pratiksha's blogs

DIVINE CONTAINERS IN HINDU MYTHOLOGY ·         Kalasha   - the kalasha is considered a symbol of abundance and "source of life" in the Vedas. It is referred to as "overflowing full vase" in the Vedas. The Kalasha is believed to contain amrita, the elixir of life, and thus is viewed as a symbol of abundance, wisdom, and immortality. The Kalasha is often seen in Hindu iconography as an attribute, in the hands of Hindu deities like the creator god  Brahma , the destroyer god  Shiva  as a teacher, and the goddess of prosperity  Lakshmi . ·         Kamandalu , kamandal, or kamandalam  - an oblong water pot made of a dry gourd (pumpkin) or coconut shell, metal, wood of the Kamandalataru tree,  or from clay, usually with a handle and sometimes with a spout. The kamandalu is used in Hindu iconography, in depiction of deities related with asceticism or water. It is, thus, viewed as a ...

  THE HERBS, PLANTS, TREES, GARDENS, FORESTS MENTIONED IN THE HINDU TEXT ARE AS FOLLOWS: ·       Ausadhirdipyamanas  - Healing plants. Used for healing and rejuvenations in battles. These are used by the ashvins . ·         ERAKA GRASS  - The grass that grew from the cast away powdered iron-bolt belonging to SAMBH. It was used to destroy the Yadu race, as it miraculously turned into an iron-bolt in the hands of its wielders. ·         Kusha grass/ Darbha grass  - The Kusha grass is specifically recommended by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita as part of the ideal seat for meditation. ·         Padma  - Padma  (The sacred lotus)  is an aquatic plant that plays a central role in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. Hindus revere it with the gods Vishnu, Brahma and to a l...

 Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa, or Jyotiṣavedāṅga (Devanagari: वेदाङ्ग ज्योतिष), is one of earliest known Indian texts on astronomy (Jyotisha).The extant text is dated to the final centuries BCE, but it may be based on a tradition reaching back to about 700-600 BCE. The text is foundational to Jyotisha(astronomy), one of the six Vedanga disciplines. Its author is traditionally named as Lagadha. According to Michael Witzel, the question is "whether the description as given in the Jyotisha is also the date of the text in which it is transmitted. It is written in two recensions – Rigveda recensions and Yajurveda recensions. Rigveda recensions and Yajurveda recensions have same verses except for eight additional verses in the Yajurveda's one". Vedanga Jyotisha has two parts: Rik and Yajur recensions. The former part contains 36 verses in Sanskrit. They deal with eclipses, a lunar calendar and units in time calculation. Vedanga Jyotisha deals with the calculations of solar and lunar eclipse...

  Bhaskara I , (flourished  c.  629, possibly  Valabhi , near modern Bhavnagar, Saurashtra, India), Indian astronomer and mathematician who helped to  disseminate  the mathematical work of  Aryabhata  (born 476). His fame rests on three  treatises  he composed on the works of Aryabhata. Two of these treatises, known today as  Mahabhaskariya  (“Great Book of Bhaskara”) and  Laghubhaskariya  (“Small Book of Bhaskara”), are astronomical works in verse, while  Aryabhatiyabhashya  (629) is a prose commentary on the  Aryabhatiya  of Aryabhata. Bhaskara’s works were particularly popular in South India. Planetary longitudes, heliacal rising and setting of the planets, conjunctions among the planets and stars, solar and lunar  eclipses , and the phases of the Moon are among the topics Bhaskara discusses in his astronomical treatises. He also includes a remarkably accurate approximation for the sine fun...

Bhaskaracharya's Lilavati: Born in a Deshastha Brahmin family of scholars, mathematicians and astronomers, Bhaskara was the leader of a cosmic observatory at Ujjain, the main mathematical centre of ancient India. Bhāskara and his works represent a significant contribution to mathematical and astronomical knowledge in the 12th century. He has been called the greatest mathematician of medieval India. His main work Siddhānta-Śiromani, (Sanskrit for "Crown of Treatises") is divided into four parts called Līlāvatī, Bījagaṇita, Grahagaṇita and Golādhyāya, which are also sometimes considered four independent works. These four sections deal with arithmetic, algebra, mathematics of the planets, and spheres respectively. He also wrote another treatise named Karaṇā Kautūhala. Using an astronomical model developed by Brahmagupta in the 7th century, Bhāskara accurately defined many astronomical quantities, including, for example, the length of the sidereal year, the time that is requi...

  As Mentioned in Chanakya Arthashastra  Chanakya was the political mentor of the legendary   Indian monarch Chandragupta Maurya of 4 th century BC. He was a man learned in many disciplines and wrote the famous book arthashastra. In it, he mentioned two types if DHANUSHA, consisting of 96 ANGULAS, and the other dhanusha is mentioned as garhpatya dhanusha and consists of 108 angulas, used for measurement of roads and distances. Chanakya also mentions that a dhanurgraha consists of 4 angulas and a yojana consists of 8000 dhanushas. Uniform units of length were used in planning of towns such as lothal, surkotada, kalibangan, dolavira, harrappa, and mohenjodaro. In the 1930-31 season at mohenjodaro, ernest mackay discovered a broken piece of shell bearing 8 divisions of 6.7056mm each, with a dot and a circle five graduations apart, which suggests a decimal system. However, attempts by mackay, to relate such a unit to attempts by mackay, to relate such a unit to the dimensi...

  The attire of people has to say a lot about their roots, the geography, the climate, and most important the tradition. The most significant part of ancient Indian culture is the Fabric market. Each region had and of course has a specific forte about their fabric. Lets go on a tour of Most Loved Indian Fabrics PASHMINA :  Pashmina refers to a fine variant of spun cashmere, the animal-hair fiber forming the downy undercoat of the CHANGTHANGI goat. Pashmina accessories are known for their softness and warmth. This goat is exotic and is only found there, 15000 feet above sea level in Ladakh - Jammu and Kashmir, making the art of pashmina even rarer and revered all over  the world. PATAN PATOLA : Many consider Patola as the "ultimate manifestation of weaving perfection" because the displacement of even one thread can resulted in a deformed pattern. Also, the dyeing and the weaving process is extremely complicated, requiring mathematical precision coupled with a vivid im...