MohiniMohini (Sanskrit: मोहिनी, Mohinī) is the only female avatar of Vishnu. She is portrayed as an enchantress, who maddens lovers, sometimes leading them to their doom. Soon after Amrita was born of Samudra Manthana, Vishnu takes the form of Mohini, acquires the pot of Amrita from thieving Asuras, and gives it back to the Devas, helping them…
MandaraMandara (Sanskrit: मंदर) is the name of the mountain that appears in the Samudra manthan episode in the Hindu Puranas, where it was used as a churning rod to churn the ocean of milk. Mahadev’s serpent, Vasuki, offered to serve as the rope pulled on one side by a team of Asuras, and on the other,…
MeruMount Meru (Sanskrit: मेरु) or Sineru or Mahameru is a sacred cosmological mountain with five peaks in Hindu cosmology and is considered to be the center of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes.Many famous Hindu temples have been built as symbolic representations of this mountain. The dimensions attributed to Mount Meru, all references to it being as a part of the Cosmic…
There are two traditions being followed with respect to the start of the month. Amavasyant (Amanta) tradition followed mainly in the western and southern states of India (namely Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu) considers a new moon occurring before sunrise on a day to be the first day of the lunar month. Purnimant tradition, on…
ManvantaraManvantara or age of a Manu, the progenitor of humanity, is an astronomical period of time measurement. Manvantara is a Sanskrit word, a compound of manu and antara, manu-antara or manvantara, literally meaning the duration of a Manu, or his life span. Each Manvantara is created and ruled by a specific Manu, who in turn is created by Brahma, the Creator…