Pongal (festival)Pongal (பொங்கல், 'θaɪ'poʊŋʌl), also referred to as Thai Pongal (தைப்பொங்கல்), is a multi-day Hindu harvest festival celebrated by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka. It is observed at the start of the month Thai according to Tamil solar calendar, and this festival is celebrated usually on January 14 or January 15 depending on the sun's orbit around earth that particular year. It is dedicated to the sun god, Surya, and corresponds to Makar Sankranti, the harvest festival under many regional names celebrated throughout India.
AshvinsThe Ashvins (Aśvin), also known as the Ashvini Kumaras and Asvinau, are Hindu twin gods associated with medicine, health, dawn, and the sciences. In the Rigveda, they are described as youthful divine twin horsemen, travelling in a chariot drawn by horses that are never weary, and portrayed as guardian deities that safeguard and rescue people by aiding them in various situations. There are varying accounts, but Ashvins are generally mentioned as the sons of the sun god Surya and his wife Sanjna.
UshasUshas (Vedic Sanskrit: उषस् / ) is a Vedic goddess of dawn in Hinduism. She repeatedly appears in the Rigvedic hymns, states David Kinsley, where she is "consistently identified with dawn, revealing herself with the daily coming of light to the world, driving away oppressive darkness, chasing away evil demons, rousing all life, setting all things in motion, sending everyone off to do their duties". She is the life of all living creatures, the impeller of action and breath, the foe of chaos and confusion, the auspicious arouser of cosmic and moral order called the Ṛta in Hinduism.
AditiInfobox deity | type = Hindu | deity_of = Goddess of the sky, consciousness, the past, the future, and fertility | image = Lord Brahma and Adhiti - 19th Century Illustration.jpg | caption = Aditi praying to the god Brahma | affiliation = Devi, Devaki | children = Adityas, including Indra, Surya, Bhaga, Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, Savitr, and Vamana Rudras Vasus | texts = Rigveda, Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata | consort = Kashyapa | mount = | weapons = Sword, Trishula | father = Daksha | mother = Asikni | name = Aditi | siblings = Diti, Kadru, Vinata, Sati, Smriti Swaha, Rohini, Revati, Danu, Muni and many other brothers and sisters Aditi (Sanskrit: अदिति, lit.
GandharvaA gandharva (गन्धर्व) is a member of a class of celestial beings in Dharmic religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, whose males are divine performers such as musicians and singers, and the females are divine dancers. In Hinduism, they are regarded to be the celestial demigods who serve as the musicians of the devas. It is also a term for skilled singers in Indian classical music. Gandharvas have been associated with the historical Gandhara region.
Hindu astrologyHindu astrology, also called Indian astrology, Jyotisha or Jyotishya (from Sanskrit , from “light, heavenly body"), and more recently Vedic astrology, is the traditional Hindu system of astrology. It is one of the six auxiliary disciplines in Hinduism that is connected with the study of the Vedas. The Vedanga Jyotisha is one of the earliest texts about astronomy within the Vedas. Some scholars believe that the horoscopic astrology practiced in the Indian subcontinent came from Hellenistic influences.
YamaYama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities. In Sanskrit, his name can be interpreted to mean "twin". He is also an important deity worshipped by the Kalasha and formerly by the Nuristani peoples, indicating his prominence in ancient Hinduism. In Hinduism, Yama is the son of sun-god Surya and Sanjana or Randal Mataji, the daughter of Vishvakarma.
ChandraChandra (Chandra), also known as Soma (सोम), is the Hindu god of the Moon, and is associated with the night, plants and vegetation. He is one of the Navagraha (nine planets of Hinduism) and Dikpala (guardians of the directions). The word "Chandra" literally means "bright, shining or glittering" and is used for the "Moon" in Sanskrit and other Indian languages. It is also the name of various other figures in Hindu mythology, including an asura and a Suryavamsha king. It is also a common Indian name and surname.
NavagrahaThe navagraha are nine heavenly bodies and deities that influence human life on Earth according to Hinduism and Hindu astrology. The term is derived from nava (नव "nine") and graha (ग्रह "planet, seizing, laying hold of, holding"). The nine parts of the navagraha are the Sun, Moon, planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and the two nodes of the Moon. The term planet was applied originally only to the five planets known (i.e., visible to the naked eye) and excluded the Earth.
PrajapatiPrajapati (Prajāpati) is a Vedic deity of Hinduism. In both earlier and later literature, Prajapati is the creator-god Brahma, but the term also connotes many different gods, depending on the Hindu text, ranging from being the creator god to being same as one of the following: Vishvakarma, Agni, Indra, Daksha, and many others, reflecting the diverse Hindu cosmology. In classical and medieval era literature, Prajapati is the same as the metaphysical concept called Brahman ( the Universal Soul) as Prajapati-Brahman (Svayambhu Brahman), and Brahman is described as the primordial matter which is present in Prajapati.
