WayangWayang, also known as wajang (ꦮꦪꦁ), is a traditional form of puppet theatre play originating from the Indonesian island of Java. Wayang refers to the entire dramatic show. Sometimes the leather puppet itself is referred to as wayang. Performances of wayang puppet theatre are accompanied by a gamelan orchestra in Java, and by gender wayang in Bali. The dramatic stories depict mythologies, such as episodes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, as well as local adaptations of cultural legends.
DiwaliDiwali (prondᵻˈwɑːliː; Deepavali (IAST: dīpāvalī) or Divali; related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai and Bandna) is the Hindu festival of lights with its variations also celebrated in other Indian religions. It symbolises the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance". Diwali is celebrated during the Hindu lunisolar months of Ashvin (according to the amanta tradition) and Kartika (between mid-October and mid-November).
Varaha| gender = Male Varaha (वराह, ) is an avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu, in the form of a wild boar. Varaha is generally listed as third in the Dashavatara, the ten principal avatars of Vishnu. Varaha is most commonly associated with the legend of lifting the earth (personified as the goddess Bhudevi) out of the cosmic ocean. When the asura Hiranyaksha stole the earth and hid her in the primordial waters, Vishnu appeared as Varaha to rescue her.
ValmikiValmiki (vɑːlˈmiːki; Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि, ISO ʋɑːlmiːki) was a legendary poet who is celebrated as the traditional author of the epic Ramayana, based on the attribution in the text itself. He is revered as Ādi Kavi, the first poet, author of Ramayana, the first epic poem. The Ramayana, originally written by Valmiki, consists of 24,000 shlokas and seven cantos (kaṇḍas). The is composed of about 480,002 words, being a quarter of the length of the full text of the Mahabharata or about four times the length of the Iliad.
TulsidasTulsidas (tʊlsiːdaːs; born Rambola Dubey also known as Goswami Tulsidas; 11 August 1511–30 July 1623) was a Sri-Vaishnava Hindu saint and poet, renowned for his devotion to the deity Rama. He wrote several popular works in Sanskrit and Awadhi, Braj, but is best known as the author of the Hanuman Chalisa and of the epic Ramcharitmanas, a retelling of the Sanskrit Ramayana based on Rama's life in the vernacular Awadhi. Tulsidas spent most of his life in the city of Varanasi and Ayodhya.
PrambananPrambanan (Candi Prambanan, Rara Jonggrang) is a 9th-century Hindu temple compound in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, in southern Java, Indonesia, dedicated to the Trimūrti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the Preserver (Vishnu) and the Destroyer (Shiva). The temple compound is located approximately northeast of the city of Yogyakarta on the boundary between Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces. The temple compound, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the largest Hindu temple site in Indonesia and the second-largest in Southeast Asia after Angkor Wat.
RamakienThe (รามเกียรติ์, , rāːm.mā.kīa̯n; Glory of Rama; sometimes also spelled ) is one of Thailand's national epics, it is a Thai version of the Hindu epic Ramayana. Ramakien is an important part of the Thai literary canon. King Rama VI was the person who shed the light first on the Ramayana studies in Thailand, by tracing the sources of the , comparing it with the Sanskrit Valmiki Ramayana. He found that the was influenced by three sources: the Valmiki's Ramayana, the Vishnu Purana, and Hanuman Nataka (all three are from Hinduism).
VanaraIn Hinduism, Vanara () are either monkeys, apes, or a race of forest-dwelling people. In the epic the Ramayana, the Vanaras help Rama defeat Ravana. They are generally depicted as humanoid apes, or human-like beings. There are three main theories about the etymology of the word "Vanara": Aiyanar suggests that vanara means "monkey" derived from the word vana ("forest"), Literally meaning "belonging to the forest" Monier-Williams says it is probably derived from vanar (lit. "wandering in the forest") and means "forest-animal" or monkey.
HiranyakashipuHiranyakashipu (हिरण्यकशिपु), also known as Hiranyakashyap, is an asura king of the daityas in the Puranic scriptures of Hinduism. In Hindu mythology, Hiranyakashipu's younger brother, Hiranyaksha, is slain by the Varaha avatar of Vishnu. Angered by this, Hiranyakashipu decided to gain a boon of invulnerability by performing a penance to propitiate Brahma. After his subjugation of the three worlds, he is slain by the Narasimha avatar of Vishnu.
AngadaAngada (Sanskrit: अङ्गदः, IAST: Aṅgada) is a legendary vanara in Hinduism. He helps Rama find his wife Sita and fight her abductor, Ravana, in the epic Ramayana. He is the prince of Kishkindha, and is later crowned as the kingdom's monarch. Angada is a son of the powerful vanara king Vali, and his wife Tara. He is the nephew of Sugriva. After Rama and Sugriva kill his father, Angada joins Rama's forces to rescue Sita from Ravana's captivity.
