Saraswati From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the goddess in Puranic Hinduism and Buddhism. For the Vedic river or river goddess, see Sarasvati River.

Saraswati

Saraswati sits on the bank of a river, holds a book and beads,

and plays music on Veena, as a peacock looks on, in a

painting by Mysore Wodeyar kingdomRaja Ravi Varma

Devanagari सरस्वती�

Sanskrit Transliteration Saraswatī

Affiliation Devi (Tridevi)

Abode Brahmapura

Mantra Om Aim Sarasvatyai Svāhā

Consort Brahma

Mount swan, Hansa Bird, and often

peacock

This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

In Hinduism, Saraswati (Sanskrit: सरस्वती�, Sarasvatī ?), is the goddess of knowledge, music, arts and science. She is the consort of Brahma, also revered as his Shakti.[1][2] Her figure is also popular in the Jain religion of west and central India.[3] In Konkani she is Saraswati, Sharada, Veenapani, Pustaka dharini, Vidyadayini. In Kannada, she is Sharade, Sharadamba, Vani, Veenapani in the famous Shringeri temple. In Tamil, she is also known as kalaimagal (கலை�மகள்), Kalaivaani (கலை�வா�ணி), Vaani (வா�ணி). She is also addressed as sharadha, Veena pustaka dharani, vaakdevi, varadhanayagi and many other names.

The name Saraswati comes from saras (meaning "flow") and wati (meaning "she who has ..."), i.e., "she who has flow". So, Saraswati is symbol of knowledge; its flow (or growth) is like a river, and knowledge is supremely alluring, like a beautiful woman. She is depicted as a beautiful fair goddess with four arms, wearing a spotless white saree and seated on a white lotus. She is also known as Sharada, Vani and Vagdevi (all meaning "speech").

Saraswati is the guardian of Earth. She is also called Druga for fighting off Drug (Drug, the name for female demon in ancient Veda, from the Sanskrit root druh, "to be hostile"). The name Druga is made of Sanskrit dru or dur ("with difficulty") and gā or jā ("come", "go"). Saraswati is known as a guardian deity in Buddhism who upholds the teachings of Gautama Buddha by offering protection and assistance to practitioners. She is known in Burmese as Thurathadi (သူ�ရဿတီ�, pronounced: [θùja̰�ðədì] or [θùɹa̰�ðədì]) or Tipitaka Medaw (တီ�ပိ�ဋကမယ် တေတီ, pronounced: [tḭpḭtəka̰� mɛ̀�dɔ̀�]), in Chinese as Biàncáitiān (辯才天), in Thai as Surasawadee (สุ�รั�สุวดี�) and in Japanese as Benzaiten (弁才天/弁財天). In the East Indian states of Bihar, West Bengal, and Orissa, Saraswati is considered to be a daughter of Durga along with her sister Lakshmi and her brothers Ganesha and Karthikeya.[

Rabindranath TagoreFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Rabindranath Tagore

Tagore c. 1915, the year he was knighted by George V.

Tagore repudiated his knighthood, in protest against the

Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919.[1]

BornMay 7, 1861

Calcutta, British India

Died7 August 1941 (aged 80)

Calcutta, British India

OccupationPoet, short-story writer, song composer,

playwright, essayist, and painter

Language Bengali, English

Nationality Indian

Ethnicity Bengali

Notable

work(s)

Gitanjali, Gora, Ghare-Baire, Jana Gana

Mana, Amar Shonar Bangla (other works)

Notable

award(s)

Nobel Prize in Literature

1913

Spouse(s) Mrinalini Devi (m. 1883–1902)

Childrenfive children, two of whom died in

childhood

Relative(s) Tagore family

Signature

Rabindranath Tagoreα[›]β[›] (Bengali: রবী�ন্দ্রনা�থ ঠা�কু র; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941),γ[›] sobriquet Gurudev,δ[›] was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse",[2] he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.[3] In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; his seemingly mesmeric personality, flowing hair, and other-worldly dress earned him a prophet-like reputation in the West. His "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown outside Bengal.[4] Tagore introduced new prose and verse forms and the use of colloquial language into Bengali literature, thereby freeing it from traditional models based on classical Sanskrit. He was highly influential in introducing the best of Indian culture to the West and vice versa, and he is generally regarded as the outstanding creative artist of modern India.[5]

A Pirali Brahmin [6] [7] [8] [9] from Calcutta, Tagore wrote poetry as an eight-year-old.[10] At age sixteen, he released his first substantial poems under the pseudonym Bhānusiṃha ("Sun Lion"), which were seized upon by literary authorities as long-lost classics.[5][11] He graduated to his first short stories and dramas—and the aegis of his birth name—by 1877. As a humanist, universalist internationalist, and strident anti-nationalist he denounced the Raj and advocated independence from Britain. As an exponent of the Bengal Renaissance, he advanced a vast canon that comprised paintings, sketches and doodles, hundreds of texts, and some two thousand songs; his legacy endures also in the institution he founded, Visva-Bharati University.[12]

Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and

personal. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: the Republic of India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla. The composer of Sri Lanka's national anthem: Sri Lanka Matha was a student of Tagore, and the song is inspired by Tagore's style. [13]

Shiva From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Shiva

A statue depicting Shiva meditating, Shiva temple,

Bengaluru

Devanagari शि�व

Sanskrit

Transliteration

Śiva̰

Affiliation Deva (Trimurti)

Abode Mount Ka̰ilāsa̰[1]

Mantra Om Namah Shivaya

Weapon Trident snake foot (Trishula)

Consort Shakti, Sati, Parvati, Maheshwari,

Chandi, Durga, Kali, Ganga

Mount Nandi (bull)

This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

Shiva (  /ˈʃɪvə/; Sanskrit: शि�व Śiva, meaning "auspicious one") is a major Hindu deity, and is the Destroyer or Transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power, he lives a life of a sage at Mount Kailash.[2] In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God and has five important works: creator, preserver, destroyer, concealer, and revealer (to bless). In the Smarta tradition, he is regarded as one of the five primary forms of God.[3] Followers of Hinduism who focus their worship upon Shiva are called Shaivites or Shaivas (Sanskrit Śa̰iva̰).[4] Shaivism, along with Va̰iṣṇa̰va̰ traditions that focus on Vishnu and Śākta̰ traditions that focus on the goddess Sha̰kti, is one of the most influential denominations in Hinduism.[3]

Shiva is usually worshipped in the abstract form of Shiva linga. In images, he is represented as immersed in deep meditation or dancing the Tandava dance upon Apasmara, the demon of ignorance in his manifestation of Nataraja, the Lord of the dance. He is also the father of the deities Ganesha, Murugan (Kartikeya), and Ayyappan (Dharma Sastha).

Taj Mahal From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Taj Mahal (disambiguation).

Taj Mahal

ता�ज महलمحل تاج

Southern view of the Taj Mahal.

Location Agra, India

Coordinates

27°10′29″N

78°02′32″E 27.174799°N

78.042111°E

Elevation 171 m (561 ft)

Built 1632–1653[citation needed]

Architect Ustad Ahmad Lahauri

Architectural

style(s)Mughal

VisitationMore than 3 million (in

2003)

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Type Cultural

Criteria i

Designated 1983 (7th session)

Reference # 252

State Party  India

Region Asia-Pacific

Location in western Uttar Pradesh, India

The Taj Mahal (  /ˈtɑːdʒ/ or /ˈtɑːʒ məˈhɑːl/;[1] Hindi: तीज महल, from Persian/Urdu: محل تاج"crown of palaces", pronounced [ˈt )a̰ːdʒ mɛ̀ˈɦɛ̀l]; also "the Taj"[2]) is a white marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal is widely recognized as "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage". It coveres area of about 221 hectare (552 acres), which includes the 38 hectare taj mahal and the 183 hectare taj protected forest area.[3]

Taj Mahal is the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements from Persian, Turkish and Indian architectural styles.[4][5]

In 1983, the Taj Mahal became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. While the white domed marble mausoleum is the most familiar component of the Taj Mahal, it is actually an integrated complex of structures. The construction began around 1632 and was completed around 1653, employing thousands of artisans and craftsmen.[6] The construction of the Taj Mahal was entrusted to a board of architects under imperial supervision, including Abd ul-Karim Ma'mur Khan, Makramat Khan, and Ustad Ahmad Lahauri.[7][8] Lahauri[9] is generally considered to be the principal designer.[10]