General - Different types of Hindu custom marriages

Marriage is known as Kanyadaan, Sachi Yaga, Vivaha and Chathurthika.  Manu (supposed to be the 1^st man) 

smriti (code) mentions 8 types of marriages as under:

Braahmam – Giving the bride to a good habited boy from a good family.

Aarsham – Giving the bride after taking a pair of cows from the bridegroom

Prajaapathyam – When a boy request the parents of bride for her in marriage 

Deivam – When the bride groom is performing Yatna, when Kanyadaan is done is known as deivi marriage.

Gandharvam – love marriage

Aasuram – When marriage is done after giving money to the bride by bridegroom side.

Raakshasam – After fighting with the bride’s party forcibly abducting and marrying

Paisacham - Marriage when the bride is sleeping or unconscious

General - Lesser known tit bit information from Hindu Religious Scriptures

Govardhan Mountain, Sriram and Srikrishna

For crossing the ocean to Lanka, the monkey gods and monkeys were bringing stones and hills of various sizes for building a bridge. Hanuman was trying to lift the Govardhan Mountain when Sriram told Hanuman that let the mountain be there itself. When Srirama is going take birth as Srikrishna, he has to lift the same with the little finger to protect the Gokul. 

Hanuman specialties

There is a Hanuman idol of 135 feet height in the village Piritta about 32 km from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. This Hanuman is known as Divya Sundaram Abhaya Hanuman. 

On the Bengaluru Thirupathi road at Mulbagal there is an Anjaneya (Hanuman) temple. In this temple for Hanuman Thazhampoo is used for Archana whereas in other temples of any deity this flower is not used. This temple is Mulbagal Taluk, Kolar District of Karnataka. It is 30 km from Kolar, 100 km from Bengaluru on the Bangalore -Chennai N H.

There is a Hanuman idol with 4 hands with Conch (sankhu) and discus (Chakra) in 2 hands. This idol is in the Cholingar Village in Velur near to Arkonam of Tamilnad. There is a legend stating that the Saptha Tishri (7 rishis) were meditating to have darshan of Lord narasimha in this place. 2 demons Alan and Keyan came to disturb them from the meditation and was trying to distract their attention. Lord Hanuman had  a discus with the blessing of Sriram and used this to kill the demons. The Rishis could get the darsan of Lord narasimha as they wanted. Lord Narasimha supposed to have Lord Hanuman to be in this place with 4 hands. 

In Simla, capital of Himachal Pradesh there is a Hanuman 108 feet. 

In the Srirama temple at Kudanthai in Tamilnad the Hanuman is holding Veena. 

In the Srirangapani temple at Kumbakonam in Tamilnad the Hanuman in front of the Sriram is peculiar. Sriram and Sitha are seated in the golden seat as if in the coronation function. Hanuman is sitting facing Sriram chanting Sriram with a book in one hand and a Veena in other.  

In Anaipatti village of Tamilnad there is a temple for Anjaneya with Navagrahas. But there are no Navagraha idols in the temple. It is believed that the grahaas together on the tail of Hanuman.  

Lord and the world

The worldly objects are like 0 with no value. When 0 is on the right side of 1 it acquires value. Similarly the worldly objects acquire value when they are with the lord. – Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

When lighting lamps in temples

When we take oil and wicks to light lamp/s in temples, we should pour the oil in the temple lamps that are lighted by others. Similarly we should not light the lamps from the light of other lamps.

Thapth Kund (holy pond to take bath) at Kedarnath

The Thapth Kund (holy pond to take bath) at Kedarnath was freezing cold. When Sri Sankaracharya one of the supreme guru (one of the greatest teachers of Hindu Philosophy) went to take bath in the pond, the pond was freezing cold. By making use of his yoga power and the pranayama power he made his body extreme hot. This heat was radiated to the pond and the water in the pond became boiling hot. Even now it is so (boiling hot).  

Uddhav Geetha another Geetha

Just as Arjuna was a close friend and relation of Srikrishna, another close friend and companion was Uddhav. He was also a cousin of Srikrishna. Though he was a constant companion and a well wisher of the Lord, he had doubts on ideas behind several deeds of Srikrishna. Uddhav decided to clarify the doubts. He asked all his doubts and Srikrishna gave his clarification as he did to Arjuna. Just as what was told to Arjuna became the world famous Bhagavath Geetha, what he told Uddhav became the Uddhave Geetha.  

Badrakali’ hands and the implements held

The goddess Badrakali has 18 hands. Each hand is holding a weapon. Let us what are the things in her hands.

     Blessings (Abhaya Mudra) 2 Arrow (Ambu – baanam). 3 Power (Sakti).  4 Beads garland (Aksha mala). 5 Bow (Villu – Dhanus). 6 Fire (Agni). 7 Three headed spear (Thrisoolam). 8 Conch (Sankhu) 9 Krishnajinam  10 Sword (Vaal – Khadgam. 11 Lotus (thamara – padmam). 12 Water (vellam – Jhalam). 13 Crscent moon (chandrakkala). 14 Syaak. 15 Peace – (samaadhanam – saanthi). 16 Holy water jug (Kamandalu). 17 Baton (Dandhu). 18 Gold pot (swarna kumham )

Vishnu related - Avatars (incarnations) of Lord Vishnu and Lord Siva

 Lord Vishnu

All Hindus know that Lord Vishnu had 9 incarnations and the 10^th one is being awaited. It is said that as and when the Adharma (crimes, cheating etc) is increasing to a high level the Lord Vishnu take avathara birth in the earth. 

 

In the first incarnation as a fish, he protects Manu who is the first of the human race and from his name Manu the word Manushya (human) came into being thereby perpetrating the human race in the earth.

 

In the 2^nd incarnation of Tortoise he protected the churning of the milky ocean to bring out the nectar buy supporting the Manthara Parvath (Mountain) from going down to the bottom of the ocean.

 

The next incarnation of Varaha (wild boar) was to bring out the earth from the bottom of the ocean of sins.

 

The 4^th one of Narasimha was to kill the Hiranyaksha, the personification of vanity, arrogance cruelty and especially to the devotee of Lord Vishnu – the Prahlada who was the son of the killed demon.

 

Next one, the Vamana was again to correct the arrogance of Prahalda's grandson Mahabali who himself also was a devotee of Lord Vishnu. Mahabali was sent to the Patal Loka and made his as the ruler there. 

 

Next is Parasuraman as a sage who kills the rulers 24 times as they were so atrocious to their subjects. 

 

Next is the incarnation of Srirama who killed the demon emperor Ravana who was autocratic and used to usurp anything he likes irrespective the others protests. 

 

8^th avatar is as Balarama elder brother of Srikrishna who is the 9^th one. Balarama's incarnation is to support Srikrishna. Balarama is the one who introduced agriculture in human race by using his plough. 

 

Srikrishna was born to kill his wicked uncle Kamsa and lead the Pandavas, his cousins against the Kauravas who was not allowing the Pandavas to live peacefully. The next that is the 10^th one is expected. 

 

Actually though the belief is that there are only 10 incarnations, the fact is that there are several others in addition to the above ten. Buddha is supposed to be his incarnation so also Hamsah the creator of world, Sathwathan, Dathathreaya, Vedavysa, Vasudeava, Samkharshan, Pradymna, Hayagriva etc are also his partial incarnations for the good of the race. 

 

Partial incarnations (Avatars) Lord Siva:

 

Ekadasa Rudras, Aja, Eka padhan, Ahirbddhanyan, Thwashtav, Rudra, Hara, Sambhu, Thryambak, Thribhuvan, Aparajith, Eesaana etc. 

 

His srishtis (creations) are Veerabhadra (to stop the yaga of Daksha), Khantakarnan (came into being from Lord Siva’s ear), Badrakali (from the 3^rd eye to kill Daarika), Hanuman (with the element of air as devotee of Srirama to help him), Karn (as part of Sun), Vidura (as part of Dharmaraja), Kaikeyi (as part of Saraswathi to send Srirama to forest life for fulfilling his duty of killing Ravana).

Goddess Parvathy's incarnation as cow and Lord Vishnu's demand for 1000 pots of butter

There is an incident in the Purana's about a game of dice between the Lord Vishnu and Lord Siva. The umpire was Devi Parvathy consort of Lord Siva and sister of Lord Vishnu. In the game Lord Vishnu won and accordingly Goddess Parvathy declared her brother as the winner. The Lord Siva go angry and cursed his wife Parvathy that she be born as a cow in the earth. Goddess Parvathy was born as a cow in the place which later was known as Ther ezhunthur. Since his sister was born as cow in the earth, Lord Vishnu came here in the guise of a gopala (cowherd) to protect his sister in the form of cow.

In the meantime there was a king Upari Sravass who performed very difficult penance to appease Lord Brahma, the creator of the lives in the universe for several years.   Lord Brahma appeared before Upari Sravass. He got a boon from the Lord for a vehicle to travel in the sky and wherever the shadow of his vehicle falls on earth, all those places should be under his kingdom. Accordingly he won over almost all places on earth and became power drunk. Lord Vishnu stopped the vehicle of  Upari Sravass when it was going over the place later named as Ther ezhunthur (Therezhunthur) where the Lord as gopala and his sister as cow were staying. When the vehicle stopped and got down to earth, Upari Sravass (Uparisravass) tried all he could  do to raise the vehicle without success. The Lord informed Uparisravass that he can help to release the vehicle if Uparisravass could bring 1000 pots of butter before the dawn of next day. Uparisravass started collecting pots of butter and could mange only 999 pots. He thought that he can fool the Lord (he was not knowing the gopala was non other than Lord Vishnu) by keeping a pot of water and present as if 1000 pots of butter is brought  by dawn. When the Lord opened the pots one by one all the pots were having water. On seeing this the arrogance of Uparisravass vanished and he became a humble person. Then the Lord shown his original identy to the King. In the next birth Uparisravass was born as Thiru Mangai Azhwar (alwar) and started singing the praises of teh lord. With this the Goddess Parvathy got release from the curse and she went back to her consort Lord Siva.

Since the vehicle (theru - chariot) was brought down in this place this was called as the There ezhuntha oor (Therezhunthur). The temple in this place is one of the (10th one) 108 Divya (holy - sacred) Desams (places) of the Vaishnav community temples. The shrine is having the lord Vishnu in the form of Lord Krishna (Gopala) with a cow behind him. 

Kasai Viswanatha Temple complex

Kasi Viswanatha temple complex is one of the largest one in India. The lingam idol of this temple is very small compared to many of the even lesser known Siva temples. The belief is that this Siva Lingam is a representation of the cosmic nature of the world.  Here the devotees themselves can do the abhisheaka (pouring water) to the lingam and offer pooja. Pouring water is one the main offerings in the Siva temples as Lord Siva is supposed to be very hot.

After worshipping the Sivalinga next the devotee is supposed to go and worship the Annapoorneswari goddess, consort of the Lord Siva, which is near to the Viswanatha shrine. The goddess is in the posture with a golden laddle and the food vessel in the left hand depicting the imge of the mother who gives food to the hungry children. The goddess is considered as the mother superior of the universe.

Next to that the devotees is t go and worship Kala Bhairava in the shrine next to the goddess. Kala Bhairava is a portion of Lord Siva himslef and is considered as the Yama Dharma the god of death.

Srirama idol with 4 hands and who wrote Srirama Jayam first?

 Temple where Sriram's idol has 4 hands

We see the idol of Srirama with only two hands unlike other incarnations of Lord Vishnu. But there is one place where the idol of Srirama has 4 hands. The idol is in the temple of Kalathur Village near to Thirukazhikundram. It is near to Chingalpetu and 60 km from Chennai.  The idol of Srirama in this temple has 4 hands with bow and arrow in one hand each, conch in another, discus on fourth hand. The Discus can be seen in the right back hand and conch in left back hand. This is the only one known idol like this.

 who wrote Srirama jayam first?
 
The honour of writing the words 'Srirama Jayam' of course gone to his staunch devotee the great Hanuman. This incident happened just accidentally and dramatically. After the battle between Ravan And Sriram, Hanuman went to inform the happy event to Sitha Devi at Asoka Van (Asok forest). When he went there the words did not come out of Hanuman because of his over whelming joy. When he was struggling to bring out the words, Sitha Devi asked him a to what message he wanted to pass on to her. Then Hanuman wrote the words Sriram Jayam in the sand and shown her.

Balya to Valtmiki, hunter to yogi or cruality to greatness

Balya was a hunter who shoots arrow at animals, burn the dead animal and eat. Even when he did not want food he used to shoot anything including human being who are opposite to him. One day when he was wandering the forest, he saw a person chanting the name of Narayana uninterruptedly simultaneously his fingers playing the thamburu (a musical instrument like a veena which make notes of music - a sting instrument) and coming towards him. When Balya was aiming at the person chanting the name of Lord Narayana, that person who was none other than Nararada continued his steps with a smile with the chan on his lips.  The hunter wjho was accomstemed to seeing the animals and persons running awaay from with fear of life, he was surprised with the peacefull expression on the face without fear or anxiety of the traveller and could not shoot the arrow. When Narada came near to him he expressed his surpise to Narada. He said to Narada that after seeing Narada with the simle and wthout the fear, could not shooot the arrow.

Narada asked him why he is doing all these cruelties. The hunter said that he is a hunter, he hunts and the dead animals or the valuables of the killed persons will be given to the family for their living. Narada asked him that whatever benefit he is getting from the hunt he is sharing with his family, but whether the family members will share the effects of his sins? Balya said of course the family shares the sins also. Narada asked him to confirm from the family. Balya went to his wife and asked her what Narada told him about the sharing of the sins. His wife said it is his duty to feed his family but the sins are to be suffered by him alone. Balya came back to Narada and explained what his wife told him and was repenting for whatever he has done so far. He wanted a remedy for his misdeeds for the past. Narada suggested the steps to Balya and Balya after the penance for some time completely changed into a sage. He later wrote the wonderful epic Ramayan and became immortal.

Who is Draupadi - Panchali

There are some legends as to who is Draupadi. Everyone knows that she is the goddess sister of Lord Srikrishna - an incarnation of Lord Mahavishnu and wife of the pancha Pandavas (5 Pandava brothers). One of the legend has it that Srikrishna explains to Bhima the 2nd of the Pandavas that Draupadi is none other than the Parasakthi the divine mother who is the protector of the universe, destroyer of the unethical doers and the Murderous force against the evil doers. The explanation happened on the 17th or the penultimate day of the Mahabharata war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. After the war on 17th day the surviving fighters went to their respective tents. Lord Krishna who was the charioteer of Arjuna in the war was with the Pandavas for the dinner on that day.

Draupadi was serving the food to the Pandavas and Lord Krishna. When she was serving the Lord, Bhima noticed her making some signs with her eyes to Srikrishna and Lord Krishna was replying with eye sign language. He also saw that she dropped a drop of water in front of the leaf in which the lord was having his food. After taking food, Bhima took Srikrishna, who is the cousin of Pandavas (Srikrishna was the son of Vasudeva, brother of Kunthi who is mother of Pandavas) to an unobserved place and asked as to what was the exchange between Srikrishna and Draupadi and why she dropped a drop of water in front  of the lord's leaf.

The lord explained with a laugh that everyone is under the impression that she is just the wife of Pandavas.The Lord continued that while it is so the reality is that she is the Bhadrakali, a form of the Parasakti. She is the reason, witness and also responsible for the massive deaths in the war. The Lord  invited Bhima to accompany him (Lord) in the midnight to the battle field. At midnight Bhima saw Panchali getting up from the sleep and going to the battle field where she was seeing the destruction in her viswaroopam (omnipotent form). She was covering  the whole place like radiation from a gigantic fire. Though Bhima was a very valiant warrior and a person with extra ordinary strength, he started trembling at the sight of Draupadi's form. At that time Lord Krishna explained to Bhima as to what happened between him and Draupadi during the meals. He informed that she was telling him that by this 17 days, most of the warriors are killed and tomorrow Dhuryodhana the eldest of the Kauravas who is surviving from Kaurava side is to be killed. Now the 5 Pandavas are left out. Should she kill these 5 also to which Srikrishna replied to her that he has given the assurance  to their mother (who is his aunt - sister of his father) that he (Srikrishna) will protect the five from death. The dropping of the water is the acceptance of his assurance and sparing the 5 by the Bhadrakali. In the Hindu religious rituals it is a practice to make the natural elements the earth, fire, water, sky or wind as witness to important events or agreements. By dropping the water, Draupadi was making the water as a witness to the exchanges between her and Lord Krishna.