Tag: surya
DEVA, DEVAS; DEVI, DEVIS – A god, deity; one of a class of celestial gods
CANDRA – The moon, a deva
BRAHMANAS – A division of the Vedas; a collection of scriptures
The Vedas came to be divided into the Rigveda (hymns), Brahmanas (commentaries), Aranyakas (forest texts), and Upanishads (a treasury of mystical and devotional texts). The Satapathabrahmana was considered to be the oldest Brahmana. It was a great source of mantras, or incantations. The mythological point of view changed between…
CHAPTER – 6 FATE OF KING BAHU
Narada says: “O great sage who in the dynasty of Sagar received salvation from Preta Bhava. Who was Sagar? Kindly narrate his whole story to me.” Sanatkumar says: “Long ago, there occurred a king named Bahu in the dynasty of Surya. He was very religious in nature and looked…
CHAPTER – 5 THE GREATNESS OF THE GANGES
Suta says- “The glorious description of devotion for Lord Vishnu caused extreme joy for Narada.” Narada says: “O great sage Sanat! Now kindly tell me about such a place of pilgrimage which is even holier than the holiest places of pilgrimage.” Sanatkumar says: O Narada! Confluence of Ganga and…
BRAHMA – A deva (god)
BALI – A great monkey king
ARUNA – Charioteer of Surya
2) CHAPTER TWO GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION
The earth has seven great islands- Jambu, Plaksha, Shalmali, Kusha, Kronch, Shakh and Pushkar. These are surrounded by oceans having saline water, sugarcane juice, wine, ghee, curd, milk and sweet water respectively. Jambudweep is situated at the center. Situated at the center of Jambudweep is golden Sumeru Mountain (Himalayas), which…
2) CHAPTER TWO BIRTH OF SAVARANI MANU AND NEXT MANVANTARAS
Maitreya says- “O sage, kindly narrate about the future Manvantaras that are to come.” Parashar says- Vishwakarma’s daughter Sangya was the wife of Surya. They had three children, Manu, Yama and Yamani. Sangya once felt unable to bear the radiance of Surya. So, appointing Chhaya (her shadow) in the service…
31) KARTAVIRYA ARJUNA
There used to be a king named Kritavirya and Kritavirya‘s son was known as Kartavirya Arjuna. Arjuna performed tapasya for thousands and thousands of years. Through this meditation, he pleased the sage Dattatreya and obtained four wonderful boons from the sage. The first boon gave Arjuna a thousand arms. The…
24) THE SOLAR LINE
The sun-god Surya was born as the son of Kashyapa and Aditi. Surya was born as an egg (anda). For days on end, nothing happened to the egg and the shell did not crack. Vishvakarma was the architect of the gods. When Vishvakarma found that nothing was happening to the…
9) CHAPTER NINE TWELVE NAMES OF THE SUN
In the month of Chaitra, the Sun rides his chariot as Dhata. During that period, apsara Kratusthala, sage Pulastya, Nag Vasuki, Yaksha Rathmirith, demon Heti and the Gandharva Tumbaru are also present on the chariot as his assistants. In the month of Vaishakh, the Sun rides his chariot as Aryama…
16) VEDAVYASA
The sages requested Lomaharshana, ―Please tell us how the sacred Vedas came to be divided.‖ Lomaharshana recounted the following story. When dvapara yuga arrived, Brahma noticed that people were becoming evil and were no longer paying sufficient attention to the Vedas. They were gradually deviating from the righteous path. Brahama…
14) ASTRONOMY
The earth is made up of five elements (bhuta). These are earth, wind sky, water and energy. There are seven regions in the underworld (patala). These are known as atala, sutala, vitala, gabhastala, mahatala, shritala and patala. The ground in atala is dark in colour; in sutala it is pale;…
3) CHAPTER THREE INCARNATION OF LORD KRISHNA
Vasudev, the son of Shoorsen was married to Devaki, the daughter of Devak. On that occasion of their marriage, Devaki’s cousin Kansa was driving their chariot. At that time, a celestial voice declared that the eighth son of Devaki would kill Kansa. Kansa in the excitement was ready to kill…
THE RITUALS OF PINDADAN
Before setting out for Gaya to offer Pinda dan, a man should appropriately perform ‘Shraddh rituals’ in the village or town he lives. Each step taken towards Gaya acts as a stepping stone to the heaven for the ancestors. Getting one’s head tonsured or observing fast is prohibited in some…
CHAPTER FIVE CREATION OF RUDRA AND OF LAKSHMI
In the beginning of Kalpa when Brahma was thinking about a son, who would be like him in virtues, a boy with reddish-blue body appeared in his lap. Brahma addressed the boy with names like Rudra, Bhava, Shiv, Ibhan, Pashupati, Bhima, Ugra and Mahadeva. Brahma also fixed Surya, water, earth,…