Download or read book The Vedic Altar Updated written by Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet (Thea) and published by Notion Press. This book was released on 2023-07-11 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘The objective of the 9th Avatar’s descent was to reverse the direction spirituality had taken with its almost exclusive emphasis on an otherworldly realisation, leaving the Earth to her own devices; and to establish a life divine on this very planet, to bring heaven upon Earth, as the Scriptures state. How can this best be achieved, is the question the sincere seeker must ask. Yogic realisations of the old schools, even if they could be extended beyond the single realiser to many others, would still not have the power to bring about any universal transformation, the signature of the Aquarian Age. Sri Aurobindo made this clear: it is not merely the goal of his mission that is different from the old Yogas: it is the process as well… This means that the supramental Truth-Consciousness must arrange its manifestation in such a manner that in the becoming of its being, or its innermost essence, that divine life is manifested for all to see on Earth… there has to be a revelation with great precision in keeping with the character of Supermind, of exactly how the transformation can be accomplished. That revelation is the Mother’s chamber. It is the seed of all that is to follow.’ (Part 11, page 87)
Download or read book Agni written by Frits Staal and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 716 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first volume of Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar, contains a discussion of the place of the Agnicayana in the Vedic srauta tradition, its textual loci, traditional and modern interpretations of its origins and significance and an overview of the Nambudiri Vedic tradition. The bulk of the volume, written in close collaboration with C.V. Somayajipad and M.Itti Ravi Nambudiri, is devoted to a detailed description of the 198\75 twelve-day performance, richly illustrated with tipped-in photographs, mostly in colour and almost all by Adelaide de Menil. There are numerous text illustrations, tables and maps. The mantras are published in Devanagari and translation. The second volume, edited with the assistance of Pamela MacFarland, contains contributions by an international galaxy of scholars on archeology, the pre-Vedic Indian background, geometry, ritual vessels, music, Mudras, Mimamsa, a survey of Srauta traditions in recent times, the influence of Vedic ritual in the Homa traditions of Indonesia, Tibet, China, Japan and related topics. There are translations of the relevant Srauta Sutras of Baudhayana (together with Calanda`s text) and the Jaiminiya (with Bhavatrata`s commentary) as well as the Kausitaki Brahmana; and a survey of the project with an inventory of the films and tape recording made in 1975.
Download or read book The Head Beneath the Altar written by Brian Collins and published by MSU Press. This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the beginning, says the ancient Hindu text the Rg Veda, was man. And from man’s sacrifice and dismemberment came the entire world, including the hierarchical ordering of human society. The Head Beneath the Altar is the first book to present a wide-ranging study of Hindu texts read through the lens of René Girard’s mimetic theory of the sacrificial origin of religion and culture. For those interested in Girard and comparative religion, the book also performs a careful reading of Girard’s work, drawing connections between his thought and the work of theorists like Georges Dumézil and Giorgio Agamben. Brian Collins examines the idea of sacrifice from the earliest recorded rituals through the flowering of classical mythology and the ancient Indian institutions of the duel, the oath, and the secret warrior society. He also uncovers implicit and explicit critiques in the tradition, confirming Girard’s intuition that Hinduism offers an alternative anti-sacrificial worldview to the one contained in the gospels.
Download or read book The Lost River written by Michel Danino and published by Penguin Books India. This book was released on 2010 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Indian subcontinent was the scene of dramatic upheavals a few thousand years ago. The Northwest region entered an arid phase, and erosion coupled with tectonic events played havoc with river courses. One of them disappeared. Celebrated as -Sarasvati' in the Rig Veda and the Mahabharata, this river was rediscovered in the early nineteenth century through topographic explorations by British officials. Recently, geological and climatological studies have probed its evolution and disappearance, while satellite imagery has traced the river's buried courses and isotope analyses have dated ancient waters still stored under the Thar Desert. In the same Northwest, the subcontinent's first urban society"the Indus civilization"flourished and declined. But it was not watered by the Indus alone: since Aurel Stein's expedition in the 1940s, hundreds of Harappan sites have been identified in the now dry Sarasvati's basin. The rich Harappan legacy in technologies, arts and culture sowed the seeds of Indian civilization as we know it now. Drawing from recent research in a wide range of disciplines, this book discusses differing viewpoints and proposes a harmonious synthesis"a fascinating tale of exploration that brings to life the vital role the -lost river of the Indian desert' played before its waters gurgled to a stop.
Download or read book The Oxford History of Hinduism Hindu Practice written by Gavin Flood and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-08-20 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditions of asceticism, yoga, and devotion (bhakti), including dance and music, developed in Hinduism over long periods of time. Some of these practices, notably those denoted by the term yoga, are orientated towards salvation from the cycle of reincarnation and go back several thousand years. These practices, borne witness to in ancient texts called Upaniṣads, as well as in other traditions, notably early Buddhism and Jainism, are the subject of this volume in the Oxford History of Hinduism. Practices of meditation are also linked to asceticism (tapas) and its institutional articulation in renunciation (saṃnyăsa). There is a range of practices or disciplines from ascetic fasting to taking a vow (vrata) for a deity in return for a favour. There are also devotional practices that might involve ritual, making an offering to a deity and receiving a blessing, dancing, or visualization of the master (guru). The overall theme—the history of religious practices—might even be seen as being within a broader intellectual trajectory of cultural history. In the substantial introduction by the editor this broad history is sketched, paying particular attention to what we might call the medieval period (post-Gupta) through to modernity when traditions had significantly developed in relation to each other. The chapters in the book chart the history of Hindu practice, paying particular attention to indigenous terms and recognizing indigenous distinctions such as between the ritual life of the householder and the renouncer seeking liberation, between 'inner' practices of and 'external' practices of ritual, and between those desirous of liberation (mumukṣu) and those desirous of pleasure and worldly success (bubhukṣu). This whole range of meditative and devotional practices that have developed in the history of Hinduism are represented in this book.
Download or read book The New Werner Twentieth Century Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica written by and published by . This book was released on 1907 with total page 794 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book From Bharata to India written by M. K. Agarwal and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2012-05-22 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The origin of world civilization can be traced to the Sindhu and Sarasvati river valleys (located in present-day Pakistan) as early as 8,000 BC. Here, innovation and originality in every aspect of human endeavor, from mathematics and science to art and sports, flourished. Yet the importance of this civilization, known as the Vedic period, has been deliberately downplayed. Thoroughly researched and including an extensive bibliography, From Bharata to India rectifies this mistake in the perspective of world history and seeks to offer a comprehensive reference source. Author M. K. Agarwal shows how this early culture, where ideation by enlightened philosopher Brahmin kings, brought material and spiritual wealth that was to remain unchallenged until the colonial era. This Vedic-Hindu-Buddhist legacy subsequently influenced peoples and paradigms around the globe, ushering in an era of peace and plenty thousands of years before the Europeans. By using original sources in Sanskirt as well as regional literature, Agarwal compares corresponding situations in other civilizations within the context of their own literary traditions and records to prove that Bharata forms the basis of world civilization. This is in direct contrast to the Greek or Arab miracle hypothesis put forth by numerous scholars. The first of two volumes in this series, From Bharata to India offers a fascinating, in-depth glimpse into ancient Indias contribution to the modern world.
Download or read book The Arctic Home In The Vedas written by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and published by Prabhat Prakashan. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 555 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Arctic Home in the Vedas: A New Key to the Interpretation of Many Vedic Texts and Legends by BalGangadhar Tilak: Explore the intriguing connections between ancient Vedic texts and the Arctic region with "The Arctic Home in the Vedas" by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. In this thought-provoking work, Tilak presents a compelling argument that suggests the existence of an ancient Aryan homeland in the Arctic. Drawing upon Vedic texts and legends, Tilak offers a fresh interpretation of the scriptures, shedding new light on the geographical and cultural origins of the Vedic civilization. Key Aspects of the Book "The Arctic Home in the Vedas": Vedic Interpretation: Delve into Tilak's interpretation of Vedic texts and legends, as he connects them to the Arctic region, proposing an alternative perspective on the historical and cultural context of the Vedic civilization. Geographical Analysis: Explore Tilak's analysis of ancient geographical references in Vedic literature, as he presents evidence to support the notion of an Arctic homeland for the Aryans. Paradigm-Shifting Ideas: Engage with Tilak's groundbreaking theories and their implications for our understanding of ancient civilizations, cultural migrations, and the interplay between mythology and historical narratives. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a prominent Indian philosopher, scholar, and independence activist, authored "The Arctic Home in the Vedas." Tilak's work in Vedic studies and his profound insights into ancient Indian texts have had a lasting impact on Indian scholarship and nationalism. Through his writings, Tilak aimed to reinterpret and revive the cultural and historical heritage of India, contributing to the intellectual discourse surrounding ancient civilizations and the Vedic tradition.
Download or read book The New BJP written by Nalin Mehta and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-07-11 with total page 685 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines how the BJP became the world’s largest political party. It goes beyond the usual narrative of the party’s Hindutva politics to explain how, under Narendra Modi, the party reshaped the Indian polity using its own brand of social engineering. According to the findings of this book, this reconstruction was cleverly powered by new caste coalitions, the claim of a new welfare state that focused on marginalised social groups and the making of a women-voter base. Based on data from three unique indices—the Mehta–Singh Social Index, which studies the caste composition of Indian political parties; the Narad Index, which calculates communication patterns across topics and audiences; and PollNiti, which connects and tallies hundreds of political and economic datasets—The New BJP is full of startling insights into the way both the party and the country function. Previously untapped historical records, exclusive interviews with party leaders and comprehensive reportage from across India provide a fresh understanding of the BJP’s growth areas, including the Northeast and south India. A lucid and objective study of the BJP and India today, this book will be useful to researchers, journalists, students, activists and general public alike. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka).
Download or read book In Search of the Cradle of Civilization written by Georg Feuerstein and published by Motilal Banarsidass Publishing House. This book was released on 2005 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this pathbreaking book, the authors show that the ancient Indians were no primitives but possessed a high spiritual culture, which not only influenced the evolution of the Western world in decisive ways but which still hs much to teach us today. India's archaic spirituality is codified in the rich symbols, metaphors and myths of the magnificent Rig-Veda, which is shown to be much older than has been widely assumed by scholars. The present book also unravels the astonishing mathematical and astronomical code hidden in the Vedic hymns. Anyone interested in ancient cultural history, India, archaeo-astronomy or spirituality will find this well researched and cross-cultural work spellbinding and enriching.
Download or read book Thinking Through Rituals written by Kevin Schilbrack and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-08-02 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thinking Through Rituals explores religious ritual acts and their connection to meaning and truth, building upon their special status as virtually pure forms of belief in action.
Download or read book Hereditary Physicians of Kerala written by Indudharan Menon and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2018-12-18 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the history and evolution of Ayurveda and other indigenous medical traditions in juxtaposition with their encounter with colonial modernity. Through the lens of hereditary folk and Ayurvedic practitioners, it focuses on Kerala’s heterogeneous medical traditions and presents them against the backdrop of the geographical, historical, sociocultural, ethnographic and regional contexts in which they developed and transformed. The author explores the world of Kerala’s last traditionally trained hereditary practitioners (folk healers, poison therapists, Sanskrit-speaking Muslim Ayurvedic practitioners and the legendary Brahman Ashtavaidyan physicians). He discusses the views of these physicians regarding the marked difference between their personalised ancestral methods of treatment and the standardised version of Ayurveda compliant with biomedicine that is practised by doctors today. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, this book will be useful to researchers and scholars of medical anthropology, health and social medicine, sociology and social anthropology, the history of science and modern Indian history, as well as to medical practitioners interested in alternative and traditional medicine.
Download or read book Patterns in Comparative Religion written by Mircea Eliade and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2022-11-21 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this era of increased knowledge the essence of religious phenomena eludes the psychologists, sociologists, linguists, and other specialists because they do not study it as religious. According to Mircea Eliade, they miss the one irreducible element in religious phenomena--the element of the sacred. Eliade abundantly demonstrates universal religious experience and shows how humanity's effort to live within a sacred sphere has manifested itself in myriad cultures from ancient to modern times; how certain beliefs, rituals, symbols, and myths have, with interesting variations, persisted.
Download or read book A Survey of Hinduism written by Klaus K. Klostermaier and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2010-03-10 with total page 720 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This third edition of the classic text updates the information contained in the earlier editions, and includes new chapters on the origins of Hinduism; its history of relations with Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam; Hindu science; and Hindu measures of time. The chronology and the bibliography have been updated as well. A comprehensive survey of the Hindu tradition, the book deals with the history of Hinduism, the sacred writings of the Hindus, the Hindu worldview, and the specifics of the major branches of Hinduism—Vaisnavism, Saivism, and Saktism. It also focuses on the geographical ties of Hinduism with the land of India, the social order created by Hinduism, and the various systems of Hindu thought. Klaus K. Klostermaier describes the development of Hinduism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including present-day political Hinduism and the efforts to turn Hinduism into a modern world religion. A unique feature of the book is its treatment of Hinduism in a topical fashion, rather than by chronological description of the development of Hinduism or by summary of the literature. The complexities of Hindu life and thought are thus made real to the reader, and Hindus will recognize it as their own tradition.
Download or read book Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols written by J. C. Cooper and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 1987-03-17 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In nearly 1500 entries, many of them strikingly and often surprisingly illustrated, J. C. Cooper has documented the history and evolution of symbols from prehistory to our own day. With over 200 illustrations and lively, informative and often ironic texts, she discusses and explains an enormous variety of symbols extending from the Arctic to Dahomey, from the Iroquois to Oceana, and coming from systems as diverse as Tao, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Tantra, the cult of Cybele and the Great Goddess, the Pre-Columbian religions of the Western Hemisphere and the Voodoo cults of Brazil and West Africa.
Download or read book Acts of Interpretation written by Naomi Janowitz and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2022-05-09 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient authors debated proper verbal and non-verbal signs as representations of divinity. These understanding of signs were based on ideas drawn from language and thus limited due to a their partial understanding of the multi-functionality of signs. Charles S. Peirce’s semiotics, as adapted by anthropological linguists including Michael Silverstein, better explains the contextual linkages ("performativity") of ancient religious signs such as divine names. Sign meaning is always dependent on processes of interpretation and is always open to reinterpretation. Focusing on these processes permits a more detailed analysis of the ancient evidence. Examples are drawn from ancient Israelite verbal and non-verbal divine representation, the apostle Paul’s linguistic letter/spirit model, Christian debates about the limits of language to best represent the deity, Josephus’ aniconic advertisement of Jewish rites, the multi-layered divine representations in the Dura-Europos synagogue, the diverse "performativity" of Jewish ascent liturgies, and—the single modern example—the role of art at Burning Man. Divine representation is the basis for ritual efficacy even as sign meaning is a constant source of contention.
Download or read book Studies in Indian Mathematics and Astronomy written by Aditya Kolachana and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-05-29 with total page 754 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents a collection of some of the seminal articles of Professor K. S. Shukla who made immense contributions to our understanding of the history and development of mathematics and astronomy in India. It consists of six parts: Part I constitutes introductory articles which give an overview of the life and work of Prof. Shukla, including details of his publications, reminiscences from his former students, and an analysis of his monumental contributions. Part II is a collection of important articles penned by Prof. Shukla related to various aspects of Indian mathematics. Part III consists of articles by Bibhutibhusan Datta and Avadhesh Narayan Singh—which together constitute the third unpublished part of their History of Hindu Mathematics—that were revised and updated by Prof. Shukla. Parts IV and V consist of a number of important articles of Prof. Shukla on different aspects of Indian astronomy. Part VI includes some important reviews authored by him and a few reviews of his work. Given the sheer range and depth of Prof. Shukla’s scholarship, this volume is essential reading for scholars seeking to deepen their understanding of the rich and varied contributions made by Indian mathematicians and astronomers.
