasons behind the emergence of the anthropomorphic image of the Buddha at Mathura, the predominance of a heterodox sect of Jainism, and the proliferation of cults of nature divinities. This book provides a wealth of reference material useful for historians of early Indian art, religion, and epigraphy. The book is illustrated with over three hundred photographs, and it includes epigraphic appendices with complete transcriptions and updated translations.
Download or read book The Coconut written by N Madhavan Nayar and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2016-12-27 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Coconut: Phylogeny, Origins, and Spread comprehensively covers the botany, phylogeny, origins, and spread of the coconut palm. The coconut is used primarily for its oil, fiber, and as an article of food, including its tender-nut water. Until the 1950s, coconut oil used to rank first in the world in production and international trade among all the vegetable oils. Since then, lower-cost sources such as the African oil palm, soybean, canola, and others have overtaken the coconut in oil production and trade. The coconut, Cocos nucifera L. (Arecaceae), is a dominant part of the littoral vegetation across the tropics. In addition to discussing the origins of the coconut and its use as a crop, the book covers the resurgence in the use of the coconut in food, pharmaceuticals, and nutraceuticals. Presents the phylogeny, origins, and spread of the coconut Explores the broad-based use of coconut from basic food source to nutraceuticals Provides ethnobotanical information on cultivation and use of this tropical crop
Download or read book In the Days of Noah The Witness of Creation Series Volume Four written by Billy Crone and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2018-02-23 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everyone loves a good mystery and fortunately our world is full of them. This is due to the grand conspiracy that is being foisted upon us from the evolutionary establishment and hypocrisy of the modern scientific community. In essence, they are covering up as much as they are digging up. Therefore, this study, "In the Days of Noah: Giants, Ancient Technology, and Noah's Ark" seeks to equip you with the hard facts and solid proof concerning the true history of humanity. Here you will see actual video clips, interviews, and a plethora of photographs that will unlock the answers to such mysterious questions as, "Was there an advanced high-tech society that was destroyed by a great deluge? How did the ancients acquire this knowledge? Did it come from UFO's or a highly advanced race of intelligent people? Who are the Nephilim? Are giants real? Is there any truth to the Greek Mythologies? Did Noah's ark really exist? Is Noah real?
Download or read book The Cult of Jagannatha written by Jose Carlos Gomes da Silva and published by Motilal Banarsidass. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cult of Jagannatha: Myths and Rituals offers a new approach to Orissan ethnography. In sharp contrast with dominant explanations, centred on tribal influences and the history of aryan-isation, this book provides extensive evidence on the importance of religious orthodoxy. The transition from the coastal to the inland regions of Orissa is characterised by sharp demographic and sociological discontinuities. Such regional differences are probably a reflection of aryan-isation. Ethnological accounts have most commonly relied on the historical reconstruction of this process. It has been assumed that native communities exercised a decisive influence on the traditions that flourished in the delta plain, especially those related to its vital centres-the city of Puri and the temple of Jagannatha. Myths and rituals show that sacrificial symbolism is at the core of Puri's religious system. Explicitly associated with an inaugural asvamedha (the Vedic horse sacrifice), the building of the great temple is still seen as a transformation of the brick-fire altar. These correlations are further supported by an impressive web of orthodox representations, both Vedic and Hindu. This acknowledgement of orthodoxy takes us back to the so-called singularities of local traditions. How to interpret the iconographic "specificity" of Puri's deities? What status should be attributed to the Sudra ritualists of the great temple? The present book provides new answers to these old questions. Puzzling as it may appear, the "strangeness" of Orissan ethnography is a particular, yet extremely coherent expression of Indian traditions.
Download or read book Plants Represented in Ancient Indian Sculpture written by Rajendra Varma Sitholey and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Ancient Ocean Crossings written by Stephen C. Jett and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2017-06-06 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paints a compelling picture of impressive pre-Columbian cultures and Old World civilizations that, contrary to many prevailing notions, were not isolated from one another In Ancient Ocean Crossings: Reconsidering the Case for Contacts with the Pre-Columbian Americas, Stephen Jett encourages readers to reevaluate the common belief that there was no significant interchange between the chiefdoms and civilizations of Eurasia and Africa and peoples who occupied the alleged terra incognita beyond the great oceans. More than a hundred centuries separate the time that Ice Age hunters are conventionally thought to have crossed a land bridge from Asia into North America and the arrival of Columbus in the Bahamas in 1492. Traditional belief has long held that earth’s two hemispheres were essentially cut off from one another as a result of the post-Pleistocene meltwater-fed rising oceans that covered that bridge. The oceans, along with arctic climates and daunting terrestrial distances, formed impermeable barriers to interhemispheric communication. This viewpoint implies that the cultures of the Old World and those of the Americas developed independently. Drawing on abundant and concrete evidence to support his theory for significant pre-Columbian contacts, Jett suggests that many ancient peoples had both the seafaring capabilities and the motives to cross the oceans and, in fact, did so repeatedly and with great impact. His deep and broad work synthesizes information and ideas from archaeology, geography, linguistics, climatology, oceanography, ethnobotany, genetics, medicine, and the history of navigation and seafaring, making an innovative and persuasive multidisciplinary case for a new understanding of human societies and their diffuse but interconnected development.
Download or read book Contact And Exchange in the Ancient World written by Victor H. Mair and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents empirical evidence on a wide range of cultural phenomena in history, and thereby demonstrating the processes whereby cultural traits are acquired and modified - the dynamics of transmission and transformation. This book pays attention to biological organisms on the one hand and to developments spanning an entire continent on the other.
Download or read book Belief Bounty and Beauty written by Albertina Nugteren and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-08-14 with total page 519 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study is focused on the interaction of material and symbolic values ascribed to sacred trees in India and expressed in 3,000 years of ritual practice. Point of departure is the contemporary trend of mining religious narratives in order to mobilise environmental awareness.
Download or read book Indian Mythology written by Shakti M. Gupta and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
