Related Research Articles
Krishna is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the supreme God in his own right. He is the god of compassion, tenderness, love and is one of the most popular and widely revered among Indian divinities. Krishna's birthday is celebrated every year by Hindus on Krishna Janmashtami according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar, which falls in late August or early September of the Gregorian calendar.
Kurma, also known as 'KurmaRaja' is an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. Originating in Vedic literature such as the YajurVeda as being synonymous with the Saptarishi called Kasyapa, Kurma is most commonly associated in post-Vedic literature such as the Puranas with the legend of the churning of the Ocean of Milk, referred to as the Samudra manthan. Also synonymous with Akupara, the world-turtle supporting the Earth, Kurma is listed as the second incarnation of the Dashavatara, the ten principal avatars of Vishnu.
Itihasa refers to the collection of written descriptions of important events in Hinduism. It includes the Mahabharata, the Puranas and the Ramayana. The Mahabharata includes the story of the Kurukshetra War and preserves the traditions of the Lunar dynasty in the form of embedded tales. The Puranas narrate universal history as perceived by Hindus – the books discuss in depth the topics of cosmogony, myth, legend and history. The Ramayana contains the story of Rama and is incidentally related to the legends of the Solar dynasty. A story is considered to be itihasa only when the writer of the story has himself witnessed the story. Vyasa, who wrote the Mahabharata, is himself a character in the story. Similarly, Valmiki, who wrote the Ramayana, was also a character in the story. Many classical Indian poets derive the plots of their poetry and drama from the Itihasa.
Anga was an ancient Indian kingdom that flourished on the eastern Indian subcontinent and one of the sixteen mahajanapadas. It lay to the east of its neighbour and rival, Magadha, and was separated from it by the river Champa in the modern day Bhagalpur and Munger in the state of Bihar. The capital of Anga was located on the bank of this river and was also named Champa and Malini. It was prominent for its wealth and commerce. Anga was annexed by Magadha in the 6th century BCE.
Saranyu, also known as Samjna and Sandhya, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of Surya, the Sun god. She is one of the earliest goddesses in the pantheon and is found in the Rigveda. Saranyu also appears in later texts including the Harivamsa and the Markandeya Purana. The most prominent legend of Saranyu is about her temporary abandonment of Surya and creation of Chhaya. In most texts, Saranyu is the mother of the death god Yama, the river-goddess Yami, the current Manu, the divine twin physicians Ashvins and the god Revanta.
The Rishikas are a possibly-mythical tribe of Central Asia and South Asia, who are mentioned in Hindu and Sanskrit literary texts, including the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Brhat-Samhita, the Markendeya Purana and Patanjali's Mahabhasya.
The Harivansha is an important work of Sanskrit literature, containing 16,374 shlokas, mostly in the anustubh metre. The text is also known as the Harivansha Purana. This text is believed to be a khila to the Mahabharata and is traditionally ascribed to Vyasa. The most celebrated commentary of the Mahabharata by Neelakantha Chaturdhara, the Bharata Bhava Deepa also covers the Harivansha. According to a traditional version of the Mahabharata, the Harivansha is divided into two parvas (books) and 12,000 verses. These are included with the eighteen parvas of the Mahabharata. The Critical Edition has three parvas and 5,965 verses.
Naraka, also known as Narakasura, was a mythical asura king, the legendary progenitor of all three dynasties of Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa, and the founding ruler of the legendary Bhauma dynasty of Pragjyotisha. Though the myths about Naraka are first mentioned in the Mahabharata, later texts embellish them. According to later post-Vedic texts such as the Brahma Purana and Vishnu Purana, he was the son of Bhudevi, fathered either by the Varaha incarnation of Vishnu or Hiranyaksha. He is claimed as one who established Pragjyotisha. He was killed by Krishna and Satyabhama. His son Bhagadatta—of Mahabharata fame—succeeded him.
Avanti was an ancient Indian Mahajanapada, roughly corresponded to the present day Malwa region. According to the Buddhist text, the Anguttara Nikaya, Avanti was one of the solasa mahajanapadas of the 6th century BCE. The janapada was divided into two parts by the Vindhyas, the northern part had its capital at Ujjayini and the southern part had its centre at Mahishmati.
The Vishnu Purana is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus.
The Vayu Purana is a Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas of Hinduism. Vayu Purana is mentioned in the manuscripts of the Mahabharata and other Hindu texts, which has led scholars to propose that the text is among the oldest in the Puranic genre. Vayu and Vayaviya Puranas do share a very large overlap in their structure and contents, possibly because they once were the same, but with continuous revisions over the centuries, the original text became two different texts, and the Vayaviya text came also to be known as the Brahmanda Purana.
Dvārakā, also known as Dvāravatī, is a sacred historic city in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. It is also alternatively spelled as Dvarika. The name Dvaraka is said to have been given to the place by Bhagwan Krishna, a major deity in Hinduism. Dvaraka is one of the Sapta Puri of Hinduism.
The Bahlikas were the inhabitants of Bahlika, mentioned in Atharvaveda, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, Vartikka of Katyayana, Brhatsamhita, Amarkosha etc. and in the ancient Inscriptions. The other variations of Bahlika are Bahli, Balhika, Vahlika, Valhika, Bahlava, Bahlam/Bahlim, Bahlayana and Bahluva.
According to the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Jarasandha was a powerful king of Magadha. He was a descendant of a king Brihadratha, the creator of the Barhadratha dynasty of Magadha. According to Vayu Purana, the descendants of Brihadratha ruled Magadha for 2600 years followed by the Haryanka dynasty. He is ninth pratinarayana according to the Jain text Harivamsa Purana.
Raivataka mountain was a mountain mentioned in the epic Mahabharata and in the Harivamsa Purana 2.55.111. In the Mahabharata it was mentioned as situated in the Anarta Kingdom. In the Harivamsa Puarana it was "close to the sporting ground of the King Raivataka" (2.56.29) and called "the living place for the gods" (2.55.111). People from Dwaraka visited this mountain and celebrated its worshipping as a grand festival. This mountain is identified to be the Girnar mountains in Gujarat.
Jambavanti is second of the Ashtabharya, the eight principal queen-consorts of Hindu god Krishna, the king of Dwarka – in the Dvapara Yuga (epoch).She was the only daughter of the bear-king Jambavan. Krishna married her, when he defeated Jambavan to retrieve the stolen Syamantaka jewel.
In Hindu mythology, Kalmashapada, also known as Saudasa (सौदास), Mitrasaha (मित्रसह), Amitrasaha and Kalmashanghri (Kalmasanghri), was a king of the Ikshvaku dynasty, who was cursed to be a rakshasa (demon) by the sage Vashishtha. He is described as an ancestor of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu and the hero of the Hindu epic Ramayana. Many texts narrate how Kalmashapada was cursed to die if he had intercourse with his queen, so he obtained a son from Vashishtha by niyoga, an ancient tradition whereby a husband can nominate another man to impregnate his wife. Kalmashapada's story is narrated in various works including the classic epic poems Mahabharata and Ramayana, and the Puranas.
The Puranic chronology is a timeline of Hindu history based on the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the Puranas. Two central dates are the Mahabharata War, which according to this chronology happened at 3534 BCE, and the start of the Kali Yuga, which according to this chronology started at 3508 BCE. The Puranic chronology is referred to by proponents of Indigenous Aryans to propose an earlier dating of the Vedic period, and the spread of Indo-European languages out of India, arguing that "the Indian civilization must be viewed as an unbroken tradition that goes back to the earliest period of the Sindhu-Sarasvati tradition ."
Asikni, also known as Panchajani and Virani, is a consort of Daksha, one of the Prajapati. Most legends describe her as the daughter of Virana or Panchajana and the mother of various children — 5000 Haryasvas, 1000 Sabalasvas and 60 daughters. Asikni is sometimes equated with Daksha's other wife named Prasuti, but there are various texts mentioning both as Daksha's wives.
References
- ↑ S.M. Ali, F.N.I.: The Geography Of The Puranas, New Delhi 1966, page 92 f.
- ↑ Vettam Mani: Puranic Encyclopedia, 9th Reprint Delhi 2010 ISBN 978-81-208-0597-2, page 574
 | This Indian location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |