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Indian languages, festivals, food, art, religion, and social life.

Apsara

Overview Apsaras (Sanskrit: अप्सरस्, IAST: Apsaras) are a class of celestial beings in Hindu and Buddhist traditions. Originally conceived as female spirits associated with clouds and water, they later came to be rega...

Gandharva

Overview A gandharva (Sanskrit: गन्धर्व, literally 'musician') is a member of a class of celestial beings featured in several Indian religious traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. In these traditions,...

Yaksha

Overview The Yakshas (Sanskrit: यक्ष, IAST: Yakṣa; Pali: Yakkha) are a broad class of nature spirits in Hindu mythology, traditionally associated with water, trees, forests, wilderness, treasure, and fertility. They a...

Rakshasa

Overview Rakshasa (Sanskrit: राक्षस, romanised: rākṣasa; Pali: rakkhasa) is a term used in Indian religious and literary traditions to denote a race of usually malevolent supernatural beings. The word is commonly tran...

Halahala

Overview Halāhala (Sanskrit: हलाहल), also known as Kālakūṭa (कालकूट, literally 'poison of death'), is a poison described in Hindu mythology. It is associated with the episode of the Samudra Manthana, the churning of t...

Vahana

Overview Vāhana (Sanskrit: वाहन, lit. 'that which carries'), also rendered as vahanam, refers to the being—typically an animal or a mythical creature—that a particular Hindu deity is said to use as a vehicle. In this ...

Goshala

Overview Gaushalas, also spelled goshalas (Hindi: गौशाला, romanised: gauśālā), are protective shelters for stray cows in India. The institution reflects the traditional reverence accorded to the cow within Hinduism, w...

Shani

Overview Shani (Sanskrit: शनि, IAST: Śani), also known as Shanaishchara (Sanskrit: शनैश्चर, IAST: Śanaiścara), is the divine personification of the planet Saturn in Hinduism. He is counted among the Navagraha, the nin...

Astrology

Overview Astrology refers to a range of divinatory practices that propose information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Forms of astro...

Horoscope

Overview A horoscope is an astrological chart or diagram representing the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, astrological aspects and angles at the time of a particular event, such as the moment of a person's birth....

Nakshatra

Overview Nakshatra (Sanskrit: नक्षत्रम्, Nakṣatram) is the term for a lunar mansion in Hindu astrology and Buddhist astrology. A nakshatra is one of the 27 (sometimes 28) sectors along the ecliptic, with each sector n...

Rashi

Overview Shlomo Yitzchaki (c. 1040 – 1105), commonly known by the rabbinic acronym Rashi, was a French rabbi and commentator who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and the Hebrew Bible. Born in Troyes, ...

Golden Temple

Overview The Golden Temple, also known as Sri Harmandir Sahib, is a gurdwara located in Amritsar, Punjab. It is the pre-eminent spiritual site of Sikhism and is regarded as one of its holiest places, alongside the Gur...

Lotus Temple

Overview The Lotus Temple is a Baháʼí House of Worship located in New Delhi, India. Completed in December 1986, it is widely recognised for its distinctive lotus-like shape, which has made it one of the prominent attr...

Birla Mandir

Overview Birla Mandir is the collective name given to a number of Hindu temples built by the Birla family in different cities across India. These temples are dedicated to various Hindu deities and have come to be asso...

Sabarimala

Overview Sabarimala is a hill situated in Perunad village, Ranni Taluk, Thiruvalla Revenue Division, in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. The hill lies about 72 kilometres from Pathanamthitta town, while the dist...

Padayatra

Overview A padayatra (Sanskrit: पदयात्रा, padayātrā, literally 'journey by foot') is a journey undertaken on foot. The term is used in two broad senses in India: as a political and mass outreach tool, and as a spiritu...

Kanwar Yatra

Overview The Kanwar Yatra (Devanagari: कांवड़ यात्रा; also Kanvar or Kavad Yatra) is an annual pilgrimage undertaken by devotees of Shiva, known as Kanwarias or "Bhole". Pilgrims travel to Hindu sacred sites such as H...

Rath Yatra

Overview Rath Yatra (literally "Chariot Festival" or "Car Festival") refers to any public procession in a chariot. Such processions are held annually during festivals in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The te...

Sadhguru

Overview Jagadish "Jaggi" Vasudev (born 3 September 1957), known as Sadhguru, is an Indian guru and the founder of the Isha Foundation, headquartered in Coimbatore. He has been teaching yoga since 1982, and establishe...