Lakshmi, also known as Shri, is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with Maya ("Illusion"). Along with Parvati and Saraswati, she forms the Tridevi of Hindu goddesses.
Durga is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars.
Puja or pooja is a worship ritual performed by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains to offer devotional homage and prayer to one or more deities, to host and honor a guest, or to spiritually celebrate an event. It may honor or celebrate the presence of special guests, or their memories after they die. The word pūjā is Sanskrit, and means reverence, honor, homage, adoration, and worship. Puja, the loving offering of light, flowers, and water or food to the divine, is the essential ritual of Hinduism. For the worshipper, the divine is visible in the image, and the divinity sees the worshipper. The interaction between human and deity, between human and guru, is called darshan, seeing.
Vijayadashami, also known as Dussehra, Dasara or Dashain, is a major Hindu festival celebrated at the end of Navaratri every year. It is observed on the tenth day in the Hindu calendar month of Ashvin, the seventh month of the Hindu Luni-Solar Calendar, which typically falls in the Gregorian months of September and October.
Shaktism is one of several major Hindu denominations, wherein the metaphysical reality is considered metaphorically a woman and Shakti (Mahadevi) is regarded as the supreme godhead. It includes many goddesses, all considered aspects of the same supreme goddess. Shaktism has different sub-traditions, ranging from those focused on most worshipped Durga, gracious Parvati to that of fierce Kali.
Durga Puja, also known as Durgotsava or Sharodotsava, 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 Mahishasur. It is celebrated all over the world by the Hindu Bengali community but it is particularly popular and traditionally celebrated in the Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Tripura, Odisha, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and the country of Bangladesh. The festival is observed in the Indian calendar month of Ashwin, which corresponds to September–October in the Gregorian calendar. Durga Puja is a ten-day festival, of which the last five are of the most significance. The puja is performed in homes and public, the latter featuring a temporary stage and structural decorations. The festival is also marked by scripture recitations, performance arts, revelry, gift-giving, family visits, feasting, and public processions. Durga Puja is an important festival in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism. Durga Puja in Kolkata has been inscribed on the Intangible cultural heritage list of UNESCO in December of 2021.
Chandi or Chandika is a Hindu deity. Chandika is another form of Mahadevi, similar to Durga. Chandika is a powerful form of Mahadevi who manifested to destroy evil. She is also known as Kaushiki, Katyayani, AsthadasabujaMahalakshmi and Mahishasuramardini.
A kuladevatā (transl. clan-deity), also known as a kuladaivaṃ, is an ancestral tutelary deity in Hinduism and Jainism.
Lakshmi Puja is a Hindu occasion for the veneration of Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and the supreme goddess of Vaishnavism. The occasion is celebrated on the amavasya in the Vikram Samvat Hindu calendar month of Ashwayuja or Kartika, on the third day of Deepavali in most part of India. In Assam, Bengal, and Odisha, this puja is celebrated 5 days after Vijaya Dashami.
Devī 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.
Kanyā Pūjā or Kumārī Pūjā, is a Hindu holy ritual, carried out especially on the Ashtami and Navami of the Navaratri festival. The ceremony primarily involves the worship of nine girls, representing the nine forms of Goddess Durga (Navadurga). As per Hindu philosophy, these girls are considered as the manifestation of the natural force of creation. Legend has it that it was on the ninth day of Navaratri that Shakti had taken the form of Goddess Durga, on the request of the devas to kill the demon Mahisasura.
Hinduism is the largest religious tradition in the Indian state of West Bengal with approximately 70.5% of the population identifying themselves as Hindus . The Hindus in West Bengal mostly belong to the Shakta, minority to Vaishnavite and a small community belong to Shaivite and other denominations. The vast majority of Hindus in West Bengal are Bengali Hindus numbering around 5.6 crore and comprising 55.5% of the state population of 11 crore(2011) but a notable section of non-Bengali Hindus also exist, particularly among Marwaris, Biharis, Odias, Gurkhas, Sindhis, Gujaratis and various tribal communities such as Koch, Santals, Munda and particularly Adivadis numbering around 1.557 crore comprising rest 15% of the state population.
Navaratri is an annual Hindu festival observed in the honour of the goddess Durga. It spans over nine nights, first in the month of Chaitra, and again in the month of Sharada. It is observed for different reasons and celebrated differently in various parts of the Hindu Indian cultural sphere.
Kali Puja, also known as Shyama Puja or Mahanisha Puja, is a festival, originating from the Indian subcontinent, dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali, celebrated on the new moon day of the Hindu calendar month of Ashwayuja or Kartika. It is especially celebrated in the regions of West Bengal, Mithila, Odisha, Assam, and Tripura, and the neighbouring country Bangladesh.
The practice of Hindu animal sacrifice is mostly associated with Shaktism, and in currents of folk Hinduism strongly rooted in local popular or tribal traditions, however animal sacrifices were part of the ancient Vedic religion in India, and are mentioned in scriptures such as the Yajurveda. The practice declined during the formation of Hinduism as Hindu scriptures like the Puranas and the Bhagvad Gita forbid animal sacrifice.
The Hajong people are an ethnic group from Northeast India and northern parts of Bangladesh. The majority of the Hajongs are settled in India and are predominantly rice-farmers. They are said to have brought wet-field cultivation to Garo Hills, where the Garo people used slash and burn method of agriculture. Hajong have the status of a Scheduled Tribe in India and they are the fourth largest tribal ethnicity in the Indian state of Meghalaya.
Here is a list of glossary of Culture of India in alphabetical order:
Traditional Hajong marriage is a ceremonial ritual that involves a marriage established by pre-arrangement between families. Within Hajong culture, romantic love and widow re-marriage was allowed, and monogamy was the norm for the Hajong people.
Hinduism is a minority religion in the Meghalaya state of India constituting 12% of the state's population. The Nartiang Durga Temple in Meghalaya is one of the 51 Shakti peethas on Earth and is considered by Hindus of Meghalaya as the permanent abode of Goddess Durga. Hinduism is a popular religion practice by Rabhas, Hajongs, Kochs, Rajbongshis, Mikirs, Bengalis, Nepalis, Biharis etc.
