Worship of lord Ganesha in Mongolia

The worship of Ganesha spread along with Buddhism across Central Asia as far as Mongolia through the Silk Route and via Tibet. Images of Ganesha have been found in bronze, on paper and on wall frescoes.
Sometimes Ganesha is represented as a powerful deity, usually two-armed, without pot-belly or rat vehicle, indicating that the transmission out of India took place before 10th century AD. According to a Mongol legend, derived from Tibetan legend, Ganesha raised the father of P’ags-pa, the Sakya Heirarch, with his trunk to Mount Meru and showed him the land of Mongolia and told him that his son would be its ruler. So it came to pass.

64 YOGINI OF BHEDAGHAT - JABALPUR

Photographer: Beglar, Joseph David ~ Date: 1875
Photograph of statues in the colonnade of the Chaunsath Yogini temple, Bheraghat taken by Joseph David Beglar in the 1870s.

Bheragat is situated close to Tripuri, the ancient site of the Haihaya capital. One of the oldest heritage sites in India, Chausath Yogini Temple is situated on a hilltop in Jabalpur. Built in the 11th century A.D., the temple is the abode of Goddess Durga along with 64 yoginis or shaktis considered to be the different forms of the Goddess. Though the temple has been partially damaged, it speaks greatly of the ancient dynasties that ruled in Jabalpur.

Around 150 steep steps lead to the shrine which is at a good height. The complex of the temple consists of 64 shrines in circular motion, one for each yoginis and a main shrine where Lord Shiva and his consort Goddess Parvati are seen riding on Nandi, the sacred bull. The temple was constructed during the reign of Kalchuri Dynasty and was mainly made with local granite. Mughal invaders, later on, destroyed and deformed most of the temple.

The design of the temple has been kept simple but the idols of yoginis are exquisitely carved, each one depicting a unique posture. The environment at the site is very calm and composing with lush greenery around. Standing at the open-sky courtyard you can witness a panoramic view of the River Narmada and the surrounding landscape. Being the oldest Yogini temple in India, this place is a must visit for all heritage lovers!
The temple is unusually planned, consisting of a circular colonnade with 81 smaller shrines incorporating sculptures from the 10th century. A renowned group represents the sixty-four yoginis, the Matrikas and other goddesses.

History of Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi

Krishna Janmasthan, or Kesava Deo Temple is a temple in Mathura, India and is among the sacred of Hindu sites as it is birthplace of Lord Krishna.The Keshav Deo Temple is a Hindu temple situated besides the main Krishna janmabhoomi complex, the birthplace of Lord Krishna

The first temple here was constructed almost 5,000 years ago by Vajranabha, the great-grandson of Lord Krishan. The next big temple was constructed here during the time of the Gupta Emperor Chandragupta II around 400 AD. This temple was so grand that it was said that neither painting nor description could describe it.Then came Mahmud of Ghazni who destroyed the temple in 1017 AD along with several other Hindu and Buddhist temples in the holy city of Mathura.

Another temple was built here in 1150 AD. It’s said Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited the same temple when he came to Mathura . It was again destroyed by Muslim ruler  in the 16th century during the reign of Sikander Lodi. During the reign of Jahangir, Raja Veer Singh Bundela of Orchha constructed another temple about 75 m (250 ft) high at the cost of Rs 3.3 million.The great temple of Keshava Rai at Mathura was built by Bir Singh Deo Bundela during Jahangir’s time at a cost of thirty-three lakhs of rupees. The Keshava Rai Temple was one of the most magnificent temples ever built in India and enjoyed  veneration of the Hindus throughout the land

But then again it was destroyed by Aurangzeb.It was demolished in the month of Ramzan, 1080 A.H. (13 January – 11 February 1670) by Aurangzeb’s order as noted by several historians,his farman still preserved.In a short time, by the great exertion of the officers, the destruction of this strong foundation of infidelity was accomplished and on its site a lofty mosque was built at the expenditure of a large sum”. To the author of Maasir-i-‘Alamigiri, the accomplishment of this “seemingly impossible work was an “instance of the strength of the Emperor’s faith”. Even more disgraceful was transporting the idols to Agra and burying them under the steps of the mosque of the Begum Sahib “in order to be continually trodden upon”.

The painting to the right shows the demolition of the great temple, on Aurngzeb’s orders in progress and subsequent uncivilized conduct towards the idols.
In  the second picture to your top left you can see Jami Masjid beside temple, This was erected on the foundations of the once-famous Kesava Deo temple, destroyed by the Aurangzeb.

During British rule in India, the area came under direct rule of British India. In 1815, the East India Company auctioned the area of Katra Keshavadeva, which was purchased by the then Raja Patnimal of Banaras. Although, the Raja of Benaras wanted to build a temple there his wish remained unfulfilled and the family had fight several legal battle for ownership of land with Muslim community of Mathura, in which, the court finally ordered that the land belongs to present heirs of Raja of Benaras.

In 1944, Madan Mohan Malviya was distressed at plight of the site and arranged for purchase of land from Raja Krishna Das of Benaras, who sold the land only at cost of Rs. 13,000/- recovering just the cost of fighting court battles. Meanwhile, Malviyaji without seeing the temple work begin.

Then Jugal Kishore Birla of Birla group decided to take the leading role to fulfill the wishes of Malviyaji and formed a private trust in 1951 to which the rights of land were later transferred.
Jaidayal Dalmia of Dalmia Group was another leading personality, who took untiring efforts and the temple was finally constructed over the site. The trust which runs the temple has a glorious list of Trustees besides Birla and Dalmia family members like Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar, Anantashayanam Iyengar, Swami Akhandananda Saraswati, Swami Vamdevji Maharaj. The present head of temple is Mahant Nrityagopal Das.The construction of the temple was completed in 1965 at a cost Rs 15 million.

Shivling found around the world

Hindu History of Afghanistan

Kandahar or Gandhar in Sanskrit is the second largest city in Afghanistan. Is one of the oldest known human settlements. Gandhar is mentioned as an historical regional capital in Mahabharata. It is the hometown of Gandhari, wife of Dhritarastra and mother to the Kaurava princes, and her brother Shakuni, who is the ultimate cause for the kinslaying Mahabharata war.

Gandhari was preoccupied because she had other debts to clear. She was busy collecting 100 golden vessels for performing the intricate rites of the shradha for each of her hundred Kshatriya sons. She had a debt to pay. She was subsequently freed of the debt after performing the rituals she owed to her sons and grandchildren. The great burden was now off her chest. In normal circumstances, her sons would have been obligated to perform the ritual for her. Now the process had been reversed. She had also time to think of her widowed but beloved daughter, Duhshala, who her own mourning to do. It was a pathetic sight for her. She had a horde of her daughters-in-law wailing loudly, on the Kurukshetra battlefield within her hearing distance. Gandhari had enough on her plate. She was also to mourn the death of her six brothers and her nephew Uluka. She was confronted with the mourning and wailing Draupadi, who lost her five sons, through treachery while they were asleep. Gandhari was overheard telling Draupadi that her grief was greater than hers, but she was absolved by placating others, rather than thinking of her own grief.

Gandhari was a strong critic of the war. She was also an acute observer of the scene, watching events from close quarters. Her interventions were subtle and she was always on the side of peace. She was as much critical of her husband, as of her elder son and brother. While grieving over the death of her sons, she kept her cool. She chose to be chief spokesman of the grieving and suffering Kaurava women. She held Krishna responsible for the war and told him in no uncertain terms that she did not mourn as much the dead as the living, like her blind husband and widowed daughters-in-law, and other teeming humanity.

There was no public expression of grief by Gandhari, but there was plenty to preoccupy her in her public grief. It even made Krishna join Gandhari and Dhritarashtra in shedding a tear or two. Her misery was compounded due to her divine vision, which let her go over the entire Mahabharata was day-by-day and moment-by-moment. She could re-live the slaughter of each of her sons reel by reel. She could find no rationale for the 18-day war. She attributed all this to her karma, as well as of her daughters-in-law for sins committed in past lives. She also realized fully that it was not the actual fact. The Mahabharata was to be attributed to human folly, repeated again and again.

Gandharvas are first described in the Vedas as cosmic beings. Later literature describes them as a jati (community), and the later Natyasastra refers to their system of music as gandharva. Gupt explains1:

“Gandharvas, as spoken of in Samhitas and later literature, had derived their name from a geographical people, the Gandharas… Most likely they belonged to Afghanistan (which still has a township called Kandhara)... It was perhaps at this time that the Gandharas raised the art of music to a great height. This region of the subcontinent at the time had become the locus of a great confluence of the musical traditions of the East and the Mediterranean. The very art, thus, came to be known by the name of the region and was so called by it even in the heartland of India. This name, gandharva, continued to be used for music for centuries to come. In the Vayu Purana one of the nine divisions of Bharatavarsa is called Gandharva.”

During the Mahabharata period, the Gandhara region was very much culturally and politically a part of India. King Œakuni, brother of Gandhârî, fought with Pandavas in the famous epic Mahabharata. The battle was fought in Kurukshetra, in the heartland of India. Gandhârî was married to King Dhrtrastra. Exchanges between Gandhara and Hastinapur (Delhi) were well established and intense.

Mehrgarh, located in this region and part of the Indus Valley civilization, is the oldest town excavated by archeologists (8000B.C.E) in the world.

Gandhara was the trade crossroad and cultural meeting place between India, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Buddhist writings mention Gandhara (which included Peshawar, Swat and Kabul Valleys) as one of the 16 major states of northern India at the time. It was a province of the Persian king Darius I in the fifth century B.C.E. After conquering it in the 4th century B.C.E., Alexander encountered the vast army of the Nandas in the Punjab, and his soldiers mutinied causing him to leave India.

Thereafter, Gandhara was ruled by the Maurya dynasty of India, and during the reign of the Indian emperor Ashoka (3rd century B.C.E.), Buddhism spread and became the world's first religion across Eurasia, influencing early Christianity and East Asian civilizations. Padmasambhava, the spiritual and intellectual founder of the Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, was from Gandhara. Greek historian Pliny wrote that the Mauryans had a massive army; and yet, like all other Indian kingdoms, they made no attempt at overseas conquest.

Gandhara and Sind were considered parts of India since ancient times, as historian Andre Wink explains:

“From ancient times both Makran and Sind had been regarded as belonging to India… It definitely did extend beyond the present province of Sind and Makran; the whole of Baluchistan was included, a part of the Panjab, and the North-West Frontier Province.”2

“The Arab geographers, in effect, commonly speak of 'that king of al-Hind...'”3

“…Sind was predominantly Indian rather than Persian, and in duration the periods that it had been politically attached to, or incorporated in, an Indian polity far outweigh Persian domination. The Maurya empire was extended to the Indus valley by Candragupta, laying the foundation of a great Buddhist urban-based civilization. Numerous Buddhist monasteries were founded in the area, and Takshashila became an important centre of Buddhist learning, especially in Ashoka's time. Under the Kushanas, in the late first century A.D… international trade and urbanization reached unprecedented levels in the Indus valley and Purushapara (Peshawar) became the capital of a far-flung empire and Gandhara the second home of Buddhism, producing the well-known Gandhara-Buddhist art. In Purushapara, Kanishka is supposed to have convened the fourth Buddhist council and to have built the Kanishka Vihara, which remained a Buddhist pilgrimage center for centuries to come as well as a center for the dissemination of the religion to Central Asia and China… in conjunction with Hinduism, Buddhism survived in Sind until well into the tenth century.”4

“Hiuen Tsang… was especially impressed by the thousand Buddhist monks who lived in the caves of Bamiyan, and the colossal stone Buddha, with a height of 53.5 m, then still decorated with gold. There is also evidence of devi cults in the same areas.”5

Shaivism was also an important ancient religion in this region, with wide influence. Wink writes:

“…Qandahar [modern Kandahar]…. was the religious center of the kingdom where the cult of the Shaivite god Zun was performed on a hilltop…”.6

“…the god Zun or Zhun ... shrine lay in Zamindawar before the arrival of Islam, set on a sacred mountain, and still existing in the later ninth century …. [The region was]… famous as a pilgrimage center devoted to Zun. In China the god's temple became known as the temple of Su-na. …[T]he worship of Zun might be related to that of the old shrine of the sun-god Aditya at Multan. In any case, the cult of Zun was primarily Hindu, not Buddhist or Zoroastrian.”7

“[A] connection of Gandhara with the polymorphic male god Shiva and the Durga Devi is now well-established. The pre-eminent character of Zun or Sun was that of a mountain god. And a connection with mountains also predominates in the composite religious configuration of Shiva, the lord of the mountain, the cosmic pivot and the ruler of time… Gandhara and the neighboring countries in fact represent a prominent background to classical Shaivism.”8

From 1st century C.E., emperor Kaniska I and his Kushan successors were acknowledged as one of the four great Eurasian powers of their time (the others being China, Rome, and Parthia). The Kushans further spread Buddhism to Central Asia and China, and developed Mahayana Buddhism and the Gandhara and Mathura schools of art. The Kushans became affluent through trade, particularly with exports to Rome. Their coins and art are witness to the tolerance and syncretism in religion and art that prevailed in the region. The Gandhara school incorporated many motifs from classical Roman art, but the basic iconography remained Indian.

Swastik(स्वस्तिक) symbol around the world

Jaya and Vijaya - Gatekeepers of Vaikunth

Jaya and Vijaya are the two demigod gatekeepers of the abode of Vishnu, known as Vaikuntha .

According to a story from Bhagavata Purana, the Four Kumaras: Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana, and Sanatkumara who were the manasaputras of  Brahma (sons born from the mind or thought power of Brahma), visited Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu, to see him.

Jaya and Vijaya, the gate keepers of the Vaikuntha interrupted the Kumaras at the gate, thinking them to be children. They also told the Kumaras that Sri Vishnu was resting and that they could not see him now. The enraged Kumaras replied Jaya and Vijaya that Vishnu is available for his devotees any time, and cursed both the keepers Jaya and Vijaya, that they would have to give up their divinity, be born as mortals on Earth  and live like normal human beings.

Vishnu appeared before them, and the gatekeepers requested Vishnu to lift the curse of the Kumaras. Vishnu said curse of Kumaras could not be reversed. Instead, he gave Jaya and Vijaya two options.

 The first option was to take seven births on Earth as a devotee of Vishnu, while the second was to take three births as his enemy. After serving either of these sentences, they could re-attain their stature at Vaikuntha and be with him permanently. Jaya and Vijaya could not bear the thought of staying away from Vishnu for seven lives. As a result, they chose to be born three times on Earth even though it would have to be as enemies of Vishnu.

In the first life they were born as Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha in the Krita Yuga, to Diti (daughter of Daksha Prajapathi) and sage Kashyapa.

In their second life they were born as Ravana and Kumbhakarna in the Treta Yuga, and in their third life as Dantavakra and Shishupala in the Dwapara Yuga.

In all these three births, they were slain by avatars of Vishnu.