Portal:Hinduism/Featured scripture/Archive
December 20, 2005
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The Ramayana is set in the Treta Yuga. According to Hindu tradition, Rama is an avatara, an incarnation of Vishnu or God. The main purpose of his incarnation is to demonstrate the ideal human life on earth. Ultimately, Rama slays the rakshasa king Ravana and reestablishes the rule of religious and moral law on earth known in Hinduism as dharma. It has been said that Brahma promised Valmiki, so long as the mountains and seas endure, so long shall the Ramayana be read by men.
Gaudiya Vaishnava acharya Rupa Gosvami writes in his Laghu Bhagavatamrta that Ramayana (Rama-lila) manifests in 24th catur-yuga while Krishna and Chaitanya-lila in 28th. Thus the time difference would be around 19 million years.
"Splendid as a new blade of durva grass, and accompanied by Sumitra's two sons and by Bharata, He appeared in the Treta-yuga of the 24th catur-yuga as the son of Kausalya and Dasaratha." (Laghu Bhagavatamrta 1.3.78).
December 9, 2005
[edit]The Mahabharata (Devanagari: महाभारत, phonetically Mahābhārata - see note), sometimes just called Bharata, is one of the two major ancient Sanskrit epics of India, the other being the Ramayana. It is the second longest literary epic poem in the world (after the Tibetan Epic of King Gesar). Besides being hailed as one of the greatest literary accomplishments of humanity, The Mahabharata is also of immense religious and philosophical importance in India; in particular, the Bhagavad Gita, which is one of its chapters (Bhishmaparva), is a central sacred text of Hinduism.
The title may be translated as "History of the Great India" or, more accurately, "the Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty" (bhārata means the progeny of Bharata, the king believed to have founded the Indian kingdom of Bhāratavarsha; "Bharat" has equal status as the official name of India in all Indian governments today and is still commonly used today). The work is part of the Hindu itihaasas, literally "that which happened", along with the Puranas and Ramayana. The full version contains more than 100,000 verses, making it around four times longer than the Bible, and seven times longer than the Iliad and the Odyssey combined.
November 30, 2005
[edit]The Rig Veda ऋग्वेद (Sanskrit ṛgveda from ṛc "praise" + veda "knowledge") is a collection of hymns counted among the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas, and contains the oldest texts preserved in any Indo-Iranian language. It was first orally passed down in India & then later on finally was documented. It consists of 1,017 hymns (1,028 including the apocryphal valakhilya hymns 8.49-8.59) composed in Vedic Sanskrit, many of which are intended for various sacrificial rituals. These are contained in 10 books, known as Mandalas. This long collection of short hymns is mostly devoted to the praise of the gods. However, it also contains fragmentary references to historical events, notably the struggle between the early Vedic people (known as Vedic Aryans, a subgroup of the Indo-Aryans) and their enemies, the Dasa.