QUESTION ANSWER DIVINE 15
Q1 What is the period ofhindu mythology? A1 It isbelieved that the Hindu mythology dates back to around 7200 BC when the first hymns of the RigVeda were sung Q2 Which were the elementspraised when Rigveda was first sung? A2 The firsthumens of Rigveda were sung praising the elements of nature, namely, the air, the water, the thunder, thesun, the fire, etc. Theyfound expression in early Vedic Gods, namely, Vayu, Varuna, Indra, Suryaand Agni Q3 When did the Gods werepersonified? A3 Overnext several millennia, in the post-Vedic period, and during the period of the Puranas, the Gods were personified andassumed specific shapes and characteristics, with individual endowments. The Puranas deal with stories that are"mythologically" older than the epics and are set in the"Kritha" or "Sathya" yuga The Ramayana, written by the poet Valmiki, describes the life and timesof Lord Rama (the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu) and occurs in the Tretha yuga,while the Mahabharatha that describes the life and times of the Pandavas,occurs in the Dwapara yuga, a period in which Lord Krishna (the eighth avatarof Lord Vishnu) took birth. Q4 What are the four yugamsin the order? A4Kritha yuga or Sathya yuga, Tretha yuga, Dwapara yuga and kaliyuga. Q5 Which is the most read purana? A5 The Bhagavatham (also referred to as Srimad Bhagavathamor Bhagavatha Purana)is probably the most read and popular of the puranas. It chronicles the storyof the god Vishnu and his incarnations (avataars) on earth. Q6 What are the accountspresented by Hinduisam about cosmology? A6Hinduism presents a number of accounts pertaining to cosmology,and several explanations have been given as regards the origin of the universe The mostpopular belief is that the universe emerged from Hiranyagarbha,meaning the golden womb.(Recollcect our Purohit chanting Hiranyagarbha GarbhasthaumHema beejam Himangithum.. Hiranyagarbhafloated around in water in the emptiness and the darkness of non-existence.Ultimately, this golden egg split and the cosmos was created. Swarga emerged from the golden upper part of the Hiranyagarbha, whereas Prithvi came out from the silvercoloured lower half part. Q7 Who were the Saptharshies?What was the purpose of their creation? A7 Lord Brahma, out of his thought, creates seven sages, or Sapta Rishis, to help him in his act ofcreation. Sapta Rishis (sapta means seven and rishis means sages in Sanskrit). They areBhrigu, Angira, Atri, Gautama, Kashyapa, Vashishta, and Agastya. The other meaning of Saptarishisis constellation of Great Bear (Ursa Major). Q8 How many worlds aredefined by Hindu mythology ? What are their details in nutshell? A8 Hindumythology defines fourteen worlds (not to be confused with planets) - sevenhigher worlds (heavens) and seven lower ones (hells). (The earth is considered the lowest of theseven higher worlds.) All theworlds except the earth are used as temporary places of stay as follows: Uponone's death on earth, Yama,the god of death (officially called 'Yama Dharma Raajaa' - Yama, the lord ofjustice) tallies the person's good/bad deeds while on earth and decides if thesoul goes to heaven and/or hell, for how long, and in what capacity. Swarga is the third among the sevenhigher worlds. In common usage, Swarga is used to refer to the 'higher worlds'or heavens in general. Thehigher worlds (except the earth) are populated with a variety of beings called Suras,consisting of several sub-divisions: Deva, Dhanava, Gandharva, Yaksha, Kinnara, and soon. In general, beings of a higher heavenly world can freely visit a lower one. The termNaraka indicates the various lower worlds. Thelower worlds are filled with Asuras. Q9 Which are the main deitiesin Hinduisam? A9 Thereare many deities in Hinduism. At the top are the trimurti: Shiva(the destroyer), Vishnu (the protector), and Brahma (the creator), and their wives (goddessesin their own right): Shakti (also known as Paarvathi, Ambicaa) thegoddess of courage and power, Lakshmi the goddess of all forms ofwealth, and Saraswathi the goddess of learning Brahma is considered the rulerof the highest of the heavens (the world called Sathya), so inone sense, Brahma is not beyond the fourteen worlds as Shiva and Vishnu are. Q10 Who are all the dancersof Swargaloka? What is their job? A10 Swarga also has a set of famous heavenly dancers: Urvasi, Menaka, Rambha, and Tilottama (all female), whose job isto entertain the heavenly court, and upon orders from the heavenly kings, todistract people on the earth from accumulating too much good deeds so as tobecome a threat to the heavenly kings. Q11 What is Somasoothra?How many circumbulations are to be made to different gods? A11 In a siva temple You tread 3/4ths of the circle, till youreach the western bank of the little stream, which flows out of the templetowards the North. Thisstream is called Somasoothra, also considered 'Ganga' and lies along theN-direction The minimum number of Pradakshinas here is stipulated as given below. Ganapathy - 1; Surya –2; Siva – 3; Shastha, Subrahmanya, Vettekaran, Nagas 3 pradakshinas each.All Devis andVishnu – 4;Banyan tree – 7 (Pradakshinam is prohibited forBanyan tree in the evenings, maybe due to the darkness around it) Q12 Do theKoodalmanikyam Sri Bharathan temple was supposed to be a Buddhist Shrineearlier? A12 It appears so. Koodalmanikyam Sri Bharathan temple was supposed to be a BuddhistShrine. In fact, many suggest that the circular temple shapes are essentially a Buddhistdesign. Q13 Whether the Kodungallur temple had some burial chambers etc? A13 It is heard another theoryabout Kodungalloor temple; in that it's was, even before the Buddhist/Jain era,a megalithic structure, containing burial chambers, etc. It may well be that the Kodungallur temple was once a Buddhist or Jainshrine which later yielded to Hindu influence. The original Kodungallor templeis said have been built by a Chera king as a memorial to Kannaki at the Cheracapital Vanji, present-day Kodungallur. Kannaki followed theBuddhist tradition. Chera prince Ilamko Adigal who wrote the classicSilapathikaram, was believed to be a Jain Geographically too, the locationof Madurai and Kodungallor appear logical. Kannaki just had to cross over thewestern ghats to reach Chrea territory Q14 What is said to bethe reaon- in the Muruga temple at Palani the God faces west? A14 At the temple at Palani, (built by a Chera king-inscriptions are there)also the lord Murugan faces the west - the ithihyam is that the Chra kingwanted Muruga to face towards his kingdom. Q15 Do you think theBrahmins have come from North to Southat own accord? Is there any such theory ? A15 There is a pet theoryregarding the movment of Brahmins to Kerala,-Maybe they moved down along theWest coast from N. India, as an aftermath of the Saraswati River drying up. A few years ago, I'd read an interesting article written by one Kalyanaramanfrom Madras, who proposed that the drying up of the Saravati river was thecause of the decline of all the settlements along that river, and thedispersion of those peoples to other parts. I was especially struck by onething; any communities migrating away would rather godownstream, followingavailability of water. They'dhave come thus, down to the Arabian sea, then moved along the western coast ofIndia led by a charismatic leader called Parasurama, who instructs them tosettle in this region, notjust what we constitute as present-day Kerala alone. so we have historic Brahminic settlements from the Konkan to theMalabar. Again, the ancient capital of King Mahabali, the legendary asura kingof Kerala was supposedly present-day Bharuch (then known as Bhrigukaccha- nowin Gujarat. Then there were side migrations of Brahmins fromhinterland AP and KA to coastal districts, too. I heard this from anotherperson in BOM, but just a theory, again. Also the origin of theEmbrandiris and the Tamil-speaking Brahmins of Palghat, Trichur and Travancore,which is a fairly recent event. Q16 Which temple is ssociatedwith the Pandava – Sahadeva? A16 THE /Mahavishnu Kshetram/ at Thrikodithanamis one of the five ancient / "Pancha-Pandava"/ temples in Kerala andis specially associated with Sahadeva,youngest of the five Pandava princes. These are information posted by members compiled as QA by me in 1998’s-2000’s and stored in my computer. At thisdate I have no information of the members posted. Posted by R Gopala krishnan,78 ,on 6-10-2021 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1365589058.1819243.1633484189639%40mail.yahoo.com.
