HoliHoli ('hoːli:) is a popular and significant Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colours, Love and Spring. It celebrates the eternal and divine love of the god Radha and Krishna. Additionally, the day also signifies the triumph of good over evil, as it commemorates the victory of Vishnu as Narasimha Narayana over Hiranyakashipu. Holi originated and is predominantly celebrated in the Indian subcontinent but has also spread to other regions of Asia and parts of the Western world through the Indian diaspora.
Durga PujaDurga Puja also known as Durgotsava or Sharodotsav, is an annual Hindu festival originating in the Indian subcontinent which reveres and pays homage to the Hindu goddess Durga and is also celebrated because of Durga's victory over Mahishasura. It is celebrated all over the world by the Hindu community but it is particularly popular and traditionally celebrated in the Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Tripura, Odisha, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh (eastern parts) and the country of Bangladesh.
DeviDevī ('deivi; Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is deva. Devi and deva mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism. The concept and reverence for goddesses appears in the Vedas, which were composed around the 2nd millennium BCE. However, they do not play a vital role in that era. Goddesses such as Durga, Kali, Lakshmi, Parvati, Radha, Saraswati, and Sita have continued to be revered in the modern era.
VasishthaVasishtha (वसिष्ठ, IAST: ) is one of the oldest and most revered Vedic rishis or sages, and one of the Saptarishis (seven great Rishis). Vashistha is credited as the chief author of Mandala 7 of the Rigveda. Vashishtha and his family are mentioned in Rigvedic verse 10.167.4, other Rigvedic mandalas and in many Vedic texts. His ideas have been influential and he was called the first sage of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy by Adi Shankara. The Yoga Vasishtha, Vasishtha Samhita, as well as some versions of the Agni Purana and Vishnu Purana are attributed to him.
NavaratriNavaratri is an annual Hindu festival observed in the honour of the goddess Durga also referred to as Adi Parashakti. It spans over nine nights (and ten days), first in the month of Chaitra (March/April of the Gregorian calendar), and again in the month of Ashwin (September–October). It is observed for different reasons and celebrated differently in various parts of the Hindu Indian cultural sphere. Theoretically, there are four seasonal Navaratri. However, in practice, it is the post-monsoon autumn festival called Sharada Navaratri.
ParvatiParvati (पार्वती, ), Uma (उमा, ) or Gauri (गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. In her complete form, she is a physical representation of Mahadevi, also known as Adi Shakti, the primordial power behind the creation of the universe, the creator and destroyer. She is one of the central deities of the goddess-oriented sect called Shaktism, and the supreme goddess in Shaivism. Along with Lakshmi and Saraswati, she forms the Tridevi.
SaraswatiSaraswati (सरस्वती, ) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning. She is one of the Tridevi, along with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati. The earliest known mention of Saraswati as a goddess is in the Rigveda. She has remained significant as a goddess from the Vedic period through the modern period of Hindu traditions. She is generally shown to have four arms, holding a book, a rosary, a water pot, and a musical instrument called the veena. Each of these items have a symbolic meaning in Hinduism.
Ellora CavesEllora Caves are a multi-religious rock-cut cave complex with inscriptions dating from the period 6th century CE onwards, located in the Aurangabad District of Maharashtra, India. There are over 100 caves at the site, all excavated from the basalt cliffs in the Charanandri Hills, 34 of which are open to public. These consist of 17 Hindu (caves 13–29), 12 Buddhist (caves 1–12) and 5 Jain (caves 30–34) caves. Each group represents deities and mythologies prevalent in the 1st millennium CE, as well as monasteries of each respective religion.
TamilsThe Tamil people, also known as Tamilar (Tamiḻar, t̪amiɻaɾ in the singular or Tamiḻarkaḷ, t̪amiɻaɾɡaɭ in the plural), Tamilians, or simply Tamils (ˈtɑːmɪls), are a Dravidian ethno-linguistic group who natively speak Tamil and trace their ancestry mainly to India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, the union territory of Puducherry, and to Sri Lanka. People who speak Tamil and are born in are considered Tamils. Tamils constitute 5.
AgastyaAgastya ( अगस्त्य) was a revered Indian sage of Hinduism. In the Indian tradition, he is a noted recluse and an influential scholar in diverse languages of the Indian subcontinent. He and his wife Lopamudra are the celebrated authors of hymns 1.165 to 1.191 in the Sanskrit text Rigveda and other Vedic literature. Agastya is considered to be the father of Siddha medicine. Agastya appears in numerous itihasas and Puranas including the major Ramayana and Mahabharata.
